first-time Android Tablet user

[Disney Addicted]

My 9-year old was thrilled to purchase a $68 android tablet today with his own money. I set up a google account and got him connected to the internet.

Now he's asking about purchasing apps. I don't want to tie a credit-card to the google account. Does google/android offer gift cards I can purchase at a store like apple/iTunes? The only platform I'm use to is apple with all the iPods in the house. No one has android, not even on a phone as we don't have a smartphone in the house.

Ohh, I'm in Canada if that makes a difference.

Thanks for reading!
DA

 

[Ali]

I purchased a pre=paid visa card in a convenience store with $25 on it to set up my son's tablet. It is a visa, so it works for the google play store and all set ups but it is not linked to me at all. He can always use his allowance to pay for another card as he uses up the first one.

I did this for all accounts (barnes and noble, amazon, etc)

 

[MOpGrad2013]

You can purchase google play cards. increments of $25. Kids received them for Christmas. I don't know if you have to put a card in to make the purchase (i-tunes wanted one for my DS last year)

That being said, we have found there is plenty of gaming and activities available without paying. Sure, ads pop up, but just hit the x or back button.

 

[foltzy]

We got dd a tablet for Christmas and a $15 gift card to google play. I like not having a credit card set up.

 

[CarlisleMom]

Check Target for google play gift cards. You can get as low as $10. and get a red card discount.

There are tons of free apps available.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Awesome, thanks! I'm glad to hear of the google card. I thought about a pre-paid visa but I disliked the idea of paying activation fees every time we purchase one. DS still has a little cash left so I'll take him out when the stores reopen to find a google card.

 

[bdcp]

There are also free apps. You just have to search for them in the google store. DH and I have Android Phones and Kindle Fire's and we get a lot of free games and other apps. Be aware, the free ones all had ads imbedded. They pop up between each game and some are videos, others are just print ads.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Slideme.org
This is my favorite app site. ALmost all the apps on here are free and I tend to find lots of fun ones. seems like they have somthing new each day. you should also be able to download the amazon app store, again, they have lots of free apps (including angry birds space!)

 

[mrodgers]

There are also free apps. You just have to search for them in the google store. DH and I have Android Phones and Kindle Fire's and we get a lot of free games and other apps. Be aware, the free ones all had ads imbedded. They pop up between each game and some are videos, others are just print ads.

Apps are free and can be downloaded through Google Play without a credit card or gift card tied to the account but books and music can not. I had to create a google wallet account with a CC or GC for us to download even the free music or books. I made seperate gmail accounts and google wallet accounts for each of the kids with their new cheap tablets and redeemed a $10 Play gift card to each. The free music and books can be downloaded now.