The Cintiq is a monitor that you can draw on; the bamboo tablets are just tablets with pressure sensitivity, no pixels. Also the Cintiq has much more sensitivity, so that it can simulate ink, crayon, watercolor, markers, charcoal - depending on which art software you use. If your kids get good at it, you might want to check out Corel Painter - but that's a few hundred bucks. It will work with a mouse, or with the Bamboo or Cintiq tablets.