Is it possible to have an Apple watch with a phone number and pair that with an iPad Mini and not have an iPhone involved at all? My daughter is getting old enough to need a phone but she is ADHD as all get out and will most likely put it down and lose it. So I like the idea of a watch that is strapped to her and then an iPad Mini for when she needs more.
You kinda can, as long as someone in your household with an iPhone can set up the watch for your daughter as a family member. Someone has to have an iPhone in order to deal with setup and any access control and some features won’t be available without a companion iPhone, but it might be sufficient for your daughter’s needs. Then she can sign into the same iCloud account on the iPad. I can’t speak to how well it’ll behave between those two devices on the same iCloud account and how well anything like handoff or continuity will work because I haven’t had need to try it, but if you wanted her to have a watch and no phone I think this is the only way to do it right now.