Can we get a discussion going on where other parents are finding high quality media for kids to consume? YouTube Kids is a definite no. YT Kids feels like it's intentionally made to brainwash your child and having unsuspecting parents let their guard down with the "Kids" in the app name. From my experimentation it is far worse than regular YouTube.
YouTube, need to watch them carefully and catch the YT algorithm trying to insert bad videos.
I have been mainly relying on Epic & PBS Kids - but feel an expansion is needed.
I'd like to put a good word in for Trash Truck. We all love it. I guess it can't quite compete with Bluey in the life lessons department - they're more simple, maybe better for younger kids. But it's definitely lovely and friendly and fun.
It’s very calm, which I really appreciate about it compared to the wild energy in other shows. Sadly my toddler is more drawn to the intense colours and action of Paw Patrol.
Which is a whole other thing in this age of streaming.. when they know you could just pick something else, they will immediately complain and ask for that instead of just needing to accept what is being shown.
I set up a Plex user for my kids, and loaded it full of things that are kid appropriate. Old PBS kids shows from my childhood, bluey, a smattering of the newer kids shows my wife was familiar with from raising her siblings, etc.
We don't give the kids much TV time at all, maybe an hour a week, but it's nice knowing they can just pick something themselves, and we don't have to worry that it's decent
Some of the new shows, e.g. Bluey, do feel head and shoulders above the good shows from my childhood. I’ve abandoned using age of the content as any signal of quality.
YouTube Kids is legitimately awful. And the content filters are a joke.
We've been using the Dude Perfect app lately. It's got ads, but it only features a select few YouTubers that focus on kid friendly content. And everything is screened by a real person. So it lets our kids watch YouTube without the "endless trash" content feed.
I've heard about videos being marked as kids content automatically simply because it's animated. It not only sucks for people who expect YT Kids to be kid-friendly but it also sucks for the creators who don't want their adult-oriented content being shown to kids and who get less ad revenue due to less valuable ads being show against their video.
It would be better for everyone if Google would turn YT Kids into a manually curated service. I think that even Google would benefit from getting more people trusting YT Kids. But unfortunately having humans in the loop is not the Google way, so it will never happen.
You should try out Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps we've tried here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try. Good thing about PBS or Kidzovo is that they dont have me looking over my shoulder like Youtube or Youtube Kids does.
I don't know about YT kids, but Ms Rachel on YouTube is a really good show for babies / toddlers. On Netflix there's Kit & Sam that's a really cool series, it's apparently from the same makers as octonauts which I don't think is as good, but my daughter actually prefers (probably more age appropriate). Gigantosaur is a really cool one on Netflix as well.
We mostly use YouTube for Ms Rachel and watching music video clips (from the Sing movies and Disney movies). I don't know how it is in the US but here in the NL Netflix has licensed a whole bunch of great kids shows and we don't really use any other apps because of that.
I have since tried using only interactive apps that would encourage kids to participate actively rather than just passively watching. When I'm around, I'll do that anyways, but it helps if the content is itself interactive.
I really like Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps mentioned here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try.
My 3 year old loves YouTube kids, and I'll admit he gets a good amount of it. We make sure we're watching it with him, and we control the remote. Some channels/topics we all like:
- Aty and Ui, two pet otters in Japan. Their owner has made tons of videos showing what they eat, how they play, and the different rivers they visit. All dialogue is in Japanese and English subtitles. My kid now loves otters, I explain different things about animals or Japan to give context, and I get to practice reading Japanese.
- MIKAN, a channel with videos of "marbles" animated using a basic physics engine. There's no dialogue. There are races, factories, battles, and even a tower defense match. It helped him learn colors. Nowadays, he gets up and practically dances while cheering for his favorite colors. Indoor exercise isn't so bad. Some of the videos that aren't on YT Kids can be a little scary for toddlers (like alien abductions, not the dreaded shock schlock that pops up on YT).
- 5MadMovieMakers, a channel with marble runs and Hot Wheels tracks. No dialogue, just short clips of creative tracks with background music. My kid now loves coming up with his own marble and Hot Wheels tracks now (though he's still not good at planning out the whole thing to actually work).
I understand the concerns about using YT Kids as a babysitter. When he gets a tablet at my parents' and decides what to watch, it's things like cars driving over paint-filed balloons or the typical group of bros overreacting to a different stupid thing each week.
You should try out Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps we've tried here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try. Good thing about PBS or Kidzovo is that they dont have me looking over my shoulder like Youtube or Youtube Kids does.
You should try out Kidzovo. They curate huge amounts of content for kids from different creators and provide this cute little owl called Ovo, that's like the child's friend on the app and every minute or so it pops up and engages kids in these mini games that get them to do activities related to what they are watching like find & tap on something or use their voice to answer questions. They also have a huge bunch of coloring sheets & jigsaw puzzles.
Usually I've found that kids quickly get bored of some of the other apps we've tried here, but I've seen them stick to Kidzovo for much longer. Maybe worth a try. Good thing about PBS or Kidzovo is that they dont have me looking over my shoulder like Youtube or Youtube Kids does.
Self promotion is fine, but you've plugged the company you work for four times on this thread already. It's also appreciated when you add a disclaimer like you've done in the past [0]
Amazon kids was really good for a while but recently they started getting vlogs and garbage from YouTube. Somehow my daughter found among us let's plays and unboxing videos and I'm deeply displeased about it.
Yes! I use Brave Browser on their ipad. There's a setting to remove Youtube shorts (and avoid commercials).
I've also periodically open their ipad and p;lay educational videos to get them on their homepage. Youtube will still stick videos of 40 year old adults acting 14 and doing weird stuff. I still need to be near them whoever they use Youotube.
YouTube, need to watch them carefully and catch the YT algorithm trying to insert bad videos.
I have been mainly relying on Epic & PBS Kids - but feel an expansion is needed.