Videos can be educational but too often they are not and what's worse is the most irritating, trashy channels always seem to be the ones children love.
During home learning children may have much more time on Youtube than usual which means they could be watching a lot of rubbish.
But telling your child they can't watch their new favourite channel isn't going to go down well. This is going to cause friction in most households as children inevitably end up clicking on another video from that channel when it pops up in suggested videos.
Using the Youtube Kids app, you can ensure that your kids are watching safe and meaningful content without having to monitor then 24/7. The app only contains channels that are verified by the Youtube Kids team.
Note: children can view new uploads from verified channels, so there is always a chance kids watch something you don't want them to watch. Because of this, it's always best to keep an eye on your children's online viewing.
You can also block particular channels if you feel that you don't want your child watching them.
The app is designed to be used by children of any age which is fantastic because it means that your child can be independent and develop their understanding of technology.
Setting up the App
You can download the app from the App store or Google Play. Unfortunately Youtube Kids is not yet available in all regions.
Once you open the app, signing in will give you more content and parental control options.
You can take the parent feature tour or skip it and then set up a profile for each of your children.
When setting up a child's Youtube Kids profile you can:
- Choose channels or clusters of channels to add for your child
- Remove specific videos from channels you have added (click on the green tick and click 'Block video')
- Add shows, music, learning resources to your child's profile
- Search for topics you know that your children like
- Turn off the search feature (in settings, toggle search to 'off')
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I'm still learning! I would love to hear what you think (or what your kids think!) and answer your questions so feel free to email me!
