I'm just going to come out and say it; YouTube is a nearly daily occurrence in my house. My Toddler thinks he would cease to exist if I didn't let him watch his favorite Play-Doh Kinder Surprise Egg videos. It's ridiculous. Over and over, he will watch the same things come out of the same eggs, and yet, be mesmerized like it's the first time.
"WHAT?! Your kid is obsessed too?"
Talk about mind blown when my friend tells me how she has to make the eggs for her son. But, first, he supplies her with the things to put in the egg! Then she rolls out the Play-doh and gets to work.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Besides the fact that she''s in the running for both 'Mom of The Year' and 'Sucker of the Year', she made me feel so much better knowing it wasn't only my kid.
Then, I started asking other moms if their child was YouTuber too. It turns out, THEY ALL ARE!
It's not just my kid, or your kid, it's all of them!
One by one, they are showing each other the magical world of YouTube, where you can watch ANYTHING!
<Insert fireworks and dancing unicorns in toddler's heads>
For those of you just embarking on your child's love for YouTube, because, trust me, it will happen--Even if it's at a playdates house, YouTube is coming to a tablet or phone near you--Thankfully, to help soften the blow, YouTube has a kids channel, aptly named, YouTube Kids. (There's a YouTube Kids App that is most definitely worth downloading!) The channel shows only hand-selected content that is safe, entertaining and educational. Everything that we as parents need to not feel guilty about letting our kids watch YouTube in exchange for a few minutes of calm. (You can set it to Autoplay if you need more like ten minutes of calm.)
Once you have a handle on YouTube Kids, you start to realize there are all kinds of channels. (Just like on TV) This way, you can really hone in on what you want your child to watch. I prefer channels that have a great mix of fun and educational content for kids. Ollie gets bored of the same nursery rhymes or shape shows.
A great example of a channel with a fabulous mix of fun, engaging and super educational shows is, HISHE kids.
Interjection: Most likely, if you watch YoutTube at all, you have seen a HISHE--How It Should Have Ended-video (The HISHE channel has 4.6-Million Subscribers!). Tina Alexander (Co-writer/Creator) and Daniel Baxter (Artist/Animator), have won so many awards for a multitude of videos, and have been featured on every single Radio and TV show you can imagine. Recently, you may remember their Parody 'Frozen How It Should Ave Ended'. That video went mega-viral with over 30-million views and counting!
Since, we are all visual people, here's a video that explains the channel and how the content is super fun and educational; especially for our toddlers!
The extra nice thing about HISHE kids it that they keep the content fresh with weekly show additions. There are four different shows that are regularly rotated: Fixed Fairy Tales, Munchkin Music, Kids Bits and How To Draw. (Can you tell the Co-writer and creator has children and knows EXACTLY what they need to stay engaged... and coming back for more.)
Watch the shows and some funny parodies on HISHE Kids Channel HERE.
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How do you and your child watch YouTube? DO you have favorite channels?