Recommended YouTube Channels for Kids

1. Smithsonian Channel

If you don’t live in or around Washington, D.C., you don’t have easy access to the highly educational Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. But, you do have access to the Smithsonian Channel on YouTube. Your kids can learn about hammerhead sharks, monkeys, World War II, and 9/11, all on one channel, created by an unquestionably reliable source.

2. The Brain Scoop

Chicago’s Field Museum has created a YouTube channel called The Brain Scoop, which engages kids with such videos as “Why Did King Tut Have a Flat Head?” and “The Human Biology Collection.”

3. Houston Zoo

If your child has an affinity for animals, check out the Houston Zoo YouTube channel. YouTube often gives kids (and adults) access to many popular educational attractions that are too far away to visit in person.

4. WordWorldPBS

Another reputable source for quality, kid-friendly content is PBS. Your child can “watch words come alive” on the WordWorldPBS channel. Their animated and animal-themed content is great for younger kids!

5. Sesame Street

Similarly, Sesame Street has its own YouTube channel, featuring all of your child’s favorite characters! These videos really excel at making learning entertaining for young children.

6. TED-Ed

TED-Ed (from the nonprofit responsible for TED Talks) is committed to creating lessons worth sharing. On this channel, kids can be challenged by perplexing riddles, or they can investigate nature or ponder such subjects as “questions no one knows the answers to.”

7. Smart Girls

For older kids, check out Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls channel. It features the requisite DIYs that kids love, such as how to make fizzing bath bombs, for example, but also provides profiles of inspiring women, including astronauts and scientists, not to mention manners tutorials and videos designed to inspire girls to become involved in social issues such as climate change.

8. SoulPancake

The SoulPancake YouTube channel dishes out a menu of “brain batter” about art, culture, science, philosophy, and more. As the site proclaims, “We make stuff that matters.”

9. SciShow

Subscribe to SciShow and give your child the ability to “explore the unexpected.” What is gluten? Why do cats purr? What really killed the dinosaurs? Why can’t dogs eat chocolate? You and your kids can explore these fascinating questions and many more!

10. It’s Okay to Be Smart

In this case, the name really does say it all! This channel is “all about science, the amazing universe we live in, and the pleasure of finding things out.” Joe Hanson, PhD, explains how things work and why things are the way they are.