Ask HN: Is there any “PBS Kids” alternatives these days?
64 comments
PBS Kids seems to still exist. Is there a specific incarnation of it you particularly miss?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBS_Kids
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBS_Kids
I agree and OP's question is confusing me. Our family lives on the PBS KIDS Video app, and the PBS KIDS Games and PBS Play and Learn Science are top notch. For anyone looking for another super immersive and layered kids experience check out the Crayola Create and Play app, which might only be available with an Apple Arcade subscription (not sure if it's exclusive to that platform); especially fun with an Apple Pencil.
> which might only be available with an Apple Arcade subscription
I just installed it and don’t have that subscription. Thanks got the recommendation.
I just installed it and don’t have that subscription. Thanks got the recommendation.
I'm not seeing these apps in the iOS App Store in the EU.
Curiosity Stream might be worth a look. I have a 6 year old, and her youtube history isn't what I'd hoped. I have to look through things with her though. Space stuff, dinosaurs and animals help. It still loses her attention though.
Reading to her is much better. That one on one attention is a drug.
And "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" kicks ass. Have the "Princess Bride", "Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nihm" and "Rascal" lined up.
Roblox and Minecraft are great too, if you just want a time sink with a little creativity. Can teach them to build their own game with Roblox. My 6 year old is a little too young yet, didn't go well when I tried. She likes to play though.
Best of luck....
Reading to her is much better. That one on one attention is a drug.
And "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" kicks ass. Have the "Princess Bride", "Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nihm" and "Rascal" lined up.
Roblox and Minecraft are great too, if you just want a time sink with a little creativity. Can teach them to build their own game with Roblox. My 6 year old is a little too young yet, didn't go well when I tried. She likes to play though.
Best of luck....
Be mindful of Roblox
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vTMF6xEiAaY
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vTMF6xEiAaY
My kids play Roblox. It has been a great experience for them.
I've seen a lot of critical articles. I find them to describe a completely different experience than we have had.
The fact that it is hard to get attention for your games is just a good life lesson, when the kids grow up and decide to be youtubers they will learn it then too. That's not a bad thing.
Meanwhile they get very creative games for free (more creative / fun than the traditional video games out there), a free development environment to play and learn on.
I've seen a lot of critical articles. I find them to describe a completely different experience than we have had.
The fact that it is hard to get attention for your games is just a good life lesson, when the kids grow up and decide to be youtubers they will learn it then too. That's not a bad thing.
Meanwhile they get very creative games for free (more creative / fun than the traditional video games out there), a free development environment to play and learn on.
Those videos seemed a bit over-alarming to be honest.
It's about kids spending their bought ingame-currency for ingame things... which is the whole point of buying it. If you don't like it just don't buy the ingame currency for your kids.
And then it's about kids being used as unpaid game developpers because they had fun creating games.
It's about kids spending their bought ingame-currency for ingame things... which is the whole point of buying it. If you don't like it just don't buy the ingame currency for your kids.
And then it's about kids being used as unpaid game developpers because they had fun creating games.
My first kid had a real problem with wanting Robux, it’s all he cared about, I dreaded even hearing the name Roblox and never played with him. 10,000 arguments later and he was over it. He introduced our younger kid and stressed to him that “Robux are a scam” on the first day, and it’s now one of my favorite games to play with him and he started on Roblox Studio a few weeks ago. The older one doesn’t play much anymore but he’ll join us occasionally. it’s sad I missed out on all the fun with him because of the obsession with Robux and my inability to distract him from it. I think if I had just played with him, he might have not have cared so much, but my hate for it from all the fights stopped me from even installing it.
How are they a scam though? If you can buy ingame things that bring you joy it's not wasted money. You just have to set reasonable limits so you don't end up spending 100s on silly things.
Yeah if someone can't handle it in Roblox, they're going to have similar problems almost everywhere.
Good time to learn a lesson.
Good time to learn a lesson.
Scam's not the right word but you start to run out of accurate words when you can't get your point across after having entire days ruined arguing with a screaming kid about a R$10,000 Golden Dominus that would cost $100 USD to obtain.
The old Curiosity Show episodes got uploaded to YouTube after the presenters bought the rights. They are fantastic, but maybe a bit too old-looking?
https://www.youtube.com/c/CuriosityShow
https://www.youtube.com/c/CuriosityShow
> that got discontinued
What makes you think that?
It is alive and well for me. In the US.
My family lives and dies on the TV channel, video app, the games app, and the roku app. I've never found anything nearly as high quality / dedicated to education / learning... just seem to actually care about the end customer (kids). I'm a happy member of my local PBS station.
What makes you think that?
It is alive and well for me. In the US.
My family lives and dies on the TV channel, video app, the games app, and the roku app. I've never found anything nearly as high quality / dedicated to education / learning... just seem to actually care about the end customer (kids). I'm a happy member of my local PBS station.
dunno.... this might be an unpopular opinion but set up jellyfish/emby/plex at home, download all the stuff your kids "might" watch and let them be.
you would be in control of what they can and cannot watch, there wont be any ads, your kids wont be exposed to "stuff" which overall is a nice thing.
i remember doing this back in 2015 when i had a bunch of kids at home and internet was scarce. Now, there are no kids in the household so i stopped maintaining the library
you would be in control of what they can and cannot watch, there wont be any ads, your kids wont be exposed to "stuff" which overall is a nice thing.
i remember doing this back in 2015 when i had a bunch of kids at home and internet was scarce. Now, there are no kids in the household so i stopped maintaining the library
That's a great idea. How do you find appropriate and engaging content? I can go back in time to find copies of classics but I'm sure there are attractive modern options as well. This is one of the pluses of PBS, where you could let your kid loose with whatever they're showing and be comfortable with it.
The content was better back in the day. Bill Nye, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Cosmos, Reading Rainbow.
I don't have kids but my friends do and the content that they watch is insultingly low quality.
I like the idea that you can set up a media server with only what you choose and turn the kids loose on it. They can go nuts because it's only content you've chosen.
I don't have kids but my friends do and the content that they watch is insultingly low quality.
I like the idea that you can set up a media server with only what you choose and turn the kids loose on it. They can go nuts because it's only content you've chosen.
yeah, thats the idea. a 1TB of media goes a long way to satisfying the "interests" of kids. cost wise that is peanuts as a pre-transcoded media could be streamed off a pi-HDD combo. that is fantastic.
that honestly depends on the person who has taken the responsibility for that.
i remember finding old charlie chaplin movies torrent, "all movies", or classics.
then, most of the modern animated movies/shows that has been curated from imdb/commonsensemedia
i know i know the whole piracy thing, people are put off by "tools" because "it could be used to stream pirated media" but that is honestly the end users responsibility.
i remember finding old charlie chaplin movies torrent, "all movies", or classics.
then, most of the modern animated movies/shows that has been curated from imdb/commonsensemedia
i know i know the whole piracy thing, people are put off by "tools" because "it could be used to stream pirated media" but that is honestly the end users responsibility.
Hi,
PBS KIDS is definitely not discontinued. Like other people mentioned, they have pbskids.org, the PBS KIDS Video App, and the PBS KIDS Games app (TONS of games from Wild Kratts and other fun shows) - all free in the app store and no ads. Their video and game content is also downloadable so you can take stuff on road trips. The video app is also available across a lot of streaming devices like ROKU, Apple TV, Amazon TV Fire, Samsung TV, etc.
PBS KIDS is definitely not discontinued. Like other people mentioned, they have pbskids.org, the PBS KIDS Video App, and the PBS KIDS Games app (TONS of games from Wild Kratts and other fun shows) - all free in the app store and no ads. Their video and game content is also downloadable so you can take stuff on road trips. The video app is also available across a lot of streaming devices like ROKU, Apple TV, Amazon TV Fire, Samsung TV, etc.
CBeebies/CBBC? Not sure what access is like outside the UK.
I'd be a bit careful with that: https://www.wsj.com/articles/peppa-pig-a-pandemic-favorite-h...
I've noticed that a lot of my daughters friends put on American accents when they're playing; we're in the UK, so presumably they just watch a lot of american tv. I don't think it's particularly alarming though, I wouldn't think to warn someone to 'be careful' of letting their kids watch My Little Pony because they might imitate the accents
That's funny, I'm in the US and my daughter puts on a British accent when she's playing.
I guess for either one it's something that sounds exotic and fun.
It seems rather odd to be upset that a television programme might teach one’s children to enunciate properly?
One is genuinely rather confused as to exactly what it is with which you take umbrage.
One is genuinely rather confused as to exactly what it is with which you take umbrage.
This is America, we speak American here. How dare you insinuate my American ain't proper enunciation. How 'bout you umbrage yerself back to whatever country you came from
clutches pearls
spit-takes tea
drops biscuit
Ghastly!
spit-takes tea
drops biscuit
Ghastly!
That article makes it out to have a positive effect so I'm not sure what you're trying to be careful about. Perhaps you want your child to say "thank you" and "please" less?
You would be careful because they are watch a show that increases their vocabulary?
haha what’s there to be careful about that? I love that thanks to Peppa Pig we had a little bit of British culture added to our home.
Similarly now with Bluey (Aussie show) and us occasionally saying Brekky for breakfast.
Similarly now with Bluey (Aussie show) and us occasionally saying Brekky for breakfast.
The use of music (all original scores but beautifully using classical music too) is amazing too.
https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/music-reads/fi...
https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/music-reads/fi...
Yeees, Bluey is lovely! I refused to watch it at first because of the square dogs, but I'm glad I caved in. Similar articles came out about that show, worth a listen.[1]
And really, the Australian pronunciation of "cache" (like 'keish') is downright superior.
[1]: https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/breakfast/aussie-a...
And really, the Australian pronunciation of "cache" (like 'keish') is downright superior.
[1]: https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/breakfast/aussie-a...
Bluey is a great show, my grandkids love it, but my son in law jokingly thinks Bandit creates too high an expectation of what a father can and should be…
Bluey is great. My six-year old now uses "For real life?" as part of his everyday speech.
Seconded.
Have been really impressed with the CBeebies family of apps.
Also worth a look: Khan Academy Kids, but it doesn’t seem to hold the attention quite as long.
Have been really impressed with the CBeebies family of apps.
Also worth a look: Khan Academy Kids, but it doesn’t seem to hold the attention quite as long.
The Khan Kids app is pretty great
I highly recommend it. My kids loved it (until the learned that they were learning on it and it wasn't just a game). They learned a lot from it.
The PBS kids channel on my Roku is pretty good (and free)
I don't have a Roku; is it the same as the live TV on their website?
https://pbskids.org/video/livetv
https://pbskids.org/video/livetv
Yes, you can also access on-demand episodes and clips in the app (plus the live stream). I think it’s available on most platforms.
ABC kids Australia launched the Wiggles, Bluey the dog, and has a lot of educational content.
On the downside it's geo restricted, may require mad proxy skillz, and could possibly turn your children into leftist socialist communists that want a country with democracy, equality and long term consistent economic returns.
https://www.abc.net.au/abckids/
On the downside it's geo restricted, may require mad proxy skillz, and could possibly turn your children into leftist socialist communists that want a country with democracy, equality and long term consistent economic returns.
https://www.abc.net.au/abckids/
Make your own.
There's PBS kids shows in spirit like Daniel Tiger, Tumble Leaf, Octonauts, Llama llama, Bluey, Puffin Rock, and many more.
I watch an episode first to make sure it is something educational and not too "entertaining". I'm personally in the camp that if something is too entertaining, you aren't learning much. i.e. Cocomelon, Sesame Street, etc.
There's PBS kids shows in spirit like Daniel Tiger, Tumble Leaf, Octonauts, Llama llama, Bluey, Puffin Rock, and many more.
I watch an episode first to make sure it is something educational and not too "entertaining". I'm personally in the camp that if something is too entertaining, you aren't learning much. i.e. Cocomelon, Sesame Street, etc.
Can recommend vsauces curiositybox.
Otherwise there are some great puzzle games like the witness, stephens sausage roll, talos principle, linelight, miegakure, braid, return of the obra dinn or more story driven ones like thomas was alone, it takes two, the forgotten city.
That’s the one redeeming value of streaming services these days: the old stuff you know and love is still around. The one problem is that you have to queue it up for kids rather than just flipping on the channel but that’s certainly not the worst fate.
There's some good stuff on Amazon. My kids loved Tumble Leaf and we bought all the seasons of Mythbusters as they got older.
OP - anything particular you're looking for in terms of education ? Is it about making / hacking or something else?
If you get over-the-air TV, PBS Kids is a subchannel of your local PBS station, broadcasting kids content 24/7
My 8y/o loves DaVinci Kids
https://davincikids.tv/
https://davincikids.tv/
Da Vinci
For a Preschool-Kindergarten range:
PBS Kids has at least two free apps: one video streaming, and one educational games. Both are great.
Sensical [1] is a free streaming service/app that only includes content that meet Common Sense Media criteria. Common Sense Media [2] rates/reviews media for quality and age-appropriateness.
Kanopy [3] is a streaming service/app that is freely available through many libraries. It has a walled-off kids area with movies, shows, and videobooks that are not garbage. I have no concerns letting my kid loose in the kids area to choose among that content.
YouTube Kids [4] is a free streaming service/app that can be terrible or decent. To be decent, you must curate the content yourself (rather than the algorithm) so you have to find and add "channels" or even individual videos, and remove them when they are outgrown. Some channels I found are...
YTK General: PBS Kids (collection of 5 channels), Sesame Studios (collection of 6 channels), Khan Academy Kids, Bluey, Deep Look, PBS Space Time, TheDadLab, Super Sema, Mystery Doug, Brainzy Games, The Kiboomers [for toddlers]
YTK Animals: Nat Geo Kids, The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Animal Wonders Montana, San Diego Zoo, BBC Earth Kids
YTK Drawing: Super Simple Draw, Muffalo Potato, Draw So Cute, Art for Kids Hub, drawstuffrealeasy, Red Ted Art
Enough with the streaming video. For educational but fun apps, I recommend:
PBS Kids Games, as mentioned before.
Khan Academy Kids [5].
Teach Monster: Reading for Fun [6].
NumberBlocks/Alphablocks [7] have freemium game apps (NumberBlocks World, AlphaBlocks World) that combine the show and games. They also have lame free apps (MeetTheNumberBlocks, MeetTheAlphaBlocks) that I wouldn't waste time on.
[1] https://www.sensical.tv/
[2] https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
[3] https://www.kanopy.com/en/kids
[4] https://www.youtubekids.com/
[5] https://learn.khanacademy.org/khan-academy-kids/
[6] https://www.teachyourmonster.org/readingforfun
[7] https://www.learningblocks.tv/
PBS Kids has at least two free apps: one video streaming, and one educational games. Both are great.
Sensical [1] is a free streaming service/app that only includes content that meet Common Sense Media criteria. Common Sense Media [2] rates/reviews media for quality and age-appropriateness.
Kanopy [3] is a streaming service/app that is freely available through many libraries. It has a walled-off kids area with movies, shows, and videobooks that are not garbage. I have no concerns letting my kid loose in the kids area to choose among that content.
YouTube Kids [4] is a free streaming service/app that can be terrible or decent. To be decent, you must curate the content yourself (rather than the algorithm) so you have to find and add "channels" or even individual videos, and remove them when they are outgrown. Some channels I found are...
YTK General: PBS Kids (collection of 5 channels), Sesame Studios (collection of 6 channels), Khan Academy Kids, Bluey, Deep Look, PBS Space Time, TheDadLab, Super Sema, Mystery Doug, Brainzy Games, The Kiboomers [for toddlers]
YTK Animals: Nat Geo Kids, The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Animal Wonders Montana, San Diego Zoo, BBC Earth Kids
YTK Drawing: Super Simple Draw, Muffalo Potato, Draw So Cute, Art for Kids Hub, drawstuffrealeasy, Red Ted Art
Enough with the streaming video. For educational but fun apps, I recommend:
PBS Kids Games, as mentioned before.
Khan Academy Kids [5].
Teach Monster: Reading for Fun [6].
NumberBlocks/Alphablocks [7] have freemium game apps (NumberBlocks World, AlphaBlocks World) that combine the show and games. They also have lame free apps (MeetTheNumberBlocks, MeetTheAlphaBlocks) that I wouldn't waste time on.
[1] https://www.sensical.tv/
[2] https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
[3] https://www.kanopy.com/en/kids
[4] https://www.youtubekids.com/
[5] https://learn.khanacademy.org/khan-academy-kids/
[6] https://www.teachyourmonster.org/readingforfun
[7] https://www.learningblocks.tv/
I just put on YouTube kids and let the algorithm take the wheel. What could go wrong?
No education at all, extremely low quality of content. Please do not lose that precious time of a young human who can learn per day more than we the adults can learn per week for that hypnotizing no-brainers.
If using on google tv, and you have Yt premium, Yt kids still show ads...(when Yt non kids does not show any ads).
Plus my daughter found the most annoying whiny crybaby shows in her feed in Yt kids.
Yt kids has now been removed from all devices.
Regular YouTube with certain subscriptions/playlists are better
Plus my daughter found the most annoying whiny crybaby shows in her feed in Yt kids.
Yt kids has now been removed from all devices.
Regular YouTube with certain subscriptions/playlists are better
You can install the AFTVNews Downloader App
* https://www.aftvnews.com/downloader/
* https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.esaba.down...
( AKA "com.esaba.downloader" in Google App Store )
and use that to d/load and sideload a YouTube app that doesn't inject adverts and sponser blurts midstream:
( See:
https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext
Read: Installation )
* https://www.aftvnews.com/downloader/
* https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.esaba.down...
( AKA "com.esaba.downloader" in Google App Store )
and use that to d/load and sideload a YouTube app that doesn't inject adverts and sponser blurts midstream:
( See:
https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext
Read: Installation )
> Yt kids still show ads
Isn't that illegal in many areas? In the EU you basically can't target ads towards kids.
That being say: YouTube Kids is generally terrible and there's little reason to prefer it over the regular YouTube.
Isn't that illegal in many areas? In the EU you basically can't target ads towards kids.
That being say: YouTube Kids is generally terrible and there's little reason to prefer it over the regular YouTube.
> In the EU you basically can't target ads towards kids
How are toys advertised to children in the EU?
How are toys advertised to children in the EU?
They aren't, more or less. Rules might be interpreted differently in different countries, but I think it mostly correct.
What you can do is create something like Paw Patrol. The show is a product in its own right, but really it's a massive ad for their line of toys. You can also get catalogs from toy stores, I don't know if they are allowed to mail them out, or if they don't do it because of cost.
What you can do is create something like Paw Patrol. The show is a product in its own right, but really it's a massive ad for their line of toys. You can also get catalogs from toy stores, I don't know if they are allowed to mail them out, or if they don't do it because of cost.
Any other alternative’s?