Kids’ brains are like little sponges. Almost from the moment a child is born, they start learning, and the speed of learning children display in those early years is unmatched for the rest of their childhood and adult lives. For that reason alone, it is no wonder that most parents love educational content for their children.
Leading kid-friendly YouTube channels like CoComelon, Blippi, and Pinkfong all offer learning experiences alongside entertainment to maintain their position. The growing channel Moonbow Kids has also invested in educational content to increase its following. If you are a brand looking to build a successful kid-friendly YouTube channel, educational content can make the difference between existing or thriving.
Benefits of Educational Content
Educational content is a powerful tool for brands looking to build or increase the audience of their kid-friendly YouTube channel. YouTube has long been a place for learning for people of all ages, with a 2018 Pew research study showing that one in two Americans use the platform to learn how to do something they have never done before.
The same survey found a significant percentage of parents allow their kids to watch videos on the main YouTube app and YouTube Kids. At the same time, 80% of parents believe that learning is not restricted to classroom settings but instead can happen anywhere. These findings highlight the potential educational content has in attracting parents to a YouTube channel.
Attracting parents is critical for kid-friendly channels aimed at infants or very young toddlers. At that age, most kids’ lives revolve around their families, meaning their parents are most likely to choose relevant content. Highlighting learning opportunities on your channel can help you stand out in front of parents.
Well-presented educational content not only entertains kids but also keeps them more engaged and interested in learning compared to traditional teaching methods. If your YouTube channel provides these opportunities, kids are more likely to want to watch more and convince their parents to become subscribers. As a result, your channel’s regular audience grows, and your chances to engage with your audience regularly increase, too.
Types of Educational Content
Gone are the days when educational content was restricted to textbooks and class handouts. Teachers have used in-class videos for decades to enhance their students’ learning experience. But there is no need to wait for kids to reach school age before offering video-based educational content.
1. Nursery Rhymes and Songs
Because kids start learning as soon as they’re born, nursery rhymes and songs offer excellent opportunities for teaching language or even multiple languages and introducing kids to rhythm. At the same time, they can significantly grow a kid-friendly channel’s reach.
Top-performing kids’ YouTube channels like CoComelon have built part of their success and their subscriber numbers on introducing their youngest viewers to words and numbers through basic nursery rhymes. Newer channels like Moonbow Kids are looking to recreate this success now.
For Moonbow Kids, lullabies have succeeded in both increasing reach and educating kids about classical music. One of the channel’s best-performing videos boasts more than 13,000 views, which is an outstanding result for a channel with 1,000 subscribers.
2. Exploration and Discovery
Most kids are naturally curious about their surroundings, making exploration and discovery ideal vehicles to offer learning opportunities. YouTube channel Blippi is a great example of this, with the leading character going on adventures into space or exploring the nearby zoo with his sidekick Meekah.
As kids watch Blippi’s adventures, they are invited to come along and join in some of the discoveries. Although Blippi’s unmissable cap, bowtie, and suspenders may not immediately conjure up images of a serious scientist, the channel manages not only to capture kids’ imaginations but also to keep them engaged and generate interest in subjects like space travel.
3. Interactive Learning
Interactive elements feature prominently in YouTube’s field guide for content creators targeting kids. “Extending the experience […] beyond the screen” allows the channel’s content to enter kids’ daily lives and helps them retain the information, according to the platform.
Interaction can be as simple as asking a question in the video title or encouraging kids to sing along to a song that is featured in your video.
Creating Effective Educational Content
YouTube’s guide for creators of kid-friendly content is an excellent starting point for brands looking to enter the field. Aside from including interactive elements, the guide also highlights the importance of engaging visuals, simplified concepts, and diversity.
1. Visual Elements
Ask yourself which visual elements will help attract a larger audience to your videos. Bright colors, animations, and fun characters tend to be favored by younger audiences. Pinkfong and Baby Shark are excellent examples of this, and Blippi uses the same concept in the main character’s clothing.
Video thumbnails are another differentiator of high-performing videos. These small images are one of the first things kids and their parents see when they search for something to watch. Looking at the Blippi channel, each thumbnail points to a great adventure that the audience would want to go on.
2. Simplified Concepts
Kids learn fast, but for the information to be transmitted successfully, complex concepts need to be simplified. Think of this as breaking complicated subjects down into more manageable pieces or making messages more obvious and easier to grasp.
3. Remember Diversity
Kids love characters they can identify with. If your brand is looking to attract a diverse audience, start by developing characters that look like your target audience. Moonbow Kids is a great example of this with videos and thumbnails showing characters from different ethnic backgrounds and including different genders.
Conclusion
Parents and kids love educational content, from nursery rhymes to space adventures. By simplifying complex concepts, presenting them in a visually appealing manner, and keeping kids engaged through interactive elements, brands can use this type of content effectively to grow their audience significantly.
