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Educational YouTube Channels for Kids
Educational YouTube channels
Fantastic YouTube channels your kids will love
🎓 The Best Educational YouTube Channels for Kids: Learning Made Fun
Looking for fun and educational YouTube channels that are safe for kids? You're in the right place. With so much content available online, finding high-quality, age-appropriate videos that actually help children learn can be a challenge. That’s why we’ve curated a list of the best educational YouTube channels for kids—perfect for parents, teachers, and homeschoolers.
From colourful animations and catchy songs to engaging science experiments and reading lessons, these kid-friendly YouTube channels cover everything from early learning and phonics to STEM, history, and art. Whether your child is a curious toddler or a primary school student, there’s something here to spark their imagination and support their learning journey.
As with all online content, parental discretion is advised. We also suggest that you take a look at the YouTube Kids app - which is available on Google Play and the App Store but not currently on desktop, as it filters out more inappropriate content and is specially designed to have a kid-friendly interface.
The Internet Matters website has great advice on how to use YouTube Kids safely here as well as how to implement the restricted mode on the regular version here
Literacy
Science, Maths and STEM
Numberblocks
Animated number characters teach math concepts in an intuitive and visual way.
Global and Cultural Learning
Hopscotch (UK-focused)
Teaches UK geography, history, and culture with engaging visual lessons.
📚 General Learning & EYFS Support
- BBC CBeebies
- Ages: 0–6
- What it offers: Learning through stories, songs, and characters like Mr Tumble, Numberblocks, and Yakka Dee.
- Platform: YouTube and BBC iPlayer.
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- Mr T’s Phonics
- Ages: 4–7
- What it offers: Simple and effective UK phonics lessons from a real classroom teacher. Supports blending, segmenting, and digraphs.
Science, History & Curriculum-Based Content
- Operation Ouch! (by CBBC)
- Ages: 7–12
- What it offers: Science and biology made exciting by real UK doctors. Covers the human body, experiments, and gross (but fun) facts.
- Horrible Histories – Official
- Ages: 7–12
- What it offers: Hilarious, accurate historical facts with a UK curriculum twist. Ideal for KS2 learners.
- TheSchoolRun
- Ages: 5–11
- What it offers: UK curriculum-aligned explainer videos in maths, grammar, and more. Excellent for homework support.
🧘 Wellbeing & Mindfulness
- Cosmic Kids Yoga (UK-based)
- Ages: 3–10
- What it offers: Yoga, mindfulness, and movement sessions woven into stories and adventures. Used widely in UK schools.
- Art John (UK art teacher)
- Ages: 5–11
- What it offers: Step-by-step art and drawing lessons using affordable materials—great for home learning.
- Ages: 5–11
- What it offers: British geography, citizenship, and history explained in child-friendly videos.
Top Educational YouTube Channels for Kids
🌟 General Learning & School Readiness
- Sesame Street
Beloved characters teach letters, numbers, kindness, and emotional skills. Ideal for preschoolers.
- PBS Kids
- Offers educational content from shows like Arthur, Curious George, and Wild Kratts—mixing fun with facts.
- The Kiboomers - Kids Music Channel
Great for early learners. Teaches phonics, counting, and classroom routines through music.
- Little Baby Bum – Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs
Animated songs for toddlers and preschoolers that support early language development.
📚 Reading & Literacy
- Storyline Online
Celebrities read children's books aloud, paired with beautiful illustrations. - Songs for Teaching
Educational songs for literacy, language arts, and more—perfect for classroom or home.
🔬 Science, Math & STEM
- SciShow Kids
Fun science topics explained in simple, kid-friendly terms with real-world examples. - Crash Course Kids
Short videos on earth science, biology, engineering, and more. Great for ages 8–12. - Peekaboo Kidz
Covers general science, human body, weather, and "how things work" topics with animation.
🧠 Critical Thinking & Exploration
- National Geographic Kids
Fascinating facts about animals, geography, and history from around the world. - The Brain Scoop
For older kids and tweens interested in natural history and science exploration. - Art for Kids Hub
Step-by-step drawing tutorials for all ages that encourage creativity and focus.
🌍 Global & Cultural Learning
- Cocomelon – Education
Popular globally for its rhymes and songs that teach everyday concepts and routines. - Geography Now (For older kids/tweens)
Country-by-country lessons on geography, history, and politics, in an upbeat format.
🧾 Tips for Safe Viewing:
- Use YouTube Kids for younger children to filter content.
- Turn on parental controls or supervised access.
- Preview new channels before subscribing.
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uk educational you tube channels for kids
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Here’s a curated list of UK-based educational YouTube channels for kids, featuring British voices, curriculum-aligned content, and local cultural references. These channels are ideal for parents, teachers, and homeschoolers in the UK looking for high-quality, screen-friendly learning options.
🇬🇧 Top UK Educational YouTube Channels for Kids
🧮 Maths & Phonics
- Numberblocks
- Ages: 3–6
- What it offers: Fun, animated number characters that help children understand basic maths concepts like counting, addition, and subtraction.
- Curriculum: Aligned with the UK Early Years and KS1 maths curriculum.
- Alphablocks
- Ages: 3–6
- What it offers: Letter characters come to life and teach phonics through stories and songs.
- Curriculum: Follows UK phonics progression (Letters and Sounds).
- Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel (widely used in UK schools)
- Though US-based, it’s popular in UK early years settings for phonics, counting songs, and routines.
- Little Learners Zone
- Ages: 2–7
- What it offers: UK-accented educational songs and phonics videos, perfect for nursery and Reception learners.
🔬 S
🎨 Creativity & Fun Learning
✅ Why Choose UK-Based Channels?
- British accents and spellings (colour, metre, etc.)
- Aligned with EYFS, KS1, and KS2 stages
- Relevant cultural and historical references
- Perfect for UK classrooms and home education
Contains thousands of free curriculum linked videos produced by the BBC – all arranged by subject and age group
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4KN50fal7f45fx2DqG7ttg
This channel is full of clips and compilations from the BBC’s vast archive of nature documentaries. Some videos feature scenes of animal death and violence so probably more suitable for older children or when watched with an adult
https://www.youtube.com/user/BBCEarth/videos
Clips from the most popular CBBC shows, interviews and songs
CBeebies – aimed at younger children. Includes Numberblocks, Alphablocks and Bedtime Stories.
This channel contains easy-to-follow drawing tutorials showing children how to draw original and popular characters throughout step-by-step instructions
A favourite here at Primary Times – hundreds of fantastic kids focussed yoga, mindfulness and relaxation videos for kids. Many are themed around well-known characters and stories.
This American YouTube channel looks at themes around science including Earth Science, Physical Science, Biology, Geoography, Engineering and Astronomy - see the playlists on each subject
The DadLab - science, craft and art activities. Aimed at younger children but plenty of fun things that older ones might be interested in -
This channel contains gentle visuals and relaxing music for kids (and adults) to exercise mindfulness activities to
Fantastic short films with high quality science and nature films and animations
This American channel is aimed at 2 to 8 year olds and has over 3,500 videos full of educational content on a huge range of subjects and craft demonstrations
In this long-running channel with over 3 million subscribers, we join Ryan and his family doing lots of fun things like pretend play, science experiments, music videos, skits, challenges, DIY arts and crafts and more.
This channel needs almost no introduction – short clips from the classic series both modern and older, with an option to view them in themed playlists such as ‘healthy habits’ and ‘back to school’. and contains over 3000 videos for all tastes
An extension of the world famous ‘TED Talks’ – this channel has a fantastic array of high quality educational videos for children on an incredible range of subjects including history, riddles, nature, science, the arts and much more
Khan Academy
This American-based channel has over 8000 videos covering a wide age range and subjects for school-age children
Young explorers can learn more about space, see high definition space videos and hear astronauts answer popular questions
This channel from the highly-regarded education providers has resources and activities for primary school aged children and educators
This world famous zoo has hundreds of wonderful videos of their animals including their babies as well as opportunities to hear from their staff.