pbs kids
Latest
Hulu adds PBS stations to its live TV channel lineup
Hulu is adding a full spate of PBS channels to its Live TV subscription service. This includes a wide variety of local PBS affiliates and PBS Kids offerings, giving viewers the chance to watch stuff like Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Masterpiece and a whole lot of Ken Burns documentaries.
Apple and PBS deal bring Peanuts holiday specials to TV ad-free
It's good news, Charlie Brown.
YouTube brings summer camp home to kids
If kids can’t attend an IRL summer camp this year, then YouTube is trying to give them the next best thing with #CampYouTube. The struggle is real,” YouTube exec Malik Ducard wrote. This is why, he said, Camp YouTube is providing the tools needed to create a virtual camp experience at home.
The best online STEM resources, according to a veteran teacher
After the schools shut down last week, my social media feeds and inbox lit up with color-coded homeschooling charts and agonizingly long lists of everything I should use to educate my kids. Fear, panic and an overwhelming sense of grief settled over me as I considered not only how I was going to explain what was happening to my curious kindergartener and second grader but also how we were going to manage working, schooling, living and staying sane and healthy in our tiny condo for the foreseeable future. As veteran teachers, my husband and I vowed to maintain normal as best we could. We'd stay virtually connected to family and friends and let the kids play and be bored and eat cookies and watch movies and attempt whatever work their school sent home. To calm myself, I composed my own non-exhaustive list of resources, called "Things I might actually use if the internet doesn't die" and sent bits of it to a few friends, who exhaled relief and gratitude. "Thanks," they said. "I might actually use these!" Here it is, reconstituted. I hope it lets you exhale too.
Amazon is offering free access to kid-friendly Prime Video content
With kids stuck at home amid school shutdowns, some parents are likely struggling to find things to occupy their children's minds. Amazon has confirmed to Engadget that it is stepping in by making some of the kids' shows on its Prime Video streaming service free during the coronavirus pandemic -- you just need a standard Amazon account to sign into the platform and start watching. Some examples of the free content include Amazon originals like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Pete the Cat, as well as select seasons of PBS shows like Arthur and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. According to Variety, this initiative is in effect worldwide, though the free shows may vary depending on which country you live in.
PBS is now available on YouTube TV
It took a few months to become a reality, but PBS channels are now available on YouTube TV. Over 100 member stations for PBS and PBS Kids are streaming live (the mix depends on where you live, of course), with on-demand content also on-hand if you can't tune into broadcasts. More stations should be available sometime in 2020.
The best streaming apps for kids
On the surface, it seems like a great idea. YouTube is home to all kinds of quality video content, so a dedicated, age-appropriate version for children sounds great. However, even with a host of parental controls, YouTube Kids is still plagued with issues in regard to content. Whether it's conspiracy videos or obviously disturbing clips, YouTube Kids is flooded with terrible content. But that's not surprising. With 10 hours of video uploaded every second, trying to police YouTube content is like trying to slow the water coming out of a fire hydrant. A spokesperson said last year, "We've taken a series of tough actions to better protect families on YouTube and YouTube Kids, including getting content down faster through technology, hiring more people to help us tackle content that breaks our rules and cutting the revenue streams to content that misleads families." But those actions haven't always been enough. In response to criticism, YouTube has tried to deter users from posting offensive videos. In 2017, it altered its policy on what types of content would be eligible for ad money. Those changes kept clips that show "family entertainment characters engaged in violent, sexual, vile or otherwise inappropriate behavior, even if done for comedic or satirical purposes" from earning money. YouTube also improved its parental controls. Last April, the company added the option of only seeing content that had been approved by "partners and the YouTube Kids team." Then in September, it expanded that feature so that kids using the app would only see what their parents approved. When asked about any improvements since September, YouTube explained that it has added a number of new features, including stronger controls for parents. Things like timers, profiles, an option to disable search and the ability to approve both videos and channels are all on that list. And the company also reiterated that is offers collections that have been curated by trusted partners and YouTube Kids, which include channels like Sesame Street and PBS. Even though these changes have made a difference, YouTube Kids is still YouTube. And like the main version of the site, the quality of content ranges from acceptable to stuff that's just... weird. I don't know about you, but I'd rather my four-year- old play with his own toys than watch YouTube videos of kids playing with theirs. That's not offensive per se, but it's a little strange to me. Thankfully there are alternatives to YouTube Kids -- ones that are less likely to serve your little one up some nightmare fuel.
Cookie Monster wants to take over your browser
The entire Engadget staff is pretty excited about Cookie Monster's first PBS Kids movie "The Cookie Thief," (which premieres this Monday, February 16th). In celebration, our entire site is now a veritable sea of Cookie Monster GIFs! Well, sorta.
PBS gives parents a way to monitor what kids are watching on its site
The PBS KIDS website is a pretty great hub of entertainment for little ones. And even though there's nothing but useful learning content to be enjoyed there, PBS still wanted to make it easy for parents to monitor what their kids are doing on the site. Enter PBS KIDS Super Vision, an iOS application which promises to give you, the parent, a powerful tool that lets you do anything from keeping track of what the kids are watching in real-time, to limiting the amount of time they can spend on certain activities.
PBS Kids launches augmented reality game for iOS, says all the cool kids are counting sushi
It's official: Kids today have way cooler toys than you did when you were growing up. PBS Kids has just outed its first augmented reality mobile app for iOS -- a game called Fetch! Lunch Rush that aims to take the sting out of learning to do addition and subtraction in your head. If you're up on PBS' children's programming (and why wouldn't you be?), you'll recognize that pooch Ruff Ruffman as the game show host in the animated show Fetch! Here, he's a legendary movie director trying to make sure there's enough sushi for his movie crew (grown-up problems, right?). That's where the augmented reality comes in: bits of raw fish floating around screen. Though it's worth noting that this isn't augmented reality in the strictest sense of the term, in that you have to print out game cards to use with your iPhone or iPod touch's camera. The free app requires an iPhone or iPod touch (fourth-gen or later) or an iPad / iPad 2 running iOS 4.0. While we can't say we're a bit envious of those six- to eight-year-olds with their very own iPod touches, but then again, will they ever know the sheer joy of hunting in Oregon Trail over and over again? %Gallery-139344%
PBS releases children's iPad app, interesting usage stats
Last week PBS released its free PBS KIDS Video for iPad app. The app features more than 1000 videos from over a dozen PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS GO! series, including Sesame Street, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, and Super WHY! The app itself was purposefully designed so that young kids could easily navigate it. Videos can be watched anywhere in the US with a Wi-Fi or 3G connection, and the app also features local PBS station TV schedules, a TV series' intended age and learning goals, and social network sharing. The app is sure to be a hit with kids and parents alike, but what I found most interesting about PBS KIDS Video for iPad were the usage stats in the associated press release. A recent PBS survey about how kids and parents interact with the iPad revealed that 70 percent of parents reported allowing their children to use their iPad. Each iPad, on average, contained eight apps specifically downloaded for their kids. Furthermore, 40 percent of the parents surveyed said their children played on the iPad at least once a day, but their children's daily iPad "playing" wasn't only for entertainment apps. A full 90 percent of parents said that "educational value" was the most important criteria when choosing an app for their kids.
