YouTube Kids

Sitting down with your child and exploring their favourite app or game is a great way for you to learn more about what they like to do online.

You can ask them why they like to use an app or play certain games, as well as who they’re talking to and what sorts of things they’re sharing.

You can also read our Net Aware reviews for tips on how to keep kids safe on popular apps, sites and games.

You can decide what type of videos your child can watch based on the YouTube Kids ‘content levels’:

• ‘Preschool’ - Ages 0-4
  Designed for children aged 4 and under, these videos should promote creativity, playfulness, learning and exploration.
• Younger - Ages 5-7
  Designed for 5-7 year olds, children can explore videos on a range of topics, including cartoons, crafts and songs.
• Older - Ages 8-12
  Designed for 8-12 year olds, this lets children search and explore more videos, including music and gaming videos and vlogs.

Remember that these are general categories and it’s important to decide what’s right for your family.

You can also handpick videos which you want your child to be able to watch and only allow them access to these.

Whatever you choose, if your child is old enough, take the time to explore the settings with them and talk about how they can make watching videos on YouTube safer.

Explore YouTube Kids' advice on setting up content levels.

YouTube Kids has loads of helpful advice for parents. Take the time to explore this information so you’re comfortable with all of the settings and tools.

They’ve also created useful FAQs, answering a lot of important questions, including how to flag inappropriate videos.

YouTube Kids lets children search for videos they’d like to watch, usually by typing in the search bar or by tapping the microphone icon to do a voice search.

YouTube Kids lets parents turn off the search function. With search turned off, your child can’t search for videos and can only watch videos from a set of channels that have been verified by YouTube Kids.

YouTube Kids do stress that even with search disabled there’s always a chance your child might find something you don’t want them to see because no filter is 100% effective. If you’re concerned, use YouTube Kids with your child to make sure all the videos are appropriate.

Read YouTube Kids' advice on search for more information.

If you’re signed in as a parent, you can create separate profiles for up to eight children. Each profile can have its own settings to help manage what your child can watch.

YouTube Kids has advice on creating profiles for kids.

If your child’s old enough, then go through the settings with them and talk about why you’re using certain parental controls and how they can help to keep them safe.

Tip: Always try to watch a videos before you let your child see them to check it doesn’t contain anything that might upset them.
You should also make sure to only watch videos from trusted sources or from channels you’ve watched before.

Another way to check whether a video is ok for a child to see is to look at the comments and whether people have rated it ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’.

Explain that you understand the internet is a great place to play, create, learn and connect. But remind them they can talk to you if anything upsets or worries them.

Reassure them that you won’t overreact – you’re just looking out for them.

It’s important to remind your child that they can talk you, another adult they trust, like a teacher, or Childline about anything they see online.