Tech Tuesday: Let YouTube read to your child

Kids love screens, AMIRITE? I am prone to feeling guilty about any second of screen-time my kids have, so I constantly remind myself that there’s so much great educational content on tv and on our mobile devices, that their access to digital stuff is actually part of a healthy, balanced diet of media for a 21st century kid. There’s time for books and there’s time for apps.

And there’s sort of something in between…

I recently became aware of the large number of videos on YouTube that are children’s picture books being read aloud. Some are amateur productions; some are promotional videos created by the publishers; some are animated versions of the book; and some are just average people turning he pages.

I’m going to post a bunch of links to them here, but first, because there’s also so much crap on YouTube, I recommend that you create a specific playlist of videos you like to show your child, so that you can easily find them again. (Big kid tip: We have added the videos that are okay for our kids to watch to our “Favorites” list within YouTube, and they know that that’s the only place they’re allowed to navigate on their own. If they want to search for “The Chicken Dance”, an adult needs to look over their shoulder to make sure they pick a decent result.)

If you just want to use this playlist of picture books, I’ve put it on our Rookie Moms barely-used YouTube account. Some videos have ads in front of them, and I am sorry about that.

Here’s what I found:

Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
Eric Carle reads The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus animation
Goodnight Moon
There’s An Alligator Under My Bed–read by Mercer Mayer — a little scary
Todd Parr reads “This is My Hair”
Read-Aloud! Green Eggs and Ham
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems free (read by Kendan Lovell)
Caps For Sale
Where the Wild Things Are (also a little scary)
Polar Bear Polar Bear, What Do You Hear
Guess How Much I Love You ~ written by Sam Mc Bratney ~
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

And here they all are, one after another: