Reading is such an essential skill. Helen, my seven-year-old, is an avid reader. She loves books and particularly enjoys works by authors such as Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl.
It’s not quite so straightforward with Izzy as she is only three years old. She can recognise her name and attempts to spell words but it’ll be a while until she can read. That said, she loves to sit down and have stories read to her.
As a family that puts a lot of importance on reading, we were delighted to hear about a campaign that’s been launched by YouTube Kids. Called #ReadAlong, the aim is to celebrate reading throughout the month of June and encourage children to get reading ahead of the long summer break. Those of us with school-aged children will, after all, be concerned about retaining those all-important literacy skills while there are no classes at school.
Along with Helen and Izzy, I’ve recorded a short video explaining a bit more about the campaign. Please do click on the play button and watch it for yourself.
Essentially, you will find a host of content on the YouTube Kids app that has been designed to encourage children to read. There are videos featuring kids’ rhymes, songs and classic stories such as Rapunzel.
There is also new content. One example comes from a group called Freckles. These guys started a band when they had kids. As the kids grew they grew, they concentrated on producing family friendly music. The Reading is Magic video was a particular hit with my kids, its message at the end being to “read a book to your favourite stuffed animal!”
SpacePOP has also been well received. This is a cartoon band producing kid-friendly tunes. Some of the videos come with lyrics that Helen can read that she sings along to. It’s a great way to encourage reading of material other than stories.
There’s loads of similar content on YouTube Kids to explore. If your family already use the app, simply punch in the #ReadAlong hashtag. If you don’t use YouTube Kids, you can download it for free for iOS and Android devices from iTunes or Google Play.
If you find anything particularly interesting on YouTube Kids, please do add your suggestions in a comment below. I’m always looking for inspiring suggestions. Also, if you have other suggestions for encouraging your children to read, please leave your ideas below. Happy reading!
Disclosure; I work in partnership with #YouTube Kids as an influencer. Thoughts and opinions entirely my own
10 thoughts on “#ReadAlong with YouTube Kids”
Thanks for sharing this John – my children all love reading and books in general. We have four bookcases in the house…one each! I hadn’t heard about this.
Thanks for linking to #sharewithme – hope you will join in again
Youtube Kids sounds fantastic. I’m struggling to find a direct link to them through your post though. #sharewithme
Hi John, thanks for this, my two are 5yrs and 7yrs so this would definitely be suitable for them and a nice change from the rubbish my daughter currently watched on YTKids! Will check it out with them after school today.
Hope your two find #ReadAlong useful! Thanks for commenting.
You Tube Kids was one of the first things I made sure was loaded when we bought mine her own tablet. Going to really dive into learning some reading fundamentals this summer and it will be one of the tools that I use #brilliantblogposts
As it happens, we’ve just got a new tablet. Guess what is going on it any moment??
SUch an amazing project! YouTube is very much loved in this house esp by my son haha and its nice that they are doing this for kids.
My son loves reading and we are going to check this out. I am sure he will get more inspiration in reading from thsi project =)
#sharewithme #brillblogpost
I hope he does Merlinda. It’s a fantastic way to encourage reading in kids.
Fantastic way to help children readin. I like your girls’ enthusiasm ? #SHAREWITHME
It is a great way to encourage reading; using technology to encourage a traditional and essential skill. Thanks for commenting.