As a writer, I have always admired William Shakespeare. I think the impact he had on the English language was staggering. I love the fact that phrases he invented such as dead as a door nail, faint hearted, bated breath and break the ice are still in everyday use.
In a few days time, Shakespeare Day will take place. We’ll all be able to celebrate the life and works of the man who gave us Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and a host of other plays and sonnets.
The day itself takes place on Saturday, 23 April. I’m delighted to reveal that I was approached by the guys at YouTube and asked to put together a playlist to mark the event.
Along with my eldest daughter, Helen, I was only too happy to oblige. The playlist is ready to view now (see below) and you can watch it by using the YouTube Kids app.
This was a very big deal as it transpires we’re the first people from outside of the USA to put together such a playlist for YouTube Kids. With that in mind, the pressure was on to get this right!
First of all, a bit about the YouTube Kids app. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a child-friendly version of YouTube that only shows child-friendly content and that comes with a host of parental controls. I wrote about the app when I was invited to its European launch.
You can download the app for iOS devices by following this link or for Android devices, by going here.
With that said, here’s a bit more information about the playlist. Helen and I trawled through YouTube to find videos that would be educational and entertaining. We’ve put together quite an array.
For those unfamiliar with Shakespeare, there are videos introducing his life and work. There are also videos highlighting the contribution he made to the English language. For general history buffs, there are a few videos highlighting what life was like in Shakespearean England, 400 years ago.
With the hope that young minds might find the videos inspiring, there are a couple highlighting some of my children’s favourite books. In addition to this, we sourced a few videos showing youngsters how they can write their own stories, poems and plays.
I’ve recently got into YouTube in a big way and I’m recording new vlogs and creating new playlists all the time. Please do check out our Shakespeare Day playlist. It was great fun to put together and a real honour to be asked to curate it.
Please do also consider downloading the YouTube Kids app. There’s some wonderful, educational content on there.
Happy viewing!
8 thoughts on “Shakespeare Day playlist on YouTube Kids; a great feast of learning”
What a great way to get kids to appreciate literature. My 6 year old loves the kids youtube channel although she normally watches horrible videos about Play-Doh toys
Thakns Joanna, I think it is a great way to get kids into Shakespeare. Hope you enjoy the playlist.
Excited – lots of great Shakespeare stuff on the tellybox tomorrow!
I fear I’ve been overseas so I haven’t seen the schedule! I imagine there will be a lot on TV but feel free to check out my playlist.
I would love my kids to get into Shakespeare and in fact I’m really pleased to see that Cbeebies have done their own version of A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream (with Justin Fletcher as Bottom!) and for my three year old to pick the preview to watch (he loves all their pantomimes). I can’t agree more that Shakespeare is one of my idols as arguably the most iconic writer in English history and the creator of some absolutely wonderful word images and idioms which have stuck with us down through all these years. I will have to check out your YouTube channel choices. #thelist
I’m, delighted to hear you’re such a big Shakespeare fan Sam. This was an opportunity I just couldn’t turn down for pretty much all the reasons you mention. Hope your boys get into Shakespeare in time. Soe of the videos will appea to them, I’m sure.
Well done you! Sounds awesome, Thanks for linking up to #TheList x
It was a great experience and I’m delighted to say the playlist has proven to be very popular.