YouTube is one of the world’s most widely used social media platforms. If you are a parent, you might concern about this video platform being used by your children. Because kids, just like adults, use YouTube quite widely and there is a lot of harmful content for children. How to ensure children’s safety on the internet is an ongoing debate but social media platforms are try to take action to protect child viewers. Therefore, in YouTube’s case, YouTube took such parental concerns into consideration, and realized the YouTube Kids app in 2015.
What is “YouTube Kids”?
YouTube Kids is an app designed entirely for kids and their families. Thanks to this app, child users now have an environment with content created exclusively for them. Certainly, this app also has very positive outcomes for families. Because YouTube offers various features that give parents peace of mind while their kids watch videos. With this app, parents:
- Determine what content their children can watch. They can block content they don’t want their children to watch.
- Set the amount of screen time their children can spend on the app.
- Filter content according to their children’s age.
- Can view and manage their children’s YouTube history settings.
Hence, the YouTube Kids app enables parental control to keep children safe.
However, it should not be forgotten that kids are not only consumers of YouTube, but also its subjects since its establishment. Indeed, YouTube’s child stars are inspiring many other kids who watch them to dream of having their own channels.
If you are planning to start a Kids YouTube channel for your child or as a content creator and you are wondering how to start a YouTube channel for kids, don’t worry, we have already prepared a complete guide for you in this article.
What to Consider Before Starting a YouTube Kids Channel
Considering your target audience, starting a kid’s YouTube channel is a sensitive task. Therefore, if you have such an idea, I recommend you read YouTube’s relevant documents before starting your own YouTube channel and creating content. For example, you can begin by reading YouTube’s child safety policy. This will give you an idea of things you should and shouldn’t do with your content as a YouTube creator that targets kids. More than this, it shows you the rules you need to follow.
On the other hand, YouTube offers various starter suggestions for those who want to start a YouTube kids channel. Their first recommendation is to create content that the whole family can watch together, rather than targeting only the youngest kid in the family.
Features List for Youtube Kids Channel:
In addition, they list some of the features that your YouTube videos should have. Here are some of them:
- Surprising
- Entertaining
- Non-Commercial
- Kind
- Respectful
Of course, there are also features that your content should not have. If we look at some of them, your content must not contain the following elements:
- Condescending
- Offensive
- Inappropriate Language
- Lewd
- Confusing
- Scary
At the same time, YouTube has identified a few key elements that can guide you toward high-quality content:
- Creating a decent story
- Making this story interesting at the beginning of the video.
- Creating characters in this story that kids can connect with
- Emphasizing gender equality
- Promoting a sense of empathy
can be listed as.
For much more on this topic, you can check out YouTube’s guide for YouTube Kids content creators. You will definitely find some handy tips before you set out for your YouTube Kids channel. However, you might still have problems reaching a high number of subscribers for your channel, then, it would be logical to buy views for your YouTube account.
Technical Details
If you have the question of how to start a YouTube channel for kids in your mind, another element you should pay attention to is the technical details. In other words, you should pay attention to your video quality. Not only do you need to make new videos, but also, these videos need to be of high quality.
Therefore, in addition to using the best possible equipment, you should also work hard on issues such as video editing. If it is challenging for you to accomplish each task, you can consider getting support from professionals in matters such as video editing.
Ensuring your Child’s Safety
If you are not an adult YouTuber who produces content for kids, i.e. if you are a parent who creates a YouTube channel for their child, you should consider the safety of your children as well as the protection of the viewers.
For kids, creating content on a video platform like YouTube can be perceived as a kind of simple talent show, but at the end of the day, this content is published on a public platform, the internet. And internet safety is one of the most important issues today. That’s why it’s important to keep parental controls in effect.
Another essential thing is to make sure that your child has a balance between YouTube and school life, etc. In this respect, it is recommended that you set ground rules for your underage YouTuber at the very beginning of the path and apply them consistently.
But with these rules, be careful not to make YouTube a ‘serious’ thing for your child. Rather, you should make YouTube an enjoyable playground. This also encourages creativity.
How to Set Up a Kid’s YouTube Channel
There is a difference between starting a kid’s YouTube channel as an adult creator and starting a YouTube channel for a kid. The process is very simple if you are an adult YouTube creator and want to start a YouTube channel for kids. However, if you want to start a YouTube channel for kids, you need to take a few additional steps. Now let’s take a step-by-step look at how to create a YouTube channel for kids.
Create a Google Account
To have a YouTube channel for kids, you must first have a Google account. But as I mentioned, if you are going to create a YouTube kids channel for your kid, there is one thing you need to note. Your kids can’t manage their own Google account until they are 13. So this also means that they will not be able to have their own YouTube accounts.
In this case, if you ask how to start a YouTube channel for kids, Google’s family link app steps in. By connecting your existing Google account to this app, you can create a Google account for your kid that you will manage. This way, you can both manage your child’s account and track their activities on their device.
Create a YouTube Channel with your YouTube Account
As you know, YouTube and Google are owned by the same company. So having a Gmail account also makes you a YouTube account owner. To use YouTube, all you need to do is sign in with your Google account. It is important to emphasize again that if the channel, in this case, is created for your kids, they cannot manage their own accounts until the age of 13, just like Google accounts.
Now that you have an account on YouTube, you can start creating a kid’s YouTube channel. For this, you just need a few clicks.
First, go to the YouTube homepage by pressing the home button on the top left.
Then click on your profile picture at the top right of the screen. When you click on your profile picture, you will see many options appear below.
Here, you will see both create a channel and YouTube studio options at the top. Whichever of these two options you click, it will ask you to create your channel.
After clicking on one of the channel creation options, you will be faced with an interface. Here you can choose the name of your channel and select a unique profile photo. After you have done this, just click on the create channel button.
Make it Official that you Have Created a Kid’s YouTube Channel
Yes, you now have a YouTube channel. But this channel is still not exactly a YouTube channel for kids. So, there is one more thing you need to do.
To do this, you first need to enter the YouTube studio. When you enter the studio, you will see a screen like the one below. At the bottom left, you will see the settings button. Now click on the settings tab.
All you need to do on this screen is select the channel settings tab and click on advanced settings. As you can see, you are now officially declaring to YouTube that your channel is a YouTube channel for kids. By doing so, you are also committing to comply with YouTube’s platform rules and producing proper videos. Click Save and save your settings.
And voila, the video channel you created for your kids is now ready. Now it’s time to create videos and promote your YouTube channel online.
Popular Content Types for YouTube Kid’s Channels
So now that you have a YouTuber kid, it’s time to decide what kind of videos to record and how much energy and time your kid will spend recording videos. Let’s first look at what kind of popular content is out there in the world of YouTube kids.
Toy Reviews
One of the most popular video content for kids channels is toy reviews. Unboxing and reviewing your new toys can be a good content idea. Just like adults, kids are very interested in online product reviews. Many popular channels have grown their audiences with this content type.
In addition, it is possible to create many different entertaining and different concepts with the toys in other videos later.
Playful Science
Science content can be interesting, beneficial, and entertaining for kids. Tiny scientific experiments that you can do with your child will definitely attract the attention of other children. It can also help you earn plus points from YouTube by getting your channel scanned in other areas.
Magic Tricks
Magic tricks are just as popular with kids on YouTube as they are in real life. A few simple tricks that you and your child can do together can increase your views. If you have the opportunity, enriching these videos with supporting visuals, such as animations, will make you stand out even more.
Final Notes
Let’s finish this article with some final notes to always keep in mind. Primarily, you are on YouTube, even if you are a channel that makes kids videos. Therefore, you should choose your channel topic, video titles, and descriptions carefully. Do not be a stranger to what SEO is, and take care to prepare appropriate titles and video descriptions.
Another note, again on safety. Maybe you don’t want your channel to be public for your child’s safety. In this case, you can configure your videos to be available only to the people you want to watch them. When you change your privacy settings in this way, you won’t appear in searches. You can only forward your video to the people you want and let them watch it.
But at the end of the day, remember that this is your kid’s channel. You are supervising and guiding. So, make sure you listen to your child and let them take an active role in this process.
