I Have 2 Kids – Here Are the Streaming Services We Use Most

My kids are spoiled. They have nearly every movie and TV show in the world available at the click of a button. But we are limited by our budget. So here’s what we pay for and what my kids actually use to stay entertained.

PBS Kids: The Free MVP

Whenever my friends are pregnant, I start seeding the ground at the baby shower: “You know about PBS Kids, right? It’s free and it’s amazing.”

This streaming service was the single most helpful thing from ages 2-5. All the shows are free, the episodes rotate about once a month, and every show offers something different. “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” was my kids’ favorite show during their preschool years. A recent UCLA study showed that teens who watched the show as kids still carry many of Daniel Tiger’s positive lessons years later.

There’s also “Sesame Street,” “Curious George,” “Wild Kratts,” and “Super Why,” which is very helpful with letters and early reading. My personal favorite is “Word Girl,” a very funny superhero spoof with celebrity voices like Chris Parnell, Ed Asner, Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, and Weird Al Yankovic.

Unlike every other app in this article, I can vouch for the quality and safety of the programs on PBS Kids. Every episode has something to teach, whether that’s literacy or math or problem solving or emotional intelligence.

Even better, PBS Kids is one of the rare free apps that allows downloads, and an iPad full of Daniel Tiger can make any kids’ road trip a lot smoother. There’s also a companion PBS Kids games app featuring educational games and characters from the shows.

Netflix: Something for Everyone

You had to know this would make the list. Netflix does almost everything well, but it really nails the kids section.

There’s a huge variety of shows and Netflix makes it easy to navigate with large images of characters drawing attention to the right shows my kids want to watch.

My kids love bingeing shows like “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir,” “Octonauts,” “LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising,” “Batwheels,” and “Action Pack.”

I also love that Netflix allows excellent control of a child’s library. Go to the Netflix Profiles page, and click Adjust parental controls. From there, you can decide what rating to allow on a child’s profile, but you can also remove titles entirely. Scroll down to where it says Title Restrictions and start typing the name of a movie or show you’d like to disappear. (We used this when our kids started picking up some unacceptable language from “Captain Underpants.”)

I wish every streaming service allowed that level of parental lockdown.

Disney+: All the Classics

You know the deal with Disney+: It’s packed with Bluey, Star Wars, Marvel, The Muppets, Pixar, and all the good stuff from Disney Channel and the Disney animated library.

It’s basically a must-have for families with kids.

But the Disney+ user interface is really bad. As I’m logged into my kids’ account, I scroll down to see “Tucci in Italy” and “BBQ Brawl” as newly-added titles. No offense to Stanley Tucci’s travel adventures or the fine people whipping up a barbecue platter, but my kids have no interest in that.

The problem is that the Disney+ parental controls aren’t great. You can select a “Junior Mode,” but that’s too restrictive. Junior Mode only shows all-ages content, which means you won’t even see a PG movie there. Disney+ also limits the Junior Mode library so not all G-rated films are available. The only real benefit to Junior Mode is that there are no commercials, even if you have an ad-supported plan. But I quickly dumped it after my kids couldn’t find their favorite movies.

In the parental controls screen, you can choose the highest content rating, but there’s a huge difference between PG/TV-PG and PG-13. If I unlock PG-13 for my kids, they’d see movies I don’t want them watching at this age, like “Venom” or “Free Guy.”

Even “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” is only rated PG, and the ribcage-ripping heart removal scene is part of what led to the need of the PG-13 rating. There’s no way to hide that from my elementary school-aged kids on Disney+ unless I lower the rating threshold to G/TV-G, which gets rid of far too much content.

If your kids don’t mind the annoying user interface, Disney+ has a lot to love. Even the old stuff holds up. My kids loved “Swiss Family Robinson” and “The Princess Bride.”

Other Contenders

Paramount+ is actually a really good choice for families because it has the Nickelodeon library with standouts like “PAW Patrol,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Blaze and the Monster Machines,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Rugrats,” and “The Fairly OddParents.” It’s also home to the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. If your kids like any of those franchises, they’ll be very happy with Paramount+

Kanopy is a free service that is a must-have, and they have a special kids section that includes a lot of PBS Kids titles and several read-along options for kids. It’s worth checking out, but the user interface makes it a better choice for adults. It could come in handy is you’re co-watching with your little ones.

Apple TV+ has some legitimately great kids shows including the Peanuts/Snoopy/Charlie Brown collection. I love almost everything I watch on Apple TV+, but the only issue is that the library is so small. It’s a great change-of-pace if your kids are burned out on the others I recommend.

Streamers I Don’t Recommend for Kids

While we have Prime Video, there’s so much low-quality junk available, my kids don’t even look there. It’s a remarkably poor user interface for kids.

Prime Video can be a nice choice if you bulk it up with add-ons from kid-friendly premium channels: PBS Kids, Pokémon, Sensical, Ameba, Kartoon Channel, Hopster Learning, Yippee Kids TV, Kidstream, Great American Pure Flix, Ryan and Friends Plus, UP Faith & Family, Dove Channel, PixL

Max has great content for grown-ups, but it’s a bad choice for kids. Max’s parent company explicitly said it’s abandoning children’s content to focus on adults.

Peacock has a few titles worth watching, but the overall kids’ section is poor.

Hulu occasionally has kids content, but nearly all the good stuff ends up on its sister streamer: Disney+.

Conclusion

Nobody wants to raise a generation of couch potatoes, but PBS Kids, Netflix, and Disney+ have allowed me to sleep in on weekends.

PBS Kids may be the only streamer you need to entertain your kids from ages 2-5. That gives them a good foundation in educational programming. Once your kids enter school, they may crave a little more excitement and some junk food TV. That’s where Netflix and Disney+ can come in.

While Disney+ has the superior entertainment library, its clumsy parental controls mean your kids may favor Netflix. Hopefully, Disney improves the interface soon.