The best YouTube channels for 9 to 12-year-olds

Your 10-year-old has outgrown the cartoons, and YouTube Kids now gets an eye roll. They want "real YouTube", the one their friends talk about at school. You want to say yes to the science videos and the history sketches, and no to the feed that follows them. So you search for the best YouTube channels for 10-year-olds and find lists built for 6-year-olds, or lists built for teenagers.

The best YouTube channels for 9 to 12-year-olds are official channels that treat a child as clever: TED-Ed, Be Smart and minutephysics for science, Horrible Histories and BBC Newsround for history and news, Blue Peter for making, Math Antics and Numberphile for maths, Deep Look and PBS Eons for nature. Below they are sorted by interest rather than by age, because at this age interest is what decides whether a video gets watched. After the lists comes the part most lists skip: what to do about Shorts, and how to set YouTube up so the channels you picked are the channels your child sees.

If you would like your child to see only those channels, with no Shorts, no autoplay and no recommendations in between, Pepelly does exactly that. More on it at the end.

What changes between 9 and 12

A 9-year-old still watches shows. A 12-year-old watches creators. In between, three things shift at once.

First, attention. Children in this band can follow a fifteen-minute argument, hold a question in their head and enjoy being surprised by the answer. The best channels for them look like a good teacher or a good documentary, not a cartoon.

Second, independence. YouTube itself treats this band as a step: its supervised experience offers a content setting called Explore for children generally aged 9 and over, Explore more for 13 and over, and Most of YouTube for older teens. A parent sets it from Family Link or Family Center, and the child cannot change it. Most families with a 10-year-old end up here rather than in YouTube Kids, which many children of this age find too young.

Third, time. The Common Sense Media Census of 2021 found that US tweens aged 8 to 12 spend about five and a half hours a day on entertainment screen media, and online video is the single biggest piece of it. That is an average, not a target. It is a reminder that the list of channels and the rules around them have to be decided together, because at this age a list nobody agreed on does not hold.

The channels below come from our own catalogue, put together by hand. We list only official channels, run by the broadcaster, museum, school or the person who makes the videos. Each one carries an age band that is our judgement, not a certificate. Some of the channels aim at the top of the band, and we say so.

Science channels for 9 to 12-year-olds

Science is where this age band is best served on YouTube, because many of the strongest channels were made by teachers and public broadcasters for exactly this audience.

TED-Ed (youtube.com/@TEDEd) posts animated lessons of about five minutes on science, history, language and riddles, each written by a teacher and drawn by a different animator. The riddles alone can fill a long car journey. Some lessons aim at teenagers, so a quick look at the title helps. Ages 9 to 12 and up.

Be Smart (youtube.com/@besmart) is PBS's "It's Okay to Be Smart", in which Joe Hanson takes one big science question per episode and answers it carefully, with real sources. It is calm, funny and never talks down. Ages 9 to 12.

minutephysics (youtube.com/@MinutePhysics) explains one physics question at a time on a whiteboard. Why is the sky dark at night, what is a black hole, how do magnets work. The drawings are simple and the thinking is not. Ages 9 to 12.

Steve Mould (youtube.com/@SteveMould) is a British science presenter who builds clear demonstrations of surprising physics, often with things from a hardware shop. It is the channel for a child who asks "but why does it do that". Ages 10 to 12.

Journey to the Microcosmos (youtube.com/@journeytomicro) shows slow, beautiful microscope footage of tiny organisms with calm narration. The series has ended, but the back catalogue is large and it is the quietest science channel we know. A good evening pick. Ages 9 to 12.

SciShow (youtube.com/@SciShow) covers general science news and explainers for curious older children and teens. It is quicker and denser than the others here and suits the top of the band. Ages 11 to 12 and up.

Operation Ouch (youtube.com/@OperationOuch) has CBBC's doctor twins explaining how the body works, with a little gross-out humour. It bridges the gap for a 9-year-old who is not ready for the whiteboard channels yet. Ages 6 to 11.

For a child who already has a favourite subject from school, our guide to the best educational YouTube channels for kids, by age and subject sorts the learning channels for every band into a single table.

History and news channels

Children of this age start to care about what is true and what happened before they were born. Two kinds of channel meet that: history told as comedy, and news told at a child's level.

Horrible Histories (youtube.com/@HorribleHistoriesOfficial) is the official CBBC sketch comedy based on Terry Deary's books, from Rotten Romans to the Stuarts. It is rude in the way 10-year-olds love and right in the way teachers need. The channel posts themed sketch collections next to single sketches, so check the length. Ages 9 to 12.

BBC Newsround (youtube.com/@BBCNewsroundOfficial) is the BBC's news programme for children. It explains current events and the stories behind them at a child's level, which helps when your child has heard something worrying at school and needs it put in proportion. Ages 9 to 12.

CNN 10 (youtube.com/@CNN10) is a daily ten-minute news show written for students. It assumes more than Newsround does and suits 11- and 12-year-olds who want to know what is going on in the world. Ages 11 to 12.

PBS Eons (youtube.com/@eons) is PBS's deep-time series about fossils, extinct animals and how life on Earth changed. For a child who has outgrown dinosaur picture books, this is the next step. Ages 9 to 12.

The Brain Scoop (youtube.com/@thebrainscoop) goes behind the scenes at Chicago's Field Museum with the scientists who look after its collections. A few videos show specimens being prepared, which some children find fascinating and others do not. Ages 10 to 12.

Channels for making things

Watching turns into doing on these channels, which is the best thing a screen can do for a 10-year-old on a rainy Saturday.

Blue Peter (youtube.com/@bluepeter) is the BBC's long-running children's magazine: makes, experiments, recipes and presenter challenges. The makes use things you have at home and the presenters talk to the child as an equal. Ages 6 to 12.

Origami with Jo Nakashima (youtube.com/@JoNakashima) folds paper slowly on camera, from simple animals to geometric models, with no music and no hurry. It is a calm channel for a child who likes to get something exactly right. Ages 9 to 12.

Hoffman Academy (youtube.com/@HoffmanAcademy) teaches piano and music theory step by step, patiently enough to follow at home on a keyboard. It is structured like real lessons, which suits a child who wants to improve rather than just watch. Ages 6 to 12.

Maths channels that do not feel like homework

Two channels cover the range, from the child who needs fractions explained again to the child who wants to know what mathematicians actually do.

Math Antics (youtube.com/@mathantics) explains maths clearly and without hurry, from place value to fractions, percentages and early algebra. It is the channel to open when homework stalls at the kitchen table and your own explanation is not landing. Ages 7 to 12.

Numberphile (youtube.com/@numberphile) has mathematicians talking enthusiastically about numbers, patterns and puzzles with a pen and brown paper. It shows a child that adults find maths exciting, which no textbook manages. Some videos go deep, and that is fine; the point is the enthusiasm. Ages 10 to 12 and up.

Nature and animal channels

Nature channels for this band swap the cartoon animals of the younger years for real footage and real scientists.

Deep Look (youtube.com/@KQEDDeepLook) is KQED and PBS filming tiny creatures in extreme close-up and explaining what they are doing. Each film is a few minutes long and complete in itself. Ages 8 to 12.

Nat Geo Kids (youtube.com/@natgeokids) carries National Geographic's animal, science and travel shows for children, plus the Greeking Out podcast about Greek myths. The channel posts long blocks next to single episodes, so look at the length before you tap play. Ages 6 to 12.

San Diego Zoo (youtube.com/@SanDiegoZoo) posts short films from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance about individual animals and the people who care for them. Quiet, warm and good for a child who wants to be a vet. Ages 6 to 12.

Animalogic (youtube.com/@Animalogic) makes animal-science explainers on evolution, new species and why animals behave as they do. It is a step up from Nat Geo Kids in depth. Ages 9 to 12.

RTÉ Kids (youtube.com/@RT%C3%89KIDS) is Ireland's public broadcaster for older children, including "Bush Kids", where families learn to camp, forage and build outdoors. Ages 6 to 12.

If you are putting together a list for a younger sibling too, the best YouTube channels for kids, checked by a parent covers all three age bands from 3 to 12 in one place.

Shorts at this age

Ask a 10-year-old what they watch on YouTube and the honest answer is often "Shorts". The Shorts feed is where this age band spends much of its time, and it is the part of YouTube that most worries parents, for a simple reason: an episode ends, a feed does not. Each swipe brings a new clip chosen by an algorithm, and there is never a natural moment to stop.

Nine to twelve is also when Shorts arrive for real, because this is when children leave YouTube Kids, which has no Shorts feed, for the main app, which puts Shorts on a tab of its own. That makes it the right moment to decide, rather than to discover the habit later.

You have two tools. The first is a supervised account with the Shorts feed limit set to zero, which a parent sets in Family Center and the child cannot dismiss. It removes the Shorts feed in the YouTube app on phones and tablets. Shorts can still turn up in search results and through shared links, and the limit does not apply in a signed-out browser, so you need the device settings as well. Our guide on how to block YouTube Shorts for kids walks through every device and says where the gaps are.

The second tool is a conversation. Children of this age can understand why a feed is designed the way it is, and many find the explanation interesting rather than preachy. "Each clip is chosen so you keep swiping, and that is why it feels impossible to stop" lands better with a 10-year-old than "because I said so". Agree on no Shorts for now, say when you will talk about it again, and offer the short single videos above instead. Many children like Shorts because they are quick, not because they are vertical, and a four-minute minutephysics video satisfies the same itch with an end.

Setting YouTube up for a 10-year-old

A good list only helps if the next video is also one you chose. These steps keep the main YouTube app on your channels.

1. Pick eight to twelve channels from the lists above together, across two or three interests. Let your child make the case for one you had not thought of, and have a look at it before you say yes.
2. Set up a supervised account for your child through Family Link, and choose the Explore content setting for 9 and over. How to do it, and what each setting means, is in our guide to YouTube parental controls.
3. In Family Center in your own YouTube app, switch on Disable autoplay and set the Shorts feed limit to zero.
4. Block the channels you do not want from Family Center. A supervised account has no allowlist, so this is a blocklist: you can remove a channel, but everything else stays.
5. Check the video length on the tile, not the title. Horrible Histories and Nat Geo Kids both post long blocks next to single episodes.
6. Write the rules down. The American Academy of Pediatrics offers a free Family Media Plan at HealthyChildren.org that you fill in together, covering when, where and how long. Our screen time rules for kids, by age give a sample plan for a family with a 9-year-old.

Step 4 is the honest limit of YouTube's own tools at this age. YouTube Kids has an allowlist, called Approve content yourself, but most 10-year-olds have left YouTube Kids. A supervised account on main YouTube has content settings and a blocklist, which means recommendations, trending and search still show your child channels you have never heard of. For many families that is fine at 12. At 9 or 10 it is often more than they wanted.

A player with only the channels you picked

Pepelly is a video player for children from 3 to 12 that shows only the YouTube channels you approved. You add channels by search, by pasting a link, from a starter pack for your child's age or from your own subscriptions. Your child sees the newest video from every channel first and what they have already watched last. There are no Shorts, no autoplay, no recommendations and no comments. When a video ends, Pepelly's own screen offers "watch again" or "back to my videos".

Two things matter for this age in particular. First, your child can ask for a channel from inside the app, and you get a notification. That turns "can I have this channel" from a negotiation at the dinner table into a request you can look at when you have a minute, and it gives a 10-year-old the say they are asking for. Second, the starter pack for 9 to 12 allows videos up to an hour, so a full Blue Peter episode or a long Numberphile interview plays, while the ten-hour blocks stay hidden.

The free plan covers one child and ten channels, which fits two or three interests from the lists above. Pepelly Family adds more children and more channels, a bedtime, single-video rules and a weekly report. Videos play in the official YouTube player, and Pepelly does not remove YouTube ads. Pepelly is not affiliated with YouTube or Google. See how Pepelly works or pricing.