What to put on
Videos to keep kids busy while you cook dinner, by age
So you can hand over the tablet while dinner's on the stove without checking what's playing first.
The half hour before dinner is when you most need a video you don’t have to think about, because your hands are in the pan and you can’t keep glancing at the screen. Everything below is a good fit at the age it’s listed under and has nothing in it that’ll bring you over from the stove, whether that’s a frightening moment or something selling a toy. Each pick also comes with the reason it suits that particular stretch of the evening, so you can choose one in the time it takes to fill a pot.
Age 3 to 5
Bluey
A party game of pass the parcel, and an episode about losing it and still being glad for whoever won. That gives you something to ask about once everyone's sitting down to eat.
Caitie's Classroom
A real pumpkin patch, the different kinds growing in it, and a jack-o'-lantern carved at the end. It's filmed outdoors, and it's in season for the next few weeks.
Mr Tumble
A story about pretending to fly an aeroplane. It winds things down rather than up, which helps right before food, when the house tends to be at its loudest.
Genki Park
Cartoon songs about eating a balanced meal and about using the potty. Half of it is about sitting down to a proper meal, which is exactly where the evening is heading.
CoComelon
Cartoon dinosaurs count backward from ten to one. The counting is light, and the song holds the same level from the first verse to the last.
Yakka Dee
Letter sounds from A to L, said out loud while each letter's shape is traced on screen. It takes one letter at a time and never speeds up, so nothing in it builds.
Blippi
Real penguins at the zoo, what they eat and how the keepers look after them. There's no plot to lose, so a child who turns round to ask what's for dinner can turn straight back.
Alphablocks
Letter characters join up to make words out of their own sounds. It's bright without getting louder as it goes, which counts for a lot when the kitchen is already noisy.
Age 6 to 8
SciShow Kids
How heat and pressure deep underground turn one kind of rock into another. It stays on that single idea long enough to explain it properly, and it settles a room rather than livening it up.
Caitie's Classroom
A trip to a forest adventure park, where the big obstacle comes only after practice on a smaller one. The feeling in it is nerves rather than fear, so nothing in it will send anyone looking for you.
Brain Candy TV
The parts of a digger and how the hydraulics make them move. It explains one machine plainly and at a steady pace, which is easy company for a child who likes to know how things work.
StoryBots
Songs about brushing teeth, tidying up, getting enough sleep and feeling sad. Each song runs straight into the next, and it stays upbeat without winding anyone up.
Age 9 to 10
Art for Kids Hub
A cartoon tiger, drawn and coloured with markers one shape at a time. The video ends when the tiger's finished, which gives it a clean place to stop.
Maddie Moate
A greenhouse full of pineapple plants, and how to grow a new one from a pineapple top at home. If there's a pineapple in the fruit bowl, dinner has turned into a weekend project.
Kids Learning Tube
Countries sung one after another, each with its flag on screen. The same pattern repeats the whole way through, so there's never a gap for attention to wander off into.
Math Antics
Percentages as fractions over a hundred, then as decimals. It's a straight explanation with no detours, and it feels settling rather than bright.
Pick the video before autoplay does
The video you put on while you cook doesn’t have to teach anything or keep the house silent. It has to fit your child’s age and have nothing in it that pulls you away from the stove, and choosing it yourself, rather than letting autoplay pick whatever comes next, is how you get both.
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