Best Science YouTube Channels for Kids
Hey there, science enthusiasts! We've scoured the YouTube-verse to find some of the coolest YouTubers and channels to satisfy your curious minds. There are so many great videos in there that demonstrate unique experiments, give you sneak peek into laboratories and museums, enlighten you on the science of cold fusion and wow you with exploding rockets and slow-motion Slinky drops. Complete with catchy theme songs, fun personalities, high-quality animations, and fascinating interviews these channels promise to give you an in-depth look at seriously super science.
But the vast YouTube universe can be a scary and confusing place to navigate. One can easily get overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge available at the click of a mouse (or the touch of your screen) so we've picked a few to get you started on your quest to quench your curiosity.
One of the coolest science girls on YouTube is Emily Graslie, the “Chief Curiosity Correspondent of the Field Museum of Chicago.” On her channel TheBrainScoop, Emily takes you inside the museums and shows you everything! Specimen collections, the Whale Warehouse, King Tut's flat head, and even a fascinating skunk dissection! She can teach you more than you probably wanted to know about the Naked Mole Rat. Her style is just flat out fun and educational and it's like having your own private, super in-depth museum tour from the comfort of your own home.
Another museum-related channel: Smithsonian Channel
Dianna Cowern the host of Physics Girl covers physics, astronomy and other science-related topics. Lots of fun DIY demos, research news and interviews with experts. Ever seen someone breaking a wine glass using just the power of their voice? Watch Physics Girl do it and explain the science behind it as well. Learning physics can be so much fun!
This channel hosted by Anna Rothschild is exactly what its name promises. You get to dive into the beautiful world of gooey, slimy, creepy, yucky, muddy, nasty, nauseating, hideous, rotten, and smelly science. This video series comes to you from NOVA and is clearly not for the faint of heart. Expect talks about parasites, rabies, defensive vomiting, plant fungus and of course, mucus...so much mucus.
Science with Sophie is a relatively new channel with just two seasons on YouTube. It is a science comedy show hosted by the very talented Sophie. Rather than just talk science, Sophie jokes, acts, and sings which makes her videos entertaining and educational. Just listening to Sophie belting out her gravity blues song will have your kids hooked on science.
A great resource for cool science experiments. Steve Spangler is a great presenter and explains science through interactive experiments and demonstrations. He's been featured on lots of television talk shows and news channels showing over the top demos and cool science tricks. We're talking lots of dry ice, slime, floating/sinking, pressure rockets, erupting potions and cool smoke rings.
There are a lot of great personalities out there showing you fun experiments and activities that you can do at home safely. This channel literally takes those experiments and pretty much enlarges (or MAXES) them, testing things like giant pasta bridges you can walk across, a balloon powered hover disc you can ride on, and using magnetic levitation to float someone off the ground. The host, Phil, is pretty goofy, but then again, you'd have to be goofy to science like this. Amazing!
This channel has a little bit of everything...experiments to do at home, and cool, quick explanation videos of interesting topics. They ask awesome questions like whether plants sleep, could Jurassic Park happen in real life (always popular) and what happens if you flush all of the Earth's toilets at the same time....hold on, I have to go watch that one real quick. OMG did you know there are 1.4 billion flushing toilets in the world? Mind. Blown.
Are you a space enthusiast? I'd bet you are at least a little bit curious. So check out this channel made by Spaceflight historian and author Amy Shira Teitel explaining all sorts of interesting space-related topics like “What did NASA change after the Apollo 13 disaster?”, the history of Skylab (NASA's first space station), and she even breaks down the history of poop containment in space. Yes, that is a real issue for astronauts...fascinating!
Other cool space-related channels to check out:
A show with behind-the-scenes looks at the latest in NASA technology, including interviews with NASA scientists and engineers and cool explanations of space-related topics.
This channel is full of cool videos with in-depth looks at everyday science and engineering questions like what causes dandruff, how to launch a nuclear missile (OMG please don't do that) and jetpack rocket science. These videos are super well-made, in-depth and full of interesting interviews, explanations and demonstrations. I suggest you check out the Awesome HD Slinky Slow-Mo video. I may or may not have watched it several times. So mesmerizing!
Here are some more cool demonstrations and experiments to check out with a geeky science teacher and fun presenter who regularly goes on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Nickelodeon's Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn. Because who doesn't want to watch a Tesla coil triggered ethanol powered film cannister gatling gun go off? Check out the Sci-fi themed classroom setup, which really makes me wish I could go study there.
There you have it. Our favorites of the YouTube world.
Isn't it nice to know that YouTube has a lot more to offer than music videos about baby sharks?
Speaking of baby shark video, here is one with more science and substance.
We hope you've enjoyed this selection of science YouTube channels and personalities.
Is there a science-related YouTuber out there that we missed? Let us know! We love discovering new science communicators!
-Julie Nagy
