Parents' Guide to Canela Kids

The app's parental controls skew more towards suggesting content, rather than blocking it -- but with many kid-friendly items to choose from, there's plenty to watch. Canela Kids offers a selection of shows and other videos, including some movies, in Spanish. Canela Media, the app's parent company, is involved in producing some of the shows, such as Club Mundo Kids, a program that showcases Hispanic and Latino children and emphasizes taking an interest in other cultures. Some of the app's videos feature well-known kids' characters, including Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, Cocomelon, and Barney. On the homepage, animated, live-action, and other shows are grouped under headings like "Chicas al poder" ("Girls' power") and "Amigos, Aventuras y más" ("Friends, Adventures and more"). The content is also cataloged alphabetically and by channel in the Explorar section of the app, which also has a list of available movies. To customize kids' viewing experience, parents can create a profile for their child after registering, enter a PIN they'll use to access the account, and select an age range -- either 1-4, 5-8, or 9-12. Videos for that demographic will then be shown on the homepage and other sections.

While much of the content features positive themes like exploration, educational, and creative aspects, such as the arts-and-crafts show "Mister Maker," some items -- like "Ryan's World," a show that originated on YouTube and centers on trying out new toys -- aren't as beneficial. Parents will need to be at least vaguely familiar with Spanish to use the app. All of its content, including instructions, are in that language. By clicking on a star, parents can denote individual episodes, shows, or other items as favorite selections, which will be displayed in the Favoritos section. In theory, that could provide kids with a list of pre-selected options so they could use the app independently. Parents should note, though, that the controls won't necessarily prevent kids from accessing other content within the app. They could potentially find other videos by searching or clicking on the homepage. But that won't be a problem, as long as parents logged into their Canela Kids account before handing their child their phone or other device -- because anything kids come across should be intended for their age range and shouldn't contain iffy language, imagery, or other elements.