Parents' Guide to The Kid Should See This

Don't expect to find the zany, over-the-top videos you'll see on some kid-focused sites. The thoughtfully selected, interesting clips on The Kid Should See This were taken from sources such as BBC Earth, Wired magazine, and The Washington Post -- and will inform younger viewers without talking down to them. Many items pack an educational punch. Kids will learn, for example, about how hippos and fish interact underwater and find out about Thomas Edison's lab. Other items fall more into the just-for-fun category, such as a video on hands-free snacking contraptions. Each video includes a brief, well-written description that's just long enough to be informative without being overwhelming.

Kids can enter a term to search the entire site for videos, but you can't really narrow down your viewing choices within each topic section, which may mean they have to resort to clicking through dozens of pages to find things to watch. But a note from the founder says the site plans to incorporate search refinements and other elements, so that functionality may be coming. (One of the features on that list -- the ability to bookmark items -- is currently available in testing mode, according to the site.) Parents will have to encourage any further discussion about the videos after kids watch them, since the site doesn't really offer any conversation starters. The generally short clips should offer enough information, though, to get kids interested, and hopefully encourage them to research some of the topics further.