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Art by Haejin Park.
Art by Haejin Park.

From CodeSpark to “Shark Tank,” the Apps, Shows and Devices Silicon Valley Parents Swear By


The Information’s subscribers, and a few powerful tech parents, share what technology their children are playing, streaming and operating.

March 25, 2022 11:00 AM PDT

Silicon Valley’s kids—are they just like us? In our tech and parenting survey, we asked 1,053 subscribers about the technology they use with their children. We mined the survey for their specific recommendations, from kids’ shows to coding apps.

Top 5 Shows on Streaming Networks or TV

  1. “Bluey” 
  2. “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” 
  3. “Wild Kratts” 
  4. “Octonauts” 
  5. “Peppa Pig”

“One of our favorite shows is StoryBots, which they love and is really educational.”—Heidi Zak, founder and CEO, ThirdLove (kids ages 6 and 8)

“We severely limit general TV watching but are fine with a Disney or superhero movie on family movie night, or ‘Shark Tank’ so that they can learn the language of business.—Nirav Tolia, Co-Founder and Former CEO of Nextdoor (kids ages 6, 8 and 9)

 

Top 5 YouTube Channels

  1. CoComelon
  2. Mark Rober
  3. Khan Academy
  4. Dude Perfect
  5. Cosmic Kids Yoga

“With sufficiently effective parental controls and an exhaustive library of great content, YouTube is a must-have.”—Nirav Tolia

 

Top 5 Gaming Platforms

  1. Nintendo Switch
  2. Minecraft
  3. Xbox
  4. Roblox
  5. Super Nintendo and Wii (tie)

“My kids have played many Zynga games, especially the hypercasual games like High Heels. They loved Merge Mechanic and played Merge Magic too. But they move through games quickly and always return to Minecraft and Roblox.”—Mark Pincus, chair and founder, Zynga (kids ages newborn, 7 and 11 [twins])

“I recommend Osmo—an incredible product that lets kids use real-world learning materials that interact with their iPads. Lumi—the coolest way to teach kids music and piano.”—Brit Morin, founding partner, Offline Ventures (kids ages 5 and 7)

 

Top 5 Coding Apps

  1. CodeSpark
  2. Tynker
  3. Hopscotch
  4. GoldieBlox
  5. Scratch

KidloLand has great educational content for our 4- and 6-year-olds. They feel like they’re playing a game, but they’re learning coding basics along the way.”—Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Managing Partner, Inspired Capital (kids ages 3, 4 and 6)

 

Top 5 Streaming Platforms

  1. YouTube
  2. Netflix
  3. Disney+
  4. Amazon Prime Video
  5. iTunes

“They mostly watch Apple TV, Disney+ and Netflix. We do not let them roam YouTube freely.”—Brit Morin

 

Top 5 Social Media Apps

  1. Instagram
  2. Snap
  3. TikTok
  4. Facebook
  5. Pinterest

“Carmen (11) is very into TikTok, which I tolerate, especially because she keeps showing me she is learning math and other somewhat useful things.”—Mark Pincus

 

Top 5 Tech Accessories

  1. Alexa
  2. AirPods
  3. Google Home
  4. Kindle
  5. iPod

“We love to put on the 'Super Great Kids’ Stories' podcast on our Amazon Echo. It’s great audio content, with stories from all over the world about value systems.”—Alexa von Tobel

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