Kids shows, games, books, and toys: what the 2025–2026 data show about young children

• In August 2024, US parents reported that children ages 5–8 averaged 3 hours 28 minutes a day of screen media, compared with 2 hours 8 minutes at ages 2–4 and 1 hour 3 minutes under age 2 (Common Sense Census 2025).
• At ages 5–8, the averages for listening to music (35 minutes a day; not a screen activity), games on a smartphone or tablet (34), longer videos on apps such as YouTube (32), and streamed shows and movies (31) were within a few minutes of each other; the report does not test whether these activities differ. Short videos on TikTok, Reels, or YouTube Shorts averaged 22 minutes, and 27% of children that age watched them every day.
• Reading or being read to from print books averaged 27 minutes a day at ages 5–8. Separately, the share of 5- to 8-year-olds who read or are read to daily was 52% in 2024, compared with 63% in 2020 and 64% in 2017.
• In Nielsen's ranking of streaming viewed on US TV sets, Bluey was the most-streamed title of 2025, at 45.2 billion minutes. From January to June 2026, it was the top title among viewers ages 2–11, followed by PAW Patrol and SpongeBob SquarePants.
• US toy dollar sales grew 6% in 2025, and Pokémon was the top toy property at $2.5 billion (Circana). Among the 2025 US children's print bestsellers were Dog Man #14, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and two Ms. Rachel board books (Circana BookScan via Publishers Weekly).
• Each source measures something different: minutes reported by parents, viewing on TV sets, global Netflix views, or units and dollars sold. The numbers sit side by side in this story but can't be added up or ranked against each other.

Nielsen measures streaming viewed on TV sets in US homes, for everyone ages 2 and up. Its 2025 year-end ranking put Bluey first among all streaming titles with 45.2 billion minutes on Disney+. Nielsen notes that Bluey episodes average about eight minutes and that children make up more than half its audience. KPop Demon Hunters was the top kids movie of 2025 at 20.5 billion minutes, with 48% of its audience ages 2–11, and Moana 2 was second at 9.4 billion. Nielsen counts a movie as a kids movie when viewers ages 2–11 account for at least 30% of its minutes.

In the first half of 2026, Bluey was second among all titles with 22.81 billion minutes and, in Nielsen's words, the top title among viewers ages 2–11 "by a substantial margin." PAW Patrol (13.56 billion minutes) and SpongeBob SquarePants (16.89 billion) were second and third among ages 2–11. Zootopia 2 led kids movies with 6.54 billion minutes, and KPop Demon Hunters was second with 5.59 billion.

Netflix publishes its own global figures twice a year, counted as views: hours viewed divided by runtime. Its report on the second half of 2025 named kids and family titles such as Gabby's Dollhouse (108 million views across seasons), Peppa Pig (90 million), and Ms. Rachel (73 million); this is a list of examples, not a ranking. For the first half of 2026, Netflix called Ms. Rachel its most-watched kids title (69 million views across two seasons), followed by Mark Rober's CrunchLabs (36 million), Salish & Jordan Matter (29 million), and Danny Go! (26 million). In the same report, the animated films Swapped (131 million) and KPop Demon Hunters (130 million) had more views.

Because Nielsen counts US minutes on TV sets and Netflix counts global views on its own service, a title's place in one list says nothing about its place in the other. Our parent guides cover most of these kids TV shows and movies: Bluey, PAW Patrol, SpongeBob SquarePants, Ms. Rachel, Gabby's Dollhouse, KPop Demon Hunters, and Zootopia 2.

Nielsen 2025 (full year): US streaming minutes on TV sets, viewers ages 2+

Source: Nielsen ARTEY Awards 2025, period Dec. 30, 2024–Dec. 28, 2025. Measure: total viewing minutes on TV sets, persons 2+, Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings.

Nielsen, January–June 2026: US streaming minutes on TV sets, viewers ages 2+, and rank among viewers ages 2–11

Source: Nielsen first-half 2026 streaming charts and Streamscape 2026 (period Dec. 29, 2025–June 28, 2026). Measure: total viewing minutes on TV sets, persons 2+, Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings. The rank among ages 2–11 is Nielsen's, based on viewing by that age group, so it doesn't follow the minutes for all ages.

Netflix: global views of selected kids and family titles (hours viewed ÷ runtime)

Source: Netflix, What We Watched engagement reports for the second half of 2025 (published Jan. 20, 2026) and the first half of 2026 (published July 16, 2026). All Netflix members worldwide, all ages. Titles are those Netflix named in its kids and family summaries; the 2025 list is not ranked.

Pew Research Center surveyed 3,054 US parents of children 12 and under in May 2025, including 699 parents answering about a 5- to 7-year-old. Among those parents, 85% said their child ever watches YouTube and 48% said the child watches it daily. Ten percent said their 5- to 7-year-old uses TikTok.

The Common Sense Census asked what kinds of online videos children watch. At ages 5–8, the types most often watched "often or sometimes" were animal videos (62%), how-to and DIY videos (56%), educational videos (54%), learning videos about letters, numbers, or feelings (53%), and videos of people playing video games (52%). Nursery rhymes and children's music were reported for 37% of 5- to 8-year-olds, compared with 77% at ages 2–4.

Across all children 0–8, streaming services accounted for 35% of daily TV and video viewing, longer videos on apps such as YouTube 32%, short-video apps 16%, DVDs 11%, and live TV 6%. Our guides to YouTube Kids and YouTube cover settings and ratings.

Common Sense Census 2025: types of online video watched "often or sometimes," ages 5–8

Source: Common Sense Census 2025, Table 10. Sample: 1,578 US parents of children 0–8, August 2024. Measure: parent says the child watches this type of online video often or sometimes.

Gaming is where the age gap is widest. In the Common Sense data, 72% of children ages 5–8 played video games, and they averaged 1 hour 4 minutes of gaming a day, compared with 21 minutes at ages 2–4. More than half of that time at ages 5–8 (34 minutes) was on smartphones or tablets. Among 5- to 8-year-olds, 42% played online games on their own often or sometimes, 26% played social games online with people they know, and 17% with people they don't know.

Pew's 2025 survey shows how many young children use each device. Among parents of a 5- to 7-year-old, 81% said their child ever uses or interacts with a tablet, 58% a smartphone, and 52% a gaming device; 12% said the child has their own smartphone, which is a separate question about ownership. In the Common Sense survey, 58% of children ages 5–8 had their own tablet.

The two surveys ask different questions: Pew asks whether a child ever uses a device, while Common Sense asks about ownership and minutes. The most-played games among young children are not reported in either survey; for individual titles, see our guides to Roblox, Minecraft, and Pokémon.

Pew Research Center 2025: parents of a child ages 5–7 who say the child ever uses or interacts with…

Source: Pew Research Center, How Parents Manage Screen Time for Kids, Oct. 8, 2025, appendix tables. Sample: 3,054 US parents of children 12 and under, surveyed May 13–26, 2025, including 699 parents answering about a child ages 5–7 (margin of error ±4.6 points); parents with several children answered about one randomly selected child. Own smartphone (12% at ages 5–7) is a separate question and is not shown here.

Publishers Weekly's 2025 lists are based on US print unit sales at outlets reporting to Circana BookScan, which tracks about 85% of the print market. The lists are split by format (hardcover and paperback, new and backlist titles) and cover all children's and young adult ages. From them, we picked books for young children. Dog Man #14 sold 793,474 copies and Dog Man #13 another 683,485. The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book sold 565,688, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? sold 516,043.

Three of the nine books in our table are tied to screen characters: two Ms. Rachel board books, which together sold more than 690,000 copies, and Bluey: Let's Play Games! (171,010).

In the Common Sense survey, reading or being read to from print books averaged 27 minutes a day at ages 5–8. Separately, the share of 5- to 8-year-olds who read or are read to every day was 52% in 2024, compared with 63% in 2020 and 64% in 2017. Our guide to Dog Man covers the movie and books.

US print copies sold in 2025, selected books for young children (our selection)

Source: Publishers Weekly, 2025 children's bestsellers, based on Circana BookScan. Measure: print units sold in 2025 at reporting outlets. PW's lists are by format, not age; titles here come from the hardcover frontlist and backlist lists. We selected picture books, board books, and Dog Man, and left out titles for older readers, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid #20 (838,492 copies).

Circana tracks US toy sales in dollars, not who plays with them. In 2025, total toy sales rose 6%. Games & Puzzles, the largest category, grew 37%, driven primarily by Pokémon, which became the top toy property at $2.5 billion in sales, up 87%. Building sets grew 15%. Outdoor and sports toys, plush, and dolls declined the most.

In the first half of 2026, US toy sales rose 17% compared with the same months of 2025. Much of that growth was in toys bought for adults ages 18 and over (up 25%) and for teens ages 12–17 (up 33%), and adult-only households made up 55% of toy sales. Licensed toys made up 39% of toy sales. So the fastest-growing toy categories are not necessarily the ones young children play with most.

Industry awards are a separate kind of list, not based on sales figures. At the Toy Association's 2026 Toy of the Year awards, Primal Hatch won Toy of the Year, Bluey was named License of the Year, and a Pokémon trading card set won the People's Choice award, which went to the entry with the most online votes from consumers.

Circana: change in US toy dollar sales

Source: Circana press releases of Feb. 3, 2026 (full year 2025) and on the first half of 2026. Measure: US dollar sales from Circana's Retail Tracking Service, all buyers and recipients, not only children. Pokémon, the top toy property of 2025, had $2.5 billion in US sales, up 87%. Toy of the Year winners: Toy Association press release, Feb. 13, 2026.

Music is the biggest single activity in the Common Sense data for ages 5–8, at 35 minutes a day. Audiobooks averaged 4 minutes and podcasts about 1. Screen-free audio players such as Toniebox and Yoto were in 8% of homes with children 0–8.

Edison Research released its first list of the most popular podcasts among US children 12 and under in April 2026, based on parents who listen to podcasts weekly. Wow in the World ranked first, followed by Brains On!, Story Pirates, Circle Round, and But Why. Our guides compare Tonies and Yoto.

Start with what your child actually does. For one ordinary weekday, write down roughly how long each activity in the chart took. If one or two items take far more time than the rest, start there.

Watch or play alongside them now and then. Among parents of children 0–8 in the Common Sense survey, 74% said they watch their child's TV shows with them at least some of the time, 62% watch YouTube together, and 27% play console video games together. Sitting in on a game or a channel once can show you what your child sees.

Look up the titles your child asks for. Our Is it good for kids? guides list official age ratings, ads, purchases, and contact with strangers for each show, game, and app. If a favorite creator also sells snacks, our Snack check lists what is in them.

Keep books near screens. Three of the nine bestsellers in our table are tied to shows (the Ms. Rachel and Bluey books), so a book about a show your child already likes may be an easy next step.

Source: Common Sense Media, The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight, 2025, Key Table B (time spent with media, by activity and age, 2024). License: © Common Sense Media; figures cited with attribution.

The chart shows Common Sense Census 2025, Key Table B: average time spent in a typical day with each media activity, ages 5–8, as reported by parents in a nationally representative online survey (KnowledgePanel) of 1,578 US parents of children 0–8, conducted August 5–29, 2024; margin of error for the full sample ±2.9%. Values are published as hours:minutes; we converted them to minutes. Averages are across all children in the age group, including those who did not do the activity. Key Table B marks significant differences between age groups, not between activities, so the bars should not be read as a ranking. The report's wording on short videos is ambiguous: one passage describes the 22-minute average for ages 5–8 as among children who watch short videos; we show the value as printed in Key Table B. Reading rows are the report's "Reading/being read to" category, split into print and electronic. Activities under 4 minutes a day (podcasts, smart speakers, taking pictures, AI tools) are not charted. The tables below come from other sources, each labeled with source, year, sample, and measure; they are not comparable with the chart or with each other. We checked every figure against the original report, press release, or data page in October 2026. We left out figures we could not open at the source, including Ofcom's 2026 children's media report, Roblox experience rankings, and third-party YouTube channel charts.

Download the data (CSV) All figures, nine sources (CSV)

What do kids watch on YouTube?

In the Common Sense Census, which asked about online videos in general (including YouTube, PBS, and Khan Academy), the types most often watched by children ages 5–8 were animal videos (62% often or sometimes), how-to and DIY videos (56%), educational videos (54%), and videos of people playing video games (52%). Children ages 2–4 watched more nursery rhymes and learning videos.

Is YouTube Kids safe?

YouTube Kids selects videos with automatic filters, and YouTube's help pages say unwanted videos can still get through. Parents can choose an age level, turn off search, set a timer, block channels, or approve every video themselves. Our YouTube Kids guide lists these settings, its age rating, and links to YouTube's help pages.

How much screen time by age do kids have?

In Common Sense Media's 2024 survey of US parents, average daily screen time was 1 hour 3 minutes under age 2, 2 hours 8 minutes at ages 2–4, and 3 hours 28 minutes at ages 5–8. These are averages across all children, not recommendations; our data story on reducing screen time covers pediatric guidance.

Where to watch educational kids shows?

Netflix's engagement reports for late 2025 and early 2026 named Ms. Rachel, Mark Rober's CrunchLabs, and Sesame Street among its kids and family titles, with between 6 million and 73 million views each in a half-year. Netflix does not label titles as educational. In the Common Sense survey, 42% of children ages 5–8 often or sometimes watched educational TV programs such as Sesame Street.

The course is built around picture books you read together, with questions about how the characters feel.

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