Before his days as a YouTuber, 32-year-old Stevin John Grossman—now better known as Blippi—grew up in Washington and eventually served in the United States Air Force.
After he retired from military service, he observed his nephew watching low-quality, non-educational YouTube videos and decided to create better videos to give kids and parents something they could watch without worry.
Enter Blippi.
A fun-loving, whimsical character, Blippi is played by John Grossman himself. He specializes in creating educational, interactive videos that teach kids about the world around them.
After six years, Blippi has amassed nearly 10 milllion YouTube subscribers. And that’s just in English. There are also multiple channels that reach out to kids in other (dubbed) languages, such as Spanish, German, Portuguese and Arabic.
As the channel’s opening says: “Come on everyone, let’s make learning fun. So much to learn about, it’ll make you wanna shout Blippi!”
Blippi’s videos focus on teaching kids about the kinds of things they’ll come across in their world: their five senses, bicycles, fire trucks, construction vehicles, animals, physics, nature, tools, science and more. Additionally, kids also learn to count, spell small words (such as Blippi’s name) and learn about different shapes—all while playing, dancing and singing along.
Blippi also encourages kids to eat their fruits and vegetables, practice kindness with friends and family, respect authority, explore the world with wonder, take care of the environment and follow safety precautions when instructed to do so.
Some of Blippi’s videos might encourage kids to be a bit more energetic or wild than before they sat down to watch.
One video about Halloween is a well-intended song about how Halloween really isn’t very scary. It focuses on dressing up in costumes, but some of the costumes themselves actually could be scary, as well as the lit pumpkins, crosses and skeletons in the background.
Blippi is a kid-centered YouTube learning channel that focuses on fun, educational videos from a child’s perspective.
Note: Plugged In’s YouTube channel reviews are not exhaustive summaries of everything viewers will find, but a representative sample of recent videos to give you a sense of the kinds of things you might expect to see.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
