You probably had a favorite children’s show growing up.
Maybe it was Spongebob or Courage the Cowardly Dog or Phineas and Ferb.
Or maybe it was Stampy’s Lovely World.
“Stampy” is short for stampylonghead, the YouTube channel of Joseph Garrett. And were you around in the early days of YouTube gaming, you may have seen a video or two of his.
Though he started his channel playing many different games, stampylonghead’s popularity would explode when he began playing Minecraft. And when he logged into the game, created a new world and titled it “Stampy’s Lovely World,” he likely had no idea the impact his game would have on millions of people.
Over the course of 823 episodes and 11 years, Garrett’s game grew to contain hundreds of buildings, lots of friends and even an infamous villain. In fact, it became so big that the YouTube series has its own IMDb page and TV-Y7 rating.
After producing the series for more than a decade, Garrett uploaded his final video in October 2023, explaining that he had grown a bit tired of playing Minecraft (for context, his series contains over 300 hours of footage). However, with that much content, it’s easy to start watching the channel like you could with any other television series.
So, what do parents need to know?
Many have described stampylonghead as one of the most child-friendly YouTubers out there—and it’s easy to see why. Minecraft videos have always drawn kids and teens, and it wasn’t long after Garrett began uploading his series that he became aware of how his channel drew younger eyeballs. Because of this, Garrett intentionally began making sure that his videos would be appropriate for children.
For instance, Garrett sometimes swore in his earliest videos. However, upon seeing his child audience grow, he took steps to make sure he wouldn’t use a swear word in future uploads, and he later edited and re-released early videos that did contain swearing so they’d be kid-friendly, too.
It’s clear Garrett has many fans, and he tries to foster a good relationship with them. In every episode of Stampy’s Lovely World, Garrett walks over to his “Love Garden,” in which viewers will see plenty of signs containing the gamertags or YouTube names of his various fans. They’re often placed in the Love Garden as a result of sending fan mail or writing a funny comment on his videos.
He would likewise occasionally upload videos where he toured various Minecraft players’ personal worlds to show off the impressive things they’ve built—from a scale-model cruise ship to a world containing various depictions of Star Wars vehicles.
All those positives aside, there are a couple things parents should note.
While Minecraft is the most prominent game on the channel, it isn’t the only game. Other games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Shadow of the Colossus and Terraria, appear on the channel, which may have content concerns parents will need to consider.
On a similar note, God’s name is occasionally used in vain.
If your child loves Minecraft, then it’s likely that they’ll want to seek out Minecraft YouTubers, too. And while stampylonghead isn’t completely content-free, we’d wager that the channel is one of the most kid-friendly Minecraft channels of its kind. So, if you’re looking for a way to help your child avoid adult content without wanting to enforce any outright bans on YouTube, stampylonghead could be the solution.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
