Can babies learn from educational videos?
Very little, especially before age 2. In a study of 96 families, toddlers who watched a best-selling word-learning DVD for a month learned no more of its words than toddlers who never saw it. In another, babies learned speech sounds from a live person but nothing from the same lessons on video. Researchers call this the video deficit.
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The short answer: not much, and less than from you
For years, the most famous baby products were videos with names that promised genius. When researchers finally tested them, the results were clear. Babies and toddlers learn much less from a video than from a person doing the same thing live. Scientists call this the video deficit, and it's strongest in the first two years.
That's not a reason to feel guilty about any show your child has seen. It's a reason not to pay extra for "learning" videos, and to know that your ordinary talk, play and reading are doing the work those products claim to do.
The DVD test
In 2010, a team led by psychologist J. S. DeLoache at the University of Virginia put a best-selling word-learning DVD to a proper test. They recruited 96 families with children aged 12 to 18 months for a month-long study. Some children watched the DVD several times a week, half of them alone and half with a parent. Another group never saw it. A further group's parents were asked to teach the same words during everyday life.
At the end of the month, the children who watched the DVD knew no more of its words than children who had never seen it. That held whether they watched alone or with a parent.
The most telling detail: the DVD didn't teach the words, but it did change what parents believed. Parents who enjoyed the DVD themselves believed their children had learned more from it. So if a product "seems to be working," that feeling is worth checking against the evidence.
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Why a screen can't stand in for you
A landmark study from the University of Washington gives the clearest answer. Patricia Kuhl and her colleagues worked with American 9-month-olds who had only ever heard English. The babies had a dozen 25-minute sessions with Mandarin over four weeks, about five hours in all. One group played and talked with a live Mandarin speaker. Other groups saw the same speaker on a DVD, or heard only the audio.
The babies with the live speaker learned to hear a Mandarin speech sound that English doesn't use, about as well as babies in Taiwan who had heard Mandarin for 10 months. The DVD and audio babies learned nothing. They scored the same as babies who'd never heard Mandarin at all, and they paid less attention.
What made the live speaker so powerful? She responded. She saw where the baby looked and followed. She paused. She named what the baby was holding. A screen plays on no matter what the baby does. That responsive back-and-forth is called serve and return, and it's how young brains wire language.
What the guidelines say about videos
| Age | WHO (2019) | AAP (2016) |
|---|---|---|
| Under 12 months | Screen time is not recommended | Avoid digital media except video chat |
| 12 to 18 months | Sedentary screen time is not recommended | Avoid digital media except video chat |
| 18 to 24 months | Not recommended | If you start, high-quality content only, watched with a parent |
| 2 to 4 or 5 years | No more than 1 hour a day; less is better | No more than 1 hour a day of high-quality programs, watched together |
Video chat is the exception, because the person on the other end can respond. See does FaceTime count as screen time. For older toddlers and preschoolers, slow, gentle programs watched together and talked about are the way to use screens well. Full details in screen time by age.
Where to put your money and time instead
The things with real research behind them are mostly cheap, and some are free.
- Your voice. In a randomized trial in Seattle, parents got short coaching in parentese, the slow, high, sing-song voice people use with babies, with real words. By 18 months, their children were saying about 100 words, compared with about 60 for children of parents who weren't coached.
- Books. WHO specifically encourages reading and storytelling with a caregiver. A library card costs nothing.
- Naming real things. A real dog barks, wags and has you beside it saying, "Dog! Big dog!" That's richer than any picture on a screen.
- Simple toys. A ball, blocks, pots and wooden spoons, a cardboard box. Roll a ball back and forth and you've got movement, turn-taking and a giggle. (For under-3s, pick a ball too big to fit in the mouth.)
- Flashcards as a game, not a drill. If you already own them, lay three on the floor and say, "Where's the duck?" Then go find a real rubber duck together.
If you'd like to turn reading into a real conversation, how to read to a toddler shows you how.
If your toddler watches shows anyway
Most families use some screens, and a show on a hard afternoon isn't a failure. A few habits help:
- Watch together when you can, and talk about what you see.
- Bring the show into real life: if the episode was about a farm, find a toy cow and make the sounds together.
- Pick slow, gentle programs over fast, loud ones.
- Turn it off when the show ends, and turn the TV off when nobody is watching.
Keep expectations honest. A show can be a short break for you. Learning still happens mostly between people. In the Seattle study, babies learned from about five hours of a responsive person, spread over 12 short visits. Small, regular doses of you go a long way, which is why even ten phone-free, screen-free minutes of play a day are worth protecting.
Do this
- Skip paid baby "learning" videos and spend the money on books.
- Name real things all day: what your baby looks at, reaches for or feels.
- Use parentese for at least one routine a day, such as feeding or bath.
- Keep screens under 18 months to video chat with people you know.
- Watch together and talk about it when your older toddler sees a show.
Grow a Genius
In the book: Chapter 2: What the "Genius" Industry Gets Wrong
The book compares what's sold to what the research points to, product by product, and shows where to put your money and time instead, from parentese to a library card.
- The 7 Genius Builders, stage by stage
- 16 printable guides, including the Prenatal Label Decoder
- Built on 500+ sources from 35+ countries
- 90-day Double Guarantee
People also ask
Do "baby genius" videos work?
The best test says no. In a month-long study of 96 families, toddlers aged 12 to 18 months who watched a best-selling word-learning DVD learned no more of its words than toddlers who never saw it, whether they watched alone or with a parent. Parents who liked the DVD believed their child had learned more.
At what age can children learn from TV?
The video deficit is strongest in the first two years, when babies learn far less from video than from a live person. That's why WHO advises no screen time under 2. For ages 2 to 4, up to an hour a day of high-quality programs, watched together and talked about, is the guideline.
Is it okay to use videos to teach my baby words?
Videos teach babies very few words. Babies learn words from people who respond: who look where they look, pause for their babble and name what they're holding. Talking, reading and playing together will do far more than any video.
Why did my baby seem to learn from a video?
Babies may enjoy a video and recognize its songs, but tests of actual word learning find little or nothing. In the DVD study, parents who enjoyed the video believed their child learned more, even though the test showed no difference. It's worth checking that feeling against the evidence.