Books, movies, TV are the regular medium for geeks in the know. But what about YouTube? I watch YouTube and the chances are pretty darn high that you do too, considering YouTube exceeds two-billion views a day. And although men in the US spend more time watching videos online than women (and we can only imagine what kind of videos…), women choose YouTube over any other online network.
So what networks, or channels on YouTube are for GeekMoms? Here’s a few for you to check out:
Charlieissocoollike: Charlie is a very cute English boy who is into geeky pop culture and makes silly videos about anything that he feels like. The video up top is a “nerd-off”, and my favorite one about a “scientist” explaining teenage boys.
GlitterGurrl: Ash is a fantasy artist who has a glamour channel. Hello Kitty was a focus of one of her videos. Yay!
Vlogbrothers: A couple of nerdy brothers who make hilarious videos. This one explain about nerdfighters (that’s pro-nerd.)
For the more intellectual side of geek:
JamesBurkeWeb: “Connections” is one of my favorite mind-bulging series ever made, and here you can find all the episodes!
The Kahn Academy has lots of YouTube videos explaining math and science concepts. My kids have used this often when we all get stumped or simply forget a concept.
Krazydad has created this mosaic of cool science videos. Just click on a photo to bring it up. This is updated frequently!
Considering how many channels there are up there, this is a really small sample. So help me out. What YouTube channels do you subscribe to? And if you’re into making them (like I am), YouTube is a great community to share with like-minded people. What’s your channel?
a) If you like Vlogbrothers and want to further your Geekiness, John Green is the author of a few pretty geeky books: An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, and Paper Towns. Highly recommended!
b) Another super geeky vlog that I’ve recently found is Vihart: http://www.youtube.com/vihart
She does some really cool/interesting things with math, and it’s more fun than your average math class. Definitely worth a look. Here’s a good video to get you started:
http://www.youtube.com/vihart#p/u/5/DK5Z709J2eo
Yeah, vihart is very cool. We had a post up on geekmom on one of her doodling vids. And I emailed her for an interview…still waiting.
Biscuit Brothers!
http://www.youtube.com/user/biscuitbrothers
It’s a small, locally produced PBS kids show about music. These guys are hilarious, heavily influenced by Python and Henson and that general style of geeky wackiness. They don’t have tons of the show online yet (so call your local PBS station and ask them to air the whole thing…it’s offered FREE to PBS stations!), but there’s enough there to give you the gist.
There’s a song on the show (not yet on the YouTube but if I keep begging it might get on there soon) called “Music Is Math” which had my kid doing basic fraction calculations at 3 years old. They did a bit once called Biscuit Labs where they went into the physics of sound in ways that little kids could understand, complete with actual science and silly jokes all rolled together. The Christmas album includes a song detailing the perils of leaving sushi out for Santa.
My husband and I are nerds and we were hooked early by spots like Beethoven’s Farm (the Fifth done by animal puppets singing their anthropomorphized noises) and Stunt Banjo (that one’s on the YouTube channel).
http://biscuitbrothers.com/ is their website and I happen to know that that’s going to get an overhaul this year with tons more stuff to help parents and other educators pursue the Biscuit Brothers’ mission to teach kids to Go Make Music.
A YouTube interview here gives some background and more info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upK1n60vDT8
Thanks for the info- music and geeks is my thing!