If you want to have Universal Kids and similar channels available for your family, it’s no problem doing so without signing up for a long-term cable contract. Read on to learn all you need to know.
In a hurry? The biggest live TV streaming services offer Universal Kids. These are our top picks:
- Fubo: With 150+ channels, it offers something for everyone. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.
- DIRECTV STREAM: Makes it easy to switch from cable to streaming with their 75+ channel Entertainment plan and options for much more. A 5-day free trial is now available for DIRECTV STREAM.
- Hulu + Live TV: This total entertainment streaming service provides a great on-demand selection and all the essential live TV channels.
If you can’t watch your favorite movies and shows because of your location, try ExpressVPN to get access to the content you deserve.
Table Of Contents
Universal Kids is a channel that is dedicated to delivering programs for children from ages two to pre-teen. It offers a variety of animated series that please both parents and children.
Don’t worry about managing an expensive cable subscription. You can watch Universal Kids over a multitude of platforms. Let’s take a closer look.
What Is Universal Kids
Universal Kids is the family network for NBCUniversal. This channel has a long and interesting history.
Originally, it started as PBS Kids. It was launched in 1999 as a block of children’s programming. It was offered to PBS members, upper package cable subscribers, and PBS member stations that paid a subscription fee.
Unfortunately, it could not compete with Children’s Television Workshop’s Noggin channel. So in September 2005, a joint venture between Sesame Street Workshop, PBS, and HIT entertainment was formed to create PBS Kids/Sprout. Primarily, it dedicated its shows to the preschool audience.
In 2013, NBCUniversal became the primary owner, and the PBS Kids name was dropped. Rebranding occurred in 2017. At that time, Universal Kids was born and started a lineup of primetime programs that pleased the younger crowd.
For example, it carried content from DreamWorks animation, international series, and spinoffs from sister networks like Top Chef Junior and American Ninja Junior. Today, it has stopped producing original programs and rests mainly on acquired content and DreamWorks entertainment.
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Universal Kids Shows
Due to a decrease in ratings, Universal Kids decided to stop developing original content. However, there are many shows from the past that remain very popular.
For instance, The Chica Show, which was based on the puppet segments on Sprout’s The Sunny Side Up Show. This beloved show ended in 2015. Now, short videos are available to watch on the Universal Kids website.
A similar animated series, The Floogals, has videos and games on the website as well. Other favorites like American Ninja Warrior Junior, Top Chef Junior, and Get Out of My Room may now be viewed on Peacock.
Despite the changes, there are many current favorites that may be streamed from Universal Kids.
- Remy & Boo: Pairs a little girl and her best friend, a tiny blob. Her imagination takes them on many adventures, which teaches the importance of friendship.
- CoComelon: Preschoolers love singing and dancing to their favorite nursery rhymes as they watch babies and animals go through everyday activities.
- Masha and the Bear: The show is based on a children’s folktale. Masha and her bear go on many new ventures as she tries to keep him out of trouble.
- Mighty Mike: Mike is an adorable pug. He tries to live a relaxing life in his big mansion. However, mischievous furry visitors try to put a damper on his plans.
- Trolls: Based on the popular fad dolls of the 1980s, Trolls takes kids on musical adventures through Trolls’ Village. The bright colors attract young watchers, and everyone enjoys some singing and dancing.
Stream Universal Kids
Universal Kids is available on different TV streaming services.
- FuboTV: FuboTV delivers 110+ channels, including Universal Kids, Disney Junior, and Nick Jr. For $69.99 per month, you receive numerous ways to view sports programs and kids shows. All plans come with at least 750 hours of cloud DVR and simultaneous streaming on ten devices. (FuboTV review)
- DIRECTV STREAM: If you subscribe to the Ultimate package for $104.99 per month, you enjoy great channels like Universal Kids, PBS Kids, BabyFirst, Nick Jr, and Disney Junior. All plans come with unlimited DVR storage (online sign-up only) and streaming on up to 20 devices at once. (DIRECTV STREAM review)
- Hulu + Live TV: Includes Universal Kids in its base plan for $69.99 per month. It includes 85+ total channels including Nick Jr, Disney Junior, and Discovery. Additionally, it comes with ESPN+ and Disney+. You also get unlimited cloud DVR (9 month storage) and streaming on up to two devices. (Hulu + Live TV review)
- YouTube TV: For $64.99 per month, your package includes 85+ channel including Universal Kids. Unlimited cloud storage and streaming on up to three devices is also included.
On-Demand
Various shows from Universal Kids are available on-demand on a variety of services.
- Amazon: Offers a number of Universal Kids shows for approximately $1.99 per episode. Some of the most popular titles, including The Floogals, are available. (Amazon Prime review)
- Vudu: A great alternative to Netflix and Hulu. Its numerous offerings make it easy to stream episodes of Universal Kids shows.
- Google Plus Movies: Similar to Amazon, you can purchase individual episodes of favorite Universal Kids shows for $1.99 per show.
- Hulu On-Demand: Known for its vast library of shows and movies. You can only view UK’s latest DreamWorks series Where’s Waldo? on Hulu. But there is a vast trove of kids entertainment available. (Hulu review)
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Alternatives
There are several good alternatives to Universal Kids:
- Disney Junior: Provides programming that is aimed at young children.
- Nick Jr: The preschool offshoot channel to Paramount’s Nickelodeon. Favorite shows include Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, and Blue’s Clues & You.
- PBS Kids: Public broadcasting was once tied directly with Universal Kids through its Sprout offerings. Today, it features existing series. In 2020, it became home to the Peanuts animated library.
- YouTube Kids: YouTube began a unique channel for a younger audience. Children can view age-appropriate content so that parents can rest easy.
Streaming Devices to Watch Universal Kids
All of the streaming services above support the most popular devices:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Android mobile
- Apple TV
- Chromecast
- iOS (iPhone,iPad)
- Roku
- Samsung smart TVs
- Web browsers.
Other than DIRECTV STREAM, all the services support:
- Android TV-based TVs
- LG smart TVs
- VIZIO smart TVs
- Xbox system.
Hulu and YouTube also support PlayStation units.
This list is incomplete. See our streaming service reviews for complete information.
Today’s Universal Kids Schedule
Here is today’s schedule in Eastern Time:
| Nina's World – Nina the Nature Guide; Nina's Bad Hair Day The Star Amigos head into the woods for a hiking trip and things don't go as planned; the Star Amigos must help Nina fix her hair for family photo day. | |
| Masha and the Bear: Nursery Rhymes – Itsy-Bitsy Spider | |
| Nina's World – Chelsea's History Mystery; Nina and Her Shadow Chelsea has trouble finding the perfect personal artifact to contribute to a neighborhood history exhibit; the Star Amigos plan to make a music video for cousin Natalia's birthday. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Toy Store | |
| Nina's World – Carlos Rocks Ballet; Nina in the Middle Nina and Chelsea ask Carlos to join their ballet trio; Nina plans to put on a play for Santi's playgroup. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Superpizza | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Top Secret Party; Don Pablo Goes to the Game Nina overhears something, leading her to believe that Chelsea is moving away; after finding it very difficult to get to Bear Stadium, Nina decides it's time to make some changes around town. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Airport | |
| Nina's World – The Star Amigos' Art Show; Wish You Were Here The Star Amigos put on an art show, but Nina accidentally ruins Carlos' sculpture; when Nina's friends and neighbors go away on vacation, she tries to have a "stay-cation" at home. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Fashion | |
| Nina's World – Do Everything Day!; The Dragon Boat Race With summer almost over, the Star Amigos rush to complete their summer to-do list; the Star Amigos enter a dragon boat race and enlist their friend, Eddie, to be their captain. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Cinema | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Birthday; Nina's Big Adventure It's Nina's birthday party; Tio Javier goes on an adventurous trip across the globe. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Dairy Shop | |
| Nina's World – Nina the Nurse; Super Nina! Nina takes care of her sick grandmother; Nina and Carlos become superheroes! | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Behind the Glass | |
| Nina's World – Nina From Space; Nina Makes Music Nina and Chelsea pretend to be visitors from another planet; Nina helps inspire Tio Javier to write a song. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Back to School | |
| Nina's World – Nina Wants to Grow; Nina Takes the Stage Nina wants to grow taller; Nina discovers a shadow puppet from an ancient story. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Selfie | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Show and Tell; Nina's Snow Day When Nina discovers a lone flower growing in a sidewalk crack, she looks for a way to savor and share its beauty; Nina learns what winter is like in other parts of the world. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Dance! Dance! | |
| Nina's World – Nina the Kite Flyer; Nina's First Sleepover Nina is making a butterfly kite for the kite festival with Carlos, but then disaster strikes; Chelsea is sleeping over. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Roller Skater | |
| Nina's World – Nina Unplugged; Nina the Great When a neighborhood blackout causes chaos on the block, Nina sees an opportunity to bring family and friends together; Nina the Great and Chelsea the Magnificent nearly let competitive spirits get in the way of their magic show. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Modern Art | |
| Nina's World – Nina and Papi Play Baseball; Nina the Shadow Chaser Nina helps Papi practice his pitching; while Skye is babysitting, Nina and Star watch a scary movie about a shadow monster and their imagination gets away from them. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – The Taming of the Shrew | |
| Nina's World – Nina the Artist; Nina and the Missing Myna Bird Nina tries to paint a picture for a school art project but has trouble getting inspired; when Dr. Kapur's pet bird escapes, Nina and Star team with Carlos and Abuelita to rescue the music-loving mynah. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Bus Stop | |
| Nina's World – Nina Delivers; Nina's Library Hop Nina becomes a delivery girl and learns how the post office operates. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Competition | |
| Nina's World – Nina Rides a Bike; Nina Takes the Cake When Nina doesn't want to ride her bike after an accident, Abuelita, Carlos and Chelsea build her a bike school to help Nina get back on her bike; Nina and Abuelita deliver Mami's famous cakes to Eddie and Mrs. Goldstein. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Scary Movie | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Henna Hijinx!; Nina's Everything Garden Nina learns about patience when waiting for henna to dry; Nina gets a chance to plant her own garden. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Hugs | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Family Museum; Nina Dives In When Nina, Mami and Abuelita miss out on a day at the museum, Nina decides to create her own mini-museum of family history; Nina really wants to learn how to swim, but she and Star fear going into the new community pool. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Come On Let's Share | |
| Nina's World – Nina Dog Sits; Nina Gets on Track Nina learns that watching a dog requires hard work; Nina sees a railroad exhibit at the museum. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Well Sorted | |
| Nina's World – Nina Dances With Nico; Nina Bakes Bread Nico teaches Nina how to do a Mexican Hat Dance; Nina, Chelsea and Papi bake together. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Fast Food and Healthy Food | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Special Dress; Nina Hunts for Treasure Mami is making Nina a special dress for school picture day, but Nina is disappointed with the final product. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Stylish Swim | |
| Nina's World – Nina Cleans Her Room; Nina's Brother for the Day Before Nina can go out and play, Abuelita says she has to clean up her messy bedroom; Nina enlists Chelsea's help. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Traffic Rules | |
| Nina's World – Nina and the Yard Sale; Nina and Papi's Best Day Ever Mr. Kapur hosts a yard sale in the courtyard to benefit the city's animal shelter and Nina helps him out. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – February | |
| Nina's World – Nina the Detective; Nina's Old Oak Tree Nina wants to solve a mystery after reading a detective book; the crew finds a boomerang toy after helping Chelsea find her wind-up plane. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – March | |
| Nina's World – Nina Gets Packing; Nina Camps Out Nina packs for her first camping trip, but she wants to bring many unnecessary items. | |
| Masha and the Bear Shorties – Picnic | |
| Nina's World – Camp Nina; Nina's Kickoff Nina and her family return from camping; Carlos disturbs soccer practice. | |
| Nina's World – Nina the Babysitter; Nina's Thanksgiving Nina watches baby Henry for the day. | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Game Day; Nina Learns Karate Nina and her friends invent a game. | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Very Merry Gift; Nina Celebrates Chinese New Year Nina and Carlos are Christmas elves for the day and will be giving out special ornaments. | |
| Nina's World – To Mami, Love Nina; Nina's Lemonade Stand Nina looks for the perfect Mother's Day gift. | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Color Festival; Nina's Amazing Amigos Nina and her friends decorate the courtyard with a chalk mural; Carlos and Chelsea argue about which one is Nina's true best friend. | |
| Nina's World – Santi's Cranky Time; Max Gets Stinky Nina and the Star Amigos attempt to figure out what Santi needs to take his nap; Nina and the Star Amigos need to find a sweet-smelling solution when a skunk sprays Max the dog. | |
| Nina's World – The Mysterious Food Truck; The Lost Alpaca When their tummies start to grumble, Nina and the Star Amigos try to track down a mysterious food truck with the best Colombian arepas in town; an alpaca wanders off when Chelsea forgets to close the petting zoo gate at the community street fair. | |
| Nina's World – Nina's Baker Boogie; Letter to Santa Nina wants to win a community dance contest with her Papi; Nina races to deliver a letter from her little brother to Santa Claus before Christmas Eve. | |
| Nina's World – Chelsea's Space Adventure; The Thanksgiving Sharing Box Nina and the Star Amigos build a model Mars rover to convince space camp to accept Chelsea; when Nina thinks she's too little to get big donations for the Thanksgiving food drive, she enlists her friends and community members to help. | |
| Nina's World – The Bear Trackers; Number One Soccer Fan When Nina finds a mysterious puzzle made by her grandfather, the Star Amigos make it their mission to solve an old family riddle; when Nina learns that Papi forgot to buy Mami's soccer game tickets, she sets out to find a pair in time for the game. | |
| Nina's World – The Hand Me Down; The Sneaky Spider Santi decides that Lucy the flashlight is his new favorite toy, but Nina has a hard time giving up Lucy to her little brother; Nina is determined to get rid of an ugly, scary house spider. | |
| Cocomelon – Cocomelon Sing-a-Longs, Volume 45 JJ and pals learn about letters, numbers, animal sounds, and more in this musical series featuring nursery rhymes. | |
| Masha and the Bear: Nursery Rhymes – Hey Diddle Diddle | |
| Cocomelon – Cocomelon Sing-a-Longs, Volume 44 JJ and pals learn about letters, numbers, animal sounds, and more in this musical series featuring nursery rhymes. | |
| Masha and the Bear: Nursery Rhymes – Humpty Dumpty Masha and Bear set off for a picnic; Bear brings tea and sandwiches while Masha brings new toys, including a Boom-Boom Balloon. | |
| Cocomelon – Cocomelon Sing-a-Longs, Volume 47 JJ and pals learn about letters, numbers, animal sounds, and more in this musical series featuring nursery rhymes. | |
| Masha and the Bear: Nursery Rhymes – Baa, Baa, Black Sheep On a bike ride, Masha meets three different sheep. | |
| Cocomelon – Cocomelon Sing-a-Longs: Volume 3 JJ and pals learn about letters, numbers, animal sounds, and more in this musical series featuring nursery rhymes. | |
| Masha and the Bear: Nursery Rhymes – Rain Rain Go Away Oh, it's raining, it's pouring; Masha can't go out into the yard with her ball, but with an umbrella and some rubber boots, things might take a completely different turn. | |
| Ruff-Ruff, Tweet & Dave – A Clean Up Adventure; A Harvest Adventure Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave help clean up Hatty's garden and solve the mystery of the messy muddler; Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave bring in the hay at harvest time. | |
| Masha and the Bear: Nursery Rhymes – Disco Song Something interesting always happens with Tiger, and this time, it's a real disco inferno; a great way to liven up the trip to Bear's house is by singing songs and dancing. | |
| Ruff-Ruff, Tweet & Dave – A Cake Adventure; A Learning Adventure Baking a carrot cake for the Little Bunnies; the friends go to school. | |
| Masha and the Bear: Nursery Rhymes – Mary Had a Little Lamb Masha, Dasha, Panda and the little baby Sheep are in class at school; when the little sheep interrupts the lesson, Bear, the teacher, sends the baby Sheep to wait for Masha. | |
| Ruff-Ruff, Tweet & Dave – A Paris Adventure/ A Show Adventure The friends play ice hockey; the threesome put on a show for Hilda the cow. |
Wrapping Up
Although Universal Kids has a deep history, it continues to provide quality kids’ entertainment shows on one channel. There are few networks that devote total programming to children. However, this is one that appeals to youngsters and parents.
Luckily, you can stream episodes without a cable subscription. We recommend Hulu + Live TV.
FAQs
Why doesn’t Universal Kids produce new content anymore?
Unfortunately, when Universal tried to rebrand Sprout, ratings declined dramatically. The decision was made to continue the network but no longer develop original shows. Instead, it has increased its acquisitions from the NBCUniversal umbrella and third-party producers. However, the animation division has seen the launch of two new series by DreamWorks. These include Where’s Waldo? and Norman Picklestripes.
How can I stream old shows from PBS Kids Sprout?
Numerous streaming services offer Sprout programs. For example, Hulu and Amazon both offer episodes. Hulu subscribers may stream old Sprout shows through its live TV service. On Amazon, old favorites like Caillou have full seasons available that are free for prime members. Other shows are available as well.
How can I stream other family and kids channels?
Our options to watch related channels:
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