ABCkidTV: alphabet songs and nursery rhymes from the channel that became Cocomelon

If the name sounds half-familiar, there is a reason. ABCkidTV is what the YouTube channel now called Cocomelon was called before 2018 — the same channel, under the name it used while it was still mostly alphabet songs and nursery rhymes. That earlier work is what KidsTube carries.

What it is

Simple animated songs for babies, toddlers and preschoolers: the alphabet, phonics, numbers, colours, shapes and the nursery rhymes most parents already know. The channel began long before it had a watermelon logo — one of the titles on KidsTube still carries its earliest name, ThatsMEonTV — and it was renamed Cocomelon in 2018. Moonbug Entertainment bought it in 2020.

What is on KidsTube

• The alphabet, one letter at a time. A long run of short videos in the shape of “K is for Kangaroo” and “Z is for Zebra”, a separate lower-case series (“Lion & Ladybug”, “Pig & Penguin”) and a five-part phonics set that works through A to Z.
• Alphabet and phonics songs — the ABC song in several versions, including one with an animal alphabet on a train.
• Finger Family, in its many variations: animals, farm animals, vehicles, jobs, ice cream.
• The classic nursery rhymes: Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Humpty Dumpty, Hickory Dickory Dock, Old MacDonald, the Muffin Man, Pat-a-Cake, London Bridge, Bingo and Five Little Monkeys.
• Learning songs for colours, shapes, numbers and animal sounds.

Like everything on KidsTube, each video was checked for age-appropriateness before it was added. They play inside KidsTube, with no comments and no YouTube home feed, and when one ends the next video in this series starts.

What parents should know

The compilations run on. Titles ending in “and More Nursery Rhymes” or “+ More Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs” string many songs together. They are handy on a long car ride and less handy when you want a clean place to stop. The single-letter videos are the opposite: one idea, then done.

The pace question. Cocomelon itself is often criticised by child-development experts for its fast pace — quick cuts and constant music that hold a young child's attention rather than letting it go. The videos here come from the channel's earlier years, before the rename, but it is still worth watching the first few with your child and seeing how they respond, and keeping sessions short at this age whatever they watch.

It is all in English — which, for a family raising a child with English as a second language, is often the point: alphabet songs and nursery rhymes are a gentle way to hear it early.

Watch all of ABCkidTV on KidsTube