What You Should Know About DisneyCollectorBR

It’s likely that you have heard of DisneyCollectorBR. Yet no one knows who she is, despite her status as the most-watched YouTube channel in the United States.

Children reportedly love watching the mystery woman (whose face isn’t shown in her videos) introduce and open children’s toys, many of them from recent Disney movies.

But, as parents, you can probably find options with better educational value for your kids.

“The Disney Collector seems to understand how to reach children, but I wonder about the impact of the underlying marketing message that says to kids, “Buy me!” says Director of Early Learning at K12, Melissa King. “Honestly, I haven’t observed educational value in these videos. They appear to be marketing tools to introduce children to specific products, with the hope that at least some of the young viewers will lobby their parents to purchase these items. As the narrator conducts each show-and-tell session, children are expected to be passive viewers. There is not opportunity for interaction and not much stimulation for productive cognitive activity.”

King also says it’s easy to see why the videos have a “spellbinding effect” on children, including the narrator’s voice, the background music, and the narrator’s hands doing exactly what a child might do when encountering each of these toys.

Elizabeth Olsen, mother of two, said she sees value in the videos. Her 6-year-old daughter, who is learning to read, has taught herself to use the iPad’s microphone so that she can use Siri to search Disney Collector videos on her own, a solution to spelling struggles. From there, she said she navigates to more videos through YouTube’s sidebars, and though she sometimes ends up watching another channel’s videos, she usually finds her way back to DisneyCollectorBR.

King acknowledges some children might improve upon their ability to sit still and stay focused as they watch these Disney Collector clips, as they are expected to stay tuned for up to five minutes with each episode. In addition, some children might benefit from watching the step-by-step process unfold as the narrator opens toys and uses them while they watch. Young children might better understand, for example, how to make a play-doh ice cream cone after watching the narrator model this activity.

“To sum up, it appears that Disney has figured out how to enter a child’s world without making any overt demands,” King adds. “Often, young children are expected to respond to what others say by following directions, complying with rules, and participating as instructed. Young kids probably appreciate the opportunity to observe someone modeling how to engage with certain toys, which is what they aspire to do for themselves.”

Have your children been watching DisneyCollectorBR? What do you think? Please leave a comment below.

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Image Credit – DisneyCollectorBR