How do you make kids story videos with AI?

• Nia

  A curious five-year-old who loves winter and keeps losing things.

  Visual prompt: Nia: a five-year-old girl with curly black hair in two puffs, warm brown skin, a bright yellow raincoat over a striped jumper and one red mitten, soft watercolor illustration, gentle light.

• Grandpa Teo

  Nia's patient grandfather who always asks 'Where did you last see it?'

  Visual prompt: Grandpa Teo: a tall, gentle grandfather with a white beard, round glasses, a green knitted hat and a brown wool coat, soft watercolor illustration, gentle light.

• Pip the sparrow

  A small, cheeky sparrow who turns out to have borrowed the mitten.

  Visual prompt: Pip: a small round brown sparrow with a speckled chest and bright black eyes, slightly fluffed up against the cold, soft watercolor illustration.

8 scenes · about 60 seconds

1. Scene 1

   Nia loved her red mittens. But this morning, there was only one.

   Visual: Nia: a five-year-old girl with curly black hair in two puffs, warm brown skin, a bright yellow raincoat and one red mitten, holding up her bare hand with a puzzled face in a cosy hallway, soft watercolor illustration.

   On screen: Nia and the Missing Mitten

2. Scene 2

   'Where did you last see it?' asked Grandpa Teo. Nia thought very hard.

   Visual: Grandpa Teo: a tall gentle grandfather with a white beard, round glasses and a green knitted hat, kneeling beside Nia, both with fingers on their chins thinking, soft watercolor illustration.

3. Scene 3

   Was it under the bed? No. Just a sock and a sleepy cat.

   Visual: Nia peeking under a bed, finding a striped sock and a sleepy orange cat who opens one eye, soft watercolor illustration.

4. Scene 4

   Was it in the toy box? No. Just a drum and a wooden duck.

   Visual: Nia looking into an open toy box with a small drum and a wooden duck inside, Grandpa Teo smiling behind her, soft watercolor illustration.

5. Scene 5

   Then Nia remembered. 'The garden! I was feeding the birds!'

   Visual: Nia running out into a snowy garden in her yellow raincoat, Grandpa Teo following with a smile, a bird feeder on a tree, soft watercolor illustration.

6. Scene 6

   And there, in a tiny nest, was something soft and red. And someone very cosy inside it.

   Visual: Pip: a small round brown sparrow with a speckled chest, snuggled inside a red mitten tucked into a nest on a low branch, snow on the branch, soft watercolor illustration.

   On screen: Pip!

7. Scene 7

   Nia smiled. 'You can borrow it, Pip. It's very cold today.'

   Visual: Nia standing on tiptoe smiling at the sparrow in the mitten, her bare hand in Grandpa Teo's big glove, soft watercolor illustration.

8. Scene 8

   That night, Grandpa Teo knitted a tiny red blanket. One for Pip, and both mittens for Nia. The end.

   Visual: Grandpa Teo knitting by a warm fireplace, Nia asleep on the sofa wearing two red mittens, a tiny red blanket folded on the windowsill, soft watercolor illustration.

   On screen: The end

• Using famous cartoon characters or lookalikes. It's a copyright problem, and YouTube's kids content is reviewed more strictly than most.
• Stories with no real ending. Children want a clear 'the end', and parents notice when a story just stops.
• Fast cuts and loud music. Kids story videos work best at a calm pace with the music well under the voice.
• Forgetting the made-for-kids setting, or ticking it for videos made for parents. The setting has to reflect who the video is really for.
• Moral lectures in the narration. Let the story show the kindness; don't spell out the lesson in a long final paragraph.
• Uploading near-identical stories in bulk. Mass-produced kids content is exactly what YouTube's inauthentic content policy describes.