20 Educational Shows On Netflix You Can Let Your Kids Watch Worry Free

While parents may not initially think of live-action sketch comedy shows as being appropriate for young kids, The Who Was? Show proves the exception. Based on a best-selling book series of the same name, the show brings important historical figures like Joan of Arc, Albert Einstein, Marie Antoinette, and Marie Curie to life in order to highlight their notable achievements and contributions.

Originally a Scholastic Entertainment animated series based on a book series of the same name, The Magic School Bus has been delighting children since 1994. While new episodes of the series haven't been made since 1997, Netflix subscribers can watch all four seasons of the show, which sees Ms. Frizzle use a magic school bus to take her class on educational adventures.

If your kids have enjoyed The Magic School Bus, they may also like The Magic School Bus Rides Again, an updated continuation of the original PBS Kids series. While introducing us to a new cast — the series sees Ms. Frizzle's younger sister Fiona take over as teacher — The Magic School Bus Rides Again features the same fun, science-fueled adventures as its predecessor.

Introduce your kids to life under water. Suitable for children of all ages, each episode of the series sees The Octonauts, a team of underwater explorers, encounter a real sea creature in need of assistance. To save or help the creature, The Octonauts often have to discover a vital biological or behavioral fact about the sea creature. According to the show's executive producer Kurt Mueller, Octonauts is made with the input of two marine biologists who also consulted in the making of Finding Nemo, meaning you can trust the facts it teaches.

For kids with lots of questions, the Storybots just may have the answers. In Ask The Storybots, five inquisitive little creatures that live inside a computer travel into the human world in quests to uncover the answers to some of children's most asked questions. With guest stars parents will recognize, the Netflix original series is a fun way to help kids become informed.

If the animation of Charlie's Colorforms City feel a little familiar to you, it could be that you played with Colorforms growing up. While largely based on the thin, die-cut vinyl pieces of colorful geometric or abstract shapes or "forms" that could be attached and reattached to a plastic background, Charlie's Colorforms City brings these forms to life to teach children about colors, shapes, size, problem-solving, and the power of imagination.

Created by The Jim Henson Company, Word Party is a fun vocabulary-building show for some of TV's youngest viewers. The series centers around four baby animals who love to sing, dance, play, and learn new words. The show is geared to be educational for infants up to kids aged 3.

Originally a South Korean animated children's series, an English version of Tayo The Little Bus first aired in the United States in 2012. The series centers around Tayo, a young bus just beginning to learn the various routes in the big city where he lives with a number of other different vehicles. The show is largely geared at preschoolers with a focus on friendship, morals, and learning.

With Sid The Science Kid, preschooler aged children can follow along with Sid as he learns, explores and discovers new things about science. The show, which was originally created by the Jim Henson Company for PBS Kids, encourages children's natural curiosity and spurs them to think like scientists do.

Also aimed at preschool-aged children, The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That! aims to inspire an interest in science and engineering. It's based on the Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library book series and centers around two children's — Sally and Nick — adventures with the Cat In The Hat.

Narrated by Stephen Fry, the educational comedy Pocoyo features 4-year-old Pocoyo and his animal friends Pato, Elly, and Loula. The show, which Netflix describes as a "richly colored animated adventure series for preschoolers," touches on friendship, problem solving, ethics, and learning.

In Netflix's True and The Rainbow Kingdom, True uses her unique ability to uses wishes to solve problems for her whimsical and colorful friends in Rainbow Kingdom. The show aims to spark children's imagination while also encouraging creative problem solving, mindfulness, and social skills like empathy. The show is aimed at kids aged 3 to 6, but is rated suitable for all ages.

If pictures and videos of animals gets your kid excited, they may enjoy If I Were An Animal. The show is essentially a wildlife documentary made by and for kids. Think Planet Earth but narrated by children for young viewers. It features footage of various different wildlife creatures in their natural habitats narrated by Emma and her older brother Tim. Over the course of each episode, children learn basic facts about the featured creature.

Kids of all ages can learn about the performing arts and discover the vital role they play in our lives with Julie's Greenroom, a fun and educational series that sees Julie Andrews mentoring young puppets. While the show is sure to engage and delight kids, parents may want to tune in too if only for the many A-list celebrity cameos. Expect Alec Baldwin, Chris Colfer, Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Ellie Kemper, Carol Burnett, Sara Bareilles, and Tituss Burgess to drop by.

Dino Hunt is exactly what its name suggests: a show about paleontologists and scientists' search for new prehistoric species in Canada. Throughout the series, teams of scientists examine various dinosaur fossils, sharing parts of their excavation efforts as they go along. While the show is rated G and suitable for all ages, it may best be appreciated by slightly older kids.

This Australian children's show follows four savvy fifth graders who form their own detective agency and solve crimes in and around their school and neighborhood. For children age 8 and up, The InBESTigators is both funny and entertaining. However, because it is not meant to be a strictly educational show, its lessons — which center around critical thinking skills like observation and analysis as well as messages of responsibility and teamwork — are subtlety woven into each episode's storyline compared to more blatantly educational shows.

If you've ever longed for an educational kids' show that had music even adults could genuinely enjoy, then Beat Bugs will be right up your alley. The show heavily features the music of The Beatles sung by a number of famous artists, including P!nk, Sia, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Vedder, James Corden, Rod Stewart, Regina Spektor, and Robbie Williams to name just a few. Bands like Of Monsters and Men and The Lumineers also feature. Aimed at children aged 5 to 7, Beat Bugs centers around five bugs learning life lessons while living in a suburban backyard.

Based of an educational computer game from the mid 80s, Netflix's Carmen Sandiego has recast its title character to be not a villain who heads the V.I.L.E. organization but a Robin Hood-type figure to uses her skills in thievery to secure valuable artifacts before V.I.L.E. can steal them. Despite the tweak in plot, the show retains the game's educational qualities and teaches viewers geography and history.

Night on Earth is a nature series that uses new technology to shed light on what creatures big and small do in the dark. The show has been rated TV-PG, meaning it may be unsuitable for younger children. What's more, Netflix has suggested parental guidance as some of the animals or creatures featured may be scary to kids.