PBS Kids gets into gameplay video with ‘Odd Squad Gaming Unit’

Ask an elementary school parent or teacher, and they’ll tell you: Kids these days absolutely love watching gameplay videos. PBS Kids says a full 50% of its viewers three to six years old routinely watch gamers running and building their way through Roblox, Minecraft or all manner of other popular video games. 

But, as Common Sense Media reported in a 2020 study “Young Kids and YouTube,” at least a quarter of the videos that game-loving kids are watching aren’t really appropriate for those under 8. That’s why, as an effort to both meet kids where they are and provide games for them to play, PBS Kids has launched a new four to 7-minute gameplay series, Odd Squad Gaming Unit, or OGSU. 

Produced by Fred Rogers Productions and Sinking Ship Entertainment with major funding from CPB, OGSU follows two young Odd Squad agents, Oaklynn and Olindo, as they chat online and play PBS Kids–branded games. With over 375 games in the brand’s platform, there’s plenty to choose from. The series’ makers have produced over 50 short-form clips and started dropping them weekly on YouTube Sept. 5. Batches of the games will make their way to the PBS Kids video app in monthly releases that start Oct. 3. 

When kids watch gameplay videos, the hosts often are grown-ups and the games skew toward a more mature general audience, according to Abby Jenkins, senior director of content for PBS Kids Digital. After watching gameplay video usage grow and flourish, PBS Kids saw an opportunity to bring a unique voice into the hosted space and to showcase game content that was designed specifically for kids, she says. 

In a 2024 RFP seeking ideas about creating series involving PBS Kids games, PBS chose Odd Squad Gaming Unit because the proposal both addressed its needs and came from a place and brand that would be familiar to kids, Jenkins says. 

“We went into the process … looking for an original series with original voices rather than characters or voices that were already in our service,” she adds. But the pitch from Sinking Ship offered “a whole new way to explore the Odd Squad universe.” Since OSGU uses brand new agents not seen on the TV show, the gameplay series “provided a way for kids to speak to kids. There was something familiar about it, but something new at the same time.”

Sinking Ship’s J.J. Johnson, EP of Odd Squad, directed and executive-produced OGSU. His inspiration for the shorts came from watching gameplay videos with his own sons, he says. 

Gameplay for the ‘Odd Squad’ universe

“There are some basic setups for those types of videos, and they lean really heavily on the interaction between co-hosts, because having two people playing together is always helpful,” he says. “We really just leaned into, ‘What are kids watching right now, and how do we take those devices [they’re used to] and distill them into an Odd Squad universe? And, beyond that, how do we get kids excited about these incredible, fun games that just also happen to be educational?” 

Each OGSU short finds Agents Oaklynn and Olindo on video chat, faced with a vaguely silly task like the latter’s struggle to sort out his plastic cup collection. As they game, the pair find a solution to the problem, all while both showcasing the Jelly, Ben and Pogo game Sakto, and giving viewers tips and tricks about how to play each game. It’s the perfect marriage of Odd Squad and traditional gameplay content, balancing high production values and the sort of direct-to-camera content kids have come to expect on YouTube. 

To streamline the budget and production schedule for OGSU, Johnson integrated plate shots of the Odd Squad HQ set from the show’s first season, using a green screen to put the images behind OGSU’s two agents. “The plates have a bit of moving background, and they create a full environment,” Johnson says. “And when the kids go into the actual gaming unit [portion of the clips], they activate a board that swings in behind them that gives a little more of a hint of who each player is and that’s how we balance what Odd Squad is with something that feels a little more akin to what kids are already watching.” 

While the 50 or so videos shot for the series can’t come close to encapsulating the full breadth of PBS Kids games, Johnson and Jenkins say they took special care to try to hit each brand and style of gameplay. “PBS games cover the gamut — from sorting to math to nature to the environment to culture — so we wanted to make sure that we covered all those topics too,” Johnson says. 

Designed for game discovery

PBS Kids specifically put forward games designed for 5- to 8-year-olds, knowing that this series would draw viewers from the upper end of its gaming audience, Jenkins says. Her team also suggested games that varied in popularity and skill sets, from Wild Kratts Amazin’ Amazon Adventure, with its multi-level running and jumping quests, to Rosie’s Slime Shop from Rosie’s Rules, which offers more open-ended and creative gameplay. They chose games that players could play alone or with friends, as well as games that run the gamut from noisy and fast to quiet and cozy. 

Hopefully, showcasing a wide range of games will draw in a range of viewers, as well as introduce kids to games or shows they might not have already discovered on their own. In some ways, that’s already happening. Johnson says his two kids, who are typically Wild Kratts or Odd Squad fans, are venturing into the wider universe of PBS Kids games after seeing his work on OBGU. “Now,” he says, “they’re coming back and asking me if we’re going to feature some of the other games on the show.” 

PBS Kids was also able to include new, as-yet-unreleased games in the series. When a new Odd Squad game drops later this year, an OGSU video will come with it, alerting YouTube viewers to the game’s existence and showcasing ways to play. Jenkins hopes the brand can continue to follow this model as new games roll out on the platform, she says. Making an OGSU video takes a relatively short amount of time — about a month from shoot to delivery, compared to about six months for an Odd Squad episode.

Watching for what resonates

As episodes roll out each week, OGSU’s creators and PBS Kids hope to be able to hone in on what kids are drawn to, Johnson says. Maybe it will be the videos that feature more gameplay, or maybe the clips that are four minutes long instead of eight.  “I can’t wait to find out what the audience is responding to and how we can zero in on that — if we’re lucky enough to do future seasons.” 

If the OSGU team can identify what makes a video successful, then the series could become a long-term click driver for the PBS Kids Games YouTube channel. The videos are evergreen, meaning that younger kids who are Daniel Tiger fans can watch and enjoy them now and continue to discover and love other PBS Kids brands as they grow.

Testing of the videos prior to and since the Sept. 5 drop has shown that kids find them compelling, Jenkins says. After a screening earlier this year, participating kids said they wanted to search out other PBS Kids games, regardless of whether or not they’d played them before. “They were all like, ‘I’m going to go play that right now,’” she adds. 

And that’s a comforting feeling to the entire OSGU crew. “Our internal goal is to make things that kids will want to tell their best friends about,” Johnson says. “This series will live and die on kids watching it, getting into it and starting to share the games. Once we start to see that naturally happening, then views should start greatly increasing.”