Housebound: Family-Friendly Documentary Shows on Streaming Services

by Katie Beltramo

The weather is terrible, and it could be a long day. How about watching something that will both entertain and teach everyone something? Yes, a few of these might be too much for your very youngest kids, but you're likely to find at least a couple for anyone who's home today.

For budding scientists:

The Universe (Netflix: explaining more about the universe with animation)
The Beginning of Life (Netflix: the science behind how babies grow from newborn to three)
Dino Hunt (Netflix: paleontologists investigate fossils in Canada))
The Mars Generation (Netflix: NASA space camp)
World of Discovery (Amazon Prime: examines different phenomena from the natural world)

Satisfy your curiosity:

Wow, I Never Knew That! (Amazon Prime: series tells the backstory about popular consumer products)
MythBusters (Hulu: series in which speical effect experts test legends)
How It's Made (Hulu: series, a few different products per episode)

For sports fans:

Undefeated (Netflix: inner city high school football team)
The Short Game (Netflix: kid golfers)
Boca Juniors Confidential (Netflix: Argentinian futball (soccer club)
I am Bolt (Netflix: biography of Olympic champion Usain Bolt)
One in a Billion (Netflix: an athlete tries to become first India-born athlete drafted to the NBA)

For animal lovers:

Night on Earth (Netflix: animals at night)
Born in China (Netflix: follow a panda, a monkey, & a snow leopard)
72 Cutest Animals (Netflix: cute animals, and how adorableness can help you survive)
Dogs (Netflix: celebrating dogs and their humans)
Chandani: The Daughter of the Elephant Whisperer (Netflix: a young girl wants to be an elephant driver)
Too Cute! (Hulu: series about cute animals)

To inspire wanderlust:

Flavorful Origins (Netflix: a series on Chinese food)
Tales By Light (Netflix: follow photographers in exotic locales-show)
National Park Exploration Series (Hulu: series with a different park each episode)

If you're not sure if a movie's a good idea for your family, a great resource is http://www.commonsensemedia.org.

Katie Beltramo is KidsOutAndAbout's Director of Communications

Instant items come and go on streaming servies . Here's a list of documentaries that have been available streaming before, but are currently only available via DVD:

America: The Story of Us
Girl Rising (stories of girls taking on challenges around the world)
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle (a history of super heroes)
First Position (competitive ballet dancers)
Nature: Raising the Dinosaur Giant (dinosaur fossils)
Happy (what really makes people happy?)
Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World (young leukemia patient gets his wish)
A Ballerina's Tale (Misty Copeland biography)
Most Valuable Players (high school theater competition)
Boca Juniors 3D: The Movie (soccer in Argentina)
The Fabulous Ice Age (retrospective on ice shows)
A Dog's Life (how dogs perceive the world)
Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
The Lion in Your Living Room (cats)
Second Chance Dogs (abused dogs recover)
Flight of the Butterflies (monarchs migrating)
Precious Puppies (Australian, appeals to preschoolers)
Planet Earth (British nature show)
Babies (see babies from four different parts of the world)
Encounters at the End of the World (the South Pole)
Magnus (young Norwegian chess prodigy)
Enter the Battlefield (top Magic: The Gathering players)

Families of the World has children from different countries talk about their daily lives