Spotify expands Kids app to US, Canada and France

Parents looking for a new way to entertain kids during coronavirus have another option, so long as they have a Spotify Premium Family account. On Tuesday the Swedish streaming service announced that it is expanding its Spotify Kids beta to the US, Canada and France. 

Designed specifically with kids ages 3 and up in mind, the dedicated app is available now on iOS and Android. It features no ads, needs to be set up by a parent and has a human-curated selection of content that currently totals over 8,000 tracks and 125 playlists. Among the playlists are ones built around popular movies such as Frozen as well as specially tailored playlists for bedtime and for helping kids learn their ABCs and 123s. 

There's a new playlist influenced by the coronavirus called "Wash Your Hands" that Spotify says that playlist is designed to help teach kids how to properly wash their hands and cough and sneeze. Headlining the playlist is the latest Pinkfong song "Wash Your Hands with Baby Shark."

The app also features singalongs, audiobooks and stories, with Spotify saying that the service now has "more than 60 hours of stories, including Disney Music Group stories, fairy tales, classic stories and short stories." 

Whereas Spotify's regular app features a dark green color scheme, the Kids offering is much more colorful with big tiles and avatars designed to guide kids through the app. 

Tuesday's launch follows an initial beta rollout last year in Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. 

While there is no additional charge for using Spotify Kids, the service is only open to those who subscribe to Spotify's Premium Family plan that runs $15 per month. Each kid will also count toward that total, with Spotify allowing six people in a family to share one family plan.