By Angie Rolheiser
A Kinistino boy is making the most out of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic with a YouTube channel that entertains and educates other kids.
Jack Larson started his own video series Daily Facts with Jack about a month and a half ago and is already on episode 19.
“It has been really fun to make it,” Jack said. “Especially the funny intros.”
The seven-year-old started off with an episode titled Moons and Tides, and his two most recent videos focus on stress and mindfulness.
But how did this all begin and where did the idea come from?
“Well I always tell a bunch of facts to my family all the time and then one day I was telling my dad a fact and then he actually had the idea to put it on YouTube,” Jack said.
His facts come from a website called BrainPOP which he referred to as “amazing” because they have so many topics.
He takes his favorite facts and puts a unique spin on each with a fun intro that often times feature his sister Kate as well making it a family project.
Jack’s father Sheldon helps him out with the editing process but said Jack is learning the ropes of that too.
“He really has just always come to us to tell us some obscure facts that we didn’t know that he read or saw online and then we just thought let’s use it for something,” Sheldon said.
Jack’s mother Sarah said it has been a fun thing for him and the rest of the family to work on while hopefully bringing some brightness to others who may tune in.
“He is out of school and so getting him to learn something new each day and put it online and maybe someone else can enjoy it too,” Sarah said. “We are really proud of him and it’s really great to see him have so much fun with it.”
When asked if he expected to see the number of followers go up each day, Jack confidently replied, “actually, yes.”
“I was really surprised especially with this last one with so many new people seeing it and reaching people from different parts of the province, not just from Kinistino,” Sarah said.
Jack is in Grade 2 and has been part of supplemental learning while schools are closed but luckily both of his parents are teachers.
“I thought we would only do it for a week or two and he would lose interest but he keeps wanting to do it and I think it is a good extension of his online learning,” Sheldon said.
The video on stress has been Jack’s favourite to date but he has some other ideas that he is already working on for his followers.
Just yesterday he posted Episode 19: Mindfulness.
“My goal is to just teach other kids,” Jack said.