Kodi is a great option for anyone hoping to create a home media center. That said, the vast majority of its addons are designed with adults in mind. This can make finding cartoons, kid’s TV shows, and family-friendly content a little tricky. Don’t worry, though: we’re about to reveal the best official Kodi addons for watching cartoons.
Warning: Kodi should only be used for content to which you have the legal right to access. Neither the Kodi Foundation nor Comparitech advocates the use of Kodi for piracy.
Reminder: Use a VPN with Kodi
Some ISPs have been known to throttle user speeds when they detect streaming. This can lead to buffering, stuttering, and streams that won’t load. When you connect to a Virtual Private Network (VPN), though, all of your traffic is encrypted, meaning your ISP will have no idea what you’re doing.
However, some VPNs are not fast enough for video streaming, while others don’t work on all devices. Some also keep logs of users’ activities, which can be a privacy concern.
For these reasons, we recommend NordVPN for Kodi users. It boasts impressive speeds, a first-class security toolkit, and apps for just about every device (including Amazon Fire Stick). There’s even a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it risk-free or make use of our Reader Deal which lets you save 60% on NordVPN plans.
Official streaming addons for Cartoons on Kodi
The following is a list of addons that stream cartoons from official content providers. These addons provide only authorized streams that respect the rights of copyright holders. Because of this, they provide the highest quality picture and sound and are very easy to use.
If you want to easily find cartoons to stream through your Kodi, these are the addons we recommend using.
YouTube Channels
Note: there is a YouTube addon in the official repo, but we don’t recommend using it as its age-restrictions features don’t appear to work.
The YouTube Channels addon is nice and simple: it simply scrapes content from specific YouTube channels and lets you watch in Kodi. There are thousands of creators offering child-friendly cartoons, so your little ones will never run out of something to watch.
We’re big fans of this addon as it allows parents to specify which channels are accessible, then hide certain menu options to prevent children from adding new ones on their own. This is a surprisingly rare feature but one we’d like to see more addons offer.
iPlayer WWW
BBC iPlayer provides all of the BBC channels online, including CBeebies. CBeebies is the home of several popular cartoons, such as Hey Duggee, Bluey, and Cocomelon. Most episodes of these shows are available on-demand as well as live, so there are hours of programming available.
You can only legally watch BBC iPlayer if you’re in the UK and have a valid TV license. If you live in the UK and have a license but are traveling outside the UK, you will need a VPN to gain a UK IP address to bypass the geoblocking.
BBC iPlayer can be found in the official Kodi addon repository.
PBS Kids
Arthur, Curious George, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and Dinosaur Train are just a few of the cartoons you will find on the PBS Kids Kodi addon. Because PBS is a non-profit service subsidized by the US government, it doesn’t charge for any of the content on its website. As a result, you can get many hours of entertainment from PBS Kids.
The PBS Kids Kodi addon can be found in the official Kodi addon repository.
TV Ontario Kids
This addon offers hours of free-to-watch kid’s content, including a wide selection of cartoons. Users in Canada can stream Paw Patrol, Numberblocks, and Elinor Wonders Why to name but a few, and there’s no need to log in or provide payment details anywhere.
TV Ontario Kids can be found in the official Kodi repo.
How to install cartoon Kodi addons
To install a new Kodi addon, you first have to find out whether it is in the official Kodi addon repository or a different one. For any addons that are part of the official repository, follow these steps:
- From the Kodi main menu, click Addons
- Click the icon in the upper-left corner of the screen that looks like an open box
- Click Install from repository
- Select Video add-ons
- Scroll down the list until you find the addon you are looking for, then click the addon. Finally, hit the Install button
Watching cartoons on Kodi: FAQs
Does Exodus Redux have cartoons?
You’ll often see people recommending Exodus Redux, but we actually suggest avoiding it. This addon doesn’t use official sources and mixes content from all age ratings together, making it both illegal and unsuitable for children.
The best child-friendly Kodi addons can be found in the official repo, and these all use legitimate sources. Not only that, but they’re free!
Can I install Kodi on my phone?
Kodi works perfectly on Android and iOS phones. In fact, you can install it on a huge range of systems, including PCs, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Nvidia Shield, Raspberry Pis, and Roku. Better still, because Kodi works in a very similar way across multiple platforms, most of your addons should work no matter which device you’re using.
Does Kodi have a parental lock?
Kodi does have limited parental control features, such as requiring the user to enter a PIN code when the app launches. Parents can also restrict which live channels and content ratings their children can watch.
Unfortunately, though, it’s not possible to lock an individual addon or specific parts of an addon’s menu. This would be a huge step in the right direction, but currently, each addon developer has to add these features for themselves, so very few do.