Kids Songs and Cartoons Made by Real People, Not AI

If your child watches kids videos on YouTube, you may have seen something strange lately. A horse with arms. Letters that turn into gibberish. A song that sounds almost right, but not quite. More and more of these videos are made by AI, and they are showing up in feeds made for toddlers.

We want to be very clear about our own music and cartoons. Every Leigha Marina song and every cartoon is made by real people. No AI writes our lyrics, sings our songs, draws our characters or animates our videos. Not one song. Not one video.

Below, we explain what is happening with AI videos for kids, how we make our songs, and how you can spot AI videos on your child's screen.

AI Videos Are Filling Kids' Feeds

In February 2026, The New York Times looked at low quality AI videos made for children on YouTube. It found videos with conflicting information, no real story and too much going on at once. In one AI version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm from another channel, a horse with two arms and four legs hatches from an egg.

Many of these channels have no names and no contact details. Some of them post new videos many times a day, and a lot of them look like they are made to teach letters, numbers or animals.

Experts are worried. A child advocacy group called Fairplay wrote to Google in April 2026. It said these videos harm children's development by "distorting their sense of reality, overwhelming their learning processes, and hijacking their attention," as reported by CBC News.

Our Promise: 100% Made by People

Every part of every Leigha Marina song is done by people:

• Lyrics: written by people, one line at a time.
• Melodies: written by people.
• Vocals: real singers, recorded in a professional studio.
• Mixing and mastering: done by people.
• Characters: Bebo and the whole penguin family are our own characters, designed by people.
• Animation: every cartoon is animated by our team.

Except for a few of our very first songs, every song is our own original song. We wrote the words and the music ourselves. Those songs, like Go To Sleep Lullaby and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, are our own versions of classic rhymes. People wrote those rhymes a long time ago, long before computers. We recorded our versions in the studio about 9 years ago, before AI tools were around. So those songs are made by people too, from start to finish.

How a Leigha Marina Song Is Made

Making a song and a cartoon takes time. Here is what it looks like for us.

First, the song. We write the lyrics and the melody. Then we record the song in a professional studio, and we mix and master it. We usually have many songs finished and ready long before they come out.

Then, the cartoon. This is the slow part. Even with a team of people, one cartoon can take 3 or 4 weeks to finish. So we split our animators into teams. That way we can share a new song about every 7 to 10 days.

Want to see the people behind the songs? In Meet the Faces Behind Your Favorite Songs, you can meet our team and watch short clips of them singing.

We have done this for years. Today we have 18 albums, and album 19 is on the way. There are more than 700 videos on our YouTube channel, and more than 2.6 million families have subscribed. We could make videos faster with AI. We choose not to, because we want every song to be something we are proud to put in front of your child.

Songs With a Real Story

When experts talk about good videos for young kids, the same ideas come up again and again. Keri Ewart, a professor of education at Wilfrid Laurier University, told CBC News to look for "repetition with intention" and for shows where "language is purposeful." Carla Engelbrecht, who has made kids shows for 25 years, said to stay away from videos that are too fast or too busy.

That is how we try to make every song. Each one has a story, a lesson and words that repeat for a reason. Here are a few examples.

Little Penguin Tells a Lie

A little penguin says he saw a fish that flew and a shark on skates. Later he finds a great place to swim and play, but his friends think it is just another fib. He says sorry, and his friends forgive him. The chorus repeats a simple lesson: "Telling the truth will make you free."

I Got Lost

A little penguin follows a butterfly and can't find his mom. The butterfly helps him stay calm. He breathes in and out, stays in the same place and shouts his mommy's name until she finds him. At the end, the butterfly reminds him to hold his mommy's hand everywhere he goes.

Brush Your Teeth

Bebo loves treats before bed, but he doesn't like to brush. One morning he wakes up with a toothache. The doctor tells him that brushing keeps cavities away, so he starts brushing every morning and every night. The chorus "Brush brush brush" is easy for toddlers to sing while they brush.

Penguin Says

Bebo wears a crown and plays the king in an ice castle. His friends follow along only when they hear "Penguin says." Kids touch their heads, touch their toes, strike a pose and make animal sounds. It gets them moving and listening at the same time.

Little Penguin Lullaby

For bedtime, this slow song follows a little penguin who falls asleep in a cozy igloo under the moonlight. He dreams of fish that swim below and stars that softly glow. It is calm, gentle and made for the end of the day.

You can find more songs like these in our human made kids songs and cartoons, or see our list of penguin songs for kids.

How to Spot AI Videos for Kids

AI videos can be hard to spot. Here are some signs that parenting experts shared with The Bump and other news sites:

• Things change for no reason. A red car looks different from one scene to the next, or a character suddenly turns into something else.
• Things don't make sense. Bubbles under water float down instead of up, or a child on a scooter sinks into the ground.
• Letters and numbers look wrong. Real letters are mixed with gibberish.
• Strange bodies. Animals with two tails, warped faces or extra arms and legs.
• Robot voices. Voices that sound flat and mechanical, often with loud sound effects on a loop.
• No story. Very short clips that repeat every 20 or 30 seconds, with random things happening and no beginning, middle or end.
• A label in the description. Open the full video description on YouTube and look for "altered or synthetic content." But not every creator adds this label.

One more tip from pediatric nurse practitioner Monica Rondeau: be careful with new shows, check reviews on free sites like Common Sense Media, or watch a video yourself before you share it with your child.

Hear It From Us

We recorded a short video to talk about this in our own words. You can watch our no AI video on Instagram. You can also watch our behind the scenes videos on YouTube to see how our songs come to life.

Common Questions

Does Leigha Marina use AI to make songs or cartoons?

No. Our lyrics, melodies, vocals, mixing, mastering, characters and animation are all made by people. We don't use AI for any part of our songs or cartoons.

Are Leigha Marina songs original?

Yes. Except for a few of our first songs, every song is our own original work. Those few are our own versions of classic rhymes, like Go To Sleep Lullaby and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. People made those too, from the recording to the cartoon.

How often do new songs come out?

We share a new song about every 7 to 10 days. Each cartoon can take 3 or 4 weeks to animate, so our team works on many songs at once.

Where can my child watch Leigha Marina?

You can watch every song on our Leigha Marina YouTube channel. You can also watch the videos and read the full lyrics on each song page here on our website.