Rise of the kid vloggers: Children as young as FOUR are the next generation of YouTube stars - amassing free toys and games worth thousands

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A new crop of child bloggers are making a name for themselves on YouTube after being inspired by their social media savvy mothers.

Kushi Singh, 11, from  Hertforshire and Mollie Smith, four, from Norfolk both have bedrooms full of shiny new toys, gadgets and games.

All the goodies have been sent absolutely free with companies clamouring for the two girls, who both boast very successful blogs, to review their products.

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Kiran Singh and daughter Khushi, 11, with some of the items they've been sent to blog about

Khushi Singh, 11, lives with her divorced mother Kiran, a 38-year-old freelance interior designer, in Hertfordshire 

Khushi's considerable stash includes piles of recipe books, novels, clothes, trainers and sportswear.

There are customised bracelets, a pocket watch, a £100 magnetic memo board, personalised stationery, a tripod, tickets to the ballet and a microphone speaker.

She has also been sent a plethora of culinary items including a £100 Nutribullet smoothie maker, Stellar pans and baking tins, a £60 gift card from Waitrose, food boxes from organic food delivery firm Abel & Cole and a Christmas hamper.

Increasingly, consumers now research products online before they buy, and manufacturers know that a positive endorsement from a blogger can be a powerful marketing tool.

Khushi is one of a growing number of savvy children making careers out of blogging, many encouraged by their mothers who already rake in a tidy income or steady stream of free products from doing so.

‘My mum is my inspiration and when I saw her blogging I wanted to share things about my life too, especially my love of cooking and baking,’ Khushi said.

On her blog, called mummyshappiness, Khushi shares an insight into her life and hobbies, including dancing, singing, playing the piano and food - an aspiring foodie, she recently appeared as a contestant on this year’s BBC Junior Bake Off.

Aspiring foodie Khushi Kaur, 11, appeared as a contestant on Junior Bake Off; she has certainly added to her mother's kitchen with products including a Nutribullet, tiffin tins and weighing scales

And, of course, there’s an entire section dedicated to her product reviews.

Khushi’s mother Kiran, a 38-year-old freelance interior designer, also has three award-winning blogs – Vivacious Mum, My Unique Home and Passion for Food. Each receives around 250,000 views per month. 

She started blogging five years ago when she realised that accepting interior design jobs in London would mean long periods away from her daughter.

Kiran makes a cash income from her blogs of £1,000 a month by allowing companies to publish sponsored posts – in other words, adverts – on her site. She also ‘earns’ a steady stream of parcels.

‘Whatever I fancy for my home I basically call up one of my contacts and offer to give them a review on my website in return for a free product,’ Kiran explained.

‘By early last year I was getting so many parcels delivered that Khushi would say to me, “Mummy, can I get freebies, too?” I told her that she could if she also started blogging regularly and in a professional manner.’

Khushi has a bedroom any child would dream about filled with books, toys and eye-catching decor - all sent to her to create reviews for her blog but her mother insists it comes second to her schoolwork

Khushi launched her blog in summer 2014. So now along with her haul of freebies, with a value well over £5,000, there’s her daughter’s bounty, too – which Kiran estimates to be worth around £1,000 already.

‘I didn't buy Khushi much for Christmas as I was able to secure most of her presents for free from the companies I work with.

‘She has more things than she needs, and it’s always difficult to find presents for her as even she doesn’t know what she wants anymore.’

Kiran, who is divorced from Khushi’s father, lives with her daughter in a two-bedroom apartment, furnished almost entirely with products that she has received for free in return for reviews.

These include two squishy £700 sofas from a stylish interiors shop in Manchester, a sumptuous bed and lamps from FurnitureVillage, a shabby chic sideboard and a vintage 1920s desk.

She insists that though she encourages Khushi, she is not a pushy mum.

Khushi spends a few hours a week on her blog and more time taking photos and trying out products, but Kiran insists that her schoolwork must come first.

She says she doesn’t feel the need to censor her daughter’s blog.

‘I trust her judgment and she’s a top student at her high school,’ said Kiran, who averages 15 emails a day from companies wanting to send her and Khushi freebies.

‘Hopefully in a few years she will start earning money from blogging too. I plan to approach the companies who pay to appear in sponsored posts on my blogs to ask if they also want to be on hers.’

Millions of children now keep blogs, using them to express their views on everything from political issues to school dinners to the latest video game. A 2009 survey of 3,001 British children aged nine to 16 found that a quarter - 24 per cent - had their own blog.

Online reviews of products by ordinary people are proving lucrative for retailers. ‘Unboxing’ - where people film themselves unwrapping and opening a box to give viewers a preview of what they're buying - has become an internet phenomenon.

In a 2015 study by consumer trends analyst Future Foundation, 22 per cent of British adults said they had watched a video of a product being opened or displayed out of its packaging online.

And reviews by children are some of the most watched videos on YouTube according to the site’s owners, Google.

In Norfolk, four-year-old Mollie Smith (right) is already quite the pro when it comes to vlogging. She and her mum Holly (left) have become so well known for their toy reviews on YouTube

Rising numbers of mini-me bloggers are cashing in on their blogging prowess. Recently it was reported that seven-year-old Tiana Wilson is on the cusp of becoming a millionaire by posting videos online of herself trying out different toys.

And in 2012, Scottish schoolgirl Martha Payne, then nine, landed a lucrative book deal after writing about her ‘disgusting’ school dinners in her blog NeverSeconds, which had 10,000 views within three hours of it going online.

Khushi hopes to be a Michelin starred chef one day, and she and her mum are keen to review restaurant food.

‘We got an invitation from the Café Rouge chain for me to go along and taste their new kids’ menu on my blog but we couldn’t go,’ adds Khushi. ‘I’ve also received free tickets to the BBC Good Food Show and an invite to a cookery masterclass with the Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo, who was Jamie Oliver’s first boss.’

She plans to launch her own cookery ‘vlog’ – video blog – on YouTube next year.

Mollie Smith, four, lives with mother Holly, 30, father Callum, 25, a sports massage therapist, and sister Bella near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Holly’s marital bedroom doubles as a makeshift film studio and when a parcel arrives she ensures the cameras are rolling so she can capture Mollie’s reaction as she ‘unboxes’

In Norfolk, four-year-old Mollie Smith is already quite the pro when it comes to vlogging. 

She and her mum Holly, 30, have become so well known for their toy reviews on YouTube that the pair were even recognised recently by strangers in their local Marks and Spencer.

‘Bloggers are the new mainstream advertising and a positive review on a blog is worth a fortune to the companies because consumers trust the reality of a review more than a TV advert,’ explained Holly.

Mollie Smith has more toys than the average child thanks to her role as vlogger. Among the freebies they have received are a Segway worth £500, a £150 Leappad Learning Tablet for Mollie, and a family ticket to see the Disney On Ice stage show in London, worth £140

Holly launched her money saving blog and Facebook page, Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK,in 2014 as well as her YouTube channel, Holly Vlogs, on which Mollie regularly stars.

Collectively they get over 6.7million views per month with Mollie’s vlogs frequently surpassing 4,000 views.

Among the freebies they have received are a Segway worth £500, a £150 Leappad Learning Tablet for Mollie, and a family ticket to see the Disney On Ice stage show in London, worth £140.

‘The total value of all the products we receive would run into thousands of pounds,’ she says.

Mollie is now a tester for the toy company Leapfrog and the retailer Toys R Us, who send her everything from Disney dolls to toys, books, teddy bears and games. They then post Mollie’s reviews on the blog and on YouTube.

Holly’s marital bedroom doubles as a makeshift film studio and when a parcel arrives she ensures the cameras are rolling so she can capture Mollie’s reaction as she ‘unboxes’.

‘Kids can’t lie and that’s what retailers and consumers like,’ Holly said.

Blogging can have many educational benefits - studies show children who keep a blog perform better in literacy tests.

However, when they’re being showered with free toys and games year round, how do you stop children such as Khushi and Mollie from becoming spoilt and blasé? 

Mollie is now a tester for the toy company Leapfrog and the retailer Toys R Us, who send her everything from Disney dolls to toys, books, teddy bears and games

‘We perhaps don’t value things the way we ought to - we don’t realise the knowledge and energy that has gone into making such things.’ 

‘So I have a strict rule that as soon as she receives a new toy she has to choose one of her existing toys to give to charity,’ she says.

Kiran adopts the same policy for Khushi: they regularly give the products they receive to charity to make way for new arrivals.

‘Khushi knows there are lots of children who don’t have very much,’ says Kiran.

‘That’s why I’m working hard to teach her the difference between needing and wanting.’

Another issue facing bloggers is the potential for bias - which could be hard for youngsters to grasp.

‘Children may not be as experienced in this overt promotion and may not be as good at working out how they may be being used by commercial companies,’ says psychologist Graham Jones. 

‘If the company gets a bad review and the free toys and games dry up the child might worry that they’ve done something wrong. It just comes down to parenting. If the parent is a blogger themself, they’ll be aware of these things and will be able to guide their child through it.’

Holly says she and Mollie stick to ‘giving honest product reviews’ in return for freebies rather than earning cash for sponsored posts so that they never feel pressurised to give a positive review

Holly says she and Mollie stick to ‘giving honest product reviews’ in return for freebies rather than earning cash for sponsored posts so that they never feel beholden to give a swayed review.

‘We always give honest reviews but it can be awkward at times if I need to be negative, especially if it’s a higher value product. 

'But negative feedback does help companies to improve. We tried out some toys sent to us from a brand called Wow and I wrote within the review that the packaging was harder to get into than Fort Knox – it took my husband over ten minutes – and was a real downfall to their products.

‘They took our views on board and now have easy to open packaging.’

Kiran says although she and Khushi give very honest reviews on their blogs, they always aim to balance any negatives with positives.