Podcasts. I love them. I used to listen to a lot of them in the before times when I drove to work every day and it was quiet. Now I grab minutes here and there for myself, but mine are not kid-friendly and I’m always. surrounded. by. kids. So! I started looking for podcasts that we could listen to together. I looked high and low and found a few that I liked, a few that they liked, but nothing we could stand equally. So, I began a quest. A quest to find kid-friendly content that didn’t make me want to scoop out my ear drums with grapefruit spoons and I present to you the fruits of my labor. These are listed in the order which I found them, and based on the last ones we listened to. Some of these podcasts are hosted by kids, some by adults, some are in their first season, some are already done. Either way, I wish you many hours of good audio content.
Girl Tales – Reimagined feminist fairy tales that are kid-friendly!? Sign us up! This podcasts removes damsels in need of distress and instead gives the girls in the stories agency, and control. In each episode there’s a segment called Little Girls Doing Big Things which feature interviews with young girls all over the world who are creating change in their communities and not waiting until they’re grown ups to start chasing their dreams. In other words, they’re future Feminist Book Club members and I can’t wait for them to join us.
Best for – EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE.
Spanish Stories for Kids – Hosted by Marcelo (a child), this podcast features Marcelo’s mom reading stories in Spanish with voices and everything. At the top of each episode, Marcelo identifies Spanish vocabulary words to look for during the episode. My heart is so full when listening to this because it sounds like a really great project for a mom to do with her child. It makes me want to record stories for my kids and their kids so they have something to listen to when I die.
Best for – Everyone
Hey Black Child! – Hosted by Avery and Jackson, with guest appearances by their parents, this podcast talks about Black excellence and lesser known parts of the Black experience. What I like the most is that each episode comes with a link to resources which range from coloring pages, to a worksheet with activities for school. One episode “Am I Black or African American” inspired a lot of questions in my house which I loved. My favorite part is the airhorns.
Best for – Kids 5+
Mystery Recipe – Produced by American Test Kitchen Kids and co-hosted by Mitsy the Oven Mitt this podcast tackles one mystery ingredient every episode and at the end of the season they cook with them. There are interviews with the mystery ingredients (Please listen to the onion interview, I stan a legend) and I’m excited to learn new things as a parent.
Best for – Kids 10+ (or earlier if you have a tiny chef in your home).
Good Words Podcast – For kids (and parents) this podcast features a new word every lesson, like “unorthodox” or “audacity”. There are knock-knock jokes, great puns, poetry, music, the works! Episodes are about 30 minutes long so it may be harder for younger kids, but I love the concept. The intro is a bit cheesy – but you can skip it…which I do often. Did you know that in 2017 a contestant at the Scripps National Spelling Bee spelled kerfuffle with a “c”?! These are the tidbits you learn. Also makes me wish I was back in elementary school competing in the school spelling bee, instead of in this hellscape.
Best for – Kids 8+
The Story Seeds – This podcast is a JOY and I think I like it more than the kids do. A child is paired with an author, they have a discussion about a seed of a story, and then the author goes off and writes it. But the conversations are unexpectedly deep (see: A Worm’s Worth) and you see how their brains work and you’re inspired to see the kids continue. I want to follow them and see what they end up doing. There are also Activity Zines that feature writing tips, short episode nonfiction articles, arts and crafts, STEAM experiments, poetry and just…it’s what I would’ve wanted as an 8 year old.
Best for – Kids 6+
Million Bazillion – Marketplace from American Public Media has a new podcast for kids and I dig it so far. My oldest child wants to be a real estate agent when they grow up and I have impressed upon them the need to understand how money works. Like, for example, allowance or any accidental money receipt shouldn’t be spent immediately on TRASH TOYS that break and clutter up my home. The first episode was a great history of money, and the second episode is about negotiating skills. I am adamantly pro-financial literacy education for kids, especially girls, and am excited to see where the episodes go next.
Best for – Kids 6+
Ologies – Where to begin with Ologies…Host Alie Ward is amazing. Every episode is a different -ologist and they discuss a different topic. I’m in the middle of listening to Architectural Technology and it’s blowing my mind. I’ve found out about things I’ve never heard about before and even if it’s an episode I didn’t think I’d like – by the end I’m like “Oh yeah, this is totally dope.” My older kid listens to “explicit” versions with me because I have a lassiez-faire attitude towards cursing, but there are also episodes that are edited for kids to listen to, that’s where this links to. Also not to brag or anything, but Alie Ward follows me on Twitter. I’m pretty sure that makes me superstar adjacent.
Best for – Kids 10+
Smash Boom Best – In high school I was on the debate team. I know, you’re shocked! “Natalia!” you must be saying to yourself right now “You seem so easy going, chill, and definitely not like someone who wants to argue!” Well dear reader, this is all a facade. Smash Boom Best is a debate show for kids and every episode has two people take up two topics (Chocolate vs. Cheese! Aliens vs. Robots! Ice Age vs. Jurassic!) and has a guest judge to award points. It also teaches kids logical arguments (ex. slippery slope, red herring, etc.) and I love how the arguing is done in different ways to reach more people.
Best for – Kids 8+, but my 6 year old listens to it and has very strong opinions as well, (insert surprised Pikachu meme here).
Short & Curly – This is an Australian podcast and it’s like….The Good Place but for kids? It’s an ethics podcast that poses questions like “Are you really free?” which discusses the concept of Free Will, or “Are you the boss of your emotions?” which introduces kids to The Stoics. My brain doesn’t work in this way, so I like listening to this with the kids and hearing what they have to say. What I also like is that they have a website with further resources, class activities, and I sometimes review them before we listen to an episode so I can catch the drift.
Best for – Kids 8+, this is upper primary right?
StudentPreneur Podcast – Weekly Australian motivational podcast for high school students, university students, or – if you’re me – a 9 year old with a strong desire to start their own real estate/pet shelter business. How will it all work? I don’t know. But here I am, supporting them, listening to business podcasts to show them they can do anything, blah blah blah. Now here’s the deal, this isn’t my favorite podcast of the list, but my kid thinks it’s the bees knees and who am I to say otherwise? “MOM THIS IS SO COOL!” is a common refrain I hear.
Best for – Kids 14+
The Music Box – An interactive music education podcast for kids. Every episode has additional resources in the show notes and identifies which national American standards are incorporated. I played piano for 10 years and my husband plays the bass and part of the excitement of 2020 was to sign the kids up for music lessons. A tiny piano player and tiny drum player. RIP my dreams. ANYWAY – back to the podcast – there’s episodes where the focus is an instrument or a theme like how art inspires music and vice versa. It’s lots of fun, even if the 9 year old thinks they’re too cool for it. Important note, the additional resources provided are only accessible through your listening app you’re using that I can find.
Best for – Kids 6+
Hey Chef! With Sammy Baunoch – I like food, and am hoping to raise kids who like food too. Right now, this is not a given as the most requested food is “buttered noodles with meatballs mom, NO RED SAUCE” but you know it’s good to have dreams and aspirations. Anyway in this podcast a young chef, Sammy Baunoch, interviews Baltimore chefs about what it takes to be a chef. There are only 2 episodes but I’m hooked.
Best for – Kids 10+
Circle Round – This podcast is the perfect thing to listen to on a long drive, I think. This show adapts folktales from around the world into audio plays using well known actors as part of the cast. Phillipa Soo is in “The Enchanted Paintbrush”, Melora Hardin and Gildart Jackson is in “Every Other Friday”. I grew up listening to audio plays on car rides home and this reminds me of that. It’s comforting, it’s wholesome. 10/10 would recommend. Each episode also has an activity to go along with it it’s great.
Best for – Kids 5+
The Big Fib – I’m just going to pull directly from their website for this description because I don’t think I could it explain it as well “In the era of fake news, kids need to learn to be able to tell what’s true from what’s false. And what better way to do that than a game show that puts kids in the driver’s seat, adults on the hot seat, and a sound-effects robot strapped to the roof? Each week a kid interviews two experts in a particular topic, one of which is a genuine, credentialed expert, the other a liar.” The concept is gold, I love hearing my kids take on who is the liar and who is the expert, and it’s now a show on Disney+!
Best for – Kids 8+
Best Day Yet – In therapy, one of the strategies my therapist (poor, long suffering, therapist) has me try to incorporate is positive self-talk. What a disaster. I’m not good at it and I’m [REDACTED] years old! Anyway, I didn’t want to pass on this toxic trait to my kids. I wanted to have them grow up thinking that positive self-talk was totally normal! I like to listen to this in the morning before we start our day, after I’ve yelled at them for the 8th time to PUT! ON! YOUR! SHOES! It’s all about balance.
Best for – Kids 5+
– Bonus Podcast –
Book Club for Kids! – Of course I – a writer for a blog that is a result of a podcast & book club – am going to include a book club podcast. This is for young readers to meet to talk about books. The show includes a celebrity reader and an interview with the author. We haven’t listened to this yet but it came recommended and I’m interested in getting into it.
Best for – Kids 10-13
