Parents Resources #4: Listen Up Round Up

Last week was all about reading; this week is all about listening. A few podcasts that are pretty popular around these parts (and that don’t drive me, as a parent, absolutely crazy). Honestly, there’s a lot that fits that bill, but I’m going to keep it to three this week and maybe run it back again next week with 3 more...

•  *But Why - This one has been a staple in our home for years. Kids sent in questions, Vermont Public Radio show finds experts to answer those questions in a way that makes sense to kids. Never transcendent, but always very good and excellent conversation fodder for the dinner table.

•  Story Pirates - This just barely passes the “doesn’t drive me crazy” bar. The parts where they perform stories and songs written by kids? Brilliant and amazing. The part where they’re pirates going around, doing bizarre piratey things...sometimes a bit obnoxious. What puts this one solidly in the “recommend” category right now is that there are a lot of episodes and every episode has a writing prompt on the website. (And my kids love the parts that I find obnoxious, so score one for the children)

•  Radiolab for Kids - All it took was a global pandemic for this idea that has been a long time coming to be realized. It’s a feed of stories from Radiolab, the show that adults love (in which they find a way to use a choir singing in harmony to demonstrate 95% of all scientific concepts that have ever existed) that are also kid-friendly. Maybe this can become a trend? Looking at you 99% Invisible...