Banish Boredom with These 50 Fun Kids Listen Podcast Activities
We are entering the dog-days of summer. Days filled with sprinklers, popsicles, and blissful, content children happy to be meditating over a blade of grass. Yeah, right…. While those idyllic summer moments do happen, they are liberally sprinkled with cries of “I’m bored!” and “There’s nothing to do!” and “It’s too hot to go outside!” And maybe even “You want me to mediate over a blade of what now?”
Rather than succumb to the lure of the glowing screen, we’ve come up with 50 awesome ways to listen, learn, laugh and get involved with our Kids Listen podcasts. See if you can do all 50, or just check a few off your list. It’s a sure-fire way to avoid the “I’m boooooreds!”
1. Audio adventures are great, because you can imagine the story and characters any way you want! Draw a picture of your favorite scene or character from Aaron’s World and send it in to the show.
2. Take a moment with Peace Out. You may get that blade of grass meditation going yet!
3. Listen to a story from Circle Round, narrated by one of your favorite actors, and then take part in the “Now It’s Your Turn” moment at the end — where you and your kids discuss how the story relates to real-life issues in your own lives.
4. Feed a robot. Don’t have a robot? Then make a drawing and send it to Finn Caspian. Rumor has it, the picture might show up on the show’s Twitter feed.
5. Ace quiz time on the history show we all love, The Past and the Curious. (Our personal record is 2 for 3.)
6. Submit a story to Story Pirates, the awesome improv show based on stories that kids write and submit. Or write a story with a friend or sibling and then act it out together.
7. Build a bottle rocket, or design a paper rocket while listening to the first episode of Space Train on Purple Rocket Podcast. (Find instructions in the “Lesson” section under the episode.)
8. Listen to episode 3 of Buttons and Figs, Going on an Onomatopoeia Hunt, and then go for your own hunt. Walk around the neighborhood, the playground, the campground, the beach, or anywhere and listen to onomatopoeia words that you hear. It’s a snap! (See what we did there?) Try to imitate the sounds and spell the words that go with those sounds. Triple bonus points if you can spell onomatopoeia.
9. Record a sound effect for Little Stories for Tiny People. Moo, hooray, yay, honk, roar — whatever you fancy! Send a voice memo to rhea@littlestoriestinypeople with your best noise.
10. Got your summer reading going in full swing? Tell Book Club for Kids what your favorite book of the summer is so far.
11. Dream up a scenario for Mr. Eric of What if World. Record a voice memo and send it in his way and it might get featured on the show!
12. Stump listeners of the science podcast Brains On! with a mystery sound.
13. Got a science-related question puzzling you? See if Mindy and Guy Raz of Wow in the World can answer it!
14. Check out a new podcast by scrolling through the Kids Listen App.
15. Learn about an animal you’ve never heard of before on Cool Facts About Animals and then answer the creature quiz — send in your results for a free sticker!
16. Add your voice to the Noodle Loaf choir.
17. Listen to the Tumble episode “How to Build an Electric Eel”, then design your own swimming robot.
18. Try to guess what you’re drawing during a Noodle Loaf “Guided Doodle”, then share your picture with them on FB or Twitter to enter to win a T-Shirt!
19. Try to find the moral in your favorite episode of What If World. Then see if you can create a different story around the same moral.
20. Listen to the story about Charles Blondin on The Past and the Curious and then try to funambulate (that’s a fancy word for tightrope walk) on your own. Don’t hurt yourself! Just put a long piece of masking tape or yarn on the floor and test your balance.
21. Check out the Ear Snacks episode about string (it’s an entire odyssey –there are a bunch!) and then do some music experiments of your own. You probably have the materials to make tin-can phones around the house.
22. Get inspired to re-enact a scene from one of your favorite books after listening to Book Power for Kids. Bonus points for costumes!
23. We’ve heard Rhea of Little Stories for Tiny People records the show in her closet! If you’re like us, you can’t fit in your closet because it’s too full of stuff. Clean your closet! No just kidding. Instead, make a pillow fort and take your hand at writing a story with pictures from inside the fort.
24. Send in a story idea or a picture to Be Calm on Ahway Island — but maybe after you get a nice nap in.
25. Who says you can’t play with your food? Do a science experiment — with food — after listening to episode 135 of Good Stuff Pod.
26. Listen all the way to the end of Cool Facts About Animals and answer the riddle to see if you can guess what the next featured animal will be. Send in your answer for a sticker.
27. Make your own list of things to do while you listen to your favorite Kids Listen podcasts.
28. Listen to episode 4 of Dad and Me Love History and then try to connect every single LEGO in your house. (You read that right!) Bonus point if you get through the project without getting a LEGO lodged between your toes.
29. Make a pocket-sized dragon out of clay after listening to “The Pocket Sized Dragon” on Calm Kid Podcast.
30. Chloe of Chloe’s Friendship Circle is always coming up with new crafts and crazy recipe. Try your hand at one of them, and let her know how it came out.
31. Listen to Aaron’s World and then design your own I.N.O. learning computer. What would you name it? What device would you keep it in? What would you chose to explore, and where would you travel?
32. Try not to laugh while listening to the “Dog King” episode of Stories Podcast.
33. Have a budding newscaster? Interview a scientist with tips from Tumble’s “How to Interview a Scientist” episode.
34. Listen to a few intro songs from Kids Listen podcasts. What would your theme song be? Record it, and send it into the show that gave you the biggest inspiration.
35. Get inspired by Nate of That Show About Science and do your own simple science experiment. What happens if you combine baking soda and vinegar?
36. Have you ever thought of inventing something? Listen to episode 13 of Buttons and Figs to hear about some creative kid-designed machines. Then download the free activity sheet for this episode and see if you can figure out the correct order of one of Rube Goldberg’s crazy contraptions. Then see if you can design your own using materials from around the house!
37. Check out the latest episode of Girls Tales and get inspired to write your very own fairy tale with you as the main character.
38. Listen to the “How to Make Paint” episode of But Why and then head outside to grind your own rocks and create your own paint.
39. Draw an illustration from your favorite episode of Story Spectacular and send it in to angela@storyspectacular.com to enter to win a free picture book.
40. Build a fairy house in your backyard or at the park using leaves and twigs, flowers and rocks. Listen to the sweet sound of fairy summer songs in the evening just like Jemi does in episode 3 of April Eight.
41. Make a list of everything you’re grateful for while listening to “Gabby and the Gratitudes” from the Purple Rocket Podcast. Write a note to someone you’re especially grateful to, and send it to them.
42. Make a castle out of candy after listening to “Caught in the Candy Castle” from the Calm Kids Podcast. Hey — it’s summer!
43. What’s your favorite fairytale? Adapt it into a more modern story, just like they do in Stories Podcast.
44. Create a character to be on Finn Caspian’s show. Or create a character for your own show!
45. Binge-listen to Eleanor Amplified or The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel. How many episodes can you get through in one afternoon? Or perhaps the better question — how can you stop listening?!
46. Are you a Harry Potter fan? Check out The Tiny Potters as they discuss some of their favorite parts of the Harry Potter books. What’s your favorite book series? What would you want to tell people about the books?
47. Hey dinosaur fans! Check out the Kidosaurus podcast, and then use your imagination to connect every day things around you (like birds!) to what you’ve learned about dinosaurs, like Riley did in episode 5.
48. See if you can figure out what’s real and what’s not while listening to Pants on Fire.
49. Cast your vote for what you think is best (pizza or tacos? super speed or super strength?) and see if your mind is changed after listening to an episode of Smash Boom Best. After listening, try to win a debate with one of your friends.
50. If you had a podcast, what would you call it? Brainstorm names.
Have more to add to the list? Let us know in the comments, or tweet us at @kids_listen.
