Kids Listen Goes Back to School — 13 Great Kids’ Podcasts with Extra Resources for Educators
Being a teacher is more challenging than ever, and the kids’ podcast creators at the non-profit advocacy group Kids Listen want to make things easier. Here’s a list of great kid-focused pods offering supplemental materials to aid educators in the classroom!
Included in this article:
Bearily Bear Fairy Tales
Book Club for Kids
But Why
Dorktales Storytime
The Fina Mendoza Mysteries
The Good Words Podcast
The Kit Bull Story
Newsy Pooloozi
Peace Out
Solve It For Kids
The Story Seeds Podcast
TIMESTORM
What If World: Stories for Kids
Bearily Bear Fairy Tales feature empowered princesses that are capable of saving themselves. Children will love the culturally diverse fairy tales in Season 2, like Brown Rapunzel, Black Snow White, and Moroccan Cinderella. Common Sense Media selected Bearily Bear as a best podcast of 2022.
Season 3 of Bearily Bear Fairy Tales is launching in September 2023.
Each episode contains library resources and an educational worksheet about the region and customs discussed in the story.
Find the worksheets here: bearilybear.com
Book Club for Kids is a 20-minute podcast devoted to middle grade books and readers. Each show features a trio of students discussing a favorite book, an interview with the author, and a celebrity reading. Kitty Felde is the host.
Among the resources available at bookclubforkids.org are:
- Reading Tips: How to Get Reluctant Readers to Pick Up a Book
- Curriculum for the middle grade fiction discussed on the Book Club for Kids podcast
- Book Suggestions from Kids (and a few Adults)
- Writing Tips from professional writers
But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids offers transcripts and learning guides to accompany every episode. You can find links in the show notes on your favorite podcast app and the episode pages at butwhykids.org.
But Why has also recently launched a video and curriculum series for teachers and homeschoolers. In short dynamic videos, host Jane Lindholm helps kids explore the science behind seasonal phenomena like why leaves change colors, how raptors use thermodynamics to soar, and what happens in animals’ bodies when they hibernate. Comprehensive lesson guides accompany each video, offering ways for students to deepen their learning and giving teachers a complete unit to supplement their science curriculum. The series is geared toward kids in 3rd through 5th grade. Educators can sign up for the free series at butwhykids.org/nature.
Dorktales Storytime podcast tells original fairy tales with social-emotional lessons and stories about the hidden heroes of history. They produce resources for educators and home-schoolers, including an SEL guide, printable certificates, conversation cards, color pages, and activity guides for their Hidden Heroes of History episodes. There are two ways to access their resource library:
- All mailing list subscribers have FREE access. Sign up here: dorktalesstorytime.aweb.page/DorktalesPortalSignUp
- Purchase individual activity guides on their printables shop: buymeacoffee.com/dorktales/extras
In the Fina Mendoza Mysteries podcast, Fina and her canine partner Senator Something learn about American government and Washington, D.C. as they solve mysteries. Resources for educators include the Facts Behind the Fiction Blog with information about civics, Congress, and other topics discussed in podcast, and books that you can use in the classroom. You can also sign up for a free Teacher’s Guide to the series here.
Each episode of the Good Words Podcast takes a deep dive into a specific word such as AUDACITY, QUAGMIRE, or SUPERLATIVE, exploring its etymology, usage, and meaning. Each episode’s notes include further details about the information included in that episode, and written transcripts are also available. Find these resources at misslynn.com/good-words-podcast.
Discover a world of captivating stories and heartfelt lessons with The Kit Bull Story podcast. Join Kit and friends as they embark on exciting adventures that teach empathy, kindness, and the importance of treating animals with care. With every episode, children learn while having fun, connecting with furry characters and gaining a deeper understanding of the animal kingdom. Tune in and ignite curiosity, laughter, and compassion in young hearts. thekitbullstory.com
Educator resources available include worksheets to learn and activities to explore more about the life of pets and animals. The worksheets can be downloaded at thekitbullstory.com/Resources-for-Teaching.php
Newsy Pooloozi — Dive into this wacky world news pool — whether it’s the annual water-splash festival in Thailand or California’s lawnmower-versus-sheep debate, wild bioengineered tech, or the latest space, sport, or entertainment news. With regular reports from kid correspondents around the globe, this is the coolest way to stay up on current affairs and cultural events while learning about our big (and bizarre!) world. Since almost every story requires background information — and often fancy words decoded — they reinforce these fabulous facts with the “Five Fab Facts Quiz” at the end of the show. Each quiz can be printed or answered online as a Google form, whatever works best for teachers and students: newsypooloozi.com/lucky-dip/
Looking for ways to promote SEL and mindfulness? Peace Out Podcast is a collection of relaxation stories based on topics kids love (constellations, sea turtles, geodes, oh my!). Each story contains three yoga and mindfulness exercises and focuses on a SEL concept such as empathy and friendship. A bonus? Many stories have curriculum connections, such as one relaxation story that guides listeners to imagine themselves as a raindrop going through the entire water cycle! Exercises are adapted to accommodate different strengths and needs when possible, and full transcripts are available by request. Peace Out was created and is hosted by Chanel Tsang, an educator who is currently working at a research centre focused on child development and mental health at the University of Toronto.
Peace Out’s first book, Calm Down Workbook for Kids by Chanel Tsang and illustrated by Cory Reid is available on August 15th, just in time for the new school year!
Solve It! for Kids is a science podcast for curious & creative kids and their families. Peek into the world of real-life scientists, engineers, and experts as they solve problems in their everyday jobs. Then, kids and families can take on a challenge and solve a problem themselves! Join Jennifer and Jeff as they ask questions, solve problems, and offer challenges that take curiosity and creativity to a new level.
For more fun and enrichment, they have created educator guides and hands-on activities to get students to explore STEM jobs more thoroughly. Find them at: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jennifer-Swanson-Science-Rocks
The Webby Award-nominated Story Seeds Podcast matches children ages 6–12 with diverse and best-selling children’s authors to collaborate and grow their story ideas into original tales. It is also a Common Sense Media Family Seal selection.
Story Seeds has a free Educators resources section with free lesson plans and downloadables. The podcast also has activity kits to go along with each episode which feature reading, writing, listening, and project-based learning activities and are available as episode-specific digital downloads or as a printed, full-color activity book Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity.
The team behind Story Seeds is also launching Podcasting 101 for Educators, an online, self-paced course that introduces teachers, librarians, and homeschooling parents to the nuts and bolts of podcasting.
Timestorm is a middle-grade time-travel fiction podcast series about the Ventura twins, spanning three continents and five centuries.
Educational resources available for Timestorm include a listening guide, and episode guides for season 1 (episodes 1–10) in printable and accessible formats. Guides include activities, worksheets, discussion questions, a fact vs. fiction chart, vocabulary, resource lists, curriculum standards, and SEL competencies. They have also created three Apple Map guides that feature locations the Ventura twins visit throughout the series. Two Apple Map guides are available in English and Spanish (Explore Old San Juan & Explore El Yunque), and a third is available in English (Explore NJ’s Lenape Trail). They also offer non-fiction resources about Puerto Rico. Find them at cocotazomedia.com/timestorm-resources
What If World: Stories for Kids starts with listeners’ “What If” questions, which creator and host Eric O’Keeffe spins into stories for kids ages 5–11 with lessons about community, kindness, and many more topics supporting Social Emotional Learning curricula. The educator resources they provide include a spreadsheet identifying 20 different SEL-related themes and lessons throughout the series’ 250+ episodes, episode transcripts, a listening worksheet and a “What If” question generator to help spark students’ imaginations. Find them at whatifworldpodcast.com/resources.
