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Adults shouldn't get to have all the fun.
Adults shouldn't get to have all the fun. (Photo: Halfpoint/iStock)

The Best Podcasts for Kids

A playlist that both parents and children can enjoy.

Published: 
Adults shouldn't get to have all the fun.
(Photo: Halfpoint/iStock)

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This winter聽my husband, Steve, and I聽took our two daughters to the Grand Canyon, an eight-hour haul from our home in Santa Fe. Our road-trip game has evolved over the years. When they were infants, they napped to Baby Mozart on the CD player for hours on end (and no stopping for gas,聽or else they woke up).聽As toddlers聽they passed the time watching Little Einsteins episodes or giving monkeys perms on Toca Hair Salon on the Kindle. But ever since they learned to read, we鈥檝e deliberately gone screen-free in the car. Now, at ages eight and ten, they pack their own art supplies and books, play car bingo, do homework, or鈥攂est of all鈥攄aydream out the window.

On this latest trip, we upped our game and finally joined the 21st century by cuing up some podcasts. The girls are mature enough now to listen to 45-minute shows with substance and heft that also interest Steve and me (or that at least won鈥檛 bore us into a mind-numbing delirium). The best family podcasts are the ones that we can all enjoy. Our audio diet tries to hit the big categories鈥攁rt, science, humanity, adventure, mystery, and nature.

Short and聽Curly

Ages 4 and up

Produced by ABC News Australia, is an ethics podcast for kids and parents that poses moral dilemmas and probing鈥攐r in Aussie lingo, 鈥渃urly鈥濃攓uestions and gives listeners time to discuss them together. On the way home from the Grand Canyon, we listened to a show about pugs (is it humane to breed dogs whose short snouts make it hard to breathe?) and, in a compelling mock reenactment of the Titanic,聽the morality of saving kids鈥 lives over adults鈥.聽Cohosted by award-winning science journalist Carl Smith and Australian actress and filmmaker Molly Daniels, Short and聽Curly addresses subjects ranging from science to sports, wildlife to technology. And at just about 20 minutes long, it鈥檚 succinct, as advertised, never preachy, and聽funny. Bonus: an Aussie ethics expert聽chimes in with helpful perspectives.

The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

For ages 8 to 12

Winner of the 2016 Peabody Award, is performed by kids for kids. The namesake protagonist, an Indian American middle schooler, teams up with his friends to investigate the link between missing children and a shady billionaire. Plenty of sci-fi elements keep the mystery moving forward, ensuring that聽kids鈥攁nd their grown-ups鈥攚ill be hooked from the start. Now in season three, the audio episodes are short (15 to 25 minutes long) and fast-paced, ideal for action-obsessed listeners.

Invisibilia

For ages 11 and up

As a young girl, I was obsessed with the television series In Search of鈥聽about eerie natural phenomena like Pompeii, Bigfoot, and the Bermuda Triangle. Kids these days are just as hooked on the weird hidden forces that shape our lives. Enter , NPR鈥檚 narrative storytelling podcast for grown-ups that鈥檚 chockablock with strange-but-true tales about the unseeable things that affect our behavior, beliefs, and assumptions鈥攍ike the latest neuroscience research on emotions;聽ways in which we see reality (and in one story, bears) differently; and 鈥淚, I, Him,鈥 about the stories we tell about ourselves to overcome difficult obstacles. Cohosted by Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel, of This American Life and The Atlantic, respectively,聽this 45-minute show is clever and compelling.

Storynory

For ages 4 to 10

The younger set will groove on ,聽which features聽original stories about birds, pirates, and plucky monkeys, as well as classic fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop, and the Brothers Grimm. Only 15 to 20 minutes long, the dramatic tales聽suit shorter attention spans or those who tend to doze off midstory for their nap (guilty).

On Being

For ages 8 and up

For older kids asking bigger questions, Krista Tippet鈥檚 may just be the answer. On a recent backcountry hut trip in Colorado, we listened to Tippet鈥檚 2015 interview with the late, great poet Mary Oliver. Some of it, including allusions to Oliver鈥檚 difficult childhood, was over their heads, but Tippet, who covers mindfulness, spirituality, science, and art, approaches her subjects with thoughtful consideration, humility, and a lot of heart. Afterward, I asked the girls and their seven-year-old friend to share something they鈥檇 learned. Oliver lived in Florida and loved nature, one of them said. She stood at her door every morning with her notebook in hand and wrote, another recalled. She collected shingles at the dump on the day she won the Pulitzer. The message of this episode, and much of On Being, is that if you pay attention, you鈥檒l see that life is filled with ordinary,聽beautiful moments鈥攎any of them beautiful because they are so ordinary.

Lead Photo: Halfpoint/iStock

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