Listen up, everyone: Here are 10 podcasts especially for kids
9.9.2022
Translation: machine translated
There are now podcasts for children like sand in a sandbox. I've picked out ten seeds for you.
Car journeys, flights or train journeys with children on board can get long. Very long. But until TV series such as Paw Patrol, PJ Masks or Peppa Pig on the tablet, we try to keep our children entertained with audio formats. However, children's podcasts are now plentiful - and once the kids' moods are at rock bottom, entertainment needs to come quickly. I have listened through the podcast landscape and found ten favourites. The beauty is that even we adults can learn a lot from listening.
Interview podcasts
Little questions
"Max Giesinger, why do men put the toilet seat up when they pee?" Or: "Vanessa Mai, do you feel uncool because you make Schlager?" In this podcast, children ask German stars the really important questions in life. They call their format "Chatty Quarter Hour" with "eleven super fast questions" - but besides being fast, they are one thing above all: cheeky, provocative and thoroughly entertaining.
Recommended age: 10 years and up
. Duration per episode: approx. 15 minutes
Available at: Spotify, Apple, mitvergnuegen.com
When I grow up
"Helloooo and welcome!" At first you're startled by the intro, thinking it's Barbie herself speaking in her shrill voice. Then the over-excited tone of voice subsides and two girls, the hosts, explain what they do in the Barbie podcast "When I grow up": "Ask smart and cool women all the questions about their exciting and extraordinary professions." Interviews with a firefighter, activist or marine biologist, for example, have already appeared. Mattel's goal with the podcast is to close the so-called "Dream Gap", which states that girls aged 5 and older "believe less in themselves", according to the Barbie manufacturer. It wants listeners to take inspiration from successful women.
Recommended age: 6 years and up
. Duration per episode: approx. 15 minutes
Available at: Spotify, Apple
Knowledge podcasts
Zambo Bus
SRF's Zambo Bus tours Switzerland with children's reporters, stopping at various stations. For example, they visit a fashion designer to find out what the difference is between fast and slow fashion. Or they look over the shoulder of a real horse whisperer on a farm. The cool thing is that the young listeners decide where the journey takes them. The route and the range of topics are correspondingly varied.
Recommended age: 6 years and up
. Duration: approx. 30 minutes
Available at: Spotify, Apple, srf.ch
Geolino special
The podcast delivers what the name suggests: a lot of knowledge. That's a bit daunting at first, but all the topics are presented in a child-friendly and creative way. Host Ivy leads through the quarter-hour episodes and explains the world to "young explorers". Or at least a piece of it each time. Current topics include leaves, ravens and Walt Disney. There are also interviews, tips for handicrafts and experiments.
Recommended age: 8 years and up
. Duration per episode: approx. 15 minutes
Available at: Spotify, Apple, geo.de
Theo tells
Theo is a minor podcast star in Switzerland and, by his own admission, the youngest of his guild. The 8-year-old from Schmerikon TG knows an incredible amount about the animal world and shares his knowledge in short conversations with his father. The format came about in the first Lockdown 2020: Because the then 6-year-old could not go to kindergarten, his parents thought about how to keep their knowledge-hungry boy happy. Soon they made it to No. 1 among children's educational podcasts. For animal fans young and old.
Recommended age: 6 years and up
. Duration per episode: approx. 5 min
Available at: Spotify, Apple, kinderpodcast.ch
The Mouse to Listen
Every child knows "Die Sendung mit der Maus". As a podcast counterpart, the cult TV show is called "Die Maus zum Hören" (The Mouse to Listen to) and contains, as it says in the intro, "laughs and factual stories". Every day there is a new one-hour (!) episode in which the makers explore a topic from different perspectives. The spectrum is huge: within one week, they devoted themselves to walls, cacti and ships. Each time, children ask questions about the topic. For example: Why do cacti have spines? And why do they survive in the desert? Questions that parents usually don't have an off-the-cuff answer to themselves.
Recommended age: 8 years and older
. Duration per episode: approx. 1 hour
Available at: Spotify, Apple, wdrmaus.de
Story podcasts
Mira and the flying house
Mira loves to sing, has a magic piano and lives in a flying house with rapping mouse MC Pieps and talking cat Copernicus. Every Wednesday, a new podcast episode is published about the creative troupe, in which they learn, for example, about emotional antennas and overcome the fear of letting go. The stories venture into "grown-up" topics such as mindfulness, self-love, sustainability and diversity.
Recommended age: 4 years and up
. Duration: approx. 30 minutes
Available at: Spotify, Apple
Fidisophy - Nonsense and lateral thinking in the tree house
What actually is friendship? How can you end an argument and why is that so difficult? And do you always have to share everything fairly? Difficult emotional questions, not only for children. The podcast of the TV channel Kika answers them with the help of a short story and thus aims to teach listeners as young as kindergarten age to think philosophically. Every Friday there is a new short episode about the bat Fidi and the presenter duo Juri and Sina, all known from the programme "Kika Baumhaus". A warm and loving format.
Recommended age: 4 years and up
. Duration: approx. 7 minutes
Available at: Spotify, kika.de
Sleep podcasts
Slumberland
The bedtime stories about two Muns - inhabitants of Slumberland - guide tired children to sleep. Or make exuberant children tired. Sometimes Flick and Fanian go boating in the moonlight, sometimes they explore the underwater world, sometimes they meet a red bird. The fictional stories are accompanied by little meditation exercises and soothing sounds. An SRF children's podcast for bedtime.
Recommended age: 3 years and up
. Duration: approx. 30 minutes
Available on: Spotify, Apple, srf.ch
Go to bed
Every day, promptly at 6 pm, a new story is available. This is to make "Ab ins Bett" the child's bedtime routine. Dad and radio presenter Marco Küng thinks up stories and tells them on the microphone - "not fairy tales or radio plays, but bedtime stories", as he says. In the process, his listeners sometimes even become the titular heroes themselves: Via Whatsapp message you can send him the name of the child and his hobby - a great gift idea for the next children's birthday.
Recommended age: from 3 years
. Duration: approx. 10 minutes
Available at: Spotify, Apple, abinsbett.podigee.io
This list of favourites is neither complete nor exhaustive. Because what I noticed most of all during my listening research: The range of children's podcasts is still much larger than I imagined.
Therefore: Do you have any other tips for the kids' playlist? Tell us in the comments column!
Katja Fischer
Senior Editor
Katja.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.chMom of Anna and Elsa, aperitif expert, group fitness fanatic, aspiring dancer and gossip lover. Often a multitasker and a person who wants it all, sometimes a chocolate chef and queen of the couch.
