21 Entertaining Podcasts for Kids of All Ages
Your kids will get a ton of mileage out of these kid-friendly podcasts.
Grown-ups have long been enjoying adult podcasts — but are there great podcasts for kids, too? 100%! These fun kids' podcasts get children off of their screens and thinking about the world in new ways. Throw them on during long car rides, when you need a rainy-day diversion indoors, or anywhere else that where you can get comfy and listen as a family.
The best podcasts for kids get them involved in some way, either by submitting questions, shouting out answers to trivia questions and challenges, or throwing out absurd scenarios as starting points for imaginative stories. Other podcasts borrow from the radio broadcasts of old and use actors and crazy sound effects to spin yarns over multiple episodes. Some bring together the best of kids’ music and the best of adult music, so families can listen together without fighting about who gets control of the playlist. Still others answer questions that even adults might have a hard time wrestling with, breaking down the unexplainable phenomena in our world and making it understandable for smaller ears. If your family finds one they connect with, you’ll be able to use it to spark dinner-table discussions for weeks to come.
The Sesame Street Podcast with Foley & Friends
This podcast, featuring the Sesame Street friends, is geared for preschoolers — the episodes are only 15 minutes long! Foley hosts with Mikee the Microphone, and each episode includes new music, interactive games, jokes and visits from characters like Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster.
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Story Pirates
Kids aren't just the audience of this podcast — they're also the inspiration. Comedians, actors, singers, and special guests use kids' ideas as the jumping-off point to create stories and songs.
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The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel
This podcast, aimed at middle-grade listeners and performed by 8- to 12-year-olds, is a Peabody Award-winner. The scripted story is a serial in the vein of Stranger Things and The Goonies, and so far it runs for three seasons.
Wow in the World
NPR hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz explore a different topic each time, from bumblebee vomit to what mummies might have sounded like to (ironically) the science of boredom. Adults might even learn a thing or two, too.
Smash Boom Best
Chocolate vs. cheese. Pizza vs. tacos. Aliens vs. robots. This podcast, a spin-off of the Brains On! podcast, isn't afraid to tackle hard this-or-that choices. Families can wrestle with the options among themselves, then see what the podcast debaters have to say.
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Peace Out
If you're looking for a wind-down at the end of the day, this podcast offers stories that add in guided visualization and breathing exercises.
ExtraBLURT
Families are encouraged to shout out their answers and take part in challenges during this audio trivia game show. Each episode has a different theme, from sea to space, so kids might pick up some nuggets of knowledge. For little ones, there's also ExtraBLURT, Jr.
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Circle Round
This podcast takes stories and folktales from around the world, and adapts them so they're appropriate for kids between the ages of 4 and 10. A recent episode had This Is Us star Parker Bates performing a Celtic tale about misbehaving fairies.
But Why?
If you're sick of answering the never-ending string of kid questions, let this podcast do some of the work for you. The questions are listener-submitted, and they cover topics like why people have nightmares, whether or not animals get married, and why we fart.
Eleanor Amplified
For older ones, this serial story takes inspiration from old-timey radio broadcasts. It follows a young reporter as she looks for a big scoop.
Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
For indie-rock parents, this music podcast splits the difference between music for kids and music for adults. Each episode mixes family-friendly acts like Dan Zanes, Caspar Babypants, and They Might Be Giants with child-friendly songs from adult bands like The Ramones, Guided By Voices, and Brian Eno. There are also live, in-studio performances.
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls
This podcast is just what it sounds like: an episodic, audio version of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, which features short bios of strong women throughout history. Only the narrators are also rebel girls themselves, including Melinda Gates, Pamela Adlon, and Priscilla Chan.
HiLL-LaRRy-uS!
If your kids like telling jokes, they'll love the ones offered by hosts Hillary and Larry. (Get it? Hill-Larry-Us?) Each episode offers selections from their repertoire of knock-knock jokes, puns, and riddles.
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
This is another podcast that takes its cues from old-time radio broadcasts, detailing the adventures of Dr. Floyd and his nemesis, Dr. Steve. Only this time, the adventures take them throughout time, where kids learn about people and events that shaped history.
Ear Snacks
Ear Snacks is a little bit of everything, all rolled into one. The hosts, singer/songwriters Andrew Barkan and Polly Hall, mix music, facts, and conversations into episodes themed around a single topic.
Grimm Grimmer Grimmest
Adam Gidwitz, bestselling author of A Tale Dark and Grimm, leads this fairytale podcast. Each episode is based on a story from the Brothers Grimm, retold in a new way.
Young Ben Franklin
Hamilton may be ranking as our coolest non-presidential founding father, but Ben Franklin was no slouch. This podcast gives kids a glimpse of what he was like at the age of 13, when he was just a mischievous teenager in colonial Boston.
Becoming Mother Nature
This podcast, aimed at kids between 8 and 12 years old, tells the story of tweenage Chloe, a girl who discovers she has unexplained powers. It turns out, her grandmother is Mother Nature, and she has to learn how to take over the family trade.
KidNuz
Perfect for those who are pressed for time, KidNuz delivers kids the news of the day in just five minutes. It's a good way to get them started on caring about the world around them.
What If World
What if dinosaurs were alive today? What if mermaids could turn into robots? The hosts of this podcast turn kids' wackiest questions into stories that can incorporate everything from never-ending bowls of ice cream to cats who rule the world.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
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