Podcast suggestions please

I am not really so much into podcast but I keep wondering if that has something to do with the fact that I have not checked out the right ones? I can listen to an audio book no problem at least if I like the narrator and the story is not to bad. I even can make it through nonfiction that way, but with a lot of podcast I tend to zone out after a short while.

There are some exceptions to the rule:

Up First – “NPR’s Up First is the news you need to start your day. The three biggest stories of the day, with reporting and analysis from NPR News”
The roughly 10 minutes are short enough that I make it through and just the right time to keep me company while making school lunches.

The Daily -“This is what the news should sound like. The biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world. Hosted by Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise.”
Only sometimes but interesting enough on a longer car ride by myself.

All Songs Considered “Hosts/nerds Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton are your friendly music buddies with the week’s best new music discoveries, including conversations with emerging artists, icons and more.”
I discovered quite a few artists I never heard of before this way.

The shortness of my adult picks gets way outnumbered by the kid’s podcasts that are on my playlist. It is one of our favorite past times when I am on a longer ride with the kids and I approve of all of these. I learned quite a sizeable amount of random facts myself and was looking forward to new episodes of ‘The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian’.

Brains on – a science podcast for kids and their adults.

Forever Ago – “A history show for the whole family! Every episode explores the origin of just one thing — like sandwiches, video games, clocks and more — while teaching listeners to think critically about history.”

Smash Boom Best – “Smash Boom Best is a debate show for kids and families from the makers of the award-winning podcast, Brains On! Every episode takes two cool things, smashes them together and lets you decide which is best. Our debaters use facts and passion to make their case – teaching listeners how to defend their own opinions along the way.”

Million Bazillion – “A podcast about money for kids and their families. We help dollars make more sense.”
Especially my son like to learn about money.

Wow in the World – “The #1 science podcast for kids and their grown-ups. Hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz share stories about the latest news in science, technology, and innovation.”

Tai Asks Why– “Tai Poole is trying to find answers to life’s biggest questions. What happens after we die? What is love? How can we fix climate change? He may not solve them all, but give him a break … he’s only 11 years old.”

Greeking Out – “Greeking Out from National Geographic Kids features fun Greek mythology tales. Families can enjoy listening to tales of heroes and monsters. Each episode is an adventure filled with Greek gods, sea creatures, and flaming chariots.”

And two story podcast we liked:
The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian
The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

And for the parents out there who are wondering if these are appropriate choices for the kids: check on Common Sense Media! It has all the ratings a parent heart could wish for and will tell you way better then I could if these are right for the family (good choice for checking movies, too).

Do you have any podcast suggestions for me that you think would convince me to give the adult addition another try?

Countdown to Halloween

pumpkins

Since September the kids keep asking me how much longer it takes until it is Halloween. But now pumpkin patch season is definitely here and the countdown is going. The visit to the pumpkin patch by now belongs to our getting-ready-for-Halloween tradition I would say. The last two years we went to a really nice one in Suisun City, California. A train from the Western Railway Museum will take you out to a pumpkin patch organized by the local Rotary Club. They have a hay stack with labyrinth, hay rides, games, pumpkin catapults, face painting, music and food among other things. The kids love it and we were planning to go again this weekend but now it looks like rain. It’s a real bummer but maybe the weather forecast will be wrong after all?

pumpkinpatch

We already went to one pumpkin patch two weeks ago, so we won’t go without this year even if the rain keeps going. The Petaluma pumpkin patch has a corn maze and everyone was excited to make it through. They also had a big pumpkin field where you can pick your own pumpkins and a corn box for the kids to play with (they liked that part the best). It definitely was a lot of fun. I took so many pictures of sunflowers that day and feel like fall season is upon us.

mazeI am not really sure how it is now but when we left Germany Halloween was not a very big deal there. Sure there were pumpkins and fall stuff but not related to Halloween but more to the harvest celebrations. By the way, how is that now? I seem to pick up more and more Jack-o-lantern pictures in my social media feed over the last couple of years. I am still not sure about the whole Halloween dressing up thing. Dressing up always makes me uncomfortable but I prefer Halloween to carnival (coming from someone who only wore black for a while in her youth). We still have two weeks left to decide what to do on the day and how to dress up. How about you? Do you carve a pumpkin or dress up for the day?

sunflowers

 

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Weekend escape – something blue

indigo

I think it is an excellent idea to have a weekend escape from every ones in a while it may it be oh so small. It helps me see what a great place the world around me is and makes me appreciate the possibilities that are out there in our neighborhood close and far.

Last weekend me and my daughter went to do an Indigo dye class at the Handcraft Studio School. It was such a treat to have some one on one time with her and make something beautiful along the way. I was thinking about trying it out for a while but was glad to not have the clean up at home. I might give it another go though. Maybe make some holiday gifts with the kids? We will see if that happens.

Listen to this

Hoerspiele

When our kids go to bed they get to pick one CD from their extensive German radio play collection to listen to while falling asleep  I actually had to look up what they would be called and I am not sure I picked the right word. Is it radio play or audio drama or..? Maybe someone can help me out on this one?

I have not come across them in the US really. Sure, there are very good recordings of audio books for kids (and they do like them) but my personal opinion is that it is so much more fun to listen to the story when the different characters are spoken by different actors and you get sound effects and background noises.

Audio dramas were very popular in Germany when I was growing up and as far as I can tell they still are. They were in fact so popular that the actors of one specific recording (“Die drei ???” or “Three Investigators” as is the original American title) toured theaters around the country to read life performances. It puzzles me why the audio plays are more and especially popular in Germany. If anyone has an idea I would be more than happy to hear.

In the meantime I am happy that my kids like to listen to them and I sometimes find them quietly sitting in their room relaxing or playing while doing so.