Kids Can Explore the World of Podcasts With This New App
There are some great new podcasts for kids . Last weekend, while in the car, my four-year-old son and I listened to NPR’s “Wow in the World” and learned the disgusting but funny fact that planaria flatworms poop out of their mouths, and picked up another childish joke. (Where do the cows go on vacation? Muoooooooh.)
Parents are looking forward to introducing their kids to the world of podcasts – next in line is Ear Snacks , a show highly recommended by Lifehacker writer Beth Surecki – although this medium isn’t easy to navigate. Scrolling through the Apple Podcasts app is dizzying for adults and impossible for young children. Finally, a new app called Leela Kids aims to be the solution we all need to get our phone back and relax.
Developed by Leela Labs, the app selects kid-safe podcast episodes by age range and topic (space! Dinosaurs! Music!) So kids can simply click and listen without a subscription. It uses a combination of technical and human skills to select content and currently contains nearly 5,000 episodes from nearly 80 podcasts.
Founder and CEO Sandip Jane told TechCrunch that Leela Kids is helping to reduce the time his four-year-old spends in front of the screen and gives kids “visual detox.” Research has shown that children between the ages of seven and 13 are more creative with radio stories than stories shown on television, The Atlantic reports . When they listen rather than watch, children come up with more unique questions, draw more new pictures, and solve problems more creatively.
The startup plans to make Leela Kids, now free and available for iOS and Android, compatible with smart speakers. So maybe in the future, you may hear your child say, “Hey Alexa, play the Worm Poop podcast.”