{"id":18858,"date":"2018-08-09T00:01:59","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T04:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=18858"},"modified":"2018-10-05T16:54:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T20:54:52","slug":"keep-the-kids-from-fighting-in-the-back-seat-or-podcasts-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2018\/08\/keep-the-kids-from-fighting-in-the-back-seat-or-podcasts-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep the Kids from Fighting in the Back Seat or Podcasts for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ALA Annual Conference is full of inspiration, networking, and ideas. It is also overwhelming. It usually takes me a few weeks to process everything I\u2019ve heard and learned. One session I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about was \u201cKids Listen: Podcasts Amplify Engagement and Learning.\u201d My library has had a podcast for several years. We are up to Episode 103! While not exclusively for kids, we occasionally have episodes with a kid audience in mind or that are about children\u2019s materials or programs. We are fortunate to have a great audio engineer on staff, Benny, who makes us sound professional. At the beginning we had the lofty goal of producing a podcast every two weeks. Yeah, that didn\u2019t happen. One of the main things I got out of the session was validation that podcasts take a lot of time to produce and I shouldn\u2019t feel bad that we are not able to keep up a regular schedule. Whew!<\/p>\n

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Kids interview George O\u2019Connor for a podcast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I also learned about a few really awesome podcasts made for kids and by kids. Most of these are between 10 and 20 minutes long, which is the sweet spot for kids\u2019 attention and also about the time it takes for most people to get to school or the grocery store. The three below are aimed at school aged children. Shout out to Anne Bensfield, Children\u2019s Digital Learning Librarian at Oak Park Public Library, for moderating the panel of podcast hosts and producers.<\/p>\n