An Audience for Life: Could My Show Be a Kids & Family Podcast?

Have you ever considered producing a kids and family podcast? If you’ve got a strong podcast topic, and you want to reach a large audience that will be around for a long time, you might consider kids and family as a potential target audience. In the next few sections, I’ll talk about why producing a kids and family podcast makes sense, and show you how you can make that podcast meaningful, fun, and helpful. 

Why Make a Kids’ and Family Podcast?

The demand for family-related content is high, you can be yourself, and nostalgia is a potent promotion strategy. This combo is everything a podcaster could want.

Demand for Kids and Family Podcasts: The Data

If you have kids, you know it’s important to provide enriching, screen-free entertainment for them. The demand for kids and family podcasts is strong and growing. In 2023, Edison Research surveyed 1272 adults in the US about the media habits and consumption of their kids, aged 6-12. Here are some of the findings from Edison Research’s Kids’ Podcast Listener Report. 

• 46% of kids surveyed have ever listened to a podcast, and 29% of ages 6-12 in the U.S. listened to a podcast in the last month. 
• 72% of parents said it’s important for kids’ podcasts to be able to be enjoyed by the whole family. Adults are your audience too! 
• 73% of parents said podcasts make family car rides more fun.
• 71% of parents said it’s important for podcasts to give kids and parents something to talk about. So, not only will your podcast’s audience cross generations, but your show can liven up your dinner table conversations. 

Despite the strong demand for kids and family podcasts, many self-proclaimed experts on podcasting might be reluctant to embrace this idea. Perhaps they’re worried about sounding juvenile. But, you don’t have to use “baby talk” to make this sort of family-centered content have an impact. I’ll show you why next.

You Don’t Have To Be Mr. Rogers.

Of course, you want the adoration of your peers and to rub elbows with major A-list celebrities; that’s what podcasting is all about, right? Or, maybe you believe your podcast’s topic is too complex, highbrow, or “adult” for kids to understand. So why bother producing content for kids? 

For starters, kids aren’t dumb. They may not be able to express themselves using the same vocabulary that you have. But, kids learn new things more efficiently than adults. And, their brains are hungry for more. Your podcast can be their next intellectual snack.

You don’t have to change who you are or how you behave. If you love your podcast’s topic enough to explain it to anyone, why not get kids hooked on the topic as well? They’ll be grownups soon enough.   

With few exceptions, nearly any topic that’s important to adults can also benefit from a kids’ version. For example, let’s say your podcast is about…

• Current events? Terrific. Explain world news in a way that makes sense to kids. During the 1970s, In The News was an educational, short-subject TV broadcast between cartoons on Saturday mornings that explained news topics for kids. Schoolhouse Rock made history, math, grammar, civics, and nutrition fun with clever animation and music. Do something similar with your podcast topic, and you might find yourself eligible for a Peabody award. 
• Fitness? Cool. Make a walking or cycling podcast for kids. Help them understand why consistency, hydration, and stretching matter. 
• Nutrition? Excellent. Every kid needs to eat. The sooner they can fuel themselves with healthy meals that are fun to make, the better their overall quality of life. 

Check with your inner child and ask them what they wish they’d known about your podcast’s topic when they were six years old. You can be the kind, intelligent, and generous adult they wish they’d known then. 

Nostalgia Can Refresh Your Audience Over Time 

Speaking of checking in with your inner child, let’s discuss nostalgia marketing. Nostalgia marketing taps into people’s desire to feel comforted and young again when they are reminded of something meaningful from their youth. You’ve probably felt that mixture of happiness and sadness when you see a replica of a beloved childhood toy. (A billion Barbie fans can’t be denied.) Experiencing music from our teens also makes us feel young again. 

Moreover, people tend to share things they loved in their youth with the young people in their lives. The same holds true for podcasting.

According to The Kids Podcast Listener Report, 68% of adults surveyed said the kids in their lives listen to podcasts with their parents. Your audience may grow out of your content, but when they come back, they will bring the kids in their lives. If you produce a kids’ and family podcast, your audience will grow up and recommend it to the young people in their lives when they’re grown.

5 Strategies to Produce a Great Kids & Family Podcast

There’s a ton of data concerning kids’ and family podcasts. To narrow it down, I’ll focus on some simple strategies to help you grow your audience in this genre:

• Leveraging kids’ growth milestones 
• Including kids’ voices to foster engagement and trust
• Designing audience participation and activities
• Balancing structure with fun
• Context- applying your content to the audience’s lives, and “why this matters”

These strategies are true for any podcast: know your audience, make it easy to keep in touch, and so on. But they’re a little more transparent for kids’ and family podcasts. Also, you may need to frame these strategies slightly differently. Take a look. 

1. Kids’ Growth Milestones

For the sake of argument, let’s say we’re producing a nutrition podcast. 

Think about your podcast niche, and find the relevant growth milestones for social and educational skills. This will help you focus your content and present it effectively. 

For example, a nutrition podcast for kids aged 10-12 could include recipes that involve using a stove and knives, because children’s motor skills are better developed at this age. In contrast, kids aged 4-6 might find filling measuring cups an appropriate challenge. Kids under age seven might like to download a coloring page from your podcast website, while kids over seven are more likely to be interested in submitting original stories or drawings. 

Younger kids can understand more than they can express. Kids can understand compound sentences at age five. For example, if you ask a five-year-old, “If I crack three eggs into this bowl, and then I crack two more eggs into the bowl, and then mix it up, what would I get?” they can easily count on one hand to say, “Five!” though it’s a three-part question. But, if you follow that question with, “Then, what happens if I cut the eggs in the bowl in half?” the child may be able to envision “half of the total” in their heads, and lack the vocabulary to answer.  You don’t have to water down what you express or how, though the feedback may seem simplistic.

If you’re still unsure about how your podcast content can fit with kids’ processing ability, take a teacher out for coffee and listen to what they suggest as age-appropriate strategies. Not only can they give you helpful ideas, but they may be able to use your podcast in their classroom. 

2. Include Kids’ Voices to Build Engagement and Trust 

Tumble Media recently hosted an online class about producing podcasts for kids. Producer Lindsay Patterson interviewed Sanden Totten of Kids Listen, and they discussed a concept called “near-peer,” which Totten said is key to getting and holding kids’ interest.

“Near Peer” refers to kids’ tendency to view the next age group as more experienced. The basic idea is that if a seven-year-old hears a new fact presented by another seven-year-old, they won’t find it as interesting as the same fact presented by a nine-year-old. Lance Dann, a producer of A to Z for Gen Z Media, said that his experience as a podcaster for children backed this age observation up. “We initially were aiming at 11-12-year-olds, and we ended up hitting 8-10. We weren’t cool enough for 11 – 12, but were silly enough (and fart-driven) for the younger audience.”

Including near-peer voices can make your kids’ and family podcasts more trustworthy for young audiences. For example, in Unspookable, kids describe urban legends and popular myths that young people may find scary before the host de-mystifies them. When you cast a kid voice artist, take the age you want to reach, and add two or three years. 

Dann also reiterated that kid listeners are more receptive to ideas than we give them credit for. “Be careful not to “talk down” to your audience. Take your content very seriously. Nor should you put clever “double meaning” references in for adults. This is why podcast networks for kids are so important – parents trust them and park their kids on them.” So, as Dann puts it, “If you’re shoving covert drug references and double entendres in the show, then that feels like an abuse of that trust.”

Finally, to keep your audience coming back, Dann also recommends that you “Make sure your first episode is an absolute doozy.  Kids sample a single episode and then drop the series a lot.”

3. Kids Want to Participate 

Sanden Totten also pointed out that kids want to hear themselves on the show. So be sure to ask for audience participation, because your audience will want to reach out. As an example, the kids and family podcast Circle Round has great calls to action, giving kids activities to enhance their understanding of each episode and a platform for feedback. Another great case, Story Pirates, includes kids’ voices in their opening music, story suggestions, and occasional interviews.

Use a web-based voice messaging tool like Telbee or Speakpipe to manage audience messages more easily. These tools can transcribe and organize voice messages for you to use later. 

Because of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, ensure that any child’s internet participation is managed by someone over 18. On many kids and family podcasts, the call to action for audience participation includes things like “Get a grownup to help” or address the CTA directly to “grownups.”

4. Balance Structure and Goofball Island.

As with all podcasts, having a sustainable format matters. So, by all means, give your show a structure audiences can look forward to. For example, our hypothetical nutrition podcast could have a structure like this:

• Opening and Welcome
• Nutrient of the Week- what it is, what it does, where to find it
• Meal or snack recipe
• Music or Interview with an Expert on this nutrient
• Call to Action and Wrap-Up

The familiar structure helps the audience know what to expect when they return each week. Within that structure, though, feel free to let your imagination frolic. Sound effects and music prompt the audience to imagine your topic more vividly. Humor can also go a long way to make your kids and family podcast a hit. 

For example, The Cat In The Hat Cast appears to be the unbridled chaos only Dr. Seuss could provide. But, the style of segments repeats, satisfying audience expectations. No matter how wild Cat and Fish’s adventures are, each episode follows a formula, giving the audience dopamine that strengthens a love of learning. 

Find new and creative ways to make your topic interesting and fun. For example, you can ask musicians who write songs for kids to collaborate on novel songs for your show. Never underestimate the breadth, depth, or popularity of knock-knock jokes. 

5. Put Your Concepts in Their Context.

Ask open-ended questions about your topic for the audience to think about. For example, if you create an episode about plant-based protein, ask questions like, 

• What plants do you see on your way to school?
• Have you ever taken care of a houseplant?
• What color was the last plant you ate?

These kinds of questions help the audience imagine your episode’s topic as it relates to their lived experience.

Want to make an interview podcast? Local libraries, museums, schools, and performing arts centers have special events to promote. Their education department or community liaison can provide leads to interview guests, or new topics. Kids’ book authors do interviews, too. When your podcast touches on familiar elements, it’s easier for your audience to visualize new or abstract ideas.

Share Your Podcast Idea With Kids and Families

E.B. White, the author of Charlotte’s Web, once said, “Anyone who thinks you have to shift gears when writing for children will end up stripping their gears.” The initial inspiration for Charlotte’s Web came when White was fifty years old. But, the lived experience that makes Charlotte’s Web an enduring novel took the previous fifty years to develop. 

Any idea you cherish enough to podcast about can be even stronger if you present it to kids and families. They want more shows to enjoy together, so why not? Simplify without condescending, balance structure with fun, and give kids an opportunity to take over the mic once in a while. Your podcast can bring families together and give them something to share with others. 

If you still need help figuring out who your podcast is for, check out our article about how to create your podcast avatar (and why). You should also check out our Indiepod Community, where we discuss all aspects of podcasting. You’ll gain confidence and perspective, and maybe help others along the way.