Kellie and Amy, two experts on content for kids and they give a masterclass on what they know.
“Kids are hungry for great audio content that helps them escape to another world, educates them, informs them, makes them laugh, Podcast is a great, guilt free way to occupy little ears” Kellie.
Kids podcasts are changing focus from the older child to younger children. Age segments in these podcasts can vary greatly. Podcasters need to focus on not only the children but also a family listening experience.
Amy “Kid-tests everything at Pinna”, sounds painful but, this is about refining content. Kids allow for experimentation in formats, fun and interaction. Because of this non fiction in a genre that is currently growing for kids podcasts.
Memes and parodies are a big new set of genres. Memes can be shared and can lead into conversstiosn of how can kids ‘do’ things. Educational shows are important because they have opened up the space to consider where kids actually listen, what time and adapt the podcast to a school setting.
Putting kids into podcast as the experts is a moment to let kids shine. 'Short & Curly' is an ethics show for kids, there is a section of kids voices which is powerful. This podcast also allows for kids to think about the issues raised in the podcast this is done with a ‘Pause’ section.
'The Start' was created in the pandemic, each episode is 2 minutes, with a large amount of sound design, the idea it to let children visualise a scene and then go create something which reflects what they have heard again using art, comics strips etc giving them a frame in which to let their imaginations go wild.
Kids being central to a kids podcast is important. “The biggest new trend is fiction and adaptation” said Kellie, she gave the example of 'Mackaroy Uncovered' which includes huge amounts of kids input in all aspects of design.
Amy described how they have brought ideas from the adult podcast world into kids content. Weekly news shows for kids pitched at a level which also translates well as teacher resources are also good in the kids podcast space.
Finally, graphic novels adapted for kids is another place to find new content using audio instead of pictures.
This is a must watch session for all of you who create content for kids!