It can be difficult to find clean and appropriate programming for children. Smart Kidz Radio is a new online radio station offered by Smart Kidz Media. It is currently free.
The product is hosted on a website, which has you create an account to use the edutainment programming. Once you have an account, simply press “Play” to start listening to their radio station for kids. I would say it is more for children in mid-elementary level and below, but it would be good background noise for the whole family!
There are also podcasts available to listen to. These are primarily short fairy tales. I had difficulty finding this on the website initially, but once you’re logged in and click to agree to their cookie policy on the bottom of the screen, a menu button appears on the bottom left. Once you click on that, it gives you the option to click to choose from their podcasts. There is also a button to press to view your recently listened to list.
In the future, Smart Kidz Radio will offer On Demand programming, which we will be able to purchase and download. I am told that they will be similar to the content offered in the podcast section.
When I first listened to the radio station, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Everything we listened to was wholesome and appropriate for everyone in the family. My younger kids enjoyed the music and the stories, but my older kids (8, 11, and 13) thought they were too babyish. That’s why I really recommend this for middle to lower elementary students, pre-k kids, preschoolers, and toddlers. When all of my older kids were younger, I’m sure they would have loved this! I had to sneak it on for my little two boys (ages 3 and 6) so they would give their true reaction and so they could really enjoy it. Around their older siblings, they pretended like they were too cool for it!
I actually really like the idea of playing the radio or podcasts during quiet times or even during reading times. I have always loved listening to audio stories and music while I have some downtime, and the music and podcasts offered by Smart Kidz Radio would be perfect for my kids. I want to know when they start offering the On Demand content, because these would be great to download and play on roadtrips, too.
I’m also looking forward to more overall content being offered. I particularly would like to see more podcasts offered and the stories read in natural voices instead of with character-type voices. I know my older kids would love it delivered that way and my littles would still enjoy it, too.
While listening to the station, we did hear some repeats of songs while we were on the live radio portion. That said, the regular radio has plenty of repeats on all the time. My boys didn’t seem to notice or care. Every now and then my littlest would really get into a song and had to start dancing. It was really cute! This would have been awesome when I did an in-home preschool for a short time when my oldest kids were in that age range. It’s nice to have pre-filtered content available.
Other families reviewed this new edutainment radio station for kids as well. Click the banner below to see what they thought!