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Playlist: The Children's Hour Inc.'s Portfolio

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11302020: Skunks, 11/30/2020

From The Children's Hour Inc. | Part of the The Children's Hour (Subscribable) series | 58:00

We learn all about skunks with world renown mephitologist, Dr. Jerry Dragoo.

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This episode of The Children's Hour is going to stink, as we learn all about skunks with the founder and director of The Dragoo Institute for the Betterment of Skunks and Skunk Reputations, Dr. Jerry Dragoo. We'll find out where skunks are found, why they smell, and how to avoid getting sprayed. Dr. Dragoo is a world renowned mephitologist, or biologist who studies skunks. 

Plus Kids Crewmember, Evan Daitz has a review of the trilogy A Boy Called Bat, where Dr. Dragoo is a character.  And the kids in the Extinction Diaries cover a giant spider that was thought to be extinct, but has been rediscovered. 

Roadrunners

From The Children's Hour Inc. | Part of the The Children's Hour series | 58:00

We learn all about New Mexico's state bird, the roadrunner, which had never really been studied by biologists until recently.

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New Mexico's state bird, the Roadrunner, is well known as a cartoon character, but it turns out they had never really been studied by biologists until an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico took them on as her senior thesis project. The kids and Katie talk with that student, Tina Guo, and we visit with her mentor, Museum of Southwestern Biology director Dr. Christopher Witt, to learn about the lives, habits, and peculiarities of Roadrunners. 

This show is mixed with excellent music fitting the topic, and we have curriculum for teachers, parents and students at our website specific to this episode. 

03012021: Kids Save The World, 3/1/2021

From The Children's Hour Inc. | Part of the The Children's Hour (Subscribable) series | 58:00

We meet kids who taking action to address climate change, including Mica Kantor from Our Children's Trust who suing the government for the right to a clean environment, we learn about Greta Thunberg, and we hear the alarm about insect populations.

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This week on The Children's Hour meet kids who are standing up to demand adults take action on the issues that directly impact their lives. We’ll be joined by Our Children's Trust attorney Nate Bellinger, and the crew talks with Mica Kantor, a 12 year old plaintiff in a case against the Montana government over the state's inaction on climate change.

Kids Crew members Julia and Kaia will teach us about Greta Thunberg and her Fridays For Future campaign.

Then the kids in the Extinction Diaries are sounding the alarm about the collapse of insect populations worldwide. 

Kids make a difference every week on The Children's Hour! Learn with us. 


20210712: Penguins, 7/12/2021

From The Children's Hour Inc. | Part of the The Children's Hour (Subscribable) series | 58:00

This show is super cool! We learn about penguins from Dr. Charles Bergman, who has visited all 18 species of penguins in the wild. Mixed with great music.

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The Kids Crew is joined by Charles Bergman who is a writer, photographer, and speaker and longtime professor at Pacific Lutheran University. He also wrote Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All. We learn about different species of penguins, their habits, and more interesting facts!

There are 15 other species of penguins in the world, some of which are critically endangered. But, all penguins are on thin ice. Overfishing, changing ocean temperatures, and pollution threaten their survival. 

We also find out about penguins' unique taste buds, and we learn from the Extinction Diaries about the rate of extinction on land versus in the oceans.

All this plus more interesting penguin facts and chill penguin themed music!

A Brief History of the American Southwest Radio Special

From The Children's Hour Inc. | Part of the The Children's Hour series | 58:00

This time on The Children's Hour, we explore the unique history of our region: the high desert southwest United States in the radio special of our educational podcast series, A Brief History of the American Southwest for Kids. Our story begins 23,000 years ago. Travel through time with us and learn!

Po_pay_image_small This time on The Children's Hour, we have a different kind of show. This episode is taken from our six episode educational podcast series called "A Brief History of the American Southwest - For Kids" which was produced through multiple virtual field trips to sites of significance in our high desert of New Mexico. 

The story begins nearly 23,000 years ago, when people began migrating through, hunting, and living in this part of the world. Fossilized footprints tell the tale of teenagers hunting now-extinct giant sloths, and a mother who sets down her young child for awhile, only to pick her up again. David Bustos from White Sands National Park, Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribal Preservation Officer Diego Medina relates how his community has always known about the footprints, and archaeologist Mary Weahkee from the New Mexico Center for Archeology describes what life was like back then for these original inhabitents.

After nearly 20,000 years, the Chacoan era arrives. We can see today the complexity of Chaco Canyon’s architecture, engineering, and governance demonstrating the sophistication of the Southwestern cultures. Chaco Culture National Park's interpretive ranger Nathan Hadfield explains what was found in Chaco, who lived there, and what mysteries remain.

Then in 1530, uninvited guests arrived in New Mexico in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Gold, confronting the A:shiwi A:wan (Zuni) community with horses, metals, guns, all of which were never before seen in this area. Curtis Quam from the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center describes what that period was like for the Zuni, and we see the spread of Spanish domination over the Indigenous people throughout the region, with the development of churches built atop existing Pueblos, enslavement of locals, and rule by the Spanish Crown.

In 1680, America had its first successful revolution: the Pueblo Revolt. We learn the story of Po'Pay, the religious leader and runner from Ohkay Owingeh just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, organized the entire Pueblo community. In spite of the great distances and different languages spoken by the Puebloan people, Po'Pay set a date for a revolt. Simultaneously, across the entire region the Pueblo people turned against their Spanish rulers, and sent them running back to Mexico.

Twenty years later, the Spanish returned with more arms, people, and might and overtook the Puebloan people. It became clear that for survival, there must be peace. We learn how the Spanish King handled doling out the lands of the Southwest to attempt to foster peace. Plus we find out how after hundreds of years, the Spanish and the Puebloan peoples were creating mixed communities, both out of force and choice. We visit a traditional hacienda of this period, Los Luceros, and learn how such a place came to be, and still survives to this day.

Finally, we come into the period of time when this area was nationalized by the United States, a fledgling country itself, after the end of the Spanish-American War, and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Historian Melanie LaBorwit walks us through the rapid changes in infrastructure that was imposed upon the desert southwest, and archeologist Mary Weahkee explains what cultural impact these changes had upon the Indigenous communities now ruled by a new government.

This is a radio special based on a 6 part educational curricular podcast series of the same name, and comes with a Learn-Along guide that meets and cites National educational standards. 

Join us for a walk through history, this time on The Children's Hour! 

20231225: Best of 2023 With Bob Odenkirk, 12/25/2023

From The Children's Hour Inc. | Part of the The Children's Hour (Subscribable) series | 58:00

We showcase some of the best of 2023 for kids music. The Kids Crew is joined by guests Bob Odenkirk and his daughter Erin Odenkirk. Their book Zilot & Other Important Rhymes is our pick for the best book of 2023 for children. Celebrate the best of 2023 with The Children's Hour.

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We showcase some of the best of 2023 for kids music. The Kids Crew is joined by guests Bob Odenkirk and his daughter Erin Odenkirk. Their book Zilot & Other Important Rhymes is our pick for the best book of 2023 for children. Celebrate the best of 2023 with The Children's Hour.

It's the end of a year, and the Kids Crew visits with Bob and Erin Odenkirk about their new book Zilot & Other Important Rhymes. Our conversation, and the book's poems are both laughable, on purpose!

Poetry begins at home, and in the home of the Odenkirks, it happened every single night. Bob Odenkirk and his kids wrote a poem a day for years, creating a family notebook that sat on the bookshelf next to Dr. Seuss and other books.

Over time the notebook filled, and the family had to start adding loose leaf papers. The poems were adapted into the book Zilot during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

Thorfin from our Kids Crew reviews Zilot & Other Rhymes. He ranks the book on The Children's Hour Green Chili Book Rating Scale of 1 to 5 chilis. Thorfin describes what the book is like, and who he thinks will enjoy it.

Throughout this episode we are playing a few of the songs we loved the most that were released in 2023. The world of Kindie music was full of excellence this year. While we play quite a few tunes, this show is by no means a complete list. Find lots of amazing music on our other episodes of The Children's Hour.

We play most of the Grammy nominees for 2024, along with other tunes that engage and inspire kids and families.

Happy New Year from The Children's Hour!

This episode of The Children's Hour was recorded at the Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The show was produced by our Executive Director, Katie Stone and our Senior Producer Christina Stella. Chad Scheer engineered at Outpost, and Gus Tafoya wrote our transcript. Many thanks to Bob and Erin Odenkirk for joining us on The Children's Hour. 

©2023 The Children's Hour Inc.