When our second baby was a newborn, our then 4 year old ended up watching so much TV, and I had a giant dose of Mama guilt about all that screen time. Enter Kinderling Radio, first their wonderful selection of audio storybooks (we’ve discovered many wonderful new Australian titles), and then The Beanies podcast. The Beanies are actors Laura Dawson, Michael Yore, and Miriam Rizvi (AKA – Laura Beanie, Michael Beanie, and Mim Beanie). In each episode, The Beanies cover a theme, which may be anything from starting a new school to snails. They tell a story, sing an original song, and share educational tidbits with their friend “Professor Know It All.” Earlier this year, they were named the Best Family & Kids Podcast by the Australian Podcast Awards. Their third season, “Big Day Out,” is now available.
Jumping out from our headphones, The Beanies recently debuted a live stage show, The Beanies EGG-strodinary Day. Just like the podcast, the show is fast-paced and bursting with silliness. In person, we saw even more how charming the trio is. High-energy songs with delightful choreography are anchored by a story about The Beanies babysitting an egg with a surprising amount of personality. Their slapstick and punny humour is pitch perfect for kids pre-school age to around 8. The Beanies have a natural camaraderie with children.
I had a few questions for my kid’s favourite podcast friends, and The Beanies were nice enough to have a chat.
When we first tried Kinderling Radio, it was an experiment to see if my TV lover would “just” listen, but she gets so engaged with the audio books and The Beanies podcast. What would you tell parents who aren’t sure if their kids would find listening to podcasts interesting?
We would suggest trying out The Beanies on a car trip first or sitting down and listening together. Kids learn so much by copying their parents so lead by example for an episode or two.
We completely understand parent’s hesitation – but encouraging kids to ‘just’ listen is so important for the development of their concentration and learning behaviours – which will come in handy later for school.
The Beanies podcast has sound effects and funny voices to help little ones along on their imagination journey – all they have to create is the picture in their mind’s eye.
The Beanies cover quite the range of topics with both humour and education. How have you come to your themes?
The Beanies take inspiration from everywhere! Sometimes straight from Mini-Beanies and even their parents. After the release of Sason 2 “Imagination Station” we had a request for an episode on brushing your teeth. This is now the first episode of Season 3 “The Beanies Big Day Out”.
So please get in contact and tell us what you want to hear about!
Do you get feedback from your “Mini-Beanies”?
We LOVE to get feedback from Mini-Beanies. Podcasts exist in such a silo and often we don’t know who is listening or how often, so a message from a parent or a video message from a Mini-Beanie makes The Beanies’ hearts sing!
My favourite message so far has been from a SUPER fan in Canberra called Bella. She drew pictures and edited together a whole production about why she loved The Beanies. You can see it on The Beanies’ Instagram.
The members of The Beanies are all actors. I’m so curious to know what you’ve learned about your craft, both from the experience of acting for a non-visual medium, as well as for children?
It gives us more freedom! In an instant we can be a wombat, or an old woman, or a 5 year old child and the audience will accept that fully, without having to fluff around with costumes or animation.
As a blog about kids and the arts, I’m always interested in how to capture and spark kids imaginations through the arts. The Beanies are using storytelling and music in every episode. Do you have any suggestions for how we parents can encourage the arts to be a part of our kid’s lives?
Help them make a connection with art right now! If you make it the norm they will carry that connection through their whole life. Take them to the theatre do some dance classes, draw pictures at home and sing along in the car (bonus points if it is a Beanies song!).
Find The Beanies Podcast on the free Kinderling Kids Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow along behind the scenes on Facebook and Instagram.
Thanks, Beanies – we’re listening!
PIN IT!
