Just as listening to audiobooks is real reading, listening to podcasts in the classroom is real learning! Whether it’s storytelling, informational text, or a mix of both, podcasts can turn up the volume on your literacy goals! Ready to hit play but need some recommendations? You’re in luck because finding podcasts for the classroom is a passion of mine. It’s all about turning episodes into engaging learning tools, and I’m here to guide you through making it happen!

How to Start Using Podcasts in the Classroom: 

Starting is simpler than you think! Here are a few quick steps to get you rolling:

1. Pick Your Podcast – Whether it’s history, science, literature, or current events, there’s a podcast out there for every subject under the sun. Choose one that aligns with your curriculum and gets you excited too!
2. Sample the Goods – Before introducing a podcast to your class, give it a listen yourself. You’re looking for content that’s engaging, appropriate, and, above all, fun!
3. Plan Your Lesson – Decide how you’ll integrate the podcast into your lessons. While some people work up to weekly podcasts, I recommend starting small. Choose a holiday, disruptive day, or pairing opportunity to give podcasts a try! 
4. Press Play and See the Magic Unfold – Once you have a plan for podcasts in the classroom, it’s time to hit play! Take a much needed breather and let your students color and discover as they listen. 

Podcasts for Middle Schoolers, High Schoolers, & Elementary Students

As an avid podcast listener, I have plenty of podcasts for middle schoolers, high schoolers, and even elementary students. In fact, it was a fun challenge to pair them up thematically! Under each podcast recommendation for school, you will see an activity idea. However, if you prefer more structured podcast activities, then check out these no-prep resources: 

Podcast Worksheets and Activities for ANY Podcast:

• Podcast Coloring Pages– These work like magic to keep students focused!
• Podcast Note Taking Pages– Included with the coloring pages, these help students show off their listening skills 
• Podcast ELA Worksheets– These help you turn any podcast into a skill-based lesson 

WARNING: Since all of the elementary podcast recommendations come from reliable and monitored sources, they are clean and appropriate. However, the secondary podcast suggestions come from my own research. While I have listened to at least one episode of all these suggestions, that doesn’t mean that other episodes won’t contain language or mature content. Like movies, podcasts will normally have an “E” symbol to denote explicit language, but the only real way to judge if you think the secondary episodes are appropriate is to preview them yourself. I have put an asterisk on the secondary ones that I want to give a note about its content. But to reiterate, the only true way to judge is to listen to the episode before assigning it.

Epic List of Podcast Ideas for Students

History This Week is one of my favorite recent finds and deserves a spot on your podcasts for the classroom list! The episodes are around 25 minutes long, use dramatized audio, and are super interesting! Most of the episodes I’ve previewed are appropriate for upper elementary, middle school, and high school students. Start with The Dogs Who Saved Nome, Alaska episode and enjoy!

Who Smarted has to be one of the best podcast titles out there, especially for kids and their love of potty humor, ha! But laughs aside, Who Smarted is an engaging and educational podcast designed for curious minds of all ages. Each episode explores fascinating topics from science, history, and the world around us, presenting them in a fun and accessible format. As for high school and middle school podcasts for the classroom, try Sidedoor from Smithsonian! It’s one of my personal favorites because it’s SO well produced and tells stories behind the world’s most intriguing artifacts, exhibits, and research. Give it a play!

The Animal Sound Safari and 30 Animals that Made Us Smarter podcasts are perfect for the curious animal lovers in your classroom. 30 Animals that Made Us Smarter is as soothing as it is interesting and the episodes are the perfect length! I think these are appropriate for upper elementary as well! 

Earth Rangers and The Wild bring nature into your ears no matter where you might be. Earth Rangers is a favorite of my friend’s five-year-old, and The Wild is a favorite of mine! The topics and immersive experience are unmatched. The Wild also makes a great pairing for books like Into the Wild or Transcendentalism texts.

If there’s a category in which I love both podcast suggestions equally, it’s this one! Though specifically designed for kids, I adore Forever Ago‘s method of taking one item and tracing it through history. I’ve learned so many cool facts and appreciate the diversity. Likewise, Following Harriet is an INCREDIBLE series podcast for middle or high schoolers!

Smash Boom Best is a favorite among teachers because it provides friendly, evidence-based debates over topics like Tacos vs Pizza. Add these episodes to your next rhetorical appeal lesson plan! 

Suspense and thrill seekers will LOVE the Six Minutes podcast for kids and Limetown for mature audiences! Elementary teachers RAVE over Six Minutes because students get so into it, and Limetown had me hooked from the first cliffhanger. You can read more about teaching Limetown in this post!

The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian is for little listeners who love space stories, and Supernatural with Ashley Flowers is for budding conspiracy theory debunkers. Supernatural is more entertaining than educational, but with the right lens, teachers can spin it to capitalize on the very high interest appeal of this podcast. It also works well as a spooky podcast to use around Halloween! *While there’s no language, a couple of the issues do propose death by suicide as possible theories so please preview.

This math themed podcast, Sum of All Parts, has been my unlikely podcast love affair . It’s SO well done and entertaining enough to keep my ELA brain entertained for hours. The Dino Explosion is fantastic for elementary students and the rest such as The Tattowierer of Auschwitz are great for secondary students. If you are looking to add more STEM in ELA, podcasts are a great place to start!

The Unexplained Disappearance of Mars Patel is popular for a reason and always comes up in teacher groups who are looking for podcasts like Serial for middle school. It’s labeled for ages 8-12, so it can work as podcasts for middle school as well as upper elementary. If you would like some podcast pages to enhance learning, check those out here! But for a more mature audience, Serial season one is the OG. I taught it for years and it was always my seniors’ favorite unit! It too is popular for a reason and is considered the podcast that launched an entire genre. That being said, it’s for mature audiences only. The reporting and educational value of the series outweighs the content concern for me, but only you can make that decision for your students. You can find my complete literary nonfiction unit here: Serial Season 1 Podcast Unit Plan and read about how to approach teaching it after Adnan’s release here. 

My top request by far is from teachers looking for podcasts like Serial that are appropriate for middle school students or elementary students. Along with the one listed above, these two fit closely as well. Similar to Serial (but for ages 8-12) Eleanor, in the podcast Eleanor Amplified, is a “world famous” reporter who goes after the big story to unravel a mystery. One major difference is that Eleanor is a fictional character, but the series podcast fits the crime mystery genre nonetheless. As for a true crime podcast for middle school students or high school students, Criminal is one of my absolute favorites! It has the same reporting style and elements of Serial in that it leaves the listener pondering moral dilemmas, bias, and justice long after the episode ends. While it’s not a series like Serial, each episode has an overarching justice theme. *Though language is rarely an issue, some of the episodes contain depictions of violence and sexual abuse. The host always warns at the start of the episode if this is the case, but please preview! If you want some vetted episodes, you’ll find them in this Poetry and Podcast resource. 

Both The Creeping Hour and Spooked are about things that go bump in the night and are perfect additions for your spooky story, Poe readings, or Halloween lesson plans! The Creeping Hour is recommended for kids ages 8-12 while Spooked is for a more mature audience. But no fear, both will send shivers down your students’ spines and keep them on the edge of their seats until the very end!

The Story Seed Podcast takes a single starter and grows an entire story. It’s fun to hear the creative stories unwind! This is Love is full of unique and unexpected stories that make interesting connections to the theme of love. I adore this podcast and have added several episodes as poetry pairings in this Podcast and Poetry resource.

Much like National Geographic magazine, the National Geographic Podcast Overheard is FASCINATING. But unlike the magazine, the podcast is FREE! I have happily devoured every episode they have out so far and know that it will be a podcast favorite for the whole family!

The Big Fib is an exciting podcast that invites young listeners to separate fact from fiction in a playful and entertaining way. Likewise, Science VS is a fantastic option for middle school and high school students because it presents sources, research and facts vs fiction in such an entertaining way! Not all of the topics are suitable as podcasts for the classroom, but many of them are!

For science curious students, try the hilarious, gross, and entertaining Tumble Science Podcast for Kids or the engaging, well-explained, and career centered Smologies podcast for middle school or high school students.

For students who are drawn to spooky tales, there’s the enchanting Grimm, Grimmer, and Grimmest podcast for kids and the frightening Lore podcast for middle school and high school students. *Lore is meant to be spooky so please preview to determine if it crosses a line for you.

Radiolab is a podcast that explores the strange world around us. Because of requests, they hand-selected the best of their podcast episodes for kids and that list is now available here or on any podcast app. Just search “Radiolab for kids.” *As the kid selections points out, not all episodes in the main Radiolab line up are school appropriate. Please preview.

The stories in the Good Night Rebel Girls podcast are so clever and well-produced! You will hear lots of famous female voices reading stories about fierce women in history! I love that the episodes are short and not-so-very sweet as well. 🙂 This podcasts for the classroom selection is also featured in a blog post I wrote for We Are Teachers here: Girl Power! Best Podcasts for Women’s History Month

For students who love learning and reflecting on human nature, Wow in the World and Hidden Brain will fascinate them for hours! You can find specific Hidden Brain episode recommendations here: Why You Should Be Using Podcasts in Secondary ELA

Students who love geography and travel will go on a journey with their ears with Kid-friendly Geography Fun Facts podcast and Travel with Rick Steves. To hear my personal favorite travel-themed podcast, check out Extra Pack of Peanuts. Those who teach high school students should definitely have students listen to the “College Education Beyond The States w/ Jennifer Viemont” episode. It has the potential to completely change their life and future dept. *Travel podcasts sometimes discuss pubs and red-light districts.

Elementary and secondary students alike will enjoy the fast-paced, theatrical stories in Greeking Out by National Geographic!

Molly of Denali is made by PBS so it’s very well done and fun! All My Relations is so important for secondary students to hear! The hosts have candid conversations about Native American issues and allow us the privilege of listening and learning. I discuss this podcast more in the post: There is no Early American Literature without Native American Literature and in this one about ELA Thanksgiving activities.  *Some topics may not be appropriate for all secondary students.

Students who love the story element of history class will enjoy The Past Curious podcast for kids and Historically Black.

Circle Round and Myths and Legends both focus on folklore and provide an easy and entertaining way to listen to stories that have shaped cultures.

Young Ben Franklin is a creative and fun historical fiction podcast for kids. Ben Franklin’s World is an award-winning non-fiction history podcast for those interested in learning more about the American past.

For students who love bite-size fun facts and food, these two food-themed podcasts for kids will whet their appetites for culinary curiosity! Try Mystery Recipe and Food Non-fiction for a treat for your ears!

Students who love interesting discoveries and weird things in the world will adore the Brains On podcast for kids and Undiscovered podcast for teens.

Story Pirates is a cute show for anyone feeling silly!

Both the Young Trep and How I Built This podcasts serve to inspire students of any age to pursue their entrepreneurial passions in life and take action to build their dreams.

Podcasts for the Classroom Q&a

Here are the questions I received via Instagram when prepping for this post:

• How can students access a podcast using Google Classroom? Above I have linked entire podcasts, but for students, you should link to a single episode. If you worry that the website will be blocked, most media players on the podcast websites allow you to download the episode. You could then try to upload it to Google Classroom as a file.
• What do you do when podcasts don’t have transcripts? First, to find transcripts, it’s easiest to Google the podcast title + the exact episode title + transcript. If nothing comes up, the next step is to email the podcast show to ask for a transcript. If that doesn’t work, then you will have to choose a different podcast if your students need a transcript.
• How do I even start? This post will tell you exactly where to start and how to plan a podcast unit.
• Any recommendations for argument/narrative podcasts that aren’t Serial? YES. See above!
• How do I facilitate a podcast discussion? This post will help: How to Liven Up Your Socratic Seminar as well as this post: Creative Jamboard Templates for the ELA Classroom

Ok so this ends what is perhaps my longest blog post EVER. So, are you feeling more confident about trying podcasts in the classroom? Trust me, once you dive into the world of listening literacy, you’ll wonder how you ever taught without it!

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