Welcome to Ping and Echo, a daily newsletter that shares one amazing podcast episode guaranteed to be a great listen for kids and their families. Each newsletter includes links to articles, videos, and activities related to the podcast so you can turn every episode into an adventure.
Today’s podcast episode is from Radiolab. The team at Radiolab is rereleasing a bunch of their podcasts with a focus on episodes that are good for kids. The Radiolab (for kids) podcast stream is a great resource for inspiring awe, exploring new ideas, and discovering wonderful new things. In this episode the Radiolab crew looks inside a chrysalis to help us understand what happens when a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. It is a story about transformation and change, about retreating into darkness and emerging into the light changed. And I guess, in that way, it is also about this moment we are all in.
Podcast: Radiolab
Episode: Goo and You
URL: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab-kids/articles/rl-kids-goo-and-you
Length: 18 minutes
🧐 You Should Know
I’ll always give you a heads up if there is anything in the podcast that might surprise or worry kids. There is a stray, passing “hell” spoken quickly at one point.
💡 Try This
After you listen to the episode you can make some transformations of your own with the links and activities below:
Draw each of the stages of transformation you heard about in this episode
Raise your own caterpillars and watch them turn to butterflies
🔎 Explore More
Read up on metamorphosis with these links:
3-D Scans Reveal Caterpillars Turning Into Butterflies - National Geographic
Video: See Inside a Chrysalis as it Develops Into a Butterfly - Discover Magazine
Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis in HD + The Monarch Manifesto - The Kids Should See This
The name Ping and Echo comes from sonar technology which relies on sending out “pings” and receiving back “echos” to discover the world around you. You can send us pictures of the art and activities created by your kids. Email them to pingandecho@gmail.com and we’ll post all your echos on our Instagram and our Twitter page.
Thanks for lending us your ears and your inbox.
Ruby, Toby, and Josh