Hi STEM Sparkers! I hope your January is going well. I'm very excited that my favorite day in January, Multicultural Children's Book Day, is only a week away! I'll be reviewing a cool, STEM book for MCBD, so make sure you come back next week. This week though, I'll be reviewing a podcast. I was approached by one of the organizers for MCBD about a new podcast called Dorktales Storytime. The podcast is a geeky retellings of classic fairy tales with pop culture Easter eggs in every story. Jonathan Cormur, a young man with autism, is the host (and storyteller) of this fun podcast for kids. I was intrigued by this description, so I agreed to review the podcast on STEM Spark; it's our first podcast review!
Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it?
Jack and I listened to Dorktales Storytime while we were crafting and gaming, and the stories were funny and entertaining! It's fairy tales re-imagined, and Jonathan does different voices for different characters, which is make the characters really come alive. Jonathan also has a friend named "Redge" (I think that is the name) and uses Redge to explain vocabulary words and concepts to kids. There's also some fun word play or puns in the stories; for example, Hansel and Gretel is accidentally mistaken as Strudel and Gretel by Redge in one episode. Jack and I found ourselves giggling as we listened along.
How long will it keep them entertained?
I think if you regularly listen to audio books or podcasts with your children, Dorktales Storytime will definitely keep your kids engaged. Jack usually listens to audio books during long car rides or independent study time (for online class), so Jack wasn't actively listening to the podcast while we gamed and crafted. But he did catch parts of the stories here and there, and like I said above, giggled at the bits he caught. Also, next time we have a long car ride, we'll definitely be playing Dorktales Storytime. It is the perfect podcast for road trips with kids!
Are they a good value?
All the episodes we listened to were through Apple Podcasts Preview and didn't cost us anything. You can support Jonathan and the Dorktales podcasts through BuyMeACoffee (link here). It looks about $3 per "cup of coffee" if you want to support this podcast. Admittedly, I don't normally listen to podcasts (except on road trips), so I'm not sure if that is a fair price for the "coffee"? But the free opportunity to Dorktales on Apple Podcast Preview was definitely worth it!
Ninja-like STEM Skills
So even thought the stories are fun, the re-imagined fairytales in Dorktales Storytime don't really have STEM elements in them. However, Jonathan does another podcast called Hidden Heroes of History, and some of the heroes include STEM notables Mary Golda Ross and George Washington Carver. I enjoyed hearing explanations about engineering and science in these episodes. Not to mention that Hidden Heroes of History was also fun to listen; 5 out of 5 stars for both podcasts! I don't think you can go wrong with either podcast!
And that's it STEM Sparkers; that's my review! Happy listening, and of course happy STEM-ing, to you!