Pumpkin Spice

In Composers, we explore how songs are created by people from long ago and today. We meet Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, and learn how their lives shaped their sounds. We also hear from Sesame Street, and legendary Broadway composer Bill Sherman about writing catchy tunes with meaning. Listeners discover that anyone can start with a small idea and build a powerful piece of music.

It’s Halloween time on The Children’s Hour! In this episode, we celebrate pumpkins, jack-o’-lanterns, costumes, and trick-or-treating. Our Kids Crew shares their own traditions, from trunk-or-treat clothing drives to festive parades in northern New Mexico. We’ll find out why some houses put teal pumpkins outside their doors, and learn how this helps kids with food allergies have a safe and fun holiday.

Trees have birthdays too, and scientists find out when they are by studying tree rings. This episode comes with a learning guide.

The Kids Crew discover the animals living right outside our doors. From prairie dogs, coyotes, and roadrunners in New Mexico to monkeys in Thailand, stray dogs in India, koalas in Australia, and wildlife in Brazil, we learn how animals adapt to city life. With expert guest Cooper Freeman and research from junior producer Thaniel Lentz, we explore the challenges and joys of living alongside wild creatures everywhere.

This time on Children’s Hour get blown away with us as we learn all about balloons. We begin with the history of hot air balloons, and we end up in the air on a real balloon. Then we explore latex balloon art and clothing with the team at Airigami. Plus, find out what happens when helium balloons get released into nature. And, that mysterious object you might see floating around in the middle of the day in the skies above you? That might be a weather balloon! All of this is mixed with great music!

We explore renewable energy with experts in solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro power. The Kids Crew ask big questions about how renewable energy works, why it’s cleaner than fossil fuels, and what the future of energy could look like. With guests Rebecca “Puck” Stair, Jim DesJardins, and Dr. Sherri Kelly, we learn how kids can be part of building a cleaner, brighter tomorrow.

In this episode of The Children’s Hour, Grammy-winning oud player Rahim AlHaj shares his story of leaving Iraq as a refugee and finding a new home in New Mexico. Listeners will discover the oud, a 5,000-year-old string instrument, and learn about the challenges and strengths that refugees bring to their communities. The Kids Crew also talk about Malala Yousafzai and what it means to welcome strangers with kindness and compassion.

On this episode of The Children’s Hour, junior producer and intern Thaniel Lentz takes us through the incredible history and science of animation. From early tools like the zoetrope and flipbooks to famous characters like Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse, we learn how still pictures came to life.

On this episode of The Children’s Hour, we travel to Mars with planetary volcanologist Dr. Larry Crumpler. He shares the secrets of the Red Planet — from its rusty surface and giant volcanoes to its two tiny moons and ancient signs of water. We learn how rovers explore, search for life, and even make oxygen, plus what it might take to send humans there. This is a fascinating journey to a world both like and unlike our own.

What is journalism, and why does it matter? On this episode of The Children’s Hour, we learn what journalism is and how journalists help us understand the world around us. We meet trailblazing reporters, hear from our Kids Crew, and talk with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Maria Hinojosa. She shares what it means to be a good journalist, why she started her career, and how young people can begin telling important stories.