The Brain

How does your brain control everything you do? The Kids Crew and Katie Stone talk with scientists Ingrid Lane and Nick Aase from the Mind Research Network to uncover the secrets of how our brains work. From neurons and emotions to memory and movement, listeners learn what makes every brain unique and why our minds never stop growing.

This time on The Children’s Hour, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving in a musical special dedicated to gratitude, family, and appreciation of each another and the Earth. We’re finding the joy in every moment, in this Thanksgiving musical Children’s Hour.

Celebrate the season with Holidays 2025, a joyful Children’s Hour episode filled with winter songs, multicultural traditions, kid-friendly stories, and festive music. Enjoy classic carols, new holiday tracks, and cheerful moments perfect for families, classrooms, and holiday listening.

Discover what makes a healthy breakfast with the Kids Crew and nutritionist Patty Keene, plus explore how kids worldwide start their mornings.

This time on The Children's Hour we're leaping into learning about lemurs with Faye Goodwin, an educator at the Duke Lemur Center. Find out how humans are related to these adorable primates, and discover why they only live in the wild in one place in the world.

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!