Tumble Science Podcast For Kids

Join us for a journey through Tumble's favorite animal episodes! Swim with whale sharks in Mexico, climb mountains with pikas, travel back in time to discover our earliest primate relatives, and more. Download two hours of stories of animal science discovery, and you'll be all set to turn your road trip into an animal adventure.  For a collection of episodes about astronomy, check out The Road Trip To Outer Space.  We'll be back January 11 with brand new episodes. Have a great holiday!

We're going on an indoor expedition to discover the species in our own home! You’ll never look at the bugs in your house the same way again. Ecologist and author Rob Dunn is our guide to exploring what he calls, “the unknown we wake up in every morning.” We’ll find out how many species live in the average home (it’s more than you think!) and tell you how you can conduct your own scientific survey inside your house. It’s an activity that could help scientists discover indoor wildlife all around the world. To learn how you can sign up for Rob’s citizen science project, Never Home Alone, check out our blog at www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/blog. Our friend Science Mom has created a downloadable coloring book and indoor bug guide, special for this episode! It’s available to our Patreon members at all levels. To get it, just pledge any amount to support the show at https://www.patreon.com/tumblepodcast.

What’s it like to go inside the world’s largest bat colony? In this special bonus episode, we’re sharing part of our interview with Jessica Dreyer, modern day Bat Woman and biologist. (Remember her from “The Journey to the Bat Cave”?!) Find out why a cave just outside San Antonio, Texas is home to 15 million bats - the largest gathering of mammals anywhere on the planet! Want to get behind-the-scenes of our stories of science discovery? Join our Patreon campaign to get bonus interview episodes with every new episode of Tumble! Starting at only $1 a month, you’ll get access to a special podcast feed with all of our regular episodes, PLUS interviews! A Patreon subscription is a great holiday gift for any Tumble fan. Better yet, your support helps us keep making the show! Here’s the rest of our great Patreon rewards: \$5 a month: A shoutout when you join, a special birthday greeting, and the chance to answer OUR science questions on the podcast. \$10 a month: All that plus a Tumble t-shirt. \$20 a mon

Today we’re presenting the first episode of Becoming Mother Nature, a show from our friends at Gen-Z Media. It’s recommended for listeners 9 and up. For the rest of our listeners, we’ll be back with a new Tumble episode next month! When Chloe is sent off to live with her mysterious and eccentric grandmother, she learns an unbelievable secret. Grandma Ivy is none other than Mother Nature herself! And Chloe is next in line to assume the power and responsibility of the job. Can a twelve-year-old learn to balance the entire world’s ecosystem while just trying to fit in at her new school? Only Mother Nature knows.

Not a true crime story, but a true science story! Starring a murder of crows, a person in a creepy mask, and one very curious scientist named Kaeli Swift. We unravel the mystery of what appears like scene from a Halloween fright night, but is actually an experiment designed to reveal the reasons for some very weird crow behavior. Turns out, you can get a lot of strange looks on the road to science discovery. NOTE: This episode is about the scientific study of death in animals. No animals die in this story, but listeners uncomfortable with this topic might want to skip it. Other Halloween episodes are “We Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts!” and “The Laboratory of the Haunted House.” To see a photo of someone wearing the mask, and watch a video of Kaeli’s study, visit our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com. We have more from our interview with Kaeli, on our special ad-free Patreon feed! Learn about how Kaeli followed her curiosity from this experiment, to fascinating studies on what crows might actually be thinking d

It’s a scientific controversy of planetary proportions! Is Pluto a planet, or not? You decide, after we present two sides of an epic astronomy argument. Back in 2006, the International Astronomer’s Union voted on a definition of the word “planet” that excluded Pluto and other newly dubbed “dwarf planets” from planethood status. Astronomers - and everybody else - quickly chose sides. We dive deep into the debate and learn that Pluto’s not the only Space Object Formerly Known As A Planet. Then we’ll ask you to weigh in with your opinion, and see if you can find “consensus” on what should be called a planet. Featuring planetary astronomer Kirby Runyon. We have a present for your birthday!! We’ll be doing birthday shoutouts for our Patreon members, beginning next month. Want to hear a message on the podcast just for your special day? Pledge at the $5 level at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. You’ll be helping us make the show, and we also have extra audio goodies for you. Hear more from our interviews with scientis

A volcanologist imagines a world without volcanoes, and tells us how her recipe for homemade lava bombs might lead to discoveries about ancient volcanoes in outer space! It turns out that volcanoes do more for planets than create natural pyrotechnic displays. You’re guarenteed to be blown away by volcanologist Erika Rader’s EXTREME VOLCANO SCIENCE PROJECT. Spoiler alert: It involves a huge cauldron of molten rock, an aircannon, and a forklift. Tell Erika what YOU would do with a lava machine: Email us at tumblepodcast@gmail.com with a drawing or recording, and we’ll pass your ideas on! Join our Patreon campaign to hear more from our interview with Erika, on our ad-free podcast feed: patreon.com/tumblepodcast Special thanks to Rob Griffiths for his help with this episode! Check out his podcast, Bedtime.FM and Peace Out on the Kids Listen app - kidslisten.org.

Join us on a field trip to the biggest bat colony in the world! Bracken Cave is home to 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats. It’s the largest concentration of mammals on the planet, and it’s made up of only mothers and their babies. On our visit, we’ll meet a real-life Batwoman. Jessica Dreyer is a bat biologist who is studying how bats learn to be bats. Now… TO THE BAT CAVE! To see photos from our trip, as well videos of “bat rain” and the evening “batnado,” check out our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com/blog. We’ll also have information about how you can visit Bracken Cave in person, with Bat Conservation International. This week, our Patreon members are getting exclusive audio bonus content from our interview with Jessica! Hear her describe what it’s like to go inside the cave, as she shares tons of other stunning bat facts. Pledge today at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. You’ll also get an ad-free feed, when you sign up at just $1/month!

This summer, Tumble went live!! and we want to share the science magic with all our listeners. In this episode, you’ll hear our favorite parts of our Back-to-School Science Splash Jam from the Scottish Rite Theater in Austin, Texas. Get ready for a sea star song written by listeners, jellyfish trivia, and amazing science questions from fans. A super huge thanks and shoutout to everyone who came to our events! If you’re curious about Tumble live events, email us at tumblepodcast@gmail.com. Our guests were SaulPaul, Elizabeth McQueen, and Juli Berwald. Sara and Michael Lentz recorded the Science Splash Jam. Thanks to our sponsors: The Headwaters School, Austin Family Magazine, Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, and Listenwise. Our kid contestants were Adele, Liesel, and Finn. Our question askers were Amery, Amara, and Leela.

What if you could shrink your technology down to a size that’s 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair? It sounds like sci-fi, but it’s not. Romain Quidant shows us how he helped shrink an entire medical laboratory down to the size of a computer chip. The “lab on a chip” uses molecular mini-detectives to track down diseases hiding within a tiny drop of blood. We’ll find out how it works, and why a tiny particle could make a big difference for human health. To see a photo of Romain holding the lab on the chip, check out our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com/blog. Tumble is brought to you with support from KiwiCo. KiwiCo is offering Tumble listeners the chance to try them for free - to redeem this offer and learn more about their projects for kids, visit kiwico.com/tumble. Love Tumble? Support us on Patreon! All you need to do is go to patreon.com/tumblepodcast and sign up to pledge. Listener support makes a HUGE difference in helping us make the show. We’d also love to give you a shoutout on ou

Meet 11-year-old Sarah Galvani-Townsend! She’s our first ever kid science expert. In many ways, Sarah is a regular kid who loves science. But she’s got an unusual hobby. Sarah tells us why studying dogs and rabies is one of her favorite extracurricular activities, and how she translates “science language” into “kid language.” To read Sarah’s paper and find out more about Science Journal for Kids, visit our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.org/blog. The original paper is called “One Health approach to cost-effective rabies control in India” and the lead author is Meagan C. Fitzpatrick. Tumble is brought to you with support from KiwiCo. KiwiCo is offering Tumble listeners the chance to try them for free - to redeem this offer & learn more about their projects for kids, visit kiwico.com/tumble    Love Tumble? Support us on Patreon! Go to patreon.com/tumblepodcast and pledge today. Even just a $1/month means a lot to us! We love hearing from you. Email us your questions, comments and feedback at tumblepodcast@

It’s the tale of an epic science adventure. It’s the drama of the hunt for a dragon… a snapdragon! This isn’t the kind of dragon that breathes fire. It’s a flower! And biologists have been hunting for them every summer, in an ongoing quest to understand how species evolve and separate. We tag along with biologist Carina Baskett on her very first day of the snapdragon hunt, in the Pyrenees mountains of Spain. Join us as we get excited about “fieldwork” - one of the coolest (and most adventurous) parts of the scientific process! You can see photos from the snapdragon hunt and learn about fieldwork all over the world, on our blog. We’re doing it live! Check out Tumble’s live events coming up in August, on our website. Tumble is brought to you with help from KIND Snacks. Complete offer details are available at: https://www.kindsnacks.com/kidsoffer Our Patrons make a WORLD of difference to us! Pledge to support at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. Rewards include ad-free episodes, free educational materials, chances

Joe Hanson is a scientist who hosts PBS Digital Studio’s It’s Okay to Be Smart and Hot Mess, a new YouTube show about climate change. He’s been a longtime friend of Tumble’s, so it was a no-brainer to ask him to help answer listener questions! Joe tells us why penguins can’t fly, how animals breathe underwater, what’s beyond the universe, and why our teeth get wobbly and fall out. Plus, find out what we think Tumble: Aquatic Edition would sound like! Watch some of our favorite of Joe’s videos on our website: sciencepodcastforkids.com/blog. Don’t forget, a great way to support Tumble is to pledge on Patreon. You can also tell five friends about the show! Either way, we’ll love you. We’ve got a special offer for you to try KIND Kids Bars! Go to KindSnacks.com/science and enter code SCIENCE at checkout to receive 20% off of your order of KIND Kids Bars.

Got a long trip coming up? Turn it into an adventure into outer space! Marshall’s headed out on an intergalactic journey. He’s lined up the best episodes on astronomy for your road trip! See what it’s like to spend a year on Mars, take a wild ride through the solar system, find out if it’s possible to ship Co2 off our planet, search for alien life, and investigate black holes with the world’s top black hole hunter. You’ll be there in no time when time is flying by at warp speed! When we get to 150 Patrons, Marshall will do something very silly. So if you can, please pledge today: patreon.com/tumblepodcast Hope you’re having a great summer! We’ll be back with new episodes soon.

**Recommended for listeners age 8 and up** This week, we’re presenting a new show from our friends at Gen Z Media! It’s called Young Ben Franklin, and it’s a mystery-adventure series about the 14 year old kid who went on to become one of America’s most famous founding fathers. If you enjoy this show, you can find more like it at bestrobotever.com. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, so that you won’t miss an episode of Young Ben Franklin. The full series premiers on July 4. Independence Day! Younger listeners might want to skip this story, due to some dramatic situations and language. We’ll be back with more Tumble soon. Don’t forget, we’re in the middle of our Patreon pledge drive! Your support makes our show possible. Not kidding! If you value what we do, please consider making a donation at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. The first 10 fans to pledge will receive a Detective Dot megapack! Want another option? Review us on Apple Podcasts. It really helps other people find our show!

This week, we’re taking you to visit one of most powerful computers in the world! It’s called MareNostrum 4, and it’s housed in a former chapel in Barcelona, Spain. We’ll find out how scientists are using supercomputers to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. Researchers Eduard Porta and Claudia Rosas explain what it’s like to work with one of the fastest machines in the world. See photos from Lindsay’s visit to MareNostrum 4, and learn more about supercomputers on our blog. It’s the best time ever to support Tumble on Patreon! For the first ten fans who pledge $5 or more to our Patreon campaign, you’ll receive a Detective Dot megapack, along with all of our regular rewards. Check out Detective Dot here: https://www.detectivedot.org/ Then, pledge at patreon.com/tumblepodcast Don’t forget, to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! It really helps other people find out about our podcast.

You’ve never heard of a summer camp like this before. It’s a science camp, but the campers ARE the science! Imagine playing volleyball with electrode helmets, going to bed attached to sleep machines, and having scientists study popsicles made of your spit (“spitsicles”). We talk to the scientist who started Sleep Camp, a study that’s been going on for over 30 years. Join us as we learn what Sleep Camp has taught us about why sleep is so important for kids and teens. Our question from JoJo is, “Why do we need sleep?” Find out more about the science of sleep on our [blog post](http:// http://www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/single-post/2018/05/17/The-Crazy-Science-of-Sleep) about the Sleep Camp Experiment. And check out our NEW TRAVEL BLOG! Tumble Travels is written for both kids and adults. Follow our adventures on Instagram, too! This episode features music (about sleep science!) from The Pop Ups. Check out their new album, GIANTS OF SCIENCE, with songs about science and innovation. If you’re eager to gear u

What would happen if our Moon suddenly disappeared? Would we still have tides? It turns out that the Moon has a much bigger influence on Earth than you might think. Without the Moon, life as we know it would not exist! Rocket scientist Miquel Sureda explains what happened before the Moon existed, and how we know that the Moon is slowly moving away from us. Plus, we have a special treat for you - we made up a story about the Moon’s disappearance with our friends from What If World! For more information and resources about the science in this episode, check out our blog post. If you love Tumble, please consider pledging to our Patreon campaign. It makes a HUGE difference for us! Have you written a review on iTunes yet? This also helps more people find our show! Looking for more podcasts for kids, including What If World? Listen and discover on the Kids Listen app, a podcast listening app designed just for kids!

For Earth Day, we’re discovering how the tiny, adorable pika is helping scientists study climate change! Temperatures in their mountain habitat are getting warmer, and rain and snow isn’t as predictable as it used to be. Scientists have discovered that the number of pikas in certain areas are shrinking – or even disappearing. But some populations are doing just fine. A scientist named Pika Jo wants to find out why. An unexpected disaster leads her to a surprising discovery. To find out more about pikas and climate change, check out our blog at sciencepodcastforkids.com/blog! Has Tumble contributed something meaningful to your family? Please consider pledging to our Patreon campaign at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. It makes a huge difference in making it possible for us to do the show, and we’re planning even more awesome stuff for the future! Our Patrons are the first to know - and, you get access to all the educational materials in our teacher store! Pledge today. Want more Earth Day podcasts? Check out eco

What happens when a Brownie Troop goes to a weather balloon launch? One Brownie guesses that they’ll make contact with unicorns in the sky. Atmospheric scientist Gary Morris shows us what it takes to launch the biggest balloon you’ve ever seen to the very top of Earth’s atmosphere. Along the way, we’ll learn why weather balloons are the best way to find out about air pollution. And who knows? Maybe we’ll discover unicorns, too! This story came together when a Brownie troop leader emailed Tumble to see if we could do an activity with the girls. We’re always open to new experiences, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us at tumblepodcast@gmail.com. Do you love what we do, and want to make sure there’s more episodes of Tumble forevermore? Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/tumblepodcast. Each pledge makes a HUGE difference to us, and we really appreciate it! Plus, you get sweet rewards - like access to our entire catalog of educational resources! To learn more about Tumble, visit our website at tumblepodcast.