The Kid Stuff Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 34 - Susan & Refe Tuma Oct 24, 2017

Show notes

Susan and Refe Tuma are the creators, authors, and photographers/ art designers of the "What the Dinosaurs Did" book series. The books came out of a project they originally made just for their own kids, but blew up as a blog. Several years later, they find themselves with three books in the series. These books are so charming, and witty, and painstakingly created, they just have to be seen to be understood and appreciated. So listen to our conversation, then run to your nearest local bookseller and buy them.

You can find Susan and Refe at dinovember.tumblr.com, or you can search dinovember on Facebook.

Episode 33 - Angela Ferrari Oct 17, 2017

Show notes

Angela Ferrari is a painter, writer, and the creator and host of the new Story Spectacular podcast, featuring a new story for kids every Monday and a new mini-nighttime story every Friday. We talked about how she learned the business side of an art career, about finding a project that combined all of her talents and interests, and about the importance of play.

Episode 32 - Jack Forman Oct 10, 2017

Show notes

Jack Forman used to be a classroom teacher. When his first child was born, his band Recess Monkey was doing well enough that he became a stay-at-home dad and the manager of the band. Around the sa me time, he started hosting "Live From The Monkey House," talking to kids and playing tunes on the Sirius XM Kids Place Live channel.

Now, he has his first solo album out, "Songs From The Monkey House." It's available exclusively on Amazon Music, and you can find a link and all the info you would ever want about all things Jack by going to jackformanmusic.com.

Episode 31 - The Bazillions Oct 03, 2017

Show notes

Find the Bazillions and their new album "Rock-N-Roll Yearbook" at www.thebazillions.com.

Episode 30 - Stephanie Sharis May 17, 2017

Show notes

Stephanie Sharis is the CEO of Cricket Media. Cricket has been publishing magazines for kids for over 40 years, and they still have eleven titles that they publish, on actual paper, for kids of all ages and on a wide range of topics.

They've recently launched a new website and initiative called "Keeping Tech in Check." They're motto is "a balance, not a ban." Keeping Tech in Check acknowledges and embraces the idea that technology and screens are part of our and our kids' lives now. It acts as a hub for resources on how to manage the time we spend on that technology, how to use it wisely and safely, and how to share those skills with kids.

Thanks to Stephanie Sharis for that conversation, to Beth Blenz-Clucas for introducing us, and to Caroline Zekan at Cricket for setting it up. You can find cricket at http://www.cricketmedia.com/, and you can find Keeping Tech in Check at https://keepingtechincheck.com/

Also, don't forget, thanks to our friends at BizKids, we are giving away a handful of free copies of their book "Turn $100 into $1 Million." Just write into us on our contact page at kidstuffpodcast.com and tell us a story about your business, a business you'd like to start, an idea of a business that you think kids should try, anything at all. Include your address, and boom, free awesome book.

Episode 29 - Lisa Loeb & Great Big Family Play Day May 09, 2017

Show notes

We have a very different episode for you today. My family and I spent this past Saturday at The SoCal Mom's Great Big Family Play Day in Los Angeles.

I had my intrepid field reporter Sophie at my side, and she and I had some conversations with some of the companies that had booths at the event.

I got to talk to Tracy Fredkin, the CEO of SoCal Moms and CityMoms and the organizer of the event.

And to close out the episode, I sat down for about 15 minutes with Lisa Loeb, who was performing that day.

Many thanks to Beth Blenz-Clucas for connecting me with Tracy Fredkin of CityMoms, to Tracy for making arrangements for my family to attend that day and for chatting with me, to Lisa Loeb for taking time out of her busy day to talk, and of course to Kid Stuff Sophie, who had all the best questions and made me look good just by being in her proximity.

You can find the city moms app here, you can find Lisa Loeb here, and if you live in or near Southern California, be sure and check out some of the other great people that Sophie and I talked to:

http://www.creating-clarity.com/

https://beingagrownman.com/

http://www.geniuskidsla.com/about.html

http://www.beautifulthings-la.com/

http://pakuahealth.com/

Episode 28 - Garrett Sander May 02, 2017

Show notes

For a little over a year while he was in college, Garrett Sander worked at FAO Schwartz. Other than that, he has spent his entire professional career, about 13 years, at Mattel.

His background and training are mostly in graphic design, and after he presented his portfolio to them at the end of his junior year, Mattel spent the next year waiting for him to graduate so they could hire him.

He started by designed packaging. He now works in entertainment, making the animated Barbie movies, and from 2007 to 2010 he was the person who birthed the global phenomenon known as Monster High and brought it forth to the world.

You can find Garret on Instagram or Tumblr. You can find Monster High and Barbie by opening your eyes and turning your head, or by going here.

Thanks for listening!

Episode 27 - Jeannine Glista Apr 25, 2017

Show notes

Jeannine Glista is the executive producer of the PBS show "Biz Kids."

It uses sketch comedy and profiles of young entrepreneurs to teach kids (mostly in the middle school range) how to start their own business, grow that business, run that business, and how to manage their money.

You know, all those incredibly useful skills that no one has taught me yet in my 40s.

The process of getting the show produced and on the air was quite a feat of entrepreneurship itself.

Thanks to Shelby Burford with Biz Kids for introducing me to Jeannine.

Thanks again to Jeannine Glista for her time and her stories, and thanks for this very exciting bonus:

Jeannine has offered me a few copies of the book from the creators of Biz Kids, "How to turn $100 into $1,000,000."

It's a road map for young people to take to learn how to achieve financial freedom, and you can get your very own free copy.

Tell any kid you know who has started their own business (or at least tried to) to go here.

Send us an email with the story of your business, whether it took off and became a huge success, or whether it crashed and burned or just fizzled out, we'd love to hear about it. Include your address, and the first few stories will get a copy of the book.

You can find "How to turn $100 into $1,000,000" on Amazon, you can find Jeannine on her website, and you can find BizKids here.

Thanks for listening!

Episode 26 - Dan Bern Apr 18, 2017

Show notes

I was introduced to Dan Bern's music almost 20 years ago when a friend played the song "Jerusalem" for me, and I've been a huge fan ever since. I got ridiculously excited to learn that Judd Apatow had tapped him to write the songs for "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," and the songs he contributed to that movie are hilarious and wonderful.

He has a 7 year old daughter now, and has recently started writing more kids' songs. He has 2 kids' albums, "Two feet Tall" and "Three Feet Tall." Plus, he writes the songs for the amazon kids' show "Stinky & Dirty."

He's also a poet, a novelist under the pseudonym Cunliffe Merriwether, and a painter.

You can find all the great things Dan is up to, plus you can buy his albums, paintings, and books at danbern.com. You can also find him on Instagram.

Episode 25 - Aaron Goldblatt Apr 11, 2017

Show notes

Aaron Goldblatt runs Metcalfe Architecture and Design in Philadelphia with his partner Alan Metcalfe. They design a lot of public spaces, and spaces for kids, including health care spaces and informal education spaces like museums and botanic gardens.

Alan's background is in architecture, but Aaron's is in museum design and art (he was a sculptor, ceramicist, and welder for years before getting into museums).

As an actor, it's funny to hear their philosophies about their work. Alan Metcalfe talks a lot on their website about empathy, and creating empathetic spaces. Alan, on the other hand, is obsessed with the idea of play, and he incorporates it into his working process wherever he can. For him, that seems to mean approaching work with a sense of fearlessness, and also trying to find a place of flow, of letting the play take over and your getting your brain out of the way.

Of course, those are two of the most important elements of acting; putting yourself in the shoes of your character (empathy), and playing. I mean, when we get on stage, that's what we call the thing. A "play." We're playing make-believe.

It was nice to hear that, even in fields as disparate as architecture & design and acting may seem, the goals are still to put yourself in someone else's shoes, and to have a little fun.

You can check out their incredible body of work on their website. Take a look at some of their work, some of it may even be close enough to where you live for you to check out in person. They have worked on projects all over the country and the world.

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