Noodle Loaf

Dan Saks is a musician, early childhood music educator, and bestselling children's book author, and Noodle Loaf combines all of those skills into an interactive music podcast that gets kids singing, clapping, and moving. This isn't just music playing in the background -- each episode is designed so kids actively participate through echo songs, rhythm games, rhyming activities, and creative movement exercises. It's music class in your living room, essentially. The show earned the Common Sense Media Selection seal, which is a serious stamp of approval in the kids' media world. Episodes release biweekly, with about 116 in the catalog so far. They're on the shorter side, which works perfectly for the preschool and kindergarten audience the show targets. Saks ties episodes into seasonal themes and cultural celebrations, and he occasionally pulls in guest artists -- Ziggy Marley showed up for a recent episode, which is a pretty strong get for a kids' music podcast. With 749 ratings and a 4.1-star average on Apple, Noodle Loaf has a smaller but devoted audience of parents and early childhood educators. The call-and-response format means this is one of the few podcasts where kids genuinely can't just sit passively. They're singing back, stomping their feet, and learning musical concepts like pitch and rhythm without any worksheets or theory. For families with younger children especially, it fills a niche that most kids' podcasts don't even attempt.