The Imagine Neighborhood

What kid doesn't have big feelings, especially these days? Scotty and the fun characters in the Imagine Neighborhood make it easy for adults and kids to start talking about those big feelings - it's a great way to broach topics that are necessary but tricky to know how to tackle. The kids love listening, and it's that great unicorn of children's entertainment that is actually pretty entertaining for adults too. (Let's be honest, adults have big feelings too, and the lessons in Imagine Neighborhood can be good for us too!)

This show has been a GODSEND! It's a fun way to get kids talking about their feelings, but also it helps me talk with them about difficult topics. Their episode on grieving helped so much with the loss of a pet we had last year. I love the topics about race and equality, and it's also a really fun show for adults to listen to as well. It's really well made, and our favorite characters are Macho and Allykazambra

The is an amazing show! My kids are sooo engaged with all the various characters. This is a great way to build the emotional intelligence of your kids (and your own!) at home. Love, love, love!

My nephew loves this podcast, perfect listening for the car either on it's own or with by a short conversation about the themes of the episode (he's 6 so the chats are pretty short). Educational stuff can be so dry but this show is wacky and fun while still getting to the heart of things, like if someone sent Mr. Roger's Neighborhood through the Nickelodeon slime machine multiple times and then slapped it with Funfetti. Macho Supreme is his absolute favorite. And the song recommendations have let me trick him into listening to music I like (a huge bonus). Would love to see something about gender identity in the future since that comes up in our house a lot, and they've been tackling race in a really excellent way.

Really excellent actors, the full sound effects, endearing characters and truly funny writing set this podcast apart. The lessons are clear but never preachy, and they don't talk over the kids' heads or talk down to them, either. The host has a caring and gentle manner that my daughter really responds to and she loves the characters and talks about them like they're her friends. The whole family will laugh but more importantly you will find yourself talking together. If the Muppets and Mister Rogers and Rocky and Bullwinkle all got together to write a show that tackles everything from racism to doing your chores this would be it.

The Imagine Neighborhood is a blessing--a podcast that makes me think, guffaw, and sometimes cry. The young people in my life who listen to this podcast ask questions about the plot-lines, demonstrating that the themes of The Imagine Neighborhood do relate to the lives and minds of 6- and 7-year-olds. When I listen to the podcast, I recognize ways in which not only children but also adults can learn critical socio-emotional skills.

We listen to this in the car and it has started lots of great conversations. We particularly like the parts where Scotty tells us to pause and talk. We build on the stories and link it to our own experiences. The recent Poll-a-keet episode led to discussions on gender diverse people and our experience using they/ them pronouns for someone who “sounded like a man but looked like a girl”- 5 year old. The music is excellent, production slick and fun characters - count vac is our fave. An amazing family resource for talking about social emotional learning, feelings and big questions.