Product Review of Smart Kidz Radio

My children, Miranda (age 7) and Mason (age 5) were able to try out a brand new program from Smart Kidz Media called Smart Kidz Radio from Smart Kidz Media for a product review. Here is what we think of it.

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[ctt template=”4″ link=”f3Tui” via=”yes” ]This is a review of Smart Kidz Radio, a radio station that features original songs and stories for children with safe content.[/ctt]

Smart Kidz Radio app iPhone girl listening to headphones

About

Smart Kiz Radio is a radio station that features original songs and stories for children with safe content. They call themself, “an edutainment radio station for kids” and have original songs and stories that help children learn valuable living skills and build self-esteem. It is a radio station on the Internet that is just for kids, ages 2 – 10.

How We Used It

There was the Live Radio, which plays songs for kids 24 hours a day like a radio station. There was also Podcasts with stories you could listen to.

If you pushed the little menu box in the lower left hand corner, this is what you would see…

On the first screen above, we would push the right arrow to get to the Live Radio section.

Live Radio

I would put it on my computer in the dining room and the children would sit and color or draw while listening to the kids radio. We listened to the live radio right before lunch.

Our listening time was about thirty minutes and we only heard maybe one or two songs repeated during that time, so there seemed to be enough variety. It seems like the songs were grouped into themes.

Some of the songs we heard, were (this is what I think the title was named)…

Everybody Needs To Rest
Sail Away To The Island Of Your Dreams
I Have The Right
Communication: Say What You Mean
Welcome To The Human Race
Thinking
Curiosity
It's Your World, Why Don't You Check It Out?
Why Do I Feel…
When I Am Happy
Life Is No Fun When Junk Feelings Are Around
Feeling Yucky Is Never Too Much Fun
Crying In My Pillow
Sometimes It's Hard To Handle My Ups And My Downs
Don't Feel Bad When You're Discouraged
I'm All Fed Up
Moving To The Rhythm
May I, Please, Thank You

I am not very good at describing music, but some of these had rock music playing and some were slower, instrumental tunes. Some were slow songs similar to 70s or 80s slow rock. Some reminded me of elevator music with lyrics, some were the Blues.

We noticed that there were sleepy songs and slower songs and songs about resting about 11:30 am to 12:00 pm on more than one day. I couldn't find what state they are based out of, but it must be close to nap time there. When I went to the traffic map from the main screen it gave me a location in my own time zone. The weather button gave me the weather for Duluth, MN, which is also in my time zone. I am in Wisconsin. We tried again in the afternoon, which is about naptime for my toddler and found there were livelier songs on at that time. I don't know if that is just how it went those days or if it is scheduled that way on purpose. If that is the case, it would work out well for those in the Eastern time zone the best.

Between songs, there would be positive value-instilling messages, like…

“there is nothing more pleasurable than feeling happy, loved…”
“get up out of that chair and start moving to the rhythm”

Sometimes the announcer would announce the next song, with a quote like this…

“feeling yucky is never too much fun, but sometimes that helps you do what needs to be done”
“In this next song, Big Jim and his stomach will teach you the importance of eating the right foods.”

They would also advertise their smartkidsbookstore and their programs, I don't know what ads they will have in the future.

Podcasts

After you push the menu button from the main screen, and you look under the right side where it says “Streams”, you can select the one on the far right with the microphone which is for podcasts. When you do that, several song story choices pop up like…

Alice And Wonderland
Cinderella
Hansel and Gretel
Sleeping Beauty
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
The Sharing Song

They are songs with a story to them. Many you have heard before and the words are those that you would expect for the tune. Then after the main song is sung, they will add to the tune with their own words but use the same refrain. They also have people making a few comments in between, like, “can you believe it, there he goes again!” Sometimes there are sound effects like the sound of rain falling in The Itsy Bitsy Spider. When one podcast is finished, it will go right to the next title on the list. So you could start with one and leave it play for a while.

Available In Other Formats

I see that it is available in other formats. I liked the idea of having it on my Android Smartphone. I might get my techy teen son to figure out how to set it up so that if I need to entertain the littles when we are out of the house, I could have it come up on my phone.

Smart Kidz Radio computer monitor tablet iPad cellphone app

Song Requests

You can also make song requests. From the main screen, just click the menu button, then click the megaphone with musical notes and you will see this screen…

You can make requests for songs they don't even have yet and they may consider adding it into their programming.

In both the Live Radio and Podcasts, I did not find anything offensive or something I would not want my children to hear.

Smart Kidz Radio five children listening to radio on headphones

On Demand

Soon, they will be uploading several On-Demand radio programs. All that I did above is a free service, but from what I understand, the On Demand Portion will be something you pay for and there will be more stories (maybe song stories) that you can get to from the podcasts section. I have not had access to that part of the program and can't review it, but wanted to mention it here. You can read more about it in their FAQs on their site if you are interested in learning more.

Miranda's Opinion

I think some of the songs are weird and some are fun. Sometimes I use my headphones so only I can hear them.

Mason's Opinion

Some of the songs make me laugh. I like Itsy Bitsy Spider the best.

Amy's Opinion

We haven't ever listened to an Internet-based radio station before, so this was new to me. I prefer to listen to music while traveling with the children or during clean up time, we may put on a CD with a lively beat or cute kids songs. I do think that you should check out the free portion to decide for yourself if it is something that your kids would like (if they are between ages 2 and 10, my 12 year was not interested in listening to it). You have nothing to lose by checking it out since it is free. I don't think I would use it very much since we can't listen to it in the car and I can't control whether the beat would be lively for clean up time, but that is my own personal preference. I do like that it is safe for my children to listen to and I don't have to worry about the content of the songs. I would like to try out the app from my phone.