The Reading Bug Podcast - Original Adventures, Bedtime Stories and Music for Kids

The Fact Fly’s One Big Question How do we make sound when we talk — and why does your voice sound so different when you hear it on a recording? Join Lauren and the Fact Fly as they investigate the surprisingly amazing science behind the most incredible instrument ever made: you. From the tiny vibrating vocal folds inside your larynx to the air from your lungs that turns those “little strings” into...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories | Original Music Deep in the forest, a tiny seed named Rue falls from her mother's branch and lands in the dark earth below — and immediately runs into a problem: she has no idea how to grow. She knows she's supposed to. She's watched her mother do it her whole life. But what if she grows the wrong direction? What if she gets it wrong? A well-meaning worm stops by,...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Part 2 of 2. When the other garden bugs tease the Reading Bug for being different, she does what she always does — reads more books! And this time, they inspire the most fantastical adventure yet. Join Lauren, the Reading Bug and the Spelling Bee on a journey over the rainbow to the Land of the Unicorns! Only, things may not be all rainbows and unicorns....

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories Every autumn, Hazel the bear goes back to her perfect winter sleeping spot — except this year, a very polite family of hedgehogs has moved in and is absolutely not leaving. What follows is a tour of the wrong places: a cave that echoes her own yawns back at her, a hollow log she keeps rolling out of, and a fox named Rupert who answers the door with the energy of som...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Part 1 of 2. When the other garden bugs tease the Reading Bug for being different, she does what she always does — reads more books! And this time, they inspire the most fantastical adventure yet. Join Lauren, the Reading Bug and the Spelling Bee on a journey over the rainbow to the Land of the Unicorns! Only, things may not be all rainbows and unicorns....

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Grab your helmet and knee pads—it's time to shred! Lauren, the Reading Bug, and the Fact Fly are heading to the most famous skatepark in the world: Venice Beach! But before they can drop in, they meet Livvy on the sand—a girl who has been bravely learning to skate with her older brother's help, only to have her confidence knocked right out from under her...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories | Original Music In this laugh-filled prehistoric bedtime adventure, meet Tiko, a brave, dog-sized Psittacosaurus who finds himself face-to-face with Thunderfeet, the grumpiest (and biggest!) T-Rex in the valley. Everyone believes Thunderfeet is a terrifying menace… until Tiko discovers the truth: the giant dinosaur isn’t mean — he’s just exhausted. To save himself...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Part 2 of 2. Grab your helmet and knee pads—it's time to shred! Lauren, the Reading Bug, and the Fact Fly are heading to the most famous skatepark in the world: Venice Beach! But before they can drop in, they meet Livvy on the sand—a girl who has been bravely learning to skate with her older brother's help, only to have her confidence knocked right out f...

The Fact Fly's One Big Question Why does spicy food actually burn — and why does black pepper make you sneeze when you haven't even touched it? Join Lauren and the Fact Fly as they investigate the fiery science behind everyone's favorite fake emergency! From the TRPV1 receptor — your mouth's built-in biological fire alarm — to the committed molecular prank that capsaicin has been pulling on mammal...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories In the Meadow of Starfall, every unicorn's horn does something magical — sparks, light, warmth, blooming flowers. Every unicorn's except Opal's, whose horn plays music when she touches things. Just a few soft notes. Just a song. When the whole herd gathers for the Grand Gleaming, the annual celebration of horn magic, Opal's melody gets polite smiles and moves on. He...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Part 1 of 2. Grab your helmet and knee pads—it's time to shred! Lauren, the Reading Bug, and the Fact Fly are heading to the most famous skatepark in the world: Venice Beach! But before they can drop in, they meet Livvy on the sand—a girl who has been bravely learning to skate with her older brother's help, only to have her confidence knocked right out f...

Book Worm's Story Snacks | The Bear Who Learned the Ice Can a Book Worm who's never left the warmth of a bookstore survive at the very top of the world? Join the Book Worm on this Arctic Story Snack and step onto the frozen ocean at the top of our planet — where the sun never sets in summer, the ice groans beneath your feet, and the most extraordinary animals alive have decided that brutal cold is...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories Mabel is a duck on Puddle Pond with one small problem: she cannot quack. No matter how hard she tries, what comes out is a tremendous, fully committed HONK — the kind that sends the lily pads wobbling and makes the frogs blink very slowly. Her patient frog friend Gerald thinks it's perfectly fine. The opinionated goose Constance has notes. When an autumn fog rolls a...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Step right up! The Reading Bug has run off and joined PT Barnum's circus - and she's got a terrible case of stage fright. Join Lauren to follow her under the Big Top, and discover that the Reading Bug isn't the only ones with butterflies: Jumbo, the most magnificent elephant in the show, is refusing to budge from his crate, and without him, the whole par...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories Deep in Fernhollow forest, a tiny shy dragon named Pip has always believed her fire isn't real fire at all — just small, soft sparks that float gently on the air and quietly go out. When the big dragons all fly off to their annual Night Gathering and a lost fox kit is left crying alone in the fog, Pip and her fearless salamander companion Nessa venture out into the...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Part 2 of 2. Step right up! The Reading Bug has run off and joined PT Barnum's circus - and she's got a terrible case of stage fright. Join Lauren to follow her under the Big Top, and discover that the Reading Bug isn't the only ones with butterflies: Jumbo, the most magnificent elephant in the show, is refusing to budge from his crate, and without him,...

The Fact Fly's One Big Question Why does your body force you to shut down for eight hours every single night — and what happens inside your brain while you do? Join Lauren and the Fact Fly (fresh off an accidental cold brew catastrophe) as they investigate the surprising science of sleep! From the "Reading Bug Bookstore" analogy that explains memory consolidation, to the brain's nighttime power-wa...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories On a warm summer evening at a little league field, a nine-year-old girl named Rosie steps up to bat in the bottom of the last inning — down by one, two outs, championship on the line — and everything she's worked for comes down to a single pitch. She loves baseball with her whole heart, but she hasn't gotten a hit all season. Her grandfather Granpa Lou, a former min...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Part 1 of 2. Step right up! The Reading Bug has run off and joined PT Barnum's circus - and she's got a terrible case of stage fright. Join Lauren to follow her under the Big Top, and discover that the Reading Bug isn't the only ones with butterflies: Jumbo, the most magnificent elephant in the show, is refusing to budge from his crate, and without him,...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories In the sun-warmed corner of a weathered garden shed, an elder Thistle-Mouse named Silas tends to a very special collection — not seeds or treasures, but lost buttons, rusted keys, faded ribbons, and forgotten things the world left behind. When a curious young mouse named Toby wanders in and wonders why anyone would bother keeping a pile of old junk, Silas places a s...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Full Story. Follow the White Rabbit down the hole as Lauren and the Reading Bug tumble into the magic book bag for a journey to the curious, nonsensical world of Wonderland! In this tea-riffic adventure, you'll discover what happens when a grinning Cheshire Cat points the way down two mysterious paths - and a Mad Hatter's tea party turns into a quest to...

Book Worm's Story Snacks | Into the Midnight Zone Can a bookworm who's afraid of the dark explore the deepest, darkest place on Earth? Join the Book Worm on this deep-sea Story Snack and dive three thousand feet below the ocean's surface — where the sun has never reached, the water pressure would squish a submarine flat, and the darkness is full of things that glow. Meet Augusta, a four-hundred-an...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories High on Mount Fumble, where pine trees grow in crooked spirals and streams sing to themselves, lives a small, round bear named Bram with a very unusual hobby - collecting clouds in glass jars. His cave shelves hold everything from a grumbly little storm cloud to his most prized possession: a breathtaking jar of pink-and-gold sunset. But one morning, the sunset cloud...

A Reading Bug Adventure with Original Songs Part 2 of 2. Follow the White Rabbit down the hole as Lauren and the Reading Bug tumble into the magic book bag for a journey to the curious, nonsensical world of Wonderland! In this tea-riffic adventure, you'll discover what happens when a grinning Cheshire Cat points the way down two mysterious paths - and a Mad Hatter's tea party turns into a quest to...

Lauren's Little Bedtime Stories In the wonderfully topsy-turvy heart of the Tulgey Wood, a tiny neon-pink Mome Rath named Mallow has one very unusual wish — not to point the way for anyone, but simply to sit still. When the chaos of Wonderland grows too loud, Mallow sets off in search of the legendary "Center of the Calm." With a cryptic clue from the ever-grinning Cheshire Cat and a nudge from a...