History for Kids / History's Not Boring: The Kids History Podcast

Get ready to time-travel back to one of the most colorful decades in history—the 1970s! Have you ever wondered what life was like before modern smartphones and high-tech video games? Imagine a world where the very first mobile phone weighed as much as a giant pineapple and took ten whole hours to charge! In this fun-filled episode, Mira and Finn explore an amazing era of wild fashion, incredible human achievements, and some seriously wacky trends. Discover how brave astronauts on the final Apollo moon mission fixed their lunar buggy using nothing but spare space maps and duct tape! Then, get ready to lace up your roller skates for a trip to the roller disco. We will also talk about the birth of home video games, where players had to stick plastic sheets to their TVs just to see the graphics! Plus, find out how one man made a million dollars by selling literal rocks in cardboard boxes as "Pet Rocks." From massive bell-bottom pants to the premiere of the very first Star Wars movie, the 1970s was an era of big ideas. Tune in for a totally far-out adventure!

Have you ever wondered how ancient farmers grew massive fields of food in the middle of the baking hot desert? Discover the incredible, muddy, and genius history of how irrigation began! Thousands of years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, early humans figured out how to tame the wild Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Without giant bulldozers or tractors, they dug miles of dirt canals entirely by hand to save their crops from drying up. You'll learn all about an amazing ancient water machine called a "shaduf" that worked exactly like a giant seesaw to lift heavy buckets of river water. We'll also explore King Hammurabi's super strict ancient laws—if you let your water dam break and wash away your neighbor's farm, you had to pay them back in pure grain! Plus, find out how ancient Persian engineers dug massive underground water tunnels called Qanats. Did you know that if you lined up all those tunnels, they would stretch all the way to the moon?! Grab your buckets and shovels, and join Mira and Finn as we uncover how moving water helped build the first human super-cities!

Have you ever wondered how tennis started? Believe it or not, it didn't begin with bouncy yellow balls and fancy rackets! Hundreds of years ago, French monks invented the game to get some exercise in their stone courtyards. But instead of rackets, they used their bare hands to smack a heavy leather ball stuffed with sheep's wool—and sometimes even human hair! Ouch!

In this fascinating episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn serve up the incredible history of tennis! You'll discover how the sport evolved from monks playing the "Game of the Palm" to kings playing in massive royal castles. Find out how early rackets were strung with sheep intestines, why a score of zero is actually called "love" (hint: it has to do with eggs!), and why the very first Wimbledon tournament was held just to raise money to fix a broken grass roller pulled by a pony!

From a game with the completely unpronounceable ancient Greek name "Sphairistikè" to the massive Grand Slam tournaments of today, get ready to smash some amazing historical facts. Hit play and let's explore the wild, wacky origins of tennis!

Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik's Cube and ended up with a totally jumbled mess of colors? You are definitely not alone! In fact, the very person who invented it couldn't solve it either! Join Mira and Finn on a colorful journey back to 1974 to meet Ernő Rubik, a Hungarian architecture teacher. He wanted a fun way to teach his students about 3D shapes, so he built a puzzle using wooden blocks, rubber bands, and paper clips! He painted it with six bright colors, gave it a few twists, and suddenly couldn't get it back to normal. It took him a whole month of non-stop trying to finally solve his very own invention! Originally called the "Magic Cube," this little plastic puzzle has over 43 quintillion possible combinations and went on to become the best-selling toy in human history! Discover how it escaped behind the Iron Curtain to take over the world, learn mind-blowing math facts, and hear about professional speedcubers who can solve it in under three seconds! Get ready to twist, turn, and learn all about the most famous puzzle ever created!

Are you ready for an epic South American adventure? Grab your hiking boots, because we are traveling to the incredible country of Colombia! Did you know the famous legend of El Dorado wasn't actually about a hidden city of gold, but a real-life king covered entirely in gold dust? Discover the fascinating history of the ancient Muisca people, and find out how a daring general named Simón Bolívar led a ragged army across the freezing Andes Mountains to win the country's freedom in just two hours!

But the adventure doesn't stop there! Colombia is the second most biodiverse country on Earth. We'll explore wild jungles filled with bubblegum-pink river dolphins and towering wax palm trees so tall they actually inspired the magical movie Encanto! From mining sparkly green emeralds and growing millions of bags of coffee, to building flying cable cars high above the city of Medellín, Colombia's story is packed with amazing treasures and strong, resilient people. Tune in for a dazzling journey you won't want to miss!

Imagine having to sneak onto a massive, 147-foot-long warship in the middle of the night to save your family! In this thrilling episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn dive into the incredible true story of Robert Smalls! Born enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina, Robert was a brilliant wheelman who knew the harbor like the back of his hand. In 1862, he pulled off one of the most daring and brilliant escapes in American history!

Disguising himself in the captain's long coat and wide-brimmed straw hat, Robert hijacked the giant steamship known as the CSS Planter. He bravely sailed right past five heavily armed Confederate forts—including the famous Fort Sumter! By using secret steam whistle signals, he tricked the guards and sailed his family out to the open ocean to freedom.

But Robert's amazing story didn't end there! He delivered heavy cannons to the United States Navy, helped convince Abraham Lincoln to let Black soldiers fight in the Civil War, and eventually became a United States Congressman! Tune in to discover this heart-pounding adventure!

Have you ever heard of a battle where soldiers used chocolate candy to fix their trucks? Join Mira and Finn as they travel back to 1950 to uncover the amazing true story of the Korean War! When 75,000 North Korean soldiers launch a massive surprise attack across the 38th Parallel border, South Korea and the United Nations need a daring plan to fight back. Enter General Douglas MacArthur, who decides to sail 260 ships into Inchon, a port city where the ocean water literally vanishes twice a day, dropping a dizzying 33 feet!

But that's not the only wild story from the front lines! You'll also meet Marguerite Higgins, a fearless 29-year-old reporter who carried a 10-pound typewriter into battle, dodging bullets in baggy pants and sneakers just to get the scoop. Plus, find out how freezing troops accidentally ordered crates of actual Tootsie Rolls from the sky to survive minus thirty-degree weather! Get ready for a history adventure packed with sneaky military strategy, incredible bravery, and candy!

Have you ever heard of a president who was basically a real-life superhero? Meet Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt! Born as a very sick little boy with severe asthma, Teddy decided he wasn't going to let illness stop him. He worked out, built his muscles, and grew up to become a rugged cowboy in the freezing Badlands! He even chased down armed boat thieves across 300 miles of ice and snow while reading a giant book!

But that’s just the beginning of his wild adventures. Teddy led a brave cavalry unit called the Rough Riders, became the youngest president in United States history, and once survived being shot in the chest right before giving a speech! Spoiler alert: his thick steel eyeglasses case and a folded 50-page speech saved his life, and he still gave his speech for 84 minutes!

Teddy also loved nature so much that he protected 230 million acres of wild American land, including the Grand Canyon. Plus, his kindness to a wild animal actually inspired the invention of the famous "Teddy Bear"! Join Mira and Finn as they explore the unbelievable, action-packed life of America's 26th president!

Grab your scuba gear and get ready to travel 23 million years back in time! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet the biggest shark to ever rule the oceans? Say hello to the mighty Megalodon! This prehistoric giant was absolutely massive—growing up to 80 feet long! That is like lining up two whole school buses end-to-end! Weighing as much as 15 giant African elephants, the Megalodon had an unstoppable bite force that could crunch a modern car completely in half!

In this thrilling episode, Mira and Finn dive deep into the ancient seas to uncover the secrets of the Megalodon. You will discover why we only ever find their massive, 7-inch teeth, how they had a built-in "conveyer belt" of 250 razor-sharp chompers, and why people in the Middle Ages used to think their fossilized teeth were actually magic dragon tongues! Plus, find out exactly how an ancient Ice Age finally brought this 20-million-year reign to an end. Hit play and join the adventure to uncover the epic story of the ultimate king of the ocean!

Have you ever looked at a cute, cuddly puppy and wondered where they came from? Prepare to have your mind completely blown! Long before we had golden retrievers or pugs, every single dog on Earth evolved from giant, fierce Ice Age wolves! Travel back in time 30,000 years to a freezing world where humans and wolves were rivals, competing to hunt massive, six-ton woolly mammoths. But how did these terrifying predators become our closest companions? Discover the amazing science of "Survival of the Friendliest," where the bravest wolves traded their wild ways for warm campfires and leftover mammoth meat! You will hear the heartwarming story of the Bonn-Oberkassel dog, an ancient pup buried right alongside its humans over 14,000 years ago. Plus, find out how dogs literally changed their DNA to eat our leftovers, and how they evolved a brand new facial muscle just to give us those irresistible puppy dog eyes! Grab a cozy blanket, toss a tennis ball, and join Mira and Finn for the epic, paw-some history of man's best friend!