What’s Happening Inside Me?

How does the immune system work? What happens inside your body when you encounter germs?

In this episode of What’s Happening Inside Me?, we’re explaining the immune system for kids and discovering how the body protects itself from bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other things that can make us sick.

Sloane and Ransom learn that the immune system isn’t just one organ—it’s a whole-body defense system made up of cells, tissues, organs, and protective barriers.We start with the body's first lines of defense, including skin, mucus, tears, saliva, and stomach acid, and learn how these everyday parts of our bodies help keep germs out.

Then we meet white blood cells (leukocytes) and discover that there are billions of immune cells working throughout the body. We even learn about the aptly named natural killer cells and what happens when they find one of our own cells that has become infected or abnormal.

Finally, we explore some of the body's important immune system organs and tissues, including the bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen, and thymus.

This episode is a kid-friendly introduction to how the immune system works, perfect for curious kids learning about the human body, germs, sickness, biology, and health.

And this is just Part 1!

Next time, we're diving deeper into the different types of immune cells and white blood cells and what each one does.Listen with your kids and discover what’s happening inside YOU!

💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

Have you ever wondered how your brain knows when you touch something cold? Or how your heart keeps beating while you're asleep?

In this episode, Sloane and Ransom finally get answers to some questions they've been asking for months! Together, we explore the amazing nervous system—the body's communication and control center.

Kids will learn how the brain, spinal cord, and nerves work together to send messages throughout the body, why some nerve cells can be longer than Ransom is tall, and the difference between things your body does on purpose and things it does automatically.

Along the way, we'll discover:
🧠 How your body "talks" to itself
⚡ Why nerve messages travel so incredibly fast
🏃‍♂️ The difference between somatic and autonomic actions
🔥 How your body reacts when you touch something hot
😴 Why your heart keeps beating while you sleep

Plus, Sloane and Ransom put their nervous systems to work with plenty of laughs, questions, and surprising facts along the way!

Visit our website for the free worksheet and coloring page that go along with this episode.

💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

In this fun Questions from Listeners episode, we explore the amazing science behind your voice!
Have you ever wondered:
🎤 How do we talk?
🎶 What makes humming sound different from singing?
😮 And what exactly ARE vocal cords anyway?

Join Audra — former teacher, emergency room PA, and mom of four curious kids — as she answers a some great questions that Theo from Maryland asks.  She breaks down how air from our lungs, vibrating vocal cords, and sound waves all work together to create the sounds we make every day.

Kids will learn:
🫁 How breathing helps us make sound
🎵 Why vocal cords vibrate
😄 What changes when we hum
🔊 How sound travels through the air

This episode is packed with fun science, silly voice experiments to try at home, and lots of fun learning. 🎧 Listen now on any podcast app! 

💡 Have a question you want answered on the show?
Submit it anytime at WHIMpodcast.com — your question might be featured in a future episode!

#WHIMpodcast #whatshappeninginsideme #QuestionsFromListeners #kidseducation #educationalpodcast #kidslearn #funforkids #sciencelesson #curiouskids #familyeducation #podcastforkids #kidpodcast #kidslovelearning #kidhost #kidsaskwhy #learnsomethingnew #STEMkids

💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

What’s inside the human heart? In this kid-friendly episode of What’s Happening Inside Me?, we explore the anatomy of the heart in a fun and easy-to-understand way!

Building on what we learned about the heart’s double pump and two blood flow tracks, this episode breaks down the structure of the heart, including the four chambers, four valves, and major blood vessels. Kids will learn how blood moves through the heart, why valves are important, and how the heart works with the lungs and body to keep us alive and energized.

Perfect for elementary-aged kids, parents, teachers, and homeschool families, this episode makes complex human body science and cardiovascular anatomy simple, engaging, and memorable.

What Kids Will Learn:

• The 4 chambers of the heart: left atrium, right atrium, left ventricle, right ventricle
• The difference between atria (collection chambers) and ventricles (pumping chambers)
• The 4 heart valves and how they keep blood flowing in one direction: mitral valve, tricuspid valve, aortic valve, pulmonary valve
• The major blood vessels of the heart: aorta, vena cava, pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins
• A step-by-step explanation of blood flow through the heart
• How the circulatory system, respiratory system, and cells work together

Hands-On Learning Activity:
Go to whimpodcast.com to download or print a heart diagram and have your child trace the path of blood through the heart while listening. This reinforces understanding of cardiovascular anatomy and blood circulation.

Why This Episode Matters:
Understanding how the heart works helps kids build a strong foundation in biology, human anatomy, and health education. This episode connects multiple systems of the body, showing how everything works together like a team. Perfect For:

• Kids ages 4–12
• Parents teaching health and science at home
• Elementary teachers and school nurses
• Homeschool science curriculum
• Anyone looking for a kid-friendly explanation of the heart and circulatory system

What’s Next?
You’re officially becoming a heart expert! Stay tuned for our next episode where we explore a brand new topic—and don’t forget to send us your ideas!

Keywords:
heart anatomy for kids, how the heart works, chambers of the heart, heart valves explained, blood flow through the heart, circulatory system for kids, human body podcast for kids, elementary science podcast, homeschool anatomy, cardiovascular system basics 














































💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

Hi friends!

We wanted to share a quick update with you. We know we usually release new episodes on the first Friday of each month, and we’re so sorry to miss that schedule this time.

We’ve been dealing with some unexpected technical difficulties behind the scenes—specifically with our editing (and our very important sound effects!). We want each episode to be just right, and that means making sure all the fun sounds you love are included. 

The good news is—we’re actively working on fixing the issue and plan to release our next full episode next week! To make up for the delay, we’re also putting together a special Questions from Listeners episode—and we’d love for YOU to be part of it! Have a question about your body or how something works? Send it in! 

Thank you so much for your patience and for being part of our curious, learning community. We can’t wait to be back in your ears very soon!

Stay curious,
Audra, Sloane & Ransom 💛

💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab free learning resources
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

❤️ After last episode, did you start to wonder WHY the heart has two tracks for pumping blood?

🫀 In this episode of What’s Happening Inside Me?, Audra is joined by her kids, Sloane and Ransom as they dive deeper into the amazing double-pump heart. Building on last week’s episode, they explore why the heart pumps blood in two separate loops—one delivering oxygen to the whole body, and the other refilling blood with oxygen in the lungs. Using fun metaphors and kid-friendly explanations, they connect the heart to other systems in the body, including:

• Cells and mitochondria, the body’s energy factories
• Blood vessels, highways that carry oxygen and glucose
• The lungs, where blood picks up oxygen and drops off carbon dioxide
• The digestive system, which provides glucose to make energy

This episode is perfect for curious kids who love learning how everything in the body works together as a team.

🫀 In This Episode, Kids Will Learn:

• How the heart’s double pump works
• Why blood travels on two separate tracks
• How oxygen and glucose get to the cells to make energy
• How the body gets rid of carbon dioxide waste
• How multiple systems in the body work together

🎧 Helpful to Know

• Builds on ideas from previous episodes on the heart (Ep 25), cells (Ep18), blood (Ep 9 and 10), respiratory system (Ep 4)  and digestive system (Ep 5 and 7)
• Listening to the last episode (Episode 25) will help make this one extra clear

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Perfect For:

• Kids ages 4–12
• Families and curious learners
• Classrooms and school nurses looking for fun science lessons

Next time, we’ll slice open the heart and explore what’s inside—including atria, ventricles, and valves! 🫀 Stay tuned and keep wondering what’s happening inside you!































💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

❤️ What’s Happening Inside My Heart? Valentine’s Day is coming up, and that means hearts are everywhere! 💕
But… have you ever wondered what a real heart actually looks like—and what it really does? In this episode of What’s Happening Inside Me?, Audra is joined by Sloane and new co-host Ransom to talk all about the human heart. Together, they discover that real hearts don’t look like Valentine’s candy hearts at all—and that the heart is actually a pretty amazing double-pump machine! Using fun comparisons like stomp rockets and Hot Wheels tracks, kids learn how the heart pumps blood all around the body and why it has a right side and a left side that don’t mix. This episode focuses on big ideas made simple—perfect for curious kids and the grown-ups learning alongside them.

🫀 In This Episode, Kids Will Learn:

• What the heart really looks like (spoiler: it’s not Valentine-shaped!)
• What the heart’s main job is
• How the heart pumps blood all over the body
• Why the heart is like two pumps stuck together
• What “right heart” and “left heart” actually mean
• How blood travels in two separate tracks through the body

🎧 Helpful to Know

• This episode builds on ideas from Episodes 9 and 10 about blood vessels
• Listening to those episodes first can make this one even easier to understand (and you’ll get to hear the catchy vascular system song again!)

🖼️ Bonus Resource Want to see what a real human heart looks like?
Ask a grown-up to visit WHIMpodcast.com to download:

• A kid-friendly coloring picture of the human heart
• An extra learning pages to help visualize the heart’s parts and pathways

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Perfect For:

• Kids ages 4–12
• Curious families
• Classrooms and school nurses
• Valentine’s Day learning with a science twist

Join us next time as we dive deeper into the heart and explore the two tracks the blood travels on.
Until then—keep wondering what’s happening inside you! 💛






💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

We’re back! What’s Happening Inside Me? is returning with brand-new episodes—now released on the first Friday of every month. You’ll still hear fun, kid-friendly explanations about the human body, plus occasional bonus episodes, listener questions, and two-part deep dives.

We’re also excited to welcome a new co-host, Ransom, joining Audra and Sloane on the mic! Our next episode drops February 6, so be sure to subscribe and mark your calendar—we can’t wait to explore what’s happening inside you!

💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab free learning resources
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

In this follow-up episode on the integumentary system, we explore the amazing ways our skin keeps us safe, healthy, and balanced every single day. Last week, we learned what the skin is made of — this week, we focus on what it does for us and why we truly couldn’t live without it.

Sloane continues doubting if skin is really that important… and ends up discovering it’s one of the most essential systems in the entire body!

In this episode, kids learn how the skin:

• Acts like a protective wall, keeping germs out
• Helps prevent dehydration by keeping our body’s water inside
• Uses sweat to cool us down when we’re hot
• Works with hair and the hypodermis to keep us warm
• Uses blood vessels to control body temperature through vasodilation and vasoconstriction
• Sends messages to the brain through nerves to help keep us safe

We talk about how all these parts — skin, hair, glands, fat, and nerves — work together to protect us and regulate our temperature, making the integumentary system absolutely essential for life.

💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨

Sloane thinks skin is no big deal — until she finds out it’s actually an entire body system!

In this episode, Audra and Sloane explore the integumentary system — the body’s amazing outer layer of protection. Together, they discover that skin isn’t just skin — it’s the largest organ in our body and part of a team that includes hair, nails, and glands. From sweat to earwax to milk (wait… what?!), this episode uncovers the gross, cool, and important jobs your skin does every day. 

What Kids Will Learn

• The integumentary system is made up of the skin, hair, nails, and glands.
• The skin is the body’s largest organ, made of three layers — the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis.
• Hair follicles are like tiny flowerpots where hair grows.
• Glands in the skin make and release important stuff — like oil, sweat, earwax, and even milk in mammals!
• The word “secrete” means to make and release something.
• A dermatologist is a doctor who takes care of your skin.

💡 Enjoying What’s Happening Inside Me?
If you loved this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review—it helps more curious kids and families discover the show! 🌟 👉 Visit us at WHIMpodcast.com to:

• Send in your own question for a future episode
• Grab the most recent partner pages for free
• Stay up to date on new releases

Thanks for listening, learning, and exploring what’s happening inside YOU! 🩺✨