Raising Thinkers

Shelley Feliú-Love
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  • Education for Kids
  • Updated Weekly

Turn every car ride into an interactive audio adventure! Raising Thinkers is a screen-free, family co-listening podcast for elementary-aged kids. Whether you're heading to soccer practice, running errands, or taking a family road trip, we tackle math mysteries, logic puzzles, and "audio escape rooms" that your kids solve right in the backseat. We even weave in Spanish vocabulary as "secret codes" to boost cognitive flexibility! Hit play, pause to talk it out, and let’s raise some thinkers. ¡Convierta cualquier viaje en familia en una aventura! Un podcast bilingüe donde padres e hijos resuelven acertijos de lógica y matemáticas juntos.

  1. 1 day ago

    E52 The Runaway Pony and the Muddy Maze

    Benito, a pony at the Whispering Woods Rescue Ranch, has escaped into the forest! In this highly active Tuesday episode, younger Thinkers will join Shelley to track Benito’s colorful rubber horseshoes (herraduras) through a muddy path of patterns. Your child will use tactile audio—tapping their knees, clapping their hands, and clicking their tongues—to decode a complex A-A-B-C pattern in Spanish (Azul, Azul, Rojo, Verde), navigate a path split, listen to different horse gaits (trot vs. gallop), and crack a growing numerical code (3, 6, 10, 15... what's next?) to unlock some fresh carrots. We wrap up with a classic "Story with a Hole" cliffhanger inspired by Nathan Levy! Can your child solve how Benito reached an apple tree 10 meters away when tied to a 5-meter rope? Share your family’s best theories at dinner tonight! Key Learning Concepts: AABC Pattern Completion: Multi-step sensory motor processing and sequencing. Rhythmic Auditory Mapping: Distinguishing trotting vs. galloping speeds. Growing Numerical Sequences: Introduction to non-linear patterns (adding one more each time). Lateral Thinking: Introducing the "Stories with Holes" technique to bypass logical assumptions. Spanish Vocabulary: el poni (pony), herraduras (horseshoes), azul (blue), rojo (red), verde (green). Love the show? Please take a second to rate and review Raising Thinkers on your favorite podcast app! Your support helps us reach more curious families. Music licensed through Soundstripe: 7TV5KS9IC4X6VI6V  Sound Effects also from: Pixabay

  2. 6 days ago

    E51 The Coordinate Code of Mount Halcón

    In today's Brain Bender, we are hiking to the misty peaks of Mount Halcón to step inside the ancient Vault of King Navarro. To reach the inner chamber, you and your Thinkers must navigate a giant, pressure-sensitive stone chessboard. We will use Spanish vocabulary to map out the grid (columnas and filas), plot the diagonal coordinates of the Queen (la reina), and solve a legendary mathematical riddle about doubling grains of rice (arroz). Parents & Educators: Stick around to the very end for our "Parent Corner." Today, Shelley explains "exponential growth bias"—our brain's natural tendency to underestimate multiplying numbers—and shares the famous Penny Doubling Challenge you can try at home to keep your child's mathematical imagination soaring! 🎙️ The Kids Takeover is Coming! On the last Friday of August, we are featuring YOUR Thinkers on the show! Head over to RaisingThinkers.io to join the free community for our monthly printables, or upgrade to the Master Thinkers Club to submit your challenge answers for a custom certificate and submit your audio riddles/jokes for the podcast! (All August submissions are due by the 20th!) Keep questioning, keep playing, and we will see you next Tuesday! Music licensed through Soundstripe: MA0QUKXELLIHFHA8

  3. 4 Aug

    E50 The Secret of the Checkered Kingdom

    Today, we are opening up a magical wooden box and stepping inside the ancient game of chess! Chess is like a gymnasium for the brain. In this episode, your K-4th graders will learn Spanish vocabulary for the pieces (la torre, el alfil, el caballo), use their bodies to mimic how the pieces move, and use hands-on addition to calculate the total number of games in a speed-chess tournament bracket. Parents: Stick around to the very end for our "Parent Corner." Today, Shelley explains how learning basic chess constraints builds "inhibitory control," and how pairing up fingers for a tournament bracket lays the cognitive groundwork for computer science algorithms like binary trees! 🎙️ The Kids Takeover is Coming! On the last Friday of August, we are featuring YOUR Thinkers on the show! Head over to RaisingThinkers.io to join the free community for our monthly printables, or upgrade to the Master Thinkers Club to submit your challenge answers for a custom certificate and submit your audio riddles/jokes for the podcast! (All August submissions are due by the 20th!) Keep questioning, keep playing, and we will see you on Thursday for a Brain Bender! Music licensed through Soundstripe: VOP5UFJKFECCS4RW

  4. 30 July

    E49 The Race to the Aqua Blaster

    It’s Thursday, which means it’s time to stretch our mental gears with a robust new Brain Bender! We are back at Mega Splash Waterpark, but there is a huge problem: the park closes in exactly 60 minutes! To make it to the brand new Aqua Blaster Water-Coaster before the lifeguards blow their whistles, your Thinkers will need to navigate using Spanish directions, multiply Base-10 staircases, and conquer the ultimate challenge: Elapsed Time! Parents & Educators: Stick around to the very end for our "Parent Corner." Today, Shelley explains why elapsed time is so difficult for 3rd and 4th graders, and how turning a circular clock into a straight, physical timeline (using their own arm!) is a mathematical game-changer. 🎙️ The Kids Takeover is Coming! On the last week of August, we are featuring YOUR Thinkers on the show! Head over to RaisingThinkers.io to join the free community for our monthly printables, or upgrade to the Master Thinkers Club to submit your challenge answers for a custom certificate and submit your audio riddles/jokes for the podcast! (All August submissions are due by the 20th!) Keep thinking, keep playing, and we will see you on Tuesday for a Brain Warm-Up Music licensed through Soundstripe: KVALDVAMRWX7AJLH

  5. 28 July

    E48 The Waterpark Scavenger Hunt

    It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to get our mental gears turning with a brand new Brain Warm-Up! In today's episode, we are heading to Mega Splash Waterpark! To win the ultimate end-of-summer grand prize, your family will need to solve deductive reasoning riddles, walk your fingers through a Spanish treasure map, and use financial estimation to buy the ultimate snow cone! Parents: Stick around to the very end for our "Parent Corner." Today, Shelley explains the power of "schema activation" (opening mental file folders) and why teaching kids to estimate before calculating builds a lifelong mathematical safety net. 🎙️ The Kids Takeover is Coming! On the last week of August, we are featuring YOUR Thinkers on the show! Head over to RaisingThinkers.io to join the Master Thinkers Club. Members can submit their audio riddles, jokes, and Monthly Challenge answers to be read on the podcast! (All August submissions are due by the 20th!) Keep thinking, keep playing, and we will see you on Thursday for a Brain Bender! Music licensed through Soundstripe: O3P8XF50XANECPBC

  6. 23 July

    E47 World Cup Final Challenge

    It’s Thursday, which means it’s time to stretch our mental gears with a robust Brain Bender! We are heading to the stadium right after the World Cup Final. You and your Thinker are the lead sports reporters, but we’re locked out of the broadcasting booth! To get on the air, your family will need to solve a spatial geometry riddle and use mental bar-modeling to calculate the exact goal difference between Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham. Parents & Educators: Stick around to the very end for our "Parent Corner" to learn why using tactile hand movements gives children a concrete scaffold to solve abstract algebra in their heads! 🧩 Join the Master Thinkers Club! Head over to RaisingThinkers.io to subscribe. Members get to submit answers to be read on the show, download exclusive printables, and access our Birthday Shoutout loop! (August challenge submissions are due by the 20th!) Music licensed through Soundstripe: MWASXMGXMCTHWJDV, AJVMVBXXG9YA1ZYJ

  7. 21 July

    E46 World Cup Locker Room Lockout

    BIG NEWS: Raising Thinkers is now a family co-listening adventure! Grab your elementary-aged kids, turn up the volume on the way to school, and get ready to solve some puzzles together. In our very first "Tuesday Brain Warm-Up," we are traveling to the biggest sporting event on the planet: The World Cup! But there's a huge problem—Señor Mateo has accidentally locked the players' cleats inside the locker room. Can your Thinkers use spatial logic, shape visualization, and a Spanish secret code to get the door open before the referee blows the whistle? Parents & Educators: Stick around to the very end of the episode for our new "Parent Corner," where Shelley breaks down the cognitive science and Harvard Project Zero strategies used in today's puzzle. Join the Master Thinkers Club! We just launched our August Monthly Challenge! Head over to RaisingThinkers.io to subscribe to the club. Members get to submit their challenge answers to be read on the show, download our exclusive monthly printables, and access our brand-new Birthday Shoutout loop! Keep thinking, keep playing, and we will see you on Thursday for a Brain Bender! Music licensed through Soundstripe: MWASXMGXMCTHWJDV, AJVMVBXXG9YA1ZYJ

  8. 06/10/2025

    E45 Simple Tips for Holiday Travel & Long Road Trips with Kids

    Meltdowns at 30,000 feet? Not this year! Turn stressful holiday travel into an adventure! We share the best free activities, snack strategies, and layover survival tips for raising happy, engaged thinkers on the go.

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About

Turn every car ride into an interactive audio adventure! Raising Thinkers is a screen-free, family co-listening podcast for elementary-aged kids. Whether you're heading to soccer practice, running errands, or taking a family road trip, we tackle math mysteries, logic puzzles, and "audio escape rooms" that your kids solve right in the backseat. We even weave in Spanish vocabulary as "secret codes" to boost cognitive flexibility! Hit play, pause to talk it out, and let’s raise some thinkers. ¡Convierta cualquier viaje en familia en una aventura! Un podcast bilingüe donde padres e hijos resuelven acertijos de lógica y matemáticas juntos.

Information

  • Creator
    Shelley Feliú-Love
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2020 Raising Thinkers All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Raising Thinkers