The Secret Kindergarten | For Young Children

Gino Volante
  • 5.0 (1)
  • EDUCATION FOR KIDS

The Secret Kindergarten is here to support parents of young children. We provide a freedom-minded podcast, for young children (roughly aged 2.5 to 7), that is guaranteed to be free of indoctrination and sinister agendas. There are carefully curated undertones in the content that promote Natural Law principles because The Secret Kindergarten affirms what young children already know. An enjoyable podcast for the whole family that is thought provoking, fun and encourages connecting with our young. The Secret Kindergarten is created and hosted by Gino Volante, an ex-ECE teacher. Gino wants to see young children bonded with caring adults in the right way. This will affirm their connection with Nature, which will naturally push back against the indoctrination agendas and create a future of freedom for humanity. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ The Secret Kindergarten has also a podcast for For Grown-ups, a show created to encourage and support families, friends and communities of young children so we all can be our own "early childhood educators". Check it out on https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ or on the podcast platform where you are now!

  1. The Butterfly, The Dog and The Sparrow (re-upload)

    12/27/2025

    The Butterfly, The Dog and The Sparrow (re-upload)

    The card of The Fool in the Tarot implies the start of something new, or a fresh beginning. Some people don’t get to start until they are very old. Sometimes some people never start for their whole lives! But if we spend lots of time, as young children, in play…. we are given more of a chance to begin our Hero’s Journey much sooner than would be expected. The more young children play, the more they give their attention to styles of play that benefit their own learning style/schema. Paying attention to the right things in early childhood develops focus, concentration, self-awareness, processing information…… hang on a minute! Are we talking about the trivium process here? Indeed we are…. at least the early childhood application of it. Let’s put it this way: engaging in preferred styles of play, in the early years, sets the young child up for the best and right learning later in life. Playing the right way means learning the right way and then later… doing the Right thing! MUSIC Nancy Stewart from NancyMusic.com AUDIO STORIES “The Story of The First Butterflies” from The Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrook. Read by Raybrite for librivox.org https://librivox.org/the-book-of-nature-myths-by-florence-holbrook/ “The Dog and The Sparrow” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Read by Bob Neufeld for Librivox.org https://librivox.org/grimms-fairy-tales-version-2-by-jacob-wilhelm-grimm/ BED TRACKS AND OTHER AUDIO “Jungle Stream” by Kirk Osamayo From freemusicarchive.org Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/kirk-osamayo/season-4-green/jungle-stream/ “Butterfly Wings” by Yuval (CC0 1.0 Universal) https://freesound.org/people/Yuval/sounds/198818/ “Cheer up!” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ from https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    25 min
  2. More Stories and Music

    12/21/2025

    More Stories and Music

    "Before concentration sets in the teacher can do what she likes more or less, because she upsets nothing important. She can intervene in the children’s activities if necessary. I have read of a Saint who tried to attract the abandoned boys of the streets of a town who were learning bad habits. What did he do? He tried every means to amuse them. That is what the teacher must do at this stage. The use of poetry, rhymes, singing, stories, drama, clowning; anything is good enough except the stick. The teacher who fascinates the children attracts them and this leads to some exercise, which is not very important but it does attract them. A vivacious teacher can attract more easily, then why not make use of it? To say brightly: “Now what about changing the furniture today” and then work with them, the teacher herself carrying things carefully and suggesting how to carry, doing all this brightly. Or: “How about polishing this beautiful brass bowl?” or: “Shall we go into the garden and collect some flowers?” If the teacher is attractive the action will be attractive." Maria Montessori Music Nancy Stewart of https://nancymusic.com/ AudioBooks Grimm, Jacob & Wilhelm (1785-1863). "Jorinda and Jorindel", "The Travelling Musicians". Children's and Household Tales. Read by Bob Neufeld for Librivox.org https://librivox.org/grimms-fairy-tales-version-2-by-jacob-wilhelm-grimm/ Bed Tracks and Other Audio “Children Theme” by Denys Kyshchuk From freemusicarchive.org Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Music by Denys Kyshchuk: https://www.audiocoffee.net/ https://soundcloud.com/deniskino “Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    26 min
  3. Stories and Music

    12/15/2025

    Stories and Music

    Outside of play, stories are the modality for teaching, instruction and explaining things to young children. Let's read more stories aloud for the children! "But one thing children at this age cannot do is follow explanations; they have no understanding for this at all. If a teacher tries to explain the subjects during the first school years, the children will react by becoming blunted and dull. This approach simply does not work. On the other hand, everything will go smoothly if, rather than explaining the subject matter, one forms the content into a story, if words are painted with mental images, and if rhythm is brought into one’s whole way of teaching." - Excerpt from Rudolf Steiner's Lecture Five of The Child's Changing Consciousness, Donarch, April 19, 1923. Music Nancy Stewart of https://nancymusic.com/ Bed Tracks and Other Audio “Children Theme” by Denys Kyshchuk From freemusicarchive.org Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Music by Denys Kyshchuk: https://www.audiocoffee.net/ https://soundcloud.com/deniskino “Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    25 min
  4. Listen to Stories

    12/07/2025

    Listen to Stories

    Here is a fantastic tip about reading stories to young children to influence change. It was spoken by Rudolf Steiner at a faculty meeting on the 14th of June, 1920. Dr. Steiner: "It is unavoidable that the anthroposophical children hear things at home. That is not dangerous as long as the parents are reasonable. The healthy attitude of the parents will keep the children from becoming too wild, even though those things may go in deeply. The things we have often had to struggle against, such as those you mentioned about O.R. may arise because the parents talk about silly things. You will have noticed that the instruction is bearing fruit. I would mention that particularly in critical cases, you have had good success with stories that have a particular moral. If you are certain a child has a specific kind of misbehavior, then you can think of a story in which that type of misbehavior becomes absurd. Even with very young children, you can rid them of their greed for sweets and such if the mother tells a story that makes that behavior absurd. If you think of something along the lines of the dog who goes over the bridge with meat in his mouth, that strongly affects the child and has a lasting effect. That is particularly true if you allow some time to go by between the misbehavior and telling the story. Generally, you can achieve more when the child has slept, and you return to the subject the next day. To take up the behavior immediately after it occurred is the worst thing. That sounds very theosophical, but it is also quite true. Links Steiner Q+A at a Faculty Meeting in Stuttgart, 14th of June, 1920. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA300a/English/AP1998/19200614d01.html Audiobooks Unknown. Cats and Dogs. Read by EJWiley for LibriVox.Org.  https://librivox.org/childrens-short-works-vol-033-by-various/ Music Nancy Stewart of https://nancymusic.com/ Bed Tracks and Other Audio “Children Theme” by Denys Kyshchuk From freemusicarchive.org Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Music by Denys Kyshchuk: https://www.audiocoffee.net/ https://soundcloud.com/deniskino “Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    50 min
  5. The Tarantula in My Purse (re-upload)

    12/04/2025

    The Tarantula in My Purse (re-upload)

    Gino pulls the Rhodochrosite crystal from Judy Hall’s “The Crystal Wisdom Healing Oracle” to guide the show. According to Judy Hall, rhodochrosite is a crystal of transformation from self-reflection and through self-understanding and forgiveness. This crystal corresponds to the tarantula in the world of animal spirit guides. Author of “Animal Spirit Guides”, Dr. Steven Farmer puts the tarantula spirit as a guide for shedding old ways, self-trust (which requires understanding and forgiveness) and pushing forward while dealing with sensitivity. The “Nature Time” segment explores these qualities with Tarantula facts and an anecdote from the Nature Writer, Jean Craighead George. We also play an audiobook about Robert The Bruce and his encounter with a spider. The spider shows him that success is about failing many times, which essentially is what the spider is here to teach us about. It reminds me of spiderman, the hyper-sensitive super-hero. You see? The proof of our connectedness is everywhere! Young children show us that the Law of Vibration is an objective reality here on earth. The Secret Kindergarten aims to highlight how things like a crystal, a tarantula and striving to succeed, have much more in common than it may seem. Read also Gino’s short essay “Young Children Vibrate to The Law of Vibration, So Get With The Vibe!”: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/#everything-vibrates  Music  by Nancy Stewart of NancyMusic.com   Audio Stories Bruce and The Spider - from The Beacon Second Reader by James Hiram Fassett. Read by Evan Smith for Librivox.org https://librivox.org/the-beacon-second-reader-by-james-hiram-fassett/ Bed Tracks and Other Audio “I’ll Fly Away” by Holizna4KidsMusic From freemusicarchive.org Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/holizna4kidsmusic/mr-sloth-is-sleepy/ill-fly-away/ “Jungle Stream” by Kirk Osamayo From freemusicarchive.org Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/kirk-osamayo/season-4-green/jungle-stream/ https://www.kirkosamayo.com/ “Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ “Police Siren” by MultiMax2121 from FreeSound.org (CC0 1.0 Universal) https://freesound.org/people/MultiMax2121/sounds/156869/ “Ocean Waves Crashing” by Luftrum from FreeSound.org (CC BY 4.0) https://freesound.org/people/Luftrum/sounds/48412/ https://www.luftrum.com/ “ScaryScape” by suonho from FreeSound.org (CC BY 4.0) https://freesound.org/people/suonho/sounds/9695/ “Wind Chimes 1” by giddster from FreeSound.org (CC0 1.0 Universal) https://freesound.org/people/giddster/sounds/437337/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    25 min
  6. Cobwebs

    10/03/2025

    Cobwebs

    Cobwebs are found in places that we have missed — corners of the house, ceilings and under furniture. They reside in places we haven't been paying attention to. The cobwebs invites us to look out for hidden or missed opportunities in our life. Our children are bursting with opportunity for themselves and for us. Cobwebs remind us to spend time with our children, to create opportunities for them and openings for our spiritual development. According the late Maurice Sendak (whose books we read in this episode), he believes it is "…unnatural to think that there is such a thing as a blue-sky, white-clouded happy childhood for anybody. Childhood is a very, very tricky business of surviving it. Because if one thing goes wrong or anything goes wrong, and usually something goes wrong, then you are compromised as a human being. You're going to trip over that for a good part of your life.” And because of this childhood predicament, we should seize the day and take advantage of time to prevent missed opportunities for our families. Audiobooks Gatty, Margaret (1809-1873). "Cobwebs". Parables From Nature. Read by Bill Mosley for Librivox.Org. https://librivox.org/parables-from-nature-by-margaret-gatty/ Books Sendak, Maurice. (1957). Very Far Away. Harper Collins.  https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2568870W/Very_Far_Away Sendak, Maurice. (1964). Where The Wild Things Are. Harper Collins. https://archive.org/details/wherethewildthingsare_20211123 Music Thanks to Nancy Stewart of NancyMusic.Com https://nancymusic.com Bed Tracks and Other Audio “Children’s Theme” by Denys Kyshchuk From freemusicarchive.org Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Music by Denys Kyshchuk: https://www.audiocoffee.net/ “Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    42 min
  7. The Lord of The Silver Bow

    09/28/2025

    The Lord of The Silver Bow

    They may might not be the most engaging stories for young children in the technocratic age, but not so long ago, some people thought Greek Myths were important to be translated to something palatable for children. This episode plays "The Lord of The Silver Bow", a re-telling of the Trojan war. The Secret Kindergarten wants to shine a light on people who spent their time and energy to create better resources for children. The person in this case is late author James Baldwin. We look back to move forward.  From https://fairytalez.com/author/james-baldwin/:  "Born in 1841 in Indiana, James Baldwin was an author, editor and educator. Baldwin was passionate about education and began his career as a teacher before moving on to superintendent. His experience in the school system led to positions as an editor of school books, however, he soon began authoring books himself. Baldwin liked to take complex texts such as the Greek myths and Norse legends, then break them down into simple language for young readers. He published over 50 books in his lifetime, including the texts Old Greek Stories, The Story of Seigfried and even fairy readers, collections of fairy tales. Baldwin passed away in 1925."  I hope that Fairytales and myths, revived, awakens something in all of us that drives us toward freedom. Books Bash, Barbara. (1990). Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in The City. Sierra Club Books. https://archive.org/details/urbanroostswhere00bash AudioBooks “The Lord of The Silver Bow, by James Baldwin” from Myths and Legends Around the World – Librivox Collection 14. Read by Rober Tunick for librivox.org https://librivox.org/myths-and-legends-around-the-world-14/ Music Thanks to Nancy Stewart of NancyMusic.Com https://nancymusic.com/ Bed Tracks and Other Audio “Children’s Theme” by Denys Kyshchuk From freemusicarchive.org Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Music by Denys Kyshchuk: https://www.audiocoffee.net/ “Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    47 min
  8. The Little Brown Bat

    09/21/2025

    The Little Brown Bat

    The Secret Kindergarten is moving towards live video streaming of the show! In the meantime, you can check out the Revolution.Radio Discord server. You can see the pictures of the book I read live. In this episode, I read, "Shadows of Night: The Hidden World of The Little Brown Bat" by Barbara Bush. Bush's books have fantastic images and nature themes that connect animals and plants to the world of children. I have a fear that I will cause more harm than good by going to video. According to the phenomenal research and writings of Joseph Chilton Pearce, screen time is clearly not good for young children. Yet, screen time is a required tool in the system we have been brought into. One small positive is that screen-time, when shared with the family, is a positive bonding experience if done so occasionally. Screen-time is also proven to be an effective "surrogate" for neglected children. This shows, to me, how damaging neglect can be. The first story with images is symbolic, being a bat. The bat encourages us to face our fears, and overcome them, to bring about dramatic changes. While the bat is a "power animal" for young children everywhere (Batman will always be popular to this age group), I thank the bat for giving me a sign that presenting video is part of a larger change…. and hopefully for the better! I hope that parents sit with their children in front of the screen and find ways to have fun together. I hope that the videos of my show will reach those children who need it the most and provide and element of care that they otherwise would not have received in that moment, for whatever reason. Music Thanks to Nancy Stewart of NancyMusic.com https://nancymusic.com/ Bed Tracks and Other Audio Chill Relaxing Lo-Fi Hip Hop | Born by Alex-Productions https://onsound.eu/ | Music promoted by https://onsound.eu/ “Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ For any questions or comments: gino@thesecretkindergarten.com Support my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

    48 min
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About

The Secret Kindergarten is here to support parents of young children. We provide a freedom-minded podcast, for young children (roughly aged 2.5 to 7), that is guaranteed to be free of indoctrination and sinister agendas. There are carefully curated undertones in the content that promote Natural Law principles because The Secret Kindergarten affirms what young children already know. An enjoyable podcast for the whole family that is thought provoking, fun and encourages connecting with our young. The Secret Kindergarten is created and hosted by Gino Volante, an ex-ECE teacher. Gino wants to see young children bonded with caring adults in the right way. This will affirm their connection with Nature, which will naturally push back against the indoctrination agendas and create a future of freedom for humanity. https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ The Secret Kindergarten has also a podcast for For Grown-ups, a show created to encourage and support families, friends and communities of young children so we all can be our own "early childhood educators". Check it out on https://thesecretkindergarten.com/ or on the podcast platform where you are now!

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