Papi Berlin

Radio Stations for Kids

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Long car rides with the kids and then the same audio play or the same kids’ songs for the tenth time? No way. Radio it is, then. But radio with kids? Tricky. Every 30 minutes there’s a news block that might contain disturbing content. And the songs aren’t really made for the kids either.

Luckily, there are good alternatives in Germany: radio stations made for children. With music that’s fine for everyone, and news prepared for a young audience. Here are some of the stations we love listening to as a family and can recommend.

It’s fascinating to see which songs the kids already know from school. Those of course go straight onto the party playlists at home.

One tip up front: if you can’t receive a station over the air (analog or DAB) in your region, use the Radio Box app. It lets you listen to all radio stations over the internet. Data usage stays low, since only audio is transmitted.

MausRadio

Die Maus isn’t just the show for children, it also has its own radio station, MausRadio. And thanks to DAB it’s available pretty much everywhere.

TOGGO Radio

With TOGGO, RTL runs not only a TV channel but also a radio program. TOGGO is available on DAB and as a stream. TOGGO is a commercial station, so it includes ads.

Radio TEDDY

Radio TEDDY is another commercial radio program. Our little one likes it better than TOGGO because of its regional connection to Berlin. Every now and then they mention or announce things happening in Berlin that might be interesting for her.

MDR Tweens

MDR Tweens is aimed at children between 8 and 13, so it targets a slightly older audience than the stations mentioned above.

Do you know other stations you enjoy listening to with your kids? Bring them on ❤️.

And if you’re after something else to listen to: our resources section collects plenty of podcasts for kids.

German Podcast Award Winner Kids & Family

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

This year, two podcasts for children won at the German Podcast Awards. Remarkably, one even won in a category that wasn’t explicitly limited to children’s podcasts.

The Kakadu Podcast is so old it could have children of its own. It’s already considered one of the classics of children’s radio broadcasting. Kakadu completely deserves the award. An absolute must-listen.

I wasn’t familiar with the second award-winning podcast, and it’s brilliant that it won the Indy Prize - meaning it wasn’t even in a family/children’s category. It’s the Spürnasen Podcast. Our little one has now listened to almost all the episodes back-to-back and is eagerly waiting for more. If that isn’t a recommendation, I don’t know what is. We adults find the way the criminal cases are handled very sweet and child-friendly. If you have a little detective at home, definitely give it a listen.

Need more podcasts? We have tons in our recommendations section for parents and kids.

Teach Your Kid to Ride a Bike in 3 Days

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Teaching a kid to ride a bike sounds like a test of patience — weeks of wobbling, holding on, and consoling after falls. With the right approach, though, it can happen surprisingly fast. Many kids make the jump to riding freely in just two to three days. The secret is training the right skills at the right time.

Step 1: The balance bike — balance first

The most important skill in cycling is balance. No engine, no training wheels can do it for you — it’s a purely physical ability the child has to develop themselves.

A balance bike is the perfect tool for this. Without pedals, the child can focus entirely on balancing, pushing off with their feet and intuitively learning to shift their weight. Kids can start on a balance bike as young as two. Those who grow up with one often transition to a regular bike without a single fall.

Step 2: The trike — learning to pedal

Pedaling is the second core skill. A trike teaches exactly that: the child practices the pedaling motion, builds leg strength, and develops muscle memory for pushing the pedals — without having to balance at the same time.

Together, the balance bike and the trike cover both of the fundamental skills a child needs for cycling, each in isolation so they can be truly mastered.

Step 3: Getting on the real bike — hold, run, let go

Once your child has the right bike, the actual riding practice is shorter than you’d expect. Start by holding the bike steady while they get on and find their footing. Then run alongside them, holding the back of the seat to keep things stable. Let them pedal and steer — your job is just to stop the bike from falling, not to guide it.

As they gain confidence, start letting go briefly. A second or two at first, then longer. They often won’t notice right away, which is the point: they’re already balancing on their own. Gradually increase the time you’re not holding until they’re riding freely.

Most kids need just a few sessions of this before they take off on their own. The balance bike and trike did the hard work — this last step is just about putting it all together.

Training wheels: skip them entirely

Training wheels sound like a logical aid, but in practice they get in the way of the very learning that matters.

With training wheels, a child never has to balance and never learns to pedal properly — they just lean to the side. The bike effectively becomes a four-wheeler. Balance is never practiced. When the training wheels finally come off, it often feels like starting from scratch — frustrating and slow. The jump from “with training wheels” to “without” can take weeks, sometimes months.

With the balance bike and trike approach, there is no such jump. The transition to a real bike is a short, almost natural step.

Buying three separate things sounds expensive

It does — until you realize you don’t have to buy any of it new. Balance bikes and trikes show up constantly on eBay, Kleinanzeigen, or Nebenan, usually in good condition and at a fraction of the new price. Kids outgrow them quickly, so sellers are often just happy to have kids giving them a new life and love.

For the trike in particular, you may not need to own one at all. Many kindergartens have trikes as part of their regular equipment — your child might already be getting that pedaling practice there. And if not, chances are someone in your family or circle of friends has one gathering dust. It’s worth asking before buying.

Finding the right bike

When the time comes, it pays to pick a bike that’s lightweight and the right size. Heavy bikes make learning unnecessarily hard. The Kinderfahrradfinder (kids’ bike finder) helps you find good, lightweight bikes sized correctly for your child.

🎄 Christmas wishes in easy mode

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Christmas is approaching. And with it the question of presents. Grandma, grandpa, all relatives and friends ask the same question: “What do your children want?”. This can quickly turn into stress. At least it always did for us. How do we distribute the wishes? What does our child want anyway?

That was the reason why I built Wishlephant with my wife back then. We simply collect our child’s wishes throughout the year and pass the wish list on to every person who asks for potential gifts. Everyone can then choose what they want as a present and reserve the wish for themselves on the list. If your child is old enough, they can fill in the list with you or simply on their own. In no time at all, there’s one less thing to stress about at Christmas.

When creating the lists, there are a few little things you should bear in mind to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

the list should have more entries than the people you are sending the list to. This way you avoid anyone feeling like a “loser” at the end.
have entries for all price categories. Some like to give lots of small gifts, some prefer one gift.
clearly communicate the expectation. Is the list binding, are they just suggestions?
ask everyone to click on “reserve” so that there are no surprises under the Christmas tree.

And don’t forget: it’s best to fill the list throughout the year. Every time a wish is expressed, add it to the list. You can then simply go through the list before important events and remove anything that is no longer needed.

Do you still need ideas for the wish lists? On Wishlephant you will find many suggestions for all age groups,.

Lost in Play

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0200

At the beginning of this month, my kid asked me for a new game to play on her iPad. Luckily, I already knew the perfect game for us to play together: Lost in Play. I played a couple of minutes of it last month and waited for my kid to tell me she wanted to play something.

Lost in Play is an amazing way to introduce kids to point-and-click adventures. You don’t need to be able to read; all characters use a fantasy language when talking, and you can skip hard puzzle sections. Together with a near-perfect help system, this game was amazing for my 6-year-old. She could not put it away and was eager to continue playing the next day.

After she finished the game with me, she completed it two more times on her own. I just needed to help with three puzzles that, unfortunately, could not be skipped and were too hard for her.

This is easily a 5/5 game for our family. The first chapter can be played for free on the iOS store. The full version is €6.99, and at that price, it’s a steal. It has no loot boxes or ads.

Starting school - Oops, what now?

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200

We just brought our child to daycare for the first time, how can they be starting school already 😅?

It’s crazy how time flies with kids sometimes. But to help you be somewhat prepared for the school routine, here are a few links that really helped us:

The german book Hallo Schulanfang! alleviated many of our fears and provided a clear path of what we should/could do before school starts.
Our School Kid List with 53 Gift Ideas for the School Cone ensured our little one had a fantastic first day with lots of joy unpacking the school cone.
We chose our daughter’s school backpack at Ranzenfee in Berlin. Great advice, a wide selection. A very good buying experience for our little one.
Additionally, Stiftung Warentest has a school backpack test from 2019
You can find more links on learning in our resource collection.

Next month, two episodes of one of our favorite german parenting podcast (Das gewünscheste Wunschkind) will publish two episodes on the topic of school:

If you have more questions about the topic of school or parenting in general, feel free to join our Slack channel, where we are happy to help you.

Bluey is Back – 10 New Episodes Full of Heart and Laughter!

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Finally, the moment has arrived! On January 12th, ten new episodes of our absolute favorite series Bluey will be released on Disney+. This means not only 10 new adventures but also 10 moments that will touch our hearts and make us laugh.

If you haven’t experienced Bluey yet, you’re missing out on something amazing! This series accomplishes something unique – it appeals to both parents and children alike. I have never experienced so many emotions in a children’s series like I have with Bluey. From heartwarming scenes to hearty laughter – this series has it all.

The story follows six-year-old Bluey, a playful Australian Cattle Dog, and her family. But it’s much more than just an animated dog story. Bluey reflects real family life, and that’s what makes it so special.

Bluey manages to convey important life lessons while not neglecting the fun. And yes, even for parents. The series is perfect for children aged 4 and up, and it will equally delight older children and adults.

So, grab your little ones, get cozy on the couch, and let the new Bluey episodes enchant you. It will be an emotional and entertaining journey for the whole family. Don’t forget to have the tissues ready.

Parenting Resources

Sat, 30 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In our Slack chat, we discuss various topics, and this often leads to exciting new links. To prevent these links from getting lost in the chat, we’ve created a new page here on the blog: Parenting Resources. From now on, we’ll be collecting all the links we share in the chat there. From podcasts to event pages to apps. Take a look, maybe there’s something for you too? And if you have additional links that we should definitely share, just send us a message. We appreciate every new link!

Review: Dreißig Minuten, dann ist aber Schluss!

Fri, 01 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Patricia Cammarata may already be a familiar name to some of you. Either as @dasnuf on Twitter, through one of her many podcasts, for example Mit Kindern Leben, or through one of her books. If not: just click the links and have a look/listen. Well worth it.

Her latest book (the title translates to “Thirty minutes, and then that’s it!”) is all about the big topic of media education. The title sounds a lot flatter than the content actually is. She explains very precisely and with a lot of humour why this rigid rule is nonsense, how kids use media these days and what we as parents should watch out for. From YouTube to TikTok all the way to that ever-popular scare topic “My child is addicted to the internet!!1!”, the book really covers everything parents should know. Especially now, because of Corona, many parents are worried about the amount of time their kids inevitably spend consuming media. This book will calm you down and give you plenty of tips. Every topic also comes with tons of links that add further aspects or go deeper. The seven pages(!!) of references alone are worth buying the book for.

One caveat: the book is only available in German.

So what are you waiting for? Buy it. Read it.

Buy the book at Genialokal.de.

Corona resources for parents

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100

Parents are facing a special challenge right now because of Covid-19. Working from home, entertaining the kids and maybe squeezing in a bit of school work on top of that? That is pretty rough. The most important thing right now is: don’t try to be perfect. It is okay if your child doesn’t finish all of their homework. Try to create some free space for yourself.

With this long list full of inspiration I’ll try to give you a hand. It is grouped rather loosely, the line between preschoolers and schoolchildren is quite blurry anyway.

Feel free to share this list with everyone, and if you have more ideas, write to me. Most of the offers below are in German unless noted otherwise.

General information

Deswegen bleiben wir zuhause - a short comic that explains in a child-friendly way why everybody is staying at home
Another poster on the topic, available in several languages, can be found at mindheart.co
You would like some tips on how to make working from home with kids work? @dieformgeberin posts a new article every day on her blog.
For video chats with more than 4 people we recommend Jitsi.org. Apart from the Chrome browser no software needs to be installed, and there are free apps for iOS and Android devices. It works great for doing the morning circle with the daycare group and singing a song together anyway.

For daycare/preschool children

General offers

ene-mene-bu is the preschool programme of Kika with lots of videos and play ideas.
Die Maus of course also has a website with plenty of episodes
Khan Academy Kids is a really great free English-language learning programme for children of preschool age.
papamachtsachen liest vor - the Instagram account @papamachtsachen starts reading fairy tales on Tuesday, every day at 16:00.
Damla Hekimoğlu reads selected stories on her YouTube channel.
Polylino has opened up its collection of children’s books in several languages to parents free of charge.
Löwenzähnchen is the Löwenzahn version for the little ones.
Julia Miller-Lissner posts a new music video for children aged 0-5 every day, starting Monday the 16th.
Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind Sesame Street, has put together a lot of free content. Among it are some German-language eBooks on Apple and Google.
DieKurzgeschichte.de has a great number of free audio plays.

Crafting/drawing/playing

Illustratoren gegen Corona has a lot of colouring templates for you, completely free. Download, print, and your kids can start colouring.
Play and learning designers Anne & Ruth give away a new play idea every day on geschwisterloewenstein.de.
Beautiful colouring pages can also be found at Martina Hoffmann
The blog of @newniqberlin also has lovely colouring templates for you every day.
Besser Basteln has many free crafting instructions.
Deutsche Bahn has plenty of crafting templates on their portal for kids.
Liz Climo also has a wonderful colouring book on her blog.
Papu also has free colouring pages

For schoolchildren

NDR has an article on how learning from home works best.

General offers

ZDF Logo has the news for children, about Corona and more.
Khan Academy is a free learning offer for children from first grade upwards.
Sofatutor is a great learning programme for children from first grade upwards.
ZDF has a digital classroom with videos for children of all ages.
The portal of WDR can be found at schule digital.
Wissen Macht Ah! is a lovely science show for kids by WDR.
The offer of Bayerischer Rundfunk can be found at Schule Daheim
Kakadu is a children’s podcast by Deutschlandfunk.
Funk, the digital channel of ARD, runs several topic channels on YouTube under the name “musstewissen”, here for example musstewissen Deutsch.
Lernattack, the learning platform of the Duden publishing house, is now free for 2 months
Scoyo has many learning videos, now free for 2 weeks.
Anton has many free learning games for German, maths, biology and music for children from 1st to 10th grade
Homeschooling Corona has news and lists of offers around the topic of homeschooling.
piqd now offers one to two lessons with experts on various topics every day.
Ich-lerne-online is a new directory with all kinds of learning offers.

Reading/writing

Plenty of writing exercises can be found at ABCund123.
Antolino is a reading platform for primary and secondary school.
On einfachvorlesen.de there is a new free bedtime story every week.
Leseo by Cornelsen can be used free of charge for 3 months.
Many libraries have digital offers that can be used despite the closures. The list of the Berlin libraries can be found here, then click on “Digitale Medien”.

Languages

Duolingo has plenty of free and easily digestible language courses
busuu is another free language learning offer

History

Learning platform for open history lessons

Science/maths

Bettermarks has courses for grades 4-10, free until 31.07.
DLR has a great #ScienceAtHome portal. The equivalent portal of NASA can be found here.
The YouTube channels of Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim and Lehrerschmidt have lots of great learning videos
The Helmholtz Association has a portal with videos and a PDF with experiments for at home.
More links can also be found at zdi
Nabu has a lovely page with lots of information and little games.

Sports

Alba Berlin now shows a daily PE lesson on their YouTube channel, split into daycare, primary school and secondary school children

Computer science

There are many offers for learning how to program, here just a small selection:

Do you have more? Then send them over.

Thanks also to the many people who sent me links! A special mention goes to the Anna Seghers Schule for their extensive list 💚.

You can find more links in our parenting resources.