An Alexa skill for kids

Pick a Pod

A small, ad-free, data-free way for children to listen to their favourite podcasts on Alexa.

What it is

Pick a Pod is a free Alexa skill that plays a curated handful of kid-friendly podcasts on demand. Built for children roughly aged 5 to 12, designed to work cleanly on Echo Dots in bedrooms, kitchens and back-of-the-car situations.

Six podcasts. Each one numbered. A child says “Alexa, open Pick a Pod”, hears the list, picks a number, and listens. That's all of it. No accounts, no logins, no algorithm choosing what's next.

The podcasts

The list is hand-picked. They're shows our own children listen to and ask for again.

  1. Judge BexFunny courtroom cases, decided by kids
  2. Science QuestBig questions about how the world works
  3. But WhyA podcast for curious kids, by Vermont Public
  4. Greeking OutNational Geographic's take on Greek mythology
  5. Story PiratesSketches and songs from stories kids wrote

How to use it

Once enabled, anyone in the house can use it like this:

Alexa, open Pick a Pod

That opens the skill and reads the list of shows. Then any of these will work:

Play three

Play Circle Round

Surprise me

What's it about?

If a child gets stuck, saying “help” reads the full list back. We made numbers the primary way to choose because Alexa hears them more reliably than show names — especially from younger children.

Privacy

This skill is built for children, so the privacy story matters more than anything else on this page. The short version is: nothing is collected, nothing is stored, nothing is shared.

  • No personal information is collected — names, ages, locations, or anything else
  • No accounts, no sign-ups, no email addresses
  • No analytics, tracking, or behavioural profiling
  • No advertising — yours or anyone else's
  • No in-skill purchases, subscriptions, or paid content
  • No conversation recording or storage by the skill itself
  • No third parties receive any data from the skill

The full privacy policy, including how this fits with COPPA and UK GDPR, is on a separate page.

Contact

Pick a Pod is a small side project, made by one parent in Northern Ireland for his own kids and others like them. If a podcast isn't loading, a kid can't get a show to play, or you have suggestions or concerns, please get in touch:

Email: hello@pickapod.uk

Replies might take a few days. Patience is appreciated.