History for Kids / History's Not Boring: The Kids History Podcast

Are you ready for an epic South American adventure? Grab your hiking boots, because we are traveling to the incredible country of Colombia! Did you know the famous legend of El Dorado wasn't actually about a hidden city of gold, but a real-life king covered entirely in gold dust? Discover the fascinating history of the ancient Muisca people, and find out how a daring general named Simón Bolívar led a ragged army across the freezing Andes Mountains to win the country's freedom in just two hours! But the adventure doesn't stop there! Colombia is the second most biodiverse co...

Imagine having to sneak onto a massive, 147-foot-long warship in the middle of the night to save your family! In this thrilling episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn dive into the incredible true story of Robert Smalls! Born enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina, Robert was a brilliant wheelman who knew the harbor like the back of his hand. In 1862, he pulled off one of the most daring and brilliant escapes in American history! Disguising himself in the captain's long coat and wide-brimmed straw hat, Robert hijacked the giant steamship known as the CSS Planter. He bravely sailed right...

Have you ever heard of a battle where soldiers used chocolate candy to fix their trucks? Join Mira and Finn as they travel back to 1950 to uncover the amazing true story of the Korean War! When 75,000 North Korean soldiers launch a massive surprise attack across the 38th Parallel border, South Korea and the United Nations need a daring plan to fight back. Enter General Douglas MacArthur, who decides to sail 260 ships into Inchon, a port city where the ocean water literally vanishes twice a day, dropping a dizzying 33 feet! But that's not the only wild story from the front lines...

Have you ever heard of a president who was basically a real-life superhero? Meet Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt! Born as a very sick little boy with severe asthma, Teddy decided he wasn't going to let illness stop him. He worked out, built his muscles, and grew up to become a rugged cowboy in the freezing Badlands! He even chased down armed boat thieves across 300 miles of ice and snow while reading a giant book! But that’s just the beginning of his wild adventures. Teddy led a brave cavalry unit called the Rough Riders, became the youngest president in United States hi...

Grab your scuba gear and get ready to travel 23 million years back in time! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet the biggest shark to ever rule the oceans? Say hello to the mighty Megalodon! This prehistoric giant was absolutely massive—growing up to 80 feet long! That is like lining up two whole school buses end-to-end! Weighing as much as 15 giant African elephants, the Megalodon had an unstoppable bite force that could crunch a modern car completely in half! In this thrilling episode, Mira and Finn dive deep into the ancient seas to uncover the secrets of...

Have you ever looked at a cute, cuddly puppy and wondered where they came from? Prepare to have your mind completely blown! Long before we had golden retrievers or pugs, every single dog on Earth evolved from giant, fierce Ice Age wolves! Travel back in time 30,000 years to a freezing world where humans and wolves were rivals, competing to hunt massive, six-ton woolly mammoths. But how did these terrifying predators become our closest companions? Discover the amazing science of "Survival of the Friendliest," where the bravest wolves traded their wild ways for warm campfires and leftover mammoth meat! You will...

Imagine being handed the keys to an entire empire when you're only nine years old! That's exactly what happened to King Tutankhamun in Ancient Egypt. In this exciting episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn travel back over 3,000 years to uncover the incredible true story of the famous Boy King! Join the adventure as we explore the blazing hot deserts of Egypt and follow British archaeologist Howard Carter on his desperate, years-long hunt for a lost tomb. When he finally uncovers a hidden stone step in the sand in 1922, what lies beneath will shock the world! Discover a secret...

Have you ever wondered how humans first learned to ride horses? Grab your lasso and get ready for a wild ride back in time to the freezing, windy grasslands of ancient Kazakhstan! In this episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn uncover the amazing secrets of the Botai people, who lived on the Eurasian Steppe over 5,500 years ago. To survive winters that dropped to minus forty degrees, the Botai built clever underground pit houses and survived by hunting giant, wild horses. But eventually, they decided to try something completely wild—taming them! Discover how these brave prehistoric people built ma...

Imagine a warrior so fearsome that the mighty Roman Empire paid him 2,100 pounds of solid gold—the weight of a great white shark—every single year just to leave them alone! Meet Attila the Hun, the leader nicknamed the "Scourge of God." In this exciting episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn uncover the wild and dramatic story of the ancient world's most terrifying conqueror! Did you know the Huns were nomadic warriors who practically lived on their horses? They even ate and slept while in the saddle! Join us as we learn how Attila claimed to wield the myth...

Get ready to sparkle and shine, because we are diving into the wild and amazing history of precious gems! Have you ever wondered where diamonds and pearls actually come from? In this glittering episode, Mira and Finn uncover the incredible secrets behind the world's most famous jewels! Journey back 8,000 years to find a tiny pink pearl smaller than a grain of rice, and travel to Ancient India where warriors thought magical lightning bolts created indestructible diamonds! You won't believe the true story of the giant Cullinan Diamond—a gem the size of a loaf of bread that literally broke a he...

Did you know that the oldest recorded joke in human history was written on a clay tablet almost 4,000 years ago? And guess what... it was a toot joke! Get ready to laugh out loud as Mira and Finn travel back in time to uncover the hilarious history of jokes and the world's very first comedians! Discover how Ancient Greeks read from a massive joke book called The Laughter Lover, and learn about the incredible "licensed fools" of the Middle Ages. These court jesters wore colorful patchwork clothes, carried silly wands, and were the only people brave enough to make fun...

Can you imagine a scorching hot summer day with no cold drinks or frozen ice cream? It sounds like a total nightmare! But before refrigerators were invented, keeping things cold was an incredible, globe-trotting adventure! Join Mira and Finn as they uncover the wild history of how humans learned to freeze things. Did you know President George Washington loved ice cream so much that he spent the equivalent of five thousand dollars on it in just one summer?! You'll find out how people used to dig massive holes in the ground called ice houses and saw giant blocks of ice...

Have you ever wondered about the history of your favorite sandwich? Join Mira and Finn on an incredible time-traveling adventure to discover the epic history of bread! You won't believe how an ordinary loaf shaped human history. Did you know the world's oldest bread is over 14,400 years old, baked by ancient hunter-gatherers even before farming was invented?! Get ready for some truly wild, and sometimes gross, historical facts! We'll explore Ancient Egypt, where people actually ate bread filled with sand and tiny rocks that gave pharaohs terrible toothaches! We'll even uncover the amazing secret of eighty-one perfectly burnt loaves of...

Imagine looking down your street and seeing a massive, 40-foot-tall wave crashing toward you... but instead of water, it's made of brown, sticky, super-sweet syrup! In this unbelievably sticky episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn travel back to Boston in 1919 to uncover the wild true story of the Great Molasses Flood! How did 2.3 million gallons of thick molasses end up flooding a city street? You'll find out why a giant, leaky metal tank was secretly painted brown to hide a huge problem, and what happened when it finally burst open! Picture a 160-foot-wide tidal wave of syrup racing...

Have you ever wondered what the very first pair of shoes looked like? Spoiler alert: they weren't sneakers! Join Mira and Finn on an amazing journey through the history of shoes, starting with 10,000-year-old sandals made completely out of woven tree bark! We'll discover how ancient people survived freezing weather with boots stuffed full of grass, and how the Roman army basically invented the very first soccer cleats! Did you know that in the Middle Ages, some people wore shoes with toes so long—up to 24 inches!—that they had to tie them to their knees with gold chains just to w...

Did you know that the invention of the bicycle actually started with a massive, earth-shaking volcano? It’s true! When a giant eruption in 1815 blocked out the sun and made it too cold to grow food for horses, people desperately needed a brand new way to travel! Join Mira and Finn on an amazing journey to discover the wild and wacky history of bicycles. You won't believe what the very first bikes looked like! Imagine trying to ride a fifty-pound wooden balance bike with absolutely no pedals, or taking a ride on a heavy iron-wheeled contraption nicknamed "The Boneshaker" that li...

Did you know that one of the most popular sports in the entire world was invented just because a teenager was complaining about being bored? It’s true! Get your paddles ready and travel back to the summer of 1965 with Mira and Finn to uncover the wild true story behind pickleball! When Joel Pritchard’s son whined that there was nothing to do, Joel and his friends grabbed some leftover sports gear to invent a brand-new game. They used tiny wooden ping-pong paddles, a plastic wiffle ball, and an old asphalt badminton court to create a worldwide sensation! You'll find out...

Have you ever had to wait for something that was rightfully yours? Imagine waiting for over 900 days for your own freedom! In this exciting episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn uncover the amazing true story behind Juneteenth, the longest-running African American holiday in history! Travel back to the American Civil War and learn how President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made slavery illegal. But there was a massive catch! Enslavers in Texas completely ignored the law for two and a half years, keeping 250,000 people enslaved even after the biggest war in American history had ended. Find out what happened...

Ahoy, mateys! Have you ever wondered what it was really like to be a pirate sailing the high seas? Join Mira and Finn on History's Not Boring as we dive into the thrilling Golden Age of Piracy to uncover the true story of the most famous pirate who ever lived: Blackbeard! Did you know Blackbeard (whose real name was Edward Teach) used to tie slow-burning ropes under his hat so smoke would literally pour out of his hair before battles? Talk about a terrifying sea monster! We'll explore his massive ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was packed with 40 heavy...

Are you ready to meet the absolute greatest footballer of all time? Join Mira and Finn as they time travel to the 20th century to discover the incredible true story of Pele! Before he was a global superstar, young Edson (who got his famous nickname by accident!) was so poor he had to practice his football skills using grapefruits and old socks stuffed with wet newspapers. Eww! But kicking those lumpy, gross socks gave him the most amazing reflexes in the world. Listen as we uncover how a nine-year-old boy made a massive promise to his crying dad to win...

Have you ever wondered who actually invented school? Get your backpacks ready because we are time-traveling 4,500 years back to Ancient Mesopotamia to find out! Discover what it was like to go to the very first school, known as the Eduba, where kids had to do their math homework on heavy slabs of wet mud! Can you imagine smoothing out dirt with your thumb just to erase your mistakes? Then, we are fast-forwarding to 19th-century America to visit a crazy one-room schoolhouse! Imagine sitting in a single room with forty other kids ranging from first to eighth grade, all trying to...

Imagine a massive global war that lasted for 45 years, where the two sides never even fought on a real battlefield! After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union went from being allies to total rivals in a freezing standoff known as the Cold War. But how did it all begin? Join Mira and Finn as they uncover the incredible true story of a divided world and the famous "Iron Curtain" that split Europe in half! You will hear the terrifying tale of the Berlin Blockade, where millions of people were trapped without food or power, and the...

Have you ever wondered what kids played before video games, cell phones, or the internet existed? Grab your dice and get ready to roll, because people have been obsessed with board games for over five thousand years! Join Mira and Finn as they travel back in time to discover the incredible history of your favorite games! First, we’re off to ancient Egypt, where the boy-king Pharaoh Tutankhamun loved playing a magical race game called Senet so much that he was buried with four whole boards! Then, we'll discover the Royal Game of Ur and its crazy pyramid-shaped dice! Did yo...

Have you ever wondered how people learned to throw giant opponents, fight like tigers, and use brain power to win against brute strength? It's time to dive into the epic history of martial arts! From high kicks to ground wrestling, discover how ancient warriors turned combat into a true science of skill, discipline, and respect. Travel back in time to the misty mountains of ancient China, where a monk stared at a wall for nine years and helped invent Shaolin Kung Fu using animal moves! Then, journey to Japan to meet Jigoro Kano, a ninety-pound teenager who invented Judo to...

Have you ever wondered how people counted before numbers existed? For most of human history, written numbers didn't exist at all! If you wanted to count your sheep, you had to scratch tally marks into a bone! Join Mira and Finn on an incredible time-traveling adventure to discover how the numbers we use every single day were actually invented. You'll visit Ancient Egypt, where people had to draw frogs just to write down the number one hundred thousand! Then, travel to Ancient Sumer, where people counted in sixties—which is exactly why we still have sixty minutes in an hour to...

Travel back 3.2 million years into the past to the grassy plains of Africa! Long before cities, writing, or wheels were ever invented, our earliest ancestors were walking the Earth. Meet Lucy, a tiny, hairy early human who was a completely full-grown adult but only the size of a modern preschooler! In 1974, scientists digging in the sweltering, dusty desert of Ethiopia stumbled upon her fossilized bones and named her after a famous Beatles song playing in their camp. But why is Lucy one of the most famous historical discoveries ever? Because her bones proved that early humans walked completely upright on...

Did you know the United States fought the British Empire twice?! Join Mira and Finn as they dive into the wild, explosive history of the War of 1812! When the powerful British navy starts kidnapping American sailors and blocking trade on the ocean, the young United States decides it is time to fight back. Its first big plan? Invade Canada! But that turns out to be far harder than anyone expected, as Canadian militia, British soldiers and Mohawk warriors push the invasions back. This episode is packed with unbelievable true stories! You will hear about a brave naval commander who...

Did you know a simple scrubbing brush could save an entire army?! Meet Florence Nightingale, a girl who gave up a life of fancy mansions and dinner parties to become the most famous nurse in history! In this thrilling episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn travel back to the 1850s to discover how Florence fought an invisible enemy: hospital germs! When the Crimean War broke out, Florence traveled to a giant, stinky army hospital filled with sick soldiers, blocked sewers, and even giant rats! Eww! But Florence wasn’t afraid. She demanded 200 scrubbing brushes and got to work cl...

Forget what you see in the movies! Grab your lasso and get ready to ride into the real 1800s American West! Did you know the very first cowboys didn't wear big wide-brimmed hats? They were Spanish and Mexican vaqueros who often wore bowler hats! Join Mira and Finn on History's Not Boring as they uncover the wild, dusty, and amazing true story of cowboys! Discover how a tiny crew of ten to twelve riders (many of them formerly enslaved Black men seeking freedom) moved a massive ocean of five million longhorn cattle hundreds of miles across the country. We'll learn...

Did you know that woolly mammoths were still alive when the ancient Egyptians were building the Great Pyramid of Giza? It sounds crazy, but it’s completely true! Join Mira and Finn on a freezing adventure back in time to meet the ultimate symbol of the Ice Age—the incredible woolly mammoth! Discover how these giant, shaggy elephants grew up to eleven feet tall, weighed as much as four cars stacked together, and used massive fourteen-foot-long curved tusks as built-in snowplows. You will find out how early humans used giant mammoth bones to build their homes, and why these thick-furred beas...

Have you ever wondered how the most famous fast-food restaurant in the whole world got its start? Grab your favorite french fries and travel back in time to the 1940s with Mira and Finn to uncover the deliciously amazing history of McDonald's! Believe it or not, getting a hamburger used to be a really slow process. You had to wait up to 30 whole minutes in your car for a server called a "carhop" to bring your food out on fancy china plates! But two brothers named Dick and Mac McDonald had a giant idea. They closed their successful barbecue stand...

Have you ever wondered how the big, loud, shiny red firetrucks we see today were invented? Join Mira and Finn on an exciting time-traveling adventure to find out! Did you know that in ancient Rome, a man named Crassus had a private fire brigade of 500 people, but they would only put out your burning house if you paid him right on the spot?! For hundreds of years after that, people had to fight fires using heavy leather buckets passed hand to hand in long, exhausting lines. Discover how clever inventors finally created the very first hand-pumped fire engines that required...

Imagine waking up thousands of years ago with zero idea what time it is! No phones, no alarms, no watches—how would you ever know when to meet your friends or go to school? Join Mira and Finn on History's Not Boring as they time-travel to discover how humanity invented the clock! First, we head to Ancient Egypt, where giant seventy-foot stone obelisks were used as massive sundials. But what happens when the sun goes down? Enter the dripping water clocks used to time talking lawyers in ancient Greece, and King Alfred's brilliant burning candle clocks! You'll be amazed by a...

Have you ever wondered where the water in your glass actually came from? Billions of years ago, Earth wasn't a beautiful blue and green planet—it was a glowing, two-thousand-degree ball of boiling lava! There were zero oceans and definitely no swimming pools. So, how did our planet get so wet? Join Mira and Finn on an epic time-travel adventure to find out! You'll discover how giant "space delivery trucks"—icy comets and asteroids—crashed into early Earth, dropping off millions of tons of water! We'll track down a microscopic 4.4-billion-year-old crystal that proves it rained for millions of years. But th...

Did you know that if you took every single gold ring, pirate coin, and gold bar ever found in human history and melted it down, it would only fill three and a half Olympic swimming pools?! Join Mira and Finn on a sparkling adventure to discover the secrets of the world's most magical metal! Why did ancient people think gold was so special? Because it never rusts, tarnishes, or loses its beautiful shine! Travel back over 6,500 years to ancient Bulgaria, where a modern-day tractor driver accidentally dug up the oldest gold treasure ever found! Then, journey to the scorching deserts...

Have you ever heard a song that makes you want to get up, dance, and smile? Meet Bob Marley, the king of reggae music! Born in a tiny Jamaican village with no electricity, Bob grew up in the crowded, bustling neighborhood of Trench Town. He was so poor that he couldn't afford a real instrument, so he built his very first guitar out of a sardine tin, bamboo, and electrical wire! How amazing is that?! In this exciting episode of History's Not Boring, Mira and Finn explore how Bob Marley and his band, The Wailers, took the world by storm...

Imagine a city divided by a massive, deep harbour where the only way across is waiting in a huge line for a slow ferry boat! That was Sydney, Australia in the early 1900s. But then, an engineer had a giant dream to build a massive steel rainbow across the water! Join Mira and Finn as they travel back in time to discover how the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge was built! Learn about the workers who hung hundreds of feet in the sky with no safety harnesses, throwing red-hot metal rivets through the air like a crazy circus act. We'll hear...

Have you ever had an incredible idea but couldn't find a pen to write it down? That is exactly what happened to Joanne (J.K.) Rowling in 1990! Stuck on a delayed train for four long hours, she dreamed up a magical story about a young wizard named Harry Potter. But getting the boy with the lightning scar into bookstores wasn't magic at all—it was seriously hard work! Join Mira and Finn as they travel back to the 1990s to uncover the amazing true story of how Harry Potter was made. Discover how a struggling single mom wrote her first bo...

Have you ever wondered what that little blue booklet your parents keep safely locked away is for? It is a passport, and it is basically the ultimate global permission slip! Join Mira and Finn on a globe-trotting adventure as we unlock the amazing history of passports. We will travel all the way back to ancient Persia in 450 BCE, where a traveler used a special wax-sealed letter from a mighty king to stay safe from bandits on a thousand-mile journey! Then, we'll fast forward to medieval Europe to learn how passing through giant city gates—or "portes" in French—gave the pass...

Have you ever bought something brand new, only for it to break the very first time you use it? That is exactly what happened to one of the most famous objects in American history! Join Mira and Finn on History's Not Boring as they uncover the wild and secret history of the Liberty Bell. Ordered all the way from London in 1752, this massive 2,000-pound bell cracked on its very first test ring in Philadelphia. You will not believe what happened next! Two local metalworkers had to smash it into tiny pieces, melt it down, and recast it—and at first, it...