Feel Good Stories For Kids, Bella the Cow

Links for this Episode: 

• Listen to Bella the Cow Podcast on Spotify
• Listen to Bella the Cow Podcast on Apple Podcasts
• Bella the Cow Website 
• Bella the Cow Instagram 
• Bella the Cow Tik Tok
• Cow Wash Episode  
• Trampoline Episode 
• Kid Podcast Guide

Feel Good Stories For Kids

Bella is a singing cow from Obergurgl, Austria, who gets thrown into all sorts of adventures. These feel good stories are ones that the whole family can enjoy. The length of each episode is 10 minutes. The series is ongoing with new episodes available on the weekends. Before we learn more about the vibe of the show, we’re going to take a quick break to talk about my Guide to Kid podcasts.

Kid Podcast Guide 

One of my favorite parenting tools is Kid podcasts. I use them when I’m running errands with the kiddos to keep them from complaining the whole time. Or when I need a mom break, I’ll just grab an easy activity like coloring pages or a sensory bin. Turn on a kid podcast and the kids will be entertained for at least half an hour.

I know that Kid Podcast would help you in your life too, which is why I made a Guide to Kid podcasts. There are eight categories ranging from science to mindfulness to audio drama with at least three podcasts in each category. There are 27 podcasts in total on the guide. I’ve listened to each of the podcasts on this guide so I can attest to them being kid friendly and I put my email at the bottom of the guide so that if you try a couple with your kids and none of them are a good fit, you can email me and I will personally help you find a kid podcast that works for your littles and you, you can grab this guide at the link in the show notes.

How Bella the Cow Began

I’m Kristien Kaelen, I live in Belgium in Brussels. I’m a mother of two sons, but my sons are 18 and 21, so I don’t have any small children anymore. I’m a lawyer, but at the moment I’m not working as a lawyer.

The start of the Bella the Cow Podcast is actually quite a long story. When my children were young, I used to read stories. I’d read books to them every evening. After they went to bed I would play the piano and they loved that.

One day we were on holiday in Austria in a little village called Obergurgl, and I had forgotten the books at home. My youngest, Phillip insisted on having a story. He wanted to have a story. We were in the mountains and I had to invent a story. I invented the story about a cow and called her Bella.

For the rest of the  day I told him the story of Bella the Cow. Once we got home he insisted on having both a book and a story about Bella the Cow. I think I told them every evening for a year or so, stories about Bella the Cow. 

Sharing Bella the Cow

My sister’s children are quite a bit younger, and one day a couple of years ago I went to babysit because they live in a different country. They live in Switzerland. I went to babysit for them for a week, and they said, oh, Auntie Kiki, can you tell us a story? So I thought, why not? I’ll dig up all the old stories that I still have, you know, somewhere in my head. I told him a Bella the Cow story every evening. At the end of the week, Hannah told me, Auntie Kiki, why don’t you write a book? Then lots of children can enjoy the stories of Bella the Cow. Instead of writing a book, it became a podcast to share these feel good stories for kids. 

Stories for Kids Enjoyment 

I want listeners to have a good time listening and have 10 minutes or so in their own little world. A little world of Bella the Cow up high in the mountains, where there are no wars, no inflation, no worries.

Even though I write the stories for kids, I think a lot of parents actually listen  as well. They find it quite relaxing, so I just want them to have a good time.

I want to create feel good stories. I don’t want them to give any message, but sometimes there is a hidden message. 

If you listen to the story, the party, but that is sort of about if you don’t get invited to a party. If everyone is invited to a party and you’re not invited, you don’t need to feel bad. There are plenty of kids that never get invited. So you can have a big party with all those kids. There’s sometimes a little bit of a message in it, but the purpose is not to give them a message. It’s for them to have a good time. 

Feel Good Stories 

The vibe of the show is about feeling good. I want people when they’ve listened to my story, to, to feel happy and upbeat and, and without any worries. I play music in some of the stories, I play the piano and I try to have a bit of music or a little bit jazz or a boogie and that kinda thing.

There are few crazy stories that would never happen but I think that makes it fun for kids as well, because it gets them to imagine all sorts of crazy stuff that can happen to a cow. So if it happens to a cow, why not to a human being?

Connect with Kristien and Bella the Cow 

I’m on Spotify and I’m on Apple Podcasts. I’m also on a few channels in Europe.

I also have a website where they can find all the drawings and colorings. For each story I have five drawings and one coloring page so they can find that on my website. 

You can change the language on my website because my podcast exists in three languages. I have it in Dutch, French, and English. At the top of the page you can switch the language to English. For each story, you can find five drawings and one coloring page and a little bit of explanation as to what piano piece is used in the story. 

The first five stories don’t have any piano music, but then later you’ll find for each story also a piece of music in it. I play that myself together with a friend of mine that is absolutely lovely. One of my friends is making all the drawings and  she’s called Sylvia and another friend called Alene is playing the piano with me.

We’re basically four women working on it, but the stories are mine and I record. Sylvia does the drawings and Alene helps with the piano. 

If your kids want to learn French, they can listen to the French. I don’t know if in the US many people learn French. I guess it’s mainly English and Spanish but if there are any people living in the US who have bilingual children, it also exists in Dutch and French in addition to English.

Favorite Episodes 

I think one of my favorite episodes is the cow wash and the trampoline. I think each of the stories has got something I think that I like.

The age range for this podcast would be four to nine.

Funny enough, I know adults who listened to it. Also friends of my kids who are 20 years old listen to it as well. I think at the beginning it was probably just to find out what I did. Now  they got a hang of it. I think they like it because it’s feel good and funny and I put a little bit of music in it. 

My episodes last for 10 minutes so it doesn’t take too much time.