Ask Questions and Be Excited, Penny and Luck: Inventing Stuff

Links from this Episode:

• Podcast Consultation Form 
• Penny and Luck: Inventing Stuff Website 
• Penny and Luck: Inventing Stuff – a Kids STEM Podcast on Apple Podcasts
• Penny and Luck: Inventing Stuff – a Kids STEM Podcast on Spotify 
• Disco Ball Episode 
• Inventing the Slinky Episode 

Claire Karwowski, the host describes the show like this, “calling all kid inventors, creators, and out-of-the-box thinkers, welcome to Penny and Luck: Inventing Stuff – a Kids’ STEM Podcast.” The length of each episode is about 10 minutes. 

Podcast Consultations

I’ve been able to talk to some amazing podcasters about their shows while doing interviews for the Friendly Podcast Guide. Along the way, I’ve learned so many tips and tricks on how to start a podcast from personal experience and from the hosts I’ve interviewed. I’ve talked to them about what made their launch successful and what made it more difficult. I know what I would do differently if I could go back and launch my show again.

Now I want to share my knowledge with you. I’m offering podcast consults and I have a couple of spots open in the next month. If you need help nailing down your podcast idea, figuring out your niche, or any other podcast questions, I would love to work with you to make your show’s launch the best it can be.

If you’re interested in working with me, fill out the intake form in the show notes. I can’t wait to make a podcast plan that is tailored to you and your podcast, and we’ll make your launch as smooth and successful as possible. 

Meeting Penny and Luck  

I am Claire Karwowski and I am a middle grade author, producer, and former actress. While I call myself a New Yorker, but I’m currently living in Zurich, Switzerland. I am producing Penny and Luck: Inventing Stuff out of my home here. I had a little bit of a circuitous route to making this podcast. But it all comes from the same desire to share STEM stories with kids.

Penny and Luck are my main characters. Penny’s a nine and a half year old inventor and Luck is her sweet sidekick Corgi. I actually have written a middle grade STEM adventure book series.  I’ve been developing those books for the past couple of years. When I finished and  put the proverbial pen down and I took a little break from the story; I realized not only did I miss my characters, but I really missed all the science history, scientific facts and research that I was doing to create the world of my books. 

I also really love connecting with kids over education and great stories. I figured by taking my main characters and infusing them in the nonfiction world of inventing stuff, it would be a really great way to connect with that audience. It would also still satisfy both the creative and scientific parts of my brain.

Ask Questions to Uncover Fun Research

Penny and Luck Inventing Stuff starts out each episode with Penny writing to me. The episodes are 9 to 12 minutes long. Penny writes a letter to me and in that letter is an invention question. They want to know about stuff like, what’s this? What’s the invention story behind cotton candy? The Ferris Wheel? Braille? Each week I come back with my research on the science and history behind whatever the invention it is that we’re speaking about that week.

Penny is a character and the way I approach science is with so much awe and curiosity. I also bring in an artist and a creative twist. There is so much art in science. I think growing up I didn’t necessarily see that connection. It was like, you’re either really good at math or you’re the theater kid, and I was both.

My hope, at the very least with this podcast, is that it makes kids look around the world with more curiosity. Everything, this microphone I’m talking into now, the blanket that’s woven on my lap, all of these things have been invented by somebody. The history and the cultural context, it’s all pretty interesting. At the very least, I can spark curiosity in people. 

Sparking Curiosity About Science

I really want this podcast to be a place that makes science, tech, engineering, math really fun and high energy and approachable. I also want it to be creative. Hopefully STEM becomes a much more welcoming, all-inclusive topic for kids that felt intimidated by these kind of subjects before. 

High Energy Characters

Our main character, Penny, is super high energy. She has her catchphrases. She’s so excited about science and when she thinks about a question, she just cannot get it out of her mind. Penny has to learn absolutely everything about it. I would describe the show as high energy,  inclusive, and approachable. I also try to take topics that I think kids actually want to learn about. I choose not necessarily the science of washing your hands, but like, how does a claw machine in an arcade work? Kids want to know, how do I beat it? They figure out that it’s all coding. How do we meet them where they are? 

Fun and Educational Listen

I want to create something that’s fun and educational. Those are two pretty simple things. When I actually started getting into some of the research I thought that a disco ball would be really fun. It’s one of my favorite episodes.

I started doing the research and I realized this was actually an important symbol of history and music. During that research you go down these wormholes. This is a scientific thing, it’s physics hanging from the ceiling. It has a lot of symbolism and there are a lot of really fun, fun stories around it. If you can maybe remember one of those facts when you’re having your own dance party at home my job is done. 

Keep in Touch

People can find me on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. I also want to highlight that if you go on www.pennyandluck.com you’ll also be able to download printable activity books that pair up with each episode. Especially if your kids are learning how to listen and engage with podcasts, they are great! I find it’s a really nice thing to also keep someone’s hands busy and highlight some of the questions that are being asked. It also highlights the vocabulary and can spark your creativity.

Disco Balls and Slinkys

I’ve already talked about the disco ball, which is really one of my favorites. Our sound designer Iggy is just a genius. It has a lot of funk and it’s really fun. My parents listened to it and it brought up a lot of fun memories for them. It definitely inspires a good dance party. It is just really wild for me to think, a thing that I’ve seen  a lot in my life is the perfect example of physics and light and waves.

The story behind how it was invented is really fun and celebratory. So that’s one favorite episode.

My other favorite episode I would have to say is, Inventing the Slinky. I love the Slinky story because. It’s an accidental invention,  just like the water balloon.

I love an accidental invention story because it’s like, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These people are trying to build something else and they’ve just failed and failed and failed. Finally they realize, maybe this isn’t a failure. Maybe this is just something different. Accepting that and then getting excited about it when it  just takes on like a whole other life of its own gets me really excited. Stories like that are ones that I love. 

The Ideal Audience

I would say my sweet spot is six to 11, traditionally middle grade listeners. I have had kids who are age five and I’ve had adults that are 95 tell me they listen. They’ve all been able to get something from it. In terms of comprehension level, it’s really for ages six to 11. 

Ask Questions Yourself

Right now the structure is that I have Penny asking these invention questions each week. My ultimate goal for this podcast is that kids can write in to me on my website and send me their invention questions. Then I would personally do the research and give them a shout out on the podcast, thanking them for the invention question and then presenting the research and answering it.

That would bring me so much joy.  I think it’d be really cool for listeners to see that there are kids all over the world tuning in to listen to these stories after they ask questions. I’m really hoping that in the next year, that becomes a much more common theme.  That we are actually hearing from our listeners and what they want to learn about