Today we’ll be teaching Chatterbox how to play podcasts and sharing a short list of interesting resources for the entire family.
As we all have been spending more and more time indoors and in front of screens, we thought we’d come up with some screen-less entertainment options for the whole family. Did you know that there is an entire world of audio podcasts that are fun, educational and interesting for the entire family? Today we’ll learn how to teach Chatterbox to play podcasts and share some of our favorite podcast resources.
What’s a podcast?
Simply put, a podcast is audio show that you can subscribe and listen to over the internet, on phones and computers, and even your Chatterbox! You can find all sorts of podcasts for every imaginable topic that you can think of.
There is a mountain of podcasts, but how do we search and access them with Chatterbox? With the Podcast Extension of course!
Once enabled, you should have access to the Podcast blocks in the Skill Builder. The block that we’ll be using for this skill is called Search podcasts by Title.
This block is very handy because it allows us to search for a podcast by name. When combined with a Play audio block, it enables Chatterbox to play a podcast when on demand.
In this example, we are going to use a fun podcast called Story Pirates by Gimlet media which a funny sketch comedy show based on stories written by kids.
Now add the block to a listening block so you can trigger the intent. Try to think of all the ways that you or someone else might ask for the podcast.
Last of all, don’t forget to make Chatterbox respond to requests. It’s very good practice to respond to the user request with a speak block. This lets them know that Chatterbox triggered the correct intent.
Your final code should look something like this…
Podcast resources for the entire family
Podcasts are fantastic resources for the entire family. There are literally hundreds of podcasts on any given topic. We encourage you to search and explore podcasts to find ones that you love.
To use any podcast in your podcast skill, simply enter the podcast name in the green text block.
To help get you started, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite podcasts for the entire family:
Story Pirates
by Gimlet Media
Sketch comedy show written by kids and performed by adult actors.
Wow in the World
By NPR
Amazing (and silly) stories in science, technology and innovation to inspire tinkering at home.
The Music Box
By 89.3 WFPL News Louisville
Explore classical music concepts in a fun and interactive way. The Music Box integrate many learning standards from different grade levels.