Buttons & Figs is clearing the decks, taking out the trash, looking through the archives for gems that haven't yet be aired or heard or herded along or deserve to be heard again...hear here!بقلم a podcast for kids about playing with words

Buttons & Figs was so excited to learn that you still hear here we wrote a new song! for our fans! but especially for Buttons & Figs superfan HANK! Here is Pantomime Hotcakes (aka The Hum Da Dumb Dumb Song)Beryllium, Pantomime, humHum, da, dumb, da, dumb, da, dumb, dumbBeryllium, Pantomime, humHum, da, dumb, da, dumb, da, dumb, dumb Geology, astron…

Buttons & Figs is clearing the decks, taking out the trash, looking through the archives for gems that haven't yet be aired or heard or herded along or deserve to be heard again...hear here!بقلم a podcast for kids about playing with words

Huzzah! as Bluebullet likes to say! On this episode we share our interview with Dr. Drew Palacio, author of "Shrieks and Sounds and Things Abound - the Quiet Wants of Julien J." a fun-filled book of wordplay and nonsense, replete with Superhero advice for times of frustration, from Bluebullet himself - Huzzah! We also got the chance to share Dr. Dr…

On this episode we share two original stories, written by the winners of the Independence High School scary story contest. These stories are not for young ears, they are for brave souls who like their stories to simmer slowly (recommend ages 8+). The first, read by author Nathan, is titled, "Plastic Eye" a story that will chill you cold. Next you'l…

Halloween Night. Your favorite night. If you could sit back and listen on that night, you might hear an elaborate symphony, where each movement brings to mind the anticipation, preparation, gathering, trick or treating and stories of the night…sit back and listen, as you anticipate the coming of Halloween Night. A Halloween Night SymphonyI. Anticip…

To kick off the Halloween season we have an interview with Ron Keres, author of "The Scariest Story You've Ever Heard", a Reader's Choice Book Award Gold winner. The coolest thing about Ron’s story is that he tells it without any pictures…just spooooooooky onomatopoeia words!!! So… let’s set sail in our sieve to meet Ron Keres, hear an excerpt from…

Join me and kid co-host Debra for our back-to-school book recommendation episode. This time we sail in a sieve to talk about the book "Lulu the Broadway Mouse!" Debra is a super fan of Jenna Gavigan's book, "Lulu the Broadway Mouse", which is about a mouse who LOVES Broadway musicals. Debra and I not only discuss the book, but Lulu's story sparks D…

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are about to travel to the Summertime kid dimension to join the audience of The Sheila Show! The Sheila Show is a summer variety and nonsense sketch comedy show for kids, with skits, musical comedy, and vaudeville-style performances by the eponymous Sheila Carmichael III, along with members of her comedy troupe and various guest stars! Join us …

You are listening to The Wordplay Zone Nonsense Show (WZNS)! Do not try and make sense of any of what you are about to hear. It is all nonsense, well, except for the part where we teach kids about being a leader. That is real.Stay tuned, our Summertime nonsense is about to begin! Nonsense skits written and performed by Mark Peña and Pamela Rogers. …

You are listening to The Wordplay Zone Nonsense Show (WZNS)! Do not try and make sense of any of what you are about to hear. It is all nonsense, well, except for the part where we teach kids about ants and ant farms. That is real.Tune in to our ring-a-ding-ding, cuz this is the place where we'll be sharing our thing.Nonsense skits and music written…

In celebration of National Poetry Month we have a special guest - this year's Phoenix's Youth Poet Laureate Myra Kamel! In this episode we talk with Myra about how she how she fell in love with poetry and what inspires her to write poetry...but best of all, you get to hear a nature poem she wrote, titled, A Siesta. She also shares how she was inspi…

Epic Encore: War of the Fools! Once again, this April Fool's Day, nonsense appears to be on a collision course with reason! We present - Buttons & Figs and the Oyster Actors on the Air in, The War of the Fools. It was on this day, April 1st, in which weird happenings began to happen. Reporters began to report reportable events, reportable strange h…

You are listening to The Wordplay Zone Nonsense Show (WZNS)! Do not try and make sense of any of what you are about to hear. It is all nonsense, well, except for the part where we teach kids about ants. That is real.Tune in this winter and spring, cuz this is the place where we'll be sharing our thing.Nonsense skits and music written and performed …

You are listening to the Wordplay Zone Nonsense Show (WZNS)! Do not try and make sense of any of what you are about to hear. It is all nonsense, well, except for the part where we talk to Hans the Tuba!Tune in this winter and spring, cuz this is the place where we'll be sharing our thing.Nonsense skits and music written and performed by Mark Peña a…

You are listening to the Wordplay Zone Nonsense Show (WZNS)! Do not try and make sense of any of what you are about to hear. It is all nonsense, well, except for the part about DONUTS! Cuz DONUTS are the TRUTH! Tune in this winter and spring, cuz this is the place where we'll be sharing our thing.Nonsense skits and music written and performed by Ma…

You are listening to the Wordplay Zone Nonsense Show (WZNS)! Do not try and make sense of any of what you are about to hear. It is all nonsense, well, except for the true story about the letters Q & U. THAT part is QUite true. Tune in this winter and spring, cuz this is the place where we'll be sharing our thing.Nonsense skits and music written and…

You are about to enter the Wordplay Zone. Do not try and make sense of any of what you are about to hear. It is all nonsense. It is the middle ground between stupidity and wisdom, between make-believe and absurdity. It is our playground. And we have been at play. Tune in this winter and spring, cuz this is the place where we'll be sharing our thing…

We have a brand new, semi-short, audio-fiction podcast show to share. It's called, The Semi-Adventures of Sheila! We’ve just released all five chapters and you can subscribe, for free, anywhere you listen to podcasts! The Semi-Adventures of Sheila features none other than our own 9 year old Sheila! Yes! That sugar loving, fact loving, rock loving S…

On this episode we get to sail to the land of Mermaidia! Which means you'll get to hear our interview with author Julia Hengst where she tells us all about the wordplay filled mermaid world she created called Mermaidia. You’ll learn about her new book, "Venus Underwater: Songs from Mermaidia" and how mermaids use song, dance, and wordplay which can…

You are about to enter....the Wordplay Zone! A place where kids get to share their story ideas for Sheila and her gang...and we get to bring them to life with our crazy voices, sounds fx, and nonsense! So...WELCOME to our first episode of the Wordplay Zone. In this episode you get to hear the script of 11 year old Buttons & Figs kid Noah. He come u…

You are about to hear original scary stories by students from Independence High School in Glendale Arizona. These stories were written for you, the listeners of Buttons & Figs...but we must warn you, they are not for those who scare easily...there is a story of a ghost, a girl, and a train...all of them are haunting, scary and spooky! We recommend …

You are about to hear Sheila host a spooky story telling contest with her friends. Which one will win? Will there be prizes? What is a bloody book anyway? Before we answer these questions, please note...If you are a kid who scares easily, then you may not be ready for this contest, but if you don’t mind the mention of murder and bloody hooks...or b…

Street scenes. Halloween. The past. You are about to listen to several groups of kids who all live near one another, who take to the streets on their own daring journeys this Halloween Night. Their talk of candy and costumes will be familiar to you...until fear sets in and you hear a black cat start talking...a little too much. This next stop will …

Join me and my kid co-host Debra as we sail in a sieve to the land of dragons! Debra is a super fan of Tui Sutherland's book series, "Wings of Fire" and she's here to tell you why she loves these books so much and to share some fun ways to play with dragons! If you fall in love with this series, there are 14 books out now, but there are three more …

Briscoe, Mary Farfisa's space horse friend, has come to visit me because apparently I have some sounds from Mary's Outer Space Library that are overdue! In this episode you'll get to meet the creator of Mary Farfisa's Outer Space Radio Theater, Jim Cheff and you'll also get to hear all sorts of music and noise from his show...and as always, we have…

After meeting Spring-Heeled Jack this summer what if you were inspired to bounce...ok, leap great distances. Where will such leaping lead? You are about to find out….in the SummerTime Zone.You are now bouncing out of the Summertime Zone. We don’t understand why you entered this kid dimension, but we are grateful you found your way into this middle …

You’ve been playing outside with your friends all day, you’re about to be called in for the night, when out of the shadows a gentleman appears, one with bat wings, red eyes, and clawed hands, known from legend as Spring-Heeled Jack. You are about to hear what fear, or exasperation, sounds like in - the Summertime Zone.written, voiced by mark pena a…

Summertime Zone Encore: Two kids, two ideas. One song contest. On the back of a cereal box. Should Sheila and her friend enter? Can they work together? Will they win? What is a lunar launcher?This Summertime Zone Encore episode is sponsored by Strobe Nightlight, a nightlight that will bring a party to your dreams...or might just keep you up dancing…

You are about to travel through to the kid dimension, to join the audience of your favorite game show, Guess That Noun. One kid contestant knows the answer to this game, regardless of the actual answer, or what the audience has to say. You are about to play this game...in the Summertime Zone.written and voiced by Mark Pena and Pamela RogersSFX by Z…

Hey Buttons & Figs kids….I’m super excited to share this summertime zone journey with you because it was written by a Buttons & Figs kid! One of the kids from our fall semester of wordplay reached out and said that he had an idea for a Summertime Zone episode, featuring none other than Sheila! It’s the middle of the school year, it’s picture day. T…

You are about to journey into the past, when kids took turn telling stories after a long day of play...but sometimes it landed on that kid. The kid who likes candy and slurpees. Next stop, the Summertime Zone.Dodgeball PSA from the Summertime Zone Playground Associationwritten and voiced by Mark Pena and Pamela Rogerssfx by ZapsplatGo play, ready, …

Summer is officially here! You know what that means...summer sketch comedy fun at Buttons & Figs! We'll have some summer silliness from the past and present, along with some great summer reading and podcast recommends! To kick off this summer, we have a song, one we recorded with some extraterrestrials we encountered, who happen to love wordplay as…

On this episode we get to wordplay with Dirk, a talking chipmunk! Which means we're sailing our sieve to talk with Kenny Curtis, host, DJ, and animal wrangler for his radio show, The Animal Farm, which airs on Sirius XM Channel 78, Kids Place Live. You'll get to hear about the talking animals on Kenny's radio show, a bit of history about satellite …

In celebration of National Poetry Month we have a special guest - Phoenix's Youth Poet Laureate Annika Clark! In this episode we talk with Annika about how she came to be the youth poet laureate of Phoenix, how she fell in love with poetry, and what inspires her to write poetry...but best of all, you get to hear a poem she wrote for her little sist…

Happy National Poetry Month! We love listening, reading and writing poetry during April and we hope you do too! Here's a poem I wrote, hope you'll say it along with me, it's called, Pails of Shoeshine. You can find the words on our YouTube channel so you can Say-a-Long Verse with me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN1KmnzEa8I&t=30sPails of Shoeshi…

Epic Encore: Once again...Nonsense appeared to be on a collision course with reason...presenting Buttons & Figs and the Oyster Actors on the Air in The War of the Fools. It was on this day, April 1st, in which weird happenings began to happen. Reporters began to report reportable events, reportable strange happenings, reportable odd sightings - a m…

Do you like to say the words, Activity Books? Do you like all the puzzles and games found in Activity Books? Then you'll love comedy musician Mike Phirman's new album titled, "Activity Books". In this episode you'll get to hear one of the songs from his new EP, "Word Search/Vacuum", featuring the voice of Weird Al Yankovich, and you'll get to hear …

Do you know the rhyme Miss Mary Mack?! If so, then we have a silly, fun, joyful nonsense challenge! In this episode you'll learn a bit about the rhyme Miss Mary Mack, hear Buttons & Figs kid Chloe sing the rhyme AND make up a nonsense version of her own...and of course, we hope her wordplay will inspire YOU to make up your own version too! And IF y…

Do you love animals at the zoo...us too! For this episode we were inspired by Ogden Nash's "Zoo", a collection of silly animal verse, illustrated by Etienne Delessert. We invited kids at the Velma Teague Library to read some of Ogden Nash's poems and write some of their own. You'll learn a bit about Ogden Nash, hear a few of his poems, and hear ori…

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a Word Ghost were to capture me and a bunch of Buttons & Figs kids after we fell through a portal along with a bunch of other friends, like horses, chickens and Scooby-Doo? Us too! In this episode you get to hear a tale from the land of Wacky Woo, Woo, Woo, spun from the imaginations of the first ever gro…

Happy Thanksgiving from Buttons & Figs! On this WWW episode your challenge is to figure out which word doesn't belong. Play four rounds of Thanksgiving Thesaurus by listening to a list of words that mean similar things, in other words, synonyms...but one of the words in the list doesn't belong. And of course, there is a trick round, just because. H…

Have you Heards of Verbs?! On this Wacky Wordplay we share 4 limericks by Edward Lear and YOU are to listen for how many VERBS you HEARDS! You say that's nonsense? I say a verbs a verb, that's what I heard! GO PLAY!visit www.buttonsandfigs.com and look for Wacky Wordplay Wednesdays to see this wordplay written out to share in class or at home.a lit…