About the show
Folktales from around the world, adapted for kids and brought to life by celebrated actors.
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WBUR's Circle Round adapts carefully selected folktales from around the world into sound- and music-rich radio plays for kids ages 3-103. Each 15 to 25-minute episode explores important issues like kindness, persistence and generosity. And each episode ends with an activity that inspires a deeper conversation between children and grown-ups.
Fast Facts
- Audience
- Ages 5–7
- Network
- WBUR
- Format
- Listen in any order
- Typical length
- 21 min
- Episodes
- 462
- Seasons
- 9 seasons
- Topics
- Stories, Folktales
Listen now
Listen on the Once Upon a Pod app Hand-picked, kid-safe shows worth their earsor press play on any episode below to listen right here
Episodes
462 episodes
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Encore: The Cleverest Person in the Room
26 min 8 September 2026Vanessa Aspillaga (Dora Saves the Snow Princess, Leave the World Behind) stars in this Puerto Rican and Chilean tale about baby basil, cuddly kittens, and how two heads can be better than one This Circle Round episode originally was released on April 2, 2024
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Encore: The Seamstress and the Deev
29 min 1 September 2026Recorded live at Tanglewood with Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians and a star-studded cast, this Afghan tale follows a savvy seamstress and her chatty kitty on a royally epic adventure This Circle Round episode originally was released on Aug
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Summer Camp: Top Banana
26 min 25 August 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Abbot Elementary) and Jack De Sena (Lego Monkie Kid, Avatar: The Last Airbender) headline this Filipino story about getting the upper hand by taking the lower half
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Summer Camp: Crocus-Pocus
21 min 18 August 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Jacob Laval (The Unbreakable Boy, John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch) and Amanda Warren (The Night Agent, East New York) headline a Sicilian tale about sowing the seeds of kindness, compassion and crocuses
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Summer Camp: The Salmon Famine
20 min 11 August 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Recorded live at The Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR, this high-flying tale explains how the islands of the Philippines came to be
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Summer Camp: The Bird of a Different Feather
23 min 4 August 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Recorded live at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD, this African tale explains how the guinea fowl got its distinctively speckled feathers
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Summer Camp: The Salmon Famine
24 min 28 July 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Recorded live at Symphony Hall with Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians and a star-studded cast, this indigenous Pacific Northwest tale follows a wily coyote on a daring rescue This Circle Round episode originally was released on Feb
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Summer Camp: The Snow Eater
23 min 21 July 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Cree Summer (Good Times, Abbott Elementary) headlines a Blackfoot legend about fast friends, warm winds, and why bears hibernate during the winter This Circle Round episode originally was released on May 7, 2024
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Summer Camp: The Long Crimson Thread
21 min 14 July 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Jessika Van (Seoul Searching, Awkward) and Mark Pellegrino (American Rust, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley) co-star in a Welsh tale about a girl, a drought, and a mouse with a life-saving secret This Circle Round episode originally was released on May 14, 2024
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Circle Round presents: The Midnight Rebellion, Ch. 1
17 min 2 July 2026Circle Round brings you a special new podcast: The Midnight Rebellion , by WBUR, the same place that makes our show! This podcast is recommended for ages 7+ The Midnight Rebellion , starring Erika Henningsen (Netflix's "The Four Seasons") and others, tells the story of a girl on an adventure in a watery world where everything is wrong And she has to set it right—with help from YOU Each episode ends with a choice What YOU choose changes the story, sometimes for the better, and sometimes .. Either way, it's fun! To hear more episodes, search for The Midnight Rebellion in your podcast app and follow the show, or visit wbur.org/midnight
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Summer Camp: The Upside-Down Tree
20 min 7 July 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Comedian Alonzo Bodden (Wait, Wait.. Don't Tell Me!, Heavy Lightweight) headlines this African legend about how one animal’s mischief created the savanna’s most majestic, magical trees This Circle Round episode originally was released on Nov
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Circle Round presents: The Midnight Rebellion, Ch. 3 "Into the Machine"
15 min 2 July 2026Circle Round continues our special presentation of WBUR's new podcast, The Midnight Rebellion , with Chapter 3, "Into the Machine." If you have not listened to Chapter 1, go back and start there! The Midnight Rebellion tells the story of a girl on an adventure in a watery world where everything is wrong She has to set it right—with your help Each episode ends with a choice that YOU make **Recommended for ages 7 and up.** To hear more episodes, search for The Midnight Rebellion in your podcast app and follow the show, or visit wbur.org/midnight
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Circle Round presents: The Midnight Rebellion, Ch. 2 "Get Hart"
6 min 2 July 2026Circle Round continues our special presentation of WBUR's new podcast, The Midnight Rebellion , with Chapter 2, "Get Hart." If you have not listened to Chapter 1, go back to the previous episode and start there The Midnight Rebellion tells the story of a girl on an adventure in a watery world where everything is wrong She has to set it right—with your help Each episode ends with a choice that YOU make **Recommended for ages 7 and up.** To hear more episodes, search for The Midnight Rebellion in your podcast app and follow the show, or visit wbur.org/midnight
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Summer Camp: The Parakeet’s Promise
20 min 30 June 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Broadway stars Lorna Courtney (& Juliet) and Shoba Narayan (Aladdin) face off in this Indian legend about a tiny bird who opens up a farmer’s eyes in a big way This Circle Round episode originally was released on Dec
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Summer Camp: The Sunlight Tree
28 min 23 June 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Recorded live at Symphony Hall with Boston Symphony Orchestra members and a star-studded cast, this Swedish tale sheds magical light on kindness, caring, and letting roots run deep This Circle Round episode originally was released on Oct
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Summer Camp: The Sweet Spot
22 min 16 June 2026Welcome back to Circle Round Summer Camp! We're revisiting our favorite stories about the outdoors Tantoo Cardinal (Killers of the Flower Moon, Three Pines) and Jonathan Joss (King of the Hill, Tulsa King) star in this sweet and sour Wabanaki tale about how people first learned to tap maple trees This Circle Round episode originally was released on March 28, 2023
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Summer Camp: The Missing Mountainside
21 min 9 June 2026Welcome to Circle Round Summer Camp! This summer, camp counselor Erika Henningsen ( The Four Seasons , The Midnight Rebellion ) will be reintroducing us to some of our favorite episodes celebrating the great outdoors and spending time with others outside In this Taiwanese tale starring Karen Huie (Welcome to Flatch, Abominable and the Invisible City), a town learns the bad taste it can leave when you bite off more than you can chew! This Circle Round episode originally was released on Jan
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Encore: The Four Winds
24 min 2 June 2026This Circle Round episode originally was released on Oct Kimberly Guerrero (Spirit Rangers, Reservation Dogs) stars in a tale from the Lakota people about one thieving fox and four wise winds
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The Storyteller
35 min 26 May 2026Film, TV and theater star Maria-Christina Oliveras (The Balusters, Cymbeline) headlines a Portuguese tale about the magical ways stories bring us together
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Seven Silver Rings
21 min 19 May 2026Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Can You Ever Forgive Me) and Jorma Taccone (The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, Little Fox and the Wild Imagination) headline a Seneca and Shawnee legend about how the raccoon got its eye mask and tail stripes
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Leader of the Birds
21 min 12 May 2026Carolyn Michelle (Familiar Touch, The Chi) and Christopher Rivas (Brown Enough, Rubirosa) headline a Maya tale about lies having short legs.. and long tails!
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Chicken Scratches
15 min 5 May 2026Musician and podcaster Hrishikesh Hirway (Song Exploder) plays a cocky rooster in this Southern American tale about judging a book by its cover and eating humble pie
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Encore: The Blizzard Wizard
22 min 28 April 2026Vivien Lyra Blair (Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Boogeyman) headlines this story from the indigenous peoples of Siberia about a supernatural spirit with a very cold shoulder
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Encore: The Magic Touch
29 min 21 April 2026Edi Gathegi ("The Harder They Fall," "For All Mankind") stars in this East African story about twin brothers, enchanted fruit, and the magic of an open heart
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Lighting a Spark
18 min 14 April 2026Charlene Amoia (The Breadwinner, How I Met Your Mother) plays a tiny but mighty bird in this French legend about the origin of fire
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Swift Fox and the Coyote Twins
22 min 7 April 2026This Is Us co-stars (and That Was Us co-hosts) Sterling K Brown, Mandy Moore and Chris Sullivan co-star in a multi-cultural legend about two conceited coyotes and the fox who outfoxes them
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A Tale of Two Neighbors
21 min 31 March 2026Recorded live in Cleveland, OH, this Appalachian tale proves that true friends stick together through thick, thin, and everything in between
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Copper and Dumplings
24 min 24 March 2026Recorded live in Cleveland, OH, this Japanese story pits a wise baker against two tricky goblins who refuse to face their fears
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Encore: The Laughing Canoe
20 min 17 March 2026George Salazar (Be More Chill, Superstore) plays a wise-cracking waterborne vessel in this Brazilian story about the extraordinary things teamwork can bring
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The Bolt of Silk
25 min 10 March 2026Samantha Béart (Baldur's Gate 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic) plays a sorceress with a knack for brewing up trouble in this tale with Sudanese, Egyptian and Palestinian roots
Showing the 300 most recent episodes. Open the show in the app for the full back-catalogue.
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