Free Educational Resources from Brains On! Universe
Designed by teachers, loved by kids and ready for your classroom
Looking for fun, fact-filled lesson plans to engage your students? The Brains On! Universe has you covered with hundreds of free, Common Core-aligned lesson plans and educator resources in science, social studies and persuasive writing – all of which are designed to be used alongside our Brains On! Universe podcast episodes.
Brains On! Universe produces award-winning educational podcasts and shows for curious kids and their adults, including Brains On!. Smash Boom Best. Forever Ago and Moment of Um. They are also great teacher podcasts! Each episode is fun-filled, super smart and fact-checked.
Our free educator resources are designed by educators, reviewed by our producers and align to core curriculum areas and subtopics. You’ll find lesson plans for teachers, Curiosity Kits, and free worksheets, scorecards and response sheets to keep your students entertained and engaged while they learn.
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Browse Free Lesson Plans and Educator Resources by Subject
We offer hundreds of free lesson plans. All lesson plans are aligned to Common Core standards and pair with a podcast episode for easy plug-and-play learning. Download worksheets, activity packets, and scorecards to help students engage with each episode.
Science (Brains On! episodes with accompanying lesson plan)
Social Studies & History (Forever Ago episodes with accompanying lesson plan)
History of People with Disabilities
Persuasive Writing & Debate (Smash Boom Best episodes with accompanying lesson plan)
Sample Lesson Plans with Activities
Introducing Debate with Smash Boom Best
(Grades 3 through 7)
This curriculum engages students in the process of planning, drafting, revising, editing and presenting an argument with confidence. This packet includes a scorecard, worksheets, student work samples and other free classroom resources. Customize the timeline and format to fit your classroom’s needs!
How did ferns survive the dinosaur extinction? with Brains On!
(Grades 1 through 6)
This curriculum engages students on the topic of ferns, and how they have survived since the time of the dinosaurs, broken out by grade level following the Common Core State Standards. Additional learning suggestions are also included for more in-depth learning!
Who were the gladiators? with Forever Ago
(Grades 1 through 6)
In this lesson, students will listen to an episode of Forever Ago: (Who were the gladiators?). Along the way, they will complete a KWL worksheet and response sheet to demonstrate their current knowledge of the gladiators and what new knowledge they gained from the episode.
Free Curiosity Kits for Libraries and Classrooms
Curiosity Kits help librarians and other educators engage with Brains On! Perfect for ages 7 to 11, these “recipe-style” kits offer hands-on activities that supplement Brains On! episodes.
Episodes with Free, Downloadable Curiosity Kits:
Books: How they’re made and how your brain reads them
The science of slime: What is it and why are we so obsessed?
Free Podcast Episode Response Worksheets for Students
Great for any episode of any show, our response sheets help students synthesize, reflect and apply what they’ve learned from our podcast episodes.
Teacher Testimonials
We know educators are incredibly creative and have been using our podcasts as teacher podcasts in their classrooms for years. Here are just some of the ways teachers have incorporated our shows into their lesson plans:
“I have used Smash Boom Best to introduce students to how to write interesting hooks that grab a reader's attention.”
“In school, we listen to Moment of Um daily to generate questions and have quick knowledge-building discussions.”
“I assigned a podcast as part of a science lesson as an enrichment activity to what we were studying. Students listened on headphones on individual devices and used a podcast organizer to take notes as they listened.”
AI tools were used in the creation of the lesson plans, which were edited, reviewed and approved by our content team.