Wilderway Kids is helping families turn character-building into an adventure through music, storytelling, movement and imaginative play. Created by parents who wanted engaging resources for their own children, the ministry's interactive audio series Sparkforce invites young listeners to become agents who practice courage, kindness, resilience, joy and wonder while completing action-packed missions. In this interview, Wilderway Kids shares the story behind its energetic new theme song, "Let's Gear Up," explains why screen-free play can nurture children's God-given creativity and reveals what families can expect from the expanding Sparkforce universe.
Families can discover the Sparkforce podcast, music and more at Wilderway Kids.
Q: For families discovering Wilderway Kids for the first time, what is the vision behind the ministry, and what inspired you to create screen-free experiences that combine music, imagination, and character-building?
Wilderway Kids is for bold minds in the making. As parents of young kids ourselves, we're always looking for ways to help our children grow in leadership, character, and virtue in ways that are genuinely fun and engaging. We believe every child carries a God-given creativity and imagination that deserves to be noticed and nurtured. Wilderway Kids grew out of our desire to give parents resources that help them do that. Through music, storytelling, movement, and play, we want character formation to feel less like a lesson and more like an adventure.
Q: "Let's Gear Up" serves as the theme song for Sparkforce. How did the song come together, and what did you want children to feel the moment they hear it?
Sparkforce actually started as a Christmas gift for our own kids. My wife and I dreamed up this interactive podcast, and while she was recording the first episodes, I tucked myself away at the other end of the house and wrote "Let's Gear Up" as a surprise. We wanted to go all out and give our kids more than a podcast. We wanted them to have their own characters, theme song, and whole world to step into.
The song carries familiar sounds from the Sparkforce missions, wrapped in the high-energy pop punk sound we grew up on. There's a nostalgia in that style for us as parents, and as it turns out, our kids love it too. We wanted those first few seconds to feel like a call to action. Something exciting is about to happen, so let's gear up and go.
Q: Sparkforce focuses on courage, kindness, resilience, joy, and wonder. Why did you choose these particular qualities, and how does the series help children actually practice them rather than simply hear about them?
We chose those qualities because they feel increasingly countercultural. We want to raise kids who hold onto joy and wonder, who choose kindness even when it costs them something, and who have the courage and resilience to keep going when things get hard.
In every Sparkforce mission, the child becomes the agent and is called on to help someone in need. They're actually practicing the virtue through play before Rigs, the robot who leads Sparkforce headquarters, ever gives it a name. At the end, she helps them recognize what they just demonstrated and connects it back to biblical wisdom. We've seen our own kids carry those lessons beyond the story, using the language from Sparkforce to recognize opportunities to serve others in real life.
Q: With children spending so much time in front of screens, you have deliberately created an interactive audio experience. What do you believe children gain when they are encouraged to listen, move, imagine, and play without watching a screen?
We're not anti-screen, but there is something really special that happens with audio. We can provide the story, characters, music, and sound effects, but the child still has to build the world in their imagination.
That's what we love about Sparkforce. Kids aren't just listening to a story happen. They're moving, responding, solving problems, and pretending their way through it. We've watched our own kids turn the living room into completely different worlds because of what they're hearing. Audio leaves this wonderful gap between what we create and what the child imagines, and that gap becomes a place for creativity and play.
Q: Parents are also invited to participate in the Sparkforce experience. How important is that family connection, and what are some ways you hope parents and children will use the series together?
Family connection is incredibly important to Wilderway Kids. We want to create experiences that make it easier for parents to be present without feeling the pressure to manufacture the fun themselves. We build the world and set the story in motion so parents can simply step into it with their kids.
At the end of every Sparkforce episode, Rigs gives agents a bonus mission that carries the experience beyond the audio and into real life. It gives parents a simple opportunity to join the play and see where their child takes it. That's a big part of the Wilderway philosophy. We don't have to direct every part of our kids' imaginations. Sometimes we just get to join the trail they're already blazing.
Q: With "Let's Gear Up" now released through Mainstay Records, what is next for Wilderway Kids and Sparkforce? Are there more songs, episodes, or other projects families can look forward to?
There's a lot coming. Season 2 of Sparkforce launches October 2, along with a new song called "Sparkforce Shuffle," and we have more music and bonus missions planned throughout the rest of the year. We're also beginning to bring Sparkforce beyond the podcast with official Agent Gear and other ways for kids to step even further into the world.
Sparkforce started as something we made for our own kids, so it's been really exciting to watch that little world continue to grow. And honestly, this is still just the beginning of what we hope to build through Wilderway Kids.
