A story and a song: musical stories for children

Send us Fan Mail Rounding off the Bat Cave's stories this month; Tanya with enthusiastic help from Bat Lamb tell a story from India about a king and his four daughters. The king decides to give a gift to each daughter as the story begins. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave storytelling clu...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya and Pete share this fun version of the classic Aesop's Fable; The Tortoise and the Hare. Tortoise challenges Racy Rabbit to a race.... I wonder who will win? Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave storytelling club at https://ko-fi.com/tanyabatt0027/tiers Or if you are a...

Send us Fan Mail This delightfull story from Africa has been a part of Tanya's story telling  since very early in her career as a full time weaver of magical tales.  It tells of how mosquitos ended up with that annoying whine we sometimes hear in the night. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Ca...

Send us Fan Mail A fun story about Lulu who is staying at Grandma's house and is having trouble getting to sleep... A familiar problem to parents!   Grandma comes up with some creative ideas to help her sleep. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave storytelling club at https://ko-fi.com/tanyab...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya and Pete present a lovely story (that Tanya thinks she heard from storytellers Laura Simms many years ago) about the search for a great teacher and great wisdom. This story is dedicated to the memory of a great and generous friend Pennie  Brownlee, who will always 'dance in our hearts'. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagi...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya has a magic box and a story that goes  with the box... then members of the bat cave  take turns at guessing what is inside. What do you think will be inside??? Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave storytelling club at https://ko-fi.com/tanyabatt0027/tiers Or if you are an e...

Send us Fan Mail During their recent visit to Malaysia Tanya and Pete heard this story from their storytelling friend Ng . It's the story of a very hairy Orangutan (person of the forest) and the very clever Mika who uses her wits to escape the Orangutan's unwanted attentions! Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join...

Send us Fan Mail Storyteller, Miss Jum from Thailand shared a story with an important message from Brazil about five little monkeys who always wanted to play. She learnt this story from one of her teachers Margaret Read Macdonald who has collected stories from all over the world and kindly shared it with us. We first met Miss Jum in Pune in India at another storytelling festival.  You can hear mor...

Send us Fan Mail Pete, Tanya and Batt lamb were in Malaysia to take part in an international story telling festival recently, and their story-telling friend from Indonesia, Aryio   ) was also there. Ariyo helps organise all kinds of wonderful storytelling events in Indonesia and is often performing in storytelling festivals through out South East Asia. Batt lamb was so excited when Ariyo said he w...

Send us Fan Mail In this Batt Cave episode Tanya tells another of her published picture book stories. This is a wishing story that was told to her by an Irish story teller called Eilish De Bara about a woodcutter  who has to make a difficult decision when faced with a wish. The book is beautifully illustrated by famous Italian artist Nicoletto Ceccoli and can be purchased here https://imagined-wor...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya tells another of her own wonderful picture book stories about a boy who tells all his friends his Dad is a Dragon Catcher... is he really ? You can purchase copies of the book here https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop/p/my-dads-a-dragon-catcher Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya and Pete sing a story song all about the New Zealand long-finned eel, also known in te reo Māori as a tuna. This is the largest freshwater eel in the world. At the Awaawaroa Bay eco village where Tanya and Pete live, they are celebrating the tenth  anniversary of the only private eel sanctuary in Aotearoa that was the started by another resident of the village Tilde Sorenson...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya shares something a bit different tonight in the Batt Cave... A telling of one of her own story books about a boy called Jake who has a favourite shirt with fish pictures on it. Then strangely the fish leave the shirt and head for the sky.... what will Jake do now? You can purchase copies of the book here https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop/p/catching-fish Support the show...

Send us Fan Mail A story from Sierra Leone about bat and the gift of darkness to the world.  Sun asks bat to fly a special gift up to the moon.  Another wonderful story featuring bats from Tanya , Pete and Batt Lamb in the Batt cave. Then they finish up  with a reprise of the 'Bats are incredible' song. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-wo...

Send us Fan Mail Bat Lamb bravely takes on the challenging role of Little Red Riding Hood in this re-imagining of the classic French tale with Tanya and Pete in the Batt Cave. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave storytelling club at https://ko-fi.com/tanyabatt0027/tiers Or if you are an educator...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya, Pete and Bat Lamb have been on a story telling tour of Northland in Aotearoa/New Zealand with their brand new show 'Bats Incredible'; a collection of stories and songs all about the fascinating and intriguing world of bats. They start with the fun song 'Bats are incredible', then move on to a suspenseful story from the Hawai'ian Islands about the my...

Send us Fan Mail Tune in for the  exciting fourth and final episode of Mareep the sheep... a story created from the whacky suggestions of the Batt Cave audience. Mareep and her friends fly off only to be sucked into a flying house where a strange basket ball playing nose awaits them!  Will they escape? Will Mareep ever be free of her heavy wool? will we ever find a way to resolve this story? Suppo...

Send us Fan Mail Pete has just made a bird bone flute for our friend Moira, and this inspired Tanya to tell a touching story from Mexico about a Grandfather and his Granddaughter, his flute and their journeys through different dimensions with the power of music. This version of the story was collected by June Peters while visiting Mexico in her book co authored with Fiona Collins - Folk Tales of t...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya tells a funky version of the classical Ancient Greek story of Arion and the dolphin. Arion is a wonderful singer... and somehow Batt lamb competes with him in a singing competition... stranger things have happened! (but not often). Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave story...

Send us Fan Mail In the exciting continuation of Mareep the Sheep, the three travellers meet an unusual chicken... then an even more unusual banana! will they find the answers that lead them on to the haunted purple cottage?? tune in to find out. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave storytelling...

Send us Fan Mail Bat lamb snuggles up to listen to a scary story from the Cree First Nations people of Canada explaining how bats originated. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or join the live monthly Batt Cave storytelling club at https://ko-fi.com/tanyabatt0027/tiers Or if you are an educator for children 0 - 8 years subscrib...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya and Pete have been commissioned to write a song for Junk to Funk... a recycled fashion show on Waiheke island. This is the result... a song that is a re-telling of an old story about a Taylor who keeps recycling the suit he made in ever smaller garments until...... Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at https://imagined-worlds.net/story-shop Or joi...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya and Pete have been picking olives, so they decided to share an Ancient Greek story about where the olive tree came from. This is preceded by a catchy song about the turning of the seasons as we move into winter.  Bat Lamb wasn't much help picking olives, but turns up to help with the podcast as only she can. Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase...

Send us Fan Mail Tanya, Pete and Batt Lamb present the next exciting episode of Mareep the Sheep.... a story made up entirely from the plot suggestions of the Batt Cave participants. This month Mareep continues his perilous journey with the pink pig  in search of the oracle rubbish bin.  An elephant on a bicycle and a talking tree help them find their way to a singing volcano! Will they make it up...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Tanya and Pete begin with a song about Neighbours, then share four short stories about a personality from ancient Turkey called the Hodja. In the first story the Hodja borrows a cooking pot.  In the second one  his neighbour would like to borrow a donkey. The third story is about his neighbours helping search for something the Hodja has lost. The fourth story is a...