Hello everyone! It has been three incredible weeks since we officially launched SongTales, Ireland’s newest go-to music and creativity box. Thomas Johnston here – I’m a musician, theatre-maker and researcher, and I’m the artistic director of Ceol Connected where we have developed our very exciting and very unique SongTales music and creativity box.
Three weeks since we launched SongTales!
Our SongTales journey started almost two years ago when we began to work with some incredible artists and educators on a new music and creativity experience for young children. With this, we wanted to ignite children’s creativity and imagination, we wanted to support their development through music & storytelling, and we wanted to provide a really rich and fun at-home concert experience for all the family to enjoy.
We called this experience SongTales, a brand new music and creativity box designed to nurture children’s imagination and development.
We believe that every child in every home should have the opportunity to be creative
You see, we believe that every child in every home should have the opportunity to be creative, and to be musical, and to use their imaginations to the full – and we’ve seen the benefits that this can bring to children’s lives. And I think that as adults, some of our best memories of when we were children are those that had a little bit of magic and a little bit of wonder – so all of this is what SongTales is about. It’s why we do what we do.
But we also know that in today’s busy lives, it can be challenging to find the space, and the time, and even the materials to be creative at home… so – with SongTales we have brought all this thinking, and all this research, and all the music and wonder of Ceol Connected’s TREEHOUSE production – and somehow we’ve managed to fit it all into a box!
So how can we fit the world of TREEHOUSE into a box?
Well… inside their SongTales box, children will find a fun concert wristband that’ll give them exclusive online access to our TREEHOUSE show & music videos.
And they’ll also be able to play our TREEHOUSE album that features all the music and songs from the show from dance-along numbers like ‘Zahrah’s Frolics’, to singalong songs like ‘Treehouse in the sky’, to more gentle and relaxing sleepy songs like ‘Gentle Clouds’ – so there’s music and songs to suit every moment of their day.
But… there’s more..
For storytime, children can enjoy a beautifully illustrated story booklet and poster which tells the story of The Whistleberries and life in their TREEHOUSE.
And… what we’re really excited about… every box contains a whole range of creative activities that will bring the musical world of TREEHOUSE into living rooms, kitchens, forests, gardens… or wherever your child loves to play.
Children can design and build their own little treehouse, they can develop their listening skills with our Musical Discovery Disk, play along with our cuckoo maraca or Songtales Shaker, play games blowing white fully feathers high in the sky, plant and grow their very own organic white clover seeds, colour-in and hang a beautiful wooden butterfly cutout, create some crazy cloud characters with our crazy cloud sticker sheet, and even make their own magical conducting wand! And that’s not to mention all the other musical activities that you’ll find on the activity pages. Hours and hours of singalong songs, music, film, stories, and nature-inspired, eco-friendly, creative activities… all tested by children… and all in one box!
Our SongTales box draws on over 10 years experience of developing workshops, albums, touring productions and festivals for children. In total, 22 artists – from musicians, to visual artists, to puppeteers, illustrators and theatre-makers – have helped to create the music album & videos, stories, illustrations & arts activities that you will find in our SongTales box!
With SongTales, we want to spark wonder and joy in the imaginations of children that will last a lifetime.
The thought of meeting people, 20 years from today, who had the music, songs, stories and characters from SongTales as part of their childhood, really inspires us, it’s what we’re passionate about, and it’s why we do what we do! We’re so delighted that you are coming on our SongTales adventure with us!
