Podcasts · Kids & Family · Music
A story and a song: musical stories for children
Tanya Batt and Peter Forster
151 episodes
Performance storyteller Tanya Batt and Musician Peter Forster share a collection of musical stories for young children from the Batt Cave.Tall tales of friendships, food and fun that are guaranteed to delight and have you singing along with their catchy refrains. Quirky, wholesome stories that fill you with hope that perseverance will be rewarded, friendship is paramount, vegetables can save your life and even great sadness passes. A story and a song - because words and music they belong!
Episodes page 1 of 4
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Natsilane and the Orca
Send us Fan Mail In this our second whale themed podcast from the Batt Cave, we start with a rendition of 'Tohorā nui' - a popular children's waiata from Aotearoa,New Zealand about a whale..... Batt lamb learns a lot…
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The Whale and the Kaurī Tree
Send us Fan Mail This episode is dedicated to the memory of our lovely friend and Batt Cave regular Greger Nyström ... who passed away recently. We share a pūrākau from te ao Māori about tohorā/the whale and the…
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Helen the Wise: part three
Send us Fan Mail Here it is... Part three of this exciting Eastern European Wonder Tale! Will the soldier meet his end with the executioner? Will Batt Lamb withstand the tension?? ...... Find out today. Support the…
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Helen the Wise :Part two
Send us Fan Mail It's the second instalment of our exciting Wonder Tale Helen the wise... Batt Lamb is very excited! In this episode we find out what happens to the soldier who has become enamoured with Helen the…
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Helen the Wise - Part one
Send us Fan Mail Fresh from the Batt Cave this month comes part one of a three part 'Wonder tale' called "Helen the Wise". This is the story from Russia that begins with a soldier who is guarding a prisoner but has…
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Jack and the Beanstalk
Send us Fan Mail Batt Lamb does some serious helping out with this Batt Cave rendition of the classic story "Jack and the Beanstalk".... what more needs to be said! Support the show You can find our audios and books…
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Lazy Jack
Send us Fan Mail This month in the Batt Cave Tanya and Pete tell stories with Jack's in them... There are many stories and nursery rhymes that feature a Jack as the main character, such as Jack and Jill, or Little…
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Nyangara the Python
Send us Fan Mail This story comes from the Shona people of Zimbabwe and was collected by a UK storytelling friend and colleague, Helen East in her book 'The Singing Sack'. While Batt-lamb is uncertain about large…
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The Story of The Kūmara
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Batt Lamb has the seasonal sniffles. There's nothing like a story to make you feel better, epecially one about the origins of delicious kai. Tanya and Pete share a a pūrākau/a…
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The Corn Mother; The Origin Story of Corn
Send us Fan Mail Bat Lamb notices an empty plate, and Tanya shares with her and the children a sharing song about their favourite foods. Then comes the Story of The Corn Mother from South America all about where the…
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Sun's Party!
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Batt Cave Bat Lamb helps Tanya write a song about the changing season ... If Bat Lamb can write a song then we all can!! Then Tanya Tells a Nigerian Story about why Sun and…
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Iddlebright and The Magic Cooking Pot... A Faery Story
Send us Fan Mail A gift of a magic wand led Tanya to remember a faery story that she created more than 30 years ago about a mischevious faery called Iddlebright. See how many old fairytales you can recognize in this…
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Cap O' Rushes: A Cinderella story
Send us Fan Mail Cap O' Rushes is an English Cinderella variant where our heroine makes her own good fortune through hard work and cleverness! There are over 800 known versions of the Cinderella story told around the…
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Molly Whuppie: a Story From Scotland
Send us Fan Mail This Bat Cave starts off with Pete singing a song from the Bat show that Tanya and Pete are touring round NewZealand at the moment. Then Tanya tells the exciting story of Molly Whuppie, a 'Jack in…
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The Unicorn's Wish
Send us Fan Mail In this last story celebrating the New Year of the Fire Horse; Tanya and Pete tell the story of a poor man experiencing hard times who sets out to find something to feed his family with. He meets some…
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Lakota Horse Origin Story
Send us Fan Mail Continuing the celebration of the horse for the lunar 'fire horse' year, Tanya talks about horses in mythology such as Pegasus, Sleipnir and the horse of power from Russian folktales. Tanya and Pete…
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Fire Horse Year!
Send us Fan Mail It's the first Batt Cave of the New Year and the Batt Cave Team are Celebrating the coming Chinese New Year of The Fire Horse, beginning on Feb 17th. Batt Lamb is very excited! They also sing two…
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Part 2 of The Golden apple story
Send us Fan Mail Fresh from the Batt Cave comes the second and final part of the Hungarian Wonder Tale about the Three Brothers and the Golden Apples.... It's a long one... so Buckle up for adventure!! Support the…
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Batt Lamb's Twelve Days of Christmas
Send us Fan Mail It's nearly New Year 2026.... and to celebrate the past twelve months, we've adapted the Twelve Days of Christmas, Batt Lamb - style, (with some help from Tanya and Pete) to sing about all the great…
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Two Golden Apple Stories!
Send us Fan Mail For a treat today the Batt Cave has two stories to share about Golden Apples. First Tanya tells Batt Lamb all about the Ancient Greek story of Paris and the Golden Apple... of Gods and choices and…
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King Midas and the Golden Touch
Send us Fan Mail Tanya tells Batt lamb the classic story of King Midas who's dreams come true when the Gods grant him one wish Support the show You can find our audios and books to purchase at…
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The Leprechaun's Pot of Gold
Send us Fan Mail Pete has reached a golden milestone in November, turning 65! To celebrate, we've put together a collection of 'golden stories' to share. The first one is is from Ireland, and is aboutt a Leprechaun…
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The Pumpkin Wife
Send us Fan Mail This traditional story comes from the Lotha Naga people who originate from North East India. A gentle but lonley farmer finds an exceptionally large pumpkin growing in his garden. While the other…
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A Talking Vine, a Smiling Apple and a Singing Ringing Pear
Send us Fan Mail Continuing with the theme of springtime in the Garden; Tanya and the Batt Crew tell a delightful musical story of a King who wants to give a gift to his three Daughters. The youngest asks for a…
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Pollinator Power Action Song
Send us Fan Mail It's Halloween again and here in New Zealand it's springtime and that means lots of busy bees and other pollinators out and about pollinating all the flowers and plants in the garden. Tanya has lots…
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Send us Fan Mail Continuing The epic European adventure Our Heroes briefly pass through Norway on their way to Shetland. This is a re-telling of the Classic Norwegian story : The Three Billygoats Gruff...told with…
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The Seals/Selkies of the Vee Skerries & Papa Stour
Send us Fan Mail During their big adventure, Tanya, Pete and Batt lamb were lucky enough to visit Papa Stour, one of the most westerly isles of the Shetland Islands. One of the old stories connected to Papa Stour is…
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Cuckoo Song and The Crow Who Stole the Seeds
Send us Fan Mail At long last, Pete, Tanya and Batt Lamb are back from their epic adventure, with new stories and songs to share - this month the stories are from Thailand, Shetland and Norway. In celebration of…
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Hare brings Light - a midwinter story from Siberia
Send us Fan Mail In the second half of the Batt-Cave from Sweden where the days are long and full of light, Tanya, Pete and Batt-lamb share a story from Siberia about how hare brought light to a very dark world - a…
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Salt on a Magpie's Tail - a special podcast from Sweden
Send us Fan Mail Tanya, Pete and Batt-lamb continue on their world storytelling adventure and are joined in Sweden by Greger (and Lena) who are long time fans of the Batt- Cave. This story is musical remake of a…
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Happy Just Where They Are - a story with Xanthe Gresham Knight
Send us Fan Mail This episode was recorded in Sutri, Italy with the wonderful UK storyteller Xanthe Gresham - Knight. (Tanya and Xanthe were on their way to FEST - the Federation of European Storytellers Conference).…
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Stories from Singapore Part 2
Send us Fan Mail This is the second part of our podcast from Singapore with Singaporian storyteller Mindy Neo. Tanya shares the story of the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha after a visit to a local Hindu temple in…
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Stories from Singapore Part 1
Send us Fan Mail Tanya, Pete and Batt- lamb are out in the world having an adventure and their first stop was Singapore where we met some of the local storytellers who are part of the Storytelling Association of…
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A Taiwanese folktale about the mountain Ban Pi Shan
Send us Fan Mail This Taiwanese story tells why the mountain called Ban Pin Shan – the half faced mountain is the shape it is. It all starts with an old man who arrives selling delicious dumplings but the dumplings…
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Two Stories!! 'Oni Wa Soto' & 'The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly'.
Send us Fan Mail In this big double bill episode, Tanya, with a lot of help from Batt Lamb (and Pete), tells a story that centres around the Japanese celebration, Setsubun - the Japanese bean throwing festival. In…
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Grandma Bear and the two rainbows
Send us Fan Mail This story is an adaptation of a Chinese story about Grandma Bear, who is not feeling well and has taken to her bed. All her friends: Fox, Pig and Uncle Frog come to help her and she share her dream…
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Building bridges
Send us Fan Mail In Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand we have just had the ANZAC day commemerations (25th April). In the spirit of peace we're sharing a story and a song all about 'building bridges' where two…
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The Pedlar of Swaffham
Send us Fan Mail Staying on the bridge theme, Tanya and Pete share the old English nursery rhyme, 'London Bridge in Falling down' with all it's verses, documenting the many different faces of this famous bridge. Then…
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The Rainbow Bridge Story
Send us Fan Mail Join Tanya, Pete and Bat Lamb for stories and songs about rainbows. The story today is from the First Nations, Chumash people who are the original people of the Californian coastal area. It tells of…
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The story telling stone
Send us Fan Mail Tonight Tanya and Pete tell a story from The Seneca Native American Nation. It's the story of how in the beginning there were no stories... until stories began to be told from an unusual source.…
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The Welsh Dragon
Send us Fan Mail It's St David's Day and the Batt Cave are celebrating with a dragon story from Wales about a mean Ruler and a Father-less boy. Dragons will be involved for sure! Also Tanya is celebrating the release…
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Baby Snake and Baby Mouse
Send us Fan Mail Continuing the Snake theme it being the year of the snake... Tanya and Pete start off by introducing Samuel the Snake, and they sing a snake song with some rhyming questions. Then Tanya tells a cute…
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A Story Sack from Korea
Send us Fan Mail It's the first Batt Cave of the New Year, in fact it's two New Year Celebrations... The Gregorian and the Chinese New Year as well. As it is the Chinese year of the Snake, Tanya and Pete share a…
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The most beautiful sound
Send us Fan Mail It's New Year in the Batt Cave and Tanya, Pete and Batt lamb start off with a Thankyou song to remember all the things we are grateful for.... then members of the Batt Cave share what they are…
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The Legend of La Befana - the Italian Christmas witch and the three magi.
Send us Fan Mail The festive stories continue. In Italy, January the 6th is when La Befana, the Christmas witch appears, Batt lamb has plenty of questions about La Befana and her meeting with the three wise men/Kings…
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The Gingerbread Man
Send us Fan Mail With Christmas nearly upon us we in the Batt Cave bring you a New Zealand take on the Classic Gingerbread Man story... of course Bat-lamb manages to get a starring role! It's a rocking and rolling…
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A Christmas decoration story to dance to
Send us Fan Mail We're on the countdown to Christmas and Tanya, Batt Lamb and Pete start off the Batt Cave with presents of the imaginary kind - a fun musical game for everyone. Then Tanya tells a story about magic…
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Bedtime for Lulu
Send us Fan Mail Fresh from the Batt Cave comes the fun story of Lulu who is visiting her Grandmother and is having difficulty getting to sleep... so Grandmother has some very interesting ideas to help her sleep. Batt…
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Cuckoo... A Mexican Folk Tale
Send us Fan Mail Tanya and Pete, along with children on Waiheke, have just been celebrating the arrival of Migratory birds on our shores. These include the Bar-Tailed Godwit/Kuaka which has made the loooong journey…
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The hat seller and the monkeys
Send us Fan Mail Tanya and Pete have been celebrating Mad Hatters Day at a friends Birthday party, and decided to tell the Popular Indian story about a hat seller and his meeting with a group of very mischievous…
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