Before we launch Season 2 of our Cello Stories podcast over summer '22, here's a very special bonus episode, made for bedtime, in what we're calling a 'Cello SNORE-ies' tale of Boris the Bird helping unite a village of grumpy animals by helping them cook a delicious meal of 'stone soup' together! It's full of cello tunes and ukulele songs, with me, Becky from Beanstalk Arts telling the tale. This bonus episode focusses more on the quieter songs, ending with some gentle lullabies and we...

This week we're adventuring again into the deep dark woods, this time with Red Riding Hood (and a little help from my cello, Boris the Bird and my ukulele!).  I'm super grateful this week to have borrowed (with permission) some songs from some fabulous fellow musicians! The wonderful 'Stomping in the Woods' is by Ruti Lachs of Active Music, and features in her album 'Stomping in the Woods' that me and my kids LOVE.  Ruti has made some lovely online workshops around these songs too - you can...

This week's story is not such well-known tale, but I'm particularly excited to share this, as it's one of my all time favourites to tell. Brolga is a story of music, dancing, and finding ways to flourish in adversity. It's based on the Australian Dreamtime myth of the Brolga crane, and features a baby born who just LOVES to dance, inspiring all her friends to dance with her. As she gets older, and her friends get more and more serious, Brolga wonders if she should get a 'proper job' but the...

This week we're going to be trying to cross the bridge to the green green grass, watching out for trolls along the way!  You might find it helpful to find somethings around the house to make a little 'tip tap' sound, a middle sized 'clip clop' sound and a great big loud 'stamp stomp' sound to help join in with the story today, or of course you can use body percussion too! Our songs this week owe a great deal of thanks to the wonderful Steve Grocott, a friend,  colleague musician and...

This week's story is a great big animal singalong - bring your shakers, scarves and singing voice, and get ready to bark, squawk, meow and bray along with our animal band as we sing and dance our way to Bremen town (or as close as we can get...) Becky and her cello and ukulele, with a little bit of help from Boris the Bird and a host of other animals, will introduce our story this week! Beanstalk Arts is based in SE London, and you can book in for any of our real life sessions or join our...

Reena the Princess just doesn't like being a princess, there's far too much sitting still, being quiet and keeping clean, and her mum and dad just can't understand why she'd prefer life as a frog, hopping around in the garden! It turns out, with a bit of magic help from her fairy God-Boris-the-Bird, she finds a way to try the amphibious life-style, and - boy - it's just as good as she thought!  But...will she find a way to live happily and happily ever after, and will her mum and dad find a...

Did you know the bunny rabbit used to have short ears and a long swishy swoosh's tail?! In today's story we'll find out all about how this changed, and how grumpy old Mr Fox had his hand in the proceedings! Don't worry, whether her tail is long or short, Rachel rabbit is FABULOUS either which way, and I hope you're ready for a bit of sleeping bunnies, hopping and tail swishing with us :D

Hope you're ready to run run run as fast as you can with the Gingerbread Man in today's story and music podcast! Becky, her cello and ukulele will tell today's story, with a little bit of baking in the kitchen too, and a few special guests of our podcast listeners!  If you're really enjoying this podcast, remember you can support us by buying us a virtual coffee at https://ko-fi.com/beanstalkarts (and of course you can book for a real life class, download our music or pick up something...

This week we're going up, up, up that Beanstalk! Be ready to stomp like a giant, swoop like a bird and hopefully we'll find a little bit of magic on our way!

Welcome to the first episode of our new Beanstalk Arts Cello Stories podcast! This is a musical story aimed at preschool and KS1 children (as well as their families and older friends!), based on our sessions that run in South East London. This podcast was initially published exclusively for Patreon supporters in January 2021 during the UK covid lockdown, and I'm now delighted to share it with you all!  This week's story is an adventure into the woods with Goldilocks and the Three Bears!...