Our story starts some 30 years ago when my father first began telling me his animal stories. Today I continue this age-old tradition and retell our stories to my own children.
Storytime Africa has evolved as a direct result of our wanting to share these stories with you and your children.
My father, John Bush, remains with the animals in the Western Cape, whilst I, Eliza, now live and manage the business from Johannesburg. We are a small family business where customer care, value for money and above all education, entertainment and sheer enjoyment have been key to our stories’ remarkable success.
Adults and children alike will be enthralled by these colourful characters who, like us, so often learn wisdom on the path to folly. We hope that you will take this opportunity to invite these vibrant, unforgettable animals of the African bush into your homes where, we know, you will enjoy them as much as we do.
You’ll also be delighted to know that there are many more just waiting to take the stage.
Feel free to download some of our free fun stuff on the Freebies page and have a listen to some clips from the CDs when you visit our shop.
Thank you for visiting our site
Eliza
At Storytime Africa we are passionate about the importance and value of stories and story books in children’s lives. And the earlier they start, the better. Apart from the important emotional benefits that regular story time generates between parents and their children, stories told, or books read, develop a child’s imagination and concentration in a way no other medium can. What’s more, they take the child’s relatively contained environment and expand it into an infinite universe of information, adventure and wonder.
The stories have also come in for criticism from some editors along the way for using language that is “too old”. We disagree and teachers who have used our CDs and books in the classroom side with us. Kids learn language and extend their vocabulary by discovering new words in a context in which they are intimately involved. Sometimes the meaning is apparent. Sometimes they need to ask and ask they do because it’s the intensity of involvement that provides the impetus. You’ll find some big words in our stories. Teachers have found young children using them correctly within days.
All over the world educators and psychologists are lamenting the assault of technology on young minds, citing its advance at the expense of traditional storytelling as amongst the primary reasons for a number of early learning problems.
Ironically, in marrying the two we hope this website can help restore the balance in some small way.
