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Children’s media project promoting inclusion and learning in the Pacific

Storytime and Play supports a vibrant local children’s media movement to promote inclusion and equitable learning opportunities for all children in the Pacific. We are on a mission to establish a regional children’s media development and play program that is created according to Pacific culture and language.

This website shares project stories, media content and masterclass learnings. We hope you enjoy exploring this dynamic learning space, memory box and archive.

The power of stories

“The power of Kastom Stories and storytelling is slowly diminishing from our society. It’s not because we intend for this, but it’s because the world is changing, interests have shifted. For us, the writers and artists, the process was an important one. It took us back to a moment when our parents told us about their upbringing in the storytelling world. It was interesting, a huge learning and we are very proud to be carrying that forward for whoever is coming next.”

Dreamcast, SOLOMON ISLANDS

Finding a voice

“In the Pacific Island culture is the fear of making mistakes. This young boy who we are working with, that’s been driving the stories, he’s grown so much as a young person, especially his confidence. The mum has seen it without me trying to preach to her. ‘Let him play, let him find the character’s voice‘, which has allowed him to find his voice.”

RockSteady, NIUE

Breaking the mould

“Early childhood development is new here in Samoa. Storytime & Play provides an alternative way of looking at it, where it’s not only from an academic perspective, but to really get parents’ participation. We want to be able to break the mould, to impact and to change the mindsets and see a positive impact. We want our kids to be seen and heard.”

Samoa Gem, SAMOA

Our Work

Between June-December 2022, local children’s radio and podcast episodes were created in the Pacific Island countries of Niue, Samoa and Solomon Islands.

Traditional stories were adapted for children’s audio, for safe keeping and content creation, driving intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer, digital inclusion and language preservation.

Content was linked to Play Hubs at community level to support children’s play and learning, augmented by printed materials.