Learning through stories

Guilty as charged like most parents I too have exposed my children to bright playful animated videos with foottapping tunes Vivid and catchy they invariably added to their screen time And we all know that is not a good thing Enter childrenrsquos podcastsmdasha blessing in disguise and a fun way to listen to stories because well all of us canrsquot be great storytellersA recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers pegs India as the thirdlargest podcast listening market in the world after China and the US with 576 million monthly listeners This user base is likely to grow exponentially at 30 per cent CAGR for the next five years While podcasts may be a new format for India the concept of storytelling isnrsquot really a novel one Almost all of us have grown up listening to stories by our parents or grandparentsWe tried the app HeyCloudy Besides the large number of stories on it in English as well as Indian languages we were impressed by the massive educational content on it too Think subjectbased quizzes nursery rhymes guess the sound games phonic stories whywhy stories brain teasers and info on famous personalities Therersquos also morning music lullabies meditation nature sounds beach music and Indian classical instrument music too Storywise too the content is massive From folklore from India and around the world to Aesoprsquos Fables mythological stories adventure tales and bedtime stories there is something for every listener While the app itself is adfree the only downside is the constant selfpromotion of the app on every small minutelong quiz and guess game clips We think that adding stories from the Guru Granth Sahib the Quran and Buddhist teachings among others would make the app more inclusive and inculcate a sense of toleranceThis immersive and learningbased story listening app was conceptualised designed and developed in India last year and caters to kids aged two to eight years Created by Chitman Kaur a mother and entrepreneur it hopes to bring joy to growing up with listening to stories not watching them Thatrsquos why the screenfree digital listening app allows kids to immerse in childsafe content created in collaboration with early childhood expertsWhat HeyCloudyWhere Android and iOSAdditional premium content at Rs 129month