Gentle stories made to be felt slowly.
Softheld Stories makes calm, nature-led stories for young children to read, watch and listen to, alongside keepsakes made for real childhood communities and moments.
Step into a Softheld story.
Each story lives in more than one form. The same snail, the same forest, watched or read or listened to, whichever suits the evening.
The Snail's Rest
A snail takes a whole afternoon to cross a garden.
Read · Watch · Listen
Little Koala High in a Tree
A koala watches the valley from the top of a gum tree.
Read · Watch · Listen
The Sloth and the Nearby Tree
A sloth sets off for the next tree along, and takes all day.
Read · Watch · ListenA kinder yearbook that feels like a storybook.
Softheld Kinder Yearbooks turn a child's year at kinder into an illustrated story keepsake. It brings together their classmates, teachers, favourite memories and dreams for the future.
A page of their own
Every child appears as an illustrated character, drawn into the world of the book.
The class together
Group scenes place the children in the rooms, gardens and corners they spent the year in.
Their teachers
Teacher pages keep the people who ran the year in the story, not just in a photo grid.
In the children's words
Favourite memories and what they want to be one day, kept exactly as they said them.
Storytelling that slows childhood down.
Stories, illustration and sound made for the quiet part of the day. Whether it is a film about a snail or a book about one kinder year, the aim is the same: something a child can return to, and something a family keeps.
Using faster technology to create slower childhood experiences.
The tools sit behind the work. Human writing, art direction, editing and restraint decide what a child actually sees and hears.
Have a story you'd love to create?
Some stories begin with a real moment. A trip a child is preparing for. A grandparent who lives far away. A memory you want to hold onto. A milestone, friendship or family story that deserves its own little world.
Softheld Stories is beginning to open a small number of personalised story projects for families. If you have an idea, I'd love to hear about it.