Kayo and Hugo the Whale
Hugo the whale calls the whole sea home. When Kayo meets him, Hugo opens the little penguin's eyes to the wide world beyond the horizon and encourages him to explore it.
Audio stories for kids
Kayo the Penguin
Little penguin. Big world.
Kayo is a little penguin from an icy island at the bottom of the world. On his travels with Hugo the whale, he meets animals and learns something from each of them. Every episode ends with fun facts about Kayo's new friend and the animals that live nearby.
Listen
The whole series: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts
Start with episode 1
This is where Kayo's journey begins.
More episodes
Kayo and Ed the Elephant
In the Indian jungle, Kayo meets Ed, an elephant who never forgets. Kayo saves a baby elephant from a python and discovers that everything in the world is connected.
Kayo and Zuza the Giraffe
On the African savannah, Kayo meets Zuza, a giraffe who sees further than anyone. She shows him that everyone has their own "just right".
Kayo and Kiki the Koala
In Australia, Kayo meets Kiki, a koala who is in no hurry at all. He learns from her that sometimes it's best to sit down and wait. As he waits, he begins to see the world in a new light, and things he never noticed before come to him on their own.
Kayo and Miko the Snow Monkey
In Japan, Kayo meets Miko, a snow monkey who bows to say hello and never raises his voice. Kayo learns that being polite is more than following rules: it means doing something kind for others because you want to, not because you have to.
One story - many languages
Kayo's stories are available in several languages, with more episodes and language versions to come. Each version tells the same story and keeps the original number and order of paragraphs. The translations preserve the meaning of the original while using natural language. The music and sound effects accompany the same scenes, which may help children connect familiar events with words and sentences in the other language.
One way to listen:
- First the whole episode in the language the child understands better, so they can follow the story.
- Then the same episode in the other language, the next day or on a car ride.
- Over the following days, the same episode again in the language the child is less familiar with, or just one chosen scene.
The animal facts at the end of the episode are a chance to compare the word for the animal in your chosen pair of languages, for example, whale - wieloryb.
Compare how Kayo's name is written and pronounced in the other language.
- KajoPolski
- KayoEnglish
- KaioEspañol
- कायोहिन्दी
Who creates Kayo's stories
My name is Jakub Leśniak. I write the Kayo stories, and Ola Stalmach narrates them. Kayo's story began as a bedtime tale for our son Kajetan during long evenings on faraway islands in Thailand.
I'm an architect and a musician, and Ola is an engineer. In our day-to-day work, we create scenes and special effects for films and architectural projects. Kayo's stories grew out of our passion, our love for children and our wish to create something that would draw them in, inspire them and teach them something. Our son listens to a lot of audio stories, and we know how good they are for his development and imagination.
We have travelled a lot across Asia, South America and Europe, and we still do. We have lived in the Czech Republic and Spain, and now we live in Poland. These experiences help us better understand parents whose children are growing up in a multilingual environment.
Ola reads the Polish episodes. The versions in other languages were made with a clone of her voice.
For parents, schools and libraries
Feel free to share the episode links with parents, teachers and librarians. If you run sessions for bilingual children or write about stories for kids, write to us.