diff --git a/elasticsearch/exceptions.py b/elasticsearch/exceptions.py
index 9da7c71a..a05e8486 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/exceptions.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/exceptions.py
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ class ElastiSearchException(Exception):
     pass
 
 
+class SerializationError(ElastiSearchException):
+    pass
+
+
 class TransportError(ElastiSearchException):
     pass
 
diff --git a/elasticsearch/serializer.py b/elasticsearch/serializer.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..394bc798
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elasticsearch/serializer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import json
+from datetime import date, datetime
+
+from .exceptions import SerializationError
+
+class JSONSerializer(object):
+    def default(self, data):
+        if isinstance(data, (date, datetime)):
+            return data.isoformat()
+        raise TypeError
+
+    def loads(self, s):
+        try:
+            return json.loads(s)
+        except ValueError as e:
+            raise SerializationError(e)
+
+    def dumps(self, data):
+        try:
+            return json.dumps(data, default=self.default)
+        except ValueError as e:
+            raise SerializationError(e)
+
+
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3727c5c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from elasticsearch.serializer import JSONSerializer
+
+class TestJSONSerializer(TestCase):
+    def test_datetime_serialization(self):
+        self.assertEquals(u'{"d": "2010-10-01T02:30:00"}', JSONSerializer().dumps({'d': datetime(2010, 10, 1, 2, 30)}))