Make your own bedtime story

How it works

The story has a fixed, gentle shape: your child gets into bed, wonders what a favourite animal is doing, and learns that the animal is going to sleep too, under the same star. Then your child says goodnight to the room and breathes slowly, in and out. Your words are dropped into that shape. If you leave a box empty, a plain word is used in its place, so you can press the button straight away and still get a story.

Why a child's own name helps

Young children listen differently when the story is about them. Hearing their own name, their own blanket and the person who is actually sitting on the bed pulls their attention away from the day and into the room. The slow breathing near the end, "in... and out", is the useful part: read those words at the speed of calm breathing and most children begin to match it without being asked.

Tips

• For "where the animal lives", write the words as they should appear after "far away": in a quiet forest, on a snowy mountain, under the mango tree at Nani's house.
• Use a soft toy as the animal. The toy can then be tucked in beside the child when the animal curls up in the story.
• Change one thing each night, the animal or the place, and keep the rest. The sameness is what soothes.
• Brothers and sisters can each have their own version, read one after the other.

Privacy

The story is put together inside your own browser. The name and other words you type are not sent to us or to anyone else, and they are not saved; when you close the page they are gone. To keep a story, print it or copy the text.

For ready-made stories, go to all bedtime stories.