Five minutes before lights-out

Some nights you have no plan for a bedtime story. You can still make one up. Here are five things to try.

Start with something in the room

Pick the nearest object: a sock on the floor, a crack in the ceiling, the bear on the pillow. Ask it one question: where did you come from? A familiar thing is easy to describe when you are tired, and easy for your child to picture.

Give the hero the feeling your child has tonight

Nervous about school. Missing someone. Too wound up to sleep. Let the hero feel the same, and let the hero be fine by the end. That is enough of a plot.

Let your child add one thing

Stop and ask a small question: what colour is the door? What does the bear say? Whatever they answer goes into the story. It keeps them listening, and the story is partly theirs.

End quietly

The ending doesn't need a twist. The traveller gets home, the light goes out, the bear keeps watch. Slow down on the last line and keep your voice low.

If they ask for it again

A story made up tonight is easy to forget by morning. If your child asks for it again, write it down the next day while you still remember it. You can put it on a Make Your Own card with a voice and pictures, and let them choose what happens with the left and right buttons. How a Yoto card can ask a question shows how.