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| We love many, many bedtime stories, but WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT? is sort of a favorite around here. Don't know why? ;o) |
Bedtime stories are such an easy and wonderful way to keep reading fun for young readers.
But a recent study showed that many kids and parents are not cuddling up with bedtime stories on a regular basis (or even at all). So, for today's "Keep Reading Fun Day", I want to talk about the many benefits of bedtime stories (and to list just a few of our favorites)!:
1. They are the perfect cuddle time at the end of a day! There is nothing better than cuddling up with a favorite (or often many favorite) bedtime books!
2. The repetition of these bedtime favorites helps build an early love of reading. This is so fun to see happening with my little guy right now. He asks for his favorites again and again (and when I've read them to him as many times as I possibly could before we must turn out the lights, he loves to keep them close to himself in bed and look at them as he goes to sleep.)
3. Bedtime stories are a wonderfully easy way to make sure we always fit in our daily-read alouds. Even though regular read-alouds are super-important for young readers, it can be ever so easy to miss fitting them in when things get busy. When they're part of a regular bedtime routine, these importanT read-alouds will never be missed! (Of course we always make sure to fit them in as many other places in the day as we can too. :o) )
And now for just a few of our bedtime favorites:
TEN LITTLE FINGERS AND TEN LITTLE TOES
by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury.
Oh my! This book is just so very beautiful and so peaceful and calming to read at bed time. My little guy asks for it again and again!
NIGHT-NIGHT, FOREST FRIENDS by Annie Bach
The illustrations in this recently released board book are so very beautiful! Another favorite around here. I especially love the inclusion of the one animal who does not go to sleep at night. Very calming.
BABY DANCE by Ann Taylor and Marjorie van Heerden
We found this book on our most recent trip to the library and my little guy loves it. It is meant to be sung and I have sung it to him so many times that he is now singing it with me.
GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown
Like many parents I'm sure, I have this book completely memorized. I read it to my oldest and my youngest every night for years. A bedtime classic!
TIME FOR BED by Mem Fox and Jane Dyer
Another one that we read every night for years. So beautifully calming as each animal gets put to sleep.
WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT? by Brianna Caplan Sayres and Christian Slade
Yes, I couldn't leave out this bedtime favorite! Especially good for truck loving little ones. :o) My little guy really does love it for a bedtime story. "Mommy wrote it," he tells me. "Mommy wrote 'Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?". So much fun when he completes each rhyme!
What do you think about the importance of bedtime stories? What bedtime stories do (or did) your children enjoy? (Looking forward to some new favorites to add to our list!)
I LOVE bedtime stories, too! Always have. A favorite of mine which you haven't listed is Dr. Seuss's classic, THE SLEEP BOOK. My debut bedtime story picture book will be out next year. Like yours, it rhymes! And... great post, as always.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great suggestion, Laura! We've read a lot of Dr. Seuss around here but we haven't read THE SLEEP BOOK. Must check it out!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your debut bedtime book! What a great concept! It sounds adorable! Can't wait to read it (and hopefully interview you for "Good News Day Tuesday" in celebration of your book launch! :o) )
Back when, GOODNIGHT MOON was our go to sleep book, putting my kids into a sort of trance just before. I knew it by heart, and would say the words even if we travelled without it. May WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT be that for this generation, Briana.
ReplyDeleteAwww! Thanks Mirka! You are so sweet!!
ReplyDeleteI would do the same thing with several of our favorite bedtime books. Even if we forgot GOODNIGHT MOON, TIME FOR BED or WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT? back at home, I could recite those books anywhere. :o)
My little guy is only 15 months, but I read to him when he's getting his last sippy of the day, just before bed. It's my fav time to read to him, b/c w/the milk he'll actually sit there and listen to the story. During the day the only way I can keep him in my lap to read is w/touch and feel books, or lift the flap books. I'm hoping by the time he's two or three he'll be following me around, begging me to read to him. I'll ignore housework for that! =)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're doing awesome, Leandra! So great that you're little guy will sit and listen to bedtime stories when he's drinking his milk. And touch and feel books and lift the flap books are fantastic for a 15 month old. At that age moving around is just so very exciting! So great that you are keeping your read-alouds fun! (My little guy couldn't sit through whole stories at first but we just did little bits. And now he's asking for "One more time" again and again. As long as we keep it positive, they will get there. :o) )
DeleteWe were at the home of some friends last week and their sons (age 9 and 11) couldn't be pried away from their bedtime reading with mom (Harry Potter) to say goodnight to the guests! So -- it's not just for littles! :)
ReplyDeleteLove this, Marianne! I actually thought about this as I wrote this post because I realized that in the post was basically talking about bedtime stories for my little guy. But my oldest doesn't listen to these types of bedtime stories anymore. Instead, he enjoys listening to one (or several) chapters from a favorite book (like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Boxcar Children). It is so wonderful that your friends are keeping the bedtime story ritual alive with older kids. I hope we're still going strong when my guys are 9 and 11!
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