Bedtime Stories For Children – 15 Delightful Books To Read Together
This post is part of our archived content. While we’ve shifted focus, it still may be useful.
Reading bedtime stories to your children is one of the best ways to end the day and is a great addition to your evening routine.
After you have tucked your baby, toddler or tween into bed, fish out a storybook and take them on an adventure before they go off to dreamland.
Think bath, story, cuddles – bed!
Why should you read bedtime stories to your kids?
There are many benefits of immersing your children in the world of books and reading early.
You can start reading to your baby while they’re still in the womb; no such thing as too early when it comes to books!
Looking for more reasons to read bedtime stories to children?
- It helps them relax their minds after a day of activities in the house, school and playground.
- It aids in building your child’s vocabulary and sharpening their reading skills.
- Captivating bedtime stories like fairy tales and adventure stories improve your kid’s creativity, curiosity and imaginative abilities.
- Reading is a great way to improve communicative competence in your children as they learn through the discussions and questions that follow the stories to make their points clearly.
- Build strong family bonds as you spend quality time together every evening
Give your children something fun to look forward to every night and reduce your begging and forcing them into bed when it’s time to go to sleep.
15 Captivating Bedtime Stories For Children That Are Fun To Read And Give A Moral Lesson
This is a story told by the popular Greek fabulist Aesop. It tells the story of a shepherd boy tending the family sheep. He got bored and thought of a way to have some fun.
He ran into the village crying “Wolf! Wolf!” and the villagers came running to help him, but it was all a trick.
He did it again and again and one day the wolf really came but when he cried to the villagers, they didn’t come to help because they thought it was a trick.
The story teaches the importance of being honest and truthful at all times.
Age range – 6+
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Originally entitled ‘The Three Bears’, it is an old English fairy tale recounting what happened to a little girl named Goldilocks.
She lost her way in the woods and came upon a cottage belonging to three bears who were away.
She ate their porridge, sat on their chair, and even slept in their bed. When the bears returned, she ran away and was able to locate her home.
The story teaches children to respect people’s space, privacy and personal property.
Age range – 4+
A great giant had the most beautiful garden but he won’t let children play in it.
Once he was away for a long time and the children enjoyed playing in the garden until the giant came back and built a very high wall around the garden.
The wall was so high that sunshine could not get in.
The garden stopped growing beautiful fruits and flowers till the children made a hole in the wall and the garden blossomed again.
They then became friends with the giant.
The story teaches the importance of sharing and helping.
Age range – 4+
A little house dragon had seen all other dragons blow fire and he wanted to do the same. He tried after watching his mother and made a big blue flame but not a fire.
He felt sad and hid himself away. His mother tried to cheer him up and showed him how to blow fire.
He was told to practice but he didn’t. It was a long time before he started practising and he got better.
The children will learn that practice is necessary to become better at any task.
Age range – 4+
King Midas and His Golden Touch
King Midas was granted a wish and he wished that everything he touched would turn into gold.
His wish was granted and at first, he was very happy because he had a lot of gold but soon, he found out that he couldn’t touch his family.
He couldn’t even eat food. He became sad and wanted the wish to go away.
The story teaches that contentment is a good virtue and that greed leads to no good.
Age range – 4+
This is another interesting fable from Aesop that will make the children laugh and learn. A grasshopper spent the summer making music and stored nothing to eat in winter.
When winter came, he had nothing, so he went to an ant to beg for food but the ant gave him nothing.
He stayed hungry and learned a serious lesson.
This story teaches the importance of hard work and the need to do things at the right time.
Age range – 4+
The Ugly Duckling is a great story about acceptance, self-awareness and personality.
It tells of a duck that was born but rejected by his family because he was grey and ugly.
In sadness, he ran away from home and wandered around in loneliness until he came to the home of a farmer who took care of him till he grew and became a beautiful swan.
From this story, children learn to accept themselves no matter the opinion of other people.
Age range – 4+
The Wolf Who Wanted to Change His Colour
A wolf became unsatisfied with the natural colour of his skin and he decided to change it in a variety of ways.
He tried many things but failed each time.
This went on until the wolf learned to accept himself and become comfortable in his own skin.
In this story, kids learn to accept themselves for who they are.
Age range – 4+
This Aesop fable tells of a tortoise and a hare that ran a race.
The hare made fun of the tortoise for being slow and the tortoise did not pay him any attention.
The race started and the hare felt that he was too fast to lose a race against the tortoise so he decided to take a nap.
While he was sleeping, the tortoise slowly went past him and won the race.
The story teaches that slow and steady wins the race. Children also learn not to look down on others..
Age range – 3+
This classic fairytale was first published literary by Italian writer Giambattista.
It recounts the story of a young girl whose mother died. Her father married a wicked woman who became her stepmother and treated her badly.
She never lets her have anything nice but her fairy godmother gets her to a famous ball, connects her with the prince and at last they get married.
This story is a great pointer that dreams can come true.
Age range – 6+
For children aged zero to two years old, try one of these simple bedtime stories:
A funny story about a woman who kept swallowing animals.
You can also sing the nursery rhyme to make it more fun.
A lovely short story in poetic form about love and hugs.
It has an adorable cast of dogs and a great song to lull babies to sleep.
A lovely bedtime song that helps you tell your baby that you will love them forever.
A bedtime story that tells of a little bunny saying goodnight to the moon, his room and all the items around him.
A great book that ushers your baby into dreamland.
A worldwide favourite bedtime story about a caterpillar that ate so much till its stomach began to ache.
It is well illustrated with beautiful pictures.
How to make your kids look forward to bedtime stories
Read with passion
When you read your kids a bedtime story, get into the characters.
Use your voice tempo, pitch, demonstrations and movements to help make the story come alive.
Point as you read
When you do this, especially when you make them point with you, you are teaching them alphabet and word recognition and helping them develop strong reading skills.
Ask open-ended questions
After reading the story, take five minutes or more to talk about the story and the morals it teaches.
Start conversations by asking open-ended questions that help the children think deeply.
You now have 15 short bedtime stories for children to choose from.
Many of these short stories can be found for free online.
Your local library likely has some of these books in stock which helps keep costs down and helps you rotate the stories regularly.
You can also try looking in second-hand bookshops and charity shops.
Happy reading.