You can make up a bedtime story on the spot if you stop trying to be creative and follow a formula: name a hero the child likes, give them one wish, put three obstacles on the road, and let the child solve the last one. That is the whole method. The rest of this guide is the formula unpacked, a set of fixed sentences to get you started without thinking, and a dozen fallbacks for when the first idea dies.
The formula on one line
Someone wants something, sets off to get it, is stopped three times, and the third time the child says how they get past. This is the journey-and-return shape that most of the journey stories in the library use, because it is the easiest shape to tell without a script. The road supplies the order of events, so you never have to remember where you are: you are always either on the way, at an obstacle, or coming home. The Lad Who Went to the North Wind is exactly this, three trips to the North Wind and three magic gifts, and How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune is a road, a series of companions and a house at the end. Neither needs a plot; they need a road.
The four sentences you say every time
Do not improvise the opening. Improvise the middle. The opening is the same four sentences, with blanks, every night, and after a week you will say them without thinking:
- "Once, not so long ago, there was a ______ called ______." Ask the child for both blanks. Take the first answer.
- "And more than anything in the world, ______ wanted ______." Ask for the wish. If the child says "a million pounds", say "a million pounds' worth of what?"
- "So one morning ______ put on their ______ and set off down the road to find it." The item of clothing is a free detail; it makes the hero real and gives you something to bring back at the end.
- "And the first thing they came to was..." Now you are in the middle, and the middle is where the list below takes over.
Said aloud, that is thirty seconds, and the child has done half the work already.
The pocket list: six obstacles and six helpers
An obstacle is anything that stops a road. Keep six in your head and pick any two for the first two tries:
- A river too wide to cross.
- A locked gate, and someone who will only open it if asked properly.
- A very dark wood.
- Something big and grumpy asleep across the path.
- Somebody small who needs help before the hero can go on.
- The wrong turning, and the road going in a circle.
A helper is whatever gets the hero past. Keep six of those too: a bird who knows the way, a boat made of a leaf, a song that makes the grumpy thing sleepy, a key in the hero's pocket that was there all along, a friend who owes a favour, and the hero's own particular skill (a digger digs; a girl who is good at climbing climbs). The stories on this site pair these constantly: the goats in The Three Billy Goats Gruff face one obstacle, the troll on the bridge, three times, and get past by size and by cheek. Take one obstacle and one helper, put them together, and you have a try. Do it twice, and the third one is the child's.
Letting the child solve the last one
At the third obstacle, stop and ask. The exact words matter, because a badly put question gets "I don't know", and then you are inventing again. Do not ask "What happens next?" which is too big. Ask a question with the answer half inside it:
- "The dragon was asleep right across the bridge. Now, Milo had a whistle in his pocket and a sandwich in his bag. Which one do you think he used?"
- "The gate was locked and the goat would not open it. What is the magic word?"
- "The river was too wide. What could a hedgehog use as a boat?"
Whatever they answer, say "Exactly," and tell it back to them as the story: "So Milo took out the sandwich and put it down on the bridge, and the dragon smelt it in its sleep, and rolled over towards it, and there was just enough room to tiptoe past." The child has now solved the story. That matters more than whether it made sense; the child who solves the third try is the child who asks for the story again tomorrow, and this is the same handover that how to write a bedtime story recommends for written tales.
A worked example, as it actually comes out
Here is the method run in real time for a four-year-old who asked for a story about a penguin. It is about a hundred words, which is a two-minute telling with pauses:
Once, not so long ago, there was a penguin called Pip. And more than anything in the world, Pip wanted to see a tree, because there are no trees where penguins live. So one morning Pip put on her red scarf and set off across the ice. The first thing she came to was a crack in the ice, too wide to jump. A seal popped up. "Hold my flipper," he said, and pulled her across. Then she came to a very cold wind that pushed her backwards. Pip turned around and walked backwards into it, which penguins are good at. And then she came to the sea. "How does a penguin cross the sea, do you think?" "She swims!" "Exactly. She swims."
The landing was: Pip found a tree, sat under it, and it was so nice she fell asleep; when she woke up the seal had come to take her home, scarf and all. No new information after the tree. Same slow ending as always.
A dozen fallbacks for when the idea dies
Some nights the hero is named and the wish is agreed and your mind is empty. Use one of these; they all work with any hero.
- The hero is looking for a lost thing, and it is under their own bed at the end.
- The hero has to deliver a letter, and the third obstacle is the person it is for.
- The hero is the smallest in a line of animals pulling something, like the mouse in The Enormous Turnip, and the smallest is what makes the difference.
- The hero has one wish and uses it on someone else.
- Race a slow animal against a fast one, and give the slow one your voice; it is The Hare and the Tortoise with the child's pet in it.
- The hero goes to visit a cousin in the town and comes home, deciding home is better, which is The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse with a new animal.
- The hero is given a rule ("never open the blue door") and the story is the road to the blue door.
- Something in the house wakes up at night, a spoon or a wellington boot, and goes on the journey instead.
- The hero has to get a sleepy animal to bed, and the third try is the child's own bedtime routine.
- The hero swaps jobs with someone for a day and is glad to swap back.
- The hero goes to the moon and finds it is exactly like home, only quieter.
- Retell tonight's actual day with the hero standing in for the child; turning your child's day into a story covers this in full.
Landing it when you are half asleep yourself
The end of an improvised story is where tired parents ramble, adding a second adventure because they cannot find the exit. The exit is always the same: the hero gets the wish or gets something better, turns around, and goes home by the same road, with each obstacle now friendly. "And on the way back, the dragon waved, and the goat opened the gate without being asked, and the seal was waiting at the crack in the ice." Then the fixed ending: "And ______ took off their ______, and got into bed, and the house was quiet, and everybody slept." Say it slowly. Stop. On the nights when even the four sentences are beyond you, bedtime stories when you are too tired to read has shorter ways to keep the ritual alive.
When it goes wrong
The child rejects the hero. "Not a penguin. A digger." Fine: same wish, same road, same obstacles, and now the third try is solved by digging. The story gets too exciting. You let a wolf in, and the child is sitting up. Have the wolf yawn. Everything in an improvised story can be made sleepy by making it yawn, and the child will usually yawn too. You forget the hero's name. Ask: "And what was her name again?" The child will tell you with some satisfaction, and think it was part of the game. The child wants it again tomorrow, word for word. That is the best outcome there is, and the reason to write down the skeleton before you go to bed: hero, wish, three obstacles, how the third was solved. Or turn the whole thing into one of the storytelling games, where the child's version is the only one that counts.
Tonight
Read The Lad Who Went to the North Wind so you both have the road shape in your ear. Then say the four sentences, ask for the hero and the wish, and go. If you dry up, use fallback number one; the lost thing is always under the bed.
