In our house

We have a three tier bedtime

Edie has her bath

Milk with mummy

Then stories with Daddy

Bea has a bath or shower then stories with Mummy

Esther and William have their bath or shower

Some ‘special’ time to read or play quietly

Then stories with mummy before independent reading in bed

Edie and Bea enjoy similar books

Though Edie will enjoy one book on repeat for a few days in a row

Bea has three stories each night

Often a seasonal story

A Bible story

And something of her choice

Esther and William have a chapter of a book with me

We are currently reading I Am David

But we also try to share some non fiction from time to time

And we read lots of short stories

Esther and William still both adore picture books

And so we often all snuggle up for stories together

I want to introduce to our days a regular

Books with Breakfast routine

And as often as dance classes allow

A Poetry Tea

And I also want to share with you

The bedtime books the 17 month old and 4 year old are enjoying

This is our first five

The first of what could well be many

Mini autumn collections

These are some of our favourites!

Squirrel’s Autumn Search

This is a lovely book

Squirrel loses his food

And asks all the animals in the wood if they have found it

Great for exploring signs of autumn

Thinking about woodland animals

Thinking about hibernation

Introducing habitats

So much to gain from a beautifully illustrated story

About a young squirrel who loves autumn

The Gruffalo

A family favourite for many years

It is Edie’s turn to love the Gruffalo

And also be just a little frightened of him

She asks for the story over and over

She listens until we meet The Gruffalo

And then she is not so sure

What she does like to do

Is examine her wooden Gruffalo

Looking for his prickles and his tusks and his claws

She also loves spotting the different woodland creatures

This book has taught Edie to recognise woodpeckers, kingfishers, toadstools and frogs

David,myself and the older children

All now know this book by heart

And can often be found doing Readers’ Theatre

Around the tea table

A firm family favourite

For autumn and any season

Owl Babies

Another classic

Much loved in our home

This story is beautifully written and illustrated

It is wonderful to read aloud

The text is simple but the language is rich

Poetic

Lyrical

The words fall of your tongue in a musical rhythm

It really is a joy to read out loud

Because of the structure and repetition

The children are soon able to join in and read along

This is the story of three siblings

Waiting for their mother to come home

Helping each other to be brave

In our house this book is often performed with finger puppets!

I find this text perfect for performing or reading aloud

Giving each owl baby a distinct voice and character of its own

The text in parts is poetic and reads much like a lullaby

It is a classic bedtime tale

We’re Going On A Leaf Hunt

We love this book

Written in the style of

We’re Going On A Bear Hunt

(Another book we love!)

This time a group of children

Are going on a leaf hunt

The only problem with this

Is that it is American

And some of the leaves we do not find here in the UK

So, for an autumn project

We are going to head to Bedgebury Pinetum

To go on a leaf hunt of our own

And as part of it

We are going to write our own version of the book

Watch this space!

It Was A Cold, Dark Night

This is our most read autumn story so far this year!!

Edie loves hedgehogs

It is a word that she loves to try and say

We have lots of tiny toy hedgehogs and she loves to play with them

She makes nests for them in the leaves

Just like Ned the Hedgehog finds to sleep in

In this book

When we read this book

Edie likes to pretend to be the wind

And blows at all the pages

We say hello and goodnight to all the animals

As we meet them in their homes

This is a great story for introducing nocturnal animals

And their habitats

We made a sensory small world set to go with this story

All three girls have enjoyed acting out the story

Making dens for their animals

And adding new creatures

Edie loves looking at the pictures over and over again

Because of this book she can name all the animals

And point to and name the moon and stars

This is actually one of Esther’s old reading books

It has only a few words

So leaves lots for the children to imagine

The best kind of book in my opinion

When looking to inspire play

Esther and Bea take turns to read this book with Edie

Which is really very sweet

These are five of our favourite autumn bedtime books

We have lots more to come

What is your favourite autumn story?