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There’s something truly magical about reading bedtime stories for children. Be it a fairy tale or a magical adventure, reading a bedtime story offers a good opportunity for parents and children to forge closer bonds. It also helps to soothe a young child to sleep.
In this article, we’ll take a look at why it is good to read bedtime stories for sleep and share some classic stories that will help your child fall asleep fast.
Why Bedtime Stories Are Good For Sleep?
Bedtime stories are usually read at a time when a child is feeling relaxed and ready to sleep. So, there is this association that when a bedtime story is read, it’s time to sleep [1].
Over time, it becomes a great sleep cue to trigger sleepiness and relaxation. If you happen to have children who may be more active at night, reading out a bedtime story or playing an audio could get them to bed much quicker!
See also: Read To Sleep: The Magic of Bedtime Stories
A List of Classic Fairy Tale Books
For generations, bedtime stories have captivated readers with their magical journeys, adventures, or life lessons. The more popular ones are typically classic fairy tales that feature a princess, royal kingdoms or faraway lands.
Here is a list of some classic fairy tales (do you spot any familiar ones?):
- Cinderella: A story about a young girl who meets a fairy godmother who turns her into a princess for a night. She meets her prince charming at the ball.
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Snow White is a princess whose evil stepmother tries to poison her.
- Sleeping Beauty: This classic tale features a young princess who is cursed to fall into a deep sleep for 100 years and can only be awakened by a true love kiss from a prince.
- Little Red Riding Hood: A young girl is sent to visit her grandmother, but along the way, she encounters a cunning wolf who has evil plans.
- The Little Mermaid: This story is about a mermaid princess who dreams of living on land, hoping to win the love of a prince.
- Pinocchio: Pinocchio is about a wooden puppet who dreams about becoming a real boy.
- Rapunzel: A girl who has long, golden hair is locked away in a tower by an evil sorceress, but finds hope when a prince comes to rescue her.
- Beauty and the Beast: Belle, a kind-hearted girl, is imprisoned in a castle by a beast who learns to see the good in him.
- The Ugly Duckling: This is a heartwarming story of an outcast duckling who grows into a beautiful swan, teaching a lesson about self-acceptance.
- The Frog Prince: A spoiled princess makes a promise to a frog, unbeknownst to her that he is a prince.
4 Free Bedtime Stories Audio For Children
Here are also some free bedtime stories audio that you can listen to and play for your kids when they need help going to bed.
1. Goldilocks and The Three Bears
Author: Robert Southey
This short story by Robert Southey tells the story of three bears— a small bear, a medium bear, and a large bear, who lived together in a cottage in the woods.
These bears are described as kind-hearted, hospitable, and harmless bears. One day, after making porridge for breakfast, the bears decided to go out into the woods. A little girl with golden locks of hair, who goes by the name of Goldilocks, stumbles upon the cottage. Going into the house, she sees the three bowls of porridge and tries each one of them.
Thereafter, feeling tired, she decided to try each of the beds until she was comfortable, falling asleep. When the bears came back, they discovered that their food was gone. That’s when they discovered Goldilocks in their house.
2. The Three Little Pigs
Author: James Halliwell-Phillipps
“The Three Little Pigs” is a story about three pigs who decided to build their house using different materials. The first pig built his house with straws, the second pig with sticks, and the third pig with bricks.
A Big Bad Wolf soon arrives, feeling hungry. Seeing these pigs and the houses that they were in, he decided that they would make good food. He managed to blow down the first pig’s house which was made of straws and the second pig’s house which was made with sticks. When he arrived at the third pig’s house, he was confident that he could do the same. However, his attempt had failed.
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3. Aladdin and The Magic Lamp
Author: Antoine Galland
In the city of Agrabah, there lived a poor young man named Aladdin who dreams of a better life. One day, he meets an older merchant who claims to be his uncle. This man convinces Aladdin to work with him so that Aladdin can become rich.
As Aladdin is sent away to a hidden cave, he discovers a mysterious lamp. Rubbing this lamp, a powerful genie appears and allows him to make a wish. The genie then grants his wish to be let out of the cave.
With possession of this lamp, Aladdin returns home to his mother. With the aid of the genie of the lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries Princess Badroulbadour.
4. Cinderella
Author: Charles Perrault
Cinderella is a classic fairytale that follows a young and beautiful girl who is forced to live with her evil stepmother and two stepsisters. Despising her existence, Cinderella was made to do all the house chores by her stepmother and stepsisters and lived in poor conditions.
One day, there was news about a ball being held at the palace. The prince in the city was to attend and invited girls from all over the city. However, the stepmother and two stepsisters refused to let Cinderella attend. Instead, they gave her a list of chores to do and informed her that they would be home before the clock struck twelve o’clock.
At this time, a fairy godmother appeared, helping her to transform into a noble lady for the ball. Cinderella transformed her raggedy outfit into a set of beautiful ball gown and a pair of crystal glass slippers. Reminding her that after twelve o’clock the magic would release automatically, Cinderella then attended the ball, and the prince was fascinated by her as soon as she saw her.
However, the happy time passed quickly, and Cinderella had to leave immediately, leaving a glass slipper in the panic. The prince retrieves her glass slipper, and makes it his goal to find her. He managed to find Cinderella in her house, who the shoe fits. He married her and they lived happily ever after.
See also: How To Help Your Kids Sleep After Halloween
Conclusion
Reading bedtime stories can be good for putting your child to bed especially if they tend to be active at night. Furthermore, bedtime stories can help to spark their imagination and love for reading.
If you want to help your children to create positive sleep habits, try ShutEye®. ShutEye® is an all-in-one sleep app with a variety of bedtime stories for both adults and children to fall asleep to. Try it for free today!
