Short bedtime stories for kids, to listen to tonight
Narrated bedtime stories you can play right now: a calm voice, soft music and sound effects, five to fifteen minutes long. For the nights when there is no voice left for reading aloud.
Play one now
Bedtime stories from our library. Tap and listen, no sign-up, with pictures to look at.
Ava and Pebble’s Spinning Rocket Adventure Beneath the Alien Stars
Play the story
Ruby and Ethan’s Goodbye Hug Hunt Through the Squeaky Library
Play the storyOr one with your child as the hero
Their name, the world they love, and choices they make themselves. The first story is free.
How long should a bedtime story be?
For three- to six-year-olds, five minutes is enough: long enough to settle into, short enough to fall asleep after. From seven, ten to fifteen minutes. What matters more than length is the ending. At bedtime a story should wind down rather than stop at the most exciting moment: the last minutes slower and quieter, the problem solved before the lights go out.
Reading aloud or listening?
Nothing replaces a story you read yourself; it is the time together that counts, not the text. But not every evening is calm. On the nights when your voice is gone or two children need to go to bed at once, a narrated story is not a replacement but a relief. Plenty of families alternate: read when you can, listen when you cannot. You can also listen together, which is its own kind of bedtime ritual.
A bedtime story your child steers
Our stories pause at a fork and let your child decide what happens next. That keeps them listening, and if they drift off before choosing, the storyteller picks after a while and the story carries on quietly to its end. No cliffhanger, no screen to switch off at the exciting part.
Not ready yet? A free story every Friday
One narrated story a week in your inbox, for bedtime. Free, and you can unsubscribe with one click.
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