MSU Extension Child & Family Development

Time for Bed

By Mem Fox

Several different animals are snuggled into bed by their mothers in this rhyming bedtime book. 

BEFORE READING:

• Show the children the front of the book. Ask them to guess what the book is about.
• Ask them if they know what kind of animals are on the front and the back cover. Name them if they don’t know the animals.
• Hold one child’s finger gently and trace over the letters in the title of the book. Say each letter out loud as you trace.

WHILE READING:

• Stop at any time if there is something you or the children would like to talk about.
• Ask them questions so that they can connect what is happening in the book to things they already know about. Try some of these ideas:
  • Do you ever see the stars at night time?
  • What happened today that made you laugh?
  • What words do you say before you go to sleep?

AFTER READING:

• Spend some time talking about the story. Ask the children things like:
  • Do you remember which animals were snuggled together?
  • What did the mommy say to the child at the end?
  • Who put the baby animals to bed?

Read this book several times to the children. Hearing the same story again and again helps them learn new words and understand the ideas they hear better. Each day, pick a different activity to do with the children after reading “Time for Bed.”

MATH AND SCIENCE

Ask the children to guess which bed they think would feel the most comfortable: on the floor with a blanket but no pillow, or on the floor with a pillow but no blanket. Have them test the different “beds” and ask which one ended up feeling most comfortable. Make sure they give you a reason for their choice.

READING READINESS

Point out the rhyming words that are in the book. Re-read the story and stop before saying the rhyming word. See if the children can remember it on their own and say it for your instead. Make sure you praise their efforts.

ART

Make a nap time chart with the children. Use pictures describing everything that happens before nap time. Draw a clock that shows when nap time come so the children begin to see that certain things happen at certain times in the day.

MUSIC AND MOVEMENT

Play quiet music on a CD, radio or mp3 player before naptime. Spend five or ten minutes taking deep breaths, relaxing all of the muscles in your bodies. Start at your heads and work slowly down to your toes, tightening and relaxing each muscle for five or ten seconds. Make sure you name each body part as you go.

THINKING SKILLS

Go back through the book and ask the children to find the smallest animal. Ask them to tell you about how they know it is small. Go back through the story again and have them find the biggest animal in the story. Use many different words to describe little and big like teeny, tiny, wee, small, bitsy, big, large, huge, enormous or gigantic. Find things around the house or classroom that are big and small.

PRETEND PLAY

Pretend that it is bedtime, and let the children put you down for a nap. Ask them to read you a story and snuggle you in. Have them rub your back or forehead as you pretend to go to sleep. See how kind and nurturing they can be. Pretend to wake up, and then you can take a turn putting them down for a play nap.

MOTOR SKILLS

Teach the children how to make a bed. You can use their naptime cots or mats for an example. Show them how to tuck the sheets in, pull up a blanket, and put pillows on top. Have them practice when they get up from a nap. It doesn’t matter how nice the bed looks when they are finished. They will get better with practice!

For more information, visit the MSU Extension Early Childhood Development Site

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