Stories for Sleeping

Review of ‘Dinosnores’

Titles in series: ‘Kitten’, ‘Honeybee’, ‘Forest Night’, ‘Mermaid’, ‘Pterosaur’, ‘Ocean Waves’, ‘Dragon’, ‘Fairy’, ‘Tyrannosaurus’.

Age Range: Early childhood – Middle Primary

Themes: audio, sleep, relaxation, calming, meditation.

Awards: 7 Creative Child Magazine Awards and two Academics’ Choice awards.

Purchase CDs online at www.dinosnores.com or click on titles above to purchase through itunes.

I have been blessed with children who sleep incredibly well. They are slightly feral in many other areas and sometimes I could curl up in embarrassment at some of the very public meltdowns they have…but oh my glory do they sleep. Many of my friends have cherubic children who use manners, don’t snarl at people and don’t discuss poo in public…but they don’t sleep. Sometimes I don’t know what I would prefer.

For those of you with children who have difficulty getting to sleep, I have stumbled upon a series of CDs which I think are just a little bit fabulous. The ‘Dinosnores’ series of audio (CD or itunes) sleepy stories and snoozy soundscapes use guided relaxation and meditation techniques to help children focus on slowing their breathing, relaxing their bodies and settling at night.

Although my children are good sleepers they are often wound up tight (take after me!) and I’ve long used relaxation stories and CDs with them, which you can read about here. I was attracted to the ‘Dinosnores’ series as they are Australian, cover a huge range of interest areas (fairies to dinosaurs and dragons) and have been developed by a speech pathologist. The stories we’ve listened to have worked wonders on both Dan and I, who have fallen asleep in the kids beds listening to them on more than one occasion now. The girls have also greatly enjoyed them and PudStar is now pretty adept at doing her deep breaths and relaxing her body parts – as skill I hope she continues to hone and use over the years. Without a doubt the ‘Kitten’ is The Wild Things favourite and PudStar can’t decide between ‘Honeybee’ and ‘Mermaid’. I’ve been putting one on each day for PudStar whilst The Wild Thing has her much needed day sleep.

The Pterosaur story starts:

A tired little pterosaur glides through the evening sky, returning to its cliff top home. Can you hear that sound, little pterosaur? That’s the sound of your seabird friends. You’ve been swooping and soaring though prehistoric skies, playing with your seabird friends all day. But now it is time to fly back to your home, and your bed, safe and warm above the ocean shore.

It then moves into some settling techniques (relaxing your body and slowing your breathing) and interspersed throughout are facts which should interest young palaeontologists!

Covers of CDs are below, arranged in age suitability. Click to purchase through iTunes, or visit www.dinosnores.com to purchase the CDs.

For more relaxation stories for children see here.

For more information about the benefits of audio stories see here.

For more ideas on audio story titles for childreen and young adults see here.

Babies

Toddlers

Five years+