A bedtime story for kids afraid of the dark
A story after which the dark is just a room with the light off.
Make one starring my child — freeSample story
Who Lives in the Dark
When Mum switched off the light, Noah's room changed. The wardrobe grew to the ceiling, and someone shaggy and hunched sat on the chair. Noah pulled the blanket up to his nose.
"Meow?" asked Biscuit the cat from the dark. His eyes glowed like two green flashlights. "Biscuit, someone's there," Noah whispered.
Noah grabbed his flashlight. Click! The beam ran round the room. The shaggy one was his sweater; the hunched one was his bunny backpack. Noah snorted. "That's my bunny bag!"
Click — off. In the dark the sweater was shaggy again. "Hi, sweater," said Noah. Click — sweater. Click — dark. Not scary at all once you know who lives there.
Noah put the flashlight under his pillow, just in case. Biscuit purred at his feet: prrr, prrr. And outside the moon glowed — the biggest night-light in the world.
Questions to ask afterwards
- Who was the shaggy thing on the chair?
- What looks different in your room at night?
- Shall we check your room together with a flashlight?
Talk for 2–3 minutes: the child works out the point and carries it into real life (dialogic reading).
Kasas Kids writes this story about your child: their name, age and favourite toy, with pictures, narration in English, Russian or Kazakh, and a cartoon. Your first stories are free, no sign-up needed.
Make one starring my child — freeWhy a story works better than nagging
- Children copy a human hero who is like them: in one study a sharing story with human characters made 4–6-year-olds more generous, while the same story with animals did not.
- Stories where the good deed pays off work better than cautionary tales: a story rewarding honesty made children three times more likely to tell the truth; punishment stories did not.
- The closer a story is to the child's life — their name, their toys, their situation — the easier it is for them to use the solution.