As summer nea
rs and the evenings become warmer, make story time special by taking your books and blankets outside at night. For a treat, put bedtime off for a little while. Take a favorite relaxing book or two and a flashlight. Listen to a couple of stories, and then turn off the light. Your children are accustomed to playing in the yard in the bright sunlight, but might not be aware of the wonders of the natural world at night.
Talk about the sounds you hear. This would be a good time to talk about nocturnal animals. Which animals are awake at night, and why? How do they see in the dark?
Try this activity when the moon is shining bright in the sky. Talk about how the moon does not have its own light, but only shines because of sunlight reflecting off its surface.
Sleep Well, Little Bear by Quint Buchholz is a calming, magical book that would work well for this activity. Even after his usual bedtime rituals, bear is not yet tired. He climbs out of bed to gaze out his window. The full moon shines brightly on his whole world, and bear thinks about the places and people that are so familiar to him in the daytime and wonders what they are up to during the night. Down by the dock, a shirt blows in the wind. In the afternoon, when the little bear was a pirate, it had been the sail for a boat. Perhaps tomorrow, when the sun comes up, he will explore distant lands again.
Take advantage of the warmer weather coming our way for a very special story time with your children.
How the story grows... 
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