Train Bedtime Stories
Trains are made for bedtime stories. They have a steady rhythm, they go somewhere and arrive, and a night train is something most children find magical: a whole train full of people asleep while it moves. A good train bedtime story slows down as it goes, so the reading slows down too.
Here is a complete train story to read aloud tonight, free. Read the clickety-clack lines a little more slowly each time. To make one with your child as the conductor, by name, it takes about thirty seconds.
Nina and the Night Train
A free story to read aloud tonight
Nina had a ticket, a real one, with a hole punched in it. It said NIGHT TRAIN, and tonight she and Grandpa were riding it all the way to the sea.
Their room on the train was tiny, with two beds stacked like bunk beds and a little window. Nina had the top bunk. The train pulled out of the station: clickety-clack, clickety-clack.
Out of the window, the city went by, all lights. Then the towns, fewer lights. Then fields, and farms, and one cow standing in the moonlight. Clickety-clack, clickety-clack.
The conductor knocked and said, “Tickets, please.” He had a gold watch and a kind face. “Next stop, the sea,” he said. “In the morning.” And he switched off the corridor lights.
The train went over a long bridge, and through a tunnel, and around a hill. Clickety... clack. Clickety... clack. Everyone on the whole train was asleep now, except Nina, and the driver, and the moon.
Nina put her head on the pillow. The train rocked her, side to side, like a cradle. Clickety... clack... And when she woke up, the window was full of blue sea.
Why do kids love trains so much?
Trains are big, loud and predictable, and they follow tracks, which many young children love. They also have clear parts (the engine, the cars, the caboose) and clear jobs (driver, conductor), so they are easy to play and talk about.
How do I read a train story to help my child sleep?
Let the rhythm slow down. Read the “clickety-clack” lines a little more slowly each time, and lower your voice toward the end. The story does the rest.