“Tell me a story you made up.” Lovely request. Slightly harder when the only plot in your head is tomorrow’s grocery list.
You can begin with something much smaller than a complete adventure: someone, somewhere, with one little thing to sort out. Your child can supply a name, choose between two places, or leave the telling to you. A talking spoon looking for its bowl is plenty to work with.
Here is a way to make up bedtime stories with your child using only conversation, with a fictional example you can try or change.
Choose a character, a place and a small problem
Ask one question at a time. If “What should our story be about?” feels too big, offer two concrete choices:
- Character: A hedgehog or a yellow boot? What shall we call them?
- Place: A kitchen or a little house inside a tree?
- Small problem: A missing spoon or a picnic with nowhere to sit?
Your child can replace every option. A flying pancake in a library is welcome. If they shrug, choose something yourself and begin; there is no entrance exam for being the audience.
Keep the problem small enough that you can imagine an ending. A lost hat can turn up under a cushion. A boat that needs a name can ask its passengers. You can leave frightening danger and enormous battles out of tonight’s story.
Put the choices into this sentence:
In [place], [character] wanted [small, ordinary thing], but [small problem]. First, they tried [one idea].
For example: “In a garden shed, a yellow boot wanted to join a walk, but it couldn’t find its partner. First, it looked behind the watering can.” You now have somewhere to go next, even if neither of you knows what is there yet.
If your child likes making choices as a game, Raising Children Network’s roll-a-story activity offers another approach: an adult can start, the child chooses a character, and dice or cards add details. You can also stay with spoken choices and no materials.
If you get stuck, return to the objects already in your scene. The watering can might remember where the other boot went. You do not need to introduce five more characters to keep going.
Take small turns and find a stopping place
Offer a turn without handing over the entire story: “Would you like to choose where they look, or shall I?” Either person can start and add to an invented tale, as suggested in Reading Rockets’ parent tips on PBS.
Here is a fictional worked example, including places where a child could join in. The possible replies are invented too; your child’s version can be completely different.
The choices: a hedgehog named Pip; a kitchen in a tree; a missing blue spoon.
Adult: “Pip had made a bowl of berry pudding. He put a napkin beside it and pulled up his little chair. Then he noticed the empty place where his blue spoon should be. Pip looked under the napkin. Only a crumb.”
Optional invitation: “Should Pip look beside the window or inside his slipper?”
Possible child reply: “His slipper!”
Adult: “Pip peered into his slipper. There was a leaf, a button and something round. ‘A pebble,’ he said. ‘Very nice, but not a spoon.’ Then someone tapped at the window. It was his neighbor Wren, carrying a tiny umbrella.”
Optional invitation: “Would you like to say what Wren asks, or keep listening?”
Possible child reply: “Where did you make the pudding?”
Adult: “‘At the little table outside,’ said Pip. They went to look. There was the blue spoon, tucked beside the mixing bowl. Pip had put it down while carrying the pudding indoors. Wren carried the spoon, Pip carried the umbrella, and together they went back to the kitchen. Pip fetched another bowl. There was enough pudding for two.”
That is a complete ending: the spoon is found, and the characters have somewhere pleasant to be. You can finish there without adding a lesson or asking your child to explain the story.
If the answer is “I don’t know,” continue the scene yourself. If your child changes the spoon into a submarine, decide together whether to follow that idea. “A submarine! Shall it have one little trip before it comes home?” offers a possible ending without requiring a complicated new plot.
You can also pause before the problem is solved: “Let’s leave Pip beside the window. We can find out what he does another time.” There is no need to finish every adventure in one sitting.
Keep the version that suits tonight
Some evenings, a child may want to invent every detail. Other evenings, they may want the same character and the same ending. You can ask, “Pip again, or someone new?” and accept either answer.
If you choose a book instead, your child can help choose that too. For book-sharing with preschoolers aged 3–5, Raising Children Network suggests rereading favorites and allowing quiet listening. Preschool reading guidance.
Keep a few variations available:
- One contribution: Your child chooses only the character’s name. You tell the rest.
- A picture first: They draw a place or point to something they want in the story. Ask what they would like you to include.
- The familiar version: Repeat yesterday’s tale. Change a detail only if someone wants to.
- Just listening: Skip the questions. Your child does not owe the story a reply.
Use the language that feels natural at home. Raising Children Network explicitly welcomes storytelling in the language the adult feels most comfortable speaking. Home-language storytelling guidance.
If neither of you wants to invent tonight, choose a familiar book, tell an ordinary family memory, or leave the activity for another day. You can enjoy a shared story without making it a nightly assignment.
The whole prompt fits on a scrap of paper: Who is here? Where are they? What small thing needs sorting out? Add one attempt, offer an optional turn, and look for a place to stop.
If you want to explore another option later, there is also Nestify’s bedtime-story tool. For the story above, everything you need is already here—including permission to keep the blue spoon exactly where it was last time.