A Friendly Robot Bedtime Story: The Robot's Almost Tidy Room

Read this original friendly robot bedtime story together. A small robot sorts a playroom and learns why an unfinished game needs its own place. The complete story below includes a separate suggestion for adding one familiar detail when you tell it again.

The Robot's Almost Tidy Room

Pip the little robot had a tidy-up button shaped like a star. When someone pressed it, he rolled slowly around the playroom, putting blocks in their box and crayons in their cup.

Tonight the floor held a cardboard town. A bridge crossed a blue scarf river. Three toy houses stood around a paper square. In the middle, a wooden cow waited outside a building marked LIBRARY.

Pip's star button blinked. He picked up the nearest house.

"Wait," said Mina, sitting beside the town. "That is still being used."

Pip looked at the clock. He looked at the house. "Tidy-up time," he said.

"Yes. But the cow has not borrowed her book."

Pip set the house down. His wheels made a questioning little squeak. He knew where cardboard belonged. He knew where wooden animals belonged. He did not have a box labeled NOT FINISHED YET.

Mina brought an empty tray from the shelf. They placed the library on it, then the paper square and the cow. The bridge was too long. One end stuck over the edge and knocked against Pip's wheel.

"Larger tray," he suggested.

There was no larger tray. Mina studied the town. The houses could go away, because their owners had already gone home. The bridge could fold in the middle. Only the library and the cow needed to stay exactly where they were.

Together they packed the finished parts into the cardboard box. They folded the blue scarf and placed it beside the library, where it looked like a very small lake. The tray fitted on the low shelf.

Pip rolled around the clear floor. Blocks in their box. Crayons in their cup. Cardboard town on its tray. His star button stopped blinking, but he stayed beside the shelf.

"One animal outside its box," he said.

Mina drew a little parking sign and leaned it against the library. Pip read it. GAME PAUSED. He considered the cow, which looked entirely comfortable beside the door.

"Parked," he said. "Beep."

The next morning Mina found the town just as she had left it. Beside the cow lay a tiny folded paper book. Pip had made it during his final check, and on the cover he had drawn a star.

Adapt one detail for your listener

Your child can name the robot's parking tray. Choose an ordinary unfinished activity to replace the cardboard town if that fits your home better. The story leaves room for play to continue another day; it does not ask children to tidy while listening. If you want a repeated sound, let your listener supply Pip's small "beep" at the final check.

Day2Tale creates personalized, narrated stories.

Sources: Day2Tale support and product features