A gentle dinosaur bedtime story: The fern blanket

The Fern Blanket is a short, original dinosaur story to read aloud. Toma has gathered everything for bed except a blanket long enough to cover his tail. There are no chases or predators in this tale. Preview it first and decide whether it suits your listener.

The fern blanket

Toma put his head on a smooth patch of moss and pulled a fern over his toes. His toes were warm. His tail was not. He pulled the fern down to his tail. Now his nose stuck out.

"This blanket has forgotten one end of me," he said.

Across the clearing, his friend Pip was choosing a sleeping place beneath a mushroom. Pip was small enough to turn around inside a footprint. He came over to examine the problem.

"Perhaps you could curl up," Pip said.

Toma curled his tail towards his chin. The tail knocked the fern sideways. He tucked his chin towards his tail. A twig tickled his nose, and he sneezed so softly that only Pip heard.

"Perhaps," Pip said, "the blanket could be longer."

They found another fern beside the fallen log. Pip carried its tip. Toma carried the rest. They laid it next to the first fern, with the edges overlapping.

Toma stretched out. His nose was covered. His tail was covered. But when he rolled onto his side, the ferns parted in the middle. A narrow line of evening air ran across his tummy.

Pip sat on the fallen log to think. A vine hung from one end of it. He picked up the loose end and threaded it around two twigs, then handed it to Toma.

"Could we tie the blankets together?"

Toma held the ferns still while Pip looped the vine through their stems. The first knot was enormous. The second knot came undone. On the third try, Pip made a little loop that stayed where he put it.

They tested the blanket by lifting it between them. Both ferns rose at once. Toma grinned.

By now, Pip had bits of moss on his feet and a leaf stuck behind one ear. Toma brushed the leaf away with the very end of his tail. "Thank you," he said. "Would you like to try it?"

Pip climbed onto the moss. The blanket covered him, his sleeping place, and quite a lot of ground beyond it. Only the top of his head showed.

"It is a little large for me," he said from underneath.

They folded one corner into a small pocket. Pip could sit there while Toma lay beside him. Above the clearing, the sky had turned the color of a plum.

"Tomorrow," Toma said, "we could make you one."

Pip yawned. "A smaller one."

Toma pulled the fern blanket gently over his tail. Pip settled into the folded corner. The knot held. The moss was soft, and both ends of Toma were warm.

If your listener wants a turn

Before the blanket is finished, you could pause and ask how to join the ferns. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests inviting predictions during shared reading. Let your child offer an idea, then either try their version aloud or continue with Pip's knot.

Sources: American Academy of Pediatrics: Playful Reading Tips

For a shorter telling, skip the curling-up attempt and go straight to finding the second fern. Keep the final blanket test; it resolves the problem the story began with. This is fictional story material, not a lesson in dinosaur behavior.