Soon Santa will be descending the chimneys of many homes around the world (or magically emerging through the kitchen bi-fold glass doors, in our case), so it’s time to think about the value of storytelling and choose our Christmas bedtime stories for the festive season ahead. I hope you are as excited as I am!

Why are bedtime stories beneficial for children, especially during the holiday season?

Curiosity and compassion

The magical world of stories provides such a sense of delightful escapism for children. Enchanting plotlines and characters can help children cope with everyday stress and spark their imaginations. Stirring their imaginations can be a truly wonderful tool for honing their creative and innovative skills. According to Margot Machol Bisnow, author of Raising an Entrepreneur, parents taught their entrepreneurial children to be deeply curious from a very early age. She explains how curiosity isn’t just about asking questions but more about how to fix something. Learning about the world through stories can help children be curious and think outside the box.

Curiosity can help your child wonder about other people and other lands with enthusiasm and hope. Understanding how others may experience the world through storytelling can help your child develop empathy skills. We have a responsibility to raise actively compassionate and naturally curious children to help the world become a better place. According to an article in Harvard Business School’s “Leading in the Digital Era” series, Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age Bonding, “With so much changing around them, leaders must be explorers. One roundtable executive defines exploration as ‘curiosity in action.’” Delving into the imaginative world of books can help children think about how others work and what skills they may need to fix arising problems.

Five tips for festive storytelling:

Here are some top tips to ignite children’s curiosity and compassion with storytelling:

• Choose books with a Christmas dilemma to help children feel curious about how this might be solved.
• Expose your child to new subjects and people to encourage inclusivity and inspire interesting chats at home.
• Read books that relate to your lineage to help kids wonder about how their ancestors may have gone about life. How might they be celebrating this time of year, if at all?
• Listen to one of our Moshi Twistmas Stories to help your child relax and to reduce stress. Children are more curious when rooted in the present moment.
• Read books about the environment to build an empathic interest in how we can protect our planet Earth. Christmas is a good time to reflect on this.

Above all, have fun with storytelling! It’s a wonderful way to create a hub of interest and awe at home without putting too much pressure on our kids to “be” anything in particular. Being mindful and present is one of the most satisfying gifts we can allow our children to experience. 

Connection, confidence, and communication

Cozying up as the night closes in with one of your favorite Christmas bedtime stories is such a lovely way to bond with your child and create beautiful memories. They will absolutely love spending some one-to-one time with you in a bubble of bedtime love. Bedtime stories can be an important part of a calming bedtime routine and give your child the time they need to feel safe and settled in your presence. According to the summary of an article in Sleep Medicine Review, Benefits of a bedtime routine in young children: Sleep, development, and beyond, “A bedtime routine embodies the characteristics of nurturing care and early child stimulation, which are deemed to be essential for positive outcomes . . .”

Confidence is one of the most important positive outcomes for your child growing up. Fostering a love of captivating storytelling at home can help your child feel more confident when reading at school. It can also help them become better communicators, as reading at home improves children’s oral and literacy skills. This improved communication can help your child connect with others more easily in the outside world as an adult.

So how can Moshi help?

The holiday season can feel like such an overwhelming time for both kids AND their amazingly hard-working parents! So why not relax a bit, and check out our Moshi Twistmas series to help your child experience the comfort of Christmas bedtime stories?

Moshi Twistmas and those Magical Moshlings

Moshi Twistmas is a collection of Christmas stories featuring sleepy sounds, music, and stories that will have your excitable children slipping away to slumberland in no time. Maybe Father Twistmas will be waiting for them in their dreams!

There is something unique and special about each of the stories in our feast of festive Moshiness. Hop on over to our incredible Moshi app for 27 relaxing audio tracks. They are designed to reduce stress, improve sleep quality, decrease night wakings, and teach mindfulness. Here are a few of my favorites:

Leo & Tomba’s Twistmas Mountain Message

This delightful story is a tale of two Moshlings who come across a very special guest. The deep, fluffy snow is the perfect atmosphere for inducing sleep in overtired children. Leo is getting tired from all the snow raking from the steep slopes. Your child will love the message “Our dreams can keep us strong” in this inspiring tale. Santa writes out a Twistmas mountain message in the snow . . . I wonder what it is?

The Twelve Days of Twistmas

Buster Bumble Chops invites you all on a 12-day countdown to Christmas. The trickiest-to-find Moshlings even make an appearance in these stories. What’s so special about this meditation is that Nodkins has a one-of-a-kind power—dropping into the dreams of other Moshlings. Kids will love the relaxing distraction from the holiday build-up. This allows them to really enjoy the most special day of the year.

Twistmas is Coming

Not only do we have stories for children to enjoy at bedtime, but we also have sleepy sounds. Father Twistmas is on his way in his jingly sleigh to help your child relax and let go of all the hustle and bustle. The crackling fire of our Moshi Yule Log track and the twinkly music of Twistmas Music Box are beautiful sounds your child might love falling asleep to at night.

The Moshi Twistmas Train

What a special treat for your little ones! They get to enjoy the gentle chug of this dreamy train journey to the Moshi North Pole, passing through Ding Dong Merrily on High and Lake Frostipop. Your child can’t help but fall into a deeply relaxing sleep with the gentle clickety-clack of the Twistmas train. This is a lovely track to play on Christmas Eve. You are nearly there!

Most importantly, Christmas is a time of togetherness, not a time of perfection or getting everything just right. Moshi is here to help you take away some of the December anxiety so you can enjoy the little joyful moments of fun and laughter with your child. Hold these moments close to your heart. And festive greetings to you and your family! 

Samantha Redgrave-Hogg