Star gazing and possum hunting - a bedtime ritual

It has taken a ridiculously long time to finally record our bedtime routine experiences - mainly because nothing seems to stay the same long enough to write it down! So, while the details might have to wait, here's one of our special bedtime rituals ... star gazing and possum hunting!

Rugged up, cuddled in our arms, peeping out over our shoulder from a secure and tightly wrapped quilt, 2 year old B has a burst of proprioceptive/tactile input, which seems to calm him after a busy, energetic day of activities*.

He is excited heading out into the dark on a special adventure - looking for the moon, the stars, listening for trains heading back to the station, maybe spotting a dog or two on a night time walk... and possum hunting! (If it's too cold or wet to go outside, we peak out from the window instead.) Our idea is that seeing that it is dark outside might help him associate night time with sleep time.

He snuggles close to us as we lower our voices to a whisper, adjust our eyes to the night light, scan the trees, power lines, fences and roof tops for the little nocturnal animals scurrying along. Then we stop for a moment and listen out to see if they might be in one of the trees near our house. It's so exciting when the possums run about in full sight, or when we can watch them having a snack on some leaves. They are very cute ( - that is, while they stay out of our roof!)

Then we sing a verse of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", say goodnight to the stars, moon and possums - wherever they may be, and quietly head to bed.

For more star gazing and possum hunting fun, you may like to check out our guest post on the fabulous Housing A Forest website: a  fun Nocturnal Possum Small World - in a window sill activity; and for another of our fun bedtime rituals, you can read about our Baby Yoga experiences! 

Thanks for visiting Kids' Play Space!
'til soon,

Anna :-) 

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