How to Put an Octopus to Bed

Sherri Duskey Rinker's How to Put an Octopus to Bed is a rhyming bedtime story for 5 year olds about a little octopus who decides it's HIS job to get his parents tucked up for the night.

What happens

Little Floyd is giggly, squiggly and he never, ever stops. So when Mama yawns that it's nearly eight, he leads the way. Straight to the bath!

He fills the tub for Mama and Pop. Then the bubbles catch his eye and, well, guess who ends up in the water? One arm splashes. Then another. Then all EIGHT arms go up and come down in one giant super-splash, and soap and toys fly everywhere (one big bubble lands on Bear).

Tooth brushing goes about as well. Everyone ends up soaked in foamy toothpaste, and so do the mirrors, the walls and Teddy.

Then comes the best bit, the Octo Jammy Tangle Tumble. Have you ever tried putting pyjamas on a wriggler with eight arms? Some arm holes have too many arms, some have too few, and at one point Floyd's head is stuck in an arm hole.

Anyone who does bedtime with a small, bouncy person will recognise every step of this. The bath that turns into a swim, the toothpaste slop, the sneaky snack for the teddies. The twist is that Floyd honestly thinks he's the one doing all the hard work. By the end Ma and Pop are fast asleep, completely wiped out, and Floyd sighs that the two of them are a lot of work.

The rhymes bounce along and it's made for reading aloud. It's a lovely one for the last story of the night, because the whole thing winds down towards sleep. And the very last line has a sweet little surprise for Teddy.

What to read next

If your little one enjoyed this, Outer Space Bedtime Race is another rhyming bedtime story, where children all over the solar system race each other into bed.