10 Bedtime Poems from Mother Goose Treasury

It’s the end of a busy day full of playing and yet, your little one seems more wound up and full of energy than should be possible. The crazy activity of little ones at bedtime is mind boggling. I call it tired energy! It seems that when little ones get tired, they are less able to regulate their behaviors and control their impulses. As their tiredness increases, their behavior seems to spiral out of control.

I’ve heard countless stories of parents abandoning bedtime plans because their child doesn’t appear tired and so they let them play in an effort to wear the child out to be ready for bedtime. But it could take hours for the child to behave in a way that looks tired to an adult. So, the second I see tired energy taking over, we double our bedtime efforts. Part of our bedtime routine is reading books and singing songs. The books are usually read just before getting into bed with songs finishing up our bedtime routine. These two activities, books and songs, are the perfect way for our kids to settle down and drift off to sleep.

Some nights it feels like we’ll never get to that point, though, with all the tired energy creating chaos as we move from bath to pajamas to teeth brushing. On nights like this, I reach into my bag of tricks and pull out these bedtime poems. I’ll choose whichever comes to mind or seems to relate to what we’ve done during the day. Instead of nagging to please come back to the bathroom with that tooth brush! I’ll just recite a poem. The rhyming and the rhythm of bedtime poems naturally draws children’s attention in. Some nights I just repeat the same rhyme a few times adding in tickles or silly faces. Other nights we’ll run through all the poems I can think of.

Let’s build your arsenal of bedtime poems to help you fight the tired energy. These 10 bedtime poems are a great start. They are found in the Mother Goose Treasury. Often, after we’re done and ready to read, we’ll find the poems we recited together in the book and read it one more time. The illustrations are so beautiful in the Mother Goose Treasury published by Parragon. It’s a great way to transition into the reading portion of our bedtime routine.

10 Bedtime Poems

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Hey Diddle, Diddle

Golden Slumbers

Now the Day is Over

Lavender’s Blue

Star Light, Star Bright

Go To Bed Late

Bedtime

Wee Willie Winkie

Just click on each title to find the full lyrics in case you need a little reminder. Also, to help with remembering the lyrics in the heat of battle (agains the tired energy) I created this printable with the words to 6 of these bedtime poems. Just print it out and cut it up. You can keep them in the bathroom, on the dresser in your kids room, or where ever the tired energy seems to interrupt your bedtime routine.

Bedtime Poems Free Printable

[socialshare-download href=”http://laptimesongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/bedtime-poems-reminder-cards.pdf”]Bedtime Poems Free Printable [/socialshare-download] Instructions: Print this sheet of bedtime poem cards on sturdy paper. Cut out the cards. Laminate if desired. Keep cards in the bathroom or on your little one’s dresser. Choose a poem to focus on each night or each week. Recite the poem during your bedtime routine to help your little one stay focused on getting ready for bed.

Don’t forget to follow up your poem by finding it in Mother Goose Treasury. This helps your little one learn so much about books and develops early literacy skills that will help them as the become readers.