Koko & The Sleepy Forest Maize Maze 🐨 🌽 Cozy Bedtime Stories For Kids

Koala Moon: Kids Bedtime Stories & Sleep Stories for Kids Podcast

In this soothing bedtime episode, siblings Coco and Kira embark on an autumn adventure through a newly revealed magical maize maze in Sleepy

Key takeaways

• Narrator Abbe Opher welcomes new Coco Club subscribers from Australia, Scotland, and Belfast before transitioning into the story.
• Author Luke Prendergast crafted the narrative around siblings Coco and Kira exploring a secret autumn maize maze.

Main topics

• Autumn maize maze exploration
• Riddles and visual clues

Notable quotes

"All that glitters is not gold."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a gentle, imaginative narrative designed to ease children into

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) you Speaker 1 (0:11) Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtimes a dream. And as always, the first thing we're going to do is welcome a lovely new bunch of you into the Cocoa Club. So starting in Australia, we have Isabel, who's in Perth, and Evie and Blankie, who are in Melbourne. Thank you for joining us. We've also got Rumi, who lives in the Scottish Borders. We have Grania, who's in Belfast. And finally, we have India Rose and Iona Rain. I'm not sure where you are, but welcome anyway. And thank you for subscribing for the year, for supporting the show, for enabling us to write more stories for you all. I also know some of you have been listening for a little while, for like two, three years, and that just makes my heart sing. So thank you for staying with us. Delighted. that some of you have decided to subscribe and get even more stories. It's brilliant. Talking of brilliant, what a brilliant night to join us in the club. Autumn is nearly with us, but your imaginative characters who won week one of the Coco's Summer Camp are making their debut appearance in tonight's story. Yes, along with Coco, we are going to be the lucky ones to meet Icy Fish, Melon Cat, Beverly the Beaver, and Penelope and Fluffball, two dwarf flying squirrels. Together, we will explore the sleepy forest and the maze maze where winding pathways, curious riddles, and a little autumn magic await. Will they all be able to follow the clues and find their way to the very end, do you think? We'll find out soon, but just before we get into our sleepy story... Here's a little reminder that our brand new series, Shadow Baddies, launches tomorrow, the 6th of October, exclusively on our daytime story podcast, Koala Shine. If you subscribe to Koala Moon on Apple Podcasts or the Koala Kids Plus bundle on Supercast, you can join the adventure as soon as the first episode arrives. And if you're not subscribed yet, you'll find everything you need in our show notes. Okay? Now relax. Head back into bed. Maybe close your eyes or just let them rest. And give a little sigh out. Speaker 1 (2:45) And then as you breathe in... Think about the autumn. Think about the autumn evening light that when it hits the fields, it turns them golden. Speaker 1 (2:58) How it lights up the leaves on the trees and makes them all coppery. Speaker 2 (3:03) And Speaker 1 (3:04) how it sometimes catches the edges of the grasses and just bronzes them, makes them all burnished. Okay, you continue to lie there and breathe nice and steadily, as I begin Coco and the Sleepy Forest Maze Maze, by Luke Prendergast. Speaker 1 (3:30) From time to time, Coco's little sister Kira would ask him what was his favourite time of the year. Spring, he'd say confidently. All the new flowers poking up their heads. Easter eggs. Mmm, Easter eggs. But then the next time she asked, a few weeks or a few months later, he wouldn't be able to decide. He'd say, summer. No, wait, winter. All that snow. Coco, Kira would giggle. Your answer's always changing. Well, he'd tell her, that's because my mind is always changing. Which it was. Coco's mind changed like the seasons, but that was no bad thing. Coco's mind, like his body and like the trees and flowers of Sleepy Forest, was always growing and changing. Right now, for instance, his favourite season was autumn. And how could it not be? Just look at the leaves dangling from the trees, glowing gold and bronze and ruby red. Just look at how the mist rose off Sleepy River, drifting through the forest. and collecting around the trunks of the pine trees like wispy silver cloaks. And just look at the huge field of ripened maize, their thick green stalks and the plump heads of yellow corn peeking out of the tops. Speaker 1 (5:11) Going down to the big maize field was one of Coco's favourite autumn activities. Running through the stalks, you could imagine getting quite lost. And just the sight of all those maize plants made him think of summer barbecues and corns on the cob and hot sticky marshmallows on sticks. And then his mouth would begin to water. Mmm. One early evening, Coco was walking down to the field of maize when he bumped into someone quite unexpected. Nightlight! he exclaimed happily. What are you doing here? Nightlight the tractor raised his scooper and flashed his headlights in welcome. Nightlight lived on Puddlefoot Farm, which lay on the outskirts of the cosy village of lower starry skies. When night fell, his body glowed in the dark, which made him very useful during the occasional power cut. Or when one of the little lambs escaped their pen and had to be found. But now, under the soft evening twilight, his body was its normal bright green colour. Why, hello there, little Coco, he said. We're here because Hump of the Hare has asked us to come and help sculpt the Sleepy Forest maze maze. Coco's brow furrowed. Sleepy forest maze maze, he asked, letting the mysterious sounding words trickle off his tongue. What's that? Nightlight paused for a moment, as though thinking, before telling Coco, in a quiet voice, that it was probably better to show him than to explain. But you can't tell anyone I showed you, he said, because I think Hamper wants to keep it a secret, for now. Coco held up his pinky to make a promise with Nightlight, before remembering that tractors didn't have fingers. So instead he just gave the tractor a pat on his side and followed him down through the winding path to the maize field. Speaker 1 (7:31) Hmm, Coco sighed, looking at the wide wall of maze that stretched as far as he could see to the east and west. It looks just the same to me. Nightlight smiled. That's because you need to look inside. He lowered his scooper to the ground so that Coco could climb in. Once he was secure, Nightlight raised his scooper up, cresting the top of the wall of maze. Coco peered over.