Old Ted - Stories for Children

Old Ted - Stories for Children
Old Ted - Stories for Children

Friday 4 April 2014

Old Ted Is Feeling Cold…


It’s autumn and Old Ted’s feeling quite cold today.
He’s wearing his favourite black jumper to keep warm.


Old Ted’s still feeling cold so he puts on his red scarf.
That looks like a nice warm scarf Old Ted.


Old Ted’s still too cold and wants to wear his black hat.
Have you got a hat?


Now he’s found a big yellow blanket and is nice and warm.
Just the thing for a lovely afternoon nap.

Now it’s time to rest your head and say goodnight to dear Old Ted.
Night night.

~~~~~~~<>o0o<>~~~~~~~




Old Ted Sweeps The Garden…


Old Ted loves his flowers but they do make a mess when petals fall off.
He likes his garden to look neat and tidy.


Old Ted fetches his yellow brush and dustpan.
Do you like sweeping?


Old Ted sweeps all the petals up off the floor.
That looks much better – well done Old Ted.


Sweeping the garden is very tiring work.
Old Ted decides to have little sleep on the steps.

Now it’s time to rest your head and say goodnight to dear Old Ted.
Night night.

~~~~~~~<>o0o<>~~~~~~~




Old Ted And The Missing Scarf…


Old Ted has lost his favourite red scarf.
He looks for it under the bench.


He still can’t find it, so he looks behind the flowers.
I wonder where it is?


He looks behind the chair – be careful not to fall Old Ted!
Do you know where Old Ted’s favourite red scarf is?


Silly Old Ted, it was around his neck all the time!
Now he can use it as a blanket so he can have a little sleep.

Now it’s time to rest your head and say goodnight to dear Old Ted.
Night night.

~~~~~~~<>o0o<>~~~~~~~




Old Ted Loves Gardening…


Old Ted loves the pretty flowers in his garden
Do you like flowers?


When the weather’s been sunny Old Ted needs to water the garden.
He has a big green watering can.


Old Ted makes sure that all of the weeds are put into the compost bin.
He likes to keep his garden tidy.


Gardening is hard work and makes Old Ted feel sleepy.
He lays down on the bench and takes a nap.

Now it’s time to rest your head and say goodnight to dear Old Ted.
Night night.

~~~~~~~<>o0o<>~~~~~~~




Old Ted Does The Washing…


It’s a lovely sunny day and Old Ted has washed his towels. 
Now he needs to hang them on the washing line.


Well done Old Ted. 
They should get nice and dry today.


Old Ted’s playing hide-and-seek with the clean, dry towels. 
Can you find him?


The towels are all dry and Old Ted has folded them up and put them in the basket. 
That was hard work, so Old Ted has a lie down.

Now it’s time to rest your head and say goodnight to dear Old Ted.
Night night.

~~~~~~~<>o0o<>~~~~~~~




Old Ted And The Picnic…


Old Ted’s found a basket. 
I wonder what’s inside?


It’s a picnic basket! 
Old Ted loves picnics.


Yum yum, sausage rolls are Old Ted’s favourite. 
What’s your favourite thing to eat at a picnic?


Old Ted now has a full tummy and is feeling sleepy. 
Time for a nice nap.

Now it’s time to rest your head and say goodnight to dear Old Ted.
Night night.

~~~~~~~<>o0o<>~~~~~~~




Old Ted And The Umbrella…


Old Ted’s in the garden but the weather isn’t very nice and it looks like it’ll rain. 
Old Ted’s brought his blue umbrella outside with him so he can keep dry.


Old Ted loves to play hide-and-seek. 
Can you see where Old Ted’s hiding?


The rain has stopped and the sun’s come out. 
Old Ted decides he’d like to sunbathe.


Old Ted is now very tired and has turned his umbrella into a bed. 
Night night Old Ted, sleep tight.

Now it’s time to rest your head and say goodnight to dear Old Ted.
Night night.

~~~~~~~<>o0o<>~~~~~~~




About...


After writing satire for many years I finally decided to have a go at writing stories for children.

I wanted to create very short stories, particularly for parents who are stretched for time, in the hope that even the busiest mum or dad will be able to find two minutes out of their day to read with their children. I also know that little ones have a particularly brief attention-span, which is why I have only created four pages per story.

I’ve taken a very low-tech approach, no fancy graphics or professional photos taken in studios. In fact, all of the pictures were taken with my Nikon Coolpix in my own back garden!

Thinking back to my own childhood in the early 1960s, childrens books were full of bright but basic images. This is what I wanted to re-capture with these photographs.

For future stories I aim to keep to the same format of two lines of text per picture as well as asking the reader one simple question per story. This is to encourage dialogue between the child and the adult, but without over-stimulating children before bed-time!

My Old Ted is not the prettiest or fluffiest teddy bear in the world, he’s old and tatty, but I hope that children will be able to see past that and grow up accepting everyone for who they are and not what they look like.

I welcome constructive feedback. I’m a novice with writing for children and therefore I realise that there may well be things I need to change in order to make the stories better…..