Mia Makes a Quiet Echo Game
A free camping bedtime story, written for ages 5–7 and ready to read aloud in about 3 minutes. Tonight's hero is Mia.
On Mia's summer camping trip, the rocks went, "Tok, tok, tok." The sound came from a little cave beside their campsite. It was only six steps deep. Sunlight reached its sandy floor. Mia clicked on her red camping flashlight anyway. Every cave adventure should have a flashlight.
Her friend Luca stood among the pine needles. He wore a green cap with a bent brim. Mia's mother was slicing peaches at the nearby picnic table. "Come listen!" Mia said. Luca followed, but stayed near the cave entrance. "I like it here," he said softly.
Mia stepped inside. "HELLO, CAVE!" she called. "Hello, cave!" came the echo. Mia laughed. "Let's play Biggest Echo. The loudest sound wins!" Luca tried a quiet hello. His voice came back very faintly. Then Mia shouted, "HOO!" The cave boomed, "Hoo!"
"Mine wins!" Mia cried. But Luca touched the bent brim of his cap. "I don't like loud games," he said. He sat outside the cave. Mia called one more booming "HOO!" It did not feel fun now. Mia wanted her friend in the adventure.
Then she heard it again. "Tok, tok, tok." Mia stopped and listened. A drop fell from a crack into a stone hollow. Tok. The cave copied it. Tok. First came the drip. Then came its copy. Every time. Mia's eyes opened wide. The cave could echo quiet sounds, too.
Mia hurried to Luca and sat beside him. "I made the wrong game," she said. "Big voices don't have to win. The cave copies quiet sounds, too." Luca looked toward the cave. "Mine might be too quiet," he said. "Then I'll listen very closely," said Mia. "Will you try my new game?"
Mia moved to the cave entrance. She whispered, "Pip-pip." The cave answered, "Pip-pip." Mia smiled at Luca, but she did not rush him. She just waited and listened.
Luca lifted his head. He whistled two soft notes, then one. "Peep-peep...peep." The cave copied every note. Luca grinned. "It sounds like the little birds by our tent!" Mia nodded. "You lead the next one." Soon, their quiet game filled the cave with crickets, wrens, and gentle frog sounds.
The water drop said, "Tok." The cave answered, "Tok." Luca added three soft peeps. Mia sat beside him, smiling, while the red flashlight made a bright circle between them.