Eli Enters the Dinosaur Cave

A free dinosaur bedtime story, written for ages 4–6 and ready to read aloud in about 3 minutes. Tonight's hero is Eli.

Three-toed dinosaur tracks crossed the crunchy red leaves. They stopped at a low, round cave. Eli had never been inside a cave before. Today, he planned to try. Beside him stood Tavi, a little triceratops. An orange leaf was caught on Tavi’s frill.

The cave was small and dry. Eli could see the back wall from outside. A huge dinosaur footprint was pressed there in stone. Tavi had talked about that footprint all morning. “I want to put my foot beside it,” he said. “Then let’s go see it,” said Eli.

Tavi took one step through the opening. CLUMP went his round foot. “Clump!” called the cave. Tavi jumped back into the leaves. His three little horns shook. “What made that big sound?” he whispered. Eli did not know. He wanted Tavi to see the footprint, too.

Eli stood still and listened. Tavi gave a tiny sniff. “Sniff,” came a tiny sound from inside. Eli’s eyes opened wide. The cave had copied Tavi’s clump and sniff. “It’s an echo,” Eli said. “The cave copies sounds.” The cave was not making its own huge noise.

Tavi looked at the opening. “My feet make loud sounds,” he said. “I don’t think I can go.” Eli stepped into the cave. Then he stopped near the opening. “We can make little sounds together,” he said. “I’ll stay beside you. Listen to my feet.” Eli shuffled one careful step. Shuff. “Shuff,” the cave replied.

Tavi peeked around the edge. Eli stayed where Tavi could see him. “No giant stomps,” Eli said. “Just shuff, shuff, shuff.” Tavi placed one foot inside. Shuff. The echo gave back a soft shuff. Then Tavi brought in one more foot. Shuff. This time, Tavi smiled.

Side by side, they crossed the little cave. Eli’s sneakers went scuff. Tavi’s feet went shuff. The cave copied every sound, but softly. Soon they reached the back wall. The old footprint had three long toes. It was bigger than Tavi’s whole body. “Whoa,” said Eli. “Whoa,” said the cave. Tavi giggled. “It copies that, too!”

Tavi set his small foot below the stone print. Eli placed his sneaker beside Tavi’s foot. Big print, little dino foot, small sneaker. “We came all the way in,” Tavi said. “My first cave,” said Eli. “Mine, too,” said Tavi. Then Tavi lifted his nose. “Let’s try one little roar.”

Together, they gave a cheerful roar. “Rrrrraah!” “Rrrrraah!” answered the cave. They laughed all the way to the entrance. Outside, one red leaf spun down between them. Tavi made a small track in the soft earth. Eli pressed his sneaker beside it. The red leaf rested between their two fresh prints.