Max & Lumi
Bedtime Stories That Help Toddlers and Kids Relax into Sleep
Max & Lumi is a gentle bedtime story podcast designed to help toddlers and young children relax, regulate, and fall asleep peacefully — without screens, without overstimulation, and without “hype energy” right before bed. Each episode follows a soothing, predictable rhythm (the same comforting beats every time), so your child’s brain learns: “Ahh… it’s safe now. It’s time to sleep.”
At the heart of every story is the Storylight Jar, a single glowing memory-light, and a weekly Magic Password — a big, interesting word your child simply thinks quietly (not shouts). It’s a calm little ritual that builds language, emotional understanding, and gentle confidence — all while the narration gradually slows and softens into sleep.
Predictable rhythm
the same opening, the same gentle cues, the same “goodnight” ending — comforting for anxious and neurodivergent children who thrive on routine.
Naturally slowing voice and pace
Max starts alert and curious, then becomes sleepier as the story goes on — modelling the wind-down your child’s body is learning to copy.
Low-stimulation
cosy, gentle plots with warm endings — no scary moments, no intense conflict, no jolts.
The Three Glows
Each week brings a brand new Magic Password — explored across three separate episodes: The Listening Glow, The Learning Glow, and The Living Glow. Together, they help children settle, understand, and gently live the word — without bedtime ever feeling like a lesson.
Listening Glow
Purpose: Settles the body and attention.
What happens: We stay cosy with Gramps as he tells a reimagined classic tale — calm, safe, and soothing.
Why it works: Predictable structure + calming voice cues help children downshift.
Learning Glow
Purpose: Helps children understand the feeling behind the word.
What happens: Max and Lumi step gently into the story world and meet the main character, helping them make a kind choice using the Magic Password.
Why it works: Kids learn meaning through story, empathy, and safe repetition — not quizzes.
Living Glow
Purpose: Tiny real-world “use” of the word (in a calm bedtime way).
What happens: We enter Nocternia — the dream realm — where Max uses the Magic Password in a gentle action (a breath, a kind choice, a small moment of bravery).
Why it works: It gives children closure and a calm sense of “I can do that too.”
Why we reimagine classic tales
(and link them to the Magic Password)
Old fairy tales and classic stories are “tried and tested” for a reason: they’ve helped children make sense of the world for generations. We gently reimagine them — keeping the wonder, removing anything too intense for bedtime — and we connect each tale to a single Magic Password so the moral becomes simple, memorable, and emotionally safe.
So instead of “behave” or “be good,” children explore ideas like:
patience, honesty, kindness, courage, balance, truth, resilience — through story, not lectures.
Meet the Characters
Max
Max is curious, thoughtful, and full of questions — the kind that children ask when they’re still wide awake and wondering about everything. He mirrors your child listener: interested at the start… calmer by the middle… and noticeably sleepier by the end. Max spends cosy evenings with Gramps and the Storylight Jar, listening close while the world goes quiet around him.
Lumi
Lumi is gentle, nurturing, and softly playful — the calm little guide who makes bedtime feel safe and steady. She introduces the Magic Password of the Week (always “think it, don’t shout it”), keeps the pacing slow and soothing, and helps guide Max — and your little dreamer — toward sleep. Her full name is Luminaris Glintwing, and she is the First Guardian of the Storylight Order, trusted with the rarest task of all: tending storylights meant to be shared aloud.
Gramps
Gramps is wise, warm, and steady — a comforting presence with a kind smile and a voice made for quiet nights. When the storylight drifts into his long silver beard, it begins to glow… and the story begins. Lumi first found him closing up Elmsbury Library, drawn to the calm “storyglow” behind his eyes — and together they created the Storylight Jar, a safe nest for memory-lights, ready for bedtime.