A Relaxing, Positive Way for Kids to Fall Asleep

Audio

Patti Teel’s The Inside-Out Sleep Game. Buena Vista Records. CD: $13. Ages 3-7. www.amazon.com

If nightmares, fear of the dark or just plain restlessness make bedtime a battle, help has arrived. Patti Teel, a special-education and music teacher, has come up with a soothing mix of yoga exercises, guided imagery, storytelling, and sweet, soft music and vocals to ease youngsters to sleep.

Beginning with a progressive relaxation exercise, Teel reinforces positive thinking with a “count your blessings” theme, asking children to imagine such simple pleasures as rainbows, butterflies, the smell of “green air after it rains” and the “grass between your toes.”

If that doesn’t do the trick, Teel’s image-packed visualization routine should, as she sends listeners on a gentle, magical adventure down a mountain path, with a “Dream Friend”--a turtle named Nomi. The video-enhanced CD also includes tips for parents for peaceful nights.

Teel’s first hit bedtime soother, “The Floppy Sleep Game,” also is newly available on the Buena Vista Records label.