Potato & Beans' Sleepy Planet Parade 🐱💫 Cute Bedtime Stories for Kids

[00:00:10] Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime a dream. Tonight's Warm Coco Club welcome is going out to special siblings Gabriel, Malia, Mackenzie and you guessed it, Taya from Canada who listen every single night apparently. High five guys!

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[00:01:04] Subscribe in just two taps via the link in the show notes. But now here's a quick word from our sponsors. Hey Koala Moon listeners! If your family loves imaginative adventures like the ones we share here, you'll absolutely love our friends over at the Stories Podcast. Every week they bring a new story to life. From retellings of classics like Snow White and Peter Rabbit to completely original tales you won't hear anywhere else.

[00:01:33] Safe for all ages and perfect for sparking little imaginations, Stories Podcast is a must-listen for kids and grown-ups alike. Whether you're looking for screen-free fun at the weekend or something to help you wind down after school, just search Stories wherever you get your podcasts and discover a new adventure together.

[00:01:56] Hey sleepyheads! I'm Kelly, the host of Koala Shine, the perfect daytime adventure show for long car journeys, school runs and lazy Sunday mornings. I'm popping up here on Koala Moon because I've heard you want more Koala Kids Stories, and I'm here to deliver. Beep beep, special delivery! Koala Shine is a tiny bit different from Koala Moon, as it's designed for daytime listening.

[00:02:17] So, after a great night's sleep with a story from Abby, you can have a big old stretch and tune in to Koala Shine, joining your favorite characters on crazy adventures around the world. With new episodes every Friday, we'll follow Hector and Sunny on a daytime safari, explore the big city with Munchie the Raccoon, and visit the circus with Super Soul. You'll also hear cool facts, jokes, and learn about the world we live in. Plus, there's a chance for your voices to be featured on the podcast too.

[00:02:43] Koala Shine offers mindful, fun entertainment on the move, designed to spark curiosity. Search Koala Shine now on your favorite podcast platform, and be sure to hit follow so that finding your next adventure is easy peasy lemon squeezy. Hope to see you there! Koala Shine! Hmm, speaking of looking out, how many of you guys listening looked up recently into the night sky?

[00:03:13] The stars and the planets are all on the move. I know you've probably all heard of a fashion parade, but have you heard of a planetary parade? No, I hadn't either, because it's a very rare celestial spectacle where some of the planets in our solar system line up and become visible to us here on Earth without the need for a telescope. It's all very exciting and newsworthy.

[00:03:39] And which budding journalist can you think of who's going to be all over this news story? Yes, little chimpkin, of course. So, lie back in bed. Take some relaxing breaths. Close your eyes as we head down to the diner in the middle of nowhere. And we join Potato and Beans on this very special day where the planets are lining up ready to take a stroll across the sky.

[00:04:07] Could there be a better reason for a party? This is Potato and Beans Sleepy Planet Parade by Susanna McLaughlin.

[00:04:25] On one warm, sunny afternoon in the middle of nowhere, two roller skating diner cats, Potato and Beans, were minding their own business, topping up teacups and serving slices of pie to the animals that came and went. When a little chicken flew through their door all aflutter.

[00:04:45] Here was Chimpkin, the teenage editor of the local paper, who was always popping in to find out a news story or just chat about nonsense with the two cats. It was evident that this time she wanted to talk business as she had an excited hop in her knobbly knees and was waving sheets of notepaper as she beelined towards the counter. Oh, you'll never guess what, Chimpkin gushed.

[00:05:14] Today's an important day. The first time in ages, in decades, years and years that, oh, it's just so wonderful. Hey, Chimpkin, Potato purred, pulling out the blender and getting started on Chimpkin's favourite kind of strawberry milkshake. What on earth are you babbling about, sweet pea?

[00:05:44] Chimpkin took a deep inhale and plonked herself down on one of the bar stores to catch her breath. As Potato slid the tall glass of milkshake across the counter, she caught it in her wing and took a big, long sip. Oh, that's better, Chimpkin said. So, I have news. It's the most magical thing.

[00:06:12] The planets are aligning. Tonight, above the desert, six planets will be visible, just hanging there in the sky. Six! Can you believe it? Mrs. Pig, the diner's chef, came through from the kitchen, leaving the saloon door swinging behind her. I can, she said.

[00:06:39] Mr. Pig hasn't stopped talking about it all week. Mrs. Pig's husband worked at NASA, the National Association of Space Animals. So, if anything was happening in the sky, he knew about it. Exactly, Chimpkin said. It's big news. She turned back to Potato and Beans, who were looking a tad confused.

[00:07:06] Usually we can just see stars overhead, right? And the moon? The two cats nodded, bemused. Well, sometimes we get lucky. And as a planet travels around the sun, it crosses through our sky and we can see it. Beans nodded. I've seen Mars before, she said.

[00:07:33] It looks just like a star, but kind of brighter and more golden. That's right, Chimpkin said. But tonight, six planets will be crossing our sky at the same time. A planetary parade, they call it. We'll be able to see all the major planets in our solar system, if you don't count Pluto.

[00:08:03] Poor Pluto, Mrs. Pig sighed. No one ever counts Pluto. No one ever counts, but not Pluto anymore. Chimpkin carried on. So you'll be able to see Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. You'll be able to see most of them with your naked eyes. Uranus and Neptune you'll need to use a telescope for as they're further away.

[00:08:34] That's right, Mrs. Pig said. She raised a trotter. To remember their order from closest to the sun to the farthest, you just use the letters of the sentence. My very easy method just speeds up naming planets.

[00:08:55] You get Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto the dwarf planet. Beans put her paws on her hips and said, And back to this planetary parade, it happens how often?

[00:09:22] Only once every few decades, potato watched Beans with a glint in her eye. You know what that means, beans said. It's the perfect opportunity for... A party, potato finished, wiggling on the spot in excitement.

[00:09:48] A planetary parade party, beans confirmed, nodding wisely. The other animals cheered. Chimpkin said, Chimpkin said that was such a wonderful idea. In fact, the event might just make the front page of the Gazette. Mrs. Pig clapped her trotters together. This was all very exciting, but if they were to have a party that very night, they had better get started.

[00:10:18] Yesterday. Not to worry though, Mrs. Pig could whip up in an hour what would take other chefs a week. She rolled up her sleeves, tightened her pinafore and spun on her skates, twirling right back into the kitchen. As the door swung closed, you could already hear her oinking instructions to Ozzie the octopus, their resident dishwasher, and clattering around with her pots and pans.

[00:10:48] Beans gave Chimpkin a very important mission, to spread the word and tell anyone she came across about the planetary parade party that would take place that evening. Chimpkin nodded solemnly, then in a rustle of feathers, she was off. The cats giggled as they watched her hop on her bicycle and pedal as fast as she could away across the plain.

[00:11:15] Chimpkin always took her tasks very seriously, and they knew she'd pedal all the way to the horizon if she had to. She was such a hardworking joke. The cats thought that Chimpkin would do a wonderful job bringing all their friends to the diner, but they thought they should also make sure any strangers driving by knew about the gathering too. So, they set about making a huge poster to string up by the roadside.

[00:11:46] Beans used a silver glitter pen to write, Planetary Parade Party, the time and the date in clear swooping letters. Whilst Potato drew all the planets around the edge. Beans thought a little more and then added a dress code. Astronomy Chic. She didn't really know what that meant, but it felt right.

[00:12:12] She wanted the people to come all dressed up and shining like the stars. Potato stuck her tongue out as she doodled, drawing Mars in shining red, as that's the red planet, and Venus in baby pink, because a customer nearby told her that Venus was also the Roman goddess of love. She drew Jupiter in shining gold, and made sure to loop Saturn with a big ring,

[00:12:42] since it's wrapped in a meteor belt. Finally, she drew Neptune and Uranus as little blue and purple dots, since they're so very far away. When they'd finished, Potato plonked her paw in the silver glitter paint, and stamped it against the page, like an artist's signature. Finally, Ozzy was tasked with taking the sign and hanging it next to the tarmac, so everyone passing by would see it.

[00:13:12] When this was done, Potato and Beans headed into the kitchen to see what Mrs. Pig was busy with. There were already clouds of delicious smells drifting out of the kitchen, and Potato and Beans sniffed the air and rubbed their tummies as they went. Every gleaming surface of the kitchen was covered with mixing bowls and piles of flour and wobbling stacks of ingredients,

[00:13:42] from eggs to eggplants. Ozzy had hauled himself out of the bubbly sink and was helping Mrs. Pig, with two tentacles rolling out dough with a ginormous rolling pin and another tentacle sifting flour over a big bowl. As he shook the sieve, he shimmied to the rock songs blaring out of his radio. Mrs. Pig was standing at the stove where many pans were bubbling.

[00:14:12] Potato and Beans sidled either side of her and peered into the pan she was stirring. It was golden, sticky caramel. Potato's mouth began to water and she went to dip a paw, but Mrs. Pig batted her away with the wooden spoon, chuckling and explaining that it was way too hot to taste test. She distracted her with a spare cracked biscuit that Potato chomped down in seconds.

[00:14:42] In a huge metal vat, a soup bubbled that smelled heavenly. Beans inhaled and swooned, twitching her whiskers. What is that? she asked. It's French onion soup, Mrs. Pig said. I learnt how to make it when I lived in Paris and studied at the Cordon Bleu cookery school.

[00:15:11] A fond, dreamy look took over her eyes. After a long day baking buns and simmering sauces and pickling eggs, I would come home exhausted. All I wanted was to sit on my balcony, look out at the stars, and eat a hot bowl of soup, a hug in a mug, a puddle of cuddle.

[00:15:41] There's nothing more warming and wonderful, especially under the open sky. Beans was now inhaling the smell of the soup so deeply that her whiskers were just a whiskers width from touching its surface. Mrs. Pig slipped on the lid and put her arms around the cat's shoulders, steering them towards the door.

[00:16:09] I think you two better get on with the decorations, she insisted. Every planetary parade party needs confetti and, uh, paper chains and party hats. Beans and Potato shared a look. They knew that Mrs. Pig was just trying

[00:16:37] to get them out of her way, but, actually, those were all quite wonderful ideas. The cat friends took a walk around the outside of the diner and picked the spot for their open-air soiree. They picked a wide space ringed by a few cacti, as Beans had the idea that they could drape fairy lights from plant to plant to make a kind of fence. Then, they set about dragging sofas

[00:17:06] and blankets and tables from the diner and arranging them under the sky. The sun began to arc lower in the sky and the horizon started turning pink. Ozzy skated over with a stack of paper and the three of them got to work, Ozzy's extra tentacles coming in handy as they folded, sliced, and sticky-taped paper together to make long, looping paper chains

[00:17:35] in blue and silver that they draped around the party zone. They made paper-mache planets in different sizes and colours, one for each planet they would see that night. And Potato made an extra imaginary planet she named after herself, which she painted brown and spotty. Next, they rolled silver cards into polished hats, adding a sparkling pom-pom on the top

[00:18:05] and looping elastic around the bottom. As for confetti, they plucked silvery leaves from a gum tree not too far away and scattered them amongst the other decorations. By the time everything was perfectly in place and the fairy lights were switched on, the sky was turning indigo and far-off headlights were shining in the distance as their friends

[00:18:34] made their way to the diner. Mrs. Pig skated between the kitchen and party area with platter after platter, plate after plate of delicious food, which they all piled and arranged on a long table. Then they all headed back inside to get changed into their own planetary parade outfits. Potato and Beans headed up to their apartment

[00:19:03] above the shop and turned on some smooth disco music on their record player. Then, they emptied their wardrobes into one big pile in the middle of their room, ready to choose their perfect outfit. They dug their paws in and rummaged through their jumpers and dresses and leggings and aprons, pulling anything that shone or shimmered. Potato headed

[00:19:33] into the bathroom with arms laden with clothes whilst Beans continued laying outfits out on her bed, humming and ahhing about whether they'd make her eyes pop and her fur gleam. When Potato emerged, her entrance was announced by the opening bars of their favourite song. Beans' jaw dropped. She looked fantastic. Potato wore a pink T-shirt

[00:20:02] bejewelled with rhinestones in a sweeping rainbow and around her round tummy she had clipped a belt with a big silver star-shaped buckle. She wore flared sequined trousers and a headband with two glittery pom-poms sticking out above her ears on wobbling springs. She was wearing her favourite cowboy boots and had smeared purple glitter around her eyes and running

[00:20:31] down her nose. She had a huge silver sparkly feather boa draped around her neck. Beans looked down at the much more sensible outfit she'd picked out for herself and threw it back into the pile pulling out the most colourful sparkling item she could find instead. That's how she ended up strutting down into the diner

[00:21:00] five minutes later in rainbow flip-flops wearing a silver leather jacket with a fringe dangling from the arms and a purple sequined dress that shimmered like a galaxy. Mrs. Pig and Ozzie clapped at their arrival since they looked so grand like princesses paying them a visit. Mrs. Pig had used face paint

[00:21:29] to doodle little planets and shooting stars on her face and she was wearing a green flowy gown with a blue pashmina. She said she dressed as her favourite planet Earth. Ozzie was wearing a shirt of his favourite rock band the dustbin lids but he'd put a silver bangle on each tentacle and had a silver sparkly crown on his head that had a little star on each sparkling

[00:21:59] point. The headlights were glowing closer now and the diner was abuzz with excitement. The first car to arrive was a pink Cadillac with the roof down filled with instrument cases and boxes of wiry equipment. In the front seat was Tallulah Sparkles the glamorous possum and former Hollywood star that lived just across the canyon.

[00:22:28] She was waving a scarf at them in hello and calling I've bought the music as the cats began to heave the boxes from the car. They uncovered her bandmates Sandy the skunk and Barry the bulldog who were hidden beneath a guitar a tangle of microphone wires and a shining trombone. Once Barry could step out of the car he used his bulldog muscles to heave all of the equipment

[00:22:58] into place popping together slats to put up a mini stage and attaching a disco ball to dangle from a tall pole above what he was designating the dance floor. Next came Mr. Pig and the piglets then Chimpkin and her mum and Barbara the sheep next Dallas Cassidy the cowboy Zara the post dog Turnip

[00:23:28] the pot bellied pig and his friends Soon every chair beanbag and booth was taken there were crowds of animals gazing in wonder at the shimmering decorations salivating over the banquet and swaying to the smooth jazz that Tallulah was now crooning through the microphone. She had changed into a pink tasseled dress and let her curls

[00:23:57] down from their curlers. She looked a million bucks. One by one animals began to point upwards as the stars began to twinkle overhead. There amongst them the planets shone all six of them gleaming down from their parade across the sky. Tallulah finished her song

[00:24:27] then began to map the planets in the sky pointing out Mars Venus Mercury and Jupiter. Mr. Pig set up two big complicated looking telescopes locking one in place to point up at Neptune and another at Uranus. Everyone gazed up above them in awe and cues formed at the telescopes

[00:24:57] as people wondered at the planets and how far away they were and how looking up at them made them feel so very small and special. While some animals were happy just imagining and dreaming about the planets above, Mr. Pig and Barbara the sheep were on hand to answer anybody's more scientific questions. Like how

[00:25:29] billion years ago and how there are at least a hundred billion galaxies in the universe as well as our own. They explained that whilst we have only one moon on our planet other planets have moons of their own and Jupiter has 95. Can you imagine looking up at night and seeing more than one moon. After a while people

[00:25:59] directed their gaze from the sky back to the earth where the table of delicious food was calling their attention. Mrs. Pig began by ladling hot onion soup into the delicious soup nibbling on stringy cheese and golden bread she

[00:26:28] sighed in happiness. This was a night to she'd imagined a party on the moon all soft ethereal

[00:26:58] music and floating dresses and sparkly biscuits. She thought it was just perfect. Once the soup had been finished the animals loaded plates with the other treats Mrs. Pig had rustled up. There were star shaped shortbread biscuits decorated with little silver balls. There were cake pops on sticks covered in icing of all colours

[00:27:28] and surrounded by sugar rings making them look like dreamy marble sized planets. There was a chocolate fountain and ice cream and glittery bowls and star fruit and candy apples and anything and everything you could dream of.

[00:29:55] glinting off sequins and sparkles. It felt like they had left the earth all together and were dancing amongst the stars. As Tallulah belted out some country hits, the animals gathered on the dance floor and began line dancing. They stepped and triple stepped, hopped and glided all in time, stomping back and forth across

[00:30:25] the dance floor with coordinated shimmies and spins. The music filled the valley, as did the laughter and the sound of tip tapping boots. It wasn't until way after their usual bedtime that Potato and Beans finally arrived back in their bedroom, still humming dreamy tunes and tapping their toes to the music that was swimming

[00:30:54] around their heads. But now, sleep was crowding the corners of their eyes and making their eyelids heavy. Their warm showers made them purr sleepy purrs as they each buffed soap into bubbles and washed the glitter from their faces. Wrapped up in their fluffy dressing gowns, they yawned as the soft whirr of the

[00:31:24] hairdryer made them sleepier and sleepier, warmer and fluffier and drier, until they were like two pom-poms in pyjamas. They brushed their teeth and combed their fur, and by the time they found themselves each pulling closed a curtain and saying goodbye to the day they were almost

[00:31:54] asleep. They took a moment, paused in front of the window to look out at the planetary parade once more and say a sleepy thank you for the spectacle it provided before tugging the drape shut and each snuggling into their beds under the mounds of blankets sleepy and

[00:32:24] cosy and with hearts full of love the two best friends mewed goodnight to one another and drifted off to long dreamless sleeps.