# ⛏️ James and the New Shovel (Premium)

An episode of [Snuggle: Kids bedtime stories](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1714672018), 13 Nov 2023, 0:59.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/62031757/prod_snuggle_premium_episode_teaser.mp3

James gets a brand new shovel so he can help his parents work in their garden. Narrated by: Thomas Jones Written by: Laila Weir Welcome to Snuggle! Enter a cozy world of imagination perfect for bedtime, quiet time, or any time you want to embark on an enchanting adventure. Learn more at slumberstudios.com/snuggle November only: try Premium free for 90 days. Ad-free listening and more at slumber.supercast.com

## Transcript

[0:04] Speaker 1: Welcome to snuggle cozy stories for kids. This episode is
[0:10] Speaker 1: called James and the New Shovel. Hey friend, it's Tom here,
[0:19] Speaker 1: and I'm so glad you've tuned in for story time.
[0:23] Speaker 1: Whether it's for a nap, for bed, or just for fun.
[0:28] Speaker 1: Story time is my favorite part of the day, especially
[0:32] Speaker 1: when friends like you are here to join me. I
[0:36] Speaker 1: wanted to ask you, don't you love that feeling of
[0:41] Speaker 1: helping out? I know I sure do. And in this story,
[0:47] Speaker 1: I'll tell you about a boy named James who gets
[0:50] Speaker 1: a new shovel and uses it to make beautiful memories
[0:55] Speaker 1: with his family. As always, we'll use our imaginations to
[1:01] Speaker 1: envision what's happening in this story. So let's take a nice,
[1:07] Speaker 1: relaxing breath together to warm up our imaginations. Breathe in
[1:15] Speaker 1: fully and breathe out perfect. Now we're ready to join James.
[1:31] Speaker 1: As he's walking around the store with his mum, James
[1:48] Speaker 1: stared at it, wishing he could bring it home, but
[1:52] Speaker 1: he knew that they were not at the store to
[1:55] Speaker 1: buy him a shovel. He knew they couldn't just buy
[2:00] Speaker 1: whatever he wanted. Whenever they went shopping. If he saw
[2:06] Speaker 1: something he liked, his mum would write it down on
[2:09] Speaker 1: his birthday list for him, so he could ask for
[2:13] Speaker 1: it then. But his birthday was a long way away,
[2:21] Speaker 1: and James wanted that shovel right now. His parents had
[2:27] Speaker 1: just begun making a garden in their backyard. They needed
[2:33] Speaker 1: to dig big piles of dirt to get the ground
[2:37] Speaker 1: ready to plant tomatoes and lettuce and even pumpkins. If
[2:46] Speaker 1: James had a real shovel like theirs, he could help them.
[2:52] Speaker 1: He could do real work just like them. That's what
[2:57] Speaker 1: he was thinking as he stared at that shiny red shovel.
[3:06] Speaker 1: Mummy had walked on her head now she turned back,
[3:11] Speaker 1: noticing that James wasn't with her. What are you doing,
[3:17] Speaker 1: she asked him curiously. Then his mum looked where he
[3:22] Speaker 1: was looking and she smiled. Oh, she said, that is
[3:30] Speaker 1: a really nice shovel. It looks just like the one
[3:35] Speaker 1: Daddy and I use when we work in our garden sometimes.
[3:42] Speaker 1: James's mum understood just what he was thinking. He liked
[3:48] Speaker 1: it when that happened. He waited for her to ask
[3:53] Speaker 1: him if he'd like to put the shovel on his
[3:57] Speaker 1: birthday list, but instead she walked over and felt the
[4:04] Speaker 1: strong wooden handle. She picked up the shovel and looked
[4:10] Speaker 1: at it more closely. He guessed she liked what she
[4:17] Speaker 1: saw because she nodded to herself and then smiled again
[4:23] Speaker 1: at James. James, she said, how would you like to
[4:30] Speaker 1: help me and Daddy in the garden. James gasped. See
[4:39] Speaker 1: sometimes she really understood what he was thinking. He nodded
[4:45] Speaker 1: eagerly and said he could help them in the garden.
[4:50] Speaker 1: He would work very, very hard in that case. His
[4:57] Speaker 1: mum told him he would probably need a real shovel
[5:01] Speaker 1: to help them dig, a good shovel like theirs, but
[5:07] Speaker 1: the right size for him. James was so excited that
[5:14] Speaker 1: he was holding his breath. He blew it out slowly
[5:21] Speaker 1: and then took a big breath in once again. Yes,
[5:27] Speaker 1: his mum was saying he should probably have a real,
[5:32] Speaker 1: sturdy shovel. He was old enough to be responsible and
[5:38] Speaker 1: careful and to understand that this was at aol for
[5:42] Speaker 1: real work, not a toy. James agreed, and then his
[5:51] Speaker 1: mother was picking up the shovel again and handing it
[5:55] Speaker 1: to him. It felt heavy and solid in his hands.
[6:04] Speaker 1: The wood part was strong and smooth, the shiny red
[6:10] Speaker 1: digging part was cool and smooth too. James carried the
[6:18] Speaker 1: shovel carefully as they made their way to the checkout counter.
[6:25] Speaker 1: His mum paid for their purchases, and then they left
[6:30] Speaker 1: the store to go home. James carried his new shovel
[6:36] Speaker 1: the whole time. He held it proudly. The people they passed
[6:44] Speaker 1: could see that he was carrying a real tool. They
[6:49] Speaker 1: would know that he was old enough and responsible enough
[6:54] Speaker 1: to do real work. When they got home, James ran
[7:02] Speaker 1: to show Daddy, who was impressed. James held out the
[7:08] Speaker 1: shovel to him, and Daddy took it in his hands.
[7:16] Speaker 1: He took the time to run his fingers over the
[7:19] Speaker 1: shiny red tip and the strong wooden handle. He nodded
[7:27] Speaker 1: and said it was time for James to have a
[7:31] Speaker 1: real tool like this, that he was strong and responsible
[7:37] Speaker 1: now and he could help them with their work in
[7:40] Speaker 1: the garden. Sometimes Daddy really understood things too, James thought.
[7:51] Speaker 1: James felt strong and grown up, and he knew he
[7:57] Speaker 1: would work hard. He asked his parents if he could
[8:04] Speaker 1: get started right away, but Daddy explained it was time
[8:10] Speaker 1: for lunch first. James was in a hurry to get
[8:15] Speaker 1: outside and try out his new shovel. But when Daddy
[8:21] Speaker 1: said lunch, he realized that he did feel hungry. So
[8:28] Speaker 1: he washed his hands and dried them on a soft towel,
[8:34] Speaker 1: and then he sat down at the table. He ate
[8:40] Speaker 1: his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, made just the way
[8:44] Speaker 1: he liked it, with not too much peanut butter or
[8:50] Speaker 1: too much jam. He drank a glass of cold milk.
[8:58] Speaker 1: He then put his dishes into the sink like Daddy
[9:01] Speaker 1: asked him to, and then they went outside together. James
[9:09] Speaker 1: put on his baseball cap, just like his parents did
[9:14] Speaker 1: when they worked in the garden. Then Daddy and Mummy
[9:19] Speaker 1: showed James where he could dig. They explained that right
[9:25] Speaker 1: now the important thing was just to dig up the ground.
[9:32] Speaker 1: They wanted to loosen the dirt and turn it over.
[9:37] Speaker 1: This would get the ground ready for planting. Mummy said
[9:43] Speaker 1: she would come out and work with him in a
[9:46] Speaker 1: little while, but for now he could get started on
[9:52] Speaker 1: his own if he wanted to. Well, he did want to,
[10:00] Speaker 1: in fact, he couldn't wait. So James walked into the
[10:07] Speaker 1: middle of the dirt patch. He placed his new shovel
[10:12] Speaker 1: on the ground and he leaned on the wooden handle
[10:19] Speaker 1: slowly the shiny red tip sank down into the soft earth.
[10:29] Speaker 1: He pushed, and more and more dirt gave way. When
[10:35] Speaker 1: the shovel was full, he lifted it carefully and dumped
[10:41] Speaker 1: the dirt in a pile to the side. This was
[10:48] Speaker 1: real work, grown up work, and he had the tool
[10:54] Speaker 1: to do it with. Wait until his parents saw what
[10:59] Speaker 1: he could do all by himself, they would hardly believe it.
[11:09] Speaker 1: The sun was shining and the afternoon air felt warm
[11:14] Speaker 1: and wonderful. James could hear birds fluttering around the trees
[11:21] Speaker 1: in the neighbour's yard. The sky was the beautiful color
[11:28] Speaker 1: of his favorite blue crayon. James began to sing a
[11:33] Speaker 1: song to himself as he worked. He decided that he
[11:39] Speaker 1: would see how big of a hole he could dig.
[11:44] Speaker 1: So he dug, and he dug. The hole in front
[11:50] Speaker 1: of him got bigger, and the pile of dirt next
[11:55] Speaker 1: to him got bigger too. First, he dug down and
[12:02] Speaker 1: the hole grew deeper. But as it got deeper, dirt
[12:08] Speaker 1: from the sides began trickling into the hole. So then
[12:15] Speaker 1: he dug on the sides and the hole grew wider.
[12:22] Speaker 1: After that, he took turns digging deeper then digging wider,
[12:30] Speaker 1: then digging deeper again, and after a while, when the
[12:37] Speaker 1: hole was getting really big, James decided to take a
[12:42] Speaker 1: break from digging and stand in the hole to see
[12:47] Speaker 1: just how big it was. He laid down his new
[12:54] Speaker 1: shovel carefully, after all, it was a real tool and
[13:00] Speaker 1: it was important to be responsible with it and to
[13:04] Speaker 1: take care of it. Then he stepped down into the hole. Well,
[13:14] Speaker 1: it was quite a hole. James thought. It was so
[13:19] Speaker 1: deep that if Mummy came out now, she wouldn't be
[13:23] Speaker 1: able to see his feet because they were hidden down
[13:28] Speaker 1: inside the hole. He'd dug all by himself with his
[13:34] Speaker 1: brand new shovel. And then what do you know, His
[13:41] Speaker 1: mum did come out. She brought him a glass of lemonade,
[13:47] Speaker 1: and she commented on how big the hole was and
[13:51] Speaker 1: what good work he was doing. Digging in the garden
[13:57] Speaker 1: was real work, she said, and it could make you
[14:01] Speaker 1: get pretty thirsty. James agreed. He sat down and picked
[14:10] Speaker 1: up the glass of lemonade. The glass was cold and
[14:16] Speaker 1: a tiny bit damp. It felt good in his warm hands.
[14:24] Speaker 1: He took a sip and tasted the lemonade. Yum, It
[14:32] Speaker 1: felt cold and it tasted sweet and sour at the
[14:37] Speaker 1: same time, just right. He drank all the lemonade, and
[14:47] Speaker 1: then he decided to get back to work. His mum
[14:53] Speaker 1: got out her big shovel then, and they worked together,
[14:59] Speaker 1: side by side, his mum with her grown upsized shovel
[15:06] Speaker 1: and James with his boy sized shovel, working next to
[15:11] Speaker 1: each other, digging away, and as they dug they talked.
[15:21] Speaker 1: Mummy explained why the dirt had to be loose, that
[15:26] Speaker 1: way the roots of the plants could push through and
[15:30] Speaker 1: find water so they could grow. James talked about all
[15:37] Speaker 1: the things he could do now that he was old
[15:41] Speaker 1: and strong and responsible enough to do real work, all
[15:48] Speaker 1: the ways he could help and the work he could do.
[15:54] Speaker 1: They made plans for planting the garden. Together. Once the
[15:58] Speaker 1: ground was ready, they talked about what kind of food
[16:04] Speaker 1: they wanted to grow. Mummy said that James could come
[16:10] Speaker 1: with her to choose the seeds. She said he would
[16:15] Speaker 1: need some real gardening gloves too. James could hardly wait.
[16:23] Speaker 1: He could hardly wait to pick out the seeds. He
[16:27] Speaker 1: could hardly wait to plant their crops and watch them grow.
[16:33] Speaker 1: He could hardly wait to taste the food when it
[16:38] Speaker 1: was ripe. James could hardly wait for all the things
[16:44] Speaker 1: he would do now that he was big and strong
[16:50] Speaker 1: and responsible. But he was still little, too, little enough
[16:59] Speaker 1: to snow ruggle on mummy's lap. When at last they
[17:04] Speaker 1: decided they were done digging for today, when they'd cleaned
[17:10] Speaker 1: their shovels carefully and put them away, he was little
[17:18] Speaker 1: enough to lay his head on mummy's shoulder as she
[17:23] Speaker 1: told him stories about her first garden when she was small. Yes,
[17:33] Speaker 1: he was big, but he was little too, and that
[17:39] Speaker 1: was just fine by him. James sighed a long, happy sigh.
[17:50] Speaker 1: He snuggled closer against mummy and closed his eyes, listening
[17:57] Speaker 1: to the sound of her voice. There was so much
[18:03] Speaker 1: to look forward to. Tomorrow he would do more real
[18:10] Speaker 1: work with his shiny red shovel, and there was so
[18:18] Speaker 1: much to enjoy right now too. His mother's arms were warm,
[18:27] Speaker 1: and his body was tired and comfortable, and his head
[18:34] Speaker 1: felt heavy and cozy. James smiled and let himself drift
[18:46] Speaker 1: off to sleep, maybe just maybe to dream about his
[18:55] Speaker 1: shiny new shovel and the garden. But he would help
[19:02] Speaker 1: to plan

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