The best way to entertain your kids is to narrate them short stories. The stories not only entertain them but also teach many important values in them. You can also use different props and make these stories more entertaining. With these stories, you can easily strengthen your bond with your kids. This is the best method to entertain your kids and also make them learn different things.
6 Short Stories For Kids
Here are some of the best short stories for the kids. Narrate these to them and make them learn different things and also entertain them.
1. Story Name: The Boy Who Cried, “Wolf”
- Author: Aesop
- Age Recommendation: 4 years and above
- Genre: Fiction
- What Is It About: The boy who cried wolf’ is an apt short story for kids age four and above. The tale portrays a shepherd boy as the protagonist who constantly deceives villagers nearby into thinking a wolf attacked a flock of the town. When a wolf truly does appear, the boy cries for help, but the villagers believe that it might be another trick – another false alarm and neglect it. The wolf ate the sheep.
- How To Tell: It would be a very effective story if dramatized and sounds of a wolf, laughter of boy are precisely stressed. A core value of the bible is brought into the story – being truthful, and thus, it is one of the greatest bible stories for kids too that emphasizes the value of the bible in the most beautiful way.
2. Story Name: The Midas Touch
- Author: Al Perkins
- Age recommendation: 4 years and above
- Genre: Fiction
- What Is It About: An ancient Greek mythological tragedy, The Midas Touch can be one of the perfect short stories for kids. It’s about a king, Midas was granted a wish by Dionysus, the God of Wine that turned everything he touched into the goal. Although Dionysus persuaded, Midas insisted, and it was granted! Though it was exciting at first, it became a peril when his food and daughter changes into gold. He thus wept at the riverside where the sand turned as yellow, like “fool’s gold.” It is said that the curse of the golden touch washed by his tears.
- How To Tell: The story’s essence is conveyed deeply if it was enacted or dramatized, and both emotions – initial joy and final sorrow are depicted. It can also be one of the amazing bedtime stories for kids to have a nap. It is a great short story for kids, recommended for children age five and above.
3. Story Name: The Cow And Tiger
- Author: Al Perkins
- Age Recommendation: 4 years and above
- Genre: Fiction
- What Is It About: This story is a tale worth putting forth to tell how unity is important. Best for children of age four and above, it is a great mythological tragedy. It touches the surface of human character, and its effectiveness is high when it is enunciated with exact modification of the cleverness of lion and hampered unity among cows. The thread line basically emphasizes that cows would not have died if they haven’t fought and weren’t diverse. It would be one of the best scary stories for kids if said with suspense.
- How To Tell: To add more suspense, you can use different voice modulations for the best effect.
4. Story Name: The Golden Egg
- Author: Margaret Wise Brown
- Age Recommendation: 4 years and above
- Genre: Fiction
- What Is It About: A beautiful moral – emphasizing short story for kids, this Aesop’s fable insists satisfaction is natural happiness while greed is a dreadful deed. Recommended for ages four and above, this story emphasizes a man who got golden egg daily on a regular basis but craved for more. It made him slaughter the bird offering egg that stopped even his daily portion.
- How To Tell: It is best said with properties relating to the story and voice modulation for greediness (with a tone of shrewdness) and morning at the end of the story.
5. Story name: The Boasting Traveler
- Author: Aesop
- Age Recommendation: 4 years and above
- Genre: Fiction
- What Is It About: The story is about a traveler who came from a long adventure and boasts about it in front of all the people. He speaks many boasting words for himself and tells that he has such big things that no man has ever achieved in his life. All the people keep on listing to his words but get frustrated. At last, one man speaks up and tells him to stop boasting and keeping it real. It has a thread line that if we think that we are smart and lie, there are smarter people who can trap us for what we project. It is one of the best short stories for kids.
- How To Tell: It is a parable that is best said if given different voice modulations for different emotions and people and dramatized and portrayed.
6. Story Name: Farmer And The Well
- Author: From Akbar and Birbal stories
- Age Recommendation: 5 to 7
- Genre: Moral story
- What Is It About: This is a fun and witty story that will teach your child to be honest and never try to swindle others. In this story, a farmer goes to Emperor Akbar with a peculiar claim. He had bought a well from his neighbor, but the neighbor refused to let him draw water from it. The neighbor insisted that he had only sold the well, but not the water in it. If the farmer wanted the water, he had to pay more money. One of Akbar’s courtiers, the clever Birbal, then spoke up. He said that if the neighbor sold the well but not the water, then the neighbor’s water was in the farmer’s well. So, the neighbor had to take the water out of the well or use it up all at once. Realizing he had been outsmarted, the neighbor demurred and asked for forgiveness.
- How To Tell: The best way to convey the story is by giving different voices and inflections to different characters. For example, you could give Akbar a deep, booming voice and for Birbal, a satisfied, lawyer-type voice.
Some Last Words
These are the best short stories for kids. Brainstorm some ideas and narrate these stories to them in a unique way. Gather around with your kids and loved ones and narrate these stories to your kids and spend some good quality time with them.
