Fairy tales to read

10 Best Classic Fairy Tales For Your Kids

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein.

Fairy tales often take people to the sweet memory lane of their childhood. The memories of magic, dragons, and evilness getting defeated never fail to bring a smile to our faces. 

Reading or listening to classic tales can help parents bond better with their children and nurture their creativity.

So, if you are looking for the best bedtime stories for your children, this blog will surely help you. Let’s explore some of the fascinating and timeless fairy tales that can bring lots of colors and blooms to your kid’s childhood. 

Cinderella is one of the most popular fairy tales of all time. Its story remains an all-time classic and will remain the same for future generations as well.

Cinderella was a young woman who lived with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters. Thanks to her glass slipper, she found her Prince Charming and escaped her difficult life. 

Cinderella’s story has been adapted in many variations over history. Cinderella’s popular version “The Brother Grimm” was published in 1812. Recently, in 2021, Disney has released a new Cinderella movie with a modern outlook. 

Moral: This story tells kids how they should never stop dreaming despite all the hardships that life presents them with.

Related Reading: Top Reading Apps for Kids: How to Use Screens For Stories 

Beauty and the Beast is a fairy tale that celebrates real royalty. In the story, a spoiled prince turns into a beast and imprisons a beautiful young lady named Belle. It’s only when he learns to love Belle that he becomes the prince again. 

This fairy tale is assumed to be inspired by a real-life couple who lived in France in the 1500s. The man had a condition called hypertrichosis. This condition causes abnormal hair growth on the body. 

So, he was referred to as a wild man and was kept in a cage for a long time. In a surprising turn of events, he married a royal court servant’s daughter, and they had 7 children.

Moral: We should value internal characteristics such as kindness over other superficial or physical qualities. 

Rapunzel is a beautiful and motivational fairy tale. The story shows how a poor couple lost their daughter Rapunzel when they stole fruit from their neighbor’s garden. It also focuses on how the angelic voice of Rapunzel reunites her with her lover. 

Moral: This story gives two bold messages that one should never steal, and evilness never wins. 

Related Reading: Best Children’s Books to Stimulate Kids’ Imagination & Creativity

Snow White is a young princess and is defined by her inherent kindness and pure beauty. In the story, an evil queen spends all her life envying Snow White’s beauty. 

But, in the end, Snow White finds her happiness by marrying the prince. In contrast, the evil queen loses her peace and leads an unhappy life while chasing meaningless physical beauty. 

Moral: This story has an insightful moral — if you lust over physical beauty, you lose your peace in the way. The story also encourages kids to be kind and pure like Snow White. 

A rebellious Red sets off alone to meet her grandmother with instructions to never step off the forest path. But she disobeys the instructions and attracts the attention of the bad wolf. 

Now, what happens next depends on the version you are reading. In the Charles Perrault version, Red gets gobbled up by the wolf. However, across Europe, North America, and many other tellings, she was saved by her hood or a guy with an ax. 

Moral: This fairy tale intends to teach children to follow directions and express their courage at the time of need.  

Jack is a rule-breaker and loves to prank. Once, he traded a family cow for a couple of magic beans in the hope of climbing the beanstalk and reaching the giant’s castle to steal his magic possessions. 

This story will help you teach your naughty little pranksters that no matter how daring you are, one should never cross certain boundaries in life. 

Moral: The story shows that undying greed for more will take away what you already have in your life. 

Related Reading: Learning Styles That Make Learning Easy-Peasy For Kids

Sleeping Beauty is slightly similar to Snow White. The story revolves around a Sleeping Beauty who was cursed by a wicked fairy. Beauty spends all her childhood sleeping, but on her 16th birthday, her prince charming finds her and wakes her up after years of slumber. 

Like other fairy tales, different interpretations of Sleeping Beauty are also available. However, Disney’s Maleficent in the year 2014 achieved the most success. 

Moral: The story shows that growing up has its own hurdles but in the end, love conquers all.

If you want to raise a little animal helper, this is the perfect story for you. Puss is a bold trickster who masquerades as the servant of a nobleman. His tactics bring him fame, fortune, and a wife at a young age. 

The boots in this fairy tale symbolize wealth and wisdom. The story is set back in the 16th century when people used to be barefoot. So, having boots at that time was a significant sign of wealth. 

Moral: The story’s moral is simple — your wisdom can help you win wealth. 

This tale talks about the hunger of the heart and stomach. Hansel and Gretel are abandoned by their stepmother in the forest. Both children can’t resist eating a real gingerbread cottage out of hunger. But they get caught by a cannibal witch who lives there.  

In the end, they shove the witch into the fiery oven to escape. 

Moral: This story will teach your kids how fortunate they are to have food on their plates. It will help them be grateful in life and never have any egos! 

In this story, a frog helps a princess to find her golden ball in the pond and then invites her to live in the castle. It is then that the frog turns into a prince. The storyline of The Frog Prince is quite similar to Beauty and the Beast.

Moral: The story teaches that it’s important to value kindness and goodness over physical beauty. It also tries to convey the importance of keeping our promises.

Related Reading: Best Riddles for Kids of all Grades (With Answers)!

Are you wondering how centuries-old fairy tales can benefit your child in this digital age? Well, no matter how old fairy tales are, they can always make your kid’s childhood happy and memorable.  

Be it The Brothers Grimm or Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, all the classic magic stories can benefit your child in a number of ways:

Storytelling plays a significant role in a child’s development. That is because 95% of the human brain develops by the age of six. Therefore, reading or listening to fairy tales can build imagination and literacy for your child. 

Your child can engage in fantasy land and learn to distinguish the fantasy world from the real world. They can learn to express their thoughts and ideas better. 

Some studies even indicate that storytelling helps to improve vocabulary and confidence among children. 

Through stories, children and even adults can learn how to handle certain problems. Cinderella’s story fits perfectly in this context. It tells how a young woman escapes her difficult life despite her wicked stepmother and stepsisters’ cruelties.  

Stories allow people to step into the character’s shoes and learn how they can easily conquer problems and presents children with an interactive method of learning. This is one of the reasons why SplashLearn creates visually appealing and character-based animated games. 

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Children connect better with the characters in the stories. This helps them learn from their favorite characters’ life stories. The stories can show children how to believe in goodness amidst problems and anxieties. 

For example, Beauty and the Beast portray how selfishness can turn a prince into a beast. It also shows how beauty and kindness can turn a beast into a prince again. 

Fairy tales can bring cultural flavors into your child’s life. Different versions of stories are available today that can help your children interact with different cultures.  

Fairy tales show that life isn’t perfect. Children discover that bad things happen to everyone. But if you are emotionally resilient, you can overcome all challenges. 

This helps children stay strong during hard times and always believe in the richness of life despite hardships. 

Exposing your child to the world of fantasy can stimulate their imagination. It might amaze you to see how children can give a spin to traditional stories and interpret them into something completely different. 

For instance, the University of Hawai’i conducted a study to evaluate the positive impact of fairy tales on children. In the study, researchers exposed children to different classic stories to understand their impact. 

Interestingly, after listening to Little Red Riding Hood, a seven-year-old boy draws the wolf to the size of an ant. He used his imagination to create a funny interpretation of the bad wolf and show his courage.  

So, when you introduce a story to your child, you are providing them with an opportunity to think and imagine different scenarios. 

Every fairy tale is attached to a moral lesson. Fairy tales often leave us with a strong message, whether it is being good or believing in love or friendship. 

You might have a hard time making your toddler understand where the difference between good and bad lies. But stories like “The Emperor’s New Clothes” can better show to your kids, the consequences of convincing yourself that something was true when it wasn’t.

Through classic fairy tales, parents can bond with their children in a great capacity. They can relive their childhood memories with their kids and build some new memories.

You can forget anything in your life, but you can never forget all the classic fairy tales that you have heard in your childhood. Have you ever thought, why? 

That is mainly because stories capture our interest in a much better way. And once we learn something with an interest, we tend to not forget that information. 

SplashLearn creates learning games to spike and capture kids’ interest. The engaging characters and visuals motivate the little ones to learn. Different mediums like games, worksheets and courses on Math and English can help them remember and retain concepts their entire life. 

Today, you can try SplashLearn with your kids to see how they actually interact with interesting learning mediums. 

Parents, sign up for free!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which is the oldest fairy tale?

According to some researchers, The Smith And The Devil is the oldest fairy tale. It goes back by 6,000 years to the Bronze Age.

Do all fairy tales have morals?

Yes. Fairy tales are written with a motive to teach a lesson to children via interesting characters and a storyline

How do fairy tales affect child development? 

When children listen to fairy tales often, it affects their imagination and helps them to think about new things. The fairy tales affect the emotional, physical, and mental development of a child. 

Do fairy tales have the truth? 

Fairy tales have been passed down from many generations and cultures. However, today there’s no solid source from where these tales come from, but they have been inspired from somewhere. So, we can say that some fairy tales are adaptations of real-life events. 

Are fairy tales timeless?

Yes. The storyline might have changed in many tales with time, but the central idea has always been the same. 

What is the right time to read fairy tales to your child?

There’s no specific time to read stories to your kids. However, most parents prefer to read stories before bedtime. But you can read them to your child anytime as soon as they turn two.

Welcome to the online fairy tales page

Welcome to the fairy tales page! Below you will find a list of magical and captivating bedtime stories for kids written by some of the best known fairy tale authors.

People have been telling each other stories about talking animals, magic, witches and giants, kings and heroes since ancient times. A very significant literature genre, fairy tales are present in all cultures around the world. In comparison to myths and legends, the time and place of occurrence in fairy tales are unknown.

Good and evil in fairy tales is usually clearly separated, often in the form of good and evil characters. The main themes in these stories usually include a hero, a conflict between good and evil, natural and supernatural forces. At the end, the good is rewarded and evil punished.

Choose a bedtime story from the list

Cinderella

Little Red Riding Hood

Snow White

The Snow Queen

The Ugly Duckling

Puss in Boots

The Sleeping Beauty

Beauty and the Beast

The Little Mermaid

The Princess and the Pea

The Goose Girl

The red shoes

The Frog Prince

The Fairy

The naughty boy

Hansel and Grethel

The story of the youth. ..

Snow-White And Rose-Red

Blue Beard

The Valiant Little Tailor

Rumpelstiltskin

The emperor's new clothes

The Elves and the Shoemaker

Jack and the Beanstalk

Goldilocks and the Bears

The Juniper Tree

Little Thumb

Golden Goose

Authors & Books

Andrerw Lang

Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 - 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, and literary critic. Born in Selkirk, Lang was the oldest among eight siblings. After graduating, he began to publish his works, showing he was a gifted journalist, poet, and writer.
His books contain stories from around the world collected from various sources and translated mainly by his wife and other enthusiasts.

Go to Andrew Lang's fairy tales

The Blue Fairy Book

Notes: The first in a collection of twelve books gathered by Andrew Lang from various sources. Published in 1889, the Blue Fairy Book contains 37 bedtime stories to read online.

Author: Various
Editor: Andrew Lang
Published: 1889
Publisher: Langmans, Green, and Co., London; New York

1.The Bronze Ring

2.Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess

3.East of the Sun and West of the Moon

4.The Yellow Dwarf

5.Little Red Riding Hood

6.The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

7.Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper

8.Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

9.The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn what Fear Was

10.Rumpelstiltzkin

11.Beauty and the Beast

12.The Master-Maid

13.Why the Sea is Salt

14.The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots

15.Felicia and the Pot of Pinks

16.The White Cat

17.The Water-Lily. The Gold-Spinners

18.The Terrible Head

19.The Story of Pretty Goldilocks

20.The History of Whittington

21. The Wonderful Sheep

22.Little Thumb

23.The Forty Thieves

24.Hansel and Grettel

25.Snow-White and Rose-Red

26.The Goose-Girl

27.Toads and Diamonds

28.Prince Darling

29.Blue Beard

30.Trusty John

31.The Brave Little Tailor

32.A Voyage to Lilliput

33.The Princess on the Glass Hill

34.The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou

35.The History of Jack the Giant-Killer

36.The Black Bull of Norroway

37.The Red Etin

Check out other books by the Andrew Lang below

The Green Fairy Book

Notes: The third book from Andrew Lang's collection was first published in 1892 and contains 42 stories.

Author: Various
Editor: Andrew Lang
Published: 1892
Publisher: Langmans, Green, and Co., London; New York

The Red Fairy Book

Notes: The second book from Andrew Lang's collection was first published in 1890 and contains 37 stories.

Author: Various
Editor: Andrew Lang
Published: 1890
Publisher: Langmans, Green, and Co., London; New York

The Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm are probably the best known storytellers in the world. Many years have passed since the time Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm released their "Children's and household tales". The first edition and was very modest, both in appearance and capacity - there were only 83 stories, compared to the 200 we know today.

Go to Grimms' fairy tales

Notes: Translated by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes. Contains 62 stories.

Author: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Translator: Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes
Published: 1876
Publisher: R. Meek & Co., London

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1.Ashputtel

2.Briar Rose

3.Cat And Mouse In Partnership

4. Cat-Skin

5.Clever Elsie

6.Clever Gretel

7.Clever Hans

8.Doctor Knowall

9.Frederick And Catherine

10.Fundefogel

11.Hans In Luck

12.Hansel And Gretel

13.Iron Hans

14.Jorinda And Jorindel

15.King Grisly-Beard

16.Lily And The Lion

17.Little Red-Cap ( Little Red Riding Hood )

18.Mother Holle

19.Old Sultan

20.Rapunzel

21.Rumpelstiltskin

22.Snowdrop

23.Snow-White And Rose-Red

24.Sweetheart Roland

25.The Adventures Of Chanticleer And Partlet

26.The Blue Light

27.The Dog And The Sparrow

28.The Elves And The Shoemaker

29.The Fisherman And His Wife

30.The Four Clever Brothers

31.The Fox And The Cat

32.The Fox And The Horse

33.The Frog-Prince

34.The Golden Bird

35.The Golden Goose

36.The Goose-Girl

37.The Juniper-Tree

38.The King Of The Golden Mountain

39. The Little Peasant

40.The Miser In The Bush

41.The Mouse, The Bird, And The Sausage

42.The Old Man And His Grandson

43.The Pink

44.The Queen Bee

45.The Raven

46.The Robber Bridegroom

47.The Salad

48.The Seven Ravens

49.The Story Of The Youth Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was

50.The Straw, The Coal, And The Bean

51.The Three Languages

52.The Travelling Musicians

53.The Turnip

54.The Twelve Dancing Princesses

55.The Twelve Huntsmen

56.The Valiant Little Tailor

57.The Water Of Life

58.The Wedding Of Mrs Fox

59.The White Snake

60.The Willow-Wren And The Bear

61.The Wolf And The Seven Little Kids

62.Tom Thumb

Check out other books by the Brothers Grimm below

Notes: Translated by Margaret Hunt, this is the only book that contains the complete collection of the Brothers Grimms' Children's and Household Tales - 200 fairy tales and 10 legends.

Author: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Published: 1884
Translator: Margaret Hunt
Publisher: George Bell and Sons, London

Download .PDF

Notes: This book contains 25 stories by the Brothers Grimm.

Author: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Translator: Unknown
Published: 1922
Publisher: Cupples and Leon Company, New York

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Notes: This fairy tale collection contains 52 of the Grimms' tales.

This new Dover edition, first published in 1963, is an unabridged republication of the work first published by Macmillan and Company in 1886.

Author: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Translator: Lucy Crane
Published: 1963 (1886)
Publisher: Dover Publications, New York (Macmillan & Co, London)

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Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault was a French writer who lived in the second half of XVII century. He was one of the first writers in European literature who turned his eyes to folklore. Born in 1628 in a clerical bourgeois family, Perrault received legal education and had high royal office. In the second half of XVII century there was a dispute amidst French writers about the advantage of modern writers compared to the writers of antiquity. Charles Perrault played an important role in...

Go to Perrault's fairy tales

Notes: The first edition of Perrault's famous collection of fairy stories.
Author: Charles Perrault
Translator: Charles Welsh
Published: 1901
Publisher: D.C. Heath & Co., Boston; New York; Chicago

1.Cinderella, Or The Little Glass Slipper

2.The Sleeping Beauty In The Woods

3. Little Thumb

4.The Master Cat, Or Puss In Boots

5.Riquet With The Tuft

6.Blue Beard

7.The Fairy

8.Little Red Riding-Hood

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen, born April 2, 1805 in Odense, was a Danish writer and poet. In his early days, Andersen wanted to become an opera singer. In 1819 he went to Copenhagen to pursuit that dream. His voice, however, was too weak and he was accepted as a dance student at the Royal Theater.
In the style of the German romantics Andersen did a lot of travelling - to find himself in the world and the world in himself. In 1840-41, after visiting Germany, Italy, Malta and Greece, he came to Istambul and returned home through the Black Sea and the Danube.

Go to Andersen's fairy tales

Notes: "Andersen's fairy tales" contains 18 of H.C.Andersen's most notable fairy stories. This is not the original cover.

Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Translator: Unknown
Published: Unknown
Publisher: Unknown

1.The emperor's new clothes

2.The swineherd

3.The real princess

4.The shoes of fortune

5.The fir tree

6.The snow queen

7.The leap-frog

8.The Elderbush

9.The bell

10.The old house

11.The happy family

12.The story of a mother

13.The falce collar

14.The shadow

15.The little match girl

16.The dream of little Tuk

17.The naughty boy

18.The red shoes

Check out the complete collection of Hans Christian Anderesen fairy tales below

Notes: This is the first of two volumes of Andersen's fairy tales edited by J. H. Stickney.

Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Editor: J. H. Stickney
Published: 1914
Publisher: Ginn and Company - Boston; New York; Chicago; London

Notes: This is the second volume of Andersen's stories edited by J. H. Stickney.

Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Editor: J. H. Stickney
Published: 1915
Publisher: Ginn and Company - Boston; New York; Chicago; London

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