Quick stories to tell

20 Best Short Moral Stories for Kids (Valuable Lessons)

Want to expand your children’s vocabulary? Read to them. That’s all it takes — and there are other benefits to reading aloud to young children as well.

Reading to older children offers a great method to teach them life lessons in a way that they’ll understand. And it’s easier than ever to find these moral stories to read.

There is a large selection of short moral stories for kids online. They range from the classics like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, to somber ones talking about greed. To help you out, we’ve gathered a selection of the most 20 popular stories.

Table of Contents

• 20 Short Moral Stories For Kids
• How Moral Stories Benefit Children
• The Takeaway

20 Short Moral Stories For Kids

1. The Boy Who Cried Wolf

The Moral

Lying breaks trust — even if you’re telling the truth, no one believes a liar.

Once, there was a boy who became bored when he watched over the village sheep grazing on the hillside. To entertain himself, he sang out, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!”

When the villagers heard the cry, they came running up the hill to drive the wolf away. But, when they arrived, they saw no wolf. The boy was amused when seeing their angry faces.

“Don’t scream wolf, boy,” warned the villagers, “when there is no wolf!” They angrily went back down the hill.

Later, the shepherd boy cried out once again, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” To his amusement, he looked on as the villagers came running up the hill to scare the wolf away.

As they saw there was no wolf, they said strictly, “Save your frightened cry for when there really is a wolf! Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there is no wolf!” But the boy grinned at their words while they walked grumbling down the hill once more.

Later, the boy saw a real wolf sneaking around his flock. Alarmed, he jumped on his feet and cried out as loud as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!” But the villagers thought he was fooling them again, and so they didn’t come to help.

At sunset, the villagers went looking for the boy who hadn’t returned with their sheep. When they went up the hill, they found him weeping.

“There really was a wolf here! The flock is gone! I cried out, ‘Wolf!’ but you didn’t come,” he wailed.

An old man went to comfort the boy. As he put his arm around him, he said, “Nobody believes a liar, even when he is telling the truth!”

2. The Golden Touch

The Moral

Greed will always lead to downfall.

There once was a king named Midas who did a good deed for a Satyr. And he was then granted a wish by Dionysus, the god of wine.

For his wish, Midas asked that whatever he touched would turn to gold. Despite Dionysus’ efforts to prevent it, Midas pleaded that this was a fantastic wish, and so, it was bestowed.

Excited about his newly-earned powers, Midas started touching all kinds of things, turning each item into pure gold.

But soon, Midas became hungry. As he picked up a piece of food, he found he couldn’t eat it. It had turned to gold in his hand.

Hungry, Midas groaned, “I’ll starve! Perhaps this was not such an excellent wish after all!”

Seeing his dismay, Midas’ beloved daughter threw her arms around him to comfort him, and she, too, turned to gold. “The golden touch is no blessing,” Midas cried.

3. The Fox and the Grapes

The Moral

Never despise what we can’t have; nothing comes easy.

One day, a fox became very hungry as he went to search for some food. He searched high and low, but couldn’t find something that he could eat.

Finally, as his stomach rumbled, he stumbled upon a farmer’s wall. At the top of the wall, he saw the biggest, juiciest grapes he’d ever seen. They had a rich, purple color, telling the fox they were ready to be eaten.

To reach the grapes, the fox had to jump high in the air. As he jumped, he opened his mouth to catch the grapes, but he missed. The fox tried again but missed yet again.

He tried a few more times but kept failing.

Finally, the fox decided it was time to give up and go home. While he walked away, he muttered, “I’m sure the grapes were sour anyway.”

4. The Proud Rose

The Moral

Never judge anyone by the way they look.

Once upon a time, in a desert far away, there was a rose who was so proud of her beautiful looks. Her only complaint was growing next to an ugly cactus.

Every day, the beautiful rose would insult and mock the cactus on his looks, all while the cactus remained quiet. All the other plants nearby tried to make the rose see sense, but she was too swayed by her own looks.

One scorching summer, the desert became dry, and there was no water left for the plants. The rose quickly began to wilt. Her beautiful petals dried up, losing their lush color.

Looking to the cactus, she saw a sparrow dip his beak into the cactus to drink some water. Though ashamed, the rose asked the cactus if she could have some water. The kind cactus readily agreed, helping them both through the tough summer, as friends.

5. The Milkmaid and Her Pail

The Moral

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

One day, Molly the milkmaid had filled her pails with milk. Her job was to milk the cows, and then bring the milk to the market to sell. Molly loved to think about what to spend her money on.

As she filled the pails with milk and went to market, she again thought of all the things she wanted to buy. As she walked along the road, she thought of buying a cake and a basket full of fresh strawberries.

A little further down the road, she spotted a chicken. She thought, “With the money I get from today, I’m going to buy a chicken of my own. That chicken will lay eggs, then I will be able to sell milk and eggs and get more money!”

She continued, “With more money, I will be able to buy a fancy dress and make all the other milkmaids jealous.” Out of excitement, Molly started skipping, forgetting about the milk in her pails. Soon, the milk started spilling over the edges, covering Molly.

Drenched, Molly said to herself, “Oh no! I will never have enough money to buy a chicken now.” She went home with her empty pails.

“Oh, my goodness! What happened to you?” Molly’s mother asked.

“I was too busy dreaming about all the things I wanted to buy that I forgot about the pails,” she answered.

“Oh, Molly, my dear. How many times do I need to say, ‘Don’t count your chickens until they hatch?’”

6. A Wise Old Owl

The Moral

Be more observant. Talk less and listen more. This will make us wise.

There was an old owl who lived in an oak tree. Every day, he observed incidents that occurred around him.

Yesterday, he watched as a young boy helped an old man carry a heavy basket. Today, he saw a young girl shouting at her mother. The more he saw, the less he spoke.

As the days went on, he spoke less but heard more. The old owl heard people talking and telling stories.

He heard a woman saying an elephant jumped over a fence. He heard a man saying that he had never made a mistake.

The old owl had seen and heard what happened to people. There were some who became better, some who became worse. But the old owl in the tree had become wiser, each and every day.

7. The Golden Egg

The Moral

Never act before you think.

Once upon a time, a farmer had a goose that laid one golden egg every day. The egg provided enough money for the farmer and his wife to support their daily needs. The farmer and his wife continued to be happy for a long time.

But, one day, the farmer thought to himself, “Why should we take just one egg a day? Why can’t we take them all at once and make a lot of money?” The farmer told his wife his idea, and she foolishly agreed.

Then, the next day, as the goose laid its golden egg, the farmer was quick with a sharp knife. He killed the goose and cut its stomach open, in the hopes of finding all its golden eggs. But, as he opened the stomach, the only thing he found was guts and blood.

The farmer quickly realized his foolish mistake and proceeded to cry over his lost resource. As the days went on, the farmer and his wife became poorer and poorer. How jinxed and how foolish they were.

8. The Farmer and the Well

The Moral

Cheating will not get you anything. If you cheat, you’ll pay soon enough.

One day, a farmer was looking for a water source for his farm, when he bought a well from his neighbor. The neighbor, however, was cunning. The next day, as the farmer came to draw water from his well, the neighbor refused to let him take any water.

When the farmer asked why, the neighbor replied, “I sold you the well, not the water,” and walked away. Distraught, the farmer went to the emperor to ask for justice. He explained what had happened.

The emperor called on Birbal, one of his nine, and wisest, courtiers. Birbal proceeded to question the neighbor, “Why don’t you let the farmer take water from the well? You did sell the well to the farmer?”

The neighbor replied, “Birbal, I did sell the well to the farmer but not the water within it. He has no right to draw water from the well.”

Birbal said, “Look, since you sold the well, you have no right to keep the water in the farmer’s well. Either you pay rent to the farmer, or take it out immediately.” Realizing that his scheme had failed, the neighbor apologized and went home.

9. Elephant and Friends

The Moral

Friends come in every shape and size.

A lone elephant walked through the forest, looking for friends. She soon saw a monkey and proceeded to ask, ‘Can we be friends, monkey?’

The monkey quickly replied, ‘You are big and can’t swing on trees like I do, so I cannot be your friend.’

Defeated, the elephant continued to search when it stumbled across a rabbit. She proceeded to ask him, ‘Can we be friends, rabbit?’

The rabbit looked at the elephant and replied, “You are too big to fit inside my burrow. You cannot be my friend.”

Then, the elephant continued until she met a frog. She asked, “Will you be my friend, frog?”

The frog replied, “You are too big and heavy; you cannot jump like me. I am sorry, but you can’t be my friend.”

The elephant continued to ask the animals she met on her way, but always received the same reply. The following day, the elephant saw all the forest animals run in fear. She stopped a bear to ask what was happening and was told the tiger was attacking all the small animals.

The elephant wanted to save the other animals, so she went to the tiger and said, “Please, sir, leave my friends alone. Do not eat them.”

The tiger didn’t listen. He merely told the elephant to mind her own business.

Seeing no other way, the elephant kicked the tiger and scared him away. Upon hearing of the brave tale, the other animals agreed, “You are just the right size to be our friend.”

10. When Adversity Knocks

The Moral

We can choose how to respond in difficult situations.

Asha was getting frustrated and tired of life, so she asked her father what to do. Her father told her to bring an egg, two tea leaves, and a potato. He then brought out three vessels, filled them with water, and placed them on the stove.

Once the water was boiling, he told Asha to place the items into each pot and keep an eye on them. After 10 minutes, he asked Asha to peel the egg, peel the potato, and strain the leaves. Asha was left confused.

Her father explained, “Each item was placed into the same circumstance, boiling water. See how each responded differently?”

He continued, “The egg was soft, but is now hard. The potato was hard, but is now soft. And the tea leaves, they changed the water itself.”

The father then asked, “When adversity calls, we respond in the same manner as they have. Now, are you an egg, a potato, or tea leaves?”

11. The Needle Tree

The Moral

It’s important to be kind, as it will always be rewarded.

Once, there were two brothers who lived at the forest’s edge. The oldest brother was always unkind to his younger brother. The older brother took all the food and snatched all the good clothes.

The oldest brother used to go into the forest in search of firewood to sell in the market. As he walked through the forest, he chopped off the branches of every tree, until he came upon a magical tree.

The tree stopped him before he chopped its branches and said, ‘Oh, kind sir, please spare my branches. If you spare me, I will provide you with golden apples.’

The oldest brother agreed but was feeling disappointed with how many apples the tree gave him.

Overcome by greed, the brother threatened to cut the entire tree if it didn’t provide him with more apples. But, instead of giving more apples, the tree showered him with hundreds of tiny needles. The brother fell to the ground, crying in pain as the sun began to set.

Soon, the younger brother became worried and went to search for his older brother. He searched until he found him at the trunk of the tree, lying in pain with hundreds of needles on his body.

He rushed to him and started to painstakingly remove each needle with love. Once the needles were out, the oldest brother apologized for treating his younger brother so badly. The magical tree saw the change in the older brother’s heart and gifted them with all the golden apples they could need.

12. A Glass of Milk

The Moral

No good deed goes unrewarded.

There once was a poor boy who spent his days going door-to-door selling newspapers to pay for school. One day, as he was walking his route, he started feeling low and weak. The poor boy was starving, so he decided to ask for food when he came to the next door.

The poor boy asked for food but was denied every time, until he reached the door of a girl. He asked for a glass of water, but seeing his poor state, the girl came back with a glass of milk. The boy asked how much he owed her for the milk, but she refused payment.

Years later, the girl, who was now a grown woman, fell sick. She went from doctor to doctor, but no one was able to cure her. Finally, she went to the best doctor in town.

The doctor spent months treating her until she was finally cured. Despite her happiness, she was afraid she couldn’t afford to pay the bill. But, when the hospital handed her the bill, it read, ‘Paid in full, with a glass of milk.’

13. The Ants and the Grasshopper

The Moral

There’s a time for work and a time for play.

One bright autumn day, a family of ants was busy working in the warm sunshine. They were drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer when a starving grasshopper came up. With his fiddle under his arm, the grasshopper humbly begged for a bite to eat.

“What!” cried the ants, “Haven’t you stored any food away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all summer?”

“I didn’t have time to store any food before winter,” the grasshopper whined. “I was too busy making music that the summer flew by.”

The ants simply shrugged their shoulders and said, “Making music, were you? Very well, now dance!” The ants then turned their backs on the grasshopper and returned to work.

14. The Bundle of Sticks

The Moral

There’s strength in unity.

Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived in a village with his three sons. Although his three sons were hard workers, they quarreled all the time. The old man tried to unite them but failed.

Months passed by, and the old man became sick. He asked his sons to remain united, but they failed to listen to him. At that moment, the old man decided to teach them a lesson — to forget their differences and come together in unity.

The old man summoned his sons, then proceeded to tell them, “I will provide you with a bundle of sticks. Separate each stick, and then break each into two. The one who finishes first will be rewarded more than the others.”

And so, the sons agreed. The old man provided them with a bundle of ten sticks each, and then asked the sons to break each stick into pieces. The sons broke the sticks within minutes, then proceeded to quarrel among themselves again.

The old man said, “My dear sons, the game is not yet over. I will now give you another bundle of sticks. Only this time, you will have to break them together as a bundle, not separately.”

The sons readily agreed and then tried to break the bundle. Despite trying their best, they could not break the sticks. The sons told their father of their failure.

The old man said, “My dear sons, see! Breaking every single stick individually was easy for you, but breaking them in a bundle, you could not do. By staying united, nobody can harm you. If you continue to quarrel, then anyone can quickly defeat you.”

The old man continued, “I ask that you stay united.” Then, the three sons understood there’s power in unity, and promised their father they would all stay together.

15. The Bear and the Two Friends

The Moral

A true friend will always support and stand by you in any situation.

One day, two friends were walking through the forest. They knew the forest was a dangerous place and that anything could happen. So, they promised to remain close to each other in case of any danger.

All of a sudden, a big bear was approaching them. One of the friends quickly climbed a nearby tree, leaving the other friend behind.

The other friend did not know how to climb, and instead, followed common sense. He laid down on the ground and remained there, breathless, pretending to be dead.

The bear approached the friend lying on the ground. The animal started to smell his ear before slowly wandering off again because bears never touch those who are dead.

Soon, the friend who hid in the tree came down. He asked his friend, “My dear friend, what secret did the bear whisper to you?” The friend replied, “The bear simply advised me never to believe a false friend.”

16. The Miser and His Gold

The Moral

A possession is as important as what it’s used for.

There once was an old miser who lived in a house with a garden. The old miser used to hide all his gold coins under stones in his garden.

Every night, before he went to bed, the miser went out into his garden to count his coins. He continued the same routine every day, but he never spent a single, golden coin.

One day, a thief saw the old miser hiding his coins. Once the old miser went back into his house, the thief went to the hiding place and took all the gold.

The following day, as the old man came out to count his coins, he found it was gone and started wailing loudly. His neighbor heard the cries and came running, asking what had happened. Upon learning what had occurred, the neighbor asked, “Why didn’t you just save the money inside your house where it would’ve been safe?”

The neighbor continued, “Having it inside the house would make it easier to access when you need to buy something.” “Buy something?” answered the miser, “I was never going to spend my gold.”

When hearing this, the neighbor picked up a stone and threw it. Then, he said, “If that’s the case, then save the stone. It’s as worthless as the gold you’ve lost. ”

17. The Dog At the Well

The Moral

Always listen to what elders say and don’t defy them.

A mother dog and her pups lived on a farm. On the farm, there was a well. The mother dog always told her pups never to go near or play around it.

One day, one of the pups was overcome by curiosity and wondered why they weren’t allowed to go near the well. So, he decided he wanted to explore it.

He went down to the well and climbed up the wall to peek inside. In the well, he saw his reflection in the water but thought it was another dog. The little pup got angry when his reflection was imitating him, so he decided to fight it.

The little pup jumped into the well, only to find there was no dog. He began to bark and bark until the farmer came to rescue him. The pup had learned his lesson and never went back to the well again.

18. Controlling Anger

The Moral

Anger is like a knife — one of the most dangerous weapons. When you use it, the wounds will heal, but the scars remain.

Once, there was a young boy. This boy had problems controlling his anger. When he got angry, he would say the first thing that came to mind, even if it affected people.

One day, his father gifted him a hammer and a bundle of nails, then said, “Whenever you get mad, hammer a nail into the backyard fence.”

In the first days, the boy used up half of the nails. Over the next weeks, he used up fewer nails, until his temper was under control. Then, his father asked the young boy to remove a nail for each day he didn’t lose his temper.

On the day when the boy removed his last nail, his father told him, “You have done good, boy. But, can you see the holes in the wall? The fence is never going to be the same. Likewise, when you say mean things in anger, you’ll leave a scar.”

19. The Leap at Rhodes

The Moral

It’s the deeds that count, not the boasting words.

Once, there was a man who visited foreign lands. When he returned, all he could talk about was the wonderful adventures he had and the great deeds he had done.

One of the feats he told was about a leap he made in a city called Rhodes.

“The leap was so great,” the man said. “No other man can make such a leap. Many persons in Rhodes saw me and can prove I am telling the truth.”

“No need for witnesses,” said one who was listening. “Suppose that this city is Rhodes, now show how far you can jump.”

20. The Wolf and the Sheep

The Moral

A person’s ulterior motives are easy to spot if someone is paying attention.

A wolf had gotten seriously hurt during a fight with a bear. He wasn’t able to move, and so, could not satisfy his thirst or hunger.

One day, a sheep passed by his hiding place, and so the wolf decided to call out to him. “Please fetch me some water,” said the wolf. “That might give me some strength to get some solid food.”

“Solid food!” the sheep said. “I suppose that means me. If I brought you something to drink, it would merely be to wash me down. Don’t speak to me about fetching a drink.”

How Moral Stories Benefit Children

Moral stories offer several benefits for children of all ages. They work to engage your child’s imagination, are entertaining, and can make your little one smile. Short moral stories work well at getting your child’s attention, keeping them focused during the length of the story.

However, the best moral stories will also teach a truth to your child. Children, especially younger ones, love repetition, and with moral stories, that’s the whole point. The more you read the same moral stories, the more your child will familiarize with the story and the moral lesson ⁽¹⁾.

Reading Tip

When you read the story, remember to discuss the situations and events that occur, if your child is old enough. This is an excellent teachable moment, as well as providing an opportunity for bonding ⁽²⁾.

The Takeaway

Short moral stories for kids are fantastic for teaching valuable life lessons in a fun way children can understand. Short stories work well as they’re just long enough for your child to concentrate.

There’s a large selection of great stories online, and here you have 20 examples to get you started. When reading the story, try to discuss the content afterward with your child.

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15 Benefits of Reading to Children: Reasons to Read!

One of the most powerful things you can do for your child is to read with them.

Reading has numerous benefits for children, including a positive effect on development, communication, and school performance.

We’ve put together why reading is so important for children, and some great book ideas to get started.

Table of Contents

• When Should You Start Reading To Children?
• The Benefits of Reading to Children
• Book Recommendations for Kids

When Should You Start Reading To Children?

Even when your baby is a newborn, it’s a great time to introduce reading. Here are some of the reasons why ⁽¹⁾:

• It gives you another bonding opportunity for snuggles and interaction.
• Your child will be preparing, even when they don’t know it, for reading on their own someday.
• It can help your baby develop language skills.
• They’ll pick up on a variety of emotions.

The Benefits of Reading to Children

Here are some of the ways your child can benefit from reading.

1. Language Neural Connections

The neural connections in the brain are fueled by listening to someone reading so your child will get a vocab boost just by hearing you read. Listening to reading is shown to increase a baby’s receptive vocabulary ⁽²⁾. Receptive vocabulary means the words they understand.

2. Cognitive Development

When you’re reading to them, your child will pick up on the cognitive perks — they’ll start to take in what you’re saying and they’ll learn things about numbers, colors, shapes, animals, or anything else you’re reading about.

They’ll start to understand cause and effects, and their logical thinking ability will be more developed.

3. Fosters a Strong Relationship

The family that reads together stays together. It gives you two one more way to spend time bonding. You’ll have a lot of ways already, but there’s something especially relaxing about reading time.

Because you’re actively doing something, you won’t be able to concentrate on anything else but you and your baby. When you’re reading, there’s no way you’ll be able to surf your phone — you’ll be totally engaged in the moment. That’s good news for both you and your baby in terms of bonding.

4. Simply Fun

Having fun can be a benefit all on its own. It can cut down on the stress a child feels — and yes, children can have stress too, just like adults can.

Time spent having fun can lead to better sleep, more positive feelings, and even stronger relationships ⁽³⁾.

5. Calming Influence

Young children aren’t exactly known for being calm — especially when you want them to be. It seems they have a knack for getting wound up right when you most want them to wind down, like at bedtime.

Reading can help them calm down so you can both get some sleep. You may want to start a half-hour before bedtime. Tuck them in, dim the lights a bit, and read to them in a softer soothing voice.

6. Improves Communication

If you want to have a close relationship with your children where you can talk about anything that’s on your mind, reading is a good place to start.

When you read to your children, you do more than just say the words printed on the page. You interact — you ask them questions, they ask you some. You discuss how the people in the book are feeling and anything else that crosses your mind or your child’s mind.

That’s how communication grows — by sharing those little moments and building trust and conversation so eventually, you’ll be able to broach those bigger subjects.

7. Better Performance in School

Even the act of reading to your child can set them up for better grades in school. It doesn’t matter if they don’t understand the words you’re telling them yet. Early learning experiences like reading to your child will enhance their school performance ⁽⁴⁾.

They’ll learn to love reading or at least realize it’s important, and reading is a skill they’ll use in every subject they tackle in school.

8. Lengths Attention Span

So much of today’s world is working against our desire to help our children develop their attention spans. With video games, cell phones, and tablets, it can be hard to get a child to stick with something that takes a little more attention and dedication than they’re used to.

Reading is something that’s slower-paced than what your child is used to. And that’s a good thing in today’s click-bait world.

Pro Tip

If they are introduced at an earlier age to books and reading, it won’t be as much of a shock to their system. They’ll be used to the process and their attention spans will benefit from it.

9. Better Listeners

When your child doesn’t know how to read yet, their only clues about what’s happening in a book are the pictures they see and the words they hear you say.

You’re opening up a whole new world to them with the tale you’re spinning and they will be listening carefully, even when you don’t think they are. You’ll realize just how observant kids are someday when you’re trying to have a private conversation with your spouse or friend and suddenly realize your child is eavesdropping on every word you say!

Having that quiet time with you now will get them accustomed to listening instead of just being silent.

10.

Have you ever watched a movie version of a book you’ve read and been disappointed because it wasn’t quite how you’d envisioned it when you were reading the book? That’s your imagination at work.

Your child’s imagination can be unlocked by activities such as unsupervised play and reading. They get sucked into a make-believe world and they feel like they are part of the action. They imagine how they would feel or act if they were thrust into the situations the main characters find themselves in.

And for some children, reading a book makes them imagine their own tales. Most writers were first hardcore readers before they wrote a word of their own ⁽⁵⁾.

11. Raises IQ

Reading comprehension is kind of like having a superpower. It gives you the ability to understand complicated questions.

Remember those dreaded word problems in school when you were doing math? Those ones you had to use all your concentration on just to figure out how to compute what they were asking you for? Reading comprehension made solving those possible.

The way to answer a problem correctly is to first fully understand what it’s asking, and that’s what reading comprehension can do for you.

12. Improves Critical-Thinking Skills

It’s not enough just to listen to the words of a book to improve this skill though. You and your child will have to put in more effort than that.

The key isn’t just to actively listen to the tale, your child has to attempt to understand what they are reading or hearing to get the most out of the book. Encouraging your young child to do that may seem difficult, but all you have to do to get them started is to ask questions. One of the questions, for instance, can be what the main character should do to get themselves out of the jam they might find themselves in.

13. Helps Develop Empathy

If there is one thing this world needs more of, and one thing experts say children are losing, it’s empathy ⁽⁶⁾. Empathy is how well your child can understand someone else’s feelings.

To help develop their empathy, you can get books that will aid their ability to relate to other people and what they might be going through. There are a lot of books geared toward inclusion and how being bullied can make someone feel.

To assist with their empathy, you can ask questions while you are reading the book about how your child would feel if they were the main character. If they had a potty training accident, for instance, you can ask them if they would be sad or embarrassed.

14. Builds Coping Skills

Seeing how other people deal with their emotions can help your child learn to handle their own. They can learn important coping skills from reading or being read to.

Point out when a character is mad, sad, or disappointed. Show them the picture in the book that allows them to see that expression on the character’s face. That will help them recognize the emotion as well as figure out ways to deal with it.

15. Helps Through Life Stages

Life stages like potty training or transitioning to kindergarten is scary stuff for a young kid. I still remember being terrified to attend kindergarten. Books can help children who are going through these stages feel braver and ready to tackle a new challenge.

Book Recommendations for Kids

When you’re looking for books for your child, you need to not just consider the type of interests they have, but also their reading level. If you find books that are too hard for them to tackle, they’ll lose interest quickly and it will add to their frustration.

Here is how you can determine if the level will be good for your child:

• Most children’s books have the reading level listed on the front or back cover.
• Look at how difficult the words are. If you’ve been listening to your child read, you should be able to tell if they’ll be able to handle it.
• Use an app to help you determine the level. With apps, like Literacy Leveler, you just scan in the ISBN code on the book, and you can look up the reading level online.
• Ask for recommendations from teachers, fellow parents, and librarians.
• Use the Accelerated Reader website to find out the difficulty level of a book.

Good Ideas for Babies

• Books Ideas for 1-Year-Olds
• Book Ideas for 2-Year Olds

Book Ideas for Toddlers

Looking for more ideas for your toddler? Read our in-depth guides:

• Interactive Books Recommendations
• Books Ideas for 3-Year-Olds
• Book Ideas for 4-Year Olds

Book Ideas for Preschoolers

Want more ideas for preschoolers? Check out these great reads by age group:

• Books Ideas for 4-Year-Olds
• Book Ideas for 5-Year Olds
• Book Ideas for 6-Year Olds

Book Ideas for Elementary School Children

Want more ideas for elementary school kids? Check out our guides!

• Books Ideas for 7-Year-Olds
• Book Ideas for 8-Year Olds
• Book Ideas for 9-Year Olds
• Book Ideas for 10-Year Olds
• Book Ideas for 11-Year Olds
• Book Ideas for 12-Year Olds
• Book Ideas about Friendship

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Once we were all taught at school how to write an essay. Introduction, main idea, conclusion. A more "adult" version: introduction, background, main idea, developing theses, final part.

But remember how we tell our friends something interesting.

“You have no idea! The couch just fell on me! Imagine I'm walking calmly down the street, and suddenly - bang! - the sofa falls in front of me! Well, yes, not on me. And he didn’t fall very high, the loaders removed him from the car and accidentally missed him. But how scared I was!

This story is a combination of False Start and Start in the Middle.

A good story is a journey that brings inspiration. Read Hemingway's story about fishing on the river and you'll want to buy a fishing rod, put a couple of sandwiches in your jacket pocket and go to a remote river to catch this trout. Watch a good advertisement, built not just according to the laws of the genre, but with soul - you will not buy this Rolex, but the mood of victory will remain with you for several more hours.

It is difficult to write a story that will convey the necessary ideas to the reader and be read to the end with enthusiasm. But it is possible. Just think about what and how you want to tell, what emotion to make the leading one in your story - and start.

Do not turn your article or presentation into a template sequence from beginning to end. Use different plot devices to make a truly memorable story. Think about it: events happen in chronological order, but you can tell about them in different ways.

Monomyth

Monomyth (also known as the hero's journey) is a story found in many fairy tales, myths and religious writings around the world.

In the monomyth, the hero is called to leave his home and embark on a difficult journey. He moves from a place he knows to a frightening unknown. After overcoming severe trials, he returns home with a reward or newfound wisdom. Many of today's stories still follow this structure, from The Lion King to Star Wars.

This is a traditional sequential presentation of events, but it is subject to the laws of the dramatic genre - the monomyth has a prehistory, plot, development, climax and denouement.

The monomyth will help you explain how you arrived at the conclusions you want to share and add credibility to your story. This technique is well suited for demonstrating the benefits of taking risks, as well as explaining how you discovered new knowledge.

The strength of this device is not in the sequence of presentation, but in the contrast of individual steps and the dramatic effect: unsolvable riddles and mysterious strangers are sure to be encountered on the hero's path. Or grandmothers who need to be moved across the road.

Examples

This example is not new, but it is illustrative. Popular advertising video "Coca-cola. Drink the legend! tells a modern version of the tale about Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf.

Or a story with a happy ending: an infographic story about how a small startup made $10 billion starting with air mattresses.

Author: Anna Vital

http://notes.fundersandfounders.com/post/82297315548/how-airbnb-started

Mountain

This is a story full of tension and drama. "Mountain" is like a monomyth because it shows events in chronological order. But these are still two different techniques, because the "mountain" does not always imply a happy ending.

The first part of the story is the premise of the whole story, then comes the problem-solving narrative, and the action builds up to a climactic conclusion. The story is a bit like a TV series - each episode has its own high and low points, which gradually lead to the main finale at the end of the season.

This storytelling technique is well-suited for telling how you overcame a series of problems, for slowly building tension and getting a conclusion that satisfies you - or confirms that you made a mistake, but learned from those mistakes.

Example

Nikolai Belousov, the founder of the MadRobots online store, tells a story without a happy ending on Habrahabr - about how you can almost go broke selling iPhones.

http://goo.gl/YohE67

How the Getwear denim service closed is a story of rise and fall with a useful conclusion at the end.

http://goo.gl/2GrBR7

Nested loops

You "stack" multiple stories in layers. Put your most important story—the core of your message—in the center, and use the rest of the stories to explain the main principle.

For example, this is how Boccaccio's Decameron is written - the story begins with the plague in Florence, but this only serves as a frame for other short stories that noble gentlemen and ladies who escaped from the plague tell each other. Frame composition has been used by many writers. Open Pushkin's "Little Tragedies" - the tragedy is framed by the story of an Italian improviser who came to St. Petersburg.

How to do it if you are not Pushkin? Easily. For example, write about the next trip of your company to nature. Preparation for the event, competitions, funny incidents, but meanwhile - this is a story about a close-knit team, about the company's values. And if you're ready to show your cards, campfire conversations can be used to retell stories about customer service or industrial incidents that will show the company from the best side.

Example

Another story from the Madrobots blog on Habrahabr (we really liked it). Nikolai Belousov, through the story of the birth of Madrobots and his development as a businessman, talks about how to get rid of procrastination.

http://goo.gl/AEYjcM

Sparklines

Graphic designer Nancy Duarte uses "sparklines" to analyze famous performances in her book Resonate.

She claims that the best performances were successful because they showed the contrast of our world with the ideal, perfect world. They compare "what is" with "what could be". In such stories, the author draws attention to the problems that exist in our society, our personal life and business. The author evokes a thirst for change in the audience. This is an emotional technique that motivates listeners very well.

This technique is great for inciting action, arousing hope, excitement and finding adherents of your ideas. In addition, it is actively used in advertising. While they're celebrating in Villaribo...remember?

Example

A similar technology is used in commercials to show the difference between what you have now and what the product can give you.

For example, in this video, pay attention to the final frames: how skillfully repetition is used.

In medias res (start from the middle)

Literally from Latin, this expression is translated as “in the middle of the matter”. Start your story with the central episode before you start explaining how you got here.

You immediately "throw" the audience into the most exciting part of the story - people will be intrigued and will be very attentive to understand what is really happening.

But be careful not to reveal all the facts at once. Try to hint at something strange or unexpected—something that needs more explanation. Give your audience just enough information to keep them hooked and then go back and rebuild the full picture of the story.

This is only good for short stories because if you make it long, your audience will quickly get frustrated and lose interest.

Technique is good because it grabs attention from the very beginning and keeps them in suspense, and also allows people to focus on a turning point in history.

Example

The history of the Harley-Davidson company, which its author began with a very unusual fact.

http://goo.gl/1aQgBZ

Or an action-packed thriller from "Beeline" about the "Internet forever" tariff.

Converging Ideas

This technique shows how different thoughts come together to form a product or idea. It can be used to explain how an idea was born, or how one idea became the culmination of several minds.

The Converging Ideas technique is similar to nested loops, but instead of diving into the main story through sub-stories, it shows how several equally important stories yielded a single conclusion. Can be used to tell stories about alliances that have had global significance, such as the partnership between web developers Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Larry and Sergey met at Stanford University in 1995 but didn't like each other at first. Both had great ideas, but it was difficult for them to cooperate. They eventually started working together on a research project. The project that became known as Google.

This technique is good at showing how partnerships are formed and how people come together to work together. It is also suitable for explaining how development has gone at a particular point in history.

Examples

The history of the Ernst & Young brand is about how two talented people achieved success, each in his own business. And as after many years of work, after the death of the founders, their companies merged into one, which is still successfully operating in the market.

http://goo.gl/z5oEXl

And remember the advertising story about two brothers who made Twix: one made the left stick, the other made the right one.

Author: Twix

False start

False start is a technique in which you start telling a seemingly predictable story, and then suddenly interrupt it and start again. You lure your audience into a false sense of security and then turn everything upside down.

This format is great for telling about those moments when you failed at something and had to go back and rethink everything. "False Start" is perfect for talking about a lesson you've learned from your experience, or an unusual solution to a problem you've come up with. This technique is great for grabbing attention: audience expectations are shattered, it surprises and makes them pay close attention to your message. "False start" is well suited to demonstrate the benefits of an agile approach.

Example

Excellent Ax roller with a depressing start and unexpected ending.

Petals

This is an amalgamation of many stories around one central concept. This is useful if you have several unrelated stories that still relate to the same situation.

You tell your stories one by one before returning to the central plot. The petals can intertwine as one story intertwines with another, but each of them must be a complete narrative on its own. This gives you the opportunity to weave a rich palette of evidence around your main idea.

By showing the audience how all these key stories relate to each other, you allow people to feel the importance and weight of your message. This technique allows you to combine different plots around a central idea and demonstrates how different threads are interconnected in one situation.

Example

This cute video from Beeline shows us a kind of mini-series about the acquaintance of a new and very unusual employee with the office. The main idea is hidden in the ending.

Another example of a "petal" story is the article you are reading now, each technique leads you to the same thought: stories can be told in different ways.

Start with a story

Well, now you have them - 8 classic storytelling techniques that will make your story more intelligible and attract the attention of the audience. Of course, besides them, there are other tricks that can be used.

Remember that you can bring even the driest facts to life if you find a story that relates to them.

Adaptation and selection of examples: Protext Company.

Original article:

http://www.sparkol.com/blog/8-classic-storytelling-techniques-for-engaging-presentations/

Truly scary stories

Psychologist and writer Yulia Rubleva Facebook told a story from her childhood about how "on a black, moonless, velvet night in the village" she and her sister heard a mysterious children's clatter.

“While drenched in horror, not breathing, we listened to the ‘child’ silently and quite loudly running back and forth literally a meter away from us, behind the old thick wooden wall of our house. <...> THIS ran to the gate and turned back. Back and forth. Pause. There again. And back. We were 14 years old, and we had a cousin, Marinochka, who died at the age of 5, and since then I have been calling it to myself “Marinochka came.”

In the comments to this post, users began to tell terrible stories that happened to them. We chose the scariest ones and added books that make you shudder.

Scary stories of Facebook users (author's spelling and punctuation)

Tatiana Gavrilko
— I took my son from a classmate's farm far outside the city. Darkness, fog, unfamiliar landscapes.

Driving under a lamp, I suddenly saw in the rear-view mirror in my back seat an elderly man in a plaid shirt. What it was, I don't know. It shook for days afterwards.

Listen

Kate In
- Reality. I am 5 years old. We are 3 sisters, I look like my dad the most. The father disappeared and does not appear at home for 3 days, the mother is freaking out. In the morning of the 3rd day, I wake up from the fact that he touches my shoulder, I wake up and see him with a board with nails in his temple, covered in blood, he says that it is necessary to look in the forest near the neighboring house. I told my mother, she ran to the cops. Found. The examination showed that he died this morning, and with this board with nails, he lay in this forest and was alive for 3 days. Then my mother wanted to turn me into a madhouse ...

Read

Evgenia Dirdovskaya
— My wonderful beloved kindest grandfather died when I was 17, in our apartment. Time passed, my son was born. And then one winter evening I brought another small child home, sat down on the bath and washed my son's hands. The door was closed. And I hear grandfather's shuffling steps along the corridor. And click, he turns off the light in the bathroom.

I say: "Grandfather, turn on the light, we are here." Silk again, and the light turned on. My son is already 28, he also remembers it.

Read

Dasha Morozova
- I am alone in the country, my husband is away on business. Around the repair of everything and, in particular, the gate, that is, they are not. Early morning.

Suddenly - superhuman strength blows on the door, and more blows, and more, and I just go dumb with ignorance - who it is, what it is, and why.

While I am numb, grabbing a kitchen knife with a trembling hand, a wooden bolt flies out with a roar, the door bursts open, and ...

And a horned monster called a cow) appeared before me)). We stared at each other in horror, and she ran into the garden. What happened next was funny. There were about 4-5 creatures in their garden, they ate apples with might and main.

Read

Marina Dudykina
- Lying, sleeping, in my bed. Reality - the doorbell is ringing. Here, right now, tonight. I get out of bed, sneak around, look through the peephole - my grandmother is there. Interesting - I did not find her, and in the eye I see her photo, not herself - I don't know what she looked like. I am in shock and I-p-o-n-i-m-a-yu that she came for her mother. Silent, does not say anything. I open the door, the ba is on the threshold, wrinkled and silent.

I exhort her in a strict whisper - you came early, not now, go away!

I wave my arms expressively towards the elevators. Ba, looking around, but also silently, leaves. Horrible horror, reality. I remember to this day.

Read

Elif Altay
— At the age of 12 I was in a pioneer camp near Taganrog. Not far from the camp there were corn fields with milk corn. One evening, several brave teenagers were going to run away for corn. They crawled through a hole in the fence and moved into the field. They ate too much and became lazy and careless.

We walked back slowly, already at dusk, and the path lay through the village cemetery.

I fell into one of the old graves in the darkness, and our whole gang ran in horror into the loose. I vaguely remember how I got out and how I got to the camp. Since then, I have not believed in pioneer mutual assistance.

Read

Katja Trufanova
- A friend with whom they rented an apartment: “I wake up at night and see that you, Katya, are scurrying around at the table in my room. Strange, I think, I closed the door from the inside. With this thought, I abruptly sit up on the bed, and the creature at the table (a short man with a not quite human face) turns around, sees me and runs into my bathroom!”

And her bathroom and my bedroom had a common wall, and I often heard him rattling there.

Sometimes he gave me things that I was looking for around the house, but could not find. I had to politely ask out loud - and a hair tie flew into me from the void, for example.

Read

Olesya Malysheva
— Somehow I was very unhappy, as happens at 25 years old.

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