Traditional stories for children

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.

Classic Short Stories for Kids

This is a collection of famous classical short stories for kids that are available online. We have selected a variety of stories from different authors. The links go directly to the stories where they can be read online. You might also be interested in the poems for kids page.

• "The Lion and the Mouse" by Aesop
  The Lion and the Mouse is a classic Aesop fable. A lion generously spares a mouse it was about to kill. The mouse promise to repay the lion some day.
• "The Three Little Pigs" by Unknown
  This fairy tale originates in England. Three pigs build homes but only one builds a home strong enough to withstand wolf attacks.
• "Hansel and Gretel" by Brothers Grimm
  "Hansel and Gretel" is a classic fairy tale about two abandoned children who encounter a witch in the forest. The witch lures the children in to her home with delicious food but she really intends to eat them.
• "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen
  This fairy tale from by Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a special test that can identify a real princess. The sensitivity test involves placing a pea underneath a stack of mattresses.
• "The Ants and the Grasshopper" by Aesop
  This classic Aesop fable is set in late fall. It follows a group of hardworking ants drying out the grain they had stored during the summer. They encounter a grasshopper who foolishly failed to store any food for the winter.
• "How the Camel Got His Hump" by Rudyard Kipling
  This tale from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories tells how the camel, fond of saying "Humph!", got his hump from an encounter with a djinn.
• "A Kidnapped Santa Claus" by L. Frank Baum
  The Land of Oz creator L. Frank Baum wrote this story about deamons that kidnap Santa Claus. Fortunately, Santa Claus has some help completing his toy deliveries.
• "The Snow Image" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  A brother and sister make a snow girl that comes to life - a snow sister. She is so lifelike that their father insists on bringing the snow girl inside, which is a mistake.
• "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain
  Mark Twain wrote this short story in 1865. It was included in a short story collection. The story covers jumping frogs, cheating and betting.
• "The Frog Prince" by Brothers Grimm
  This classic Grimm fairy tale follows the story of a talking frog and a spoiled princess.
• "The Reluctant Dragon" by Kenneth Grahame.
  This tale tells the story of a boy who befriends a dragon. The dragon is discovered by the townspeople who send for St. George to slay it. The story was published in Grahame's Dream Days book.
• "The Remarkable Rocket" by Oscar Wilde
  This humorous short story tells the tale of an arrogant and boisterous rocket. The rocket thinks he is remarkable and better than all the other fireworks.
• "The Bundle of Sticks" by Aesop
  There are no animals in this Aesop fable. A father uses the concept of a bundle of sticks to teach the importance of unity and working together to his young sons.
• "The Elves and the Shoemaker" by Brothers Grimm
  This fairy tale tells the story of a group of little elves that help a cobbler make shoes. There are multiple variations and translations of the tale.
• "The Kite That Went to the Moon" by Evelyn Sharp
  The story is part of Evelyn Sharp's short story collection, The Other Side of the Moon. A boy makes a giant kite and his friend draws a moon and stars on it. They are embarrassed when the kite doesn't fly.
• "Snow White" by Brothers Grimm
  The are variations on this fairy tale that was first published in 1812. As many children already know it involves a wicked, vain stepmother queen who is jealous and envious of the King's daughter, Snow White.
• "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen
  This is a very clever fairy tale invented by Andersen that tells the story of a little bird that does not fit in and is teased by the other birds in the barnyard.
• "The Dog and His Refection" by Aesop
  This Aesop fable teaches the foolishness of greed. A dog looking at his reflection in the water spies a bigger bone than the bone is carrying.
• "The Bogey-Beast" by Flora Annie Steel (retold
  This is an entertaining fairy tale about an optimistic poor, old woman who unknowingly encounters the Bogey-Beast when she finds a perfectly good black pot lying in a ditch.

Zaikin's hut. Russian folk tale

or-there were a fox and a hare in the forest. They lived not far from each other. Autumn came. It became cold in the forest. They decided to build huts for the winter. The fox built herself a hut out of loose snow, and the hare built herself out of loose sand. They overwintered in new huts. Spring has come, the sun has warmed. The fox's hut has melted, but the zaikin's is standing as it was. The fox came to the bunny's hut, drove the bunny out, and she herself remained in his hut.

A hare left his yard, sat down under a birch and cries. The wolf is coming. He sees the bunny crying.

— Why are you crying, bunny? the wolf asks.

— How can I, a bunny, not cry? We lived with the fox close to each other. We built ourselves huts: I - from loose sand, and she - from loose snow. Spring has come. Her hut has melted, but mine stands as it stood. A fox came, kicked me out of my hut, and stayed in it to live. Here I sit and cry.

- Don't cry, bunny. Let's go, I'll help you, I'll drive the fox out of your hut.

Let them go. They came. The wolf stood on the threshold of the hare's hut and shouted at the fox:

- Why did you climb into someone else's hut? Get down, fox, from the stove, otherwise I'll throw it off, beat your shoulders. The fox was not afraid, answers the wolf:

- Oh, wolf, beware: my tail is like a rod, - as I give, so is death to you here.

The wolf got scared and ran away. And left the bunny. The hare sat down again under the birch and wept bitterly.

A bear is walking through the forest. He sees a bunny sitting under a birch and crying.

— Why are you crying, bunny? the bear asks.

— How can I, a bunny, not cry? We lived with the fox close to each other. We built ourselves huts: I - from loose sand, and she - from loose snow. Spring has come. Her hut has melted, but mine stands as it stood. A fox came, kicked me out of my hut and stayed there to live. So here I sit and cry.

- Don't cry, bunny. Let's go, I'll help you, I'll drive the fox out of your hut.

Let them go. They came. The bear stood on the threshold of the bunny's hut and shouted at the fox:

- Why did you take the hut away from the bunny? Get down, fox, from the stove, otherwise I'll throw it off, beat your shoulders.

The fox was not frightened, answers the bear:

— Oh, bear, beware: my tail is like a rod, — as I give, so is death to you here.

The bear was frightened and ran away and left the bunny alone. Again the hare went out of his yard, sat down under the birch and wept bitterly. Suddenly he sees - a rooster is walking through the forest. I saw a bunny, came up and asked:

- Why are you crying, bunny?

— But how can I, a bunny, not cry? We lived with the fox close to each other. We built ourselves huts: I - from loose sand, and she - from loose snow. Spring has come. Her hut has melted, but mine stands as it stood. A fox came, kicked me out of my hut and stayed there to live. Here I sit and cry.

Don't cry, bunny, I'll drive the fox out of your hut.

— Oh, petenka, — the bunny cries, — where can you kick her out? The wolf drove - did not drive out. The bear drove - did not drive out.

- I'll kick you out. Come on, says the rooster. Went. A rooster entered the hut, stood on the threshold, crowed, and then how it screams:

- I am a chebetukh rooster,

I am a bastard songbird,

On short legs,

On high heels.

I carry a scythe on my shoulder,

I'll take the fox's head off.

And the fox lies and says:

— Oh, rooster, beware: my tail is like a rod, — as I give, so is death to you here.

The cockerel jumped from the doorway into the hut and cries again:

— I am a rooster,

I am a babbler,

On short legs,

On high heels.

I carry a scythe on my shoulder,

I'll take the fox's head off.

And - jump on the stove to the fox. He pecked the fox in the back. How the fox jumped up and how it ran out of the hare's hut, and the hare slammed the doors behind her.

And he stayed to live in his hut together with the cockerel.

Baba Yaga. Russian folk tale

or a grandfather and a woman; grandfather became a widow and married another wife, and from his first wife he had a girl. The evil stepmother did not love her, beat her and thought how to completely lime.

Once the father has gone somewhere, the stepmother says to the girl:

- Go to your aunt, my sister, ask her for a needle and thread - to sew a shirt for you.

And this aunt was a Baba Yaga with a bone leg.

Here the girl was not stupid, but first she went to her own aunt.

- Hello, auntie!

- Hello, dear! Why did you come?

- Mother sent to her sister to ask for a needle and thread - to sew a shirt for me. She teaches her:

- There, niece, a birch tree will lash you in the eyes - you tie it up with a ribbon; there the gates will creak and slam for you - you pour oil under their heels; there the dogs will tear you - you throw them some bread; there the cat will tear your eyes - you give him ham. The girl went; Here comes, goes and came. There is a hut, and in it sits a Baba Yaga with a bone leg and weaves.

- Hello, auntie!

- Hello, dear!

- Mother sent me to ask you for a needle and thread - to sew a shirt for me.

- Good: sit down to weave for a while.

Here the girl sat down at the krosna, and the Baba Yaga came out and said to her worker:

- Go, heat the bathhouse and wash your niece, but look, take a good look; I want to have breakfast with her.

The girl sits, neither alive nor dead, all frightened, and she asks for a worker:

- My dear! You don’t set fire to firewood so much as fill it with water, carry water with a sieve, - and gave her a handkerchief.

Baba Yaga is waiting; she went to the window and asked:

- Do you weave, niece, do you weave, dear?

- Weaving, aunty, weaving, dear!

Baba Yaga went away, and the girl gave the cat ham and asked:

- Is it possible to get out of here somehow?

- Here's a comb and a towel, - says the cat, - take them and run away; Baba Yaga will chase after you, you put your ear to the ground and when you hear that it is close, first throw a towel - a wide, wide river will become; if the Baba Yaga crosses the river and starts chasing you, you again put your ear to the ground and, when you hear that she is close, throw the comb - it will become a dense, dense forest, she will no longer make her way through it!

The girl took a towel and comb and ran; the dogs wanted to tear her up - she threw them some bread, and they let her through; the gates wanted to slam shut - she poured oil under their heels, and they let her through;

the birch wanted to quilt her eyes - she tied it up with a ribbon, and she let her through. And the cat sat down at the cross and weaves; not so much stumbled as messed up. Baba Yaga went to the window and asked:

- Do you weave, niece, do you weave, dear?

- Weaving, aunt, weaving, dear! - the cat answers rudely. Baba Yaga rushed into the hut, saw that the girl had left, and let's beat the cat and scold why he hadn't scratched out the girl's eyes.

- I've been serving you for a long time, - says the cat, - you didn't give me bones, but she gave me ham.

Baba Yaga pounced on the dogs, on the gate, on the birch and on the worker, let's scold and beat everyone. The dogs say to her:

- We serve you for how long, you didn't throw us a burnt crust, but she gave us bread. The gates say:

- We serve you for how long, you didn’t add water to our heels, but she added oil to us. "Birch says:

- I've been serving you for how long, you didn't bandage me with a thread, but she tied me with a ribbon. The worker says:

- I've been serving you for a long time, you didn't give me a rag, but she gave me a handkerchief.

Baba Yaga, the bone leg, quickly sat on the mortar, urged her on with a pusher, swept the trail with a broom and set off in pursuit of the girl. Here the girl put her ear to the ground and heard that the Baba Yaga was chasing, and it was already close, she took it and threw the towel; the river became so wide, so wide! Baba Yaga came to the river and gritted her teeth in anger; returned home, took her bulls and drove them to the river; the bulls drank the whole river. clean.

Baba Yaga started chasing again. The girl put her ear to the ground and heard that the Baba Yaga was close, threw the comb; the forest has become so dense and terrible! Baba Yaga began to gnaw it, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not gnaw it and turned back.

And the grandfather has already arrived home and asks:

- Where is my daughter?

- She went to her aunt, says the stepmother. A little later, the girl ran home.

- Where have you been? the father asks.

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