With the rise of smartphones, it is rare to find kids asking their parents or grandparents for a bedtime story. The fictional world of animals was often used to teach some important morals to kids. But it wasn’t all about teaching lessons. There are some popular animal jokes for kids that grandparents still use to entertain the little ones. It is time to revive that lost art of storytelling to teach some good values to the younger generation. To make that easy for you, we have compiled some of the best animal stories for kids that you will love to tell them.
(One tip to make your storytelling super engaging is to use dramatic expressions in relevance to the situation of the story.)
1) The Ugly Duckling
A farmer owned a duck that laid ten eggs. They all hatched quickly. Nine of the ten ducklings matched their mama. The tenth was large, ugly, and black. The other ducklings teased the ugly duckling. The ugly duckling, unhappy on the farm, fled to a nearby river. He noticed some stunning white swans there and wished he could look just like them. What he didn’t know was that when he was an egg, he had accidentally been moved from the swan’s nest to the duck’s nest. So he grew up into a lovely swan and lived happily ever after!
2) The Elephant And The Ant
An arrogant elephant who loved terrorizing smaller animals once lived in a forest. The rude elephant would go to an ant colony close to his home and spray water on it. The ants could only scream due to their small size. The elephant laughed and threatened to smash the ants to death. One day, the ants decided to teach the elephant a lesson. When he came to spray water on them, they jumped into his trunk and started biting him. The elephant was helpless and could do nothing but roar in pain. Finally, he apologized for his behavior and expressed regret to the ants and the many other animals he had hurt.
3) The Tale Of A Thirsty Crow
After flying miles, a thirsty crow roamed over a small town looking for water. He finally found a jug that was just nearly empty except for a little water at the bottom. Although he attempted to drink from it, his short beak could not reach the water inside. Then, he noticed several stones lying on the ground. He slowly dropped them into the jug until the water level reached the top. The crow happily drank the water and quenched his thirst.
4) The Cunning Fox And The Foolish Goat
One day, a fox was roaming alone in the wild when he fell into a well. He couldn’t escape, so he waited to be rescued. When a goat saw the fox, she asked him why he was down in the well. “There is going to be a severe drought, and I’m here to ensure I have water,” the cunning fox replied. The foolish goat believed the fox and dove into the well. The fox quickly jumped on top of the goat and climbed out of the well.
5) The Tale Of A Dog
There once was a dog wandering the roads all day and night looking for food. One day he came across a big juicy bone, grabbed it between his teeth, and took it home. On his way home, he noticed another dog carrying a bone as it crossed a river. He wanted that bone for himself as well. But when he opened his jaws to steal the other bone, the bone he already had in his mouth fell into the water and sank. All he could do was regret his greed and go back to roaming the streets looking for food.
6) The Fox And The Grapes
A fox discovered a cluster of ripe grapes hanging high up in an orchard on a long hot day. “Just what I need to satiate my thirst,” the fox thought. He backed up a few steps, ran, and jumped but could not quite make it to the grapes. He made several unsuccessful attempts to get to the bunch of grapes. Ultimately, he gave up and thought, “I’m sure the grapes are sour anyway.”
7) The Hare And The Tortoise
There once was a hare and a tortoise that got along well. One day, the hare challenged the tortoise to a race. The hare believed he would win easily because the tortoise moved slowly. So, halfway through the race, he decided to take a nap because he was way ahead of the tortoise. But he did not wake up in time, and the tortoise won the race by the time he woke up.
8) The Dumb Donkey
A salt merchant used his donkey to carry his salt sack to the market daily. Every day, they had to cross a stream on the route. One day, the donkey crashed down in the river along with the salt sack. Tha salt dissolved, which made the bag light and effortless to carry. The donkey was delighted. It started to fall into the water on purpose every day. Finally, the salt dealer caught on to the donkey’s trick and decided to teach him a lesson. So he put a sack of cotton on the donkey’s back the next day.
The donkey decided to use the same strategy to make the cotton bag lighter. However, the cotton soaked up a ton of water and became heavy, making it nearly impossible for the donkey to carry the sack. The donkey learned the lesson and stopped falling into the stream the next day onwards.
9) The Boar And The Lion
It was a scorching hot day. A lion and a boar were drinking water from a little body of water. They started fighting and bickering about who got to drink first. They eventually got exhausted and stopped to catch their breath when they spotted vultures flying above. They soon understood that the vultures were holding out for one of them to get defeated to enjoy a hearty feast. The lion and the boar ultimately concluded that it is better to apologize and become friends than to fight and end up as a vulture’s meal. After sharing a drink of water, they parted ways peacefully.
10) The Grasshopper And The Ants
It was a beautiful day, and a grasshopper was having a good time, dancing and singing. Then, he observed an ant carrying a hefty maize kernel to its nest. Rather than laboring away like that, the grasshopper invited the ant to join him for some fun. The ant informed him that it was getting ready for the winter when food would be in short supply. “Why worry when the time is good?” the grasshopper thought, brushing aside the idea. But then winter came, leaving the grasshopper without anything to eat while the ants savored the maize they had stored up and rested comfortably.
11) The Fox And The Stork
There once was a fox that got along well with a stork. One day it decided to pull a trick and asked the stork to dinner. He placed a shallow dish of soup on the table. The stork struggled with sipping the soup with its long beak while the fox enjoyed a satisfying lunch. Finally, the stork decided to repay the fox’s goodwill by inviting him over for dinner and serving soup in a jar with a long neck and a narrow opening. This time, the fox went hungry while the stork ate well.
12) The Rat And The Lion
A lion was napping in the forest when a rat started racing all over him. The lion was about to attack the mouse with his paw because he was furious that the mouse had disturbed his nap. The rat pleaded with the lion for forgiveness, claiming he would come in handy one day. That idea made the lion laugh, and he then turned and left. Unfortunately, a hunter’s net soon caught the lion. The tiny rat chanced upon the trapped lion. He immediately saved the lion by chewing open the net with his razor-sharp teeth.
13) The Donkey And The Fox
The fox and the donkey were wandering together in the jungle searching for food when they ran into a lion. The cunning fox begged the lion to spare his life in exchange for a promise that he would help the lion capture the donkey. They manipulated the donkey into falling into a pit together. Once the donkey was trapped, the lion pounced on the fox and killed him for his meat so that he could have both.
14) The Rabbit And The Nut
A naive rabbit thought the world was ending when a nut dropped on its head and ran as quickly as possible. As he traveled, he spread terror across the forest by warning all the other creatures that the world was ending. Finally, the lion, the king of the woods, saw the madness. He summoned the rabbit and asked him to recount what had happened. The lion soon figured out what was going on and ordered a crow to fly above the rabbit and drop a nut on him. “Is this what it felt like when the sky started falling on you?” the lion asked. The rabbit realized his mistake and apologized to everyone for creating panic.
15) The Prankster And The Wolf
There was a young shepherd boy who loved to pull pranks. The boy decided to prank the village and started screaming, “Wolf! Wolf!” He was quickly helped by those who had heard him. But they were furious when they realized the boy was making fun of them and there was no wolf. The following day, he repeated it, and many people stepped in to help, only to be fooled again. Finally, on the third day, the boy saw a wolf killing one of his lambs and called out for help. But the people who heard him thought it was just another of the boy’s pranks, and nobody came to his rescue.
16) The Fox And The Crow
A fox watched a crow bringing some cheese to the top of a tree. He decided to steal the cheese for himself. He went up to the foot of the tree and began praising the crow for singing more beautifully than a cuckoo. The crow attempted to sing after taking pride in hearing this. As he opened his beak to sing, the slice of cheese dropped to the floor. The fox stole the piece and fled.
17) The Wolf And The sheep
A wolf was having trouble catching any prey to eat, and so it started starving. One day, he decided to cover himself in sheepskin and sneak up on a herd of sheep. The sheep thought he was one of their own and welcomed him into the shed. The fox immediately cornered a bunch of sheep into a corner and devoured them.
18) The Tale Of Two Mice
The city mouse visited his brother in the countryside one day. The country mouse gave his brother beans and ham to eat and a warm welcome. The city mouse complained about the food and invited his brother to join him in the good life in the city. When they tried to enter a restaurant kitchen to enjoy cake and jelly after arriving in the city, two enormous dogs drove them away, forcing them to flee for their lives. The city mouse realized that city life is not as fun as he thought it was and decided to move to the countryside with his brother.
19) A Deceitful Donkey
A donkey found a lion’s skin. That skin had been set out by some hunters to dry one day. The donkey strapped it on and started walking toward the jungle, startling both people and animals. However, the donkey was pleased with itself and brayed loudly. Everyone realized right away that it was a donkey disguised as a lion. They severely punished him for scaring them, and no one in the jungle trusted or helped him ever again.
20) The Hare And The Hound
A fierce hound was pursuing a hare one day. The exhausted hound quit the hunt after a lengthy run. A group of goats who were onlookers made fun of the hound by suggesting that the hare is superior to the beast. The hound responded, “The hare was running for his life. I was merely running for dinner. Our perceptions differ in that way.”
These stories will surely entertain your kids, and you’ll be surprised to find their interest in storytelling growing when you narrate such stories to them regularly. We hope these stories strengthen your bond with your kids. Spend some time every night telling them a bedtime story, and watch as your kids start looking forward to hearing your tales!
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Author Bio:
Ramya Karamsetti loves diving deep into the lifestyle, relationships & health topics. She particularly writes about fashion trends & beauty tips. She is a regular contributor to MomJunction.com, The Epoch Times, Marriage, etc. When she is not writing, she loves traveling and going on adventure trips.
