In this post, we have the 10 best moral stories for kids in English. We also explain why these moral stories are suitable for moral education.
Let’s start by explaining what a moral story is. It’s simple: a story that teaches a lesson or conveys a meaningful message to the reader.
Moral stories that teach morals are a great way to teach children valuable life lessons. This helps them respond to all kinds of life situations. E.g., Being kind and handling disappointment.
Research has shown that children learn moral reasoning from what is told to them. As they grow, they will learn to decide what is right and wrong.
Reading moral stories or narrating them can help your child become a better person and help with their language development!
These moral stories can be very brief and straightforward. Some stories are so simple they could be found in children’s books. Yet, the message is still powerful.
Table of Contents
These are the 10 Best Short Moral Stories
1) 100 Percent Love
A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The girl has some sweets with her. The boy told the girl that he would give her all his marbles in exchange for the sweets with her. The girl agreed.
The boy kept the most beautiful and the biggest marbles with him and gave her the remaining marbles. The girl gave him all her sweets as she promised. That night the girl slept peacefully. But the boy could not sleep as he kept wondering if the girl has hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden the best marbles from her.
Moral of the Story :
If you do not give 100 percent in a relationship, you will always kept doubting if the other person has given her / his hundred percent. This is applicable for any relationship like love, employee – employer, friendship, family, countries, etc.
2) The Potato, The Egg, And The Coffee Beans
A boy named John was upset. His father found him crying.
When his father asked John why he was crying, he said that he had a lot of problems in his life.
His father simply smiled and asked him to get a potato, an egg, and some coffee beans. He placed them in three bowls.
He then asked John to feel their texture and then fill each bowl with water.
John did as he had been told. His father then boiled all three bowls.
Once the bowls had cooled down, John’s father asked him to feel the texture of the different food items again.
John noticed that the potato had become soft and its skin was peeling off easily; the egg had become harder and tougher; the coffee beans had completely changed and filled the bowl of water with aroma and flavor.
Moral of the story:
Life will always have problems and pressures, like the boiling water in the story. It’s how you respond and react to these problems that counts the most!
3) Two Frogs With The Same Problem
Once, a group of frogs was roaming around the forest in search of water. Suddenly, two frogs in the group accidentally fell into a deep pit.
The other frogs worried about their friends in the pit.
Seeing how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that there was no way they could escape the deep pit and that there was no point in trying.
They continued to constantly discourage them as the two frogs tried to jump out of the pit. But keep falling back.
Soon, one of the two frogs started to believe the other frogs — that they’ll never be able to escape the pit and eventually died after giving up.
The other frog keeps trying and eventually jumps so high that he escapes the pit. The other frogs were shocked at this and wondered how he did it.
The difference was that the second frog was deaf and couldn’t hear the discouragement of the group. He simply thought they were cheering him on!
Moral of the story:
People’s opinion of you will affect you, only if you believe it to be so. It’s better to believe in yourself.
4) The Elephant Circus
Once upon a time in a circus, five elephants that performed circus tricks. They were kept tied up with weak rope that they could’ve easily escaped, but did not.
One day, a man visiting the circus asked the ringmaster: “Why haven’t these elephants broken the rope and run away?”
The ringmaster replied: “From when they were young, the elephants were made to believe that they were not strong enough to break the ropes and escape.”
It was because of this belief that they did not even try to break the ropes now.
Moral of the story:
Don’t give in to the limitations of society. Believe that you can achieve everything you want to!
5) The Boy Who Cried, Wolf
There was a young boy whose father, a farmer, had asked him to take their herd of sheep grazing every day.
One day, the boy was extremely bored as he watched over the sheep and so he cried: “Wolf! Wolf!”
On hearing his cries, the villagers rushed to help him chase the wolf away and safe the sheep.
When they saw the grinning boy and realized he had cried wolf for his amusement, they scolded him and told him to not cry wolf!
The next day, the boy cried out that the wolf was there. The villagers came, scolded him again, and left.
Later that same day, a wolf came and terrorized the sheep.
The boy cried, “Wolf! Wolf! Please help me.”
But, the villagers assumed that he was pulling a silly prank again and did not come to his rescue. The sheep ran away and the boy cried.
Moral of the story:
Don’t lie or engage in foolish pranks, for no one will believe a liar even when he is telling the truth!
6) Buddha and The Angry Man
Do You Still Get Angry? Then you should read this and decide.
One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him, “You have no right teaching, others,’ he shouted. “You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake.”
Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone and that person does not take it to whom does the gift belong?”
The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me. Because I bought the gift.”
The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself. If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy.”
Moral of the story:
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” – Buddha quote
7) The Golden Touch Of Midas
A long time ago, there lived a king in Greece named Midas.
He was extremely wealthy and had all the gold he could ever need. He also had a daughter whom he loved very much.
One day, Midas saw a Satyr (an angel) who was stuck and was in trouble. Midas helped the Satyr and asked for his wish to be granted in return.
The Satyr agreed and Midas wished for everything he touched to be turned to gold. His wish was granted.
Extremely excited, Midas went home to his wife and daughter touching pebbles, rocks, and plants on the way, which turned into gold.
As his daughter hugged him, she turned into a golden statue.
Having learnt his lesson, Midas begged the Satyr to reverse the spell who granted that everything would go back to their original state.
Moral of the story:
Stay content and grateful with what you have. Greed will not get you anywhere.
8) Do not Give Up
One day I decided to quit my job and to end my life. There seemed to be no reason for me to live any longer.
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality, everything… I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the deep woods to have one last talk with God.
“God,” I asked,
“Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”.
His answer surprised me…
“Look around,” He said. “Do you see the Fern and the bamboo?
“Yes”, I replied.
“When I planted the Fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water. The Fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year, the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.
“In year three, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.
In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit.” He said.
“Then, in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the Fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant…But just 6 months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.
It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”
He asked me. “Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots”?
“I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.”
“Don’t compare yourself to others.” He said.” The bamboo had a different Purpose than the Fern.
Yet, they both make the forest beautiful. “Your time will come,” God said to me.
“You will rise high.”
“How high should I rise?” I asked.
“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.
“As high as it can?” I questioned. “Yes.” He said, “Give Me glory by rising as high as you can.”
I left the forest and brought back this story. I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you…… Never, Never, Never Give up
9) Taking Responsibility
Two families lived nearby. One family was constantly fighting, while the other one lived quietly and friendly. One day, feeling jealous about how nicely the neighboring family got along, the wife told her husband. Go to the neighbors and look to see what they are doing for their well-being.
The husband went, hid, and began watching. He saw a woman who was cleaning the floor. Suddenly something distracted her, and she ran to the kitchen. At that time, her husband rushed into the room. Not noticing the bucket of water, he kicked it and spilled water all over the floor.
His wife came back from the kitchen and said to him. I’m sorry, honey! It’s my fault. I didn’t move the bucket out of the way.
The husband replied…No, I’m sorry, honey! It’s my fault, because I did not notice it.
The man returned home, and his wife asked him if he found out what their secret is.
I think the difference is that we always seek to be right, while they seek to take responsibility for their part.
Having peaceful relationships mean taking personal responsibility for our own part.
Moral of the story:
Take responsibility for everything in our lives: thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
10) The Meaning of True Wealth
There was a girl whose family was very wealthy. One day her father took her on a trip to the country where he aimed to show his daughter how poor people live. So they arrived at a farm of a very poor family. They spent several days there. On their return, the father asked his daughter, if she liked the trip.
Oh, it was great, dad – the girl replied.
Did you notice how poor people live? – the father asked.
Yeah, I did. – said the girl.
The father asked his daughter to tell in more detail about her impressions from their trip.
Well…we have only one dog, and they have four of them. In our garden, there is a pool, while they have a river that has no end. We’ve got expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have the patio, and they have the whole horizon….the daughter replied in delight.
She further added…. We have only a small piece of land, while they have endless fields. We buy food, but they grow it. We have a high fence for protecting our property, and they don’t need it, as their friends protect them.
The father was stunned. He could not say a word.
Then the girl added…Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are.
Moral of the story:
This story shows that true wealth, as well as happiness, is not measured by material things. Instead, love, friendship, and freedom are far more valuable.
That it!
These moral stories are short and interesting, with morals we learned growing up. We hope that you and your child enjoy them!
Leave a comment below to share your favorite moral stories with your kids.
Great stories. It’s so meaningful.
Thank you 🙂
the moral stories are awesome. add some more moral stories, please.
Yes. Thank you 😍