Kids Stories
Short stories to read together — for bedtime, for a quiet ten minutes, or for the part of a long journey where nobody can look out of the window any more.
Activities
-
The First Cold Morning
A seasonal story about the morning you can suddenly see your own breath.
-
Make Up a Story With Three Things
A character, a place, and something going wrong. That is enough for almost any child to be away.
-
The Button Who Wanted a Coat
A story about a lost button, and then a jar of real buttons to sort afterwards.
-
The Red Boots
A story for a child who is starting to read some of it themselves. Short words, short lines, and a puddle.
-
Big Dog, Little Dog
For the youngest listeners. Very short, very repetitive, and about dogs, which helps.
-
The Very Loud Hiccup
A read-aloud story with a noise in it that everybody has to make. Loud, silly, and not for bedtime.
-
Goodnight, Everything
A slow bedtime story that says goodnight to one thing after another, and gets quieter as it goes.
-
The Sock That Went Missing
A five-minute story about one striped sock, a washing machine, and where socks actually go.
Browse kids stories
Reading aloud is the least complicated thing on this whole site: no setting up, no materials, no clearing away. It is also the activity children ask for again most often.
These stories are written to be read out loud, which is not the same as written to be read silently. Short sentences, a rhythm you can find on the first go, and a length that fits the attention actually available at the end of the day.
What you'll find here
-
Five-minute stories
One idea, told properly, in about five minutes. Long enough to settle into, short enough to say yes to a second one.
-
Stories to act out
Tales with parts to play, noises to make and something to do with your hands. Better before bath than before bed.
-
Make up your own
Prompts and story starters for children who would rather tell one than be told one.
Every story says roughly how long it takes to read aloud, because that is the number that matters at 7pm.