Folktales for Kids

Folktales are the traditional stories passed from generation to generation to teach moral values and ethics to kids. They can listen to or read folktales to learn about different characters and their experiences that teach kids life skills. What are the benefits of learning folktales for kids? Listening to folktales enables kids to learn moral values such as honesty, integrity, responsibility, caring, sharing, kindness, etc. You can narrate folktales by conducting reading games for kids. With these games, they develop an interest in reading and upgrade their moral values. 

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Most folktales convey a moral message to readers and listeners. Reading folktales for kids during bedtime is the best way to inculcate listening skills among children. They pay attention to what you read and understand the story easily. Moreover, it improves their vocabulary and language skills. You can upgrade the knowledge of vocabulary words for kids through folktales. If you are looking for famous American folktales for kids? We are here to help you provide a list of folktales for children. 

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Famous Folktales for Kids 

Folktales are universal and timeless stories that help kids understand the human qualities that everyone must imbibe. Folktales for kids are a great way to enhance their personality with kindness, care, love, friendship, etc. Every child must listen to or read folktales to understand the history and traditions of different places and the personality of the characters depicted in the folktales. Young children can take away something positive from each folktale they read or listen to. Below are a few famous folktales for kids. 

Princess Scargo

This is a beautiful tale of Princess Scargo. A man whom she had madly fallen in love with bought four fish for the princess before leaving for the war. She dug a small pond for the fish to live in. One fine morning, she woke up and found out that the pond had dried and three fish out of four had died. The princess became very sad, and she cried and cried to keep the last fish alive. Later, her father created a large lake for her fish to live in, known as the Scargo lake. Finally, the man also returns from the war. The moral of the story is never to lose hope. 

Beauty and the Beast 

This is a famous folktale about true love. In this classic tale, a prince becomes a beast when he refuses to help the enchantress. The curse of the enchantress would break when he finds his true love, who could break the curse and bring him back to his real appearance. The moral of the story is that the appearance of a person does not matter. You need to look into the heart of the person. 

Johnny Appleseed 

This is the story of John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed. He became famous as he started planting more apple trees in Pennsylvania. He was known for his kind gesture toward the conservation of trees. He also grew apple trees in other parts of the country, such as Ontario, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and even sold seeds to other pioneers. He dreamed of growing apples so that no one would ever go hungry. The moral of this story is to show concern for the environment and relationships. Most importantly, one must be generous and share things without any discrimination. 

Miss Sally Ann and the Panther

This is the incredible story of a girl known as Miss Sally Ann Thunder. She was the wife of Davy Crockett. She had a talent to outspin steam and knit a shawl with one hand and milk a cow and churn butter with the other hand simultaneously. In this story, Miss Ann wrestles with a panther. They wrestle with each other to become friends. The moral of this story is that you can become friends with anyone in an unlikely situation.

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List of Folktales for Kids

A list of some beautiful folktales for kids is given below:

  • Paul Bunyan and Bade the Blue Ox
  • Bigfoot 
  • Br’er Rabbit
  • Maid of the Mist
  • The Jackalope 
  • The Jack and the Beanstalk 
  • Princess Scargo
  • Johnny Appleseed
  • The Old Woman and her Pig
  • The Emperor’s New Clothes
  • John Henry vs. the Mighty Steam Drill
  • Pecos Bill
  • Chicken Little 
  • The Girl with the Ribbon around her Neck

Benefits of Folktales for Kids

The benefits of folktales for kids are mentioned below:

  • Develops reading skills: Folktales help kids develop reading skills. They develop an interest in reading folktales to increase their knowledge of information passed from generation to generation. They develop an understanding of the narration of the story easily. 
  • Increases understanding of different cultures: Listening to or reading folktales enables kids to understand the culture and traditions of other places. Kids can read stories about characters based on different places, professions, habits, personalities, powers, etc. They will start imaging the way the characters in the stories perform and live. 
  • Enhances moral values: Each folktale that kids listen to has a moral story behind it. The folktales teach kids to be honest, loving, caring, courageous, compassionate, brave, kind, etc. The characters of a folktale undergo different situations that make them learn something and guide them during difficult situations in real life. Similarly, kids tend to take away positive thoughts from the stories and implement them in their lives. 
  • Develops visualization skills: Reading or listening to folktales enables kids to think and imagine the scenes or the situations that the characters are going through. Kids can connect to the story well if they imagine and visualize the story they are reading. This helps them to understand the moral behind the story easily. 
  • Develop communication skills: Reading folktales helps children develop their communication skills. They will learn to listen, speak, read and write effectively with the help of folktales. They learn to put across their ideas and thoughts the right way to others. Also, they learn new vocabulary words and use them appropriately for making meaningful sentences for effective communication. This ability to read and listen to folktales boosts their confidence and motivates them to learn new things every day. 

We hope this article on folktales for kids was useful to you. To learn more about activities, worksheets and games, explore worksheets for kids, math for kidspuzzles for kids, kids learning sections at Osmo.

Frequently Asked Questions on Folktales for Kids

What are some of the folktales for kids?

Some of the folktales for kids are: Paul Bunyan and Bade the Blue Ox, Bigfoot. Be’er Rabbit, Maid of the Mist, The Jackalope, The Jack and the Beanstalk, Princess Scargo etc.

What are the benefits of folktales for kids?

The benefits of folktales for kids are that it helps kids listen to and read stories of different cultures and traditions of famous characters. Kids learn to develop visualization, imagination, communication, reading, listening skills, etc. Most importantly, kids learn moral values, such as responsibility, care, kindness, love, friendship, hard work, honesty, integrity, etc.