THE TRAFFIC LIGHT AND THE ZEBRA CROSSING

Once upon a time there was a school situated in the middle of a very big city and surrounded by very busy roads. The children would often run out of school and start playing, not realising how dangerous it was to have a road so close by. There had already been accidents when children crossed the road without looking, or when they ran around near the traffic lights.

To stop this happening again, a local traffic light thought to himself: “Why don’t I warn the children by shouting when cars are coming? Or perhaps I should grab them by the backpack…?”

He thought this would be a very good idea, so he told his friend the zebra crossing. But the zebra crossing said: “If we do that, we will only cause children in a different neighbourhood to have an accident, because they will rely on us to save them. But we won’t be there!” The traffic light thought this through, and realised that the zebra crossing was right.

Short stories - The traffic light and the zebra crossing

So they decided to do something different: “From now on, every day we’ll explain to each child the dangers of crossing the road without looking, and we’ll use videos so they can see the dangers for themselves.” Continue reading…

LAWRENCE’S TOY

Lawrence was a little boy of 8 years old who loved playing with his toys. On the whole he was a good boy and always got very good marks at school. That’s why one Christmas Santa Claus had arrived loaded with toys for Lawrence, for Lawrence had written to tell Santa that his school results were better than last year’s and that was why he wanted more toys.

Among the presents Santa gave Lawrence was a magic blackboard where you could write or draw anything you liked, but which erased everything when you shook it. Without a doubt, it was the Christmas present he liked most of all, for he spent hours and hours playing with it.

After the holiday was over, Lawrence decided to take the magic blackboard to school to show his classmates. But Liam, the naughtiest boy in the class, ran off with Lawrence’s board and teased him all through break.

Short stories - Lawrences-toy

“Liam, give me my board back!” shouted Lawrence. But Liam was taller than Lawrence and held it above his head so that Lawrence couldn’t reach it.

“Go on Lawrence, jump!” teased Liam. Continue reading…

JAMIE’S EXAM

Eleven-year-old Jamie loved playing football on his games console. In fact, he loved it so much he would spend hours and hours without stopping. When the teachers set homework at school, he would lock himself away in his room to do it, or so his parents thought…

But one day, the school called Jamie’s mother to go and speak to his teacher, as Jamie hadn’t handed in any homework for a month – ever since his birthday when his parents had given him the games console.

“What’s Jamie done this time?” asked Jamie’s mother.

Short stories - Stories for little girls and boys

“Well, it’s been a month since Jamie has done any homework and lately I’ve noticed that he’s very distracted in class. Do you know what could be wrong?”

Then Jamie’s mother realised that he had been telling lies all this time, for instead of going to his room to do homework, he was playing football on his games console.

“Yes, I know what the problem is. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Jamie,” she told the teacher. Continue reading…

STORIES FOR LITTLE GIRLS AND BOYS

In a school many years ago there was a teacher called Maria, who was very strict but knew a lot about reading and language. The children in her class called her “Miss” and went around calling “Miss, Miss!!” any time they wanted something. In her class there were fourteen boys and fourteen girls, and although the boys usually made more noise, normally everyone behaved very well.

One day, “Miss” Maria asked one of the boys, Peter, to read a children’s story. Peter began reading the children’s tale, which went like this: “In a far-off land there was once a sweet young princess called Sophie…” The little boy stopped and exclaimed: “This is a girls’ story!!” and the whole class laughed. Maria the teacher interrupted to say: “Peter, it’s a children’s story and it’s for girls as well as boys. Think about this, do princes like princesses? They do, don’t they? So this is also a story for boys, because princesses are in it and when you are older you will probably like them.”

Peter was speechless at “Miss’s” explanation, but he realised that she was right and you should keep reading a story just the same, however girly it might seem.

Short stories - Stories for little girls and boys

Then it was a little girl’s turn to read a story, and her name was Christina. Continue reading…

THE BRIGHTLY COLOURED BEACH UMBRELLA

Just as they did every summer, Charlie, his sister and his parents were off to their beach house where they would spend the whole summer until Charlie and Laura began school again in September.

Every day they would go to the beach, so the idea was to get up very early so as to be first on the beach and be able to choose a spot without a single beach umbrella to spoil their view.

But unfortunately they were never the first to arrive, for Charlie was a lazy-bones. Even though he had an alarm that was so loud it would wake up their neighbours, it was never enough to get him out of bed.

When his mother saw that Charlie hadn’t got up, she would march into his room to tell him that if he didn’t get up they would go to the beach without him. Well, that always made him leap out of bed like a flash of lightning…

Charlie liked playing with his sister on the shore by the waves; he especially loved making sand castles, but his parents wouldn’t let him go because their beach umbrella was right at the back of the beach and their view of the shore was blocked by hundreds more parasols.

This made Charlie very angry with his parents, so he spent all morning under their beach umbrella staring at all the people in front of them and not saying a word. Continue reading…

THE CHILDREN’S SWING

There was once a green swing in a very big playground, which was inside a school. It was a very special swing, for adults couldn’t see it. But the children would play on it every day. They could see it from anywhere in the playground, for it shone a radiant green even at night-time.

One day, twelve-year-old Joshua decided to go and play on the swing as he did every day, but this afternoon he felt rather an odd sensation as he walked nearer. It was almost like he didn’t feel like playing…

The next day, to his horror, he could no longer see the swing. And even though he wasn’t sure what had happened to it, he began to cry…

Short stories - the childrens swing

Joshua was so worried about this turn of events that he went to tell his friends, but none of them knew what had happened either. They tried to reassure him: “We don’t know what’s wrong with you, but we can see the swing…Maybe it’s because you’ve got older…” Continue reading…

THE HELPFUL BUS

A long time ago in a little village called Four Houses, there lived a red bus whose job it was to take the children to school.

Normally, the bus would stop in the village square to collect them and take them to another village a few kilometres away, for there was no school in Four Houses.

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Watch this children’s story and connect English subtitles:

Each journey cost ninety-nine cents, but one day the red bus decided that he wasn’t going to charge the children anything at all, for many of their parents had no job and it was difficult to save money, and he thought it would be a good way of helping them.

The red bus was delighted to take the children for free, but after a few months his wheels were so worn out that he couldn’t even turn around and it was very difficult to move.

Short stories - The helpful bus

One morning, the mothers and fathers were ready as usual in the main square of Four Houses waiting for the red bus. But this was no ordinary day, for the red bus was twenty minutes’ late… Very slowly, he came chugging along but once he got to the square he collapsed from exhaustion. There was no way he could take the children to school today…

Seeing that all the red bus wanted to do was help them help their children get a good education, the villagers decided that each family would put forward some money according to how much they could afford. Then the helpful bus could go to a garage to be repaired and be as good as new. Continue reading…

THE FOREST FAIRY

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Anna, who loved riding her bike. Anna always wore a hat, and lived in a big house near a green and beautiful forest.

Anna usually rode her bike away from the forest, for her mother had told her never to enter the wood because it could be dangerous.

But one day it was very windy and Anna’s hat flew up into the air and down into the wood. Anna thought that the hat would come back, but instead it disappeared as if the forest had swallowed it up… Very upset, and ignoring her mother’s warning, Anna went into the wood to look for her hat.

Short stories - the forest fairy

Great was her surprise when someone touched her shoulder and said: “Anna, I am your fairy godmother, and I have always been here to protect you the day you entered the forest, for this forest is enchanted and one must take great care.” The forest fairy then continued: “Stay here, I shall go and look for your hat.”

Continue reading…

THE ADVENTURES OF LOLA

If ever there was an intrepid and adventurous little girl, it was certainly eight-year-old Lola. Lola lived with her parents and grandfather in a house in a small village, surrounded by mountains, a river and lots and lots of trees.

Every day after school once Lola had done her homework, she would eat a snack and think up a new adventure. Today, Lola put on her explorer glasses and picked up her backpack, where she kept a compass, a bottle of water, a lamp and a GPS that her parents had given her for her birthday.

“Mum, I’m going into the garden for a bit“, said Lola. “Ok, Lola, but be careful and come back in before it gets dark” replied her mother.

Childrens stories - The adventures of Lola

Lola ran out into the garden, which was as big as a football pitch, and her grandfather, who was sitting on the veranda, said: “What’s today’s adventure? If you need a companion on your travels, just let me know“.

“Oooh, yes please, Granddad,” said Lola. “Come with me – I need you to help me complete a really, really important mission!!!”

So Lola and her grandfather went to a part of the garden where Continue reading…

THOMAS AND THE FLYING SNEAKERS

There was once a pair of old dirty sneakers that lived in a house outside New York. The house was situated in a rich neighbourhood and the owners were rich, too. The sneakers could be found in the room belonging to their young son Thomas.

Now, Thomas had lots of sneakers, but he only ever wore two or three pairs. One day, Thomas was cleaning his room when he discovered the old dirty sneakers at the bottom of his wardrobe. In fact, they were so grubby that he decided to clean them up.

He began rubbing them with a cloth, and as he scrubbed he remembered that he had only worn these sneakers once in his life. “I know“, he thought, “I put these sneakers on the day I went to play in the mud in the park.”

Childrens stories - Thomas and the flying sneakers

Once they were completely clean, he noticed a detail he had never noticed before: the sneakers had a shining button on the undersole. It looked like a diamond and was so bright it dazzled his eyes. Thomas wondered what the button was for, so he pressed it and was amazed. A pair of white cloth wings the size of Thomas’s head had sprouted from the sneakers, and leapt to the window of their own accord.

In excitement, Thomas pulled on the sneakers and they flew through the window, dragging Thomas through the air. He began to scream and yell but the sneakers only stopped completely when he blurted out the word: “Stop!” Continue reading…