THE TURTLE AND THE MOPED

Somewhere in a large coastal city, there was an enormous beach where the turtles went to raise their newborn young. That was where Juliet was born, and she is the main turtle in our story.

When Juliet was a baby turtle, she was protected all day long by her mother so that nothing would happen to her. But as she grew older, she began to realise that she was a born explorer and she enjoyed going off on her own to explore new beaches.

When Juliet was old enough, she decided that to explore the world she would have to get a vehicle in which to travel, for turtles were very, very, very slow.

Short stories - the turtle and the moped

So she asked her mother to buy her a moped so that she could go off and discover new lands further away. But Juliet’s mother said: “Certainly not! I’m not going to buy you a moped because they’re very dangerous for turtles – they are not made for us.” Continue reading…

THE HAM SANDWICH AT THE BEACH

Once upon a time, there was a ham sandwich called Sandy, who was taken to the beach in a bag every summer. But Sandy was fed up because every time she went she would get covered in sand, particularly when there was a lot of wind. Not even bags could prevent it from happening.

The ham sandwich usually went to the beach with her friend the tomato, who also thought the same thing – the beach was disgusting!

One day, a little girl realised that the ham sandwich and the tomato were suffering from all the sand and said to her parents: “Mum, dad, don’t you see that every time you bring sandwiches and tomatoes to the beach, they get filled with sand? It’s our food and it deserves respect!”

short stories - the ham sandwich at the beach

To the family’s complete astonishment, the ham sandwich suddenly began to talk and said: “Parents, you should be proud of your daughter. She is able to put herself in someone else’s shoes, and that’s very important. I am food, so I deserve respect, and I especially don’t need to have sand all over me!” Continue reading…

GLUG AND THE WATER CYCLE

Once upon a time, there was a little drop of water called Glug who lived in a river. Even though she didn’t know it, she had a very important mission on Earth, and that was in the cycle of water.

Glug was a very young water drop so she didn’t know why her mother would often leave the river and return a few days later. So one morning when the sun was shining brightly, Glug asked: “Mum, why do you leave the river sometimes?” Her mother answered: “Well, because we water drops have a very important job to do: we must ensure that the cycle of water continues.”

Glug was very surprised, for she had never imagined that her mother was so important to Earth. However, Glug wasn’t very sure exactly what this mission actually was, so she asked:

short stories - glug and the water cycle

“So what’s the important mission, Mum?”

“It’s not just my mission, but yours too, and all the water drops on Earth.”

Glug was open-mouthed, for she too was part of this important mission for the planet. Continue reading…

THE LION AND THE WIND

There was once a very special lion called Simba who lived on the African savannah. Simba would play in the plains, running and jumping with his friends the leopards and other lions in the area. Simba had a very special gift, for every time he roared he created such a strong wing it seemed like a hurricane.

On the savannah where Simba lived there were lots of kinds of animals: giraffes, elephants, hyenas, etc. and even though it wasn’t a particularly green place, there were lots of species of tree and plants.

One day, as Simba was playing with his friends, they saw enormous machines destroying part of the plain by digging into the earth. “The humans are building oil wells…” said one of the wisest lions.

shortstories-the-lion-and-the-wind

Day by day, the men built more and more oil wells, destroying the local nature in the process.

Simba had fewer and fewer friends with whom to play, and fewer plains in which to run about, and he knew that it was the men that were causing it all.

So he decided to ask the wisest lion in the area for a solution. The wise old lion said: “The only solution is for the men to stop using petrol, and use renewable energies such as wind instead…” Continue reading…

THE LITTLE TANNED CRAB

Once upon a time there was a crab that lived on a beach in southern Spain. The other crabs called him Croqui, because he loved to cover himself in the sand, a bit like a croquette.

Croqui loved sunlight and when summer came he went mad about getting the best place on the beach to sunbathe. He was always very tanned, but he never listened to the older crabs’ advice.

The adult crabs always told him to put on sun cream to stop himself from getting sunburnt on his shell, but he would say that it wouldn’t do him any harm.

short stories - the-little-tanned-crab

One splendid hot summer’s day, Croqui was sunbathing when suddenly he began to smell burning. “What could that be?” he thought. Then he realised that smoke was coming from one of his claws, and that it was scorched. So he raced into the sea to cool off. Continue reading…

MARIO THE ELECTRIC CAR

Once upon a time, there was a very close family who lived in a humble house in the countryside. They had worked hard to build the house themselves, for they had always wanted to have a nice home that was energy efficient.

Most of their neighbours had all-terrain vehicles, so eight-year-old Mario, who was the oldest child in the family, had often asked his parents to swap their own car, which was now very old, for a 4X4.

Eventually, Mario’s parents went off to buy a new car, for their own had stopped working. When they got home, Mario was waiting for them in the garden, impatient to see what 4×4 his parents had bought. He thought: “I bet they’ve bought the biggest and fastest 4X4! Now I can show off the new car in front of the neighbours!”

Story-car

But to his great surprise and disappointment, the new car driving up the road wasn’t a 4×4. Mario immediately ran to the car.

“Dad! Mum! Is this our new car?” asked Mario, looking anguished.

“Yes, darling. Do you like it?” answered his mother.

“No I don’t! It’s not a 4X4! It’s a rubbish old electric car, why did you buy it?” asked Mario angrily. Continue reading…

THE BOY AND THE POLITICIANS

Once upon a time there was a very intelligent boy called Lewis. Lewis had always wondered why there were always two politicians on TV arguing. So he asked his parents: “Mum, dad, why do those men go on TV and argue?”

To which his parents answered: “Lewis, they’re politicians. Their job is to make the people of our country happier.”

Lewis was not satisfied with this answer, and said: “But it doesn’t make sense – how can they be working for us when you can see them arguing like that. That’s not working for us at all!”

His parents replied: “At the end of the day, a person who is truly working for us will have a clean conscience… he’ll be able to sleep at night. Go to sleep, Lewis, darling, and don’t think about the politicians anymore. All you need to do is work hard at school and not worry about them.”

THE END

Share this short story for kids with your friends on Facebook, Google +, or Twitter with buttons you’ll find at the beginning or end of the story. Thank you!

Stories for kids written by: www.shortstories.net (a pseudonym).

BERTIE AND THE LABYRINTH

There was once a very wise man called Robert, though everyone called him Bertie for everyone loved him a great deal. Bertie had lived all his life in a small village, but two years ago when he was seventy years old he had gone to live in the big city with his daughter Ana. Bertie had always loved history and on his bedside table there were always exciting adventure books about historical figures.

One day as he was browsing his daughter’s bookshelves, he came across a well worn book that looked very old. Bertie realised that this was no ordinary book; it was a special book, and that inside its pages there could be a great secret.

On the front page were Egyptian hieroglyphics that Bertie had seen somewhere before, though he couldn’t quite remember where. So he set his spectacles on the tip of his nose and began reading the first few pages. It soon became clear that this was indeed a very old book – it had been written by an Egyptian historian who had described in precise detail the steps the reader had to follow to cross through the labyrinth and reach the treasure that was hidden there.

short_stories_bertie_and_the_labyrinth

Bertie spent the whole night reading that mysterious book and deciphering the riddles that he came across. He finished it just before dawn, but he still hadn’t managed to find the answer that would lead him to the Egyptian treasure. But then, on the very last page, he found an unfinished phrase that was the key he needed to solve the riddle.

After a few minutes in which Bertie thought hard about everything he had read, he found the answer to the unfinished phrase! Not wasting a single second more, he took a pen from his pocket and finished the phrase in the book. Continue reading…

THE PRINCE AND THE MONSTRO

Once upon a time there was a very handsome prince called Hugo, who wanted to become king of a distant land of mountains and caves. Unfortunately his father had died and his uncle was now king, for the family did not believe that Hugo was brave enough to be king yet. This really annoyed Hugo, as you can imagine. He was convinced that he was valiant, but he just hadn’t had the chance to prove it.

One day, Hugo found out that most of the land’s adult men (including the king) were setting off to hunt a monster that was attacking their homes at night. In that mountainous land there was a kind of very famous and peculiar monster called the Monstro. It had three eyes, growled so loudly that you could hear him from miles away and on top of that he also drooled.

Hugo silently followed the men hunting the Monstro, and soon reached the dark cave where the monster lived. Hugo hid behind a rock from the other men, for he was the prince and easy to recognise.

short-stories-prince-monstro-monster

While the group of men argued over how best to hunt the Monstro, Hugo snuck into the cave and went in search of it by himself. Once he had found it, Hugo threw himself on its leg to stop it moving, then pulled a sack over its head so that it wouldn’t bite him. After a few exciting and tense moments, Hugo tied its arms behind its back and took it out of the cave to show the king. Continue reading…

LEWIS AND THE GREY SMOKE

There was once a little boy of 6 years old called Lewis. One day, as he was looking out of the car window on his way to school, he discovered that a large mass of grey smoke was forming just above his dad’s car.

Somewhat alarmed, Lewis looked at the other cars on the road to find out if they too had a cloud of grey smoke chasing them. To Lewis’ surprise, all the cars travelling on the motorway had the grey smoke hovering around them.

So Lewis asked his father: “Dad, what’s that grey smoke above our cars?” Lewis’ father was a little surprised by the question, but answered: “Well, Lewis, it’s called pollution.”

“Pollution? What’s pollution?” asked Lewis, waiting intrigued for his father’s answer.

short_stories_lewis_and_the_grey_smoke

“Well, for example, it’s that grey smoke you can see above our cars. Cars that run on petrol or diesel give off gasses into the atmosphere, which are very bad for all living beings and the planet too. Today you can see a lot of the grey smoke because it hasn’t rained for a long time,” answered his father.

Lewis spent a while pondering on this, and began to put two and two together. If the grey smoke was bad, and it was all because of cars, then why were there so many cars on the road?

“Dad,” said Lewis slowly, “If the grey smoke is pollution and is bad for us, why are we going to school in a car?”

“So I can get to work on time, son. The bus or metro would make us late,” answered his father. Continue reading…