20 Short Animal Stories for Children with Moral Lessons

There was a time when books were the only means of entertainment for children. A decade ago, kids were supposed to spend their time reading stories and role-playing their favorite characters from the stories. However, times have changed now – in the age of the internet, kids spend most of their time playing games on smartphones or watching rhymes or cartoons on YouTube. Storytelling can be used to teach children about different aspects of life. By narrating stories to your kids, you will impart wisdom to them and also spend much-needed quality time with them.

Several authors have written short animal stories for kids such as The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and the Panchatantra Stories by Vishnu Sharma that have animals talking or behaving like humans. We have a collection of some popular short stories with moral values that you can read to your kids.

Tinycrayons brings to you a list of 20 short animal stories that kids would love to hear. What’s best, these stories about animals come with a moral lesson too!

20 Short Animal Stories for Children

20 Short Animal Stories for Children with Moral Lessons

1. A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

A wolf was having a tough time getting hold of sheep for the meal. It decides to attack them discreetly by dressing itself in sheepskin. Soon, it starts leading the sheep one by one to a corner and eats them all.

Moral: Appearances can be deceptive. One must never take people or circumstances at face value. A little bit of precaution can go a long way in self-preservation.

2. The Mouse and the Saint

A mouse was chased into a saint’s house by a cat. Seeing his plight, the saint changed the mouse into a dog. A few days later the dog ran into the saint’s house as he was being chased by a lion. Seeing this, the saint changed the dog into a lion. The lion went to the jungle and defeated the other lion and ruled the jungle A few days later he went to the saint’s house so that he could gobble him up. The saint immediately changed the lion back into a mouse and told him to never come back.

Moral: Do not bite the hand that feeds you.

3.The Crow and the Water Jug

One day, a crow was very thirsty and found a pitcher with little water in it. It couldn’t reach the water with its beak. After a little thought, the crow came up with an idea. It picked up a few stones one at a time and put them in the pitcher until the water came up. He happily drank the water and flew away.

Moral: Do not give up at the first sign of adversity. Use what you have around you to solve any problem and achieve your goals and dreams.

4. The Three Little Pigs

Once upon a time, there were three pigs – Chika, Cheenu, and Cheena. They were friends. Chika lived in a house of straw. Cheenu lived in a house of sticks. Cheena lived in a house of bricks. One day a big bad wolf came to Chika’s house. The big bad wolf blew the house down. Then Chika ran to Cheenu’s house. The wolf came to Cheenu’s house. The big bad wolf blew the house down. Chika and Cheenu ran to Cheena’s house. The wolf came to Cheena’s house. He huffed and puffed. But he could not bring the house down. It was very strong. The wolf went away feeling sad. Chika, Cheenu, and Cheena lived happily together.

Moral: The story teaches children that doing a job well is as important as getting the job done in the first place. Integrity and motivation of your actions go a long way.

5. The Ugly Duckling

A farmer had a duck, which laid ten eggs. Soon, they all hatched. Of the ten, nine ducklings looked like the mom. The tenth one was big, gray, and ugly. All the other ducklings made fun of the ugly one. Unhappy on the farm, the poor duckling ran away to a river nearby. There he sees white, beautiful swans. Afraid and lost, he wanted to drown in the river. But when he looked at his reflection in the river, he realized that he was not an ugly duckling, but a beautiful swan!

Moral: Everyone is beautiful just the way they are even if they do not meat the ideals set by the world around them.

6.Two Cats and A Monkey

After a feast, two cats see a piece of cake and start fighting for it. A monkey sees this as an opportunity to gain and offers to help them. The monkey divides the cake into two parts but shakes its head saying they are unequal. He takes a bite of one piece and then the other, but still finds them unequal. He continues doing so until there is no more cake left, leaving the poor little cats disappointed.

Moral: When we fight, others will benefit from us.

7. Belling the Cat

A horde of mice gathered one night to discuss the problems created by their common enemy, the cat. A lot of ideas were shared, but none seemed good enough to beat the cat. Then a young mouse suggested that they should tie a bell around the cat’s neck to know when it is approaching and escape the sly cat’s attacks. To this, an old, wise mouse asked, “That’s fine. But who will bell the cat?”

Moral: It is easy to propose impossible remedies.

8. The Country Mouse and the City Mouse

One day, the stylish town mouse visits his cousin in the country. The country mouse welcomes his cousin warmly and gives him beans and bacon to eat. Unimpressed with the food served, the town mouse boasts of the high life in the city and asks his cousin to go with him. They reach the town and go to a dining room to eat jelly and cake, where they are chased off by two huge dogs and run for their lives.

Moral: It is better to be happy with ordinary things that you can enjoy in peace than look for luxury that cannot be enjoyed.

9. The Elephant and His Friends

The animals in Happy Valley were sad. They were all troubled that some creatures were unkind to the others. The strong, kind Elephant was their leader, so the animals ran to him and told him all.

The Elephant wanted to know which animals were bad. So, he called the animals for a meeting and told them to stop their bad habits. Being lazy, cruel, selfish, or jealous would spoil the happiness of the whole forest.

All the gentle animals like the Dog, Camel, Sheep, Dove, Ant, and Bee, listened carefully to the Elephant’s words. They nodded in agreement. However, animals like the Tiger, Wolf, Snake, Wasp, Hornet, Fly, Grasshopper, and Ape became very angry with the Elephant’s words. These animals were cruel and mean to the weaker animals. They grumbled and murmured loudly. The Elephant trumpeted for silence. Then he continued, “I gave my advice to everyone here, but only some of you were happy to hear me!” He explained that those who agreed with his advice were the good animals, but the ones who were angry with his words were the real troublemakers!

Moral: Your inherent abilities are your best qualities and the reason for your success.

10. The Roaring Lion

Shamsher the lion liked to scare everyone by roaring as loud as he could with no warning. Soon, everyone in the forest became miserable with his roaring and stopped playing with him. One day he convinced Johnny to play catch with him. As the game got more intense, Johnny passed the ball hard just as Shamsher began to roar. The ball got stuck in his throat and the entire forest had to help him remove it. Shamsher swore never to roar unnecessarily again.

Moral: One must not annoy the people around them just because it entertains us.

11. The Clever Frog

In a pond was a large community of aquatic animals who all loved to play with each other. One day, two fishermen see the pond and the animals at play and talk about fishing at the pond but they leave as it was late. The frog tells everyone they must escape before the fishermen come back. However, everyone is sure of their ability to escape and decide to stay. The fishermen come the next day with strong nets and catch everyone except the frog who had left the pond.

Moral: Risk assessment is a vital part of life.

12. The Jealous Goat

A goat and a donkey lived on the same farm. The goat had to find his own food, but because he made the donkey work hard, the farmer fed him. The goat became jealous, forgetting all the donkey’s hard work. He thought if the donkey stopped working, he would get his food. So he pushed him into a large hole, and he was badly hurt. The farmer sent for the vet, who examined the donkey. “The quickest way to make him better,” he said, “is to feed him with goat soup.” So instead of getting the donkey’s food for himself, the goat finished up as food for the donkey!

Moral: Don’t be jealous of something or someone.

13. Look before you eat

You know what dogs are like. If you drop a bit of food from the table they shallow it before they know what it is. But sometimes they wish they hadn’t. Binni the farm dog wasn’t allowed in while her master Joseph was eating with the family. But one day she crept in and hid under the table when no one was looking.

She kept very quiet until suddenly a big dollop of food fell next to her. She gobbled it up without thinking. Then she let out a big bowl and rushed outside, holding her tummy with one paw. The family was eating a very hot curry for supper!

Moral: Don’t become greedy while seeing something even do wait and watch, who knows there is something interesting for you.

14. Causes of War

Two tribes lived on the banks of a river. The tribe that lived upstream caught fish by stretching their nets across the river. They beat the water with long sticks to make the fish swim into the nets, but when they did this the water became very muddy. The tribe that lived downstream became angry. “How can we live when you are always making our drinking water so dirty,” they said. “You must stop catching fish.”

The other tribe became even angrier. “Why should we go hungry just to stop you complaining,” they replied. In the end, both tribes went to war and killed each other, so the river became calm again, and the fish were left in peace.

Moral: Animals are also having their own life like humans. Polluting our resources is the cost of our lives.

15. The Fisherman And The Little Fish

There was once a fisherman whose livelihood depended on his catch. One day, he was able to catch only one small fish. The fish, in its desperation to live, says “Please leave me, kind sir. I am small and of no use to you. Let me back into the river and I can grow bigger. You can then catch me and make more money.” The wise fisherman replies, “ I will not give up a certain profit for one that doesn’t exist yet.”

Moral: Do not forgo a certain gain for an uncertain profit.

16. The Fox And The Grapes

On a hot summer day, a fox comes upon an orchard and sees a bunch of ripened grapes. It thinks: “Just what I need to quench my thirst.” It moves back a few paces, runs, and jumps but falls short of reaching the grapes. It tries in different ways to reach the bunch of grapes, but in vain. It finally gives up, and says to himself “I am sure they are sour anyway.”

Moral: It is easy to despise what you cannot get your hands on.

17. The Dog And The Shadow

A dog found a piece of meat one day. As it walked home, it had to cross a bridge over a stream. As it walked, it saw its reflection in the water and thought it was another dog with a piece of meat. The dog got greedy and decided to have that piece as well. He snapped at the reflection, and as soon as he opened his mouth, his piece of meat fell into the water and disappeared.

Moral: It is very foolish to be greedy.

18. The Lion and The mouse

A lion was fast asleep in the jungle when a mouse started running all over him. The lion was angry that the mouse disturbed its sleep and was about to kill it with its paw. The mouse begged the lion to pardon it, saying it could be of help to it one day. The lion laughed at that thought and walked away. Soon after that, the lion was trapped in a hunter’s net. The little mouse was passing by and saw the lion. It immediately tore the net with its sharp teeth and rescued the lion.

Moral: Don’t judge anyone just because of one’s size.

19. The Foolish Rabbit

When a nut falls on its head, a foolish rabbit thinks that the sky is falling and runs as fast as it can. On its way, it tells all the other animals that the sky is falling and spreads fear in the jungle. The lion, the king of the jungle, sees the chaos. On inspection, the lion finds out that it was just a nut and the rabbit was indeed foolish.

Moral: Be careful who you trust, or you could be fooled.

20. The Ant And The Grasshopper

It was a pleasant day and the grasshopper was in a gay mood, singing and dancing around. He sees an ant carrying a heavy corn kernel to its nest. The grasshopper asks the ant to join him for some fun, instead of toiling away like that. The ant tells him that it is preparing for winter when food would be scarce. The grasshopper brushes the thought and says why bother when the present is good. Winter soon begins, and the grasshopper has no food to survive, while the ants enjoy the corn in the warmth of their nest.

Moral: It is best to prepare for days of necessity. Hardwork is the key to survive.

Teach your kids about amazing and important things in life through these short moral stories. You can narrate these stories or read them from a book. Either way, we hope that your children will love them.

Tell us about your favorite story. We’d love to hear from you.

Also read:

Inspirational Stories for kids

Bedtime Stories for Kids

And, Don’t forget to share your kid’s favorite story in the comments.

Have a happy reading.