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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of kids short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

2390+ Kids Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Whether you plan to read them aloud or just indulge your own childlike imagination, look no further! The most magical tales live in this collection of free short stories for kids.

Kids Short Stories – Page 2 of 160

Lily's Morning

Submitted to Contest #299

The gentle caress of morning sunlight filtered through the flowery curtains, casting a warm glow across Lily's bedroom floor. It danced playfully on the worn wooden boards, creating little sunlit puddles that beckoned the world to be not only seen but felt anew. ‘Oh, look! An ocean of light!’ Lily announced to her room, her voice bouncing with excitement. Every shadow whispered tales of grand empires, and every fleeting beam invited a new adventure. Sir Pawsalot, her brave lion with an ever-fluffed mane, seemed to nod in agreement from his r...

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Best Served Cold

Submitted to Contest #299

Well…She did it again…She took away my afternoon snack. And for what?? All I did was line up my cars in the living room. Were they lined up in front of the doorway to the kitchen? Maybe, but I needed the rest of the space for my city! I could smell the muffins in the oven. They were blueberry, my favorite! But suddenly, I heard her yell my name. She used my middle name, which is never good, and I came running. I found her leaning against the wall, holding her foot “No muffins for you! How many times have I told you, move your cars!” She had ...

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Ideas

Submitted to Contest #299

Ideas Adults are strange.They do weird things like ‘garden’. They also ignore their phone when it rings. They have ideas about how to act, what to eat, where to go and why you can’t have chocolate for breakfast. They like reading, going to bed early and hotels with no swimming pools. They eat salad and fish, and their idea of a good time is going to get coffee.I mean come on. I, on the other hand, have great ideas. My Food Transformer idea is world changing and my Back to Life Potion would be on every shelf. I just need to figure out how to ...

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Too Little Too Late

Submitted to Contest #299

I remember now: This was the Thanksgiving trip when two-year-old Rachel fell in the toilet, wearing the frilly dress (the only dress) I had packed so she could look cute for church. And it was the time my four-year-old, with logic all her own, carefully disassembled and reorganized in long rows her great-grandmother’s almost-completed thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. And Rachel doodled all over my aunt’s pristine walls with an indelible black marker. And Danny— But all that came later. Rewind a few days . . . “Thanksgiving in Jamaica?” I squaw...

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A Note to Rebecca

Submitted to Contest #299

Rebecca you are here to witnes me giving you the BEST reson to give me back my favorite Maliboo Barbie. Lisen i know you like it and its the perfect match for your Ken doll but Maliboo Barbie is the only one that fits in the Barbie Jeep so i need her. Plus you always make Maliboo Barbie do gros stuff with Ken like kiss. Dont you know boys have cooties? I hope i never kiss a boy. I need her for our adventurs together. I promised her we wood go to the top of Candy Mountin evry single day. I cant not do it. You cant break a promis to a Maliboo ...

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Hunters and Thieves

Submitted to Contest #299

I found out on the morning she was coming. It was summer and I was having breakfast with Dad on the balcony that overlooked the valley. Cheese grease oozed out of the manakeesh we ate and puddled in our plates. Olive, fig, and jujube trees gleamed a rich green. In the centre of the valley, Mounir’s chickens pecked their breakfast on the farm, and we heard their grateful clucks up to our house.Mom walked out with a tea tray. She sat, poured me a cup, then said it: “Malek’s cousin is visiting from France today. She’s here to get a good impress...

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Strings and Rods

Submitted to Contest #299

Duncan lay motionless with his legs on the bed and his arms stretched out over the nightstand. The late afternoon sun pierced through the vinyl mini-blinds warming his back. Lynette gasped when she saw him and ran to his side. Nicole was on Lynette's heels anxiously awaiting the moment she could take pleasure in Lynette's distress. Lynette untangled Duncan's strings and rods with the care one would afford any small living creature and not merely a marionette puppet.“Oh, are you going to cry over your stupid little creepy doll?” Nicole mocked...

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Twin Talk

Submitted to Contest #299

Twin Talk “Shush. Hey, did you hear that?”“Huh? What? You waking me up again? Isn't it enough you always have an elbow in my ear? How am I supposed to hear anything? That sound is always there. Shush, shush, shush. It lures me to sleep.”“This time it's more than that. Now listen real hard.”“Thump. Thumpity thump. Thump. Thumpity thump. That one is constant, too. Now leave me alone. And there is no room to change position. Stay where you are. Ow! You're always kicking me in the worse places.”“This is the only place we have ever been. Not my f...

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The Day the Crayons Came to Life

Submitted to Contest #299

My eyes flutter open. I quickly survey the bed around me and realize that I am alone. My mom and dad are no longer beside me. The dim glow of the morning sun seeps through the curtains. Panic begins to rise in my chest. Frantically flailing, I kick the covers off and heave them in a tangled knot to the foot of the bed, and I hit the ground running into the living room.There are my mom and dad. Mom is sitting, doing her makeup while Dad brews his morning coffee. They are right where they always are at this time of day. For some reason, I am c...

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CAVE-KID

Submitted to Contest #299

Loog is at it again. I want to call him something more fitting, like “Leonardo” or something, but I can’t make my mouth say it. So, Loog he is. I should probably call him “Mr. Loog” on account of him being so much older but he hasn’t invented politeness yet. What is it that he’s at, you ask? Hard to say. Loog is never satisfied with the sort of things the rest of us are. Always trying to do something new. Like the time he made fire. Loog had been watching lightning and how it burned stuff everywhere. He got all worked up a...

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Bus seat views

Submitted to Contest #299

I'm Charlie, and I'm in fourth grade. I write in a diary, my doctor says it will help me sort my feelings out. My mom says I am “on the spectrum” but I am not sure what she means by that. She says I have to be aware of what goes on around me, all the time, even on the bus, where we are supposed to behave like we would in school. There is even a sign with directions like “Keep hands, words, and belongings to yourself”. Some of the kids don't behave all the time, but Nick, our driver, usually doesn't let them get away with much. So I watch, an...

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Dear Diary

Submitted to Contest #299

Dear Diary, Melanie said that Omar said that Anthony said he had a crush on me. But Anthony never talks to me, so I don’t think it’s true. But then Melanie said that that’s what boys do when they like you. Not talk to you. Is that true? Melanie is four months older than I am and she says it makes a difference, but I don’t think so. But then she says stuff that sounds so wise, so maybe it does make a difference. Dear Diary, Richard dared Kevin to eat a worm during recess. Kevin said he’d do it if Richard did it so they both did. And then lat...

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Call of Domestic Duty, by Declan, age forty one and a half

Submitted to Contest #299

It’s just after ten in the morning. I’ve been awake for four hours and it feels like it should be bedtime already. After the battle of the breakfast table (cornflakes or toast Maisie? No, we don’t have smashed avocado), I dispatched the kids to school, well, I shoved them through the gates (‘Yes Alfie, you do have fish paste on your sandwiches, and yes, that’s all there is.’) and ran like my life depended on it. Since then, I’ve folded a pile of laundry, half of which I’m sure doesn’t belong to anyone in this house, fished a Lego man and one...

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Ent, the Mouse: A True Story from Childhood

Submitted to Contest #299

My brother Ted was endowed with the gift of creative mischief. From a young age, he could imitate voices and mannerisms, reenact scenarios most people found mundane, and have an audience splitting their sides with laughter. He had an uncanny way of unmasking hypocrisy, uplifting the underdog, the lonely and despised, and sprinkling any drudgery or pessimism with his magic powder of fun and positivity. His energy and sense of adventure was unmatched. Few grownups could keep pace with him, but that’s what I loved about him.My brother and I wer...

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The Peanut Butter Alibi

Submitted to Contest #299

3, 2, 1… ATTACK! I slam my thumbs down on the controller and stick my tongue out in concentration. They’re closing in on my squad, and I’ve got to do something or it’s all over. I switch to my AR and focus on the sight when—WHAM! The door to my bedroom flies open and there’s Dad, standing in the doorway. I almost fall off the bed from being scared and let out a protesting yelp. Samson, my golden retriever, comes flying into the room to save me and lands in my lap, knocking the controller free from my fingers. Dad’s laugh fills the room, and ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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