125 Terrific Tongue Twisters for Kids

Tongue twisters are sequences of words or sounds that are designed to be difficult to pronounce quickly and correctly due to alliteration or repetition of similar sounds or rhymes. Tongue twisters, like all word games, help train our tongues and sharpen our minds. They’re also just plain fun for kids and adults alike. Tongue twisters are used by actors, politicians, and other public speakers to improve pronunciation, fluency, and clarity in speaking. As tongue twisters also help with language and speech development, they are often employed in classrooms as well. In fact, experimenting with tongue twisters for kids is a fun, humorous classroom activity with serious educational benefits.

The educational benefits of tongue twisters include:

• Improved articulation, which can lead to better classroom comprehension and heightened confidence, especially for second-language learners.
• Enhanced phonemic and phonetic awareness, which can improve reading and spelling skills.
• Boosted vocabulary. Tongue twisters are a fun way to introduce kids to words like “benevolent” and “menagerie,” and thus make for engaging vocabulary activities.
• Greater recognition of and practice with homonyms and homophones—both of which are used frequently in tongue twisters.
• Enhanced memory and cognitive skills, especially as many tongue twisters are palindromic phrases or questions. Repeating or memorizing tongue twisters also requires kids to concentrate, listen carefully, and be precise—life skills that will serve them well in the classroom and beyond!

Tongue twisters are also often used in speech therapy because in addition to enhancing pronunciation and fluency, tongue twisters also require enhanced motor coordination. Tongue twisters are basically a workout for your tongue and lips, and help with the connection between the brain and speech.

Read on for 125 examples of tongue twisters for kids, separated into three categories:

• Short Tongue Twisters (4 words or less)
• Easy Tongue Twisters (sounds aren’t too similar or complex)
• Advanced Tongue Twisters (10 words or more)

Short Tongue Twisters for Kids

Looking to increase the difficulty of short tongue twisters? Trying adding repetitions!

• Argyle gargoyle.
• Bad money, mad bunny.
• Big black bugs.
• Busy buzzing bumblebees.
• Ed had edited it.
• Eddie edited it.
• Eleven benevolent elephants.
• Flash place.
• Flashy fish massage.
• Freshly-fried flying fish.
• Friendly fleas and fireflies.
• Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.
• Greet with glee.
• Irish wristwatch, Swiss wristwatch.
• Opposite octopus ocular optics.
• Red Buick, blue Buick.
• Red lorry, yellow lorry.
• Rolling red wagons.
• Rural juror.
• Santa’s short suit shrunk.
• Scissors sizzle, thistles sizzle.
• Selfish shellfish.
• She sees cheese.
• She threw three balls.
• Six Czech cricket critics.
• Six sticky skeletons.
• Snap crackle pop.
• Specific Pacific.
• The black bat’s back.
• The blue bluebird blinks.
• The seething sea ceases.
• Thin sticks, thick bricks.
• Truly rural.
• Toy boat. Toy boat.
• Unique New York.
• Which witch is which?
• Wide right turns.

Easy Tongue Twisters for Kids

• A big black bug bit a big black dog.
• A black bug bleeds black blood, while a blue bug bleeds blue blood.
• A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
• A flea and a fly flew up in a flew.
• A happy hippo hopped and hiccupped.
• A platter of perfectly prepared pancakes.
• A proper copper coffee pot.
• A shapeless sash sags slowly.
• A snake sneaks to seek a snack.
• A synonym for cinnamon is a cinnamon synonym.
• Amidst the bustling boroughs, busy taxis boldly blend.
• Any noise annoys an oyster but a noisy noise annoys an oyster more.
• Betty bought a bit of butter. But the butter Betty bought was bitter.
• Chester Cheetah chews a chunk of cheap cheddar.
• Cooks cook cupcakes quickly.
• Cows graze in groves on grass which grows in grooves in groves.
• Double bubble gum, bubbles double.
• He threw three free throws.
• Five frantic frogs fled from fifty fierce fish.
• Four furious friends fought for the phone.
• Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread.
• Fresh French-fried fly fritters.
• Fresh fried fish, fish fresh fried, fried fish fresh, fish fried fresh.

List (Continued)

• Friendly frogs frolic freely by the flowing brook.
• Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Then Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?
• Gobbling gargoyles gobbled gobbling goblins.
• Green glass globes glow greenly.
• How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
• How many yaks could a yak pack, pack if a yak pack could pack yaks?
• How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
• I thought I thought of thinking of thanking you.
• I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen.
• I saw a saw that could saw out any other saw I ever saw.
• I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
• I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
• I was born on a short, shiny ship at shore.
• If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose to chew?
• If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?
• If two witches would watch two watches, which witch would watch which watch?
• If you notice this notice, you will notice that this notice is not worth noticing.
• Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.
• Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.
• Many mumbling mice are making merry music in the moonlight.
• Moses supposes his toes are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.
• Near an ear, a nearer ear, a nearly eerie ear.
• Nine nimble noblemen nibbling nuts.
• On a lazy laser raiser lies a laser ray eraser.
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

List (Continued)

• Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
• Seventy-seven benevolent elephants.
• She sold six shabby-sheared sheep on a ship.
• Shut up the shutters and sit in the shop.
• Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly ships.
• Silly Sally swiftly slurped seven sodas.
• Six short slow shepherds.
• Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward.
• Smelly shoes and socks shock sisters.
• Splish, splash, splosh went the dog in the wash.
• Sunny Susan swiftly sews seven silky scarves.
• Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines.
• The big brown bear brushed his brown fur beside the babbling brook.
• The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes.
• The top cop saw a cop top.
• There was a minimum of cinnamon in the aluminum pan.
• Thirty-three thieves threw the toad that Thursday.
• Three grey geese in a green field grazing.
• Tie twine to three tree twigs.
• Tom threw Tim three thumbtacks.
• Top chopstick shops stock top chopsticks.
• Two tried and true tridents.
• Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
• Which witch switched the Swiss wristwatches?
• You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York.
• Zebras zig and zebras zag.

Advanced Tongue Twisters for Kids

• A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
• Betty bought butter but the butter was bitter, so Betty bought better butter to make the bitter butter better.
• Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons—balancing them badly.
• How much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground? A groundhog would hog all the ground he could hog if a groundhog could hog ground.
• I thought a thought, but the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn’t have thought so much.
• If practice makes perfect and perfect needs practice, I’m perfectly practiced and practically perfect.
• If you must cross a course cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the course cross cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.
• One-One was one racehorse. Two-Two was one too. One-One won one race. Two-Two won one too.

List (Continued)

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
• She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure. So if she sells seashells on the seashore, then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
• Sing a single synonym for cinnamon since cinnamon synonyms are simply singable. Singing cinnamon sounds like singing cymbals; singing synonyms sends sinewy symbols to singles.
• There was a fisherman named Fisher who fished for some fish in a fissure. Till a fish with a grin pulled the fisherman in. Now they’re fishing the fissure for Fisher.
• To begin to toboggan first buy a toboggan, but don’t buy too big a toboggan. Too big a toboggan is too big a toboggan to buy to begin to toboggan.
• Whether the weather be fine or whether the weather be not, whether the weather be cold or whether the weather be hot, we’ll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether we like it or not.

When and How to Use Tongue Twisters

• Tongue twisters make a great group icebreaker! Rather than posing individual questions, choose one tongue twister to recite as a group—increasing in speed with every repetition until everyone dissolves into giggles. Ice=broken.
• As a warm-up. Practice a tongue twister as a morning activity to wake up the brain and body. Alternatively, work through some tongue twisters before giving a presentation or engaging in a performance, like a school play or musical.
• Assign students struggling with speech clarity, pronunciation, or even confidence issues a few tongue twisters to practice.
• Host a “tongue twister showdown” in the classroom, where students face off to recite the same tongue twister until one stumbles.
• Have students memorize a tongue twister and then “teach” it to the rest of the class. Hilarity will ensue.