100+ Tongue Twisters for Kids: To Practice Speaking

Tongue twisters are not just fun word games; they’re excellent tools for improving speech clarity and diction in kids. This article compiles over 100 tongue twisters, ranging from simple to challenging, perfect for children of all ages.

These playful phrases help in developing language skills and can be a source of endless entertainment. From classic tongue twisters to new, quirky ones, there’s something for everyone to enjoy and practice.

What Are Tongue Twisters?

A tongue twister is any set or series of words that are difficult to say, correctly, quickly, and in sequence.

They may or may not make sense. But the goal of a good tongue twister isn’t to make sense, so that’s okay.

For example:

I have got a date at a quarter to eight; I’ll see you at the gate, so don’t be late:

This tongue twister is also a short poem, and the words are in an order that makes sentences we can understand.

Weathered weather leather better:

This is also a tongue twister, but the words are not in an order that makes sense as a sentence.

Benefits of Tongue Twisters for Kids

So, back to those claims that tongue twisters have brain, language, and confidence-boosting benefits.

Here’s an overview of some of those benefits.

• Speaking is a motor skill. The brain must learn to connect each sound we make to a series of specific muscle movements. Tongue twisters can help to strengthen these brain-muscle connections.
• Tongue twisters stretch and work the muscles we use when speaking and this helps us pronounce words more clearly. Children with clearer pronunciation will experience less frustration when attempting to share their needs, thoughts, and feelings.
• Having fun playing with tongue twisters provides a low-pressure way to talk about words and their meanings. During these chats, you can discuss and reinforce rhyming, vocabulary, antonyms, synonyms, and other important aspects of language.
• Kids who have strong speech and language skills are more likely to speak with confidence. That also makes them more likely to ask questions and take on leadership roles.
• Tongue twisters require the speaker to slow down, pay attention, speak precisely, and practice repetition. These skills can be beneficial in other areas of life.

Ready to get your child started on these fun word challenges? Or maybe you want to practice some to impress your child before you introduce them to the world of tongue twisters. Either way, you may be familiar with a few tongue twisters, but here are 102 examples so you have plenty to choose from.

Funny Tongue Twisters for Kids

These are not only amusing on their own, but you’re also likely to crack up laughing at the linguistic mistakes they induce.

If you know your child is motivated by humor, these are a great place to start.

1. A big black bug bit a big black dog.
2. The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes.
3. Smelly shoes and socks shock sisters.
4. Chester Cheetah chews a chunk of cheap cheddar.
5. Five frantic frogs fled from fifty fierce fish.
6. Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread.
7. A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
8. How much caramel can a canny cannonball cram in a camel if a canny cannonball can cram caramel in a camel?
9. If colored caterpillars could change their colors constantly could they keep their colored coat colored properly?
10. Did Dick Dickens prick his pinkie picking cheap pickles?
11. I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen.
12. Six sticky skeletons.
13. Ned Nott was shot and Sam Shott was not, so is it better to be Shott than Nott?
14. Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread, spread it thick, say it quick.
15. There was a fisherman named Fisher who fished for some fish in a fissure. ‘Til a fish with a grin pulled the fisherman in. Now they’re fishing the fissure for Fisher.
16. If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?
17. I was born on a short, shiny, ship at shore.
18. One-one was one racehorse. Two-two was one too. One-one won one race. Two-two won one too.
19. Gobbling gargoyles gobbled gobbling goblins.
20. Pirates’ private property chest.
21. Birdie birdie in the sky laid a turdie in my eye.
22. How many cans can a cannibal nibble if a cannibal can nibble cans? As many cans as a cannibal can nibble if a cannibal can nibble cans.
23. A snake sneaks to seek a snack.

Easy Tongue Twisters for Kids

For younger children, those with less confidence, or kids with additional speech challenges, begin with one or more of these easy twisters. They won’t be as frustrating as some of the longer and more complicated ones. Once these are mastered, you can move on to the harder twisters.

24. He threw three balls.
25. Eddie edited it.
26. Mommy made me eat my M&Ms.
27. Busy buzzing bumblebees.
28. Big nose, big blows.
29. Friendly fleas and fireflies.
30. Popular peppers popping.
31. Sing, ping, sling, pling.
32. Splish, splash, splosh, went the dog in the wash.
33. Bella laughed ‘til she barfed.
34. What a terrible tongue twister.
35. Annie and Andy’s April anniversary.
36. How many cookies could a good cook cook If a good cook could cook cookies?
37. Two tried and true tridents.
38. Loose lips long licks.
39. Four furious friends fought for the phone.
40. Great glass globes glow greenly.
41. Stanley stands sadly on the steep steps.
42. The queen in green screams.
43. Bears breathe blackberries.
44. Rubber rudders bounce.
45. A happy hippo hopped and hiccupped.

Short Tongue Twisters for Kids

Short tongue twisters for kids are great for those with a shorter attention span. That makes them a good choice for younger kids or those who suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder.

These short ones won’t be as entertaining or funny as some of the others on the overall list, though.

46. She sees cheese.
47. The black bat’s back.
48. Daddy draws doors.
49. Red lorry, yellow lorry.
50. Fresh French fried fly fritters.
51. Irish wristwatch.
52. Red Buick, blue Buick.
53. Flashy fish massage.
54. Selfish shellfish.
55. Double bubble gum, bubbles double.
56. Greet with glee.
57. Eleven benevolent elephants.
58. Ed had edited it.
59. Slap shot shiner.
60. She threw three balls.
61. Specific Pacific.
62. Flash place.
63. Stop said Sid.
64. Sheena leads, Sheila needs.
65. Russian Rob runs.
66. Santa’s short suit shrunk.
67. Big black bugs.
68. Pirates’ private plank.
69. Rudder valve reversals.
70. Stupid superstition.
71. Argyle gargoyle.

Hard Tongue Twisters for Kids

If you have a little tongue twister master in the home, challenge them with these fun and hilarious examples.

Since these are more difficult, they should keep them happily practicing for a while.

72. Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
73. Shave a single shingle thin.
74. I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit. Upon the slitted sheet I sit.
75. 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.
76. Rugged rubber baby buggy bumpers.
77. Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.
78. Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
79. Sort three short sword sheaths.
80. Thirty-three thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber on Thursday.
81. Wide right turns.
82. Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons — balancing them badly.
83. Send toast to ten tense stout saints’ ten tall tents.
84. Supposed to be pink pistachio, supposed to be pistachio pink.
85. The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
86. Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
87. Opposite octopus ocular optics.
88. Dark dusty disks.
89. Seven sleazy shysters in sharkskin suits sold sheared sealskins to seasick sailors.
90. Shut up the shutters and sit in the shop.
91. If you must cross a course cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.

Famous Tongue Twisters for Kids

How many of these famous tongue twisters for kids do you know? You can let your child know that these were popular way back in the day when you were little.

Try not to be disheartened by their amazed expressions when they have trouble picturing you as a child.

92. 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?
93. I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop. Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.
94. If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?
95. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
96. Betty Botter bought some butter, But she said the butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will make my batter better. So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
97. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
98. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Then Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?
99. 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.
100. 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.
101. She sells sea shells by the seashore, and the shells she sells by the seashore are sea shells for sure.
102. Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.

What Is the Hardest Tongue Twister in the World?

In 2013, a team from MIT, in conjunction with Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Conn., Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, used tongue twisters to research the brain’s speech planning process ⁽¹⁾.

They recorded volunteers saying or trying to say both word list and full sentence tongue twisters. One stood out as so difficult most people couldn’t say it once, let alone ten times fast.

As a result, they declared the most difficult tongue twister in the world to be:

“pad kid poured curd pulled cod.”

Which Tongue-Tripping Tongue Twister Trips Your Tongue?

Whether you’re in the car, on the bus, waiting in line, or anywhere else with a few minutes on your hands, tongue twisters are a fabulous way to distract, amuse, and entertain your child.

You can use them for some covert teaching, as a way to boost confidence, or to create a moment where you and your child are focused purely on each other.

Who knew that Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers would be so useful?