14 Tongue Twisters for Children Trying to Improve Pronunciation

Tongue twisters are phrases or sentences that have usually have similar sounding words, or words that begin with or have the same sounds in them. Tongue twisters are a great way for anyone to improve pronunciation, but kids especially love them too! Sometimes children have trouble concentrating and would rather be doing something that entertains them. This makes tongue twisters the perfect tool for teaching children pronunciation. They can also be used to teach different vowel or consonant sounds. The most important part, however, is that they are fun and challenging. Doing them will make children laugh and have a good time. Children will be having fun, learning a new language, and practicing their pronunciation all at the same time.

Below are some fun and silly examples of tongue twisters you can use to practice English with your child and improve pronunciation.

Classic Tongue Twisters to help children improve pronunciation

Many English tongue twisters have been passed down through the generations. Children will find these classic tongue twisters fun, no matter their age. Some adults still can’t properly pronounce these!

 

1.

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?

 

2.

She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.

 

3.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair, FuzzyWuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?

 

4.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck If a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, And chuck as much as a woodchuck would If a woodchuck could chuck wood.

 

5

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

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6

Betty Botter had some butter, “But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter. If I bake this bitter butter, it would make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter– that would make my batter better.”

So she bought a bit of butter, better than her bitter butter, and she baked it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So ’twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

 

7

I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop. Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

 

8

Which witch is which?

 

9.

I like New York, unique New York, I like unique New York.

 

10

One-one was a race horse. Two-two was one too. One-one won one race. Two-two won one too.

 

Tongue Twisters from Family Friendly Pop Culture

Other tongue twisters have been created in books and movies. The famous Dr. Seuss wrote many children’s books with fun rhymes and used a lot of play-on-words. He also included some tongue twisters and are great to improve pronunciation.

 

Here are two from his book Fox in Sox-

11.

Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew. While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew. Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze. Freezy trees made these trees’ cheese freeze. That’s what made these three free fleas sneeze.

12.

Luke Luck likes lakes. Luke’s duck likes lakes. Luke Luck licks lakes. Luck’s duck licks lakes. Duck takes licks in lakes Luke Luck likes. Luke Luck takes licks in lakes duck likes.

 

And here is another one from Dr. Seuss’s book O Say Can You Say?

13.

As he gobbled the cakes on his plate, the greedy ape said as he ate, the greener green grapes are, the keener keen apes are to gobble green grape cakes, they’re great!

 

Other than books, some movies also have tongue twisters. Singing in the Rain from 1952, starring Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly is a great movie to watch with your family! Or you can show a clip of the tongue twister scene to your students so they can enjoy the comedy, but also practice some tongue twisters!

Here are some tongue twisters from the movie:

14.

Sinful Caesar sipped his snifter, seized his knees and sneezed.   Chester chooses chestnuts, cheddar cheese with chewy chives. He chews them and he chooses them. He chooses them and he chews them Those chestnuts, cheddar cheese and chives in cheery, charming chunks.   Moses supposes his toeses are roses. But Moses supposes erroneously. Moses, he knowses his toeses aren’t roses As Moses supposes his toeses to be.

 

Now you have some tongue twisters to do with your children or students. You can always use them yourself to improve pronunciation or go over different sounds in the alphabet. If you don’t have anyone to practice these with, check out Spoken English Practice, where you can find your very own English tutor! You can do tongue twisters with them, or improve your English by simply having casual, everyday conversations with them.