Reading books to children stimulates their imagination and widen their understanding of the world. It helps build their language and listening skills. Reading aloud is one activity that prepares children to succeed as a readers.

Fill your child’s story time with a variety of books. One such variety of books kids love to read are the Panchatantra stories. Something we all grew up reading. 

The Panchatantra, as the name signifies, is a Sanskrit name meaning Five Treatises. It is an ancient collection of interesting interrelated animal fables. The Panchatantra stories contain the wisdom of ages. They are a unique contribution of India to the world of Literature. These books were written to teach to mankind that basic knowledge and wisdom would make life fuller, richer and happier.

Panchatantra stories are all encompassing. They have everything. Morals, values, wit, humour, animals, life lessons, everything– which is probably why almost every parent ensures that their child gets introduced to these story books. 

To make story time fun and informative, here are some stories from Panchatantra that will not only enhance your child’s imagination, but also teach them something!

•  The Monkey and the Crocodile.
• The Stork and the Crab.
• The Elephants and the Mice.
• The Loyal Mongoose.
• The Tortoise and the Geese
• A tale of Three Fish.
• The Foolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit.
• The Jackal and the Drum.
• The Elephant and the sparrows.
• The Wise Minister’s advice.
• The Musical Donkey.

The list of these stories is endless.

Panchatantra Tales are based on the following five principles:

• Mitra Labha( Gaining Friends ) is a collection of stories related to winning friends. The stories under this principal teach us the importance of friends and how good company leads to success.
• Mitra Bheda (Losing Friends) is a collection of stories related to losing friends. The stories cover two themes, Losing friends is traumatic, and why do we lose friends.
• Apariksitkarakam (acting without thinking)—It is a rear collection of stories about how imprudence leads to losing what is important. These tales teach us why Actions without thought should be avoided at all costs and how important it is to think out and plan your actions.
•  Labdhapranasam (Loss of gains)—The stories from Labdhapranasam volume of Panchatantra includes talks about how to come out of the difficult situations without losing things. Every one (Kids or Adults) in their lifetime have to go through difficult circumstances, how we face these difficult circumstances, and come out of them without losing things like faith are covered in this section.
• Kakolukiyam(Crows and Owls)—This volume has stories on rules and strategies of war and peace. Kakolukiyam(Crows and Owls) can be a good training ground for young minds to understand the value of peace over war.

Panchatantra stories ignite curiosity among kids. They learn about human action and reaction in different situations through narratives having animals. Such stories prove beneficial in the brain development of children and aid them in handling real life situations. These fables are the best guide to teach priceless moral values to our growing toddlers. Because the stories are interesting and well written with lots of pictures, children find them intriguing and enjoy reading or listening to them.

This post is a part of Blogchatter’s A2Z challenge – #BlogchatterA2Z  on the alphabet ‘N’. My theme for this challenge is ‘Books for Kids’. You can find all 26 posts on this topic under the hashtags #themomsagas_books on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.