[Recreation] Challenge! A roundup of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students
Let’s all have fun and exercise our mouths!
We’ve put together some tongue twisters we definitely want elementary schoolers to try.
When you read them, you might think, “These aren’t hard at all,” but when you actually say them, you end up stumbling… Tongue twisters are such a curious kind of game!
You can compete with friends to see who can say them properly, or challenge yourself with harder ones to test your limits—there are lots of ways to play!
Even if you can’t say them smoothly at first, if you keep at it, your articulation might get better and better!
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[Rec] Challenge! A collection of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students (1–10)
Frogs hop, hop, hop
I think everyone has certain sounds they find hard to pronounce.
Among them, many people struggle with the “ma” consonant row.
So I’d like to share a tongue twister that also works as pronunciation practice: “Kaeru pyoko-pyoko” (frogs hop-hop).
You can probably get through the first half, but the second half has “mikaeru pyoko-pyoko” and “mukaeru pyoko-pyoko,” which are tricky.
Without the “mi” and “mu,” it’s easy, so I do think the “ma” row is what makes it hard.
As a tip, if you consciously take a breath between each phrase, it becomes a little easier to say.
Red pajamas, yellow pajamas, brown pajamas.
Among the many red-blue-yellow tongue twisters, the one considered the most difficult is “aka pajama, ao pajama, ki pajama” (red pajamas, blue pajamas, yellow pajamas).
Unlike others like “aka makigami, ao makigami, ki makigami” (red scroll, blue scroll, yellow scroll), this one includes phrases with semi-voiced sounds, which significantly raises the difficulty.
It’s recommended to practice the “pajama” part first before attempting the full version.
Just be careful not to overdo it, or you might experience gestalt collapse.
By the way, if the last one is “cha pajama” (brown pajamas) instead of “ki pajama,” it’s even harder.
Seared short rib
Here’s a tongue twister featuring meat that elementary school kids love! Just hearing or seeing “aburi karubi” (grilled short rib) is enough to make your stomach growl, right? But this phrase is really hard to say… And the more you say it, the deeper you sink into a swamp of not being able to say it at all! When “aburi” and “karubi” are separate, it’s not that difficult, but when you say them together, they start to blend into a mixed-up word and it gets confusing.
One trick is to split it into “aburi-ka” and “rubi,” and focus on saying “rubi.” If you want to make it even harder, try adding “aka” (red), “ao” (blue), and “ki” (yellow) in front of “aburi karubi!”
[Rec] Challenge! A collection of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students (11–20)
Raw wheat, raw rice, raw eggs
“Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago” is a very popular tongue twister.
The tricky part is that it uses a lot of ga- and ma-sounds.
In particular, the middle “nama gome” is hard to say because the ga- and ma-sounds come one after another.
It’s quite difficult, so it might make you frustrated, but try practicing slowly.
By the way, although “nama mugi” isn’t very familiar, it apparently refers to unprocessed barley grains.
It might even spark an interest in food.
There are two chickens in the garden.
A tongue twister that cleverly uses homophones is “Niwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga iru,” which means “There are two chickens in the garden.” As you say it, you start to lose track of whether you’re saying “niwa” as in “garden” or “niwa” as in “two,” and if you repeat it enough, it even starts to sound like “wani” (crocodile), which makes it even more confusing.
When you try it, imagine two chickens in a garden as you speak.
By the way, did you know that “niwatori” originally means “a bird that’s in the garden”? That background makes the tongue twister all the more tricky.
Snowplow in operation
If you live in a northern region, you’re surely familiar with snowplows.
Sometimes, a sign on the back of a snowplow reads “Snow removal in progress.” That scene is captured in the tongue twister “Snowplow snow-removal in progress.” The trickiest part is the second “snow” segment—your tongue tends to get tangled and it’s hard to say smoothly.
On the other hand, if you can get past that point, you’ll likely nail it.
By the way, the tip is to barely pronounce the “tsu” sound.
Give it a try—you might be surprised!
Blue scroll, red scroll, yellow scroll.
There are all sorts of tongue twisters that use colors! “Aka-makigami, ao-makigami, ki-makigami” (red scroll paper, blue scroll paper, yellow scroll paper) is one of them.
The color part is fine, but the tricky bit comes right after with makigami.
People often end up saying makimaki or makimami, and it’s especially hard to connect smoothly into the ga sound! One tip is to take a tiny mental pause between the color and makigami.
The rule of tongue twisters is to say them quickly in one go, but even giving yourself a bit of mental space can make a difference.
Practice it over and over so you can say makigami cleanly all the way through!