[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 compilation of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students (21–30)
Water-stealing horned owlKenta Otani
This is a tongue twister depicting a bizarre situation where drinking water that should have been left there gets stolen by a horned owl.
The image of the owl leaving while clutching the water—and the impossibility of the scenario—adds to the humor.
As a tongue twister, the key is the repeated “mi” sound, which tests how smoothly you can produce a sound that starts with closed lips.
It’s important to find a mouth shape that makes “mi” easy to say, while also trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
I heard Kayō Yamamoto used to go to this high school.
There’s a relatively short and easy tongue twister: “Koko no kōkō ni Yamamoto Kayo ga kayottottarashii ken ne.” Yamamoto Kayo is a local TV personality active mainly in Fukuoka and beloved by locals.
In the tongue twister, it means “It seems Kayo Yamamoto used to attend this high school.” It’s a tongue twister that really reflects Fukuoka, especially the Hakata dialect.
If it feels hard, try taking a quick breath at the ‘ga’ part.
super-duper drippy catcher
It’s a tongue twister that makes you wonder why on earth the baseball catcher is all soaked and sopping wet.
The word “mecha-mecha” (super/very) also adds to the humor of the situation, conjuring up an image of someone so drenched it’s obvious at a glance.
You can tell he’s a catcher at the moment he’s holding up his mitt, so imagining him still getting into position while dripping wet brings a mix of concern and laughter.
Focusing on the mouth shapes for “mecha,” “bicha,” and “catcher” should make it easier to say.
Please buy me a KitKat.
There’s a famous tongue twister in the Hakata dialect.
It goes: “You said, ‘Why didn’t you buy a KitKat when I told you to?’ so I had to go buy a KitKat, but I forgot to buy it, and now I have to go shopping again, which is such a hassle.” It’s quite long, so even just reading it is tough.
In short, it says: “I wanted you to have bought a KitKat, but since you said you forgot to buy it, I have to go buy it—what a hassle.”
I leaned bamboo against this bamboo fence because I wanted to lean bamboo against it.
Among the many types of tongue twisters, one that is known to be especially difficult is: “Kono takegaki ni take tatekaketa no wa, take tatekaketakatta kara take tatekaketa.” Put simply, it evokes the image of bamboo being propped against a bamboo fence.
Once you understand what kind of situation it’s describing, you’ll be less likely to get confused.
That said, it’s quite a long tongue twister, so memorizing it is no easy task.
Start by reading it repeatedly to commit it to memory.
Ottotto totto-tte.
I’d like to introduce this tongue twister that feels satisfying to say: “Ottotto totto-tte tte ittotta to ni, nande totto-tte kuren katta totte itto-o to.” On the page it makes no sense at all, right? It means: “I wanted you to save some Ottotto snacks for me—why didn’t you keep them?” There are many parts pronounced ‘to,’ so be careful not to get tangled up.
The trick is to insert brief pauses at phrase breaks.
Tongue Twister Challenge
Prepare a tongue-twister script and challenge yourselves to see how many seconds it takes to read it! Announcers and voice actors use this as enunciation training, right? If you search for “tongue twisters,” you’ll find plenty, and you can also create your own.
Add furigana to the kanji so that even first-time readers can read it.
The person who reads it the fastest without stumbling wins! Tripping up, getting stuck, and struggling to say it will get everyone excited, and if you can say it smoothly, you’re sure to draw attention!
