Ivy the Inchworm Learns Integrity - A Children's Story

Ivy the Inchworm Learns About Integrity

By Bill Conley—America’s Favorite Children’s Storyteller

Moral to the Story:

Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.  It’s choosing honesty even if no one will ever know the difference.  It’s picking up what you dropped, returning what you borrowed, or telling the truth, even when it might be hard.  Integrity is the light that shines from within, whether or not anyone else can see it.  Others may never notice the small choices you make, but you will always know.  A life built on integrity builds trust, respect, and honor from everyone around you.  Without integrity, trust crumbles—but with it, your character grows strong and steady.  The real test of who you are is what you do when no one is looking.

In the meadow classroom, Miss Ladybug had given her students a challenge:
“Each of you may take one shiny pebble from this jar. Tomorrow, bring it back. We will use them in a project.”

The animals cheered as they lined up. Ivy the Inchworm was last in line. She stretched up on her tiny body and carefully picked a smooth, green pebble. It sparkled in the sunlight.

All evening, Ivy carried the pebble proudly. She placed it on her shelf, tucked it under her leaf bed, and even whispered goodnight to it before she fell asleep.

But in the middle of the night, a storm swept across the meadow. The wind rattled Ivy’s home, and when she woke up the next morning, her pebble was gone!

“Oh no!” Ivy cried. She searched under her bed, behind her books, and in the grass outside her door. Nothing.

“What will I do?” she whispered. “If I tell Miss Ladybug, the others might laugh. Maybe I could just stay quiet and pretend I still have it.”

Her heart thumped.

When Ivy arrived at class, everyone was showing off their shiny pebbles. “Look at mine!” chirped Ruby the Robin. “Mine is red!” said Benny the Bunny.

Miss Ladybug smiled. “Alright, class. Did everyone bring their pebble?”

Ivy’s stomach knotted. She looked at her empty satchel. No one would know if she stayed quiet. The jar had been full—Miss Ladybug might think she never took one at all.

But then Ivy remembered what her grandmother always said: “Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

Slowly, Ivy raised her tiny body tall. “Miss Ladybug… I lost mine.”

The classroom fell silent. Benny gasped. Ruby tilted her head. Ivy’s cheeks burned.

Miss Ladybug walked closer. “Thank you for telling the truth, Ivy. That takes courage. You showed integrity.”

“But now I ruined the project,” Ivy whispered.

“Not at all,” Miss Ladybug said kindly. She reached into her desk and pulled out an extra pebble. “I keep these for times just like this. What matters most isn’t that you lost it—it’s that you were honest about it.”

The class began to nod. Benny said, “I almost dropped mine on the way to school, but I didn’t tell anyone.”

Ruby admitted, “I thought about keeping two pebbles because they were so pretty, but then I remembered we each only needed one.”

Miss Ladybug beamed. “You see? Integrity is quiet but powerful. It’s what we do when no one else would know. And today, Ivy showed us all what integrity looks like.”

From that day on, Ivy carried the word "integrity" in her heart. Whenever she faced a choice—whether to hide the truth, to keep something that wasn’t hers, or to do what was right—she remembered the pebble.

And though no one might ever see the small choices she made, Ivy knew that she would always see them.

And that was enough.

Moral to the story poem:

Integrity means doing what’s right,
Even unseen, in the dark or the light.
It’s telling the truth when it’s hard to say,
It’s keeping your word every single day.
No one may notice the choice that you made,
But your heart knows the path you displayed.
Integrity shines, both humble and true,
It builds strong character within you.

Discussion Questions:

1.     Why was Ivy afraid to tell Miss Ladybug that she lost her pebble?

2.     What does it mean to do the right thing even when nobody is watching?

3.     Can you think of a time when you showed integrity—by being honest, keeping your word, or making the right choice even though it was hard?