Audiobooks are becoming more and more popular as people with no time to sit down and read a book take advantage of iPods and MP3 players to listen to the latest bestseller as they rush through their daily lives. Where is the place of audiobooks for kids though, at a time when we are struggling to promote literacy for all and encourage kids to read?
Audiobooks can work very well alongside printed books for kids who have grasped the basics of reading but need to develop vocabulary. They can sit down with the printed book and follow the text as they listen to it being read on a CD or MP3 download.
Not only does reading aloud bring the story to life, at a time when slowness of reading skills can frustrate children when they are trying to make out a plot line, but it means that they can cope with more complicated vocabulary than they might otherwise be able to.
Hearing a book read aloud as an audiobook teaches them the correct pronunciation of words that might otherwise be hard to work out from the complexities of English spelling.
By listening to the same story over and over as children love to do, they can memorize it and will suddenly find that they can actually ‘read’ the printed book with the help of their memory. This soon translates to real reading as word recognition increases.
Of course, if parents have time to read aloud to their children this is invaluable in developing a love of reading, but today when we are hard-pressed to find the time for more than a quick bed-time story, audiobooks give us another way of satisfying our children’s demand for more stories and give them the love of good books and the motivation to learn to read themselves. I don’t think that audiobooks should replace reading to your children, nothing can be better than snuggling up to Mom or Dad on the sofa, but they can supplement reading time when Mom or Dad is too busy to sit still!
Another perfect way to use audiobooks for kids is on long car journeys. Take along a few favorite audio books as MP3 downloads and as long as each child has his own MP3 player you can get through hours of tedious driving with barely a complaint!
I do recommend that each child should have their system though. If you expect them to use the car CD system you’ll end up listening to endless squabbles over what to listen to next. Either that or you’ll be screaming with boredom as they repeat the same favorite story for the ninety-ninth time!
The huge range of books available as audiobooks, from Harry Potter to Roald Dahl, means that there is something for each age group and endless variety, from the classics like Winnie the Pooh and the Narnia series to the latest Philip Pullman.
If you want to build up a collection of kids’ audiobooks in an affordable way consider joining an online audio book club, where for a reasonable monthly fee you can download one or more books every month, according to your membership plan. Your only problem will be in resisting the enticing books on offer for adults and heading over to the kids’ section!
Best Audio Books for Babies
1. DITTY BIRD Baby Sound Books
Read, listen, and sing along as Ditty Bird sings your favorite songs. Reciting and singing nursery rhymes is a great way to support children’s language learning. The engaging electronic push buttons help build early language ability and fine motor skills.
2. Go the F–k to Sleep
Go the F–k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach’s profane, affectionate, and radically honest verses perfectly capture the familiar – and unspoken – tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, he opens up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations and laugh at their absurdity.
Beautiful, subversive, and pants-wittingly funny, Go the F**k to Sleep is a book for parents new, old, and expectant. Due to its explicit language, you probably should not play it for your children.
3. My First Book of Baby Signs: 40 Essential Signs
Storytime is the perfect time to practice sign language with your child. My First Book of Baby Signs is part storybook and part sign language guide, designed to encourage you and your baby to learn new words and signs as you read together. Practice communicating with important, everyday signs for everything from basics like “eat,” “milk,” and “mommy” to more advanced ideas like “help,” “potty,” and “I love you.”
4. Evie Learns to Pray: A Children’s Book About Jesus and Prayer
Her mother teaches her an uncomplicated way to pray that is powerful and easy to remember. Now you can teach your child how to connect with God with this cozy and beautifully illustrated children’s book. Every child wants to see the people in their books that look like them. Now they can. The Powerful Kids in the War Room series contains twelve versions
Best Audio Books for Toddlers
5. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Children will listen along swimmingly to Dr. Seuss’s absurd and endearing fish.
6. Where the Wild Things Are
Max is the hero of this beloved children’s classic in which he makes mischief, sails away, tames the wild things, and returns home for supper.
7. The Pout-Pout Fish
Deep in the water, Mr. Fish swims about with his fish face stuck in a permanent pout. Can his pals cheer him up? Will his pout ever end? Is there something he can learn from an unexpected friend? Swim along with the pout-pout fish as he discovers that being glum and spreading “dreary wearies” isn’t his destiny. Playful rhymes make this a fun fish story that’s sure to turn even the poutiest of frowns upside down. The Pout-Pout Fish is a 2009 Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year.
8. The Snowy Day
The adventures of a little boy in the city on a very snowy day.
9. How to Catch a Unicorn
Filled with zany traps and lots of rainbow unicorn fun, this chaotic chase centers around one of the most elusive mythical creatures ever – the unicorn! Can YOU help catch it?
10. Mighty, Mighty Construction Site
At last – here from the team behind the beloved international bestseller comes a companion to Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. All of our favorite trucks are back on the construction site – this time with a focus on team-building, friendship, and working together to make a big task seem small!
11. Lola at the Library
Learn about the library, check out books, and story time with Lola. Every Tuesday, Lola and her mommy go to the library. Lola meets her friends there. They share books and don’t have to be quiet all the time. The nice librarian tells stories. There is a big machine that buzzes Lola’s books in and out, and she can take any books she wants home with her. Lola and her mommy always stop for a treat on the way home. No wonder Lola loves the library. This gentle story of growing up with books encourages little ones to discover the joy of reading as well as getting them ready and excited to visit the library.
12. The Very Busy Spider
A spider, blown by the wind to a fence post near a farm yard, begins to build her web and cannot be distracted from the task at hand – not by the horse, cow, sheep, goat, or dog. But when the rooster asks if she wants to catch a pesky fly, the busy spider can catch it in her web immediately!
“A beautifully executed work for the very young that satisfies the needs of both visually handicapped and sighted children without losing its artistic integrity.” (The Horn Book, starred review)
