Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Benefits of Audio books for Young Readers

I recently signed up with audible. If you are not familiar with the service it is an online source of audio books. My dad is a huge fan of audible and listens to audio books on his way to and from work. When I had a long commute I often passed the time with audio books. I listened to Gone With the Wind and enjoyed every minute of my commute.

For Christmas my mom purchased a set of audio books for Eliza. Some of them are for younger kids and some for older. I have been playing them on and off while she played in her room for a quite a while. Lately, she really started loving one of the books called Little Quack's New Friend. She sits on her bed listening intently. It is really crazy to watch. She laughs and responds to the story.

After seeing her interest I decided to sign her up for Audible kids. They have tons of titles and the prices are reasonable. You can download some books for only 0.99.

Obviously this does not replace reading with your child. However, I think it is another great way to share literature with kids. Audio books usually employ lots of great character voices (which makes dialogue more distinct) and sound effects that make the story even more enjoyable! More importantly audio books promote visualization which is key to comprehension. Also, even very young children can be taught to play stories on their own which promotes independence.

If you want to check out a sample you can hear all of Dear Zoo and Brown Bear for free. E loves both of them. AudibleKids

You can also check out Harper Collins for a list of even more audio books.

3 comments:

Lori said...

we used books on cd with the boys on our drive down to my in-laws at Christmas time, but I haven't done it with them at home. I should... I have a lot from when I was teaching. I used to change the book in my listening center every week... it is a great tool for non-readers

PletcherFamily said...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE audible, but can I tell ya - I had no idea they had audible kids!! Arlington LOVES listening to books on tape in the car and in the house.

E will love it!

La Mama Naturale' said...

Hey Danielle,
I think this is a great idea. We used to listen to books every now and then as a kid on long car trips. It was fun :) Thanks for sharing the information. I may have to sign Tristan up for this. He would love it also. Off to check it out... ;)