Listening to Audiobooks with Kids 101

When I first became a parent, I had never even thought about listening to audiobooks with my kids.

It all started with E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. My oldest was only four at the time, but I wanted her to hear the story of the wise spider and the “terrific, radiant, and humble” pig, Wilbur. I dusted off the book from our shelf, sat down with her to read, and… quickly realized it was not going to be quite as appealing to her as I thought. The small words on the page and the lack of pictures made her much more interested in the stack of picture books nearby than in this children’s classic.

A few days later, I was browsing audiobooks at the library and happened to see the unabridged version of Charlotte’s Web. I checked it out, more as an experiment than anything, and was actually quite amazed at what happened. While sitting in the car strapped in her car seat, my 4-year-old was suddenly all ears! She quickly became engaged in the story and didn’t need pictures or simplified language to understand what was happening. (Listening to E.B. White himself read was an added treat.) Since then, audiobooks have become a staple in our vehicles.

If I had one recommendation of a learning activity to add into your daily routine, it would be listening to audiobooks with your kids. Our family has found that listening to audiobooks has bonded us, educated us, and redeemed many hours my kids might have spent being “bored.”

Why Listen to Audiobooks?

Audiobooks allow a child to listen to books above what you might think they could usually handle.

When they have no where to go and have no choice but to sit quietly, you’d be amazed at what a child enjoys! This applies not only to school-age children, but also to babies and toddlers. Being constantly bombarded by words and language at a young age is also an extremely important step toward early literacy.

Long hours in the car can be redeemed.

Maybe you’re shuttling your children to school, piano lessons, soccer practice, doctor appointments, or youth group, and you struggle with the long hours you spend in the car (particularly for your younger kids). Listening to audiobooks is a great way to multi-task, getting where you need to go while also allowing your children to be engaged in a great story.

As the parent, you get a treat, too!

We have plenty of bickering over music choices and radio stations in our car, but surprisingly we have almost universal agreement when it comes to listening to our current audiobooks. I enjoy the peace and quiet as the children listen intently, and most of the time I thoroughly enjoy the story, too. When we were listening to the Little House books on CD, I can’t tell you how many times we would be sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store, not wanting to go in because we all wanted to listen to just one more chapter.

You can cover a lot of literary ground in a relatively short amount of time.

My kids love the Magic Tree House series, but I found that I couldn’t quite keep up with the sheer number of books. I was excited to find out that the audiobooks included eight books per CD, and so we weren’t constantly running back to the library to get the next one.

Sources for Audiobooks

There are tons of places to find great audiobooks, but here are my favorites:

Your local library

Use the Libby app. Each library system is different, but our library has an account with an app called Libby. If you download the app on your phone and put in your library card information, you have thousands of audiobooks at your fingertips that you can listen to wherever you are… for free! One important note: These books sometimes have significant waiting lists. Most books I put on hold have between a 2-10 week wait, but sometimes you can get lucky and find them available immediately.

Download the Hoopla app. Our library also has a Hoopla subscription, which works in much the same way as Libby. I often find that Hoopla books are easier to get quickly, but you can only check out six audiobooks per month. I have both apps on my phone and use them frequently.

Check out hard copy CD audiobooks. If you still have access to a CD player (we listen to these in our van), there are thousands of options to choose from.

Audible.com

If you sign up for an account with Audible.com, you can get one month free and choose two free books with the free trial. It does cost $14.95 after the first month, but there’s no requirement to continue. Audible.com has TONS of incredible audio books for kids and teens, and if you can swing the monthly fee, it’s definitely the most thorough and readily available collection of audio books you can find anywhere.

Audible.com also has a completely FREE subscription called Audible Stories. While it doesn’t have as many titles available, there are still lots of great books to listen to for free, no strings attached! As I perused the elementary section, I was excited to see The Green Ember, Heidi, Hank the Cowdog, the Fairchild Family Series, and Anne of Green Gables.

Librivox.com

This is an interesting site that offers thousands of free audiobooks that are read by volunteers from all over the world. They may not have a specific title you are looking for, but it’s worth perusing the catalog to find out.

Scribd.com

This is another audiobook subscription site, but it’s slightly cheaper than Audible at $9.95 a month. You can also get a free trial for the first 30 days to check it out!

How to Incorporate Audiobooks Into Your Daily Routine

Here are some of my best tips:

Let Your Kids Keep Their Hands Busy

Whether you let them play with Magna-Tiles, legos, a train set, play-doh, a coloring book, puzzles, or another toy, keeping little hands and bodies busy while listening to an audiobook always works best for our family. This time is NEVER perfect — there is often squirming, arguing, and interrupting — but it’s still worth it! If you want lots of practical ideas for how to keep little hands busy, check out this post!

Turn On An Audiobook When Your Kids Ask for TV

There is NO judgment on my part for letting your kids watch TV (ours are watching a movie as I write!), but we all know that sometimes we really do need to limit the screen time. Listening to audiobooks is actually incredibly similar to watching TV, but it requires kids to use their own mind and imagination rather than having the images displayed before their eyes.

Put On Audiobooks for Afternoon Rest Time

If you have kids who are too old for naps but still need a little bit of downtime in the afternoon, audiobooks are the perfect way to give them some quiet time while also keeping them occupied. There are tons of audiobooks in the recommendations below that are 30-60 minutes long, and I have found that these are perfect for rest times.

The Little House Series is one of our all-time favorite audio book series!

Work Through a Series Together as a Family

While it’s nice to listen to stand-alone audio books, it’s also fun to find a series that everyone enjoys and work through it slowly together. Not only does it give you lots of hours of listening, but it also creates sweet family memories since you will have invested so much collective time together.

Listen to an Audiobook When You Need Your Kids to Sit Still

Maybe you need to give your toddler a haircut, or you need to brush your girls’ hair after a bath. Maybe you just want to spend some time with your kids painting nails or doing a craft together. I have found that putting an audio book on during these times can help quiet my kids and keep them more amenable to the task at hand.

Take a Scenic Drive While Listening to An Audiobook

My kids were going a little stir-crazy a few days ago, and so I popped some popcorn, put them in the car in their pajamas, and turned on an audio book. We drove some back roads around our house for 45 minutes or so, and the time flew by.

Our Favorite 10 Audiobooks (by Age Group)

We have listened to every one of these audio books and can personally vouch for the fact that they are meaningful, entertaining, and worth your time. They are also all available on Audible, so if you start the free trial you can listen to at least two for free:

Our Favorite Series’

Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Ramona (Beverly Cleary)
Henry Huggins (Bevlery Cleary)
Little Britches (Ralph Moody)
The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
The Magic Tree House (Mary Pope Osborne)
The Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warren)
The Penderwicks (Jeanne Birdsall)
Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren)
Ralph S. Mouse (Beverly Cleary)

I hope that audiobooks will become a big part of your family’s new routine! Do you have any suggestions I missed? If so, I’d love for you to share them in the comments below!