Best platform for kids to listen to audiobooks & audible conversation

[bigbootyjudy]

Heya!

My boy loves stories but finds reading quite difficult & boring - we think that he would really enjoy listening to audiobooks. (We still are going to encourage reading but this is as an alternative to TV).

What is the best platform to listen to audiobooks on for kids? I've heard of audible - but it seems quite expensive since he will only listen to each book once. Do you have experience with any other audiobook platform? or if you do use audible, what experience do you have/any pros/cons/ do your kids spend lots of time listening to audiobooks? Are there any alternatives

Hope you all are doing well during this lockdown!
Would love literally any comments about your audiobook experience!

Thanks!!

Audible are doing a big selection of kids audio books for free during covid. Look up stories.audible.com and you’ll find them. I recommend The Mystwick School of Musicraft, my girls loved it. I expect the free period will end one day but it’s a good opportunity to try it out.

Another option is to buy audiobook CDs second hand, you can find them in charity shops or on amazon (look for “used”). Though you do take a risk on them being scratched.

We have used audiobooks mainly in the car on long journeys but thinking about using them more at home.

Thank you for this response @minipie !

I didn't realise Audible were doing this during covid - will def try it out. I think this is preferable to CDs! I just wish there was the ability to almost "rent" audiobooks like they did for movies at blockbuster or in libraries - I don't know about your girls, but my boy goes through stories so quickly!

When libraries are open they are a good source for borrowing audio books but the kids selection can be limited.

Oh that reminds me. Is your library a member of the Libby app? If so download the app and join with your library card and you will be able to borrow audio books through that. It’s a bit limited ad there is a waiting list for lots of the more popular titles and you can only waitlist for three things at a time, but it’s free!

I was also coming on to say check your library - my local one has an online platform/app where you can ‘borrow’ up to four audiobooks at a time (and renew/swap as you want). All completely free.

Ours isn’t Libby, it’s a different one whose name escapes me just now!

My kids love podcasts. They each have an old phone of ours with all the apps taken off and no simcard or WiFi -except when we log in to download new podcasts.

Faves when they were little were Storypirates and Cbeebies radio. Now they're a bit bigger they love The big fib, homeschool history, stories podcast and there are loads of others.

Our local library have free apps we can listen to audio books on using our library cards.

BBC Sounds and CBeebies apps have audio stories.

Our libraries are allowing you to preordered and collect at a specified time, so you could try and borrow audio cds.

We listen to audible on long journeys via Bluetooth and the car's speakers, or via the echo dots at home. I only use credits to buy long recordings though to make it value for money

@KindKylie I agree - lots of the kids books are so short that it's not worth the credit. but I will check out the other suggestions, thank you

Once DC is listening to longer books I think an audible subscription (£8pcm for 1 book) and an alexa is the best combo. My 10yo has listened his way through the Huger Games, Maze Runner, Harry Potter, LoTR etc and as each book is long, he generally has a book credit available when he wants a new book.

https://www.parklandsprimary.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/VirtualLibrary-Parklands.pdf

I don't know how old your child is, but if they're 4-5 or under, Spotify is great for shorter stories. You won't find Harry Potter there of course.

Epic Books. Your class teacher can get free access, which will give you unlimited use from 7am-4pm and then 2 hours at another time. You can also sign up yourself but you'll have to pay.

If you think they'd be amenable to it, it's worth sending an email and asking them to register. I did it for my class, only took a minute.

If your kid is aged 8-11, I'd get them into Six Minute Podcast. It's honestly great.

Our library uses RBdigital for ebook and audiobook downloads. Yours will probably do something similar

Does your school subscribe to an E-library? Ours does and that has audio books on it.

I love Audible - have been using it for more than 10 years. Highly recommended!

I use Scribd, I used to use Audible but I listen to a lot of books at the moment so Scribd works out better value for me. It doesn't have as wide a range as Audible but there is always something for me to listen to and they change up what's available regularly.

Investigate free options first, like the library. Also you can register with Audible and get a free credit (or whatever offer they currently have) and then cancel before they charge you for the next month. Sometimes they have three months free for new customers. If there's a particular book that you want and you're prepared to pay for it then it can sometimes be a better price to buy the Kindle book and get the Audible book as a cheap add-on. If it isn't cheaper that way then you can always re-activate your Audible account for one month, use the credit to buy it and then cancel your Audible account again. Also check out BBC Sounds as they sometimes have children's book dramatisations.

Look on your library website, they probably use an app where you can borrow audiobooks and ebooks, sometimes things like magazines and even music etc too. Mine uses BorrowBox but also have used Libby, RB digital, overdrive and some others over time.

Free and a big range to choose from! Except you have to wait sometimes if they are already "checked out", but you can reserve them.

My little one use Audible through Alexa and is obsessed with listening to stories now. She also finds reading hard. She got really into Harry Potter ( we watched the first movie first) so we listened to them all in the first lockdown. It is weeks' worth of listening material. Now we are listening to them all again.

My son has severe dyslexia and is unable to read text at all. He has had audible from age 8 is now 16.
He uses it all the time and has a huge library of books which he re listens to and his younger brother now accesses too.
I figure a book a month would cost me £7.99 and it wouldn't occur to me to think about whether he would re read them.
It has also been good as he can access unabridged copies of his set texts at school so it has helped make the curriculum accessible. He is top set in all his classes and his English teacher always comments on how well read he is. Which makes me smile as he cannot read.

If your child is under 7, you could try Silly Moo Stories. It has about 30 fairy tales, fables, rhymes and stories. You get the lot for £10, no subscription. Stories are mostly quite short, but nicely told, I think.