Listen to Audiobooks with Children
How to Get the Most From Your Listening Time
Audiobooks are great for children and some wonderful works of fiction, non fiction, as well as the latest bestsellers, are available. Unlike the television, or most computer games, an audiobook is highly portable so can accompany you and your children on days out, afternoons in the garden, long journeys – and a whole variety of other places.
This means that there are plenty of opportunities for parents and children to listen, enjoy and share audiobooks together. This can be entirely for recreational purposes or the audiobooks could be chosen to tie in with school projects or as a general educational tool. Here are some tips to help children get the most from their audiobook listening experience.
Choose the Audiobooks Carefully
It is as important to pick an audiobook that is suitable for the age of the child. A very adult themed audiobook or audiobook for very young children could simply end up boring a youngster and potentially put them off spoken word entertainment for life. Most audiobooks give clear information about the target age range of the book and this can help when choosing a book.
Pick Audiobooks with a Theme
Picking an audiobook with a relevant theme can add extra interest. Books where the plot is set in a familiar town or area, or perhaps to coincide with a holiday or trip, will give an added insight and bring some added interest to a visit. Books that are set in a certain period of time can also be useful – perhaps to tie in with a school project. There are many novels with a historical perspective and these can often be a lot more interesting for a youngster than dry school books and may even help to spark a long term interest.
Discuss the Audiobook
Unlike traditional paper books where the reading is a solitary experience, several people can listen to an audiobook at the same time. This is ideal for families and also presents the opportunity to discuss the book. This is a good way to further engage youngsters and can also help to give a better understanding of their likes and dislikes as well as helping them to develop reasoning skills.
In addition to talking about the plot and the characters, discussing the narrator's style can also be interesting and encourages children to think about the way that the spoken word is used to communicate a message.
Keep it Fun!
Youngsters have a short attention span and therefore are not going to welcome a long listening session. A more productive way of listening to an audiobook for children is to break it up into manageable pieces. A child can also easily lose their place in an audiobook, therefore doing a short recap before the next listening session can sometimes be beneficial.
This is a great way to not only spend quality time with a youngster, it is also a good opportunity to help them develop new skills.
Audiobook Reviews at Suite101
- Sail by James Patterson
- The Art of Detection by Laurie R King
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
