Audiobooks are a big part of our family. We use them for pleasure and for education. We used digital download copies as well as library audiobook rentals. The kids have them to complement their educational studies as well as for pleasure. I check them out for my personal development as well as pleasure.
We have found that using audiobooks is a nice way to add additional literature into our lives that we can share. In the beginning we started with audio books because our oldest was a reluctant reader. That has changed but we have continued the practice.
We loaded up our old ipod with audiobooks and allowed our daughter to choose what she wanted to listen to. She would sit outside and draw while she listened or play with Barbie’s. Our afternoon quiet time is now a choice between audiobooks or reading on their own. Our youngest gets audiobooks during quiet time.
If you haven’t tried audiobooks, you should try them out. You may be surprised how nice they are to incorporate into your lives. Here are some great resources for finding audiobooks.
The Library – Of course, the library is an excellent resource for library books. They are the right price, usually have a decent selection for both adults and children and you can try new authors with no risk. The down side is that they are used so you do end up getting some that skip, which can be frustrating for everyone. We always get at least two audiobooks just in case this happens we have a backup.
Librivox – This is a great website for free audiobooks. We use this site to download audiobooks to play on the computer or pull into iTunes and then put on our iPod for personal use. The books are from the public domain, meaning that they are typically older books, but there are some great ones and most all the classics you are interested in would be found there whether it’s an educational resource or a fiction book. They have excellent instructions on how to listen to them as well.
Project Gutenberg – One of the oldest sites on the web for audiobooks, Project Gutenberg is an excellent website to find audiobooks for free. They offer over 42,000 free books. Some of our favorites that we downloaded was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. They are easy to download and there are clear instructions on how to get them onto your portable devices. Stories are read by volunteers.
Storynory – Storynory is a great collection of free audio books for kids. They have lots of fairy tales, classics, folk tales, and even stories for younger kids like nursery rhymes. They have selections for iPod or computer as well as through RSS feed. Their stories are read by professional actors and they have a new one each month. Storynory even has educational activities to accompany some of their stories.
These are just a few of the sites that provide free audiobooks for kids and adults. If you are looking to get started with audiobooks, these are an excellent place to start.
Do you use audiobooks at your home?
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