31 Days of Reading to Your Children // Day 20

It's true. While I love reading out loud to my children, there are times where I have just got to get a few other things done, or we are in the car and I can only handle that certain kids' music CD one. more. time. before. I. go. bonkers. 


Today's tip: listen to audiobooks!


We love audiobooks in our house. Our first audiobook that we listened to was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (the Focus on the Family audio drama and purchased through iTunes). A HUGE hit with the girls. We quickly followed with Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and eventually worked our way through the entire series. We saved The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle for a summer roadtrip a few years ago and that was a great plan for small ones in the car. (We don't have a DVD player in our van).


Some of the other audiobooks we have listened to and enjoyed are:


Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prarie
Peter Pan
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (read by Gene Wilder, a must!)
Ramona the Brave (read by Stockard Channing, a must!)
Ramona the Pest
(... and several others by Beverly Cleary)
All of a Kind Family and the sequels
Mysterious Benedict Society
Annie and Snowball books by Cynthia Rylant
Akimbo books by Alexander McCall Smith


... and others. You can purchase audiobooks through iTunes and listen to them on your iPhone/iPod/iTouch, Audible.com, or (even better because it's free!) check them out from the library! I've found that while my girls are usually playing or drawing while they listen, they retain what they hear fairly well, and it's almost easier, in my opinion, to "read" something that is a little bit beyond them. For example, Peter Pan was a read-aloud for us first, then we listened to it on audio. I was able to understand the older dialogue so much better listening to it, even after being the one that read it to the girls.


Audiobooks. A Mama's best friend when it comes for a back-up to read to your children. : )


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The book links and pictures above are Amazon affiliate links ... if you click them and make a purchase, I will earn a few pennies towards books for my munchkins. Just thought I'd mention it. :)