Storytime is an essential time for toddlers. Aside from spending quality time with mom and dad, younger children also enjoy getting to unlock their imaginative minds through children’s stories.
More importantly, storytime is also essential for improving a toddler’s learning and active listening skills. Fortunately, digital innovations like ebooks and audiobooks have made storytime more accessible and engaging.
A Learning and Instruction study on digital storybooks emphasizes the importance of stories in stimulating cognitive development in young children. Researchers note that music and sounds can be helpful for making children more attentive to story events and character moods.
The study uses the example of background sound effects as an additional auditory experience on top of narrations to better illustrate sceneries and objects or characters in a story. Thanks to the sound cues and effects, toddlers are also more likely to stay engaged and interested in new stories.
If you’re interested in trying out audiobook storytime with your little ones, we’ll be sharing some more benefits of letting your toddler listen to audiobooks as well as some title recommendations:
Benefits of listening to audiobooks
Above, we mentioned how audiobooks provide consistency over their printed counterparts. Still, there are a few more advantages worth considering if you’re looking to integrate audiobook listening into quality time with your younger children:
Convenience and accessibility
One key benefit of using audiobooks is convenience. Compared to traditional print or even digital ebooks, audiobooks can easily be accessed on multiple devices, including smartphones and tablets, and screen-less devices like audio players or speakers for parents especially worried about screen time.
Audiobooks are also easier to get your hands on as they continue to become a popular medium. Subscription platform Everand has a library full of audiobooks, so if you’re wary about spending on a subscription just for storytime, there are plenty of options for biographies, novels, and self-improvement audiobooks for adults that you can enjoy after the children go to bed.
Of course, Everand also has an extensive ‘Children’s’ category spanning various genres, including Jory John’s The Food Group books, such as The Bad Seed and The Couch Potato, for your toddler to enjoy.
Aside from the wide range of titles to choose from, you can also download audiobooks for offline consumption, which can be great if you’re traveling somewhere with a poor Internet connection. There is also an option to borrow audiobooks using third-party services like Libby or OverDrive.
Reduced screen time
Audiobooks are also a great choice if you want to reduce screen time, which can strain your child’s eyes. According to a 2020 Pew Research Center poll, 80% of parents with children 11 or younger say their kids watch YouTube videos. Half of these parents also report that their kids watch videos several times daily.
While some screen time can be good for engagement and entertainment, studies have found that kids demonstrate less curiosity, self-control, and emotional stability when their daily screen time exceeds one hour. Children are also more likely to experience anxiety and depression and suffer from sleep disruptions, obesity, and impaired social skills.
Improved language learning
Finally, audiobooks also add a new layer to storytime for your little ones. Based on this article on The Conversation, people tend to converge toward the language they observe around them, whether it’s copying word choices, mirroring sentence structures, or mimicking pronunciations. Toddlers are no exception.
Of course, our previous Teaching Littles post explaining “Why Your 18 Month Old Might Not Be Talking But Understands What You Are Saying” also highlights that it can be totally normal for toddlers not to speak their first word or full sentences at that age.
Instead, focus on surrounding your child with helpful audio input, whether it’s adult speech from you and other family members, or an audiobook session of their preferred title to help get them to bed.
Audiobook titles your toddler will love
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of introducing audiobooks to your toddler, we’ll share some age-appropriate title recommendations you can enjoy with your little ones in audiobook format.
For more immersion and entertainment, you can also consider getting the printed or ebook versions of them, so your toddler can enjoy fun, colorful visuals alongside the narration:
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books are children’s books about a small woman living in an upside-down house, caring for children with bad habits. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a chest full of magical cures she shares with parents for their children’s bad habits, including the “Won’t-Pick-Up-Toys Cure” and the “Interrupting Cure”.
Author Betty MacDonald wrote the original Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s books, but there is a spinoff series by Ann M. Martin and MacDonald’s great-granddaughter Annie Parnell that started in 2016. If your child is interested, you can also check out the 1990 musical based on the books titled The Magic Mrs. Piggle Wiggle or the 1994 TV series created by actress Shelley Duvall.
The Cat in The Hat by Dr. Seuss
Next on the list is from famed children’s author Dr. Seuss. The Cat in the Hat is about, well, a cat who wears a red and white striped top hat and a red bow tie. Today, the book remains one of Dr. Seuss’ most famous books, with the Cat later becoming one of Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ mascots.
Like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle above, there is a 1971 animated television special for your children to enjoy and a less well-received 2003 live-action film. Now is also a great time to get your toddler into the book, as a new The Cat in the Hat animated movie from Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is set to be released in 2026. Comedy actor Bill Hader is set to voice the Cat alongside more voice acting talent from Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson and SNL’s Bowen Yang.
The Good Egg by Jory John
Finally, you’ll want to check out Jory John’s The Food Group books, which feature cute and simple visualizations. These aptly titled books offer great lessons and entertaining stories for younger children. The Good Egg, for example, is about a well-behaved egg — one among many bad or “rotten” ones — who discovers that being good all the time can be taxing.
Ultimately, the humorous story teaches the importance of balance, self-care, and accepting those who we love. The book is part of John’s series of food-related titles, including other titles like The Bad Seed, The Smart Cookie, and The Cool Bean