Audiobooks Your Kindergarten Class Will Love

A number of studies have already shown that frequent, shared reading prepares children for life by building their language, literacy, and emotional skills. Now, a new study from Rutgers University reveals that shared reading also minimizes disruptive behavior in very young children. Children who spent time reading with their parents had less hyperactivity and attention problems compared to their peers.

Audiobooks are a great tool to fill this gap at school. While they’re no replacement for reading a book aloud, audiobooks can serve as a learning supplement for preschoolers and kindergartners. Aside from helping with the aforementioned disruptive behaviors, audiobooks help expand vocabulary, improve pronunciation, engage imagination, and practice listening comprehension all at once. Here are three audiobooks your preschool and/or kindergarten class is sure to appreciate:

Sesame Street: Monster Meditation Series

Global brand Sesame Street Workshop partnered with mindfulness company Headspace to create the Monster Meditation series, which are six animated shorts on YouTube. These animated clips aren’t exactly audiobooks, but they are designed to be listened to alongside the Monster Meditation board book titles, the first two of which are Being Patient with Cookie Monster and Getting Ready for Bed with Elmo.

Parents, caregivers, and teachers can use these resources to help children manage uncomfortable feelings in relatable, everyday scenarios. In one book, for instance, Cookie Monster has to play a game called “I-Sense” to curb his impatience while waiting for his cookies to bake. As a class, you can practice breathing and sensory mindfulness techniques while listening to these stories.

Hey, That’s MY Monster!

Young children often struggle to go to sleep at night, and sometimes, they just need a ‘monster’ under their bed to help them settle down at bedtime. Ethan goes through this problem in Hey, That’s MY Monster!, which you can find as an audiobook on Scribd. Ethan’s personal bed monster, Gabe, has left Ethan’s room to go to his little sister’s room, because she has been climbing out of bed every night to play.

Now, Ethan has to help his sister find her own monster so Gabe will come back — except none of the other monsters are creepy or cute enough for her. Will Ethan find a monster that can help his sister sleep? Not only is Hey, That’s MY Monster! a fun audiobook for kids, but it’s also a great way to learn new words like “coaxed”, “snuffled”, and “rasped”. Moreover, you can also use the book as a starting point to discuss topics like fears and fairness with young children.

The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid is well-loved for the cartoon film adaptation that brought the mermaid Ariel to life, but Hans Christian Andersen’s story has its own unique legacy. The original tale has key lessons that the film missed, such as repeatedly choosing to act with kindness. Plus, encouraging your students to listen to audiobooks that inspired their favorite Disney movies can introduce them towards reading longer, more complicated works

The Little Mermaid is just one of the many classic stories on Spotify. Other children’s titles include The Secret Garden, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan. There are also plenty of audiobooks for adults as well. In fact, the streaming platform recently began adding audiobooks recorded by professional narrators and celebrities, so they’re perfect for teachers looking to unwind. As mentioned in the post called ‘Teachers Need Playtime Too’, it’s important for teachers to find activities that help them maintain their physical and mental health — and listening to audiobooks can do just that.