You can create a whole library of recordable children's books for your child by either recording them yourself or purchasing a few online.
Why Use Recordable Children's Books
Would children really listen to recordable children's books? Absolutely! There are many reasons for recording a children's book or purchasing an audio version of a favorite story.
- Reading help-Early and struggling readers sometimes need that extra boost of auditory sound as they try to read along. You can help improve your child's reading skills by recording either yourself or him reading a book, and then encourage him to read aloud with the narrator. This activity will help to foster stronger reading ability, and he may want to record more books just for fun!
- Travel fun-Recordable children's books make great travel accessories. Just pop in an audio recording of your child's favorite book into her cassette or CD player, and she can listen to her favorite books while traveling.
- Favorite voices-Do your child's grandparents or other relatives or friends live far away? Keep them closer by letting your child listen to their voices as they narrate his favorite storybooks. This is also a wonderful for parents who have to travel out of town to keep in touch with their children!
- Cheering the sick-How about giving some recordable books to kids who are confined at home or in the hospital? What a perfect gift!
Points to Remember When Recording
There is more to making a good recording than simply reading the book. Consider the following pointers before you make your first recording.
- Know the material-Stumbling over words and being unfamiliar with the story can result in a less than stellar recording. Read the book a couple of times, first to yourself then aloud, before you record it.
- Don't rush-While you don't want to speak too slowly, speaking at a quick pace can lose your intended audience's attention. Instead, take your time. You might think that your slower speech sounds odd, but once you play back the recording, you may be surprised at how much better it sounds.
- Speak clearly-Recordable books help to develop children's listening skills, but you'll need to speak clearly, enunciating each syllable and pronouncing each word correctly.
- Pay attention to punctuation-Commas and periods are in sentences and paragraphs for a reason. Be sure you pause at appropriate commas, stop for a second at a period, and take a break between paragraphs or chapters.
- Become the characters-A monotone reading of any book will soon lose the attention of just about any reader, particularly children. Take on the life of each character. Assign a voice to each character, changing your tone, pitch, and even accent. This will captivate a child's attention, as she identifies each character through the sound of your voice.
Purchasing Recordable Books
If you're not interested in recording your own books, but you do want your child to listen to recordable books for children, check out the following sites:
- Storynory features a new audio version of a children's book that your child can listen to free online. The majority of these stories are fairytales with favorites from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson collections.
- Light Up Your Brain offers numerous free audio stories for kids that can be listed to online or downloaded to listen to later.
- Felix the Storyteller narrates a nice selection of stories for children at this site.
- American Printing House sells book-recording software for consumers to use in recording digital audio books.
Finally, once you've made an audio recording of a favorite story, be sure and store it in a safe, dry area. You can purchase CD sleeves to protect CD-R recordings. Label each recording, and keep all of them in a plastic bin, cardboard box, or CD holder. These recordings will become treasured keepsakes as your child grows up.
