Reading stories and looking at picture books together is one of the best ways in which you can support children’s spoken and written language development.
Children love repetition! So audiobooks are a fun and engaging way to let children listen to a story when you don’t have time to read a story again, again and again!
Repetition helps children build their knowledge and understanding of word meanings and story structure. The simple interactive storylines in our Early Soundplay series makes it easy for them to anticipate what happens next and to join in when they hear the story again.
Award winning actress Sophie Thompson reads our Early Soundplay stories.
Sophie’s lovely clear voice and warm and engaging style is perfect for young children who want to listen to the same stories again, again and again.
We provide two audio versions with each of our audiobook downloads:
- a ‘listen along’ – the main story is read the whole way through and can be enjoyed independently of the book.
- a ‘read along’ – this version includes both the ‘Some things to look out for…’ and the ‘Did you spot Digby’s special ‘g’ words…’ pages.
The page turns are indicated with a ‘chime’ which can support emergent readers or children who want to turn pages independently.
Digby the Diggedy Dog is full of sound play with a special focus on ‘d’ and ‘g’.
Joining in when they hear the story again provides children with lots of opportunities to both hear and practise saying ‘d’ and ‘g’ words.
You can listen to a clip of Digby the Diggedy Dog here:
It can be enjoyable to listen to an audiobook as a group but at other times children may want to be more independent and listen in their own time.
Some children enjoy a cosy quiet area to listen to a story in and others find a more open listening area or even an area outside more inviting.
Our MP3 audiobooks can be popped onto your phone and listened to anywhere while you’re out and about.
Placing lolly stick puppets alongside the listening area allows the children the opportunity to join in or retell the story.
Audiobooks can also help parents share books confidently with their children. The audio can support their own language or literacy skills and provides a role model for reading a story aloud
