Birmingham Public Library (AL)
Listening to audio is a skill that’s not confined to just car journeys. There are many times when we need to add some downtime or slow the pace down.
Listening is a very active form and a really easy way to provide imagination, inspiration and entertainment.
Here are 3 go to places for active listening
Listen and Play
This is part of the BBC school programming and is published on a Tuesday. They are available on demand for 7 days after broadcast.
Each programme includes familiar songs, rhymes, stories and sound discrimination games to develop children’s phonological awareness and confidence with spoken language.
Each show has kept my little one interested and we’ve subscribed via iTunes so can listen again to older versions. if you live outside of the UK access to the BBC iplayer is restricted but you can subscribe via iTunes and download as a podcast.
Playtime
P-L-A-Y-T-I-M-E …It’s PLAYTIME! P-L-A-Y-T-I-M-E………
With the current interest in letters and singing of the ABC song along with the phonic game on the fridge this show is perfect for my soon turning preschooler. It’s full of energy and emotion that he’ll stop to listen. We pretend together and with siblings as well.
Songs, stories and movement activities for pre-school children inspired by popular themes.
This is also part of BBC programming for schools.
Barefoot books podcast
I’m a big advocate for diversity in book and literature with my family of boys we just love the Barefoot Books as they have a range of stories both traditional and from different cultures. We always have lots to talk about seeing the people and places in these books. Now you can read along or just listen to your favourite books.
Barefoot books publish a huge range of stories and many of them for the over 5s so watch out for the themes.
We’ve been experimenting with audio and listening recently and have tried them at our family dinner time. Instead of the usual hustle and bustle we listened to a story and then discussed it afterwards. It was really a different way to celebrate dinner together.
We’ve tried the traditional sit down and listen but this doesn’t work as well for us . It’s been great tidy up ‘music’ and listen to in the morning music before everyone is awake.
Photo credit: Birmingham Public Library (AL)
we just checked out a commemorative edition of Brown Bear, Brown Bear at the library that is an audiobook. It’s read by Gweneth Paltrow and it’s very well done. My boys have been captivated by it. I need to find some more audio books on their level. It really helps them calm down after active play. thanks for the suggestions.
What a treasure to find! It’s great how they tilt their heads to it and you can tell they’re really listening.
Thanks for the suggestion.