Audible Stories is a free resource for parents looking for family-friendly things to do at home
If you’re a parent currently caring for your kids at home, you’re probably facing a few new challenges. It’s tough enough to stop kids bouncing off the walls for ten minutes, let alone enact a daily schedule, and it’s given us all a profound new appreciation for our educators.
At home with kids, you have to wear several hats: entertainer, negotiator, personal chef and, occasionally when things get scary, counselor. All of it in addition to maintaining your own work or personal routine.
That’s a lot. We recognize that you’re juggling many plates with all this time at home, so Audible has launched a free resource your family can use to relax, be entertained and keep minds engaged while you’re home together. Audible Stories is a completely free web-based service available to anyone, anywhere that gives you and your family access to educational and entertaining content. With titles in a variety of languages, for kids, tweens and teens (as well as a few for parents!), we’re hoping Audible Stories can help take some of the load off.
Keep Minds Active
We all know education is important. That said, when parents are trying to juggle a hundred other tasks, it’s difficult to carve out time in the day dedicated to education. The educational, screen-free content you’ll find on Audible Stories may help make it a little easier.
Feel free to use Audible Stories as a way to keep your kids’ minds active, sharing everything from Shakespeare to Neil deGrasse Tyson, Aesop to A.A. Milne. You’ll find a wide array of titles hand-selected by our editors, including literary classics like Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, a mainstay on high school reading lists, as well as contemporary titles for kids of all ages. And for the budding mathematician in the family, Audible Studios’ 123: Learn to Count with Songs and Rhymes can help with early development.
There’s no replacement for a buzzing classroom or a thoughtful teacher. But being at home can be fun and engaging with these selections at Audible Stories.
Staying Entertained
It can be comforting to share the joy of entertainment. The home isn’t just a home when it’s filled with stories. It can be a magical kingdom, a far away land, a theatre and a theme park. There’s ample room for laughter, astonishment, empathy and adventure, even if it’s all from home.
With more free time and a limited amount of space to run around, you can save your walls from being scribbled over with felt pens by sharing entertaining titles with your kids. Solve a mystery with Arthur Conan Doyle, discover fantastical worlds with C.S. Lewis or introduce a little magic in the household with Shirley Jackson.
No promises, but you may even catch a little peace and quiet!
Staying Curious
The fantastic thing about young minds is that wherever you place them – whether it’s out in nature or inside at home – they bring along a vast imagination and curiosity. If you’ve got thirsty little imaginations running around the house, you’ll find many different ways to keep them nurtured on Audible Stories.
If your ten-year-old is obsessed with dragons, let them roam the skies with The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame. If your 17-year-old is showing a new interest in Victorian literature, let them pull their carriage up to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre or strap themselves in for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. There are plenty of titles to explore for imaginations of all ages.
Staying Together
Find more together time with the family. Listening to stories together can be a fun activity that solidifies your bond. While we may be inside, our feelings don’t have to stay inside too. Sharing emotions, thoughts, concerns, joys and silly laughs with one another brings us together as a community, a family. There’s opportunity for togetherness even in times of isolation.
If you feel you and your family can benefit from engaging, entertaining, imagination-fuelling titles right now, access Audible Stories for free.
