Podcast Storytime – Cool stories that you can download

Even if you have never thought of downloading a podcast, you will want to try this. This summer, we heard about small companies that were recording quality children’s stories and offering them at no charge. Of course, if you have an iPod or MP3 player, you can take these stories in the car or on a plane. But we have found that downloading a story to your PC or Mac works just fine – you can have your PC read aloud to your child after school or at bedtime (assuming you have a laptop). The opportunity to listen to a well-written story with no visuals, let alone animation, allows a child’s imagination to get a pleasurable work-out, and stimulates cognitive development.

The Blue Lake take on it: This is definitely worth a try. If you don’t have an iPod or MP3 player, just right click on the download icon and save the MP3 file to your PC. Here is a list of a few sources we have tried:

Storynory, from London, offers both original stories and classics like Alice in Wonderland. Not surprisingly, the narration carries a lovely English accent. Completely free, and at this time, ad-free.

Candlelight Books, has a couple of Brothers Grimm tales and a few others to download for free.

Librivox offers 160 classics in their Children’s catalog – all at no charge and with no commercials or ads. These are big stories, and need space: Black Beauty (130MB), The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter (102MB), Anne of Green Gables (302MB). A true labor of love, this volunteer-driven, ad-free organization says, “Our objective is to make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.'' They admit they are not likely to succeed – we applaud this amazing contribution.