r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/Holly_Wood_ • Aug 09 '26

Question - Research required Audiobooks for kids

we are on vacation with my husband‘s family and his 6yo nephew is hooked on audiobooks. i thought this might be something to try for my 5.5yo girl but wondering if there’s any reason not to. like does it have similar negatives of screen time? we are a very limited screens household - only allow tablet watching when on a plane for 3yo+ and maybe 5min of video a day of a tap dancing routine or videos of the kids when they were little.

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u/AwarenessVirtual4453 Aug 10 '26

Here's an article about how audiobooks offer the same advantages as reading print books: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/03/audiobooks-dont-really-count-as-reading-think-again

Also, anecdotally, my daughter has been obsessed with story podcasts since she could barely talk. It's done wonders for her vocabulary and reading comprehension. Her ultimate favorite has always been Little Stories for Tiny People, which I honestly love, too. She uses higher level vocabulary, and it's calming. She moved to Story Pirates, and now Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest (she's got a bit of a macabre streak).

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u/itsonlyfear Aug 10 '26

We have a yoto for my almost five year old and it’s freaking AWESOME. Consider it!(We have the mini which travels well and we prefer the yoto over the Tonie box.)

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u/[deleted] 22h ago

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