Is your child in Kindergarten or Year 1? 36 great FREE audiobooks to listen to at home or in the car

To succeed at school, and in life, it’s important that kids have a strong core knowledge of literature, including culturally significant stories and fables. Access to this information is a great social leveler, and particularly benefits children who may not otherwise have ready access to it. 

We have drawn our selection of texts from those recommended in the Core Knowledge Sequence, a free knowledge-based curriculum that aims to build strong foundations for later learning, including knowledge known by most adults and taken for granted by literate writers and speakers. 

For each tale, we have tracked down a free, quality audio recording, including some of the now ancient recordings we listened to as youngsters ourselves! To make the list as accessible for as many people as possible, we looked for audio-recordings hosted on YouTube (rather than, say, a particular publisher’s website or podcast platform).  

These stories are intended to complement – not replace – evidence-based phonics-based materials – designed to teach young school-aged children to read. Most are suitable for children with language disorders, dyslexia, and other communication difficulties. 

In addition to this list, we recommend that children be exposed to lots of non-fiction, including science, history, art and music books.

Enjoy!

YearStory and link to free audiobook
KindergartenThe Bremen Town Musicians – Brothers Grimm
Chicken Little
Cinderella (Charles Perrault)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
How Many Spots does a Leopard Have?
King Midas and the Golden Touch
The Little Red Hen
Little Red Riding Hood
Momotaro: Peach Boy
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Three Little Pigs
The Ugly Duckling (Hans Christian Andersen)
The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams)
The Lion and the Mouse (Aesop)
The Grasshopper and the Ants (Aesop)
The Dog and his Shadow (Aesop)
The Hare and the Tortoise (Aesop)
Year 1
The Boy at the Dike
The Frog Prince   
Hansel and Gretel
How Anansi Got Stories from the Sky God
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The Princess and the Pea
Puss-In-Boots
Rapunzel
Rumpelstiltskin
Sleeping Beauty
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Boy Who Cried Wolf (Aesop)
The Dog in the Manger (Aesop)
The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Aesop)
The Maid and the Milk Pail (Aesop)
The Fox and the Grapes (Aesop)
The Goose and the Golden Eggs

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Image: https://tinyurl.com/y5x48sxc

Man with glasses standing in front of a bookcase

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

David Kinnane
Speech-Language Pathologist. Lawyer. Father. Reader. Writer. Speaker.

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