Listening to stories a little above your child’s reading level is one of the easiest ways to grow their vocabulary, and the school run is the perfect time for it. A great narrator makes hard words easy to follow, and you’re right there to talk about them.
Why listening above reading level works
Most children can understand much harder language by ear than they can read on their own. When they don’t have to work out every word on the page, all their attention goes on meaning, so they meet words like reluctant or ominous in a story and work them out from the sentence.
A good narrator helps too. Their voice tells you whether a word is nervous, sarcastic or grand, which is half of what it means.
Ten minutes each way on school days adds up to more than an hour and a half a week of rich language, without anyone sitting down to do vocabulary.
Audiobooks with a great narrator
- A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, read by Stephen Fry. Warm, funny, slightly old-fashioned English in short chapters that fit one trip.
- The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, read by the author. A poet reading his own story, vivid and strange, in just over an hour.
- Matilda by Roald Dahl, read by Kate Winslet. Dahl’s descriptions are full of words worth pausing on, and she reads them with real relish.
- How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, read by David Tennant. Fast, funny and full of Viking names and made-up dragon words.
- Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, read by Derek Jacobi. A calm, clear reading of a survival story packed with sea and island words.
- Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend, read by Gemma Whelan. Eleven hours of playful, inventive language for a keen 9 to 11-year-old.
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, read by Andy Serkis. He played Gollum in the films, so the riddle scene in the dark is a treat.
How to get audiobooks free
Many libraries lend audiobooks free through an app, usually BorrowBox or Libby.
- Join your local library. It’s free, and many let you join online.
- Download your library’s app and sign in with your card number and PIN.
- Borrow straight to your phone, then play it through the car speakers.
Loans return themselves when they’re due, so there are no fines. Popular titles can have a waiting list, so reserve two or three at once.
Podcasts for 7 to 11-year-olds
All of these are free, still making new episodes and on any podcast app.
- Story Quest (Fun Kids). New original stories every week from the UK children’s radio station, each about ten minutes long.
- Fun Kids Book Quest. Children’s authors talk about their books and read chapters aloud, a good way to find your next audiobook.
- The Week Junior Show (Fun Kids). A weekly news round-up from the team behind The Week Junior magazine, with a debate each episode.
- Short & Curly (ABC Australia). Big questions about fairness and right and wrong, made for 8 to 12-year-olds, which gets children explaining their thinking in full sentences.
- Smash Boom Best. Two things go head to head, like cats and dogs, and the debaters argue their case with facts and persuasive language.
- Brains On. A science show where a different child co-host each week helps answer listeners’ questions, full of precise science words.
The last two are American, so expect the odd candy and sidewalk.
A one-week plan for the school run
- Monday: start an audiobook, and each pick one word you liked.
- Tuesday: keep going with the book and play Word spotter (below).
- Wednesday: an episode of Smash Boom Best or Short & Curly. Who made the better case, and why?
- Thursday: back to the book, stopping at the end of a chapter for What happens next.
- Friday: The Week Junior Show, then a Synonym chain using a word from the week.
At the weekend, write the week’s best words in a notebook and read them back on Monday.
Three listening games for the car
- Word spotter. Everyone listens for one word they don’t know or love the sound of. At the next pause, share your words and guess what each means from the sentence.
- Synonym chain. Someone says a word from the story, like gloomy, and everyone takes turns adding one that means the same: dark, dim, dismal. Whoever gets stuck starts the next chain. It’s the same skill as 11+ synonym questions.
- What happens next. Pause at the end of a chapter and each predict the next part in one sentence, using a word from the chapter. See who was right tomorrow.
Questions parents also ask
Is listening to an audiobook as good as reading?
For vocabulary it comes close, because children meet the same words in the same stories. Reading on their own still matters for spelling and speed, so do both.
Are these podcasts suitable for younger children?
They’re all family-friendly, and most are made for roughly 7 to 12. Listen to one episode together first to see what suits your child.
Should my child follow along in the book?
Now and then. Seeing the words while hearing them helps link a word’s sound to its spelling, but in the car, just listening is fine.
