A Guide to Finding Spanish Audio Books for Kids
Inside: The best Spanish audio books for kids.
When raising bilingual kids or teaching Spanish, audiobooks are a great resource to have in your stash of Spanish-language materials.
I’ve been searching in all my favorite groups, and readers have sent in their top sites, to create this amazing list of resources.
In addition to the online options below, be sure to check your local public library for Spanish audiobooks, or books with CDs. Many libraries have extensive collections, and you might find some goodies there!
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!
Related: Free Online Spanish Picture Books for Kids
SPANISH AUDIO BOOKS FOR KIDS
If you’re using audiobooks at home, you can be creative. Listen in the car or on road trips. Let your kids do something with their hands while listening (puzzles, coloring, building, etc.), or turn on the Spotify playlist below at bedtime.
For teachers in the classroom, Spanish audio books could make a good station or alternative activity for native/heritage speakers. If you have older students who are still struggling to read, giving them a simple audio option can also be a helpful alternative.
This is a long list, so here are specific sections in case you’d like to jump there directly. Otherwise, read on to see all the options!
Content:
1. Online Spanish Picture Books with Audio – Jump to Section
2. Online Audio of Spanish Stories – Jump to Section
3. Free Apps with Spanish Audio Books – Jump to Section
4. Subscription-Based Sites with Spanish Audio Books – Jump to Section
And now, let’s get started! If you have more suggestions, please let me know in the comments below.
ONLINE PICTURE BOOKS WITH AUDIO
1. Unite for Literacy
Unite for Literacy is a wonderful free site with good-sized collection of Spanish digital books for kids. You click on to turn the pages and listen to the audio. Most of the books are written in simple Spanish (though they are written for native speakers), with non-fiction themes like colors, toys, art, animals, and more. The site includes many other languages, in addition to Spanish!
Recommended for young children, and novice Spanish learners and up.
2. Scholastic Read-Alouds In Spanish
Scholastic has recently made a number of their popular titles available as read-alouds on YouTube. This is a great source for popular books that have been shared with permission online, and we found many of our favorite titles (like Harry, el perrito sucio) available in Spanish.
Recommended for novice Spanish learners and up.
3. Storybooks Canada
Storybooks Canada is an amazing project that highlights stories created from different regions of Africa, and provides books with audio in dozens of languages– one of which is Spanish!
Recommended for intermediate Spanish speakers and up.
AUDIO OF SPANISH STORIES ONLINE
These are collections of audio for Spanish stories. Some have a read-along script, and some are simply for listening.
1. The Spanish Experiment
The Spanish Experiment currently has nine free stories for listening, including classic fairy and folk tales. When you click on the link, the first five will show as free, and the last four with a membership. But if you click on over to The Fable Cottage, they are free too! These stories are narrated with a very high-quality audio and include a script you can follow with a few images along the way.
Recommended for intermediate Spanish speakers.
2. Árbol ABC
Árbol ABC has a big selection of texts for Spanis stories, with audio for each one. The stories include sections like Cuentos clásicos, Cuentos para dormir, Fábulas, Cuentos de animales, Cuentos de princesas, and more.
3. Mundo Primaria
Mundo Primaria has a huge collection of Spanish stories for kids. You can access the cuentos as a video of the text being read aloud. I like the simplicity of having the audio and text together, with a clear reading voice to follow.
Recommended for elementary kids and intermediate Spanish speakers.
4. CUENTOS POR CONTAR
Cuentos x contar has a small selection of original stories to listen to in Spanish, along with scripts for reading along. They also have a sections of coloring pages to go along with the stories and comprehension questions to use post-reading.
Recommended for elementary kids and intermediate Spanish speakers.
5. 123 TEACH ME
123 Teach Me provides audio of short stories for kids, along with a script of the story. There are currently 18 stories available, with comprehension questions and scripts to follow along with.
Recommended for elementary kids and intermediate Spanish speakers.
6. LIBRIVOX
LibriVox is another free option available as an app or a website. A lot of the content is for adults or very advanced learners, and only the audio is available. However, there are over 400 titles available, with more in progress. Most are original titles in Spanish (lots of poetry), along with translated classics. It’s a lot to sort through, so here are some titles you might be interested in: El Ratón Perez, La Biblia, Cuentos de Hadas (Grimm’s Fairy Tales), Alice in Wonderland. Don Quijote, Las Fábulas de Esopo, Shakespeare.
Recommended for older students and advanced Spanish speakers. Also available as an App.
APPS FOR AUDIO BOOK IN SPANISH
1. Hoopla App
The Hoople app is free if you have a US library card number. They have a decent selection of Spanish audiobooks for kids and many for adults as well. You can find audio books versions from popular authors and series in English like Mo Willems, Margaret Wise Brown, Curious George, and more. I’m excited because it can be hard to find chapter audio books for free, and they just added Esperanza Renace and Harry Potter y la piedra filosola. I’m hoping they’ll add more!
Recommended for intermediate Spanish speakers and up.
2. The Bible App
The Bible App is free, and technically more than a simple audiobook. You can download the stories, which include text, audio, and images that are slightly animated. This is a huge resource to have at your fingertips, if you read the Bible with your kids!
Recommended for intermediate to advanced Spanish speakers. Available as an App.
SUBSCRIPTION SITES FOR SPANISH AUDIO BOOKS
1. Amazon Audible
There are several paid options for Spanish audio books. Amazon Audible seems to have the largest collection, with titles like Buenas Noches, Luna, stories from Beatrix Potter, and popular folk takes. It also includes many chapter books like Esperanza Renace, Manoltio Gafotas, y El Prinicipito. (There is a monthly fee.) Click here to go directly to the collection of Spanish-language books.
Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿qué ves ahí? (Brown Bear and Friends) (Spanish Edi…$8.99 (538)
Goodnight Moon / Buenas Noches, Luna (Spanish Edition)$7.99$8.99 (1675)
25 cuentos clásicos (Spanish Edition)$22.69 (108)AllAds by AmazonSpanish Chapter Audiobooks
El principito [The Little Prince]$4.99$7.00 (2076)
De como tia Lola vino (de visita) a quedarse (How Aunt …$6.99 (77)
Manolito Gafotas (Spanish Edition)$9.99 (335)
El leon, la bruja y el ropero: The Lion, the Witch and …$9.99 (296)AllAds by Amazon
Like it? Pin it!
Thank you for these suggestions. Do you have professional references from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School Library Journal, etc.? I’m looking for Spanish Translated audiobooks but with reviews that go with them based on the narration with journal title, issue, dates Thanks.
Thanks so much! I’ve scoured a lot of these but two sites were new to me (also I think the link isn’t working properly for Cuentos x contar) and I just downloaded the Bible app to give it a try since churches have been closed around here. Also, I’d suggest Libby as a library app – I’ve had luck with both that and Hoopla.
There’s an online book site called ‘Epic’ that also has a lot of books in Spanish in their ‘read to me’ section and ‘audiobook’ section. Most of their books are pictures books. You need a paid subscription to access Epic though I believe it’s temporarily free to access due to the pandemic. Thanks for the list of resources!
Reina | Becoming Bilingual
Hello,
The books in Unite for Literacy are in English and are read in Spanish. There are no books written in Spanish. I tried to find a way to change that, but I could not. :o(
This information is excellent!!! thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
I wish to know more and being in more contact with you or the website and updates. I am a Spanish teacher and also raising three bilingual kids!!! woohoo!!!
Thanks in for your suggestions. I am currently teaching at two schools from home, and online resources are most welcome.