With the holidays quickly approaching (how is it almost Christmas?!) you may have even more down time to fill with your child or children at home. I recently shared about some of my favorite winter books and the benefits of providing books relevant to the season/holiday. However, I know that it is not always possible to buy new books frequently throughout the year. Luckily, there are lots of other options available to access new books.
Purchase books
- Your local bookstore (In Alexandria, I like Hooray for Books and Old Town Books)
- Stores like Amazon/Target
- Usborne Books & More
Your local library – FREE!
- Although my local library is closed to the public, you can still place items on hold on their website and pick them up curbside!
Kindle Unlimited or Kids+
- I use Kindle Unlimited* for my own adult books (when I have time to read for fun!), but they also have a great selection of children’s books as well! You “borrow” books from the kindle library, and then return when you are finished. You can have up to 10 titles at a time. You can load your books onto your phone, tablet, or computer and read just like you would with a physical book. This week, I’ve been using it to read Bear Stays Up for Christmas* and Sneezy the Snowman*!
- Kids+* is a similar program that includes books and other media. You can get the Kids+ app on your devices or you may already have access if your child has an Amazon device such as a Fire tablet.
- This might be a great option if you already have an Amazon Prime account!
Epic and Vooks
- Epic! is a great option for a digital library subscription as well. They have books for children of all ages and are currently having a 50% off sale on their membership. I love their “Read to Me” option.
- Vooks is a similar subscription that includes animated books for children ages 2-8. I love that the books are read aloud!
Youtube – FREE!
- Youtube is one of my FAVORITE resources for book reading. You can search Youtube for read alouds of SO many books. I use Youtube books in my therapy sessions and also assign books to my students for homework as well. Depending on the video, I will often mute the audio and read the story myself.
*These are affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission from purchases through these links.