Reading is one of the most wonderful and inspiring past time activities. Flee the real world for a little time and throw yourself into adventures at far away places or solve unspeakable crimes. Reading is an escape from reality – and something we should teach our children to love early on.
Picture books with wonderful illustrations can be the first gateway to the colorful world of books, but there is something children enjoy even more: being read to. What could be better than lying in bed, safe and secure, while listening to mommy’s or daddy’s voice, telling stories of princesses and knights, detectives and mysteries? Exactly, almost nothing.
Inspiring Background Sounds for Reading To Your Child
Children, especially toddlers, love sounds. Mommy’s and daddy’s voices are the best, of course, but also a car passing by or a dog barking in the distance is something new and great for a small child. There are many toys that make sounds of animals or other items and vehicles, and even books that revolve around the sounds around the growing-up baby. Why not combine this with reading stories or fairy tales to your child then?
If you sit or lie your child or foster child down to read to them, try tuning up some ambient music in the background as well. This way, unwanted ambient noise gets drowned out and the child can fully concentrate on your words and the mood and feeling of the story.
Popular Children’s Books
In another article, we have already talked about ambient sound mixes inspired by different books like Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia. If you want to read one of those classics to the child, feel free to tune up some of these inspired tunes. Here’s a small but by no means exhaustive list:
Other Soundscapes
Of course, other background sounds can be used for reading as well. Depending on the story you are reading or picture book you are looking at, different ambient noise can help the children to get a better feel of the themes used in the book.
- Fantasy atmospheres and the sounds of nature are perfectly fitting for fairy tales or stories about nature and the environment.
- For stories from outer space, about astronauts and aliens, science fiction ambient tracks can create a great atmosphere.
- Adventure stories may gain from the sounds of jungles and forests or the atmosphere of a pirate ship.
- Picture books often have a theme – and there is an atmosphere for almost any of them. They range from construction sites, over the life on a farm, to a day at school. And that’s not all, of course!
