I recently purchased some audio books for Caspar on a disc (The Famous Five!). My husband called me out on cluttering up the place. While a few discs aren't going to clutter up our house, he had a point. It's likely the kids will go through stacks of audio books and my purpose was to see if they liked them in order to take them travelling. 

We have a long road trip coming up and I really like the thought of having a few audio books as an option when the kids are struggling. We aren't taking or downloading any dvds - I don't want the kids to be glued to a screen but feel audio books are not so passive, they require concentration and imagination. They can listen while gazing out the window and know what is going on around them. 

I tried a few audio books however found the most popular titles don't come for free! I subscribed to Audible which has been really easy to use. Audible works through Amazon and my links below are affiliate. Headphones were a must. We decided to go with some kids headphones which have a sound limiter. I took the above photograph because until I saw it in real life I had no idea how the sound limiter works. I've listened to some books and while the story is still very clear and easy to hear the sound limiter prevents the children from turning up the volume too high - to protect their little ear drums. Our headphones are Kidz Gear from Apple here in Australia and the US here. 

Choosing the right stories for the children is key too. Audible has the option of listening to a short sample before making a purchase which is fantastic. So far I have asked Caspar to listen to a few stories of my choice and he has picked out the ones he likes best. Above Caspar is listening to this book by Andy Griffiths which he finds hysterical. The Secret Seven is on his list also. Both of these books are for Caspar, I'm still considering if it's suitable and what titles would be good for Otis.  

While this method is looking best for us I'd love to hear how you approach audio books especially while travelling or minimising clutter. We really haven't used audio books before so please let me know if there is an easier process I'm missing out on!