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Read Spanish stories online FREE with audio options too!

Short stories in Spanish

Read Spanish stories online FREE with audio options too!

Looking for online Spanish Stories for kids? Below you can find links to resources where you can find and read short Spanish stories online.

Many of these options offer FREE Spanish stories for kids, some have an upgrade or subscription.

These sites can be helpful to offer exposure to Spanish through books, as well as exposure to folklore and language variations from some native Spanish speaking countries.

Where to find Spanish Stories Online

As reading books online has become more popular, there has been an increase in the amount of YouTube channels and websites dedicated to reading online books.

Previously we posted an article about where you can find free books online where most of the options were English with a few options for multilingual books. You can find that post here: Free online books for kids.

In this post we are specifically offering options for Spanish stories online for kids, here are our top picks.

Recommended:
Spanish Books for Kids
Spanish Songs for Kids

Short Spanish Stories Online FREE for Kids

1. Scholastic Story Book Treasures YouTube Channel

The scolastic YouTube channel features many of the books your child might be already familiar with. School libraries around the USA use Scholastic books and their classics are also available in Spanish here too.

There are animated versions of 29 books with sound effects and music, which gives you the option of showing the story to your kid or use it as an audiobook. It is a great website where you and your child can read Spanish stories online.
See website

2. Maguare (Colombian Ministry of Culture)

Maguaré is part of a Colombian government´s project to offer young children the opportunity to explore, learn and imagine through books, music and games. This website is in Spanish and offers free Spanish books online for kids.

Although the content might be advanced for Spanish learners, it is a great resource to expose children to folklore and the culture of one of the 21 Spanish speaking countries. Each Spanish story offers the option to be read online, or to download the book in a PDF format in the form of coloring pages, or full color.
See website

3. Unite for Literacy

Unite for Literacy is another great site to find free Spanish books online for kids. It is a project that offers free digitally made picture books for kids. About a quarter of their 400 titles are written and narrated in Spanish by native speakers.

They are simple narrations (no sound effects or music) presented as a side by side picture (or illustration) and text. All short Spanish stories online include audio option but you need to click in that option every time you move to the next page.
See website

4. Libby app

If you are in the USA this app is a great place to find free Spanish stories for kids to read online. This app gives you access to available eBooks and audiobooks from a large number of public libraries in the United States, including their Spanish selection of titles.

All you need is a library card issued by a public library and the app. You can sign in to multiple libraries, with one or more cards for each library and download books and audiobooks for offline reading, or stream them to safe space.
See website

5. Audiable

Another great option to find Spanish stories to read online is Audible which is a subscription service by Amazon ($14.95 US dollars per month). It offers a large variety of online Spanish audiobooks for streaming along with other different languages too.

During the pandemic, the company created Stories help to offer free access to stories for kids as long as schools are closed. Their online Spanish stories selection for that service includes 159 titles. A great place to find short Spanish stories and also other Spanish books online.
See website

6. Epic

Epic is a membership paid digital library (7.99 US dollars per month) for kids under 12. It offers a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books and collections, organized by topic, reading level, language and age, and quizzes option.

It includes a fair amount of books in Spanish with a smaller selection for read-to-me titles, but definitely a great option for parents looking to increase exposure to Spanish. The read-to-me option can be adjust to highlight the words as they are read. 
See website

7. Cuentos x Contar

This website offers original Spanish stories online read by a variety of native Spanish speakers from Argentina. They are free audiobooks with sound effects and music, created for kids 4 and up.

Each Spanish story online includes the option to read the story or listen to the audio. The stories also include a list of questions for parents to use as reading comprehension activity.
See website

8. The Spanish Experiment

Another fantastic site to read short Spanish stories online free is the Spanish Experiment, which offers a collection of classic stories narrated in Spanish by native Spanish speakers.

It offers the option to watch the video (illustrations with narration and subtitles without sound effects or music) or read the story with the same illustrations from the video. It also offers the translation to English by paragraph which is really helpful.
See website

9. The Fable Cottage

This is a sister website of the above Spanish Experiment. It offers almost the same short Spanish stories available at the Spanish experiment but with a bit more interactive videos that include background music and slow narration for Spanish learners.

You can enjoy some additional features with a paid membership option ($19 US dollars per year for family use and $59 US dollars per year for Schools)
See website

10. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes

This Spanish virtual library has been internationally recognized for the high quality of its content. It offers free access from any country, to a rich selection of classic Spanish language literature, including 20 classic Spanish stories for children, narrated by native Spanish speakers from Spain.

Each title includes the text of the story and a video of the narration in sign language. The narration does not include music, sound effects, illustration or animation.
See website

11. Read con migo

Read Conmigo is another great site where you can find free Spanish stories online for kids. Their mission is to promote bilingual literacy and the site was created to provide teachers and parents free resources to help encourage children to read.

You will need to sign up to access the stories, but there is no fee. Kids will love the online Spanish stories.
See website

Recommended:
Spanish magazines for kids and teens
Spanish shows for kids on Netflix

Benefits of Reading Spanish Stories to Kids?

Whether you are a native Spanish speaker, or Spanish is their second language, there are so many benefits of reading to children, and instilling a love for reading from the very start is important.

  • Reading Spanish stories to your kids will improve and expand their vocabulary.
  • Short Spanish stories make great bedtime stories for little ones.
  • Spanish stories and fables can expand your child’s imagination.
  • Reading together daily helps you to bond with your child.
  • Reading traditional Spanish stories can teach children about their background or where they are from.

Spanish Stories Online

If are looking to increase your child’s exposure to Spanish and don’t have access to physical Spanish books, these online sites are a great option. These fantastic sites make it easy to find plenty of short Spanish stories, and other Spanish books for kids online any time.

Many of the Spanish stories for kids online these sites have audio, so kids are able to listen to the stories, even if you are too busy to read to them a lot. Set them up with the audio while you cook dinner or do things around the house.

For kids who can read independently, but not fluently, you can put the audio on, and they listen to the story and read along.

Fluent readers will be able to navigate most of these sites independently and read the online Spanish stories themselves. There is a great choice!

Let us know if you know any other websites which offer free Spanish stories online for kids!

Looking for more online Spanish resources? Check out our FREE lessons in our SPANISH FOR KIDS series. Make sure you join our online community group for Raising Bilingual Kids in Spanish where we discuss this topic on a daily basis.

Spanish books online for kids

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