Category: German for Kids
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Sabine Städing’s Petronella Apfelmus is an engaging, but gentle series for kindergarten through elementary school (~4-9). My son was an early reader and I could comfortably hand him the books without worrying that the story lines might be scary or otherwise too mature. At the same time, it’s a wonderfully funny series with lots of fun…
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Margit Auer’s Die Schule der magischen Tiere is a popular series for elementary-age kids (8-12) and works well as either a read aloud book for families or something for kids to discover on their own. It follows a class of children who each receive a magical, speaking animal to be their pet and partner on…
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This four-book STEM-focused series by Kati Naumann is a lot of fun for 7- to 9-year-olds who are reading independently but still enjoy short chapters and illustrations. The story is told in a diary format is similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid or the Big Nate series, which make it stand out among German kids literature. Egon,…
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We recently came across this fun middle grade series, Bitte nicht öffnen! by Charlotte Habersack that is perfect for 8 to 12-year-olds who love adventure and humor. The 12-book series revolves around a ten-year-old boy named Nemo, who lives in a small, dull town called Boring. One day an unusual package arrives on his doorstep,…
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For many families, including mine, finding German-language books that also reflect the diversity of real life or perhaps their own biracial/bicultural family is important. While it can be hard to find German-language books with strong diversity representation, these websites and publishers can help:
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There are many German documentaries and reporting that are not specifically for children, but can be fun for family viewing. Here are some channels worth exploring, but please review carefully and watch with your kids as not all videos are suitable for children and others may need contextualization. I’ve linked to YouTube for your convenience, but…
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If you have an elementary-aged kid who reads German well, but is maybe not 100% fluent, I’d give the 2025 Ampelchen series by Anna Böhm a try. So far there are three books — Aus den Ampeln, fertig, los! (1), Es kracht! (2), and Kann das weg? (3). The series follows the adventures of two fourth-graders, Clärchen and…
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Below I introduce a few of our favorite shows for elementary school aged kids and link to their official YouTube channels. Many children still enjoy the shows I highlighted for preschoolers, so check those out even if your kid is a bit older, as well as this page on where to access German-language video content.…
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Ingo Siegner’s Der Kleine Drache Kokosnuss is possibly the number-one most popular series among early elementary kids (as well as older preschoolers). There are 30+ books in this imaginative adventure series following two boy dragons, Kokosnuss and Oscar, and a girl porcupine, Matilda (Siegner’s website). Kokosnuss and his friends will get almost any child excited…
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High quality video content is invaluable for minority language learning. Video input is nearly essential to grow fluency and vocabulary in young children when only one or two adults in the child’s life speak the target language. German-speaking families are especially lucky when seeking out high quality video inputs for their children, as German public…
