Category: Media Tips
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Wimmelbücher are picture books where the child looks for different things in a large picture (like Where’s Waldo) and they are extremely popular in Germany. The best Wimmelbücher to facilitate language learning include text that help give the child additional German language input. Here are some top Wimmelbücher series:
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High-quality video has been shown to be a valuable source of authentic language input for children learning a minority language (study link). There are many ways to bring video in to support your family’s learning objectives for your child. Variety in video (as in other media) is extremely useful. We want to give kids access…
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Audio content is vital to kids’ language learning. There’s just something about singing and listening to stories that will do wonders for your child’s comprehension, accent, and even productive vocabulary. However, in today’s world, finding a way to safely and simply serve up audio content is not so easy… access to streaming devices via a…
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To round out your child’s media diet, you can add some fun resources, including Tiptoi interactive books and games. Tiptoi is a German product made by the famous Ravensburger publishing house, which makes puzzles, games, and children’s books (Tiptoi website). The Tiptoi pen contains software and a speaker, which kids can use to interact with…
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There are so many good resources for kids’ audio content in German, including German media apps, libraries, and global streaming platforms. The German media stations stand out in particular for their excellent quality, curation and value; the global platforms have a lot of good content, but require more scrutiny. Library Apps: Many libraries also pay…
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There’s a huge amount of German kids eBooks, audiobooks and magazines that can be gotten for free from publicly supported media sources or as part of common subscription services. The top free resources for eBooks and digital magazines are Onleihe and Libby, while you can purchase eBooks and digital magazines through Barnes and Noble and…
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One of the easiest ways to build a collection quickly is to buy a few sets of Pixi books, which come in bundles of eight small softcover picture books (a little under 4”x4”) for less than $20. There are sets that all related to a theme (e.g. the farm, good night, winter, vehicles, Christmas, Easter)…
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One of the biggest challenges families face is actually getting print books. It is definitely possible to buy a large range of used and new physical German media online, if you know what you are looking for. It can be hard to purchase new books, as the major German booksellers such as Thalia or Dussmann…
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While rarely extensive, local public libraries can be good sources for recent German books. Often you will find that children’s print books in world languages are grouped at one or two libraries. For example, the Seattle Public Library has about 400 physical books and DVDs as well as digital resources (catalog link), but all are…
