Free online children’s books: Read these with your kids before bed

Kids can whip through books faster than parents know what to do with themselves, and as kids get older they need books to cater to their reading level. It can be a lot to keep up with. Sometimes there isn’t always time to go to a bookstore or library – and it’s especially difficult these days with the pandemic.

There is another option though – free online books. Children’s books have a number of options when it comes to accessibility. Many websites provide books for children for free, because they believe learning and reading are important. We’ve put together a list of some great options when it comes to bedtime stories.

Storyweaver

This website is rich with options. Even better, you don’t have to download anything if you don’t want to. Although, if a story becomes your kid’s favorite you do have the option of downloading a PDF so you can revisit it easily.

All you have to do is click on a book that sounds good, read the description, and then hit read. Then just read it! The book acts like an online slideshow with pictures and text you can click through at your leisure.

Storyweaver also has countless languages and stories from various cultures, so you can celebrate your heritage or teach your child about those of other people. Stories can be filtered by language, reading level, genre, publisher, and type of digital book.

Monkey Pen

A fairly new website which is well worth a look. Their ultimate goal is to provide ten thousand free children’s books for download. Right now they’ve started with fifty, after being kick-started.

Books currently range in topics from Captain Fantastic to Abe the Service Dog among many other topics which can teach or just be for fun. All you have to do is pick one that you like the look of (all books have descriptions next to them describing the story and the suggested age range) and click “download free book”. After this the story will be a PDF file available on your device.

If you enjoy Monkey Pen and want to support them you can purchase a personalized storybook for your child, which will feature them in a real physical book! The book will be shipped to you. All proceeds go back into the website & helping them to provide more free stories to kids.

Imagination Library

Dolly Parton launched a campaign in 1995 to get free physical copies of books to kids. You can register your child and from birth to age five the Imagination Library will send a book to your child every month.

The program is available in multiple countries besides the US including the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Canada, and Australia. The program has already sent out over 100 million books to kids.

Magic Blox

This site is semi-free, but finding websites for kids books which are easily navigable is surprisingly a little difficult. Magic Blox requires you to make an account, and then allows you to read one book for free per month.

You don’t have to download anything and they have books for ages one to thirteen years old. This includes picture and chapter books. While one book a month may not cut it when you’re looking for picture books at bedtime every night, older kids who are reading chapter books may be able to make this work.

If you’d like access to more books than just one per month you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription which is $4.99 a month and allows unlimited access.

Math Learning Center

Before you say, “Math? I thought we were reading,” allow me to explain. The Math Learning Center has a collection of picture books for pre-k children which, while being fun and having adorable art, semi-secretly teach things such as counting and shape names.

With titles such as Count & Play with Ducks & Baths and Little Mouse’s Winter Mysteries there’s certain to be a few books here which will delight your little ones.

Books are available in both English and Spanish and as PDF or ePUB files which makes them easily accessible for most people.