World Book Day – Building Confident Readers with tonies®

As we look forward to celebrating World Book Day 2023, tonies® are helping to build confident readers through the magic of audiobooks. With an ever-growing Tonies library packed with popular childhood classics, the tonies® collection brings stories alive, sparking a lifelong love of literature in all its forms!

tonies® fabulous storybook titles include preschool favourites Spot the Dog, Giraffe’s Can’t Dance, and Thomas & Friends, and Julia Donaldson’s ever-popular Snail on the Whale, Stick Man, The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Highway Rat, Zog and The Snail on the Whale & The Smartest Giant in Town. For slightly older children, there’s Roald Dahl’s Matilda, James & the Giant Peach and The Witches. Other well-loved authors include Enid Blyton, Michael Rosen and Beatrix Potter, offering a full catalogue of stories to engage young readers.

The magical journey of teaching a child to read begins with the oral acquisition of language. The successful development of early language skills is essential in this process, as outlined in a report written by the National Literacy Trust:

“The early development of phonological awareness – the building blocks of spoken language – is essential to ensure children can achieve reading fluency with phonics-based reading instruction. Children who do not achieve the expected standard of early language and communication skills at five-years- old are currently six times less likely to reach the expected standard in English at age 11. In fact, early spoken language skills are the most significant predictor of literacy levels at age 11.”

For pre-readers, tonies® collection of audiobooks are the gateway to a wonderous world of engaging vocabulary and new words to learn. tonies® ranges are very beneficial for children with speech delays or SEN barriers slowing their acquisition of language skills too. Their favourite Tonie can be played on repeat, as they learn new words and sentences, developing their language skills independently and most importantly, at their own pace!

As children discover their favourite Tonie stories, they can take the next step in learning to read as they make the ‘decoding’ connection between the spoken and written word, whilst listening and reading in tangent. The auditory pauses, emphasis and tone of the narrator are very helpful for teaching children the purpose and function of punctuation, such as full stops and commas, while also relaying emotion which is not so easily achievable with text alone.

The tonies® collection – from the colourful and softly padded Toniebox (available in six colours!), to the extensive selection of appealing Tonie stories – is the perfect range to entice even the most reluctant of readers to step into the story time sphere and begin to learn to read without realising! For children where English is not their parents’ native tongue, the Tonie story time collections enable them to enjoy the same stories as their classroom peers at home, whilst developing their English vocabulary for better long-term educational outcomes at school.

Factual books are a wonderful source of educational information for children, but not all children are visual learners. Auditory learners make up about 30% of the population and they remember information better when it’s delivered through sound or speech rather than written form. For these children, tonies® National Geographic and Horrible Histories Tonie ranges help bridge the learning style divide. Additionally, there’s an ever-changing free library of educational audio content on the ‘mytonies’ member area at tonies.com. There’s further learning resources from National Geographic and Horrible Histories, plus a full catalogue of content from Twinkl – the UK’s leading educational resources platform – which can be downloaded onto the Creative-Tonie that comes with every Toniebox Starter Set.

As children, parents and educators across the UK and Ireland excitedly prepare for World Book Day, let’s celebrate the joy of books in all their forms. The Toniebox’s instinctively easy controls allow children to listen to stories independently, making story time accessible whenever they want – simply turn it on, place a Tonie on top, and let the audio story adventure begin! They can control the volume and skip tracks by tapping or tilting the cube. It is also virtually indestructible and has a long-lasting battery that allows for up to seven hours of continuous play, meaning stories can be enjoyed wherever they are! Happy World Book Day 2023!

For further information, samples and images, please contact Melissa at tonies® Press Office: melissa@fusecommunications.co.uk