Trying to teach French language and culture to your children? What could be better than reading them French fairy tales and bedtime stories? You can still count sheep, but you might have to review your French numbers before that!
When it’s time to go to bed
Getting your kids to sleep at night is one of the most common concerns for parents. Sometimes, your little ones are scared, or too excited, or simply don’t want to go to bed yet. Reading a French bedtime story is a sure-fire way to allay your children’s fears, channel their energy, and can easily fit into a bedtime routine.
Bedtime stories nurture family connections and encourage imagination and empathy
French bedtime stories often leave room for boundless imagination, blurring the line between fantasy and reality, which makes them fascinating for both children and adults alike.
For example, in Dans les draps de la nuit by France Quatromme & Hitomi Murakami, we follow little Arthur in his vivid dreams, full of poetry and magic. Sometimes, when Arthur is hungry, he goes fishing for clouds with his friend the whale.
Reading this kind of story is a wonderful way to let your children practice narrative comprehension and mental imagery, and encourages imagination, engagement, and conversation.
Fostering language development on several levels
Reading French bedtime stories is obviously a way to get your children used to French, but it has to be more interesting and fun than old-school lessons. As with traditional fairy tales from all over the world, many French stories explain our day-to-day lives with fantastical elements, e.g. How to fall asleep and where do teddy bears come from?
They rely on the imagination of their young readers. Some even look like a game, such as the French fairy tale J’aimerais by Stéphanie Demasse-Pottier & Gérard Dubois, that encourages children to express their own wishes, however farfetched as they may sound. It is a great opportunity to let them have fun while practicing their vocabulary and grammar! They can discuss the French bedtime stories and their illustrations, without even realizing that they are improving their language and analytical skills.
French Fairy Tales
European fairy tales are well-known; a few of our favorites can be traced back to French authors.
Some of the most well-known fairy tales were written by Charles Perrault, a French author: Little Red Riding Hood (Le Petit Chaperon Rouge), Cinderella (Cendrillon), Puss in Boots (Le Chat botté) and Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au Bois dormant). Most of these are European fairy tales, as Perrault’s works were inspired by earlier folk tales. However, the French version of the fairy tale is particularly well-known, and you can read them alongside beautiful illustrations, audio, and interaction on Storyplay’r.
Why don’t you (re)discover French fairy tales in their original language?
Short French stories on Storyplay’r
Audiobooks will improve your children’s listening comprehension and pronunciation. Even if they are not able to understand everything just yet, they will be able to follow the story thanks to the illustrations. You can also take a look at our bilingual French-English books, which allow you to navigate between both languages.
Having fun and discovering literature is one of the most efficient ways to learn a language. On Storyplay’r, you can choose what you want to learn from a wide range of French stories, depending on their topic, genre, complexity, and length… Listening to short and relatively easy French stories a few times a week before moving to more complex books will allow you to really improve your French.
Still not convinced? How about discovering a few French nursery rhymes?
