Audio for toddlers, the alternative to screens

At the age of 4, Ysé tackles the world with inexhaustible curiosity. Good audience, the little one listens attentively to audio content on the secret life of Critters (produced by France Inter), the daily life of a certain Little Brown Bear (Bayard) or the adventures of Professor Caillou (France Inter) with his brother Achille, 8 years old. His greatest passion? “ Little Wolf’s stories », respond without hesitation his parents, Damien and Elsa, referring to the audio series produced by Auzou éveil. “Ysé listens to these stories in class, at nursery school, and with us at home. »

Based in the Paris suburbs, Damien and Elsa favor audio on screen for their two children. At home, no television, but storytellers, speakers, which you just need to connect to your cell phone to download more than 500 stories and nursery rhymes. And the impressive catalog of audiobooks and podcasts – audio files broadcast on the Internet – continues to grow. Since Covid-19, with the rise of digital platforms like Spotify, the audio offering has multiplied: according to Médiamétrie, 168 million French podcasts were listened to or downloaded worldwide in February 2026.

A door to the imagination

In this avalanche of new proposals, some are aimed at 2-6 year olds. At the end of February 2026, the Mon tout petit France Inter radio station was launched, riding on the success of Mon petit France Inter. Intended for 6-12 year olds, the programming of the latter has in fact accumulated more than a million listenings since October 2025. This turning point responds to the request of many parents, anxious to protect their offspring from mobile phones and computers. According to Public Health France, 3 to 5 year olds spend an hour and twenty-two minutes per day on average in front of screens!

Audio is emerging as an alternative to occupy the youngest – and offer an oasis of tranquility to parents. And it develops their imagination. According to a study by University College London, listening to audio activates visualization areas and makes our brain more inventive. Audio tales thus give children the freedom to create their own mental universe, populated by forests, witches and frogs. Some producers focus on original creation with a rich and particularly sophisticated sound atmosphere.

Rituals that mark

The heroes of Radio France and Bayard are not the only stars of the story boxes. Other publishers, such as Gallimard and Flammarion, are banking on their children’s classics in audio version, while new independent podcasts are starting to make themselves known.

Faced with the multiplication of the offer, there is a risk of losing sight of the young audience, by adopting codes more designed for adults. “Toddlers are at the age of rituals: they can sometimes listen to the same story ten times to create benchmarks,” analyzes Hélène Loiseau. It’s about telling slowly, repeating words, playing with their sound. »

So goes childish listening, the imprint of which lasts a long time. Anne, 51, remembers the 45s that screeched on the record player in the family living room at the end of the 1970s. The Octave et Mélo podcast from France Inter, launched in 2022, is inspired by the musical tale Piccolo, Saxo and Company from his childhood, which featured musical instruments. “Other successes from the period are still in the trunk of my parents’ Paris apartment,” continues Anne. There is the series of Babar the hits of Anne Sylvestre or Jo Akepsimas, the author of cool Christian songs from the 1970s.”

An opportunity to be independent

In the 2000s, the hi-fi system, with its cassettes and then its CDs, dethroned the record player. Born in 2004, Naïs, 21 years old and a business student in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), remembers the time when she listened to a story every evening before falling asleep. Some scared him, like old versions ofHansel and Gretel and of Bluebeard, narrated in a monotonous tone. “But I grew up with a single mother,” she explains. In the evening, she had to finish household chores and did not always have time to make a selection. We listened to what we had at hand. » The young woman also remembers the tales adapted by Walt Disney, with a humorous and reassuring tone.

Because, over the decades, audio has come into line with expectations, as society has transformed its view of the child. The stories today are less violent and moralizing, more gentle and sensory, designed to accompany a vulnerable age. Attention to the cognitive and emotional abilities of children has its downside: a possible limitation of autonomy. Where children could insert their own record into the famous record holder, since the switch to digital, the instructions have changed. All the storytellers always give the opportunity to listen to their stories alone, by pressing a simple button. But for online podcasts, it is parents who choose when to listen on their mobile phone.

Nursery rhymes, documentary fiction… Now, the range of offerings creates embarrassment for choice. At the risk of saturating the ears of little ones and depriving them of the sweet ritual of the evening story? “The podcast is only a complement,” reassures Ysé’s dad. Our children get tired of the speaker on their own after twenty minutes. » And for busy parents, audio above all has this timeless magical power: to slow down the pace and bring the family together for a moment of listening and sharing.