Stories, Stories and more Stories!
1. knowonder! will be back soon (June 1st) and is accepting submissions for more stories until then. If you’d like to submit a story, click here.
2. Also, we are paying more for stories than ever before, so be sure to check out our submission guidelines and payment policies. If you’re new to knowonder!, learn about us below:
Bedtime Stories, Story time stories, Read Aloud stories…
knowonder! is an AMAZING website dedicated to helping you inspire, promote and enjoy your child’s imagination and literacy! Jam-packed with fun content, knowonder! gives you a new, amazing story every single day of every month so you always have something new to read with/to your child. Nothing promotes a love for reading like having new stories every day. You and your child will enjoy countless hours of imagination and fun by reading each story.
Visit our website each day to see the updates in the “knowonder! stories” section, the “for kids by kids” section, and the for You by You section. Join our email list to get the story-of-the-day emailed straight to your inbox.
Three Exciting Sources of Stories & Content:
- knowonder! Stories – these stories are updated every day! They are fun, imaginative stories that motivate your child to come back for more stories every day. These stories are submitted by parents and writers all over the world. They are meant to be read to/with smaller children, or can be read by older children. To submit a favorite family story of your own, click here.
- for Kids by Kids – this section is where you’ll find stories and artwork submitted by kids! Come check out the creative genius of kids from all over the world. Submit your own work here.
- for You by You – this is where you’ll find valuable articles, tips and insights into how you, as a parent, can inspire and promote your child’s literacy, creativity, imagination and more! You’ll even find parenting tips, games and activities, and all sorts of helpful and fun ideas. And, you guessed it, these articles are also submitted by you – the parents – the true experts.
Why Read Every Day?
Click here to read more about why reading 20 minutes a day to/with your child is the most important investment you can make in their future. You’ll be amazed.
The POWER of New Content
knowonder! was inspired by real-life events that improved the literacy of our children in England. Our son was a reluctant reader and was falling behind. While in England, our two children were able to take any book home with them – no library checkout process – and then return it the next day. Every day came a new book! And every day they came home excited to read! Not only that, but their reading skills skyrocketed. Here’s what we learned from that experience:
Re-reading the same old books gets boring. Having new things to read every day keeps kids interested in reading! But how do you get new stories all the time? Going to the library, especially with multiple kids, can be difficult. And it’s too expensive to buy new books all the time.
Think about the blogs you enjoy, or the TV stations you like to watch. The ones you keep going back to are the ones that have new content every day. Kids are just like us. They want new content every day. New content expands their world and gives them something to look forward to each day. knowonder! brings you a new story, every single day of every month, so you and your children always have something to read. 20 minutes of reading every day has never been easier, or more fun!
Read Aloud Stories vs. Picture Books – What are they, and why do we suggest them?
knowonder! stories are meant to be read aloud by a parent to their younger children. Of course, older children who already read well also love to both read them and listen to them.
The reason we strongly encourage that you read to your younger children is covered in this article. Read Aloud stories facilitate that reading in different ways than pictures books. Picture books keep a child engaged predominantly by the pictures. Read Aloud stories, on the other hand, require the child to practice and develop some very important traits: listening comprehension, imagination, concentration, and more.
One of the other great benefits of Read Alouds comes at bedtime. When you read a bedtime story to your kids, it’s almost impossible to do it with a picture book and expect your kids to stay in their beds and not look at the pictures.
But knownder! stories do just the opposite. We like to call them “imagicnation” stories. When your child lays down in bed and you begin the story, tell your child, “now close your eyes, listen to the words, and see the pictures in your head. That’s the magic inside your imagination!” Turn it into a fun game. Imagicnation time! You will be amazed at how well they do this. Not only does it promote active imagining, focusing, listening and concentration, but it also helps them settle down and fall asleep easier. Kids of all ages (even 12 year olds) love to take part in this kind of storytime, whereas they wouldn’t be interested in looking at the same picture books as the 3 year old sibling.
And of course, one of the best benefits of being involved with your child’s life in this manner is that you are being a great parent. You are taking a proactive approach and being personally involved in your children’s lives in a way that will be cemented in the minds and hearts as some of their fondest memories for years and years to come. The emotional, social and economic development that will spring from this simple activity makes it one of the most important things you can do for your child.