10 Websites Offering Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners
“Short stories show us the world at an angle, through their own tilted lens.” – Daisy Johnson
Reading is vital for learning in any subject, and short stories in Spanish is no exception. Reading empowers students to develop their comprehension and writing skills. It helps learners become familiar with the sounds, rhythms, and rules of the language.
Benefits of Reading Short Stories in Spanish
Short stories are, as their name implies, relatively short and approachable.
Before tackling a full Spanish novel, consider practicing with some shorter narratives. Beginner-level short stories in Spanish are intentionally simple and written for people who are new to learning Spanish.
Pro tip: focus on one or two stories per week to build up your reading skills!
A few advantages of regularly reading short stories in Spanish for beginners include:
- Learning Spanish beyond the textbook
- Seeing how the language flows in a natural context
- Diversifying your Spanish cultural awareness
- Getting exposure to different authors, styles of writing, and perspectives
Having endless short stories at your fingertips is possible and even free if you know which websites to use. Enjoy this list of 10 diverse sites featuring short stories in Spanish for beginners!
1. CuentosParaDormir.com
Age range: 3-12
Price: Free!
Best feature: Value-based stories with both Spanish text and audio
This site is full of short bedtime stories with Spanish text and audio. Choose if you want to read it yourself or have it read to you. It contains all kinds of stories organized into thematic categories. The five main sections are short stories, audio stories, stories with illustrations, classic stories, and resources. Within these themes, you’ll find stories about peace, fairies, pirates, dinosaurs, and more.
2. Cuentos infantiles Pequeocio
Age range: 3-12
Price: Free!
Best feature: Text-based stories with clear morals/lessons accompanied by Spanish videos
Pequeocio is a stellar website with short stories in Spanish. Its interface is clean, simple, and organized. Choose from different short stories in Spanish for children classified by theme. Whether you’re looking for classics, animal stories, or bedtime stories, there is a tale for you here. Some are text-only; others include video options.
Here’s a handy list of 15 short stories in Spanish on Pequeocio to get you started. The site also features a slew of learning resources including educational games, simple recipes, and craft projects.
3. Storytel
Age range: 5+
Price: Free 14-day trial, after which a subscription costs 10 euros per month
Best feature: Wide selection of books, site allows you to see a preview before purchasing
Storytel is a great platform for downloading audiobooks. It’s like the Netflix of audiolibros en español. The two-week free trial gives you access to the full library with thousands of titles.
This site has books of all kinds for adults, an excellent collection of short stories in Spanish for children, and juvenile audiobooks. You can download the book files, so you won’t need internet access to read or listen to them later.
4. Smile and Learn
Age range: 3-12
Price: Free one-month free trial, after which it costs 5.99 euros per month or 35 euros per year
Best feature: The app includes 30 stories and educational games for free
Smile and Learn is a robust educational platform for families with children. It is an app that contains a ton of short stories and interactive stories. The first time you access the platform, you’ll need an internet connection to install the games and stories. Once downloaded, you will be able to use them without connection.
Smile and Learn features over 5,000 activities within hundreds of games, stories, and videos. According to their website, more than a million kids worldwide use this site. It specializes in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).
5. Cuentos infantiles cortos
Age range: 4-10
Price: Free!
Best feature: Large quantity of simple, short value-based stories
Cuentos infantiles cortos is a free site with a great variety of original children’s stories. Based on human values, each short story in Spanish includes a moral lesson. Their YouTube channel offers a selection of over 60 videos with drawings that illustrate the stories. The site, which is over 10 years old, also offers over 1,400 text stories.
Every day new stories are added to the site, as well as free resources, storytelling techniques, tips for parents, and the like. This comprehensive site is one of the best for helping children develop their imagination and learn about values.
6. Cuentos cortos
Age range: 3-12
Price: Free!
Best feature: Simplicity! Text-only stories with illustrations, no audio or video.
Cuentos cortos is another awesome site with a user-friendly interface. You can find stories by themes such as pirates or fairies, or opt to filter by values. Or, search by genre or characters or elements that appear in the stories. To read a story, just choose the one you want and it will appear on the screen so you can read it. It is a basic, free site.
7. Mundo Primaria
Age range: 4-10
Price: Free!
Best feature: Many of the stories include audio, video, and interactive versions
Mundo Primaria is one of the best websites for all kinds of stories for children. Many provide the text as well as audio, video, or interactive story versions. It contains classic stories and other categories like science fiction, legends, fables, and scary stories. Simply select the theme that interests you, click on the story and read it.
8. Cuentos breves y fábulas (Vol. 1, 2, 3)
Age range: 3-12
Price: Free!
Best feature: Simple interface and large story text with clean layout
This free collection contains 52 fables and 33 short stories in Spanish, as well as dozens of video stories and audiobooks. The fables and short stories are presented as a simple list of links to the story titles. Clicking on them opens up a new page with the story text. The videos are on YouTube and have Spanish subtitles. The audiobooks include text to read along with and include fables, classic fairy tales, contemporary short stories, and poetry—all in Spanish.
9. Habla Cultura
Age range: 12+
Price: Free!
Best feature: Topics of interest for older learners (teens and adults)
Habla Cultura provides texts for learning Spanish through culture and current issues. The site also features interviews and reports designed to be resources for Spanish learners.
Here you’ll find a rich treasury of over 100 texts for learning Spanish. All the texts are nonfiction and have a handy glossary at the end. And they come with audio files with narrators of various Spanish accents and dialects reading the texts. Many of the resources on this portal have been published in a magazine called Punto y Coma. Here’s a marvelous example on Paraísos Naturales En América Latina (Natural Paradises in Latin America.)
10. GN Diario
Age range: 15+
Price: Free!
Best feature: Topics of interest for mature learners (older teens and adults)
This GN Diario blog post offers a fantastic selection of seven cuentos. Some are short, others a bit longer. Do you like love stories or stories that get you thinking? Scroll through this post and practice your reading comprehension skills. All of these stories are written for an adult audience and are therefore ideal for grown-up learners of Spanish.
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