A grandmother settles into her favorite chair in Georgia while her grandson climbs into bed hundreds of miles away. A parent opens a laptop from a hotel room while a child at home chooses which story they want to hear. Two cousins who only see each other a few times a year decide they're going to read the same book together, one chapter at a time.
They aren't in the same room, but for the next little while, they're going to the same place.
That's the simple idea behind virtual storytime.
At its most basic, virtual storytime means using technology to share a story when the people reading together can't be physically together. That might happen over a video call with a physical book, through a digital book both people can see, or through an interactive reading experience designed specifically for people participating from different locations.
But the best virtual storytimes aren't really about the technology.
They're about what happens around the story.
The predictions. The questions. The silly voices. The moments when a child interrupts because something on the page reminds them of something completely unrelated. The conversation that starts with a fictional character and somehow ends with a story about what Grandpa did when he was seven.
The story gives people who are apart somewhere to meet.
Virtual Storytime Is More Than Reading a Book Over Video
When families first try reading together from different homes, the obvious solution is often to open FaceTime or another video calling platform and hold a book toward the camera.
And that can work.
If Grandpa has a favorite book his granddaughter loves hearing him read, there is nothing wrong with keeping it simple. Children don't need an elaborate setup for a story to matter.
But anyone who has tried this probably knows some of the practical challenges. The child can't always see the illustrations clearly. The book covers the reader's face. The camera reverses or blurs the page. Someone keeps asking, “Can you see this?” The child gets distracted while the adult struggles to position the book, and suddenly everyone is paying more attention to the technology than to the story.
That's why it helps to think of virtual storytime not as reading a book through a screen, but as sharing a reading experience across distance.
That distinction opens up many more possibilities.
What Does Virtual Storytime Actually Look Like?
There isn't one correct way to do it.
A grandparent might read a physical book while a grandchild has another copy at home. A traveling parent might read a chapter aloud at bedtime while a child listens from under the covers. Two people can take turns reading pages, or the child can do all the reading while the adult becomes the enthusiastic audience.
You can also make the story more interactive by pausing to predict what happens next, looking for details in the illustrations, deciding what you would do if you were one of the characters, or imagining what might happen after the story ends.
The point isn't to recreate exactly what reading together would look like if everyone were sitting on the same couch.
It's to create a version that belongs to the two of you.
Sometimes that version may be wonderfully chaotic. A seven-year-old may want to spend five minutes discussing one illustration. Someone may invent a ridiculous voice that becomes the official voice of a character forever. A question in the book may lead Grandma into a story about her own childhood and the book may not get finished at all.
That's still storytime.
In fact, some of those detours may become the parts a child remembers most.
Why Stories Work So Well Across Distance
Conversation can be surprisingly difficult when an adult and a young child aren't together regularly. Adults tend to rely on questions: How was school? What did you do today? What are you doing this weekend?
Children don't always have much to say in response, particularly when they're tired, shy, distracted, or simply more interested in the Lego creation sitting three feet away.
A story changes the dynamic because neither person has to carry the conversation alone. Suddenly there's a third thing in the relationship for both people to respond to.
You can wonder together whether the character should open the door. You can laugh at the same illustration. You can disagree about what should happen next. A child who answered “nothing” when asked what happened at school may have a surprisingly passionate opinion about whether a dragon should be allowed to keep a mysterious glowing egg.
Stories give conversation somewhere to begin.
And because stories invite imagination, the conversation doesn't necessarily end when the book does. A character or idea can return during the next call, become an inside joke, inspire a drawing, or lead to another story.
That's how one reading experience can slowly become part of a relationship.
Who Can Share Virtual Storytime?
Grandparents and grandchildren may be one of the first relationships that come to mind, especially when families live in different states or countries, but virtual storytime can fit into many different kinds of family life.
A parent who travels frequently for work can keep a familiar bedtime ritual going from a hotel room. A military parent can share a story when schedules and time zones allow. Parents and children living across two homes can create a reading tradition for some of the evenings they're apart. Aunts, uncles, older siblings, cousins, and other important adults can use stories as a way to remain part of a child's life between visits.
Virtual storytime can also be useful when families don't live particularly far apart but can't always be together. Sometimes the obstacle isn't hundreds of miles. It's work schedules, illness, transportation, or simply the complicated logistics of modern family life.
The important part isn't the reason you're apart.
It's having a way to keep sharing something while you are.
How Long Should Virtual Storytime Be?
There is no perfect length, and longer isn't necessarily better.
For children ages 5–9, a meaningful virtual storytime might last twenty minutes. On another night, ten minutes may be all anyone has. A child may be completely absorbed one week and restless after eight minutes the next.
That's normal.
The goal shouldn't be to keep a child on a video call for a certain amount of time just because everyone scheduled it. Pay attention to the experience instead. If you're both laughing, talking, wondering, and enjoying the story, keep going. If a tired child has clearly reached the end of their attention, finishing on a happy note may make them much more excited to return next time.
A short experience a child looks forward to can become far more meaningful than a long one they begin to dread.
Make the Child Part of the Storytime
One of the easiest ways to make virtual storytime more engaging is to move away from the idea that the adult performs while the child watches.
Let the child participate.
They might choose the story, read a page, predict what happens next, make a character voice, spot something in an illustration, answer a question, or decide what the characters should do. If they're beginning to read independently, they may want to read to the adult. If they don't feel like reading that day, they can simply listen and participate in other ways.
There is no need to turn storytime into a reading lesson unless that's what the child wants.
The relationship comes first.
For an adult who doesn't see a child every day, this can also be a lovely opportunity to learn how that child's mind works. What makes them laugh? Which character do they immediately trust? What do they notice that you missed? What would they change about the story?
You're not just learning about the book.
You're learning about each other.
Give the Story Somewhere to Go
A particularly lovely thing happens when storytime begins spilling into the rest of the relationship.
If you read about an unusual bird, Grandpa might photograph one he sees later in the week. If a character is searching for treasure, a child might create a treasure map before the next call. If everyone becomes obsessed with a fictional creature, you might spend the next storytime drawing what its house would look like.
You can also create rituals around the experience. Maybe Sunday evening is always Grandma's story night. Dad reads from his hotel room every Tuesday when he's traveling. An aunt and niece alternate who chooses the story each week.
Over time, the ritual becomes bigger than the individual book.
A child isn't simply remembering a collection of stories. They're remembering, Grandpa and I always read together on Sundays.
That's how shared experiences begin turning into shared history.
What If You Don't Have the Same Book?
You don't necessarily need two copies of a physical book, but this is one of the places where traditional video calling can become awkward.
One option is for the adult to read while occasionally showing illustrations to the camera. If both homes happen to own the same book, each person can follow along. You can also choose stories available in formats that allow both participants to see the content appropriately.
Another option is to use an experience built specifically for shared online reading.
That matters because when both people can experience the story without constantly managing cameras, pages, and positioning, the technology begins to fade into the background.
And that's where virtual storytime gets especially interesting.
How Bailey & Beau's Reading Room Approaches Virtual Storytime
The Bailey & Beau Co. Reading Room grew from the same question behind this article: What can families actually do together online when they can't be in the same place?
We didn't want reading together to feel like one person holding a children's book toward a webcam while the other person watched.
The Reading Room is designed around shared participation. Children ages 5–9 and the people they love can experience Bailey and Beau stories together in real time, including when they're joining from different locations. The story gives them something to discover, talk about, imagine, and respond to together.
Explore the Reading Room →
And because sometimes families are in the mood to create, discover, solve, or imagine rather than read, Bailey & Beau also has an Activity Room built around shared interactive experiences.
Explore the Activity Room →
Bailey & Beau Co Activity Room
The goal of both is the same: not to give children another reason to stare at a screen, but to give people on either side of that screen something meaningful to experience with each other.
Is Virtual Storytime Considered Screen Time?
Technically, yes. A screen is involved.
But that doesn't mean every experience involving a screen is the same.
There is an important practical difference between a child passively watching something alone and a child using technology to interact with someone they love. During an interactive virtual storytime, the child may be listening, speaking, predicting, imagining, laughing, asking questions, reading, and responding to another person.
The screen is facilitating a relationship rather than replacing one.
For families trying to make thoughtful decisions about technology, that distinction can be more useful than simply counting minutes. Instead of only asking, “Was my child on a screen?” it can help to ask, “What was my child doing while using it?”
Were they consuming something alone, or were they creating, thinking, talking, imagining, and connecting with another person?
Those are very different experiences.
How Do You Start a Virtual Storytime Tradition?
You don't need to make it complicated.
Choose someone your child loves, choose a story, and decide when you're going to meet again. If the first storytime lasts eleven minutes because somebody gets distracted by the dog, that's okay. If you spend more time talking than reading, that's okay too.
What matters more than creating the perfect first experience is returning for the second one.
Children begin to recognize patterns quickly. When virtual storytime happens regularly enough, it can become something they anticipate: Friday is my night to read with Aunt Sarah. Grandpa calls on Sunday. Dad reads with me when he's traveling.
Those repeated moments quietly tell a child something important.
You are still part of my life, even when you aren't here.
A Story Can Give Distance Somewhere to Disappear
Virtual storytime won't make the miles between two people disappear. It won't replace being able to climb onto Grandma's lap, sit beside Dad on the couch, or turn the pages together in the same room.
It doesn't need to.
What it can do is create a little piece of life that still belongs to both people.
For twenty minutes, you're not simply a grandparent in one state and a grandchild in another. You're wondering what's behind the same mysterious door. You're laughing at the same character. You're trying to solve the same problem. You're adding another inside joke to the growing collection that nobody else quite understands.
And years later, a child probably won't remember which video platform you used or whether the connection froze halfway through page seven.
They may remember something much simpler.
We used to read together.
That's the real promise of virtual storytime.
The story gives you somewhere to meet, even when life has put miles between you.