School is almost out and you are suddenly faced with a long road ahead of you with kids at home and you are left wondering how to entertain them. One of the best ways for children to spend the summer is for them to engage in the fantasy world of+ fictional reading. Reading programs exist all over the United States and during the summer libraries have reading programs for all ages. Finding ways to encourage your child to read during the summer will be easy with these tips below.
- Start a book discussion group. Book discussion groups are another way to interest your older child. With book discussion group’s teens have the opportunity to voice their opinion and teens love to tell adults what they think.
- Make it an outing. With smaller children it can be much easier to encourage reading during the summer months. They are already bored with school being out so going to a library or coffee shop to read sounds like a lot of fun to them, plus they enjoy telling the librarian what they think of the books they read.
- Try reading challenges. Small children get excited when a new book comes out, they love to enter monthly reading challenges and look forward to the stamps they earn through reading maps.
- Go with a group. You can also encourage summer reading by inviting friends to reading groups or making frequent trips to the library to check out new books.
- Read before bed. Bed time offers additional opportunities to read as a family. Choose your favorite chapter book or children’s classic before bedtime as a family. Each child can have a turn reading a chapter or two aloud. This is a great way to get the entire family involved.
- Model good reading behavior (hint: let them see you reading) Struggling readers can be encouraged to read by modeling reading behavior Make sure they are choosing books appropriate to their reading level, talking about the story and what words mean. Make sure they know that everyone struggles with reading at one point in their life and that reading not easy at first but with practice it can become much easier.
Both my children enjoy reading, one more so than the other so incentives are not needed. Having older school-aged children I find that choosing their own book is often the biggest advantage I have to summer reading. Whether it is the companion book to an upcoming blockbuster for my son or a coming of age teen young adult novel for my daughter there is something for every child.
Do you have additional tips to encourage summer reading? What is your favorite book stores on the Northshore?
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