Summer solstice happens this week and this always makes me feel like it’s just downhill from here on out.  A new school year will soon be upon us and I’ll be back to the daily grind of fixing lunches and signing field trip forms.  But, when school time does roll around, one of the things I will feel most proud about is the fact that my kids stayed interested in reading pretty much all summer long.  They both love delving into a new book, but we also like to keep things fun and different around here.  You could consider doing one {or more} of the following ideas to help keep your little guys and girls interested in reading all summer long!

• Participate in Summer Reading programs.  I can’t stress enough how fun this is for all who are involved!  And, coupled with the fact that it’s pretty dang effortless, makes it a must-do in our casa!  I live in the Kansas City metro area and recently posted a few of the programs of interest, but many of them are also happening outside of my area.  Check with your libraries first, then bookstores and the like.  In a nutshell, these summer reading programs allow your kids to earn free books or credit towards books as an incentive for keeping track of what they’ve read all summer long.  Plus, you can even make it fun and “match” similar prizes, like I do.  Once they reach their personal goals, my kids get little “milestone” prizes like an ice cream cone or a new bookmark — you get the idea.  It’s my way of rewarding them for reaching their goal and sticking with their summer reading program.

 

• While you’re picking up your summer reading program registration materials at your local library, pick up a chapter book {or two} and have family reading time together each day.  Designate a specific time that works for your schedule.  For us that means bedtime.  After showers and brushing teeth, either the hubs or I reads anywhere from 1 to a few chapters of our current book.  This is a fantastic way to engage in your children’s development and love of reading.  After we’re done reading each night, we take a few minutes to talk about things like plot, real-life situations that may remind us of parts in the story, character development, setting, and other story elements.  It is great quality time that I cherish and I hope my kids do too!

 

• Host a book swap party for your kids and their friends.  This is something I recently shared on my #Summer It Up: 61 Great Ideas for Summer Fun post late last month.  Have your child{ren} invite a few friends over and have them bring several books they no longer want.  Assign each person a ticket for each book they bring and organize all the books by category or fiction / non-fiction.  Each person may use their tickets to take home new-to-them books and they’ve instantly added to their summer reading collection!  Consider serving light refreshments to make the book swap a bit more social and fun!  Kids LOVE parties like this!

 

• Try the Reading Eggs online program for FREE for 2 weeks.  After getting access to a free trial to this program through my kids’ school last year, I fell in love with it and what it offers.  I signed up as a member and my kids truly love working on their Reading Eggs almost daily.  It is a fun, education-based teaching method that fosters a love of reading and makes reading a blast!  I love the exclusive parent dashboard you get (yes, even with the free trial!) because it gives you the ability to track your child’s progress and see exactly what program activities they have completed online.  There is also a section with free printable activity sheets that you can take on-the-go with you or just use them as needed.  For younger readers, the program focuses on giving you their estimated reading age, sight words, and phonics skills.  It gives you easy to read and understand stats for your child as well as progress they are making.  The kids enjoy this program because it self-adjusts, meaning that based on their answers the lessons stay challenging but fun!  My kids love the games they get to unlock once they’ve reached certain goals within the Reading Express site and I love that they are having fun while staying engaged with learning!

 

• Invite them to participate in creative journaling or storytelling at home.  My kids are given a new topic each day on which to journal about.  They truly enjoy being able to write freely anything they want that falls under that day’s topic.  One of the other ideas I have {and will be implementing next week} is a family creative storytelling journal.  I will take a blank spiral and in it, write a few sentences to get the beginnings of our story going.  Each child will then take a few moments each day to read what was written previously and add their own lines of the story.  We can enjoy reading the story as it develops together and just see where our imagination takes us!

I know many of you have great ideas and traditions that have worked for fostering a love of reading in your kids’ lives.  I’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions about it, so please feel free to share! 

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