Just Add Fun
Summer is a great time to plant a seed for the next school year. A child in love with words is a child in love with learning. Here are some tips we’ve gleaned from a number of sources on turning your kids into readers this summer.
Togetherness: Pick a popular children’s book and read it together. You can gear this for the age of your child, either letting her read to you, or each reading the book at the same time. Then plan a special outing —– a picnic in the backyard perhaps —– and discuss what you’ve read so far.
Book Club: Form a parent-child book club, inviting your children’s friends and their moms.
Make it so: Set aside twenty minutes a day for family reading —– and this means you and dad too. Ask a librarian to help pick books with your child’s interest at heart.
Join in book fun at the library: Lewis Cooper Jr. Memorial Library in Opelika hosts a “Make A Splash” family reading program. Kids can pick up a sheet at the library of the seven fun reading tasks they can complete for goodies such as certificates for ice cream. The Auburn Public Library has a similar program.
Author! Author! Save this for the day you’re hearing, “I’m bored!” Grab some family snapshots —– photos with the child in them work best —– and some construction paper. Let your child write a book about the photographs. Punch holes in the pages and bind it all with yarn. Enlist an older child in this effort, having him help the little one and double the payback. Another possibility, help your child write a simple story, and then illustrate it with digital photographs on the computer.
Blog Baby! It’s a snap to start a blog, and your child could too. Using free blogging sites such as blogger.com, livejournal.com, wordpress.com, or vox.com —– and there are dozens of others —– your child can create his own website. Send the web address to aunts and uncles. Their feedback can be incentive to keep writing.
What’s Cooking? Have your child read a recipe to you and help retrieve the ingredients. Even let them measure. In the process, you tackle reading, math, and following directions. Take pictures along the way for a future Author! or blog project. Pick a tasty recipe that comes together easily. Licking the beaters is always a good reward.
Stay up late: How about a little Midnight (or almost midnight) Reading Madness. Issue flashlights and read in the dark for a special stay-up-late night. Make sure you have fun books on hand. Don’t forget to break for snacks.
Movie research: Before you watch Jurassic Park, hit the library for some good dinosaur books to inspect together and separately. Try to pick books with themes of your movies.
Comic Adventure: Buy comic books. Not educational comic books, just regular ones. (Tread a little carefully here. Not all comic book content is kid friendly). You want to make a reader and there are millions of entrees into the reading world. This is one.
Set the Stage: Have books and magazines around the house. It helps if children see you engaged in reading. It can be anything from a beautifully illustrated edition of the Bible to hunting magazines, art books, and how-to manuals.
