8 Easy Ways to Help Your Child Fall in Love with Reading
Reading Time: 5 minutes Listen to the podcast version:
How to Engage your kids in fun reading activities
Reading can be a fun activity, a way to manage stress, and the bridge to educational success. Unfortunately, many children are resistant and parents struggle to get their children to enjoy reading. Here are eight tips that you can use to help your child fall in love with reading.
1. What does your child enjoy?
Each child has their own unique personality and likes or dislikes. The same is true for types of books. Just because your older child loves books and thought the Percy Jackson series was exciting does not mean your other child will too.
To find out what your child will enjoy, try asking what type or genre of book your child likes.
If they are uncertain, read a series of short stories. Try books that are funny, meaningful, witty, factual, action based, a mystery, futuristic, or about animals.
Then ask them which ones they liked the most and why. This should help you narrow down your search for the perfect books for your kiddo.
2. Audio is the way to go.
Find the book on audio. In 25 Fun and Fabulous Reads, I tell you how to get audio books for free. Our library offers 6,000 juvenile and 3,000 young adult books in audio format.
If a child is challenged by reading, but enjoys stories, allow them to listen to the story on audio as they follow along in the book. This will make the task of reading less intimidating, instill 3-dimensional characters with voices, and allow your child to build reading and comprehension skills. Your child can fall in love with reading by listening to someone read to them.
3. Read it twice.
Reading the same book again is okay. If they first read the book using audio and then feel they are up to the challenge of reading the book on their own, this is a wonderful sign! Encourage them the try it out on their own, now that they know how the story progresses, they will feel the confidence to tackle the book on their own.
Children who find reading difficult often enjoy reading the same books again and again. They are able to “pick up” on finer points, character’s actions, or humor that they may have missed the first time.
4. Let them see reading in action.
Yes, it is important to model it. I know, you are busy. The reality, however, is why should your child believe that reading is important if they never see you reading? If you do not love reading, it is going to be hard to convince your child to fall in love with it.
Take this a step further and talk about your books together. What are they liking/disliking/finding interesting in their book? Tell them the same about what you are reading.
Turn what you are reading into the focus of a conversation.
5. Make going to the library an adventure.
Your local library often has events and happenings for all ages. Make going to the library an exciting and looked forward to event. Everyone gets time to browse the shelves to find their perfect next book.
Be sure to check out the calendar. Most libraries offer story time for the littles. Join the summer reading challenge. Check out if there are activities or clubs for your school age children. There may be book clubs for teens. The idea is to make the library a focus of social engagement.
6. Show them reality.
Is your child still unconvinced? Does your child really not like reading. Show them where they need to use it, by participating in activities where they naturally read.
Cook together, they can search Google for the perfect thing to cook and then they will need to read recipe or you can check out Quick and Easy Meals Your Kids Can Cook.
Build something, whether a model car or piece of furniture, you need to read the instructions and the types of tools and measurements.
Create a garden, read growth requirements for starts, seed packet needs, how to deter bugs, etc.
Play a new board game, choose a game that requires reading the board or game cards, like Would You Rather.
Use an interest in an activity or hobby to help your child fall in love with reading.
Make the road trip fun!
100 Would you rather cards!
- Easy to print
- 8 "cards" per page
- Good for ages 5 and up
- A social emotional learning lesson for each level (not based on a social issue, but on true SEL learning)
- Some are thought provoking
- Some are just fun and goofy
questions to bring fun to your road trip
7. They get to be the critic.
Many books are being made into movies. Have your child first read the book. Then watch the movie together.
Your child gets to give the review.
Which one did they like better?
What differences did they notice?
Do they like the way the characters were portrayed in each?
Allow your child to not only see the differences but have an opinion about each one.
Your child may fall in love with being a critic long before they fall in love with reading, but they have to read the book in order to give the review.
8. You’ve got mail!
Choose a magazine specific to your child’s interest.
For a fabulous gift, get them a subscription that is delivered to the house.
Your child will receive something just for them in the mail, every month, that is specific to what they like.
There are magazines for children as young as three years old. You can find a magazine for almost any topic of interest: animals, mazes, cars, fun facts, sports, etc.
The benefits of regular reading as a child are extensively documented. It is exhausting to have to struggle with a child who does not want to read. These 8 tips should help you find a way to encourage your child to fall in love reading.
A story can be new and yet tell about olden times. The past comes into existence with the story.
~Never Ending Story