This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and SunnyD, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #keepitsunny http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV. This post may contain affiliate links.
It’s never too early to get your kids excited about reading! Whether your child is an avid reader or too young to learn yet, you can still use these tips! One of my favorite things about parenting is reading to my kids. I love snuggling on the couch or bed with a pile of picture books or sharing a chapter book I loved at their age. Now don’t get me wrong, there are times when everyone is bickering about whose book I will read first, who gets to sit where, and the toddler keeps interrupting, but it’s worth all the little struggles because my children are learning to love books and reading. If you are looking for ways to help your child love reading here are 12 ways you can help light that fire:
12 ways to get kids excited about reading
1. Find a consistent time to read to your child. Bedtime works for many people, but I am burnt out at the end of the day so we read at breakfast and snack. The little 6 oz. bottles of SunnyD I found at Winco are perfect for snack time. When you’re done, don’t toss it in the trash just yet! Keep scrolling to see how it can help budding readers!
2. Set a goal for just 10 minutes or one book and add more time as you and your child are ready.
3. Help your child do their own Reading Rainbow style book reviews and send them to a grandparent or friend.
4. Create a book worm on their wall.- Cut out paper circles. Draw a face on one and hang it on a wall. Then add a circle for each newly read book. This similar idea from Land of Nod is really cute- just use book titles instead of numbers!
5. If your kids are active and don’t enjoy sitting while listening to a story keep them engaged with LEGOs, toys, or paper and crayons while you read.
6. Listen to audiobooks in the car, during a meal or before bed.
7. Create a hall of fame for your favorite books and display them on a shelf or table.
8. Make posters for your child’s room out of the dust jackets of beloved books.
9. Make a map of Story Land with your child and mark where all of your favorite books are located. Maybe the Three Little Pigs live in the same forest as the Goldilocks and the Three Bears? The movie Into the Woods might be a little too much for your kids, but it did a great job of weaving the fairy tales together into one environment. I bet your kids’ imaginations can do even better! 😉
10. Talk about the books you read. What might the characters might do in different situations? Make up an alternative ending.
11. Create inside jokes with your kids about your favorite books. We now call gas (you know, flatulence?) “Whizz-pops” thanks to The BFG by Roald Dahl.
12. Create a book rich environment with help from the SunnyD Book Spree Program.
The SunnyD Book Spree is a fantastic opportunity to put up to 20 new books in the classrooms of children in kindergarten through 7th grade:
Just collect SunnyD labels and send to your child’s teacher. Teachers will then send the labels into SunnyD to get free books. For every 20 labels received, SunnyD will donate 20 free books. (expires on 11/30/15 or while supplies last)
This is the 9th year that SunnyD has offered the Book Spree Program and even home educators can participate! Tell your friends and your child’s teacher about the book spree and get started today by clipping and collecting eligible SunnyD UPC labels.
Nicole Burkholder
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Pat says
I used to read to my 2 girls for 1/2 an hour every night when I put them to bed.. We would walk to the library and pick out our books and then I’d read, short ones perhaps 2 a night and as they got older and the books got bigger we just did the chapter thing. Once they were reading on their own on summer holidays, we would get their books and 1 hour in the afternoon was rest/reading time. It was a habit and they enjoyed it ( I needed the rest!). Now both girls are in their mid forties and still are avid readers. And my 5 Grand children , 3 in University, 1 finished with her masters in Arts, and one still in high school , are all readers. Some are more into e-books but others still like the smell, and feel of a real book in their hands.
My daughters both at different times have told me how much they enjoyed the books being read to them at night, and both continued that with their children. As a single parent for many years I am glad they enjoyed so much something that didn’t cost money, and that I was able to do with them.
Nicole Burkholder says
My husband reads to the kids at night. It’s their special time together. They are transitioning into chapter books more and more, although our 4 year old still prefers the picture books 🙂 It’s such a great habit to nurture in kids! It sounds like you did a fantastic job with yours!