How to Keep Your Child Reading Over the Summer
Summer break may seem like the perfect time for kids to take a step back from learning for a short period. However, continuing to expand their knowledge, especially through reading over the summer, is critical!
Reading isn’t only an educational activity, it’s a way to explore new topics, interests, and expand imagination.
Why Reading is Great for Summer
Reading is the perfect summer activity because it’s fun, it can be done almost anywhere, and the options are endless!
No matter what your child’s age is, if you want to keep them reading over the summer try incorporating the following methods:
Keep your child reading over the summer by:
- Pack books or purchase at your destination
- Use a reading log to track finished books
- Participate in a Reading Challenge
- Set up or join a book club
Pack books or purchase at your destination
Having reading options on vacation, in the car, or while waiting at events is a great way to encourage reading in your child’s free time. It can be books or even kid-friendly magazines that interest them. It’s important to have a couple options for the more reluctant readers because they still may be uncovering their interests.
You can even incorporate reading into a trip by stopping by a bookstore at your destination. It can even be a local spot where you set a theme for a book they must find. Once they purchase the book, they can include a note about why they picked it and what they liked about it. This will get them excited to pick out books and add to their collection.
Use a reading log to track finished books
Keeping track of books read is a way for kids to see what they’ve accomplished and be encouraged to continue adding to their list. By seeing what they have read, they will be excited to fill in the rest and may even be inspired to continue past the summer months. You can encourage your child to read books of different genres to explore what interests them the most. This will help them get outside their comfort zone and reading books that they may not have picked up prior.
Additionally, you can use the reading log to set goals such
as a certain number of books read or reading books with more than 50 pages.
Having different goals will help keep motivation up for them over the summer.
Participate in a Reading Challenge
While the Reading Log is an excellent way to encourage continued reading, a summer reading challenge can be an extra boost of motivation. Oftentimes, there can be a reward or recognition for completing it depending on who is running the challenge. This is a fun way to build their motivation as they aim to achieve the challenge goal.
You can incorporate the Kumon Summer Reading Challenge into your summer as there are a variety of activity sheets that allow kids to be creative and have fun. This challenge encourages students to read different genres all throughout the summer. Check your local Kumon Center’s challenge rules as each center varies.
Set up or join a book club
Book clubs aren’t just for parents! You can set up a book club for your child or join an existing one within the community. A book club can be done with your child’s friends, children that may be in other extracurricular activities, or even a local library. It can also be set up as a parent-child book club depending on the age!
The book club meetings can be as fun as you’d like them to be such as getting together in the park monthly or even have a pizza party night. This will allow them to connect with others to learn about different perspectives or interests based on the books. It is also encouraging for older children to see their parents reading books alongside them.
The Takeaway
Whether your child is in first grade or eighth, there are a variety of ways to keep them reading over the summer. Reading throughout the summer is great because no matter where your plans take you, you can bring reading materials with you! By encouraging tracking with a reading log, joining reading challenges, and even a book club, you can motivate your child to read in their free time.
If you’re interested in additional reading resources, check out the Kumon Reading Program. This is a great way to build reading and writing skills that will prepare kids for the school year ahead.