As we know reading is essential in our everyday world so as parents we should help encourage reading at home.
Reading is an essential skill and is very important in the process of learning. We know we want to educate our kids and reading is a part of that. Reading opens so many learning opportunities and helps build a strong foundation in learning.
It is also a great escape from the everyday world by using your imagination to travel to faraway places. These places may be ones you never get to go to and explore personally but can by vivid imagination from reading. The first step is to encourage reading at home.
Here Are Some Great Tips To Help Encourage Reading At Home
Start A Reading Routine Early On
Is establishing a reading routine beneficial? Absolutely! Set a specific time for reading every day, be it in the morning, during the day, or before bedtime.
It’s great to establish a daily reading habit by consistently choosing a particular time frame. This routine can become an anticipated and enjoyable part of your child’s everyday life. While it’s essential to have a dedicated reading time, encourage your child to read freely at other times as well.
Allow them the flexibility to read as much and as frequently as they want, promoting the possibility that they may independently engage in reading in their unique way.
Create Fun Reading Spaces To Encourage Reading At Home
Kids can read anywhere but sometimes it adds more fun to create different or unique places for them to read besides the couch or a chair at the table.
Come up with fun and unique places that your child will enjoy. Ask them where they want to read or help them find a special place.
I will list some fun reading spots but come up with your own as well or modify them to what your child likes. Don’t limit them to reading in only one space, let them choose and move around.
8 Fun Indoor Reading Spaces To Encourage Reading At Home
Tent: An indoor little kid tent works well. If you don’t have a tent make one with chairs or cushions and blankets. Kids love tents and reading in one is a great option.
Corner in a room: You can use any corner in an open room for a reading nook. Put cushions and comfy pillows there so that they can build a space to read.
Ball pit: If you happen to have a ball pit at home that can be a fun space to read. Kids love playing in a ball pit so why not read in one? We had a small kid swimming pool we inflated and put balls in it. Great for gross motor skill play but also a fun and unique place to read. My daughter started reading in her ball pit as a toddler. That was a place she chose to read without us initiating it. You just never know where your child will like to read.
- A variation to a ball pit could be a stuffed animal pit or pillow pit. Instead of balls, you could fill the pool with stuffed animals or pillows they could lay on and get comfy.
Swing or hammock inside: If you happen to have an inside swing that would be an excellent place for a child to sit in or on and read. My kids had a hammock swing that they enjoyed reading in. Some kids need that extra movement or motion to help concentrate so that can help while reading.
Chair: You can have a special reading chair for them. It could be a regular chair a kid recliner or a small comfy kid chair. Don’t forget about a fun bean bag chair.
Couch: If your child wants to read on the couch that is fine. They may want a special pillow and blanket to get extra comfy.
Window Seat: A window seat is nice if you have one. If you don’t maybe you have a spot near a window that would make for a relaxing spot to read and get some sunshine.
Bed: Beds are always a comfy space to read. My daughter loved having a princess net that hung down on her bed. She loved sitting and reading there in a makeshift tent over her bed.
- A bed may be a good routine for a bedtime story. But if your child seems to fall asleep too much or too fast while reading there during the day you may want to have other spots to have them read as well. If constantly falling asleep fast they won’t build up their reading skills or the amount of time they can read. Daytime reading might need to be in other places than a bed if they have issues staying awake.
7 Fun Outdoor Reading Spaces To Encourage Reading At Home
Swing: As I mentioned in indoor places to read, a swing is a great place to read. Reading with movement of the swing can be beneficial for some kids and can help them focus.
Grass: Laying in the grass or on a blanket in the grass to read can be relaxing. It can be a calming way to read and breathe in the fresh air. For kids that like the outdoors this can be a great place for them.
Playhouse or a space outside: To a kid a playhouse or play set is fun to play in. This type of space can be different to read in that seems fun to them.
Tent: A tent can be used during the day or at night. If at night it would be fun to use a flashlight or a battery-operated lantern to read by.
Swimming pool: This may sound crazy but if you have a small kid pool in the backyard during summertime play this might be a fun idea. As long as you have a waterproof book. If you don’t then make one.
- If you have a printer and a laminator you can create your waterproof book. Have your child help you create a story. You can type out the story or write it and draw pictures your child can color. Then print out the papers and put them into laminator sheets. Punch out a hole in the top left corner before laminating and then laminate the sheets. You can then put them together with a key ring or string to tie them together. It’s a great idea for making outdoor reading materials.
A Park: For a park outing, take a book for planned reading after your child is tired from playing on the playground or running around.
Car: Carry books in the car so your child can read on the way to do errands, school, or appointments where you will be waiting in the waiting room.
And carrying a variety of books on long road trips will come in handy and help your child’s reading time. Reading road signs and playing the Alphabet game when riding in a car can be lots of fun and help build literacy skills without your child feeling like it’s work.
Unique ways to make reading fun and encourage reading at home
Musical chair reading: Make a game out of reading books with a game of musical chairs. If you have multiple chairs and one or more kids this can be a fun way of reading. Place a little short storybook in each chair. Play a song and when the music stops the children will read the book in that chair. Then when the music starts they will continue walking around the chairs till the music stops again and so on.
Reading Space Swap: Each day during reading time have your child swap reading spaces. This will create fun so your child doesn’t get bored with reading in only one place. This can be swapping places with a sibling or other child or just swapping spaces throughout the house.
Use a flashlight and read in the dark: Let your kid read in the dark with a flashlight inside or outside. An extra fun idea is to read a space book outside where you can talk about the stars, moon, and planets and look at them. If you happen to have a telescope that is an added educational bonus.
Read to stuffed animals, dolls, or action figures: Set up stuffed animals, action figures, dolls, or Barbies that your kid can read to. It can be fun to read to an audience especially ones that don’t talk or interrupt you.
Siblings can be fun to read to: Having kids read to their siblings is a good way for them to create a close bond. It is a great way for siblings to model good reading behaviors. And older readers can help young children learn how to read.
Read about a certain place then visit there: Learning about places like a zoo from a book and then visiting one is a fun educational experience and can be a great way to entice reading.
- Read about real life places and then take your child to see that place. Talk about the difference between Fiction and Nonfiction books.
- When planning a vacation let your kids read about the state you are traveling to or the place you will go visit. Then they can compare what they learned from the book to the place they visited. It might even get your kid more excited to go on that trip and promote reading.
Movie and book: Some books have movies that were made based on them. It’s fun to read the book and then watch the movie together as a family. After you can compare and contrast what happened in each and how the characters differ from what you imagined.
Cookbook and recipe reading: Let your kid pick out a recipe and read it to you. Then you can make the food item together by reading and following the recipe. This also helps kids understand the usefulness of reading and how it helps through life in different ways.
Joke books: Let your kids read joke books (appropriate ones for sure). Maybe have a joke a day or at dinner time your child reads one joke to everyone. It’s also a great way to share some laughs as a family.
Library story time: Take your child to the local library. Let your child have their own library card and let them check out books. Start this with your little toddler. Some libraries have toddler time where they have a story time and fun. They usually have different age group times.
- Be sure to check out your library and information on story times and fun events that they offer.
Create A library: Take your child to garage sales or book sales where they can purchase new books to create their own library.
- Make a designated spot or bookshelf for your kids to display their books for easy access to read. Kids need their own books and books that are at their reading level.
- They need to have some they can access at any time and know are theirs to keep. As they get older they could sell or give them away and get books at a higher level if wanted.
Kids Magazine Subscription: Kids will love getting magazines in the mail. My kids loved the ones they would receive and looked forward to getting new ones in. There are different types of magazines out there for different ages or grade level. Some may have games and fun things for them to do in them that kids enjoy.
Reading Chart: Make a reading chart or reading log where your child can keep track of books they read. Seeing that chart may make your child feel good about their progress and accomplishments.
- You can even have an incentive or prize that your child can earn after reading so many books. You could have an ice cream night, s’mores night, popcorn and candy night, or take your kids to get ice cream.
- Some kids might like earning dollars and then go and buy something with it. It depends on what you feel is right and what you want to reward or incentivize your child with. This can be a positive reinforcement for your child if they really need that incentive to read.
Summer reading programs at School or Library: Make sure you check out the summer reading programs at the library and your child’s school. They can offer fun programs, fun prizes, and lots of other activities that might have your child wanting to read a lot to participate.
- This can help out with reluctant readers and can be the start of good reading habits. Some programs may even encourage reading books of different genres which is great for kids to explore and see what they really like to read.
Book Series Marathon: Depending on your kid’s age you can have a summer marathon where as a family you can read a book series like Harry Potter. With some books, it may be a year or two-long marathon since those books are long.
Book Club: Let your child create or participate in a book club. Book clubs can be fun for older kids or even high school age to promote the fun of reading with their friends.
- With younger readers or school-age child, you can create a book club at home, and can be a family affair.
- When they are older they may then want to create a book club with their friends. The more you model reading and present it in a fun way you can help promote reading with a positive attitude.
Audio books: An audio version of books can be fun for your child to follow along with or alternate with the audio form and the book form. This can be great for when you are riding in the car to and from places or on long road trips.
Family reading time: Have a family night where you alternate choosing the book to read. Then have each family member take turns reading. It’s fun when you have different family members using different voices for the characters. This also can be a great family bonding time or just good quality time spent with your kids.
Play games with reading involved: Play family games where you have to read cards. If you are having fun playing a game and getting some reading in too then that is a win-win.
Write and Illustrate your book: Your child could write their own book and draw their own pictures for their book. If they aren’t able to do that on their own you can help out. They could dictate their story to you to write down and then draw pictures. Or if you have multiple kids they could work together or divide up the work.
- When your kid is about middle school age they could write their own stories and have a chance in getting them published. My daughter loved to write and draw and got some of her stories published in a children’s book collection written by kids. Look in your area and see if anything like that is available. Sometimes that can spark your child’s interest and create a love to reading.
When should you start reading to your child? At birth or even while you have that big baby bump is a great time to start reading out loud to your baby. By talking a lot to your unborn baby or newborn they start to get used to the sound of your voice.
At this time you could read anything you want aloud and your baby definitely won’t understand. So read that romance book, action book, or Sci Fi book you are into and they won’t know.
How to read to your infant? When your baby is an infant you can read to them while rocking them to sleep. While nursing or feeding them with a bottle. Or just cuddling with them to read a book. They won’t understand what you are saying but will recognize your voice and be comforted by it.
Start showing pictures to your baby when reading. Try using black and white books for infants at first. It takes some time for them to be able to see different colors. Looking at black and white books with that high contrast in color and sharp lines is good for stimulating their eyesight and helping them focus their eyes and should be the first book they have.
How to promote reading to your little one? As your little one gets tummy time set up books that they can see when lifting their head. As they start to crawl and move around let them have little thick books or cloth books that they can grab and hold.
As My kids started army crawling or crawling I would set up kid books all over the floor. I’d open the books up and have them where they stayed upright and let them crawl to them to grab. After grabbing the book we’d look at it and then they would be off to the next book and so on. Continue to read to them and point at the pictures telling them what everything is.
Reading with toddlers. When reading to your little toddler use a small picture book. They will soon start pointing at pictures and you can say what it is. As they start to learn to verbalize and speak they will start to remember the name of the picture and will point and say the name. Sometimes it will just be mumbo jumbo till you can understand them and they can form words.
Continue to read to them and at some point, they will begin to learn new words. At this age, you may want to select a reading time each day so they get used to it and it becomes a habit or routine. This is a great start in your process to encourage reading at home.
Don’t ever make reading time feel like a punishment or a chore that they have to do.
Doing that will distance your kids from reading instead of promoting it. This will destroy any chance of the love of reading.
When reading with your children ask them questions. See what they are comprehending or remembering. Ask them what might have happened if they (the book character) did this instead. Help your child with creative thinking and problem-solving.
When your child is reading on their own you can read on your own and model good reading behavior. You want your child to see you reading and enjoying it.
The most important part of reading to and with your child in my opinion is the bonding time you create with them. Yes, you are teaching them to read and how to read but you are also engaging in some one-on-one time or family time with them.
Kids need that close interaction and closeness with family. Reading time gives you that awesome time to bond with your kids and help them feel your love and feeling of importance.
Always have books accessible and available for your child to read whenever they want. Let your kid find their favorite type of books and figure out what they enjoy reading.
When and as your child gets older it can become hard to encourage reading. Some kids will need that extra push and need fun ways to promote reading so be creative and help them figure out fun ways to read.
Help your children explore different genres and don’t discourage comic books and graphic novels if they are interested in those reading materials as long as they are age-appropriate books of course.
Promote and encourage reading at home and enjoy reading to and with your children.
Remember to be a great role model and promote independent reading by letting them see you doing it.
But the most important thing is to make reading fun and not a punishment or consequence of bad behavior.
Make reading a family fun event!