All kids have the potential to love reading, even if they don’t know it yet. If you find it difficult to get your child reading for enjoyment, try out some of our tips to get your young student more excited about reading.
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Encourage activities requiring reading
- Bake a treat, and have your new reader read the recipe.
- Make a kite, and let your child be in charge of the directions.
- Go bird watching, and find the birds you see in your favorite bird identification book.
- Plan a trip to the zoo, and take a trip to the zoo to find all of the books on the animals you will see there.
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Take Library Trips
Get your reader excited to visit the library with a few simple tips. Start by getting them her own library card so that she is empowered to check out her own books by herself. Encourage your reader to pick out books that excite her based off her own interests. The more control you give them to read what they want, the more they will be motivated to read.
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Create a reading space
Creating a space dedicated to reading will emphasize how fun and important it is to read. Start by choosing a space with good lighting and a comfy chair to sit in for reading. Try to make your reading space minimalistic. You don’t want your reader distracted while they try to indulge in their stories. Have a bookshelf for your books to live in the space and organize a portion just for library books. You can keep all their library books in a special part of the bookshelf so they can keep them safe to bring back to the library!
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Make a scheduled reading time
Block out a certain part of the day that works for your family so you can sit and read together, even if it’s only a few minutes. Blocking out a time every day to read lets your reader know its important to spend time to read.
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Let them see you read
However important it is to encourage your reader to read on his own, if he don’t see he role models doing it, he will not want to either. Ultimately, if reading is important, they need to see their important people reading too!
Together with the above ideas, pay attention to what your child thinks is fun when it comes to reading. You will be much more successful creating a lifelong learner who enjoys reading if you find ways to make it fun when they are young.