Reading is a powerful and fulfilling activity. It gives kids a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence that can lead to lifelong learning.
Let your students know you read and enjoy books yourself. Talk to them about your favourite book or a quote from one of their favourite books.
Make time to read with your kids every day. This shows them that reading is a fun, social activity.
1. Make Reading a Part of Your Everyday Life
Reading can offer kids connection, access to knowledge, and a world of possibilities. But with so many distractions, a love for reading can sometimes be hard to foster. Parents can help children develop a love for reading by making it part of their everyday lives. Read to them in a comfortable and consistent environment, and make it clear that you value their time with books over other activities.
Make it fun by introducing interactive elements into the reading process. For example, when reading books with animals, encourage your child to clap along with the rhythm of the story or to make sound effects with their voice. For older kids, try doing an “I Spy” activity with them, where you hide words in their favorite book and challenge them to find them (e.g., a fox, a dog, or an owl).
Choose books that align with your child’s interests. For example, if your child loves animals or outer space, there are a lot of different books on those topics that they might like. Likewise, if your child is interested in music, humor, or sports, there are also a lot of different books that relate to those themes.
Read aloud to your kids, even after they can read on their own. This helps improve their listening comprehension and allows them to connect what they are reading about to the real world. You can also get your child to pick out the books they want you to read to them, which teaches them that reading is their choice and not something forced upon them.
Attend or host reading-related events, such as book fairs, reading festivals, and author visits, to help your child feel connected to other people who share a love of reading. This will also show your child that you value reading as a way to socialize and learn. You can even start your own family book club by inviting other families to join you. This will give your child a sense of belonging to a community of readers and may be the motivation they need to pick up their own books.
2. Let Your Child Take the Lead
Children are naturally curious and creative. It is important to nurture those traits through play and reading, especially in the first six years of life, when brain development occurs at a faster rate than at any other time. While parents may feel like they’re not doing enough to encourage their youngsters to read, there are many ways they can help foster a love for books and learning.
One way to do this is to let kids take the lead. Instead of forcing a youngster to pick up a book, have them choose what they want to read from their own collection of books or at the library. Allowing youngsters to select their own reading materials empowers them, adds confidence and boosts their interest in the subject matter.
When reading aloud with a child, pause frequently to discuss what is being read. This helps bring the story to life and builds engagement, comprehension skills, and critical thinking. It also lets youngsters practice their own diction and pronunciation, which is vital to developing strong literacy skills.
If a parent feels their youngster is struggling with reading, they should talk to their teacher to get a better understanding of what kind of literacy instruction is being provided in the classroom. Then, parents can provide more support at home. For example, if students are relying too much on pictures and not enough on sounding out words, parents can work with teachers to increase phonics instruction.
Parents can also encourage their kids to re-read familiar books. “Repetition is key for learning,” explains Rasmussen. “So when your child wants to take that same book out of the library for the 100th time, let them!”
Another fun reading activity is having kids try to spell words out loud. For instance, a student can be challenged to find everything in the kitchen that starts with a certain letter or to stretch out the final syllable of a word (like salt). This type of activity helps reinforce sound recognition and improve phonics skills. It also encourages a love of language and reading by showing kids that there are many different ways to communicate with words.
3. Don’t Pressure Your Child
Parents have to teach their kids a lot of things, including how to use the potty, eat with a fork and say please. But they also have to show their children that those activities are fun and worthwhile, not something to be forced or yelled at. That principle applies to teaching reading, as well. Children will respond better to a gentle, positive approach than an aggressive one.
One of the biggest mistakes that parents can make is to place too much pressure on their kids to read. “If a parent is constantly reminding their kid that they are behind on their grade-level reading, it could actually make them less interested in reading,” says Paul. This is because if they feel bad about their level, they will probably stop trying.
Instead, she advises parents to encourage their kids to read by letting them pick what they want, even if it’s below their grade level or not considered “good” literature. This can help them develop a love for reading and empowers them to become independent readers.
She also says that it’s important to listen to children as they read and to help them when needed. If a child is struggling with comprehension, have them explain what they read to you or have them retell the story in their own words. This practice will improve their understanding of the text and make them more likely to succeed in future assignments.
Finally, she recommends encouraging kids to reread books and poems. This will help them learn the meaning of the words and see how the different parts fit together. It will also help them build fluency and retention, which are essential for success in reading.
Reading is one of the most important skills that kids will learn in school. But it’s also an activity that can be enjoyed with family and friends. To foster a love for reading, parents should be sure to build time into their everyday routine for reading and stories. Whether it’s at breakfast, lunch or bath time, this will help their children learn to enjoy reading for fun.
4. Make Reading Fun
Reading can feel like a chore to many kids, and it’s often seen as something they “should” do instead of having fun. Parents can help to change that perception by making sure reading is a positive, enjoyable experience. They can do so by incorporating reading into everyday activities, such as having children read out loud to them during meals, having them read while on public transportation, or reading together at bedtime.
Another way to make reading more fun is by having children create their own stories, or even write them down on paper. This activity is a great way to boost creativity and literacy skills, as it encourages children to think critically about the words they are reading. It also helps them to create their own visual representations of stories, which is important for developing literacy.
Parents can also make reading fun by showing children that it’s a hobby that they enjoy, just as much as playing video games or watching TV. They can do this by reading a book or article in front of their children, or by having them join them in reading a favorite chapter from a novel.
Additionally, parents can help their children have fun with reading by introducing them to new types of books. For example, they can help them find fantasy books that match their imaginations, or nonfiction books that will expand on their current interests (such as motorbikes, dinosaurs, frogs, or fairies).
Finally, parents can make reading more fun by encouraging their children to interact with the story, using their faces, bodies, and voices to add drama and excitement. They can also use the book’s illustrations as a jumping off point for imaginative play. For instance, they can dress up like characters from the book or act out scenes from a story.
In addition to making reading fun, parents should remember that their children’s interests will change over time. As such, it’s okay if they don’t seem interested in Achebe or Dostoevsky at this point. Rather, it’s more important to find books and other reading materials that reflect their current interests.
