Being a parent is tough! Now that children are done with the school year, we have to worry about how to foster all of the excellent progress they’ve made.
It can be difficult to strike the balance between wanting your children to have a fun, ‘work-free’ summer, while also making sure that they are learning and ready to hit the ground running when school begins again in the Fall.
That’s why I’ve put together a fun list of summer reading activities that won’t feel like work to your children, but will ensure they are still learning and sharpening their phonics and literacy skills.
Join your Library’s Summer Reading Program
Many local libraries sponsor some type of summer reading program. Visit the library closest to you for all of the specifics. Often, children work towards reading either a certain number of books or number of minutes/hours depending on their developmental level. Then as children hit those milestones they earn prizes of some sort.
I know, we’ve personally earned items such as Chick-Fil-A gift cards, coupons for discounted or free entry to local attractions, or even free ice cream cones or other small items from local eateries.
When children have something tangible to work towards they are more likely to be motivated, and hopefully you can also help them find authors or series they fall in love with.
Scholastic’s Summer Reading Program
Many of you are probably familiar with Scholastic books. From April 26th to September 3rd they are offering a free summer reading program that includes a digital, interactive community.
Children can read entire books online, track their reading progress, write stories, meet authors and more!
Head here to get started.
Play Reading Games
It’s no secret that when learning is fun, children are more likely to not only be engaged in their learning experiences, but also retain information.
Zingo is a particularly fun game designed for emergent readers. Scrabble is a classic for older kids!
Take a More Formal Approach
Some children really love a more formal approach to reading. Sitting down and completing worksheets is fun and exciting for them.
If this is the case, you can carve out some time daily for them to work on worksheets.
If your child is heading into, or has just completed Kindergarten, you can get my zero prep CVC Words and Sight Words Worksheets for Kindergarten Morning Work!
It includes 230+ hands-on, print-and go practice for CVC and sight words!
Just Read With Them
One of the easiest things we can do with our children to increase their love of reading, is share literature with them.
Take 10 minutes before bedtime each evening to read a quick story. Or you can even work through an entire chapter book if you find one that piques your child’s interest.
Leading by example is always the best policy.
No matter how you choose to engage in summer reading activities, your children are sure to benefit.
Do you plan to implement any of these ideas above over this summer vacation? If so, I’d love to hear which ones and how they go, in the comment section below.
Happy Reading!
