Encourage Reading with Your Kids
Reading can spark some new ideas… and in a few days you might even see things you’ve read in your book being reenacted with play.
My favorite was the gingerbread man book the same week we had the nativity out. That cookie was running away from all the nativity characters!
Reading stretches the imagination and helps kids make sense of new topics and ideas.
It also is a relationship booster and the biggest helper in setting a STRONG foundation for kids learning to read and write.
Here are some ways to encourage reading at home (which also encourages more imaginative and independent play, woohoo).
Make sure your kids have plenty of books
Go to your local library
Let them choose books
Do a book swap with friends
Use OverDrive with your local library account for FREE digital and audio book rental
Garage sales or thrift stores. I have a HUGE book collection and the best deals I find are old teachers selling their stash at garage sales. Books they paid $12 for once upon a time are 10-25 cents sometimes. It’s amazing.
Put book in convenient places
If there’s a book about building… sometimes I throw it in the block box. Or a book about the zoo, I throw it in with the bin of animals.
Have books in the car, in rooms, in living spaces
Keep Reading in Your Routine
Read books together as a family
Read during roadtrips in the car (audio or read aloud)
Read stories at bedtime