How To Encourage Your Children To Read This Summer
A special thanks to Scholastic for providing us with materials to sponsor today’s conversation!
I remember just a few months ago sitting in my daughter’s classroom as they celebrated the end of the school year. They had all come so far and it had been an amazing year for all of them. While saying goodbye to her teacher and wishing him well, his final words stuck with me “make sure she continues to read as much as she can this summer!” My daughter is an avid bookworm throughout the school year, but I know that many parent’s can agree with me that it can be a struggle in the summer when it comes to encouraging them to keep reading. We get so busy with vacations, travel, adventures and freedom… that we sometimes forget to remind them to turn off the TV and get out a book.
So the question is… how to you encourage and get your child to read during the summer? What incentives do you offer in order to give them that little push to take out a new book? The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is helping kids worldwide take the “summer leap” into great books with a FREE, online reading program. This year’s theme is “Be a Reading Superhero,” as it encourages kids to read more books, to help build their reading muscles.
So what is the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge and what can your child expect from this program? This challenge, if you choose to accept, will run from from May 9 – September 9, 2016. The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a free online program designed to motivate and excite your kids around reading books this summer. Kids can log the minutes they spend reading, play games, earn virtual rewards, and enter sweepstakes. Children will be encouraged to read as many books as they can, then log their minutes to get awesome virtual prizes! There are SO MANY resources and other amazing information/programs on this website that I have not mentioned. I highly suggest you take a look around the website and take advantage of all of the free resources.
I have always found that finding a quite spot that is free from distraction and devices the best place to bring a distracted reader. As a mother of three I have witnessed countless times my children eagerly sitting down quietly for their older sibling to read to them… but not wanting anything to do with me or reading. There is just something so special and captivating when an older sibling reads them a book. Plus your older child is getting practice reading out loud without any pressure or judgement. If you have an only child I would ask your library if they have any programs where children can read to them.
Reading is one of the most important skills your child will ever learn. There is no greater gift you can provide than with than the gift of reading. There are so many benefits to choosing a book, your child develops many skills and it provides them wit the opportunity to use their imagination. Help your child become a reading superhero this summer and help them sign up for the reading challenge!