Provide Fun Reading for Kids

My college age daughter was doing some research on literacy and found out that boys weren't doing as well in reading. It was reported that the problem was that the reading materials that were presented to them in school wasn't that interesting to them.

Yes, I know that reading materials in the schools may not be all that interesting to anyone. The key is that we want to keep our kids learning and reading; it will help them to become literate adults.

If the school isn't providing interesting reading materials, find out what your kids are interested in, and provide them with some books that are appealing to them. If they aren't really interested in "books", check out comic books and/or song lyrics. Perhaps they'll want to sing along to their favorite artists. A karaoke machine can be used for learning activities and birthdays too!

Have them dictate a story to you, write their words down, and then read it back to them. Then have them read their story back to you.

If they are also writing, reverse the roles, and dictate a story to them and have them write it down and then read it back to you. It can be a made up story, and or an experience story, or about something that they would like to do have or do.

Change things up a bit by having them write with a paint brush. Get some poster board or larger paper so that they can write l a r g e.

You don't have to do all of the above; the idea is to provide some fun reading activities that are outside of the school environment that is just for fun.

If you have any other ideas, please share in a comment below.

Cheryl Paton

Literacy and Phonetics - Making Reading Fun for Kids

Part of learning is to make it fun. My daughter loved reading before starting school. She loved being read to and was learning how to sound things out. She had favorite books and looked forward to more. When she started elementary school, the school had a Book It Reading Program. The kids were rewarded for reading a certain number of books, and she loved that too.

Then came a higher grade, and the school wanted the kids to do timed readings. Do you want to be timed while you read? Do you think that would be fun? Well I know that my daughter didn't. She was pretty quick at reading; she had been reading pretty fluently for her grade levels and beyond for a while. But having to be timed, took the fun out of it. Reading became a chore.

After that class was over, she eventually learned to put the fun back in, and began to enjoy reading again. If you have any kids in grades that are doing timed readings, you might want to have a chat with the teacher. It's more important to give kids a reason to read, than to time them. Talk to them a bit about what the book is about. Spark their interest in wanting to find something out. You can do this by asking the child about what they think will happen.

My daughter is has graduated from college now, and recommends that the kids keep a reading journal. The kids read for a block of time and then write a short summary; a couple of sentences about what they've read. She remembers doing this in first grade and enjoying that activity.

Having kids enjoy learning to read as kids, is a great way to create adults who also enjoy to read.

Having the child dictate their own stories is a great way to build reading skills. Find out more on Dictate a Story.

Cheryl Paton