Reading can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience in life.
How do you teach children the importance of reading and encourage them to know that reading is fun?
Here are a list of tips to encourage even reluctant readers to want to read:
- Talk about reading. You can discuss why the child likes to or doesn’t like to read. This gives you a better understanding of how to best encourage the child to want to read. Talk about what kind of genre they like to read. You can share what you like to read and how reading makes you feel. If you are one of those reluctant readers, maybe you can find inspiration from these tips.
- Make Reading Fun. Create a games from elements, objects and pictures from the story. Find themes in the story that you can identify with and talk about what you feel or what you’d do differently. Encourage children to draw their own pictures showing things that happened in the story or a character from the story. Showcase the drawing somewhere in your home where everyone can appreciate and give positive comments.
- Keep a Reading Log. You can encourage the children to keep a log in a regular notebook or a special journal. They can design the reading log however they choose and list the book’s title, author, illustrator and 1-2 sentences about why they liked or didn’t like the book. This also includes ebooks.
- Promote Digital Reading. Children like digital materials as much as adults do. Allowing children to read ebooks can help boost them wanting to read a bit more readily with less reluctance. This can be an educational as well as fun experience for children to be more inspired and proficient readers.
- Special Bookshelf. Allow children to have a formal or informal “bookshelf” to place their favorite books.
“Dino Dan Superhero” by Jennifer Jones is a children’s book (ages 2-6) that encourages self-acceptance, imagination, nature appreciation, bath time, blast early learning with the dinos–123’s, ABC’s, colors and the Solar system–plus, a bonus bedtime story. Children will enjoy the two poems that are a part of the story. And you’re also getting two stories in one book.
The dinosaurs of DinoRock Village in Dinoland consider Dino Dan to be a superhero, not because he has superpowers, but because he loves himself, has great self-esteem, uses his imagination, and gives them positive encouragement. Children will enjoy Dino Dan’s adventure with his alien friends in space.
A bonus bedtime story is included as Mama Lucy Dragon tells the dinos a bedtime story about “The Very Hungry Dragon” also written by Jennifer Jones.
- Give Rewards. Children generally like being rewarded for what they do. You can give them stickers whenever they’ve read a book. You can present that reading 1-3 books a week (including ebooks) can earn them a sticker, an extra half hour of their favorite acitivity, or even an end of the month reward for more books read. For pre-schoolers to 3rd graders, they can take an extra toy to bathe with at bath time.
- Read Aloud. Reading aloud is a fun part of reading. You can read the story to your children or you can take turns reading. In this way, you’re also modeling reading to the child. And you, too, can enjoy the reading experience.
Developing the joy of reading early helps to build fond childhood memories as well as providing educational benefits and positive life lessons.
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Upward Tips 