Coloring pages, crafts, printables and puzzles for kids from Activity Village
Google
 
Web www.ActivityVillage.co.uk

 

Home  |   Coloring Pages  |   Printables |   Puzzles  |   Crafts |   Games  |   Origami  |   Holidays  |   Seasons  |   Themes |   Jigsaws |   Kids Jokes |   Sudoku for Kids
Educational  |  Downloads  |  Parenting  |  Family Recipes Newsletter  |  What's New
Don't miss...
Autumn
Halloween
Bonfire Night
Diwali
Thanksgiving
St Andrew's Day
Hanukkah
Christmas
Kwanzaa
AV Baby

Sudoku for Kids - 120 Printable Sudoku Puzzles, Available for Instand Download
120 Sudoku Puzzles specially graded for kids!
Download and print now!

Christmas Is Coming.co.uk
Christmas is coming!
Need help? Free inspiration, crafts, decorating ideas, planning sheets, recipes, printables and more!
Click here!

Teach Your Children The Most Important Secret
Teach your children the most important secret!

Encouraging Reading

Encouraging reading

Encouraging your child to read a wide variety of books is probably the best education you can give them - but sometimes it seems an uphill struggle! We have put together a collection of tips and tricks to encourage reading which may give you some ideas, as well as pulling together a collection of free printable bookmarks which can make the process more fun.

By Lindsay Small

Library Day:
If you live near to a good library, you could designate one day of the week "Library Day". In any event, try to visit regularly and spend time browsing through the books with your kids. Getting your kids their own library cards can be a huge incentive - and many libraries run special programs to encourage kids to take out books.

Read With Your Child:
Younger children like nothing better than to snuggle up with their parents to share reading time. You could try reading a page each - it helps to keep the pace up and make the story more interesting for your child, especially if they are struggling a little. You can also practice putting lots of expression into your reading: if your child learns to do this too, it will help their understanding (and of course prove useful when reading out loud at school!).

Read To Your Child:
Even adults like to be read to sometimes - so try not to grow out of the habit of reading to your kids! Obviously it helps when the kids are similar ages and have similar interests, but with a bit of perseverance you should be able to find something which you can read to all ages and enjoy! If not, split the reading up into age-groups, or perhaps ask an older sibling to read to a younger one occasionally.

Listen To Audio Books Too:
These days it is easy to get hold of audio books for some of the best children's stories - either through your library or bookshops online and offline. You can also download audio books through iTunes or www.Audible.com for instant gratification, to be listened to either through an iPod or burned onto a CD, or find some good free versions of the classics at www.Gutenberg.net. A good audio book can be enjoyed by all the family, whatever their ages, and can make a long car journey hugely enjoyable. Why not set up a club with friends so that you can swap and share to keep costs down?

Provide A Good Selection:
Just because a story was your favorite as a child, it is not necessarily going to be your child's favorite too. Times have moved on and there is a huge selection of children's literature out there and easily available now. Let your kids dip into all kinds of stories and non-fiction to find what interests them. If you want them to love reading, you have to give them choice in what they read.

Finishing Books:
As adults we are not prepared to finish every book we begin - some are just plain dreary and we don't have enough interest in them to see it through to the end. Your child is the same! My kids were expected to finish every reading book they took out at school before they were given the next, and frankly sometimes even I felt like jumping off the top of a tall building rather than read to the end! I'm not saying you should let them off finishing every single book, but if they are really not enjoying their current book, consider whether the writing / story is really good enough to insist.

Fiction v. Non-fiction:
Your child may not be a fiction lover, but don't despair. Reading any well-written book is an achievement - and you can get a lot of good information and practice off the back of a cereal packet in the mornings! There are some wonderful children's encyclopaedias available now, and various magazines for kids available by subscription which they will be really excited to receive each month in the post. The library will have shelves stocked with non-fiction for them to sample, and they may well end up being a fount of useful knowledge and developing some life-long interests, too.

Reading Time:
Older kids can enjoy having a set "Reading Time" when everybody in the family - no exceptions - finds a comfortable place on a favorite chair or sofa and reads. Put some background music on if you like, refuse to answer the phone and drop all chores for at least half an hour!

Keep A Record:
Sometimes keeping a record can make reading more fun - for all ages. You could buy each child a special notebook in which to record all the books they have read, and any thoughts they have on them. Encourage them to set up a rating system and share it with their friends! Young kids enjoy getting a sticker on a chart when they have finished a book.

Another idea (which we used) is to create a "caterpillar" by cutting out colorful circles of paper. Decorate one to look like a cheerful caterpillar's face and then add circles for his body, one by one, each time your child finishes a book, writing the name of the book on the circle if you wish. You could have different colored circles for each member of the family if you wish (and if your kids can cope with the competitive aspect of this!)

One mother I know kept a notebook record of every book her son ever read, including the date started and finished, and a mark for "enjoyment factor". After a while she started to stick in a small image for each book, taken off the internet, and her son (now a teenager) loves looking through his record and remembering his favorite stories.

Provide Bookmarks:
Reading can be made much more fun for kids by simple providing an appropriate bookmark! When they are young, try to find something on the same theme as the book (perhaps you could find some images on the internet to print off and laminate). As they get older bookmarks can be more creative. Get the kids to help you make some one rainy day with scraps of card and ribbon, use some of their artwork, cut up old greeting cards and postcards, make collages from magazines, or use photographs of family and friends.

Older kids can leave a message on the back of a bookmark and leave it in a favorite book for a younger sibling to find when they read the book later. Perhaps the older child could write a little about the book and why they enjoyed it, and put the date they finished it too. What a lovely surprise to find a few years later!

By Lindsay Small

Lindsay Small is the creator and editor of Activity Village.co.uk - providing the ultimate one-stop resource for parents and teachers looking to educate and entertain their kids. Visit the website at http://www.ActivityVillage.co.uk or subscribe to the free newsletter at http://www.ActivityVillage.co.uk/free_newsletter.co.uk

** Attention Newsletter Editors / Website Owners **
Please feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your newsletter or on your site, as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content, and include our resource box as above intact.

Back to Parenting

 

Latest Articles...

The One Minute Rocket Ship Your Child Will Absolutely Love
The One Minute Rocket Ship Your Child Will Absolutely Love
We love Anthony's imaginative play idea which needs little preparation and provides many opportunities for bonding with your child, having fun and learning!

Sharing stories with children
Ideas For Sharing Stories With Children
This two-part article discusses the ways in which stories and storytelling play an important role in children's lives. Techniques are offered for using stories to help develop children's verbal skills and imaginations. This is part one.

Parenting Discipline
Parenting Discipline - Teaching Children Self Respect, Self Control and Empathy
For many parents, the words parenting discipline have very negative connotations. There is the association with their own childhood and the often unpleasant memories that thinking of discipline raises. Then there is the association of the word discipline with ideas around corporal punishment, with spanking, hitting and hurting children.

Who Owns The Problem - Parent or Child?
Who Owns The Problem; Parent or Child?
It is tempting for parents to assume ownership and responsibility for everything that goes on in the life of their child. However, when the parent jumps in too soon to solve the problem or give the answer, the child never learns to trust his own judgment and become a critical thinker.

Parenting - Making A Schedule
This article on the benefits of scheduling your day as a parent really struck home with me. It took me a while to work this out for myself when I had young children at home, and I wish I had done so - and benefited from the much calmer household that was the result - sooner!

Being Left Is The Definition Of A Mother
Being Left Is The Definition Of A Mother
To be a successful mother you must be left. Not left handed, nor to the left politically, but just left. This necessary abandonment comes in gradual stages and the steps toward this goal are painful to be sure.

The Uneducated Palate
When did you learn to really enjoy food? How about experiencing taste and textures? I think children develop a taste for food a lot sooner than we think.

Ways of Dealing With Separation Anxiety
All parents will remember how difficult it was to leave their children when they were young, and some of us had to deal with unhappy children suffering from separation anxiety, again and again and again! Veronica shares some tips on how to make the partings easier.

Math Games for the Active Child
To put it in a nice way, my son is rather squirmy. He doesn't like to sit still for very long unless he's playing a video game, then it's just amazing. So instead of constantly telling him to sit down and do his math, we take it outside or up the stairs, literally...

 

     

A Small Publishing Website    Contact Us    Sudoku for Kids   Privacy Policy

These pages are property of Activity Village and are for personal and classroom use only