8 Ways to Make Reading Fun & Engaging for the Summer!
It’s that time of year again and schools are out for summer. For a lot of folks that means family vacations, sleeping in or a time to catch up with family and friends. Whatever the case, summer break for me has always been a fun time for me to work on my hobbies, do some traveling and at the very least catch up on some summer reading.
Like many educators across the city I’m excited for the close of an adventurous school year and also looking forward to some much needed time off. Similarly, I also can’t help but think about the potential learning loss that happens over the summer, also known as summer slide. Summer Slide or Summer learning loss is when some learning that occurred of the ending school year fades over the summer break.
Here are a few family friendly ways that you can make reading fun and help to ensure that learning continues to happen over the summer break.
1. Consider planning a family book themed field trip as a way to extend/expand the readings. For example you can visit museums, cultural events, restaurants, festivals, etc.
2. Book Themed Dinner Nights: consider planning a book themed dinner or make a fun snack based on a book that you or your family are reading. For example the “Nate the Great” series (pancakes), “If You Give Mouse a Cookie” (cookies), “Strega Nona” (soup) are great examples. Also, here are a few links with some great ideas to get you started. https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/shopping/articles/the-best-kids--books-about-food https://bookroo.com/explore/books/topics/food
3. Make a habit, build a tradition, create a routine of reading your favorite weekly article, Sunday paper or blog post. Consider creating a weekly family newspaper where you create your own comic, article or news story.
4. Audiobooks are another fun and engaging way where you as a family can enjoy a great story either individually or together. This can be a great idea during those summer road trips or even to have playing as you read along with the physical copy.
5. Change the setting/Set the stage- One way to make reading fun and more engaging for the whole family is to mirror the setting of the book.
6. Attend a community reading or literacy event. Many local libraries, bookstores and coffee shop offer and may host events where authors and storytellers provide reading programs
7. Family Art Night- have a family book themed art night and create crafts based on the overall books or pivotal imports at details. For example if you read “If You Give a Cat a Cupcake” you can make a cupcake collage. Here is a link with some great literature and art aligned activities. https://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/giant-list-of-story-art-projects/
8. Game Night: After finishing up a great read consider having a family trivia night based on the book you just finished. Sites like kahoot have user friendly ready made games to go for all ages!