7 Reading Engagement and Enrichment Activities for Children

Today’s post is all about throwing some reading ideas out there that can get your child reading in ways that will enhance his or her reading experience. Now, these 7 ideas are just that — IDEAS. It’s your job to figure out how to implement them and bring them to life in your child’s day-to-day.

In no particular order, here we go . . .

Activity #1

Research year-round reading programs in your local community through businesses such as bookstores and children’s recreational venues; summer literacy programs; and reading programs (through the school system, libraries, childcare camps, parks and recreation, and tutor centers). See what reading opportunities you can get your child involved with. Simply search the internet to see what’s out there in your neighborhood, in your community, in your city, long distance, and online. There are even online subscription reading programs that provide children with reading reinforcement activities on a regular (like weekly) basis or subscription programs that will mail reading materials to your child to be used throughout the month for each month as long as your child is subscribed.

Activity #2

Look locally (through bookstores, libraries, schools, and literacy programs) and see if there are any actual book clubs for children that your child can join. Book clubs are great opportunities for children to be held accountable for reading assignments (in an easy-going and, hopefully, fun manner). If your child likes sharing reading experiences with others, a book club may be right up his or her alley as reading books as a group and discussing those books as a group tends to be a prominent theme for such clubs. Having peers to read along with is one way to increase the willingness of your child’s cooperation to see a reading assignment through. The hope is that your child will find it interesting to think of other children who are reading the same book he or she is and may look forward to engaging in group discussion in a more laid-back educational setting than the traditional classroom. Young children also have a healthy way of being naturally competitive, so your child will want to get his or her reading assignment completed, because he or she knows the other children will be expected to complete this same task.

Activity #3

If your child enjoys listening to YOU read, you might also try having him or her listen to audiobooks. Reading books by audio format is a growing phenomenon and tends to be the preferred method of reading when it’s not possible to sit down somewhere and open up a book. I don’t consider the consumption of audiobooks to be the best method for reading comprehension, but it sure can play an invaluable role when it comes to helping your child learn how to improve oral reading skills. By listening to great storytellers lay out a story, your child will pick up on and be able to mimic those oral reading skills, such as fluency, pronunciation, enunciation, inflection, intonation, and emotion.

Activity #4

Give your child plenty of options to read for fun. There will be plenty of opportunities for your child to participate in mandatory reading assignments from school or work that may not necessarily be his or her cup of tea. So, give your child some freedom to explore what reading book adventures are out there (with your discretion, of course). Here’s my perspective as a protective parent: there is obviously some subject matter (that although written for children) goes against the values my husband and I have sought to instill within our children; therefore, we choose to exclude certain children’s books with certain subject matter from our youngest child’s reading collection. And as a protective parent of your child, you have every right to monitor and control what your child is exposed to through books. Let him or her pick out books of interest with your input included.

Activity #5

As I’ve previously mentioned when discussing the importance of your child listening while being read to (whether through your reading or the reading of other family members and friends or by listening to audiobooks), there’s something to be said for letting your child experience professional storytelling in person. One of the best places to introduce your child to storytellers is during reading times at your local library or bookstores. There’s nothing quite as special as hearing a great storyteller read or tell a story amongst a group of your child’s peers. Furthermore, I hadn’t mentioned this option previously, but YouTube videos are also a valid method to give your child exposure to storytelling when you can’t physically be in person at a reading or storytelling session.

Activity #6

Create reading field trips for your child by taking him or her to your local bookstore to pick out a book or two. To a reader, these places are awe-inspiring and life-changing. Oh, and don’t let me forget to mention your local library again. There’s nothing quite like your child getting his or her first library card and feeling the power of checking out whatever books (with your discretion) and however many books (with the library’s discretion) he or she wants to. And, the good thing about bookstores and libraries is that children have a choice in the formats of books they can purchase or check out (from physical copies to e-books to audio copies). (NOTE: e-books provide an alternative option for children to read books if they don’t prefer to handle the physical copies. E-readers and apps where your child can utilize e-books are a great investment.)

Activity #7

Have your child participate in reading sprints (not necessarily for quickness’ sake but to break down reading sessions into shorter periods that your child can repeat multiple times a day throughout the day). That way, the task of reading doesn’t seem as daunting. As an early reader, 20-30 minutes was the sweet spot for my (now) teenager, but do what works for your child. The whole purpose of this sprint is to encourage uninterrupted reading activity, while preventing the reading sessions from becoming too lengthy. When you start getting diminishing returns (where your child is tired, uninterested, has no recollection of what was read, and is not engaged), then you know you’re running too long. Shorten the reading sessions (but maybe do more of them throughout the day), so your child gets the most out of his or her reading time.

BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE ADULTS?

I can’t leave the adults out of the loop. So, I have a little reading enrichment for you, too. Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . 

Subscribe to the Degrees of Maternity newsletter!

Yes, I’m reminding you about my monthly newsletter, completely separate from this blog. Another place where you can catch up on all the different facets of Degrees of Maternity. Let’s just say content is multi-dimensional over there. A little bit of this and a little bit of that — all the topics of interest that I love (including, but not limited to literacy) are over there. 

Just know that the newsletter-joining invitation is always open; and if you’re ready to take me up on it now, just click here and sign up. Easy peasy. I would love to have you as a part of my email-subscribing family, because I know you’ll be receiving some additional informative, encouraging, and motivational content unique to the newsletter. So, please get on the list for your monthly reading enrichment. You’ll get something worthwhile out of each issue, distributed to your inbox every fourth Sunday of the month. 

And if you’re already visiting me monthly at the newsletter, you are much appreciated. Thank you for hanging out with me. It means more than mere words could ever express.

Until next time . . .