Tired of your kids reaching for devices instead of books? This post full of simple ideas to make reading fun for kids so that you can limit screen time and raise lifelong readers who delight in the wonderful world of story.
How do you develop children’s interest in reading?
Read to your kids frequently. Short spurts of time each day will go a very long way. Keep it simple and just commit to a picture book or a chapter of a novel as many days as you can. In our home, read aloud time is often chaotic. There are many noises, interruptions, needs, and questions along the way. But as I continually persist in presenting my children with lovely books, I am astounded by how they naturally carry the stories into their play and learning time. They make insightful connections and are often influenced in positive ways by characters from the stories we read together.
Hold off on screen time until you finish reading a book
Instead of allowing your kids to watch shows and movies daily, consider watching mainly movies based on books you have read together as family. Take a month to work through a novel over breakfast time. Celebrate when you finish by watching the movie version of the book you read.
Our favorite book and movie combinations:
- Nim’s Island book and movie
- Little Women (Classic Starts) book and the 90’s version of the movie
- Kit: Read All About It (American Girl) book and Kit Kittredge American Girl Movie
Start a book club
Start a book club with or for your child. You can do this for a short season like a summer or winter book club. Or you can work your way through an entire series over the course of a year.
My oldest child is an avid reader. Our choice to limit her screen time and surround her with lovely books from a very young age has paid off in dividends. She has been a participant in several book clubs over the years with friends and family members.
Getting another human involved in the reading process is a great way to make books more pleasurable for our children.
You could get your child involved in a book club by…
- Asking a mom of one of your kid’s friends if your children could read a chapter a week of a book you have vetted and then discuss it over the phone together
- Seeing if one of your children’s grandparents would be interested in reading with them in-person, over the phone, or on video chat once a week for a season
- Buying a book you know your child would especially enjoy and having a parent-child “book club” just the two of you, once a week after the other kids are tucked into bed
Give your kids the gift of audiobooks
Replace video games and TV time with engaging audiobooks instead. One of our personal favorites is The Sugar Creek Gang series. These audiobooks are perfect to engage elementary school boys in reading time.
The post below is full of book recommendations for kids:
Make books your family currency
Instead of allowance, reward your children with books in exchange for their chores. Come up with a list of really good book options that align with your family values and your child’s reading level.
Write a brief description of each book along with the title and ask your child which book they would like you to order them for that month’s allowance.
Easy Reading Routines To Add To Your Day
- Do a consistent morning read aloud time while the kids eat breakfast
- Turn on an exciting audiobook while the kids eat lunch
- Have Dad read aloud something engaging after dinner
- Require older siblings to read to younger siblings for ten minutes, once a day
- Remove screen time as an option and encourage your kids to read during quiet time
- Allow your children to stay up for an extra thirty minutes before their typical bedtime to read
Why Do Books Matter So Much In The Digital Age?
(Benefits of Reading for Kids)
The benefits of reading in childhood are plentiful. From lowering stress to increasing attention span, books provide a whole lot of good things that we parents want for our children. Many families get their kids off electronic devices by getting them interested in books. Reading is one of the best screen time alternatives we utilize in our household as a low-tech family. Beyond that, reading gives kids an academic edge. Young story lovers often develop strong vocabularies and advanced comprehension skills.
Children who spend their days getting lost in grand literary adventures are smart. Books provide them with a big base of knowledge to draw from. Readers often make thoughtful connections between real life experiences and concepts they were introduced to in stories.
Reading increases a child’s understanding of many complicated topics. It also ups their sensitivity toward others. Children who are exposed to a wide variety of great books get to walk miles in the shoes of all kinds of characters. They travel to locations and periods of history that would have otherwise remained elusive to them. Imagine how the world would change for the better if today’s children spent less time passively absorbed in overstimulating technology and more engaged with good old fashioned stories.
One of the best things we could possibly do for our preschoolers is skip the screen time and read to them instead. Here’s why:
How To Get Kids Excited About Books
Prioritize reading to your kids over using your phone
Our kids look up to us. They will care about what we care about. Consider your phone usage and whether it would appear that you care more about books or screens to your little ones.
For most of us, our technology is dinging all day long. There is always an email we could answer, an order we could place, a group chat we could respond to. The gadgets in our pocket never rest. They also provide no true rest for our soul.
Though smartphones promise ease and convenience, they often lead to isolation and frustration in our closest relationships. Use reading to fight back against the division devices can cause in your family.
Pause the to-do list, tuck away the technology, and be fully present with your children over an engaging book. It only takes a couple of minutes to read to our kids. If we can find the time to scroll on our devices for three to six hours a day, we can certainly carve out a few minutes to read to our children.
Consistency in this practice will make reading enjoyable for your kids.
Replace movie night with story night
Make family read aloud time a bonding event that everyone can get excited about. Help your kids look forward to it in the same way they might look forward to a new movie on a Friday night. Institute a special family reading time on a weekend evening when your kids might otherwise be on screens. Take them to the dollar store and let them each pick out a “movie candy” like sour patch kids, rasinets, or goobers.
Once everyone is settled with their snacks, start reading out loud or turn on an audiobook. Afterward, challenge each kid to draw anything that stuck out to them from the story. Sit beside your children and do the same. At the end, take turns presenting your unique pieces of art to one another and hanging them up on the fridge.
Need help unplugging and connecting with your family? Sign up for my fun Screen Free Family Bingo printable below!
How do you engage children with books?
I engage my children with books by slowing down to savor the pages with them, pointing out beautiful pictures, and taking the time to giggle at the funny parts.
Sometimes I pause to ask my kids simple questions as during reading time. For younger kids, I ask them to count the animals or find a certain object in the picture. For older kids, I ask them what they would do if they were in the character’s shoes or what they think about an event that happened.
Activities to Encourage Reading
- Take your child out for an inexpensive treat and an unhurried day at your library
- Give your child a book budget and help them to build up a nice library of their own
- Spend a whole afternoon at a used book store perusing the shelves with your kid
- Pretend you are the characters from a book you have been reading and act out a scene
- Go to the market for all the ingredients and work together with your children to cook the same supper or dessert that characters ate in your latest family read aloud book
- Provide art supplies and have your child illustrate their favorite part of a story. Sit beside them and do the same.
- Have your child write a book recommendation to a friend or in a makeshift family newspaper highlighting their favorite reads
Strategically strew books around your home
Strategically place books around your home in spots that your children will notice them. This is a little TMI, but it is a tried and true way that I have made reading more fun for my kids…
One of my children once shared with me that they did not like a home they had visited because there were no books in the bathroom. I couldn’t help but smile when my kid told me this.
In our home, some of us spend longer on the commode than others. Those of us who don’t make a quick trip appreciate the book bin that is attached to the paper towel roll.
Raise a reader by confiscating screens and providing books to read during potty time instead!
Create a book rotation
I have several bookshelves in our basement that I draw from to create an exciting reading rotation for my kids. After a certain selection of books have been in the bathroom bin for a few weeks, I swap them out with new books from the basement.
I find that my kids spend a little extra time on the potty on the days that new books have been put in the bathroom bin. Sometimes, they even come out when they are finished and thank me for changing up the books.
Lest you think the bathroom is the only place we read, rest assured that my kids peruse books all over the house. I leave fresh books strewn about our coffee table, in various book baskets, and in the children’s beds for them to find.
It’s the simple things in life that make the a big difference.
Book rotations keep reading exciting for kids. Check out library books often and use the books you already own wisely to stir up a love of reading in your child.
Raise readers by making reading mandatory
The more a child gets used to something, the easier it will be. Create routines in your home around reading. Start making it a nonnegotiable. Provide engaging books for your kids to choose from and let them peruse book lists that you trust to choose their own. Raise a reader by incorporating required reading times into your child’s daily schedule.
Here are some easy ideas to get you started…
- Give your child a Before Screen Time Checklist that includes reading.
- Provide set blocks of time where reading is the only option, such as after school or right before bed.
- Make reading a family affair by instituting a communal family reading time in the evenings. This is what my husband refers to as “mandatory fun”
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