The long and wonderful summer is drawing to a firm close, and the kiddos are all getting ready for their return to school.
For most, it will be super exciting to go back and see their classmates and their teachers.
However, after a few months off, the reading skills may be a bit on the rusty side - especially if they're not all that into books in the first place.
Thankfully, we have devised a few handy tips that will help to encourage your gorgeous little ones to read!
You're welcome.
1. Whenever you read, try to be engaging. Give the characters special voices and be expressive when it comes to particular emotions. Reading quickly in a monotonous is not going to draw your child in or encourage their imagination.
2. Get your child to read to the family pet. It might sound odd, but a cat shelter in America set up a programme where local kids came in to read to the cats each week. They found was incredibly comforting to the animals and also helped improve the children’s literacy and interest.
3. Children can view reading as a chore, especially once they start school. However, If they see Mum or Dad spending a relaxing hour enjoying a book and a cup of tea, they’ll have a positive opinion of it. Make sure you never use reading as a punishment. Many parents will switch off their child’s computer after bad behaviour and then hand them a book to entertain themselves with.
4. Associate reading with positive experiences, like taking your child to the Natural History Museum after they read a book on dinosaurs or visiting a castle after they read a book about knights and princesses. It can also be fun to tell them about your own favourite books as a child – your enthusiasm will be contagious and your child may even want to read those exact books, giving you a great bonding opportunity.
5. Keep a book in your bag – you never know when you’ll get stuck in a long waiting room queue with your child and need to kill some time! If you stop into a café for lunch with your child, you can also use that time to read to them.
6. Children’s writers often do public readings of their books and this can be a great way to ignite your child’s interest in reading. Libraries and bookstores also hold occasional readings of great children’s books.
7. Rather than grabbing a book that you think is interesting or buying one from the bestsellers list, take the time to match books with your child’s interests. They’ll be more likely to give it a shot if the topic is already attractive to them.
8. When reading out loud to your child, be sure to leave them on a cliff hanger, even if it means stopping in the middle of a chapter. They’ll be more excited about continuing the story if they’re waiting to see what happened.
9. Get older siblings to read to younger ones. They’ll enjoy showing off and be able to improve their skills, while encouraging the younger child to be like their big brother or sister and pick up their own book.
10. Talk about exciting books you and your hubby are reading over dinner with the kids. They’ll be more likely to pick up a book so they can also talk about it and join a grown-up conversation.
