Children and Reading Activities Throughout the Day

Mom and daughter enjoying reading activities
I read constantly and so do my children. Reading is key to future success in school and adult life. We developed reading habits at an early age and it is an integrated part of our day. I can hardly imagine a day without any of us reading.

 Reading activities for kids

Rise and shine to a world of reading. My girls are in the habit of reading and leaving notes about the day on the bathroom mirror. There may be a note about schedule changes for the day or notes of encouragement. My teens often read the nutritional labels on the breakfast items they eat. Younger kids might enjoy reading to you the back of the cereal box. While they are waiting for the ride to school or while you are gathering items for your morning errands, encourage your child to read a book for enjoyment.
 
Open a book to a day of adventure. No matter where your day takes you, there is an opportunity for reading. Keep your child’s favorite story book in your bag for those waiting room moments. Bring your own book, too. Modeling is essential to encouraging young readers. Be sure to check out the summer reading activities at your local library. They will be starting before too long. Our local library even hosts a day with carnival games and prizes. My children have out grown the activities but now volunteer to help with the games.
 
Reading is not just the evening’s homework. I encourage you to set up a homework area for your school are children. We always had the children spend at least 30 minutes there after school. If there was no homework for that day then they could read for the 30 minutes. If you are busy nearby, have them read aloud to you. This skill helps with their reading comprehension.
 
Children can help with the dinner success. Reading is not just in books. Practical reading can be in a recipe or product labels. Many of your boxed meals have pictures and just a few words. This is an opportunity for early involvement in the kitchen and reading for your child. They are also more likely to eat supper if they helped make it.
 
Reading is a ticket to a dreamland of opportunities. Every child tries to push their bedtime later. My girls were allowed to read for a half hour past bedtime. They would drift off to sleep dreaming of the adventures they discovered in their book.
My children are book geeks, but they are proud of it. They seldom complain about the reading that is required in school. Reading is the key to knowledge throughout your life. Enjoy these activities with your kids

14 thoughts on “Children and Reading Activities Throughout the Day”

  1. Hi! You are a lady after my own heart! My name is Tina “The Book Lady” owner of a little blog called Family Literacy and You. We are having a FUN week honoring Children’s Book Week with a Spotlight focused on our favorite Children’s Books – and then we are GIVING THEM AWAY! =D

    Check it out @ http://familyliteracyandyou.blogspot.com/2011/04/childrens-book-week-spotlight.html

    I have already posted this on FB & will stumble it too – I’d love a stumble back and please join us on Children’s Book Week – I have 6 books that I am giving away this week – something for everyone from Babies to Adults.

    Tina “The Book Lady”

  2. Love, love, LOVE reading!! And you are right, it is such a key to success. My 6 year old has learned to read this year in kindergarten and it makes my heart smile. :)

    Stumbled you back!

    1. Janelle Pooler

      I know the feeling… my oldest started reading in Kindergarten and her and one other girl had special classes because their reading was more advanced than the rest of the class.

    1. Janelle Pooler

      I found the key was to help them find something they are interested in reading and then that book should with the help of a good librarian lead you to more books that are like that. My 16 year old went through that phase and then she got hooked on My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I challenged her to read the book before she saw the movie that summer. She did and was disappointed that it did not end the same. I had read the book by that point and she rushed home to tell me that it was going to make me mad. My 12 year old is just getting past the interest lull. She got hooked on the Twilight movies and so I had her read all the books. From there she has moved on to the Pendragon series and some others that are in that fantasy realm.

    1. Janelle Pooler

      I grew up a reader and raised my girls that way too. I am the grand daughter of a librarian. My other grandmother was on the City Library Board. My parents were and are still avid readers. I did my work study in college in the library. It is so much a part of my day.

  3. Hi Janelle,
    What a great post! Reading can be so much more than just a book…although books are wonderful friends to us all. I loved your point about reading while having children help in the kitchen…the recipe, the ingredient labels. Helping young children develop pre-literacy skills is such an important parental responsibility. Parents can use any opportunity to foster the love of books and reading…how about when shopping…young children would love to hold the list and cross off items as they are put in the shopping cart…colorful labels offer another reading bonanza!

    1. Janelle Pooelr

      It would be very easy to put some of your favorite recipies or your shopping list in a protective sleave and then children can cross things off with a dry erase marker. You can use the recipie or list again and again.

  4. I couldn’t agree more!! Reading is essential to academic success, but it truly holds the key to life success. My tween is one of the few who participate in her school’s Accelerated Reader program and she has hit her goal of 200 points! (which means she read quite a few books and took quite a few tests to get there) I believe that her imagination is expanded, her vocabulary is far greater than her friends, and her computerized testing is better than most classmates because of the testing for AR.

    And, she would be reading anyway, so it’s nice to have a goal that has measurable achievement, which AR does.

    It’s funny that you posted this today, as I just became aware that this is Children’s Book Week and am working on a post for that right now!

    1. Janelle Pooler

      I am the mom of a tween and a teen. My 12 year old is no longer in accellerated reader because they do not offer it at the middle school. The skills and love of reading she learned from it though make her an active reader today. We live within walking distance of the library and she and her sister walk there at least once a week. My step kids were not raised as readers and so it is really noticible around our house. I have certainly noticed that school work is easier for my girls that are readers compared to my step son who is not.

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