Fun Activity to do with your Kids – Reading is Fun

Do your kids love reading? Do your kids show great interest in wide variety of books? Poetry? Stories? Academic books? Do you encourage them to read or do you read with them? Yes? That’s great!

A lot of kids like to read and a lot of kids don’t. Yes, kids are just like that, but…I strongly believe that the development of kid’s interest in reading starts at home…at early age… and with the reinforcement of their parents.

As loving parents, we want what is best for our children. Am I right? We do everything that we can because we hope to improve our children’s chances of leading a successful and productive life. One of the best things we can do for them is to make “reading” an essential aspect of their lives. Unfortunately, there are parents who fail to appreciate the advantages their children can have by being exposed into reading. Instead, some parents see “reading” simply as a form of habit or something their kids do to kill boredom. Parents need to realize that reading is more than that. Reading is a fundamental factor in the development of their kids’ potential for achieving success.

As said above, reading regularly is not just a mere form of habitual interest. Yes, reading is more than just an interest. We can consider reading as a priceless investment instead. Studies have shown that kids who are into reading are more likely to be intellectually inclined over those who aren’t. Research has also suggest that children who begin to read earlier in their life (toddler and preschooler) or children who have been accompanied into reading at early age do well during formal education, thus having greater chances of graduating from college.

An ideal parent is not someone who solely rest on the learning of his/her kids to the teachers. It is one of the top priorities of the parents to reinforce the learning of their kids. This is to emphasize that parents must be WITH their children to guide them in the learning process. Specifically, parents must share “book time” together with their child/children.

• To help them realize that reading is an important part of one’s life…and even more because

• they are very important to us. We love our kids and one way of showing our love to them is to spend or to share quality-time with them.

• Exposure to language/Mastery of language
• Foundation for later independent reading
• Reinforcing emergent literacy skills
• Reinforcing basic speech and active communication skills
• Enhancing concentration and logical thinking skills

Indeed, reading is best for our kid/kids.

Now it’s time for you to learn great tips on how reading can become a fun activity to do with your kids.

I have five beautiful nieces and one handsome nephew, yes, they are adorable, and all of them love to read books. I have books at home, maybe not a lot but many. Most of which I had as a gift from my parents and siblings and some were given by my close friends. And once in a while, these little cuties at home will ask me if they can borrow my books. I would love to! Why not? Reading is best for kids and I know that they really have the interest in reading. I can tell, because I see myself on them. They remind me so much of my young self. Yes, I too, as a child love reading books and even still. And this is how “reading a book” became a shared-activity between me and these cute little bookworms.

Consider these things first:

• The very first thing you need to do is to find a well-lighted place at your home; a comfortable spot where your child/children would feel safe, happy and relaxed during the “book-time”.
• Offer your kids a variety of books.
• Let your child/children choose the book to read even if it’s the same book over again. This is a smart trick to boost up their interest and attention since they love the book they (you) are reading. This proves effective especially those kids who are hard to sit still.

Well, it is already. But if you are asking how it can be more interesting and funny, then let me share these tips and ideas I personally carry out:

• I share them books that have a lot of images on it. Yes, kids love books that have colorful images on it. We call this type of reading material a “picture book”. Obviously, a picture book contains pictures that also contain short narratives to supplement the content. Whether it’s a complex picture of the human body systems or an enlarged image of a vampire bat, the kids will surely notice the picture. You can reinforce interest on the activity by asking them what they see on the picture and eventually they will start asking questions too. Well, you don’t need to be so smart to address each question that the kids might ask you. Naturally, kids are highly-curious and they get overly-excited in learning new things especially if it interests them.
• Purposely begin reading a story without telling the kids its title. When the story reading is done, ask the kids what might be the title of the story. Encourage them to think for a moment. When they’re done thinking then it is guessing time. Let them guess for the title several times. You can help them by giving them clues. I’m sure, kids love guessing games.
• Are you good at acting? Yes? Then act them out. Acting out what you have read in the story make the activity more funny and exciting. You can also let the kids take a part.
• Do you have many kids in your household? Yes? So, if the story includes several characters, then it would be great to let your kids take part in the reading. Assign each of them a character in the story and let them read their respective lines. Encourage them to read aloud with confidence and feelings.
• Ask open-ended questions. Ask them what might happen next. Encourage them to think about possible outcomes of things to happen. Let them express their thoughts and take time to listen to their ideas. This isn’t just making the activity more interesting and thought-provoking but you are also helping the kids’ imagination grow.

Reading books is indeed a lot fun. It doesn’t just feed your kids with new vocabulary but it also helps them develop their thinking skills. What’s most great about sharing this activity together is that it brings us closer to them.