50 Ways to Get Children to Love Reading!

1. Make a love of reading be your most important education goal for your children. Children who love to read will excel in everything they do
2. Show your children that you value reading, don’t just tell them. Let them see you reading
3. Make reading a daily activity
4. Take outings to the bookstore
5. Give books as gifts
6. Always have time to read with them or help them with their reading
7. Have a wide variety of books on hand, as well as newspapers, magazines and comics.
8. Find books that your children are interested in
9. Surprise your children with books about their favorite animal, hobby or passion
10. Join the Book of the Month Club and let them receive a new book every month
11. Create their own little ‘library’ in their room on their own bookshelf. Give them a sense of ownership

For Preschoolers

1. Take your children o the library often while they are young and eager to go
2. On special occasions, take your children to the bookstore and let them pick their favorite book
3. Buy lots of cheap books at garage sales and flea markets
4. Spend more time (and money) on books than on Disney movies
5. Make read aloud time fun for your child
6. Read whatever books your child wants to read
7. Narrate the story with voices and action, get into it and have fun!
8. Wrap up quickly when your child loses interest
9. Let your child participate as much as possible- let her finish the sentence, read the pictures, take turns reading, etc.
10. Plan play activities that involve books- picnics, crafts, science projects, kits.
11. Act out favorite stories and characters from books
12. Let them ‘read’ stories to their dolls or younger siblings
13. Play bookstore or library
14. Do projects, recipes, crafts and activities from books
15. Play reading games- cross of shopping lists, put name tags around the house, play school
16. Have a reading time after meals
17. Be aware of how your child learns best- visual, auditory, or hands on
18. Do a reading night with popcorn and blankets, instead of movie night
19. Don’t do any activities that your child doesn’t enjoy. Learning should be fun!
20. Don’t buy books that your child isn’t interested in and make them read them
21. After your child learns to read continue to read books to them above their reading level

Elementary School to Teenagers

1. Encourage reading a book series
2. Continue to encourage and participate in library use
3. Don’t schedule so many activities that your children don’t have time to read
4. Continue to spend money on books as well as all their other activities
5. Try reading plays aloud (and acting them out)
6. Have a quiet, comfortable reading area in your home. Make it the most comfortable room in the house
7. Fathers, spend time reading with your kids
8. Keep books and magazines in the car
9. Don’t make your kids turn the lights out at night, let them stay up and read!
10. Only own one television, and never put it in your children’s room
11. Cancel your cable subscription and buy books instead
12. Don’t force them to read something they don’t like
13. Send teenagers to the bookstore with money to buy any book they like
14. Allow them to choose their own books from the Book of the Month Club
15. Read a book together at the same time and discuss it
16. Encourage them to write and share what they read about. Do ‘book reports’
17. Keep perspective. Reading should be the number one educational goal, but not the only goal
18. “It is impossible to sit down to write if you have not stood up to live”- Emerson