AD | Affiliate Links
Most teachers would agree that literacy is a foundational skill that is among the chief aims of early childhood education but the quality and frequency of home reading support make a drastic difference in academic language success at school.
Reading activities that kids can do at home
“Reading is the key that unlocks virtually all other learning,” states the U.S. Department of Education. Reading activities that kids can do at home build their vocabulary and expressive abilities, preparing them to communicate fluently in the classroom.
Read-Aloud
The simplest home reading activity is reading to your kids from the time they are young. Starting with simple tactile and colourful picture books when they are infants, you can move into more complex storylines and chapter books that tie into your child’s natural interests, motivating her desire to read on her own.
Point to pictures to draw connections between the visual and the text. By running your finger under the text as you read, you will reinforce the left-to-right text orientation. Ask your child to predict what will happen next to develop an awareness of plot structures. Then, you can turn the tables and let her read to you.
Audio Books
An easy twist on the read-aloud is to have your children listen to audiobooks. Listening gives them a good sense of the flow and rhythm of language, enhancing how they express their own thoughts and feelings.
A child understands what is spoken to him long before he can read the words that are used, but if he has heard the words before he tries to read them, it is easier to learn to recognise them in print. Listening to good children’s literature exposes your kids to a greater variety of words than they might hear in their immediate environment, equipping them with a formidable vocabulary with which to build their literacy success.
Book Talk
If you want to raise kids that read, let them see you reading. When you make reading a family affair, you open the door to discussions about what all members of the family are reading.
Whether it be the newspaper, your favourite sports magazine, a DIY manual, a cookbook, or a novel, share your thoughts about it with your child and ask her what she is reading. Elicit dialogue on favourite parts, what surprised her, confused her, made her happy or sad, and other aspects of the story. You should try to keep the discussion light and open-ended with no right and wrong answers.
Google Books
If you can’t get your kids away from the technology aspect of reading. Think about finding books at Google Books or other online websites that have books that are readable. By having them use these types of websites, they may find books of interest to them. Even if the website only lists partial books, your kids may find they want to check the book out at the library after they have read it online. This may also take them on a search for a website that has the book listed in its entirety.
Start a Kids Book Club
If your kids and their friends are interested in the same genre of books or series of books, start a book club for them. The kids can check out the books at the library if they don’t want to buy them or have them in their collection. This allows the kids to share their thoughts on the books as they read them. They can discuss the characters, plots, and everything about the book.
If you have younger children who don’t read yet, the parents can read the book to them. After the book has been read the children can discuss the book as a group. This can be substituted for play dates from time to time. Making sure the kids have books they can read at their reading level will help with the discussions.
Start a Kids Book Swap Club
If your kids prefer to read at their own speed and on their own time, they can swap books with their friends. Allowing the kids to read at their own speed and on their own time, allows them not to feel pressured into reading. By allowing them to swap books with their friends, all of them can read books they like without spending money on entertainment.
Find Youth Book Club in Your Area
You can check with your local school, libraries, parks, and recreation to see if there are any youth reading groups in your area. These types of groups are based on book reading hours like some of the libraries have during the summer. In some cases, there may be a local youth book club available for different age ranges of children.
If there is a youth book club available, you can check into what types of books are being read by them. This can help your child and yourself decide if this is the right group for them. Finding a book club that is in your child’s interest range, will help them enjoy reading the books on the list.
Recipes
Many children are eager to try out their kitchen skills, wanting to imitate what they see the important adults in their lives doing. You can harness this interest and turn it into a reading activity by having your child take charge of reading the recipe and following the instructions. Ask your child to retrieve the ingredients from the cupboards and read the labels. Read a picture book such as “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett or “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, and let him prepare some of the story food.
Closed-Captioning
Closed captioning on your TV is an economical way to expose your kids to print, letting them absorb the sight of the words and their sounds, making connections to how print is used. When your child has developed some decoding skills, try it with the sound off to engage her mind in finding meaning through the text rather than audio reception.
With all the technology available, children only pick up a book to read when they have to. Being able to get your kids interested in reading shouldn’t start a war in your house. They should be enjoying reading a book of some genre.
Photo Credit: depositphotos.com
