Cultivate your early reader by creating rituals that promote reading. Here are a few rituals that can help keep your child motivated and make reading fun.
- Create a reading nook in your child’s favorite spot. Depending on your child, this might be a private spot in her room or a public spot near the rest of your family.
- Read to your child before bedtime. Let them know that you read then, too. Talk about the books you are excited to read. Your enthusiasm can inspire them to want to read just like you. Put a reading light in your child’s room to encourage reading in a soothing way. This is especially helpful for your older reader who might need bedroom rituals to promote sleeping. Reading is a great way to settle your child’s body and mind.
- Start a book club and read the same book together or separately. Discuss elements of the story together. What did you like best about the book? What did you think about a particular event or character in the book? You can even have your child invite their friends to join and to read the same book.
- Make a record of all the books your child reads, so he can make book recommendations to his friends and keep a tally of how many books he has read. Goodreads is a great app to use as a tool to keep track of books that you have read, plan to read
, or are currently reading. In addition, you can search for books for your child and learn more details through other reader reviews and a summary. - Subscribe to a few magazines that your child loves. (See my blog of magazine recommendations.) Your child’s excitement when that first magazine arrives and eagerness for each monthly issue will amaze you!
- Read aloud to your child using books at a higher reading level. It is a wonderful way to improve listening comprehension. You can determine the right reading level by having your independent reader read a book of their choice to you. Books, where on average your child misses ten words per page, are good candidates for you to read aloud. You can read aloud to your non-reader or emergent reader to expand vocabulary and work on comprehension. Every page or two, ask your child key questions about what you have read. Questions such as, why did the dog feel sad when he was lost in the forest? Or what state was the family traveling to on their trip to the beach?
These are just a few ways to create rituals that foster your child’s love of reading. What are some reading rituals you have created with your child?
