Summer reading is vital to kids' healthy learning development. To keep literacy, reading, and comprehension (all of the stuff they are working on in school) on course, kids need to keep their minds active. But it can be hard to stay put with a book when the sun is shining and the boat is already on the top of your car and the kids are running around in circles and jumping off of things. Here at Chooseco, we can relate. So our team has come up with some tips on how to get outside and enjoy the warm weather, while keeping reading in the forefront.
1. Create stories as a family while in the car, at the park, or out on the lake. When you get home, you can type it up and bind it up at a local paper shop.
2. Turn reading into a game. Lots of CYOA gamebooks lend themselves to this, as they are interactive and often have mini-quizzes in the back of the book. Try to see if you can make it to the end of a storyline without being scathed!
3. Select titles that have summer themes and pair well with the activities you have planned for later that day. Sand Castle would be great for the beach. Dragon Day works well when the Olympics are airing.
4. Wrap your paperbacks in plastic covering so they don't get damaged, then throw some books in your pool/beach tote.
5. Skip TV after dinner once a week and try to get at least 30-45 minutes of reading time in. Think about what your kids like to watch on TV and select titles that are similar. For the little one that loves the ocean, suggest Journey Under the Sea and scuba dive into the deep unknown sea.
6. Pick out a few books that have been made into movies. Make a reading challenge and watch the movie in sections. Your kids will race to read faster so they can watch the rest of the movie!
7. Have book themed scavenger hunt playdates. With groups of kids, you can have teams and they can read together to win small prizes (like more books).
8. Visit your local bookstore and library. Summers are generally full of events, often geared toward kids of all ages.
9. Let them choose. One of the main themes of the CYOA series is to empower the reader by giving them the ability to choose. Ask your kids what they want to read, and make reading something that they want to do, rather than a chore or homework assignment.
10. Couple reading themes with fun art projects and science experiments. Reading is lots of fun! And kids sometimes forget that during the summer. It's our job to remind them.
Happy summer reading! For more summer reading fun with Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, visit our summer fun page.