6 Simple Tips to Keep Your Child Reading this Summer

Keeping your child reading over the summer is not always an easy task.  

If your child reads over the summer, they will maintain or gain reading skills, keeping them at or above grade level. If your child doesn’t read over the summer, they are likely to lose reading skills, giving them the potential to fall behind. By the time they reach fourth grade, your child may be more than a year behind grade level.

Summer reading programs help--especially those that incentivize and reward your child to keep reading, but programs on their own are not enough to keep the desire to read alive. Love for literacy is a family undertaking. To keep your child engaged and onboard, there are some key things you can be doing to help keep reading fun through summer. 

• After your child reads a book, talk with them. Discussing books is an easy and fun way to keep your child engaged with reading. Talking about books signals to children that you are interested in what they are doing, and encourages them to keep going. Conversations about books also improves comprehension skills. 

• Read often. If your child sees you reading, they will want to read too. Talk to your children about what you are reading, and let them know you enjoy reading as well.

• Make reading part of your child’s routine. Set aside a special time to read with your child every day. This will give them something to look forward to, and reading will become a regular family activity. 

• Read aloud to each other, or to a pet or stuffed animal. Read to your child, and give your child a chance to read back to you. Make reading a team sport, and keep everyone engaged. 

• Help your child find books that fit their interests. Take them to libraries and used book stores often. Children are more likely to read and enjoy reading if they are involved in choosing their own books. Give them an opportunity to pursue their interests through literacy. 

• Make it easy for your student to read by finding a special, quiet area for reading. Creating a special space and experience for reading will help to make reading a fun and exciting part of your child’s day.

By making reading an experience and involving your child throughout, you can empower your child to make reading a fun activity. Summer reading programs help tremendously in providing the opportunity, books and reward structure to keep your child going, but getting the whole family on board is the best way to get the most out of a program and keep your child engaged and excited. 

Leib and Barbara Lurie established Kids Read Now as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit in 2010 to eliminate the summer reading slide and reversing the effects of low literacy. Kids Read Now has provided more than 200,000 books free of charge to more than 14,000 K-3 students in three states and is continuing to expand nationwide.