Reading Activities
10 Everyday Ways to Keep Your Child Reading While Having Fun
Reading is one of the most important skills you should try to boost outside of school. Foster your child's bookworm habits with these simple activities and tips that make reading so fun, he'll fill up his book chart in no time. read more
15-Minute Reading Activities
15-Minute Reading ActivitiesMake 15 minutes go a long way. Try these quick reading activities with your younger kids. 1. License to read. On car trips, make it a game to point out and read license plates, billboards, and interesting road signs. read more
5 Activities To Practice Sight Words
Learning sight words is one of the first steps to learning to read! By working on these as you begin to understand letter sounds, kids will be able to quickly identify frequently used words without having to sound them out. Here are some fun ways to practice this skill. read more
A Change Book
A Change BookAge: Preschool through elementaryTime: 30 minutes or moreType of activity: Arts and craftsMaterials Needed: · Paper· Pen· Markers or crayons· Stapler What to Do: read more
Benefits of Reading as a Teen
What the research says about teens who read for enjoyment. read more
Fourth-Grader's Trouble with Reading
What can you do at home to make reading a fun pastime, while improving his reading skills? read more
Guide for Story Reading
Story-reading guides are a way to structure reading and learning from stories to enhance a child's comprehension. read more
Hole Story
Hole Story Required: Storybook How would you like to hear the hole story? All you need for this activity are the stories—your child can provide the holes. read more
Homophone Fun
Homophone FunLearning about language doesn't have to be boring. Playing games with homophones is a fun way to strengthen your child's vocabulary skills. Homophones are pairs or groups of words that sound alike but have different meanings, for example: heir/air and nose/knows. Homophones may be spelled differently or alike, so the words fast (quick) and fast (abstain from eating) are also homophones. Materials Pencil and paper Directions read more
Illustrate Your Favorite Book
Illustrate Your Favorite BookMaterials Paper Art materials Directions Remember those picture books you read as a child? Have you ever read a book with no pictures? Did you wish there were some? Here is an opportunity to illustrate one of your favorite books. read more
Improving Your Young Child's Reading Skills
Reading at home is an important step in strengthening your child's reading skills. read more
It Felt Like...
It Felt Like...Time 10 to 20 minutes Materials Your child's favorite book Directions You can take a favorite story a step further after you read it by asking the child what a particular character felt like at some point in the story.Help to extend vocabulary as your child searches for ways to explain feelings. Extensions read more
Linguistic Gift-Boosting Activities
Linguistic Gift-Boosting Activities There are all sorts of ways that kids express their linguistic talents. Some kids devour books. Some tell jokes that always get a laugh. Others scribble poems, write skits, or tell stories. These activities will fuel the fire in your already-eager wordsmith, and they'll spark the flame in the reluctant reader or shy speaker. Remember, sharing your own love of books and language is one of the best ways to foster that love in kids. How can you do that? Read with them, talk with them, and listen to what they have to say. read more
Magazine Scavenger Hunt
Magazine Scavenger HuntMaterials One old magazine per player One sheet of paper per player One pencil per playerDirections read more
Pay by the Word
Pay by the Word Required: Your time only What if conversations were telegrams and every word counted? Your child can learn to speak concisely—or to "pay" the cost! Challenge your child to describe a movie or book in as few words as possible. Add up how many words your child needed to use before you could name the movie or book. That's the cost of the telegram. See whether your child can lower the transmission cost of the next telegram. read more
Poem Dance
Poem DanceDirections Choose a favorite poem and read it aloud. Select a few of the ideas, words, or images in the poem and express them in movement with your child. Some ideas will suggest how to move and others will suggest a mood, feeling, or environment. Some poems can be read and moved to for their rhythmic quality. Have one person read the poem while the other moves to the rhythm of the words. read more
Read My Lips
Read My Lips Required: Newspapers Can you create memorable sound bites worthy of a politician? Give your child examples of famous sound bites and talk about the events they help memorialize. Read newspaper headlines together, and see which of them are pithy and flashy enough to qualify as sound bites. Then see whether your child can improve upon the headlines to create unforgettable slogans or catch phrases. read more
Reading Aloud
Reading AloudMaterials Book Cassette tape recorder Directions Children should be encouraged to read aloud. They also like to listen while someone else reads to them. In order for oral reading to be a comfortable experience, it should be practiced before it is performed. read more
Sharpen Basic Skills in the Summer
Learn strategies to foster basic skills in a ten-year-old. read more
The Road to Reading
The Road to ReadingLearning to read doesn't just happen. To become readers, kids need to have rich experiences with language at a young age. When you talk, sing, read to, and play with an infant, toddler, or preschooler, you're laying the foundation for reading. The learning-to-read stages read more
Top 10 Ways to Improve Reading Skills
Nothing is more important to academic achievement than being a good reader. Parents know their children best and can provide the one-on-one time and attention that will lead them to success in reading. read more
Unofficial Biographer
Unofficial Biographer Required: Reference materials Does your child have a future in reference book publishing? Here's an entry-level assignment that can serve as a preview. Your child chooses a person he or she is studying in school—a famous inventor, a U.S. president, or another noteworthy public figure. Then he or she writes an encyclopedia entry for that person, including as many facts (such as date of birth, hometown, notable achievements, and the like) as possible. read more
Winter Holiday Bookmarks
Color these fun holiday bookmarks. Use this art activity to encourage reading over winter holidays. read more
