Reading is one of life’s most essential skills. As adults, we read multiple times per day, often without even noticing it. Reading activities for kids are great ways of getting them excited about reading!
Whether your child is a pre-reader, a reluctant reader or already has a love of reading, these activities will get them excited for the skill of reading. They will also help them see reading as more than just sitting down reading a book. It will give them an understanding of all the ways reading can be fun and useful!
What are Reading Activities for Kids?
Reading activities are activities that use either reading or books in fun and exciting ways. These activities will show your child some of the alternative uses of reading.
Reading activities will help your child get excited to read and use their reading skills. They will also open up whole new worlds for them within their imagination.
Why are Reading Activities for Kids Useful?
Reading activities are especially useful for pre-readers and reluctant readers. They will give them fun experiences with books and reading that don’t involve sitting down and reading a book.
Conventional reading can be difficult or just boring for some children. These reading activities will give them an opportunity to read in other contexts. They will also get the chance to expand their understanding of what they have read and develop more of their reading skills.
As a side note, if your child has a good foundation of pre-reading skills, they will find learning to read easier and more enjoyable. Download this simple checklist to assess where they stand with their pre-reading skills.
Reading Activities for Kids
Have a look at the reading activities below. I am sure that you will find something that your pre-reader or reluctant reader will enjoy. The great thing about these activities is that they are also fun for children who already love reading! Anybody can try these activities and enjoy them!
Act it Out
Take a scene from your child’s favourite story or just take the whole story! Encourage your child to act out the scene or the story. This activity works best with siblings or friends.
It is great for their problem solving and social skills to decide who will be which character. Give them time to practice their scene and offer to be their audience when they are ready. Ideally have a bigger audience, even just line up their toys to watch them. Some children hate reading but can really shine when it comes to acting it out!
Make Treats From Books
Some kids books have the most delicious treats in them! My mouth always waters when I read about the chocolate cake in Matilda, not so much by the end of the scene though!!
Did you know that there is a book called Completely Revolting Recipes and it contains 50 recipes from various Roald Dahl books! You can get recipes like ‘Whipple Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight’ and even my favourite ‘Bruce Bogtrotters Chocolate Cake’!!
This is such a fun activity for kids and they will be able to help read the recipes while using their maths skills to measure out the ingredients.
Make Crafts From Books
Similar to recipes, there are often crafts and instructions for crafts in kids’ books. Suggest that they try to create these crafts.
You may need to pick up some supplies or just supervise while they do it. Creating crafts is something that lots of kids enjoy. Let them go nuts!
Have a Book Themed Party
Ask your child to choose their favourite book and have a party with that theme. It doesn’t have to be for any particular occasion, just celebrate the book!
Have your child brainstorm what they could do to fit the theme. Who will they dress up as? What kind of decorations might they have? What food will they eat?
They could spend days planning the party, creating decorations and making costumes. It’s a fun activity that will really get them thinking about the story and the world contained in the book.
Draw a Picture From a Book
Some children are much more visual than others. They love pictures and drawing but find reading quite boring.
Why not ask them to use their latest book as inspiration for a drawing. For more advanced drawers, you could ask them to create comic strips showing the story.
The ability to retell the story chronologically through pictures is a critical reading skill. It shows comprehension skills and an understanding of the story.
Read to Others
Some children just don’t like reading as they see it as a lonely activity. Reading to others is a lovely way for them to include others in their activity. Reading to a younger child can give them a real boost as the younger child gets such a thrill from being read to.
If their friend has the same book as them they could read together. They could take it in turns and read a page each or they could choose a character each and have another friend act as the narrator!
Even having them read to you will be a real buzz for them. They are so used to you reading to them that they will get real satisfaction out of reading to you.
Encourage them to try funny voices while reading to make it even more fun!
Try Non-Fiction
This is something that doesn’t occur to parents too often. Try non-fiction books. Lots of children love facts, particularly if they are based around a subject they are interested in; dinosaurs, the ocean, horses, etc.
Take your child to the non-fiction section of the library and see if they find something they like.
Children are much more likely to read about a subject they are interested in. Some kids couldn’t care less what Harry Potter is up to but if you put a book about Ancient Egypt in front of them they will devour it!
Take your lead from them.
Create and Play a Game Based on a Book
This is similar to acting out a scene but it uses more imagination. Ask your child to create a game based on a book. Encourage them to think about the world and the characters in the book and come up with a game that would suit it.
They could fight a battle in Hogwarts, go on an adventure in Narnia or go for lunch with the Very Hungry Caterpillar!
Encourage them to come up with something themselves, offer to join in if they want, or you want!!!
Read in a New Place
Reading a book is absolutely a reading activity! Sometimes though, we need a change of scene (see what I did there?!!).
Taking your reading somewhere new can bring a new lease of life to readers. If you are reading a story about a beach, why not bring it to the beach the next time you go. The same can apply for books about the forest or the playground. It can be enough to simply read outside instead of inside!
A book nook can also be a great incentive for reluctant readers. Let them decorate it. It can be a cosy little corner of their room or just a special cushion depending on how stuck you are for space. Give them ownership and watch them bloom.
Extend the Story
You can do this with a story you are reading or one you have made up. When you get to the end of a story, ask them what they think happens next.
Depending on their interests they might decide to just tell you the rest of the story. But they may choose to act it out instead. Or draw a picture to show you. Your child may even want to go so far as to write an entire sequel to the book! Encourage it all!
All of these ways of extending a story still tie into their reading skills.
Conclusion
All of these reading activities for kids promote important skills that can be nurtured. Find the way that your child relates best to reading and roll with that.
In order for your child to continue to read and develop their reading skills, they will need to enjoy it. Let them find the joy in it and nurture that.
I would love to hear from you! Let me know if you tried any of these activities or if there were particular ones that your child loved!
