“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” — Walt Disney
Reading is already a lot of fun but I was just wondering if there’s something that we didn’t try with our kids yet. So I searched the web and found some ideas that I hadn’t thought of doing regularly or intentionally, like “reading alone with each child“. Most of the time I read to both kids at the same time and I try really hard to make it equally interesting for both in spite of the two years difference. But why not read one on one at least occasionally?!
How to make reading more exciting
#1. Get silly. Give each character a different voice. This brings the story to life. You could even add different accents.
#2. Read alone with each child. Reading to all the kids at the same time is perfectly fine, but from time to time we should offer them the special intimacy of reading one-to-one. Maybe one parent can read to one or two younger kids and the other parent can read to the older child.
#3. Connect the story to something that happened in your daily life. If you’re reading a story about Prudence, ask the children if they remember what happened last time when they weren’t watching where they were going, and ran into something or someone just like Alice when she slipped on the banana peel!
#4. Talk about the story. Not necessary every time but occasionally it can be a lot of fun! Ask questions like: “Do you think (the main character) learned anything in this story?”
#5. Encourage story retelling. This helps children to understand and remember the meaning of the story at a deeper level. Also it enhances their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills.
#6. Include some Rhyming books. Some of the benefits are that rhyming improves memorization skills, helps to recognize rhythms and it increases phonetic abilities. It’s also very fun for little kids! They’ll want you to read it over and over again. This is a bestseller: Lama, Lama, red pajama!
#7. Reading should be fun! Read books that you like and let your children pick themselves. Praise their choices.
I tried reading alone with my youngest and she absolutely L-O-V-E-D the undivided attention! I will definitely do this again with each child.
