Creative Reading Ideas

Creative Reading
How to Make Reading Fun!

Have an article you'd like to share?

The Reader's Scavenger Hunt (ages 6-10)

My homeschool adventure first began when I started teaching my first child to read. I realized from the get go, that if I made learning fun and a form of "play", he would have a foundational love for it. This theory has proven true as he is now ten and an avid reader. He will commonly read through a 170 page Hardy Boys book in 2 days! I like to think that his love for reading all started back when he, at the age of 4, went on his reading scavenger hunts throughout the house.

Instructions for Home Scavenger Hunt :
This game can be played with all levels of readers. The instructions should be written according to the child's reading level. On a piece of paper, write the first place in the house the child should go.
For example: "Go to the oven and open the door". When the child follows the prompt, they will find a new piece of paper with the next place to go written on it. You can have as many places as you are willing to hide and write. At the end, I would always put a "treasure" such as a small toy from the dollar store or a piece of candy. This game can also be played the "pre-readers" as young as 2. Just replace the "words" with pictures of where they are to go. For a beginning reader, the first clue might simply say, "oven".

Here are some home hiding ideas:
Go to top bunk bed and look under pillow.
Open cookie jar and look inside.
Go to the bathtub.
Look under kitchen rug.
Look inside toy box.
What is under the welcome mat?
What would you use to call for help?
Look on the second shelf in the refrigerator, under the mayonnaise.

Sticky Note Fun! (ages 4-6)

Materials Needed:
Sticky Notes (also known as Post Its)
Book

This is a fun hands-on game for the beginning reading who is learning the sounds of the alphabet. Give your child a paper with 5-10 sticky notes on it with a few letter of your choosing written on the front. Have your child walk around the house and place the notes on objects in the house that begin with the letter sounds. For example; if the letters are T, R, and B they can stick the T on the tub, the R on the rug and the B on the bed. This is a great visual way to teach them to connect the sounds with the letter. Kids love this game and learn the alphabet sounds the fun way!

Skim Reading Contest- (ages 8-14)

Materials Needed:
Old books
Highlighter
Timer

As children get into the higher grades, they will be doing more skim reading. Why not sharpen their skim reading skills with a fun game? This game is especially fun when several kids can participate. In order to play the game, you will need to get a bunch of old books that you don't mind being written in. You can find old books for as low as a quarter at Yard sales and thrift shops. Each kid needs a book and a highlighter or pen. The object of this skim reading game is for the players to find what is on their list first or if it is a single player, before the timer goes off. For example: The list could have a woman's name, a city and an animal. The players will skim their books looking for these throughout the pages. When they find a woman's name like "Helen" they highlight it and earmark the page. This continues until all the things on the list have been found in the books. Make sure the list is something that can be found in the type of books that they are using.

Motivate Your Kids to Read by Making a Fun Reading Oasis! CLICK