Summer reading is a great way to help preschoolers build school readiness skills and discover the joy of reading. At Slumberkins, we love engaging children of all ages in reading with their families. Reading together provides positive moments of connection between caregiver and child that benefit their emotional wellness. Here are 4 easy tips for fostering a love of reading this summer!
Read Together
Reading together is a wonderful way to inspire a love for reading in your family. Kids often emulate their parents. In other words; if you do it… they will want to do it. Getting special one-on-one reading time is a great time to explore new topics together as well as learn new skills- and get all the snuggles in.
Encourage Pre-Reading Skills
Encourage your preschooler to “read” on their own. It’s okay if they don’t know how to read words just yet. Here are a few ways they can practice pre-reading skills:
- Look at the pictures and make up their own story
- Recite a familiar story from memory
- Write their own story using pictures or letters
- Draw a comic book style story
- Play out a story with puppets
- Use Legos or blocks to tell a story with a beginning, middle and an end
- Identify and name letters in a book that look familiar
Get Some New Books
Sometimes freshening up your book collection can bring new energy and excitement to your reading experience. Go to your local library or try our Slumberkins Book Club for a carefully curated collection of books that focus on beneficial social emotional learning (SEL) topics. Learning about feelings and social skills through authenticity books, books on change, and many more of our Slumberkins topics, are great ways for preschoolers to get ready for Kindergarten.
Celebrate Successes
How will you celebrate the time you’ve made for reading? Do you have a reading chart to document all the books you’ve read? Do you have a journal or a log? Preschoolers love to see their progress in a concrete way.
We hope you find ways to connect together and enjoy reading this summer! Leave a message below to tell us how you are celebrating a love of reading this summer.
