What's Black & White & Read All Over ?

A Newspaper!

I know it's an old joke, but it still stands the test of time.
A friend recently told me how she found that by reading the newspaper in front of her son everyday he eventually learnt to read. Not only was she providing a good role model, but  "curiosity killed the cat" so to speak. The more she read, the more intrigued he became in what she was doing and he had to get involved.

Slowly he began to look for articles that were of interest to him. As his reading improved and he began to ask questions about current affairs, instead of getting the answer from mum, he could look it up in the newspaper. They bagan to keep a srapbook of all the articles that he found interesting. This way he could re-read them whenever he wanted.

This is a simple idea that anyone can adapt to suit their child, age level and interests. 
Your child might be interested in soccer, so cut out the local teams efforts from the weekend out of the local paper. Add along with it the Socceroos playing in the World Cup and before you know it you have quite a scrapbook collection.

Another sibling may be more interested in celebrities, (one in particular or more) there are plenty of magazines out there to take advatnage of. Always read along with your child to pick and choose the most suitable.

They might be into building a vegetable patch in the backyard. Help them collect lots of information in their scrapbook. You'll be amazed at how many articles are out there in all sorts of newspapers and free magazines as well as gardening magazines.

Having backyard chooks are all the rage these days, if your child thinks they might be intersted in keeping their own chickens, again they first need to be armed with all the information they can gather.

While I always advocate to keep reading fun, searching for information that your child is really keen to learn about can also be just as much fun! Especially if you put it in a scrapbook, let your child decorate around each article, make a bit of a fuss, make it special! 

I have shown the importance of reading newspapers even in my book "Gingerbread Aliens" as a reporter from the local newspaper comes to the school to investigate the strange "happenings". His resultant artcile is found later in the story.
www.gingerbread-aliens.com