Christmas and New Year is over but the long summer school holidays are still here!
What are you going to do with the weeks ahead to keep the kids occupied, entertained and yes, even heaven forbid....reading????
If you are out and about in the car, challenge them to read the number plates of the cars in front, see if they can make words from them. They may be silly and non-sensical, that's ok, have fun with it. You may be surprised to find the odd Lou or Joe, the combinations are endless.
If you have to visit friends or family get the kids to look up the directions on their Ipad. Navigating their way around town, reading the street signs on the GPS and on the road is an abundance of comcentrated reading that they won't even realise they are doing, but they'll think they are helping, even if you really know the way!
Museums, art galleries and exhibitions are a wonderous place of exploration and provide hours of reading as you reach each particular exhibit of interest. Read the signs along with your kids or allow them to have a go themselves depending on age and ability.
When shopping, ask your kids to help read the labels to decide which product is best for your family. Make a treasure hunt out of the shopping, each sibling must find certain items the family needs before they can select an item they want, (within a certain price range of your setting of course). A list of needs and wants can be pre-arranged before setting out to the shops. List making is another great form of encouraging reading.
Writing letters or postcards to friends or family thanking them for the gifts over christmas is always a nice idea. They might even like to write and thank the big red man, Santa, himself. If you've been away on holidays there is always something memorable to write about. If still away, ask the kids to keep a jornal or daily diary. It only needs to be a one liner, a picture or photgraph of the day, maybe a bus ticket, anything to help them remember where they have been or what they have done.
Cooking brings the family together and a recipe means following a procedure. It's lots of fun and lots of reading too! A great procedural fun recipe for the holidays can be found at www.gingerbread-aliens.com, while you are there, check out some of the photos already sent in of some of the gingerbread aliens made by a few of the readers. They look great and I'm sure were very yummy!!
