Combining Activities and Literacy Helps Children to Get Excited About Reading

Some children may be less inclined to crack a book without being required to do so, but there are methods and activities that caregivers can pair with literacy that can help children to develop an interest in reading.

Reading Aloud to Children

Marissa Rainey, early literacy strategist for Trying Together and lead organizer for Buzzword at the Homewood Early Learning Hub & Family Center, said it is important to read aloud for about 10 to 20 minutes to a child from birth to age 5.

“Show them how to hold a book, open it, and turn the pages,” Rainey said. “Emphasize phonetic awareness, which is the idea of learning letter sounds. Whenever you’re going through a book, stop to sound out any difficult words.”

Rainey said that caregivers can use alphabet flash cards to help early readers learn to sound out words. She added that caregivers should also provide background knowledge on topics, if possible, while reading to a child.

“If the book you’re reading is about farming, talk with them about the different animals - what sounds they make or where they live - to make the connection,” she said.

She also recommended taking part in interactive reading with children by asking such questions as what the child thinks will happen next in a story, what colors they see in the book, and what they have noticed about the characters.

Methods and Activities

Rainey noted that there are numerous methods and activities that caregivers could pair with books to help children become interested in reading.

“You can incorporate movement, music, rhyming, or sensory tools - something squishy, a noisemaker, scarves, or anything you can find in your home that can be used to help with motor skills and make children engage with learning,” she said.

Other methods and activities she recommended while reading to a child include:

• Using puppets, stuffed animals, or even just a sock to turn into a puppet

• Pair activities with reading to make “real-life connections” with the material. For example, a book like Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie could be paired with baking. Or, use Play Doh to make pretend cookies.

• Combine reading with a drawing or cut-and-paste activity, depending on the age range, to allow children to be creative while exploring the topic of the book being read to them.

Lastly, when reading to a child, caregivers should try to mix up their reading style, Rainey said.

“Change up your voice a bit,” she suggested. “Children have a hard time sitting still with monotone reading. Use different voices for different characters.”

A Change of Scenery

Some children might be more comfortable reading in a cozy corner or outside, Rainey said. In such cases, a change of scenery might help to get children excited about reading - but with some conditions.

“The space should be less stimulating and more calming,” Rainey said. “If there’s too much going on, they won’t be able to focus. If you go outside, find a quiet space.”

At home, caregivers can help children to create a comfortable reading space for their child by using a cozy pillow or blanket. Then, the child will associate that comfortable space with reading time.

How Mixing It Up Helps

Rainey said that such activities and methods help young readers to develop a “mind-muscle connection.”

“When you pair reading with an activity, it pushes the experience into the long-term memory, rather than just hearing words,” she said.

She said this makes the overall experience more engaging for both children and adults. Taking part in an activity that is related to the book being read to a child can provide multiple exposures to specific ideas or even vocabulary words.

“It builds comprehension skills,” she said. “Children will have more of a memory (of the experience) than if someone was just reading to them.”

Encouraging Independent Reading

At a certain point, caregivers and educators will want children to crack a book out of a desire to read that is not influenced by paired activities. Rainey said this is more likely to occur once children have reached elementary school.

“The way to do that is to find out what interests them and motivates them to read,” she said. “Then, they’ll be more likely to read for pleasure.”

She added that pairing activities with reading at a young age helps to get their attention. When the school year begins, Rainey said that she likes to find out what type of books a child likes to read at home. 

“Once they get to age 5 or 6, they’re probably going to be a little more vocal about what they want to learn more about,” she said. “So, it’s important to figure out what they like.”

In elementary school, Rainey added, some teachers will incorporate silent reading time in class. If a child finishes their work early, they can spend time reading for pleasure. Those whose interests have been nurtured and encouraged will be more likely to do so if they have a book that focuses on a topic of interest.