Keep Your Kids Reading All Summer Long

“There are many ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.”
— Jacqueline Kennedy

A love of books is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your children. Reading will take your children on fascinating adventures both near and far right from the comfort of your family room couch, their cozy bed, or the front porch swing. Keeping your kids reading all summer long will help keep their minds stay sharp. If you need a little help motivating your kids to pick up a book this summer, start with one of these amazing, free summer reading programs.

Your local public library is an excellent first stop on your summer reading tour. The countdown has begun—public libraries across the country will soon be launching their 2019 summer reading program, A Universe of Stories, in honor of NASA’s 50^th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The program’s primary focus is to encourage elementary through high school students to read throughout the summer, although toddlers (Read to Me program) through adults are welcome to participate. The family that reads together, soars together! Participants will blast off into summer with space-themed activities and weekly prizes based on number of pages read. At the end of the summer, many libraries hold unique celebrations and award ceremonies for the most books read in each age category.

Anyone can participate; however, a library card is required for those who wish to borrow books.

The Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program is another great local program. With more than 600 stores nationwide and a store in every state, what are you waiting for? Grab your students in grades 1 through 6, stop by for an iced coffee and a little browsing, and then sign up your eager readers today! The B&N summer reading program is as easy as 1, 2, 3:

• Download the Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Journal.
• Read any 8 books during the summer and fill in the journal with titles, authors, a brief description of your favorite part of each book and why it’s your favorite part.
• Bring your completed journal, signed by your parent, to your local Barnes & Noble store during the month of August 2019 and choose a free book from the book list on the journal page.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Scholastic! The Scholastic Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge has oodles of perks.  This free, online reading challenge was “designed to be both educational and fun to help prevent the effects of the summer slide—the learning losses that can occur during the summer months.”

Participants sign up online and from May 6^th and through September 6^th, readers log the minutes they spend reading. Each week, your children complete challenges that help them earn rewards such as book excerpts, videos, and other fun summer reading goodies.

One of the best parts of the Scholastic summer reading program is their commitment to giving back. As eager readers across the United States log more and more minutes, they are helping to contribute to Scholastic’s campaign to donate a minimum of 200,000 books to needy kids. Check the website daily for the current minute count.

Be sure to check out Scholastic’s awesome summer reading challenge resources (available in both English and Spanish):

The DOGO Books Summer Reading Adventure offers a unique twist on traditional summer reading programs—participants read books, write up reviews, and then share their reviews on the DOGO Books website for the chance to win a prize pack of 8 books or a $10 gift card. So, kids are reading and writing all summer long. Simply brilliant!

Parents need to fill out and sign a Parental Consent Form, then mail the form to DOGO Media address provided. Then, participants can sign up and create a free iDOGO ID online and start reading and reviewing.

Make reading a fun challenge in your household this summer!

Learning shouldn’t stop just because summer rolls around. Whether it’s a summer reading challenge, fun skill-building summer camps, trips to fascinating destinations, or a targeted summer course, learning through the summer ensures that your student will return to school in the fall ready to push forward and engage in the new year.

Time4Learning offers a wide variety of programs designed to help you guide your student through summer learning. Click the link below to find ways to keep your student progressing and learning all summer long!