How To Make Read Alouds Much More Fun

Last week was our first read aloud. And I had a blast doing it! This week I thought I would share a bit about how to make read alouds fun. There is also a short video of another new book for me. So, in honor of school starting today for us (wipe some tears from my face) let’s learn more about read alouds.

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Do Read Alouds Always Need to Be Fun?

No, they do not. But why not try to make them fun? If kids are excited to read with you than you’re teaching them a very valuable skill. Growing up reading was hard for me. Can I tell you a secret? I hated to read. Gasps!!

It’s true. I did not like to read. One reason was because it was HARD for me. I didn’t enjoy reading books that teachers made me read.

Can I tell you another secret? When I could pick my own books, and it wasn’t for homework, the hate grew into a LOVE of reading. There were even sometimes while in college that I loved to read my homework because it was something I was interested in (hello education books!).

I’ll even go further, when I was teaching, I would read education books for fun. Yep, you read that right! I read textbooks for fun because I wanted to learn more and become the best teacher with lots of knowledge.

Hopefully that will give you hope if any of your little ones do not like to read.

So, back to read alouds being fun… (I’m really good at getting off topic… haha)

They do not have to be fun. I suggest you try to make them fun or at least engaging.

How To Make Read Alouds Fun

Sometimes just getting all snuggled up with a good book is fun enough. At least for me. So, let’s assume your kiddos like to cuddle. Why not get all cuddly with them and read some good books together?

Again, you don’t need to make this a huge deal. Most of my suggestions are easy to do.

• Read in funny voices or change your voice for different characters
• Take turns reading pages
• Read in a fort
• Snuggle reading
• Read books with repeated patterns and let the kids read the repeating sections
• Read together books that you all know
• Turn the lights off and use a flashlight
• Set reading time when kids get to pick their own book, have them sit in your lap when it’s their book. (We do this at night right before bed. Even my older kids like to sit in my lap or right next to me when it’s their turn to pick a book.)
• Read a chapter in a chapter book each night together. Have everyone snuggled in bed. (Eddy reads Harry Potter to the kids at night with the lights out and my kids in their beds.)

Your Attitude is Important

If you have a bad attitude about reading with your kids, guess what? Your kids will also have a bad attitude about reading. If you enjoy the time, then take time and have a happy/positive attitude while reading. Your kids will pick up on the positive attitude.

Isn’t that what we want? To have our kids love, or at least like reading? It is for me.

A Few Tips

Everyone is different and will like different genres of books. My son loves to read fiction and his college football magazines. Do I wish he’d get into chapter books more? You bet. But I try not to push it because he does like to read. He reads daily on his own.

He is learning and expanding his reading skills.  Someday he may be more into reading novels, but until then I’ll let him read what he wants. Oh, and the bonus? He is getting wickedly smart in football stats and science knowledge.

Reading is reading! Cereal boxes, magazines, newspapers (what are those?? Haha), articles online, street signs, buildings, etc. It doesn’t need to be a traditional book. Reading is reading.

Don’t push too much. If your kiddo is not interested in reading, then it’s time to be the model and let your kid “catch” you reading. And reading often.

Visit the library to have different books and a variety of books available for your kiddos.

You can watch videos of people doing read alouds. In fact, is that something you’d be interested in me doing?? Let me know in the comments. You can even give me specific books to do. 😊

The Big Buna Bash

This is a new book to me. It’s one of our books that was lost but has been found and I’m happy that I found it. The character in this book, Almaz, is from a different country. She’s starting to feel better in class but one day makes a mistake and uses a word from her native language.

The kids laugh at her and she feels so embarrassed. Then she uses this mistake to teach her classmates and they learn to love it. I only did a partial read aloud because this book is long. So here is a teaser. 😊

In the end have fun! Have fun reading to and with your kids!

Xxx, Steph