I love Pinterest. I have become totally Pinterest-dependent when planning birthday parties, large family events and even meals. Pinterest is also my go-to for coming up with ideas to occupy the kids--especially during the summer months. This year I turned to Pinterest for our summer reading incentive plan.
Specifically the credit goes to the website How Does She? They created fantastic summer printables for Reading Bingo. The bingo card directs kids to read while doing things such as sitting on a blanket or drinking lemonade or sitting by the front door. When the child has read for the designated time doing that activity she can mark the box. When the child earns a "bingo," she receives a coupon on which the parent can designate the reward. When the child earns a "blackout," she gets a golden ticket. For our family, the coupons include things such as a trip to Baskin Robbins, inviting a friend for a sleepover or going to a park with a special activity such as a carousel. Our golden ticket is a trip to Six Flags. I must confess that everything included on the coupon and the golden ticket were things I planned to do with the kids this summer. This plan just helps them to earn it.
After much thought, I decided to set the designated reading time as 30 minutes. The first day of our program led me to believe that this may not have been long enough. Meg and Clare earned a bingo the first day. Meg read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for two hours. Clare read a Magic Treehouse book about Leonardo da Vinci for two hours and fifteen minutes. They have not kept up that pace since that first day, but I do think this will be a very successful reading plan for the summer.
In the past, we have signed up for the library reading program. Those were great, but with each year the girls became less excited about them. Reading bingo has definitely added a little more excitement to summer reading. We have also signed up for the Patriots Reading Challenge--as in the New England Patriots. I imagine many sports teams provide similar summer reading challenges for kids. Even for kids who love to read, it helps to have that little extra incentive to pick up a book in the summer. I loved reading as a child, but I know it was far too easy to go into a television coma for hours on end and never pick up a book at all. I don't want to hinder my kids' love of reading by forcing them to read, but rather I want to encourage them to choose reading on their own.
Specifically the credit goes to the website How Does She? They created fantastic summer printables for Reading Bingo. The bingo card directs kids to read while doing things such as sitting on a blanket or drinking lemonade or sitting by the front door. When the child has read for the designated time doing that activity she can mark the box. When the child earns a "bingo," she receives a coupon on which the parent can designate the reward. When the child earns a "blackout," she gets a golden ticket. For our family, the coupons include things such as a trip to Baskin Robbins, inviting a friend for a sleepover or going to a park with a special activity such as a carousel. Our golden ticket is a trip to Six Flags. I must confess that everything included on the coupon and the golden ticket were things I planned to do with the kids this summer. This plan just helps them to earn it.
After much thought, I decided to set the designated reading time as 30 minutes. The first day of our program led me to believe that this may not have been long enough. Meg and Clare earned a bingo the first day. Meg read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for two hours. Clare read a Magic Treehouse book about Leonardo da Vinci for two hours and fifteen minutes. They have not kept up that pace since that first day, but I do think this will be a very successful reading plan for the summer.
In the past, we have signed up for the library reading program. Those were great, but with each year the girls became less excited about them. Reading bingo has definitely added a little more excitement to summer reading. We have also signed up for the Patriots Reading Challenge--as in the New England Patriots. I imagine many sports teams provide similar summer reading challenges for kids. Even for kids who love to read, it helps to have that little extra incentive to pick up a book in the summer. I loved reading as a child, but I know it was far too easy to go into a television coma for hours on end and never pick up a book at all. I don't want to hinder my kids' love of reading by forcing them to read, but rather I want to encourage them to choose reading on their own.
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