‘Tis the season for sunshine, swimming, and summer reading.
And if your kids are like ours, they’ll be signing up for the summer reading program at the library. But what’s a parent to do if the library program isn’t enough? What’s the secret sauce to keep kids reading?
I can’t say we’ve found the cure-all, but as we enter the fourth year of our family’s Summer Reading Program, I think we’ve come pretty close. I’d like to believe as parents, we’re all in this together, so today I’m sharing a how-to guide in case this can help you too.
In the early days of Summer Reading, we used to chart our progress by the number of books our family read. Now that our kids are more experienced readers, we measure by minutes. Each prize is the result of their total reading minutes. For example, they would earn an ice cream sundae for reading 100 minutes combined – not 100 minutes per child. Also important to note is that these minutes accumulate over the summer (so the kids don’t start from zero each time they reach a prize).
At first glance, these numbers may seem intimidating. As I told our kids though, if they read 20 minutes a day, 7 days a week, they’ll reach the next level of prizes within a week’s time!
And now, (drum roll), here are this year’s prizes:
Summer Reading 2024
100 minutes- Ice cream sundaes
200 minutes- Donuts and Squishmallow picnic at the park
400 minutes- Pizza and pool with friends
We spend a lot of our summer days at the pool, but this trip is special. We make plans to meet our friends there and have pizza delivered to the pool. If your pool has rules that restrict outside food, you can substitute pizza for the concession stand instead!
600 minutes- BOGO trip to Barnes and Noble
Barnes and Noble offers a summer reading program for kids in grades 1-6. If you complete the summer reading log, you get to pick out a free book through July/August from the list they’ve provided. For the Buy One, Get One part: We match the free book from Barnes and Noble by letting our kids pick an extra book of their choice.
800 minutes- French fry tasting and Pom Pom Pet making
Who has the makes the best fry? This creative idea comes from my neighbor! The kids will taste and power rank the fries from a handful of chains/restaurants and decide whose is the best based on flavor/crunchiness. Afterwards, we’ll be making Pom Pom Pets — a yearly favorite for our kids. You can purchase the kits on Amazon, Target, or Barnes and Noble.
1000 minutes- Campfire and s’mores
1200 minutes- Tie Dye Day
1400 minutes- Olympic Day/Challenge Day
When it’s in an Olympic Year, we always kick off the day with Opening Ceremonies and end with a medal ceremony! In the non-Olympic years though, this day is known as Challenge Day. Past challenges have included paper plate balloon tennis, an obstacle course, drawing pictures blind folded, eating Goldfish crackers with no hands, egg and spoon relay races, catching a coin off their elbow, and card games.
1600 minutes- Flashlight Tag/Glow Stick Night
1800 minutes- Movie theater with friends or Drive-in movie in the driveway
We usually try and find a good movie at the dollar theater and go with our friends!
2000 minutes- Sensory Play Day
Last year, we had an activity for each of the five senses: smell (coloring with scented markers), hearing (We made cup and string telephones), taste (ice cream tasting), sight (I made a slideshow of all of the summer memories), and touch (We did a sensory walk with bins of kinetic sand, black beans, water beads, shaving cream, and ice cubes).
2200 minutes- Science Experiment Day
Last year, Science Day included the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment, using food coloring to dye carnations, and building a solar oven to make s’mores. There are so many ideas on Pinterest and online – the possibilities are endless!
2400 minutes- Lemonade Stand
2600 minutes- Bowling with friends
2800 minutes- Mini golf/rock sifting/treasure box making with friends
3000 minutes- Toy store trip and coupon
We give the kids a $5 or $10 coupon and let them go shopping with their allowance money at our favorite toy store.
*Extra ideas: Baseball game, trip to the zoo, camping in the basement, Water Day, and Spirit Week
We’ve found that tally marks are the easiest way for us to keep track of their minutes. Each child marks their contribution – their minutes – by adding to the tally sheet. To make counting easier, we mark each time they reach 100 minutes with a circle.
Getting to share their prizes with friends is a huge motivator for our kids. We are lucky enough to have some of our best friends just down the block, so we usually plan to do prizes together. If you are not as fortunate to have friends nearby, this can also be a great way to keep in touch with school friends over the summer!
Wishing you lots of fun summer days and relaxing time reading!
Ann Ferrello M.Ed. 