Ways to Motivate Reading
- Follow the words with your finger when reading to them.
- View the same Baby Can Read everyday until they recognize the words
- Have books within reach and read to them daily. A list of book recommendations can be found here.
- Do exaggerated voices of the characters in the books you read to them, they'll probably think it's funny and look forward to it.
- Use subtitles when watching anything. Martha Speaks, Geronimo Stilton, Guess How Much I Love You and Arthur are a few books that became television shows. You can see some on Netflix to avoid advertising.
- If your child is already reading, you can sometimes read the words out of order and let them correct you. Froodle is a good book with made up words that is a fun read.
- Get books about things they are currently interested in. If they love cats, get anything cat related etc.
- Go to the library on a regular basis. Most libraries have a weekly story time and check out their other fun events too. Sign them up for their own library card, have them ask the librarian for help finding books and have them checkout too. They will be in control and learn their way around. If they want a change of scenery, visit a local bookstore.
- Get music related to books they like. Super Why has a cd and so does Go Diego Go.
- Get a book full of jokes!
- Create a playlist of their favorite music on YouTube with the lyrics. This could be considered Music Appreciation for documentation, or an
- Get audio books and follow along with the book.
- For older children, you could get magnetic poetry or words and leave them on the fridge. Leave each other messages and see what they come up with.
- Get some placemats about things they like, painlesslearning.com and rainbowresource.com are good places to find them. We found ours at KMart.
- Get a fun shower curtain they want to read! Some you can buy are metamorphosis, weather, human skeleton, periodic table and world map.
- Get a stuffed animal or a similar one to one of their favorite books. They sell Elephant and Piggie and Knuffle Bunny stuffed animals for example.
- Read books you like. Your child will see and model your behavior.