“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.” — Kate DiCamillo.
In a world filled with distractions, fostering a love for reading in children is crucial. Reading opens doors to knowledge and builds essential skills such as empathy, critical thinking, and language development. This blog explores strategies to encourage reluctant readers to gravitate towards books.
Introducing age-appropriate books to toddlers as gifts helps them connect with reading early on. Picture books and sturdy board books can spark their interest and steer them away from electronic gadgets, which often distract children and contribute to a decline in reading habits.
Children often mimic adult behavior, so let them regularly see you reading for pleasure. This shifts their mindset from ‘HAVE TO READ’ to ‘WANT TO READ.’ Share your reading experiences and the joy of reading with them. Exposing children to a broad range of books and encouraging them to explore their school library actively can significantly enhance their interest in reading.
Regular visits to the library help children explore a wide variety of books across different genres, catering to their interests and expanding their horizons. Introducing them to encyclopedias fosters curiosity, explores new topics, and finds answers. Libraries subscribe to periodicals for children, offering fun learning activities and reading material. With gentle nudging towards books, children will find reading joyful, and books will become one of their preferred choices over phones and laptops.
All children have unique needs. Connecting them with books calms them, engages them in productive activities, and ensures continuous learning. There is no age limit to begin learning and reading. We can start enjoying the pleasure of reading at any age and should develop a reading culture for future generations to help them grow with knowledge while balancing screen time.
Nowadays, children are often absorbed in online gaming. We can create a reading environment where children naturally prefer books over PlayStations. Providing dictionaries for new words encourages a love of learning beyond just using Google. School periodicals offer opportunities for reading and solving puzzles, such as finding hidden pictures and spotting differences. These activities help children experience and believe that “Books are best friends.” Books inspire children, foster their interest in reading, address various challenges, and support their mental health.
In a school library, many activities with creative ideas are organized to attract children to books. These activities aim to make the library an active place where children are eager to visit and explore. Here are some planned activities to cultivate reading habits in our future generation:
- Building a story pyramid: Children make a word pyramid with different parts of speech.
- Read aloud reading session: Loud reading of a storybook from the digital library (Story Weaver).
- Book buffet activity: Introduction to different authors.
- Bookmark-making activity: Children make bookmarks and are encouraged to use them while reading.
- Around the world activity: Groups make replicas of newspapers, encouraging thorough exploration.
- Designing a book cover: Children design the cover of their favorite storybook or novel.
- Book scavenger activity: Finding the clue: “Find a book with a color name in its title.”
- Book review tree: Writing reviews of books they read.
- Role play activity: Acting as their favorite character from a story.
- Roll the dice and tell: Reading a book, rolling the dice, and answering questions.
Children’s learning outcomes will amaze you as they dive into the ocean of books and start their learning journey. By exposing them to different genres, we can help them develop reading habits that support their interests. Cultivating healthy reading habits early on instils a lifelong love for reading, enriching their lives and expanding their horizons. We can empower children to become lifelong readers and learners by providing a supportive reading environment and developing a prosperous and healthy reading culture.
by Charu Taneja
Librarian
Manav Rachna International School, Charmwood
