Teaching Children a Love of Reading


For a class I'm taking up at school, I was supposed to give a presentation on something from a list of topics. One was Family Reading: Learning Through Books. I decided to slightly tweak the topic and go with: Teaching Children a Love of Reading. They aren't all that different but I really want to focus on children within the family especially.

I found several articles (which I'll post links to below) that talk about teaching a love of reading. I'll talk about ten of my favorite tips found in these articles.


  1. Read aloud to your kids from a young age. The sooner you get them hooked on books the better. My mom used to read aloud to me when I was younger. She'd even do different voices and practically act out the whole story to me. This got me interested in the books and eventually I decided to learn to read all on my own so that I wouldn't just be able to read when she was available to read to me. I still enjoy listening to her read aloud to me but not as often anymore, since I read faster than she can read aloud.
  2. Keep your own library at home. If they are surrounded by books they will pick up that reading really is fun! I already have a good collection going, and I go to the library often. I even have a list of books I hope to one day own so that I can read them to my own kids when I have some.
  3. Help your child start their own little library! I loved nothing more than having books of my own and being able to start my own shelf on the bookshelf with all my books! I felt like a grown up and as the years have gone by some have been lost, given away, or ruined but I've slowly added more and more books to my collection and I'll keep adding books to my collection!
  4. Read regularly with your kids! When they get old enough to read on their own think about making a "Reading Time" and have everyone pull out their favorite book and sit around reading. This teaches them that Reading is always fun and that the whole family enjoys reading. It's a family thing! Even if they're all reading different books they are all doing it together at the same time! It's fun!
  5. Set Reading Goals! These can be fun! My brothers and sisters always loved it when they library held book challenges where if they read a certain number of books they got a certain prize. Every year they'd all completely finish the challenge and get every prize. It's things like this that create memories and teach them to love to read!
  6. Make Reading Fun. Nothing is going to be fun if the subject doesn't interest them or you make it boring. Find stories that interest them, or read in different voices! Kids love that kind of stuff and it'll get them hooked on reading!
  7. Set an Example. When the chores are done or you're taking a break, instead of getting online or pulling out your cell phone, pull out a book and read! This will show your kids that you love to read and that it is fun! They'll ask you questions about what you're reading and they'll begin to become more interested as well.
  8. Take advantage of the Library! Take your kids to the library as often as possible. Maybe set aside a time once a week and take them to borrow books to read. Get them a library card so that they can check the books out on their own card. Libraries also usually hold something like a storytime for young kids. Those can be fun for kids and teach them to love to read.
  9. Give books as gifts. I loved nothing more than receiving a bunch of books for Christmas and my Birthday. It was even better when the book was for no reason other than to get me a book they knew I'd like. It allowed me to add to my own little library and gave more more reading material. I still own most of the books I've received through the years as presents.
  10. For older kids: Try reading a book together and discussing it after you've both finished it. This gives them a reason to read and a chance to spend time with you! They'll love being able to talk about something interesting they read with someone else who read it. I love it when my mom reads something I've read so that I can discuss what I read with her and ask what she thinks about certain parts. It's the best feeling in the world, knowing my mom loves a book as much as I do.

Pretty soon, I'll post a list of books I hope to own and read to my own kids, but just for now, here is the start of my list:


And many more!

Hope this was informative. If you want to do some research of your own, google is always useful, or if you're a little lazy just check out these links I added at the bottom of this post! 

Love ya!

<3Thundress



Links to useful articles I found:

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