12 Ways to Get Your Child to Love Reading Books

I remember my father always bringing us these beautiful and colorful books when he would return from his business trips. Oddly enough, he used to bring us those kids encyclopedias or other kinds of general knowledge books because he didn’t know much about story books then.

Now I was never a reader, but I always wanted my kids to read books. I remember when my oldest daughter was 6 months old and I bought her first baby book. I would read it to her in the afternoon right before her mid-day nap.

Fast forward a decade; now I have 3 kids and all of them love to read. Here is how I got my kids to love reading books.

Start reading to your baby as early as 6 months

We all know a 6 month old baby can’t read books, but you can find plenty of books for 6+ months old babies in the book store that they sure can appreciate. You can buy books like “My first words” or “My toys”. Babies this age are more intuitive than we think, and they can pick up a lot of things from these books that “resemble” their surroundings (it’s all about cerebral development and forming connections). Or, you can buy some of those cute song books of nursery rhymes and you can sing along too.

Different Types of books

You can find all types of books in the bookstore. For babies and toddlers buy small hardcover books or big books with lots of pictures and very little text, or those books that play music when you open them. You can also find water proof books for their bath time!

Read to them with expressions

I started to buy story books for my oldest when she was one year old. I used to do the dramatic reading I could manage, with all the expressions and exaggerated emotions and all, much like what the kids are used to see in cartoons. It will make them to connect with the book and make reading time more interesting.

Keep the books in their reach

Make a book corner, decorate it and keep the books at the place from where they’re always reachable to the kids. Soon enough you’ll start noticing that your child heads over to the book corner and grabs a book when they’re not in the mood for toys!

Fix the time for reading

Make book reading a habit and set up a crude schedule for reading time. When my daughter was 2 years old, I used to read her story books before her bed time at night. She was too young to read then, but she liked books so much that she would bring me her favorite story books to read.

Make your children relate to the books

When you start potty training your child, you absolutely HAVE to buy a book of potty training of your child’s favorite character or cartoon. Similarly if you are expecting another baby, or your child is starting their pre-school, or you visit the zoo for a family’s day out, or even if you are moving to another house, you can find children’s books on all these topics. Remember; a child’s mind is quick to form an attachment to things they are familiar with. Children can and will relate their lives to their books and then you can talk to your child about all the things they think reflect in their own lives.

Make library/ book store visits regular

We used to go to the book store every month and we would spend HOURS there to find some good books. We have been doing this since….always! And now, we go to the book shop every week because my girls love to read so much that they start reading their new books the day they buy it. And they can finish a book within one week!

Books vs Toys

Try to replace toys with books. Instead of buying them a toy present, buy their favorite story book or a story book of their favorite cartoon character. Instead of spending way too much in an attempt to expand their toy collection, spent some time to find and collect all the books of their favorite character and make a small library in their room. This way, you save money and help your kids form a productive habit. Two birds with one stone!

Let them choose

 Whenever you go to the library or a book store, encourage them to choose their own books. If you force them to buy a book according to your liking, there is a chance that they will not read it and end up developing a dislike for reading. Don’t make it seem like a chore! When I try to give my 3 year old son books about colors or shapes or ABC’s, he simply rejects it and picks up something related to construction machines or PJ Masks (his favorite cartoon). Let them select what they like and they will devour it faster than you can imagine.

Read to your children

Even if your child is old enough to read, make time to read to your children. They will simply love you for it. Whenever I read to my 3 year old, my 7 year old always comes and sits with us. It’s a great way to spend time with your children. Talk to them about the story; ask them about their thoughts on it and little trivia questions about the plot. Invite them to explain what’s happening in the story. Don’t forget to encourage their questions and comments!

Give them a big cheer after they finish their book

Whenever My 7 year old daughter buys a new book, she comes home and starts reading it right away. And sure enough, after some time she comes up to me and tells me proudly that she already has finished her book. How you react to your kid’s achievements is VERY important. I congratulate her and always act surprised about her finishing her book so quickly. Always tell them that they have done a great job and how proud you are of them.

Don’t force them to read

If there’s one thing we know about kids, it’s that they’ll always do the opposite of what you pester them about. Don’t force your child to read if they want to play with their logos or paint instead. Let them make their own choices. Otherwise, they will start to dislike reading altogether. Let them decide when to read and what to read.

Reading is an excellent activity which helps children in increasing their knowledge and vocabulary. It’s a healthy habit far too often overlooked by parents and an opportunity far too valuable to not take advantage of.

They say that children imitate what they see. They are right. If we want our children to pick up the reading bug, we have to set examples in front to them to follow. If we keep using our electronic devices in front of them and hypocritically ask them to read more books, they are never going to do it. So, the next time you’re at the book store helping your kids pick out their books, pick one up for yourself and jump aboard the reading train!

10 Ways to Engage Children Without Using Electronic Gadgets

Remember the times when we used to play fun games in our childhood? You know, that time in our lives when these electronic gadgets hadn’t taken over the world yet? Good old days. We used to come home from school, finish our homework in a hurry so that we could go outside to meet our friends and play; games like hopscotch, hide and seek, playing with our dolls or going to the park and wait for our turn on the swings. (Seems like I’m talking about another era :D)

But times have changed. Technology has taken over and today’s children are more advanced. They even know how to use all these electronic gadgets better than we do. For instance, my ten year old daughter tells me how to use the new filters on Snapchat and my three year old son knows where to find the games on the tablet. And honestly, every time he uses the tablet or my cellphone, I feel terribly sad and guilty. It’s unhealthy and it’s unnatural. Therefore, I came up with these 10 ideas to limit their screen time:


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  1. Build structures with Lego/blocks

My 3 kids love playing with Legos and blocks. In all fairness, every kid in the world loves Legos. Sometimes even adults! Both my daughters get extremely creative and they can spend hours building doll houses with Legos. As for my 3 year old son, he loves to make big towers with the blocks and gets really dramatic when the tower crashes (he has a flair for drama). He could do this a hundred times.

2.Build a fort

This is another way for the kids to explore their minds and get creative. If your kids are old enough then allow them to set up the fort according to their imagination. With younger kids, you can help them make one with cardboard boxes or put a linen sheet over 3 wooden sticks and decorate it with fancy pillows and twinkly lights and put their favorite toys inside. They would spend hours pretending prince or princesses.

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3.Book reading

When you go to the bookstore, let your children choose a book for themselves. Like when my second daughter was learning how to read, I helped her choose one of those “Easy to Read” beginner level books. Now she can read quite well and when we go to the bookstore, I just tell her the section to choose from and she selects her own books. For my 3 year old I buy big books with a lot of pictures and very little text, or one of those cute books with the sound effects and music that plays when you flip the pages.

4.Junior Chef

Another great way and highly recommended way to spend some quality time with the kids. Make cupcakes and ask them to help out! They could put ingredients into the bowls and help mix the batter and at the end, they always love to decorate the frosting with some sprinkles. You can also try making pizza. Each kid gets to make his own pizza. You can put everything in front of them and ask them put the pizza sauce themselves and the toppings according to their liking. You can also tell them your childhood stories while you are cooking/baking with them.

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5.Play outside

Head out to your backyard or to your nearest park and let them play on the swings and slides, or just run like there’s no tomorrow. There are a lot more benefits to physical activity than you might think! Physical benefits aside, children are more happy and easy-going after a good visit to the park. You can take your bicycles to the park and ride along with them. Or you can also play badminton, enjoy a game of Frisbee, throw and catch the ball. Another fun thing to do is bring a picnic in the park with the kids’ favorite snacks.

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6.Arts and crafts

Painting, crafting for dolls, or just give them some plastic bottle caps, tissue rolls and some egg cartons; you will be surprised how kids use their imagination and make amazing masterpieces.

7.Gardening

Children are always interested in gown up’s activities. So, the next time when you’re gardening in your backyard or if you are watering your indoor plants, ask your children to lend you a hand (don’t forget to make it sound like a fun task!). They could help you change the soil and maybe fetch some water in the watering can. You can also give some basic information about gardening and how plants grow.

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8.Play indoor games

There are lots of ideas for indoor games like Simon Says, I Spy, board games like Monopoly and Scrabble, and card games like UNO. Playing indoor games is a great idea when you are tired and you want the kids to play quietly. While the kids are playing you can join them or just watch them and cherish these moments.

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9.Zumba for kids

This works for me all the time. My 3 kids just love doing Zumba for Kids, which I think is a great way to use their energy and stay physically active. Just search “Zumba for Kids” and you’ll find a ton of videos on YouTube. My 3 year old doesn’t know how to follow, so he just copies his sisters 😀 It’s always so much fun watching them doing the Zumba. And the fun part is you can join them and they will love you for it.

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10.Give them chores

I often ask my kids to help me in different chores, like help me clean up the room or clean the dining table or take out the garbage bags or help me put the groceries away. And when I fold the laundry, I arranged everyone’s separate piles so that they can put them into their cupboard easily. You can give them tasks according to their age which they can do easily. And at the end you give them a big hug or a big cheer to appreciate their effort when they are finished.

I know we cannot stop our kids from using electronic gadgets completely, especially in today’s day and age where everything is digitalized and online. But we can deviate them with these activities and moderate their device usage. Remember, children follow what they see. We as parents can set examples by unplugging these electronic devises and replace screen time to face time.

Toys can be replaced, so can the cartoons and the video games, but the only thing children cannot replace is the time which they spend with their parents; the time which they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Did you enjoy the post? Don’t forget to share it to your mum friends. Did you try any of these tips? Did you enjoy your time with your kids? Do you have some more ideas? Tell us in the comments.  We’d love to hear from you!