For many young people reading in school can seem more like a chore or even a punishment. So, when it’s part of summer camp, finding ways to incorporate it becomes a strange adventure.
Here are four ways to read books aloud to kids that won’t bore them to sleep. This can be done during quiet time, in-cabin bedtime, devotions time, reflection time, before pick-up, rest hour, or even in the middle of a field after a hike.
Read Books Backwards
For this tactic, read something familiar like Cat in The Hat. Of course, this may become a challenge to see who can keep a straight face.
Stay Quiet Challenge
Challenge the kids to not talk while the book is being read. If the staff person reading the book stops because someone talks, we go back to the beginning (this should be a picture book).
Interactive Read-Alouds
An interactive read-aloud is where the kids will add motions or sound effects or even words (No, David!, Don’t Touch the Button!, and Shel Silverstein poetry are great for this).
Just a note: if you have nonreaders/emergent readers the David books by David Shannon are wonderful… they are pretty easy to read, and the kids love to replace David with their own names.
Character Voices
This is the old standby, but still a winner. The staff person reads a chapter book and does a different voice for each character. You could also have a few staff voice different characters.
Submission by Cindy Grant.
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