Fun Reading Activities

Reading Confidence Cards This is a great idea to slowly build reading vocabulary of common words while quickly building confidence. Reading Confidence Cards have repeating patterns with eight cards for each set. Activities including drama, drawing, or matching cards and objects can be done with each set. Get a FREE DOWNLOAD of the Reading Confidence Cards.

The Dictator's Story Sorry about the title, but some kids really like this one. Let your child dictate a story to you, and you type it in a word processing program. I modify the stories to ensure the sentences are complete and the grammar is correct. Then, the story is printed for them to read. And re-read. And re-read. It is their very own story and they proudly claim all credit for authorship. You can lay out the pages to allow for artwork if the student would like to add pictures. Warning: some kids really can become dictators; wanting you to drop everything to record their inspirations the moment they are inclined.

Oral Reading This works great for poems, but can be used with other reading passages as well. You might start by reading the poem to the child with expression so they can take pleasure in the sound of the words and the meaning. Then have them read it. Practice it several times in order to read it to someone else. The repetition builds their reading skill and the performance for one other person builds confidence and pride.

Reading Games For many kids one of the most fun reading activities is playing games. There are many reading games that give youngsters practice reading printed text. You might want to check out Erudition.

Color Cards This activity helps students read and spell color words. First, on separate cards, print out the words for each color with that color of marker or crayon. For instance, "pink" would be written with a pink crayon, "orange" would be written with an orange crayon etc. For white, use a black marker or pen and draw thick, rounded letters which are left white on the inside. At first, the student practices "reading" the cards, which is easy since the word and color print are the same. Then, cut the letters up individually. You might only cut up one or two words at a time. For instance, the "pink" card would be cut into the four letters: p - i - n - k. Then the student arranges the letters in the correct order. Each session, have them work with a new color and practice arranging all those previously cut up.

Comics Use the comics in the newspaper or get a comic book. The student can be one particular character, and you read the bubbles for the other characters. With older students, the same can be done with plays.

Kids News Newspapers often have kid's sections. You can also subscribe to colorful magazines specifically for children in a specific age range. This has the added bonus of the child receiving real mail just for them. Many of the magazines include fun reading activities such as words searches or puzzles.

Phonic Families For more fun reading activities, see our list of strategies for working with phonic word families.

Cooking With Kids Before starting to cook, have the child read the recipe and get out everything that is needed. If the child is too young for that, the parent can get all the ingredients and place them on the table. The child needs to read the recipe and put the ingredients in the order they are listed.

Read Along Children often benefit from reading along as a story is read to them. You can get CD's from the story or library and have your child follow along in the accompanying book. Here's another idea for reading along: Listen to the stories as they are read online. Kristina's homeschool family reads children's classics, poetry, Bible stories and more. Let your children read along with stories that build character traits as well as a lifelong love of reading at www.short-story.time.com

More Ideas? Susan is a former school teacher dedicated to sharing the love of reading with families. Check out some of the ideas on her website at www.joy-of-reading.com

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