Making Summertime Reading Fun

Happy Mother’s Day: Women in Horror Welcome to Circus Farfelle

Making Summertime Reading Fun

Summertime is finally here! Now’s the time for kids to run outside in the sprinkler, get messy outside at the park, and forget everything they learned at school the past year.

If that last one brought you to a record-scratch stop, you’re not alone. But summer reading loss is a real thing. Happily, there are easy ways not only to counteract it but to help your kids learn to love reading.

What is Summer Reading Loss?

Fun Summertime Reading Tips

Summer Reading Games

Summer Reading for Bilingual Families

Resources

Book Recommendations

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“Summer reading loss is also known as the summer slide,” says Sarah Fedoration, manager of EAL and language programming with Lumen Christi Catholic Education Center. “It refers to the decline in children’s reading development that can occur throughout the summer months when students are away from the classroom and not regularly participating in ongoing literacy instruction.”

A 2019 study published in Phi Delta Kappen and cited in Psychology Today (July 2020), shows that the typical student loses one to two months of learning in reading, states Kate Schutz, Service Design Lead at Calgary Public Library. Luckily for parents and caregivers, keeping up kids’ reading over the summer isn’t only easy, it’s tons of fun and can make for great family bonding time.

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An important part of maintaining summer reading in your family is to read yourself. “The greatest predictor of a child’s reading habits is the reading habits of their mother,” Schutz says. So get caught reading!

“I always recommend that caregivers make sure that their children catch them in the act of reading, and that they catch their children reading (and celebrate it!) If caregivers tend to read on the tablet or e-reader, that is OK, but children need to see adults flip pages to understand that reading is happening and how reading print materials works, whereas looking at a screen can be misinterpreted.”

One of the most important things I heard from educators when it comes to summer reading is that it must be fun. This isn’t homework. Now is the exact right time for kids to discover a genuine love of reading, and hopefully become lifelong readers. Enforced reading isn’t going to cut it. But there are so many ways to incorporate fun reading into your summer.

Freedom and choice are key to getting your kid interested in reading. All reading is good reading, including fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, comic books and magazines. “Encourage children to read books they find interesting and enjoyable,” says Carmen Vaugeois, French Immersion Consultant with Edmonton Catholic School Division. “Let them choose their own reading material based on their preferences. Supporting their reading choices helps foster a love for reading.”

Reading together is as beneficial as a child reading on their own. “Finding a series that you might enjoy together before bed is a great way to keep your child engaged in reading,” Fedoration says. And bring movie night into it. “Reading the novel and then watching the movie is a great way to ‘double’ enjoy a book. It also allows for discussion about similarities and differences between the novel and the movie.”

Reading comes up in many ways when travelling as a family. One tip many educators gave me was to listen to audiobooks in the car while on road trips. As Fedoration reminds us, listening to reading is still reading! Not only are kids learning without knowing it, but it’s a great way to bond together. Choose a funny book that will have you all laughing.

Travelling gives you a chance to incorporate practical reading as well.

“Parents can integrate learning into everyday activities by encouraging their child to read menus, follow recipes, measure ingredients or calculate expenses while shopping,” Vaugeois says. “This helps them apply academic skills in real-life situations and highlights the importance of making connections between school and home life.”

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Summer reading games are programs designed to encourage kids to read while away from school, in a way that is fun and stimulating. My own background in children’s literacy comes from designing and running the children’s reading program with St. Albert Public Library. (Psst: If you happen to live near St. Albert, this program is extraordinary).

I took what I’ve learned from reading programs, as well as games I designed for my own children during the covid pandemic to keep their reading up, and designed a reading program within a book. This choose-your-own-adventure, Circus Farfelle and the Case of the Missing Monkey, will get your kid reading…and also offers prompts for them to choose other books to read within. It’s written in both English and French: the paperback version is also available on Amazon English here and French here).

For those of you living here in Calgary with me, Calgary Public Library offers an excellent reading program, the Ultimate Summer Challenge. “Our summer reading program encourages every Calgarian to develop a reading habit and so we encourage every participant, ages 0-100!, to read or be read to everyday,” Schutz says.

Registration with the program automatically enters you into the grand prize draws throughout the summer. Participants can track their reading online or on a challenge map. “If you read every day in July and August, you can bring your map in for a prize too,” Schutz says.

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I am an anglophone mother raising francophone children, and our family is bilingual. Trying to keep up both languages over the summer can be a struggle, particularly in our case when the kids are out of school, and they are surrounded by the predominant language of the area. In our case, Calgary is very English-speaking, so maintaining French over the summer months is a challenge.

Happily, there are great ways to incorporate second language development into your summer reading. Vaugeois’ family encounters the same issue: “At times, children will struggle to stay motivated to use their additional language when school is over. My own children often say ‘Mom, can we have a break from French?’”

I think many bilingual parents have the same struggle. The important thing is to make language fun and not force it. Vaugeois has great suggestions. “When cooking, I often have a French music playlist on in the background. When driving, we listen to French audiobooks or podcasts and alternate with the English language. I also let them pick a French book and an English book when we visit the bookstore.”

There are so many great ways to keep up kids reading over the summer. Not only will they not lose their language skills over the summer, but hopefully jump into the next scholastic year with an even greater love of reading.

Kate Schutz has provided many resources you can find online to help (from the Calgary Public Library):

10 tips for reading with your family

Top tips for reading and learning all summer long

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Lots and lots of book recommendations, usually broken into interesting categories: women in horror, world history non-fiction, books set in the circus ...

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