School’s out for the summer! You and your kids are excited for pool days, water balloons, lazy mornings, and weekend getaways. Encouraging your child to keep reading over the summer can continue improving their literacy and language skills. Summer reading can help children maintain the progress they made during last year school by reviewing some of the concepts they learned. Let’s talk about some easy ways to make it fun!


Make it a Theme. 
Carryover a theme from one of your books into other activities you and your child do that day or week. For example, after reading the previous Join the Story Box book Chicken in Space, have a picnic dinner in the backyard as you look at the stars, or make moonpies for dessert! Our parent guides have great activities you can do with your kids to carry out a fun theme while helping them learn important language concepts!

Set up your Environment Wisely. 
Put your child’s books somewhere where they can easily see and access them, like a low book shelf in their room. You may even want to have 1 or 2 in another room in the house, like on the coffee table or kitchen table. This way, your child will be more encouraged to pick up a book to read on their own or bring one to you!

Implement a Reading Routine. 
Schedules can go out the window over the summer, and for the most part that’s okay! Just incorporate some dedicated time for reading into a routine, such as before bed or during afternoon “quiet time” to make sure that reading happens every day. See my previous post for more on reading routines!

Give your Child Choices. 
Letting your child have a say in which book to read can make them more interested and excited. You can each pick one book. You can let your child choose from their whole book collection, or narrow it down to two choices that you give them.

For your child to continue getting ALL of the benefits of reading while out of school, try these tips to make summer reading fun!

Amy Yacoub, MS, CCC-SLP | Speech Pathologist

Proud Member of The Story Box Family