Try These Engaging Summer Reading Ideas

A little girl in a pink shirt, reads a book under a floor-to-ceiling window

If it was up to your little ones, they’d probably love to spend the summer swimming all day and staying up late to play video games and binge their favorite shows. Thankfully, parents know that idle minds will lose all the knowledge gathered during the school year. You can help them stay sharp with summer reading. Use a few of the summer reading tips curated by the team at Growing Book by Book to keep your kids engaged all summer long.

Family Dinner Book Club

Recommended age group: four to eight

Turn dinnertime into book club time. On the first of each month, Growing Book by Book announces a new book. You and your family can enjoy reading through the book together and then create dinner activities to stay immersed in the world of the book. If you don’t like the books in the list you can choose your own and come up with fun activities. For instance, if you decide to read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, enjoy spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Or, if you’re reading TheLion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis, you can have Turkish delights for dessert. You can create dinnertime crafts surrounding the book theme as well. Create a book-themed centerpiece, table runner, or tablecloth.  To get really into it, you can even dress up as a character from the book.

ABC Summer Bucket List

Recommended age group: two to eight

Read your way through the alphabet this summer with the ABC Summer Fun bucket list. Each day there is a new theme based on the letter of the day. There’s also a corresponding book and an activity to complete. For instance,  “A” is for art outside. Go outside and create some art using sidewalk chalk and read I Aint Gonna Paint No More! by Beaumont. “B” is for bath time with a summer theme. Grab some floaties for bath time today and read, Elephant in the Bathtub by Andres.”C” is for car repairs with Dad. Pull the car into the driveway for a sudsy car wash then read Car Wash by Steen. If you want you can even cruise by Garden State Honda and take a look at some of the great family vehicles in our inventory.

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Summer Science Series

Recommended age group: two to seven

This series of books and activities was put together by KC Edventures and Inspiration Laboratories. The Summer Science Series includes a list of fun science experiments to do with your little ones that will help them learn to think critically, ask questions, and learn about the world around them. For example, one experiment tests the thing in your home that float and the things that don’t. The series guides even have creative, kid-friendly ways for you to explain complex concepts like the force of gravity and the physics of floating. While your testing the things that float, you can read Things that Float and Things that Don’t by David A. Adler.

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