Works for Me Wednesday!!!

You've all heard me complaining about Jasmine not wanting anything to do with books this summer. It's been frustrating trying to keep her reading, so I realized that in order for me to motivate her, I would have to make it fun.

With it being summer and hot and so many things to be done outside, she would rather be on the trampoline, on the swings, in the pool or anything else, than in the house reading her books.

So, my WFMW tip is about getting your kids motivated to read.

The first thing that I do is use "Book Dollars". I made some out of construction paper, and I hand them out for chores or good deeds I see her do around the house, as well as reading her books without me begging. Once she has about 10 or 15, then we head to the bookstore and she gets to spend the equal amount in books. She LOVES being able to pick her own. Right now she's loving the Dumb Bunnies, I guess at her age she finds them hilarious.

Another thing we are going to do this week, is have a "Reading Picnic". We will gather some snacks and some books and then head out to the park, I think she will enjoy that.

I've also noticed that she will eagerly read a book that is about something she really enjoys or like, like dinosaurs. Any dinosaur book will have her happily grabbing for it.

We're also starting a reading corner, a part of the living room just for reading, and she will help decorate it. Going to use some big pillows, a blanket, a little basket with books and snacks (popcorn, crackers etc). Something that will make her WANT to be there reading. Yes it may be almost at the end of summer, but I figure at least this last month she can enjoy her books and not be turned off by them.

One last thing......I went to Scholastic online, and signed her up for the Summer Reading Buzz. They have a book of the week, a reading meter, a bumblebee booklist, a calendar to show you which books will be up each week so that you can buy them from scholastic or make sure you have them to read.

Each book she adds to her reading log, Scholastic will match each one with a donation to K.I.D.S. so she is happy to be helping other kids too.

It's been fun finding new ways to encourage her to read. Hope this helps one of you moms with your kids and their reading. Works for Me!!!!

For a list of other WFMW participants, go run on over to Shannon, and starting this week, everyone is adding a description of their tips to their names, so it will make it easier for you to browse those tips you are interested in reading :)