How do you get your kids to embrace summer reading?

Have you been making sure that your children are reading this summer? With all the busy plans families make during the summer months, they forget to include reading in their daily activities.

We make reading fun during the summer with several activities based around reading. One activity includes signing up for the summer reading program at the library. The kids have fun checking out books and reading them, knowing that when they are done, they get a prize.

Another reading activity we do is pick out a book that involves nature, like a book about caterpillars for example. Then, we go to the park afterwards and look for some real caterpillars. They have fun finding caterpillars that look like the ones in the book.

Rewarding helps too. For every book they read, they get points to put towards a special trip or activity, like going to the movies.

You might want to try to find a movie that was based on a book. Then, go to the library and check out that title and see what is different from the book.

Reading is an important part of young children's lives. Something they can use for the rest of their lives.

What do you do? Wait, don't tell me, tell Twittermoms and HarperCollins (featuring the "I Can Read!" book series aimed at beginning readers). Twittermoms is running a contest celebrating the topic, "summer reading". Share your tips and tricks for getting kids to embrace summer reading. Go to their discussion page and enter to win a free "I Can Read" book! All you have to do is write a blog post in 400 or more words about how you get your kids to still read during the summer months so they don't get out of the habit of reading- an important skill!

I love the "I Can Read" series. I've used their books to teach my two older kids to read and I've started on my youngest (who is 5). They have different levels of books (which helps!) from Shared Reading to Advanced Reading. They have books with every character you can think of to please every child's taste. I really want the Dirt on my Shirt book that just came out.

"I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get an "I Can Read!" book. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”