How can I get my 8 year old to enjoy reading more?
Favorite Answer
I teach children around that age, and everyone of them has loved the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne . If you read these, make sure you read in order starting with book 1. Each book builds on what happened in the previous story. The books are a great blend of non-fiction information combined with adventure! Good luck!
How to Get Your Child to Love Reading: For Ravenous and Reluctant Readers Alike by Esmé Raji Codell
The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition (Read-Aloud Handbook) by Jim Trelease
Some things you could do are: Take him to the library and let him browse the kids’ section. If he’s reluctant to get anything, help steer him towards something you know he’s interested in. There are books that have step by step ways to do science experiments that my male students have really enjoyed. Any reading is good for him so if he’d prefer to read Sports Illustrated for Kids, get him a subscription to that. Books on CD are also at the library and are great for reluctant readers.
Can your son read well for his age? Many children don’t like to read because they have trouble learning how. The less often he reads while he’s young, the harder it will be for him to learn. Also, if he can’t read very well but you’ve spent years trying to teach him, he could be dyslexic.
There were several book series I enjoyed too, such as ‘The Great Brain’ series by John Fitzgerald. Anything by Roald Dahl was very engaging. It might be helpful to read those to him at night. But to read on my own, I felt that comic books were grown up, but they were divided into small enough parts that I felt ‘successful’ as a reader. It might be a nice alternative to expecting him to sit down with a picture book or a children’s novel.
Another thing one of my teachers did in 2nd grade, was to have our class make a ‘Book Worm’. She would give us a round circle out of construction paper ( a ‘worm’ segment) to list the name of the book we just read, and stick it on the wall to make a giant bookworm. The idea was to make the worm wrap around the room as many times as possible because of all of the books we read. Sometimes challenging a boy with a visual accomplishment works well.
Take him to your local library, and talk to the staff there. They’ll have a good idea what kinds of things the kids are reading these days, and they’ll also help him find books on things he’s interested in. Take him to the bookstore, and let him pick what he wants so that you’ll have those books around that appeal to him whenever there’s nothing good on TV or his ball game is rained out.
Let him read comics if he wants to, or read every football or joke book the library holds. Let him read every Goosebumps book every published, if that’s what he likes. It’s not high literature, but high literature isn’t what gets someone liking to read. Don’t be surprised if he gets every book he can get his hands on about a certain subject, including the ones written for adults, and then moves on to another area from there.
What gets kids liking to read is letting them just go to town and follow their own interests – not without guidance, but without restriction. And bless you for being a parent who knows the value of reading not just because you need it to do well, but because it’s FUN!
Make it exciting and part of the regular routine. Special. Pop some popcorn or snuggle up in bed.
Studies show that babies who are read to, become students who are more successful in education because they have picked up so many basic skills just from being read to.