Encouraging your children to read can be a difficult task. We have cracked the code and our sharing our 5 Tips to Encourage Your Children to Read!
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Amazon as part of an Ambassador Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
Reading In Our Home
Up until November of this year, our children would fight us tooth and nail to sit and read. My daughter wanted to just be read too and only if the books were those touch and feel books and my son wouldn’t even make an effort. As a teacher and a mom, I was pretty bummed and unsure of how to improve their desires to grab a book and get lost in it.
What changed? We purchased Amazon Echo Dot Kids Editions and made reading time more relaxed and fun. It took about a week of consistency, but now, my kids start reading time on their own and often just grab a book and drift off to whatever magical place they desire.
5 Tips to Encourage your Children to Read
I know this can be a struggle for other parents. If you are anything like me, you want to see your kids grow both academically, imaginatively and verbally. I know the value of being a good reader and the impact it has on kids further into their education and beyond. Sparking the reading bug in my children was very important and FINALLY we found success, so we wanted to share our 5 tips to encourage your children to read.
Tip 1: Buy an Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition
Do it now. This little device has been pivotal in our kids encouragement of reading. They control it, they set the timer and they own their reading time. Our son even told us that he prefers to read with Alexa because he can choose how long he can read for.
We purchased one for each of our kids and placed them in their rooms. I love the drop in features and Parent Dashboard, but my kids love that they have the ability to play music, to set their timers and race each other for basically anything, to have reading time and so much more. Amazon is always having sales on them and we picked ours up for just under $35.00!
Tip 2: Let them Pick the Book
This took forever for me to understand as a parent. My daughter loves those touch and feel books and my son will read comic style books like crazy. I tried to get him to read Harry Potter, but he refused and my pushing caused him to push back and not read at all. Finally, we were in the store one day and I let the kids pick out their own books.
He chose a comic style book and the littlest chose those step up to reading books. We came home that day and he went straight to his room and read that ENTIRE book. Yes, the one you see above. I bought the entire series after that and he has read them all, numerous times! You know what, these books also have really hard words and spark his imagination and have even encouraged him to pick up that Harry Potter book after all!
Tip 3: Amazon FreeTime is your Friend
My kids also have Amazon Fire tablets. When you purchase a Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition, you get a year of Amazon FreeTime and it is SO worth it. Kids receive access to thousands upon thousands of kid-friendly books, shows, apps and more and you guys, my kids will download books like it is going out of style at this point.
I love that they are willing to grab a book or their tablets and sit down for some quiet reading time. I also love that Amazon FreeTime gives our children the freedom to choose from an extensive and engaging library of materials. If we can’t find a book in store, you can bet they have found it on their tablets. Amazon FreeTime is gold!
Tip 4: Let Them Choose Their Reading Space
I was always so strong about homework being done at the table. Once the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Editions arrived and we placed them into their rooms, we also allowed them to choose where they wanted to read. My daughter will grab a pillow and a blanket and sometimes her stuffed lovies and sit and read on the floor to them.
Our son, prefers to read on the bed in about every different reading position you can imagine. Sometimes I will even catch him with the book on the bed, opened to a particularly active scene, and him acting it out while reading dramatically! I seriously love those moments.
Allowing them to be in control of when and where they read has been truly pivotal in the reading bug taking effect in our home. We have also had teachers and other parents tell us they created little reading nooks where the kids wanted to read and their kids will sit for hours and hours with a book.
Tip 5: Use The Timer Feature
This house lives on the timer feature of our Amazon Echo devices. Seriously, I set the kids alarms for school through them, I set cooking times with them, we set shower times with them and of course, reading time is set with the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition. Our kids love to grab their books, sit in their spots and ask Alexa to “set the timer to _ minutes”. They choose the time and that is their personal goal. Both kids have enjoyed having that control.
Enter the Giveaway
I have been talking about how much we love our Amazon Echo Dot Kids Editions over the last few months. You can read more about how you can help them manage time and organize life here. However, we are also giving away an Echo Dot Kids Edition! Enter below for your chance to win one of 10 Echo Dot Kids Editions!
Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition Sweepstakes
I-C will randomly select winners from all program entries and Amazon will facilitate fulfillment of the winning prizes of 10 Winners.
