Learning is most effective when it is relaxed, enjoyable, intriguing, interesting!  In this episode, you'll learn 5 tips to make Reading fun!

Audio version: www.DecodingLearningDifferences.com

Transcript:

Welcome to Decoding Learning Differences with Kimberlynn Lavelle. This episode is Learning should be fun Part one- Reading. This is episode and couple more. There'll be similar with writing and math is based on the principle that children learn more when they are having fun. So how do we do that with reading? This episode is going to give you five ways to make reading fun.

First Of all, you have to enjoy it yourself. So if you aren't currently enjoying reading, you can't really expect your children to enjoy it. And if you aren't enjoying it, you need to find your own enjoyment. So look at some of the rest of these tips and see how can I myself enjoy reading a little bit more if I don't already.

And if you do awesome, make sure your kids can tell, make sure that you always got a book with you that your can't wait to read that you're prioritizing your own reading and that you also are genuinely enjoying the ability and the allowance to read to them. Even if they're 12, 13, 14, 18 years old, realize they're still fun. I still read a lot to my friends with him.

Number two, allow your child to choose what they read. So as all of us, we like to read what we're interested in reading. If your child is really into fantasy books, let the write fantasy books. You can definitely encourage them to read some other things. If it's something they wouldn't normally read, maybe they would be interested, especially if you like kind of carefully vetted it.

And you've looked at, and you're like, I really think they would like this. If they gave it a chance and they don't seem like they want to give it a chance sometimes without you prompting at first, it's actually better to just take the book maybe from the library or whatever, borrowed it from a friend, just place it in kind of a place.

That'll get their attention, right? Leave it out on a coffee table, leave it on a bookshelf, but not tucked away in the bookshelf like forward facing, let them see the cover, have it laid open somewhere that they can actually kind of see some of the words, start reading it out loud to them And then leave it there and see if they want to come and find out what happens next.

So you can definitely get them to maybe choose what you want them to read. But ultimately, if they're not interested in reading, it don't force it. They're not going to benefit from reading something they don't want to read to be perfectly honest. It's not worth the fight. It there's no benefit or very little if any. So letting them choose what they want to read is much more respectful in my opinion,

and much more beneficial to their learning. Number three, use audio books. Okay? Sometimes kids don't want to sit and read, especially if they're very active and they like moving around all the time. If they're very interested in hands-on creation, Well, while they're out, You know, wandering, walking around the neighborhood, they could have some earbuds in and be listening to an audio book while they are building Lego or drawing a painting.

They could be listening to an audio book. So don't discount audio books as not really reading true. You're not really reading, but you're definitely hearing a book and possibly story depending on what you're listening to. And there's comprehension happening. There's a love of books happening that will kind of keep that enlightened, that engagement in reading, going. Even if they're not physically reading a book,

even if that like reading skill is not happening at that moment, it still counts towards reading comprehension and building a love of reading and can still benefit their actual reading skills just by listening to those books. So use audio books, not a hundred percent of the time necessarily, but Use them number four, Make sure your child understands what they are reading. If your child does not comprehend what they're reading,

they're not going to enjoy it. I hope that makes sense to you. If they don't understand what they're reading, they will not enjoy reading it because it's just listening to jibberish basically. Right? It's confusing. It's like, Oh, I don't get it. I don't know why, why do I have to hear this? Right. So make sure they have whatever background knowledge.

They need to understand it, discuss things with them. And if you don't have it yet, definitely grab the octopuses guide to reading. That's my like free download. It has eight strategies to just build reading comprehension in fun ways. And any of those can be used to help your child to understand what they're reading, which will help them enjoy their reading more.

So you can grab that guide at www dot your parent, help.com/reading comprehension. You they'll also put a link below this video and audio so that you can describe it there. So make sure your child understands what they're reading. Take the time to help them understand it. If they don't and not just by talking at them, interact with them, play games with them,

make it, turn it into a play, turn it into, you know, acting it out with little creatures, drawing it out, help them understand it. You also can just bring in, like I said, building that background knowledge, which is one thing that's not in the guide that I should probably add in as a bonus, but building that background knowledge can help a lot.

So especially right now with my three-year-old, he is reading, you know, we're reading together and there's a lot of things. He doesn't know what that is. So it doesn't mean anything to him until we explained to him what it is. Or we pull out our phone and look it up and show him what it is that it's, that they're talking about.

And then it makes more sense to him. And then he loves, he loves all books. But part of that is he wants to, he wants to understand. Number five, Consider the environment. What can you do to make the environment more enjoyable? Maybe it's going outside and reading under a tree. Maybe it's getting cosy with blanket by the fire, a little hot chocolate and love and your reading.

Maybe it's getting really creative with other places like under the table or the book is taking place at the beach. So you're driving to the beach to read the book. The, the book is taking. I was just thinking about this one book. It's called voices in the park. It takes place, obviously in it's actually I believe in central park. If I remember correctly,

it's been a couple of years since I read it. So go to a park, read it in the park. I'm thinking about the magic tree house books, right? Do you have a tree house that you can go read it? And that would be amazing. If not, is there a tree that you can access? Is there a place in your house that you could pretend is a tree house?

Maybe it's up higher. Maybe it's near trees. Maybe you can build a fake tree house out of like cardboard and stuff that it's, it's a tree house, right? Like get creative and make it fun because sometimes having a special place to read something makes it more enjoyable to read it. And also it actually can help trigger the memory function. So then every time the child is in that place,

they're more likely to remember that book that they were reading in that special place. Another You would think about. All right. What do you do to make reading fun? What other tips do you have? I would love to hear them. Please email me. Kimberlynn@DecodingLearningDifferences.com. I can't wait to hear from you. Thank you.

And I will see you again next Week.