We hope to make summer fun for our kiddoes, and we hope to build special moments and memories with them. At the same time, we want to encourage reading fluency and help prepare them for the next educational year.

One way to make reading time feel special is to create a cozy reading nook somewhere in the house. Designating an area for story time will make reading feel special. This can be in a closet, in a corner, between the beds, or whatever unique locations your kids come up with! Letting them have some input will make it even more like an adventure.

We can use old sheets and blankets, pillows, bean-bag chairs, shower curtains, beach towels, table cloths, or even couch cushions….there is no need to buy anything; we can just use what we already have. Christmas lights or patio lights would add some sparkle too. Let’s just try to make it comfy, cute, and inviting. We can put a little box, basket, or shelf in there for books the kids want to read or have read to them.

As I’m writing this, my mind keeps pulling up images from “The Holiday” movie. Remember the scene where Cameron Diaz’s character shows up at Jude Law’s house and his daughters invite her into their “fort”? It’s quite the magical fort!

We built bunkbeds in the playroom this past winter, and that area is turning out to be a fun spot to cuddle up and read…….or wrestle…..or hide!

We can’t all replicate that, but our kids will come up with something that FITS THEM and is a product of their own imaginations. How much fun would it be to go in there together and read by flashlight? Maybe supply some favorite summer snacks…..and make story time an adventure!

Choosing fun, entertaining and rhyming stories adds to the fun. Wouldn’t it be great to add a bit of the creation story to the pile in there…? The One Who Created is now available! (had to plug)

A tiny bit of effort, digging around the house and finding simple supplies, could provide summer reading time for the whole family. The pets (real or stuffed) can come in too……this may end up being one of their favorite places in the house! The point is, we can BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS this summer and create some pretty cool family experiences at the same time.

Thanks for reading! Please share and subscribe for a weekly idea of how we can Book Time with Our Kids!

Deuteronomy 6: 6-9: And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.