Reading benefits
Reading brings a ton of different benefits for you and your little boy! While you get to bond with them, unwind from your day, and have fun discovering new books to read together, they improve their language development, imagination, and cognitive development (and more!). From their childhood, all the way through adolescence and adulthood, these skills will help them with creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making.
In this blog, we’re going to dive into some down-to-earth ways to get our little guys excited about reading. With some fun tactics, you can get your kids excited to dive into the world of books.
Bedtime Stories and Pajamas
Bedtime routines and rituals are a way to subconsciously communicate sleep time to our kids. While your bedtime rituals might look like a warm bath, singing a lullaby, or dimming the lights a few hours beforehand, adding an additional step of reading a book will add another calming and predictable step to their bedtime routine.
To get them even more excited, let them choose their own sleepwear! Find boy’s pajamas in fun patterns, and with cute motifs you know they’ll love, and let them choose their pajamas for the night right before bedtime! It’s on you to make sure you find the most comfortable and safe pajamas out there, and on your little man to find which pajamas will keep them comfortable and safe for the night.
About storytelling
Storytelling is like pure gold for our precious, yet spirited boys. Their curiosity is a remarkable trait you need to cherish and nurture. With storytelling, we can teach certain soft skills or values to our kids through the act of telling stories, and we can also promote creative thinking to exercise their minds.
Besides all of the different benefits of storytelling on its own, it can also lead to the love of reading in young boys. Hearing stories can be fun and entertaining, but it can also raise a better understanding of cultures, relationships, and the world around them. When you read stories together with your kids, it can be a bonding experience for sure!
Create a Cozy Environment
DIY a cozy and inviting book nook! Having a space for reading and learning can have a beneficial effect on learning faster and focusing on the subject matter better. The first thing you’ll need to successfully transform a corner of your living space into a quiet book nook is a comfy place to sit or lay on – think a soft cushion or a bean bag chair. To make the atmosphere appropriate for reading, you’ll also need to add a warm light to the space. To make a DIY reading nook a successful project, you won’t need to spend any additional money. Take a table lamp to provide brightness, display their books on shelves in an inviting way, and make it cozy! Invite them to collaborate with you, and have them add personal touches such as special interests – that can be drawings, plush toys or anything else.
Book Worms
Wondering how to make boys start reading on their own, and turn them into real bookworms? It’s all about choosing the right books. Firstly, you have to include their own choice of books. Go on a library or bookshop date together and let them choose a few books they like and want to read. That can be comic books, books about their special interests, even fiction books such as Harry Potter for older boys, Captain Underpants books (that’ll for sure make them laugh!), or a book such as Dragon Slayer Academy.
Secondly, once they get into the groove of reading, you can start introducing your boys to a diverse range of genres. Whenever they choose a few books, sneak another one in there that they wouldn’t choose themselves, but you think they might enjoy. Another way to diversify their bookshelf is to just ask them if they’d like to read something different as well. For example, some of the books young, curious boys might enjoy are Encyclopedias about the animal kingdom for kids, or kids’ books about how certain machinery works (such as planes, trucks, ect.). You might be surprised how much they could enjoy a book like this, and it will broaden their horizons as well!
No matter what, the most important thing when introducing frequent reading to young kids is to make it interactive, interesting, and fun for them. Read together, make a dedicated reading space, have them choose their own reads and ask them about what they’ve read and ask them to explain certain terms from the books to them.
Reading is so important, with so many benefits for kids. When you make it fun for them it just makes it a ton easier for you as well.
