Children who read more grow to be stronger readers. Here’s several tips and a free summer reading bingo printable to get your kids to read more this summer!
- Free Printables For Summer
- 50 Free Printable Bingo Game Sheets
- Free Printable Bingo Call Sheets
- Summer Bingo Printable Cards
- Summer Activity Bingo Printable
With COVID-19 and the emergency schooling-from-home, a lot of parents are understandably worried about their children’s academic skills. The best news is the one activity that’s most helpful to prevent the loss of more skills is to just read.
It is really important to keep your children reading over the summer. Good readers read more often than poor readers because it’s easier for them. But how do we get better at any skill? With practice, of course!
Summer Bingo is a fun activity that is perfect for an end of year party or summer school! 30 different cards! In this product you will receive the following: 30 different printable Bingo cards (24 spaces of pictures plus 1 free space on each card) Calling cards with each picture and words that say.
Free Printables For Summer
But you’re already exhausted from all the nagging and negotiating with the crisis homeschooling. So you’ll want to figure out fun and easy ways to get your kids to read more this summer.
- Full Size Hello Summer Bingo Cards can be printed on letter size paper, one per page. Once you have them printed, you can cut these along the trim lines. There is also calling sheet that is included with this package. You can print it on letter size paper. How to play Summer Bingo Game? To get started, Print the bingo cards on letter size paper.
- Summer BINGO Game at PrimaryGames FREE printable Summer BINGO Game. Easy to use - just PRINT and PLAY. Summer picture BINGO cards feature images of Sunshine, Beach Balls, Popsicles, Watermelon and more! Find lots fun BINGO games at PrimaryGames. Are you looking for unblocked games? PrimaryGames is the fun place to learn and play!
- Here’s a free summer themed Bingo stamper printable word search for kids! This twist on a classic word search game is an entertaining activity for young kids. It makes for a great “quiet time” activity without screen and other distractions. This free printable word stamp game is a fun alternative to a classic word search.
- The BINGO package comes with 4 sheets. Including 6 playing cards (2 per page) and one sheet that has the calling cards. I print mine off and once cut out, laminate them so that they last longerespecially with young kids playing with them. Find a fun treat that you can use as markers.
So what is a parent to do? The fact remains that the more your children read this summer, they better readers they will become.
They will either retain what they’ve learned in school or their reading will improve. Fortunately, there a lots of simple things you can do to get your children to read more this summer.
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Get your kids to read more this summer
There are seven strategies you can rely on to get your children to read more during the summer.
Make it fun
Let reading be fun this summer. Serve snack along with stories or set up a fort so your children can have books and blankets.
Buy a pop-up tent that is dedicated as the reading room or one of those cardboard castles or spaceships as a private reading oasis. Let your child make a fort with blankets over the dining room table and read under there.
Making reading seem like a chore (“write two sentences about this story on this reading log”) is a sure-fire way to keep children from reading more and it’s totally unnecessary if your goals is to get your child to read more.
Offer a wide variety
Try to give choices for many different types of books. This increases your odds on finding a book that hooks your child.
Jim Trelease is the author of theRead Aloud Handbookand an expert in how parents can foster literacy in their children.
According to his research, many lifelong readers find a “home run book… that inspires them to keep reading” (5th edition, p. 137). My home run books were the Little House on the Prairie books and Baby Sitter’s Club series.
The book How to Get Your Child to Love Reading is a 500-page resource for different types, themes, and genres of books that certainly will engage your child. While your local librarian will also have tons of suggestions for you if you ask, this books is a great reference if you want to DIY expand your child’s reading options.
Turn off the screens
Research has shown that children who view more than 10 hours a week of television have lower reading scores than children who watch less than 10 hours (Read Aloud Handbook, 5th edition, p. 197). Thus, there’s a compelling reason to limit screen time besides the risks of childhood obesity.
Also, if you want your kids to read more this summer, there simply needs to be ample time. So turn off the screens so your children get bored.
- Related: How To Manage Screen Time this Summer – free printable
This daily routine printable is available in the Summer Printable Pack
Schedule it
T o get your kids to read more, schedule it so it is expected. Use a flexible daily schedule so your children know that reading time is just part of the routine.
Even non-reader toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners can “read” by looking at the books. Your older children can read whatever they want during this time (as long as it’s appropriate and fits your values, of course).
We have Learning Time as a daily block in our schedule. We mostly play Addition Math Facts board games and do play doh activities to build fine motor strength, but reading is a part of this time, too.
If your child is resistant, make reading time super short at the beginning (like 3-5 minutes) and gradually increase the time.
Have books everywhere
You know the saying, “Out of sight, out of mind?”
It’s true with books, too. If your children only keep their books in their bedroom, that limits access and opportunity.
So make sure you have books all over so your children can read: clear a shelf in the living room, have a basket near the kitchen table, leave some books in the pockets of your car seats.
I model this for my children, too. If my phone is available, I’ll scroll unnecessarily through Facebook.
If I have a novel downstairs in the family room, I’m more likely to pick it up when I need to find some fun in my day.
Read aloud to them
By reading aloud to your child, you have the opportunity to serve as a reading role model for your child.
Your vocabulary and reading skill exceeds your child’s so you’re able to expose your child to books and words that they can’t yet manage independently.
Listening to stories is also pleasurable, and the more your child enjoys it, the more they will want to read themselves.
50 Free Printable Bingo Game Sheets
Listen to audiobooks
Listen to audiobooks on a road trip on Audible. You can get a 30 day free trialright now!
Or go old school and get a CD player and books on CD. We’ve had the CD player pictured for FOUR years so I totally recommend it.
Pre-COVID, we’d get books with CDs every time we went to the library and my children will listen to the books independently. This grows their vocabulary and enjoyment at the same time.
With COVID and the library being closed, check out the children’s books on CD available on Amazon. There are tons of Disney read-along books and CDs that are affordable. This is nostaglic for me because I had these on records as a child.
Is it okay for my kid to just read series?
Parents would ask me about this all the time when I taught second grade. “Johnny only wants to read Magic Treehouse books? What can I do?”
Getting hooked on a series is actually a fantastic milestone for independent reading.
The best way to get children to become better readers is to get them to practice. How do we get them to practice? Get them hooked!
Think about what you like to read when you’re on a vacation? Are you digging into War and Peaceor are you reading a best-seller beach read?
There is similar research with comics. If your child loves comics, embrace it.
It is often to a gateway for children into a lifelong passion for reading. So if your kid only wants to read Captain Underpants, do not despair.
Use Reading Incentives to Get Your Kids to Read More
Usually we use the public library for a summer reading program. Our library offers tickets to the local rec center swimming pool and a free book for home as the awards for completing the challenge. The swimming ticket is a big motivator for my children and I leverage it as much as I can.
Since that’s not an option this year, we’re using the printable Summer Reading Bingo. You can come up with an incentive that works for your family.
Maybe when your children all get 5 in a row, you’ll get ice cream as a family. My daughter tried to negotiate for new toy and I counter-offered a new book. She agreed!
Free Printable Summer Reading Bingo
Print off either the full color Summer Reading Bingo or the black and white version. Then place it on your fridge or on a clipboard next to wherever your child reads.
Decide if you expect your child to get five in row like traditional bingo, or if you’d like to go for total blackout! Make sure that expectation is clear for your child.
This bingo includes different types of books like read a joke book or read non-fiction book. It includes different types of print like read a magazine or read a cereal box.
The Summer Reading Bingo features different places like read in bed and read at the playground. I tried to choose places that work with social distancing.
It also has different people like read to a grandparent or parent or read to a friend or sibling. You can totally use FaceTime or Zoom for reading aloud!
Conclusion
Make reading fun this summer. Everyone has a lot on their mind and you don’t need any more stress.
Get your free Summer Reading Bingo printable here, find some new and favorite books, and enjoy some relaxing reading.
Summer Bingo Game is perfect to play during those summer days when it’s too hot to step outside, and you need to keep your kids entertained and busy indoors.
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Summer is fast approaching, and kids are excited to be on a summer break soon. But as soon as it starts, within a few hours of the first day of summer break, all you hear constantly is “I am bored”. Sounds familiar?
I had something similar last summer, so to be better prepared this time, I created these cute Hello Summer Bingo Cards Game Printables.
I especially loved putting this bingo together because of the fun, bright and summery images. This bingo game printable comes with 10 bingo boards and a calling mat. 10 bingo boards means you can have at least 10 people play this in one round.
If you have more than 10 people, you can have them play in different rounds or grab this set of 30 Summer Bingo Game.
These bingo games are great way for them to recognize different characters or images and match with the cards they have on hand, while trying to match each character.
I love my bingo games collection, and glad to add one more that is summer themed.
Hello Summer Bingo Cards for Kids
These Hello Summer Bingo cards come as a set of 10 bingo boards and a calling mat. They can be printed conveniently at home on 8.5×11 inch (letter size) paper.
Although you can print these bingo game cards in black and white, but are more fun when printed in color. All the bright colors just pop out, making it more fun to play with them.
For durability, once printed, you can laminate them, and have the players use dry erase markers. This way you can use them multiple times.
If you don’t want to use markers, you can use other fun things or treats that you can find in your home easily like M&Ms, skittles, cereals, lego pieces or any other material of your choice.
Free Printable Bingo Call Sheets
You can use these free Summer Bingo Printable Cards if you have 10 or less players, but if you have more, make sure to grab this set of 30 Summer Bingo Cards. These card comes with different images associated with summer. More number of cards will ensure you won’t have multiple winners in the same round.
Summer Bingo Calling Sheet
This free printable bingo set comes with a separate calling sheet. It includes all the images listed randomly on the bingo cards.
Finished size of this calling sheet is also 8.5×11 inch. After downloading and printing the calling sheet, cut out the small squares for each character. Put the squares in a bowl or a hat.
How to play Summer Bingo
To play Summer Bingo, you will need:
– Paper markers or Small candy
Directions:
- Print the Summer bingo cards on letter size paper. Finished size of each bingo card is 8.5×11 inch, so one bingo card will print on one letter size paper.
- Distribute the bingo cards among the players. There are total of 10 bingo cards, so this game is best played among 10 or less people so that each player will get a chance to play.
- If you need more cards, it is best to play in smaller groups or break the play into different rounds. If there are more than 10 people, chances are there will be multiple winners in each round.
- Print the calling card and cut out the small squares.
- Put them in a bag or hat.
- Start playing by having one person pull out a small square card out of the bag or hat and call it out or by showing the picture or saying the number on the card.
- Players look for that picture or number on their bingo card. If they find the similar image or number, they cover it with the small candy or mark it off with the paper marker.
- Continue pulling out the small squares from the bag or hat one at a time.
- Once someone cross off five in a row, they shout out BINGO and win that game.
- Space in the center is Free space.
Set of 30 Summer Bingo Game Cards
If you have more than 10 people, you can make groups of people with 10 or less people, or go for this set of 30 Summer bingo cards. Each of these cards come with different characters associated with Easter and Spring.
Finished size of these premium Summer Bingo Cards is 5×7 inch, there are two cards per letter size paper.
These cute Summer Bingo Cards have been such a life savers for us. Not only are these great for indoors or rainy days, these are perfect to take along on vacation, dining out at a restaurant or during the long drives.
I mean, you don’t need any special preparations to make these, lure them (kids’) by suggesting to use snacks (like M&Ms or skittles) to play bingo and then keep them busy for hours. I think that’s pretty good deal.
Kids and grown ups will love playing with these cute bingo cards.
Note: MaplePlanners.com printables are for personal use only. You cannot modify, resell or redistribute them. You cannot claim the design as your own. If you share MaplePlanners.com printables, credit must be given to MaplePlanners.com and link back to this blog post or this blog.
Summer Bingo Printable Cards
Looking for more Fun Activities for Kids?
Summer Activity Bingo Printable
Here are some more fun activities for kids printables that you can download and print.
1. Indoor Scavenger Hunt
2. Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
3. Spring Backyard Scavenger Hunt
4. Numbers Bingo
5. Fun Memory Games
How are you planning to make summer fun for your kids? Please share in the comments below.