Bring Excitement to Storytime

Do your kids love presents? Wanna get your kids excited about reading? 

Try combining the two and see how much fun the entire family gets. 

I actually did this over Christmas with my kids. While my kids love books, they still needed some incentive to start the bedtime routine. Bath, brush teeth, pjs, bed, get out of bed, wake up your sibling, wait for mom to yell "Get back in bed". You know. That routine.

Wrap books and place them in a designated reading location, the floor at the top of the stairs, their beds, your bed, the couch, at the dinner table, etc. Every night have the child open one book/present and together you read it before bed! What a great way to bond and make reading fun and exciting.

So what do I wrap them in? Newspaper, like that free one they throw in your yard every week that I wind up recycling. You can also have them use scissors to cut the newspaper or junk mail. But that's another post for another task. : ) You can wrap them in mismatched wrapping paper. It doesn't have to be specific. If it is a small book, wrap it in plain paper and then have them color a picture from the story you read them. Wrap it in their clothes. They will think this is silly. And it is, because reading can be fun and silly. You don't have to wrap one every night, but do it enough so it is fun and keeps their attention.

So what books do I wrap? Anything age appropriate. Wrap the free book from Chick-fil-a. Wrap the story you have read to them 1,000 times that they know by heart but they still want you to read (Goodnight Moon!). Wrap the library books you checked out for them. Borrow a book from a friend, wrap that one.

I hope this helps you enjoy reading to your kids as much as they enjoy listening to you read.

contributed by Tina Guthman Ishee of ShoreMOPS Steering Team