How to make it fun to go to library

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Children's Librarian here.

You "make it fun" by it not being a chore. Let the kids check out books! Limit the number of books checked out, if you must, but having kids go to the library for mandatory sit and read time - and then not bring the books home - is very anti-fun.

The absolute quietest time in my household of raucous children is the hour after we get home from our family library trips. They are all excited about the books they picked out and immediately want to read. Sometimes they don't even make it to a couch, but sprawl in the entry way - so eager to start looking at their books. And my children are not natural readers.

+1

OP, do you read to your children? If you do not, then there is your first task. It is wonderful to read to children and they love it. They love snuggling with their parents, listening to our voices, hearing the stories and the rhymes and the familiar words over and over again. At your children’s ages, my children loved being read to and we did it all the way up until they were in middle school!

Consider reading chapter books to them as well. EB White wrote wonderful books for children, and my kids loved all of them. My Father’s Dragon is an excellent read aloud, as is Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Leave them with a cliffhanger each evening! That will get your first grader reading for sure.

[Anonymous]

OP, how is your kid's reading fluency? If it's not good then a lot of books are a slog and not fun. If you're from a bilingual/non-English speaking household, then try reading in your native language. It might be harder to find books but it might be easier if that's what he gets at home/watches shows in.

Books that worked for a reluctant English learner in my extended family (not saying this is your case): Elephant and Piggy by Mo Willems.
The reading is easy enough to do together, you can act them out, they're funny and cute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, how is your kid's reading fluency? If it's not good then a lot of books are a slog and not fun. If you're from a bilingual/non-English speaking household, then try reading in your native language. It might be harder to find books but it might be easier if that's what he gets at home/watches shows in.

Books that worked for a reluctant English learner in my extended family (not saying this is your case): Elephant and Piggy by Mo Willems.
The reading is easy enough to do together, you can act them out, they're funny and cute.

As someone who works in English language education for speakers of other languages, this is a good idea. Early reading skills are highly transferrable from one language to another.

[Anonymous]

You want to take away the only thing that is fun about the library, which is having the freedom to check out whatever you want?

Some people are just really not great at parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I took both kids to library today. The first grader did not want to checkout any books, but he read a few simple books there. I had to limit how many books the 4 year old could checkout, and she ended up with 15 books with those picture books that she wanted. I already tried my best to make it exciting, and all the oldest care could play kid game at library computer. At the end, I made him to checkout a few book against his wishes of checkout zero book, and they were all simple books with pictures. I told him that if he got to read 50 books, he will get a reward which I has not thought about it yet. Before we went to library, I took them to dunkin donuts for treats beforehand. I already did my best to make it fun.

Op they may be absorbing your mindset. Going to the library in inherently fun. If you think you need to work to make it fun, they can tell. Find something you are genuinely interested in reading about. Tell them about it. Have them watch you search the online card catalogue to find what section you need to visit. Or better yet, when you're all together, ask the librarian to direct you too the right section.

[Anonymous]

Check and see if they have any programs where they can read to dogs. That’s fun. I think I could still get my teens to go to that. It may be the only way they would read now.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know where you live but I just checked out local Fairfax library and they don’t seem to have the therapy dog program running right now. Here’s a similar one in Arlington that is available. If you just want to encourage reading, this could be good. https://www.awla.org/programs/youth-programs/paws-read/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I took both kids to library today. The first grader did not want to checkout any books, but he read a few simple books there. I had to limit how many books the 4 year old could checkout, and she ended up with 15 books with those picture books that she wanted. I already tried my best to make it exciting, and all the oldest care could play kid game at library computer. At the end, I made him to checkout a few book against his wishes of checkout zero book, and they were all simple books with pictures. I told him that if he got to read 50 books, he will get a reward which I has not thought about it yet. Before we went to library, I took them to dunkin donuts for treats beforehand. I already did my best to make it fun.

What did you check out for yourself? Did you tell them how excited you were to be at the library and read yourself? If you don’t want to check books out and read them, kids will model themselves on you and think the grown up thing to do is not be interested in books.

[Anonymous]

Going to the library is inherently fun - I'm not sure how to "make" it fun if you or your kids don't just enjoy it for what it is. Echo that checking out books is a big part of the appeal. And most libraries have kid sections with toys, puppets, sometimes computers, or other activities.

I have been taking my kids to the library for fun literally since birth. Our routine now, is that we go, and the kids get free reign to browse or play, and I pick out books. I bring a big stack over and let them choose what to take home. We go usually 2x a month.

[Anonymous]

Does your library have a discovery room? Book it and have them play there and then check out some books. My kids enjoyed that room and also the Fish tank at our library but they used to run around and make so much noise when we didn't get the discovery room that I stopped taking them. After two years of no library during covid, they now love to go to the library, spend time browsing and picking out stuff. We got a lot of books from freecycle to keep them occupied during covid and my daughter has her own little library.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I took both kids to library today. The first grader did not want to checkout any books, but he read a few simple books there. I had to limit how many books the 4 year old could checkout, and she ended up with 15 books with those picture books that she wanted. I already tried my best to make it exciting, and all the oldest care could play kid game at library computer. At the end, I made him to checkout a few book against his wishes of checkout zero book, and they were all simple books with pictures. I told him that if he got to read 50 books, he will get a reward which I has not thought about it yet. Before we went to library, I took them to dunkin donuts for treats beforehand. I already did my best to make it fun.

What did you check out for yourself? Did you tell them how excited you were to be at the library and read yourself? If you don’t want to check books out and read them, kids will model themselves on you and think the grown up thing to do is not be interested in books.

Not really true. I didn't read that much to my kids ages when they were 3-5 (getting through the day was big for us then), but after we started K school recommended so we had a book a week. Then covid came and we went through freecycle books which kids read on their own. They just love reading now (no thanks to me). Some kids pick up regardless of whether the parent reads or not. My parents never read me any books either but when I was young I was a book worm. I loved the Nancy Drew and Famous Five books and recommended that to my 10 year old and she got hooked on it.

[Anonymous]

You could try a book scavenger hunt. Make a list of things and challenge them to find a different book with each item. If you want to extend the fun you could base each hunt around an experience that you can do after you read all of the books. For example you could have a list that includes: a lion, walking, pizza, tree and monkey. Then once you read the books you all go to the zoo. The experience could also be watching a specific movie or playing a game.
Another idea is a sticker chart. Pick a fun reward and set a goal for reading 10 books then we get the reward.
As my kids got older and had to read books for school I made 2 promises to my kids. 1. I will buy them the book and I will read it too. 4 kids later and we are still doing this. My oldest is in college now and doesn't have much free time to read but she called to tell me that this summer she will be working at a remote state park and she will have time to read! She is making up a wish list of books and we are going to both read them. We will be 10 hrs away but it will be a way to stay connected.

[Anonymous]

My kids are 9, 8 and 4. We go to the library 2x a month and check out the maximum number - 45 - books every time. We have a special basket in the house for library books. The ride home from the library and the hours afterwards are silent in my house because they are reading (4 year old is looking at pictures). I let them get whatever they want in the youth section. This means the 4 year old is getting books about werewolves and vampires. Oh well. The 2 older ones are getting graphic novels and stupid anime stories. Don't care. They get whatever they want, and I am going to say yes. And they get to use the special machine to check out the books. Just build the routine. Ignore the complaints. Lower your expectations. Just take them, and it will work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I took both kids to library today. The first grader did not want to checkout any books, but he read a few simple books there. I had to limit how many books the 4 year old could checkout, and she ended up with 15 books with those picture books that she wanted. I already tried my best to make it exciting, and all the oldest care could play kid game at library computer. At the end, I made him to checkout a few book against his wishes of checkout zero book, and they were all simple books with pictures. I told him that if he got to read 50 books, he will get a reward which I has not thought about it yet. Before we went to library, I took them to dunkin donuts for treats beforehand. I already did my best to make it fun.

What did you check out for yourself? Did you tell them how excited you were to be at the library and read yourself? If you don’t want to check books out and read them, kids will model themselves on you and think the grown up thing to do is not be interested in books.

There are always sales on kindle books. I like to check the daily deals:
https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_1?ie=UTF8&node=11552285011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=HKRQZCMFM580MAV15QD5&pf_rd_r=HKRQZCMFM580MAV15QD5&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=c1a920f8-dda9-42b2-88aa-c5e4ef4c5670&pf_rd_p=c1a920f8-dda9-42b2-88aa-c5e4ef4c5670&pf_rd_i=1000677541

Also, you can sign up with bookbub to be notified of specials deals in your preferred genres:
https://www.bookbub.com/welcome

This satisfies my shopping urges. Even when my ex and I were fighting pre-divorce and I felt needed retail therapy, I might splurge and get a $6 book. It gave ne the satisfaction without breaking the budget or adding clutter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I took both kids to library today. The first grader did not want to checkout any books, but he read a few simple books there. I had to limit how many books the 4 year old could checkout, and she ended up with 15 books with those picture books that she wanted. I already tried my best to make it exciting, and all the oldest care could play kid game at library computer. At the end, I made him to checkout a few book against his wishes of checkout zero book, and they were all simple books with pictures. I told him that if he got to read 50 books, he will get a reward which I has not thought about it yet. Before we went to library, I took them to dunkin donuts for treats beforehand. I already did my best to make it fun.

What did you check out for yourself? Did you tell them how excited you were to be at the library and read yourself? If you don’t want to check books out and read them, kids will model themselves on you and think the grown up thing to do is not be interested in books.

There are always sales on kindle books. I like to check the daily deals:
https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_1?ie=UTF8&node=11552285011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=HKRQZCMFM580MAV15QD5&pf_rd_r=HKRQZCMFM580MAV15QD5&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=c1a920f8-dda9-42b2-88aa-c5e4ef4c5670&pf_rd_p=c1a920f8-dda9-42b2-88aa-c5e4ef4c5670&pf_rd_i=1000677541

Also, you can sign up with bookbub to be notified of specials deals in your preferred genres:
https://www.bookbub.com/welcome

This satisfies my shopping urges. Even when my ex and I were fighting pre-divorce and I felt needed retail therapy, I might splurge and get a $6 book. It gave ne the satisfaction without breaking the budget or adding clutter.

Oops! Wrong thread