Thrifty Thursday: Summer Reading programs

I can't saw enough about joining summer reading programs with your kids.  We are currently doing the Pottery Barn reading program which has had us reading a lot of books that we normally wouldn't read like Fancy Nancy and some other fairy and princess books.  Most of the books were interesting even if they weren't books that my son would normally pick.  It is always good to expand your child's reading horizons.  We also had four of the books already in our book collection and only two of them had come off the shelf previously.  We started with these four books and after we read each one, my son used a check mark to check each one off the list.

 

He was super excited to read the books and check books off the list.  In case you would like to read some of the book on the list, check out more details on the Pottery Barn website here.  If you read the books on their list, your child gets to pick out a free book to take home with them.  If you don't have the books at your house, a quick trip to the library will get a few other of the books you are looking to read.  I stopped in and picked some up at one local library.  Then, we read those at home.  I reserved a few others that were new and harder to find.  We went to the library to get those and we found all of the rest of the books (minus one) and read them while we were still at the library.  We have one book left to go as soon as it comes in off of reserve.  Your child will learn to set goals, mark off lists, and the joy of finishing and getting rewarded.  In addition, there is no cost for you!!!

We hope to be done by the time the summer reading programs starts at the local library.  We are going to sign up for that one next!  They set a goal of a number of books to read and after the child reads those books (or has them read to them), you bring in the list or put them in online.  Then you go to the library and the child gets a coupon book to get free and reduced things for them to do all summer.  They also got a bee with their name written on it to put up at the library.  My son was so excited by his bee that he pointed it out every time we went to the library after it was put up.  He also checked to make sure all of the bees were attached properly to the walls and no other friends pulled them down!  He noticed the different names up at different library which he thought was interesting but he really owned the one at his library.  In addition, we got to have a free ice cream cone from McDonalds, got a free bag at a thrift store (which came with a $10 free coupon and a free book), as well as some other coupons that we used at the Nature Centers and parks through the summer to get small little gifts like magnifying glass, stickers, and other toys.  It gave us a reason to make it out to all of the parks through the summer because we knew that there was another little treat in store.  It was a reminder all summer how important reading is for us!!!

I hope that you check out some of you local reading programs this summer and see what fun and free things that you can do with your kids!!!  I promise that it will be rewarding for both of you to read lots of new books!!!  They will have treats to remember their adventure through the year and it will bring back all the great memories of the books that you read together.