D’you know how to make stories jump out of books so kids LOVE reading?

Study 1: Children read to everyday are more likely to perform better when they enter school, and experience less behavior problems.

Study 2: Children read to more frequently in their first year of primary school scored higher in an international assessment exam at the age of 15.

[Sources: The Telegraph (study group of 8,000) and The New York Times (study group of 5,000), respectively.]

Did I drive home the point?

Reading is an essential skill for both personal and academic development, as seen in these studies. Start the reading habit as early as possible, so your child can reap the benefits later in life.

But what if my child doesn’t seem interested in reading?

This is a common question parents have. After all, each child is unique; therefore, their interests vary.

If this is the situation you’re in, don’t fret! Here’s a great – not to mention FREE – way to get your little one to enjoy reading. Whether you have a toddler, preschooler or school age kid, this is sure to work:

Take the story outside the book.

How does it work?

There are many ways to do this, but today, we’re focusing on doing activities or crafts within a story’s theme.

• Read a story with your child or have him read it, if applicable.
• Create your easy and free craft with materials you already have at home.
• Recreate the story with your fun creations.

Here’s what the kiddo and I were up to the past few days.

1. Three Little Pigs

Materials: Links to short story and piggy sheet, scissors and crayons

Instructions: Print piggy sheets, color, cut and assemble them.

2. Humpty Dumpty

Materials: Link to short story, shoe or cereal box (which becomes the wall), paper, crayons, scotch tape, egg and plate

Instructions: Draw a brick wall and tape it to the front or back of the box. Let the egg sit on top of the box making sure a plate is there to catch it. (Humpty was eaten for breakfast the next day.)

 3. Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Note: This clever oatmeal clay idea comes from Anna of The Imagination Tree. Do check out her blog after reading this post; I’m sure you’ll love it!

Materials: Links to the story and to the easy no-cook homemade clay recipe, and 3 bowls

Instructions: Follow directions for making the clay; remember to mix in raw oatmeal. Place the clay in three bowls and sprinkle raw oats for a (delicious) effect.

That’s it!! See how easy it is to make stories come alive? It makes for great conversations, and wouldn’t you know, costs nothing too.

Your challenge…

…should you choose to accept it, is to set aside 3 days this week for each story and craft.

Are you up for it?

If you think another mom would want to encourage her children to read, please share this now using the buttons below. My goal is to make reading easy and fun for both parents and kids, so they can read often.