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How to Make Reading Fun: 15 Tips

“How to make reading fun?” — this straightforward question leaves many parents baffled. They believe that keeping kids entertained will ultimately make them more passionate readers. And, well, they are right in that regard!

In this guide, I will present 15 tips for turning reading into an engaging game — all proven effective through my years of teaching experience.

Key points

• When reading is fun, it’s also more productive. Thus, parents should aim to connect some positive impressions to this activity.
• Addressing a specialized tutor and using worksheets are the two techniques that work perfectly for kids of all ages.
• Making reading fun for young learners is possible with these creative activities: implementing family reading times, hosting book-related events, incorporating themed reading, and offering special snacks.
• Using a social element also plays a significant role, so consider reading aloud, fostering discussions, and integrating reading with social media.
• Many children (especially the youngest ones) benefit when they feel the support from parents, which comes from these exercises: holding a child tightly while they read, letting them choose their book, creating a cozy space, and visiting the library. 

How to make reading fun for elementary school students

• Hold a child while you read together
• Read aloud together
• Let them choose their books
• Implement family reading times
• Create a cozy space

How to make reading fun for middle schoolers?

• Connect reading to creativity
• Switch between diverse formats
• Implement themed reading
• Foster discussions
• Conduct book-related events

How to make reading fun for high schoolers?

• Try audiobooks
• Visit a library
• Teach reading strategies
• Integrate reading with social media
• Use special snacks

15 ways to make reading fun: Details

How to make reading fun for students with the right worksheets

Best for: elementary, middle, or high school students

Those wondering how to make reading fun for kids won’t regret turning to worksheets. The great thing is that they transform passive reading comprehension into an interactive, goal-driven practice. 

But unfortunately, finding high-quality worksheets is a significant challenge. To save you time, I recommend that you try the Brighterly reading sheets. Here are some good reasons why I decided to include this advice, so…

How to make reading fun with Brighterly worksheets

To make reading fun with Brighterly reading worksheets, you can implement them as a supplementary practice for each reading piece kids cover. Alternatively, you can use them as a solo activity, where you first solve worksheet tasks and then translate them into real-life games, like scavenger hunts or playing out scenes.

Brighterly activities to encourage reading success are enhanced with a range of features:

• Extensively accompanied by visuals
• Many-sided in terms of the task formats
• Perfectly aligned with the topics kids learn in different grades

Mind that Brighterly isn’t limited to worksheets in terms of free tasks! For example, they offer quick free reading tests for grades 1-9 (9th grade tests are coming soon!). Once you pass the test, you’ll have an exact score showing your child’s current competence. 

So, how to make reading fun for students while using worksheets from Brighterly? 

These are some of the topics covered in Brighterly reading worksheets:

• Phonics
• Sight word
• Rhyming words
• Cause and impact correlation
• Character analysis
• Author intend
• And more!

How to make reading fun for struggling readers with a reading tutor

Best for: elementary, middle, or high school students

As already stated, social interaction is one of the best ways to improve reading. Studying with a tutor amplifies it. This approach allows you to practice with a professional who guides you through all the topics, stops when and where necessary, and immediately reacts to your needs. So, if you wonder how to make reading fun for struggling readers or want to improve academic excellence, this method is a must-try.

And you probably remember Brighterly — the math and reading tutoring platform with numerous free resources. Well, it also excels in providing customized and student-oriented lessons. I’m about to delve deeper into their approach so that you understand why it consistently meets the most ambitious expectations.

How to make reading fun with Brighterly reading tutors?

To make reading fun with the Brighterly reading tutors, you should embark on individualized, 1:1 lessons. Then, allow professionals to do their magic: they will develop a customized program, closely track progress, and provide regular reports. All that’s left for you is to relax and enjoy the better reading performance of your child.

Brighterly is widely known for its unique approach towards learning. 

For those of you skeptical about what can make it so special, here’s some quick guidance:

• Their reading program is 100% percent customized towards specific needs. First, they assess a child’s current knowledge level and create a personalized schedule based on the results. Then, they continue to analyze and react to their progress.
• They conduct 1:1 lessons with no group options. That’s because they firmly believe that both teachers and students should practice without distractions. Well, they achieve this aim perfectly.
• How to make reading more fun? Try turning it into a game! Brighterly prioritizes interactive learning, which explicitly implements visuals and game-like elements. Thus, they make children fall in love with the subject.

Finally, when it comes to e-learning, many parents are held back by hefty prices. And here’s another great thing about Brighterly: they provide affordable price opportunities. Making learning accessible for everyone — that’s their great aim.

Make reading fun: Hold the child while they read

Best for: elementary students

If you’re looking for fun reading activities for elementary students, this one is just for you. All you need to do is hold your child while they read — and that’s enough to create a comfortable and cozy environment. Thus, you’ll make them intuitively associate peace and reading.

Make reading fun: Read aloud together

Best for: elementary students

This activity is about spending time together and feeling the unity. But many of you have probably tried it already, and so keep wondering how to make reading aloud interesting. The answer is to make it varied. Change the tone pitch, try reading in fun voices, and stop the narration to discuss characters and plots. Shift kids from passive to active readers, and you’ll see the benefits.

Make reading fun: Let them choose their book

Best for: elementary, middle, or high school students

This reading activity for kids allows children to feel autonomous. When they select the material that genuinely interests them, they’re far more likely to stay engaged and curious. As a result, they become more positive overall and can therefore build a lifelong habit. Here’s a piece of Reddit advice to narrow down your search:

Make reading fun: Implement family reading times

Best for: elementary, middle, or high school students

How to make reading more enjoyable? Make it social, remember? You can turn the whole process into a valued family tradition. After all, when families read together, they get that sense of community, which solidifies interpersonal relations.

Make reading fun: Create a cozy space

Best for: elementary and middle school students

Making reading fun is about making it comfortable. When kids have a special nook filled with soft pillows, warm lighting, and their favorite books, reading skills become a personal retreat. Besides, with a specially created environment, you can also achieve better concentration, especially if you ask them to mute their phones early:)

Make reading fun: Connect reading to creativity

Best for: elementary, middle, and high school students

It’s one of those fun ways to teach reading, which can turn it into a festive experience. And since you might wonder, which exercises to choose, these are the ones I sincerely recommend:

• Character costume day is when kids dress up as their favorite book characters. Then, they explain their choices and… participate in the party. 
• The book trailer challenge asks kids to create short video trailers about the piece they’ve recently read.
• In alternate ending contests, kids have to make up different endings for a specific story. Then, they should vote for their favorite ending. Just don’t forget to prepare prizes for the winner!

Make reading fun: Switch between diverse book formats

Best for: middle and high school students

How to make reading fun for middle schoolers? Kids in these grades crave variety, so give it to them. Fiction, non-fiction, comic books, or love stories — they all view life and characters from various perspectives, and also include varied vocabularies, which is a huge plus. These clues from Reddit will help you to start:

Make reading fun: Implement themed reading

Best for: middle and high school students

Try to spot which themes and genres seem most appealing to your schooler. Then, find interesting pieces that will suit their interests. 

Make reading fun: Foster discussions

Best for: elementary, middle, and high school students

Looking for ways how to make reading more engaging? Create a list of life-connected questions based on a book’s main idea. Ask a kid how they would behave in a specific situation, debate on whether a character made a correct decision, and philosophize on the potential outcomes. Bringing books to life always works great!

Make reading fun: Conduct book-related events

Best for: elementary and middle school students

There are many ways to make reading fun by turning it into an encouraging event. So, let’s move directly to the top three choices of mine:

• Conduct reading races to see who manages to read the most pages during a specific time.
• Divide kids into groups and have them act out specific scenes from a book.
• Create Bingo cards with diverse tasks, like “read the book with a red cover” or “read X words within a minute.

Make reading fun: Try audiobooks

Best for: middle and high school students

How to make reading fun for reluctant readers? Introduce them to reading, but in a different format. The huge pro is that audiobooks are accessible anytime and anywhere. This research has demonstrated that they offer numerous benefits for struggling readers, enabling them to engage even with complex stories.

I’d also like to share this how to make reading fun Reddit advice concerning the best audiobooks for middle-schoolers:

Make reading fun: Visit a library

Best for: elementary, middle, and high school students

This read for fun activity sets on an adventure. Kids aim to find the best books or hidden treasures — it’s about how you call them. On their way, they also get to know different genres, authors, and formats, and all at their own pace. 

Make reading fun: Teach reading strategies

Best for: middle and high school students

Conscious reading is complex. If you aim for it, you should show the child target strategies for analyzing gist, characters, and plotlines. The sooner you start digging into the fun ways to learn to read, the better results you can achieve. Here are some non-typical strategies Reddit users share:

And here’s one more to consider:

Make reading fun: Integrate reading with social media

Best for: elementary, middle, and high school students

Whether we like it or not, online social media are ruling the world these days. So, why not use them to our benefit? 

Here’s how to make reading fun for high schoolers (and other kids!) with the power of their favorite network:

• Review book analysis on TikTok
• Join reading challenges on Instagram
• Participating in a virtual book club via Discord

Make reading fun: Use special snacks

Many wonder how to make reading fun for teens. I shouldn’t even say that the chance to eat their favorite foods will make kids long for reading. However, be sure to choose something healthy, such as nuts, fruit, or themed snacks related to the book.

How to make reading fun for struggling readers?

The best methods to make reading fun for struggling readers are to make it enjoyable and conscious. Thus, ensure that books align with their preferences, that distractions are minimal, and that you use technology and creativity prudently to fuel their engagement.

How to make reading more enjoyable? Conclusion

If you analyze the fun reading activities for kids I listed above, you’ll see that all of them are designed to create an emotional connection. Once reading is tied to positivity, kids will start choosing it over other options. So, what stops you then? Pick the type of time spending you prefer and try it out to see how it works in your case.

However, if you want to improve academic performance in the subject, consulting experienced tutors, such as those at Brighterly, is worth your time and resources. Additionally, they offer you to book 1st free lesson!! Which means… no risks at all.