Now in its 21st year, World Book Day, a celebration of books and reading, is just around the corner – Thursday 1 March to be exact.
It's a great time to bond with your kids over a good book.
The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.
To help your kids, encourage reading at home. Have a room in the house where they can sit comfortably without the distractions of the telly or the internet. Make sure it’s a well-lit space as well. There’s nothing worse than squinting at a page in dim light. It’s uncomfortable at best and at worst you’ll damage your eyesight.
Here are a few ideas for reading friendly rooms. Ideal Home also has some really good ideas for creating the ultimate kids’ reading corner at home.
As well as encouraging your children to read for pleasure, read to your children at bed time. It has so many benefits. Their own reading will improve, and you will be settling them down for a good night’s sleep.
You could always use World Book Day to reinforce what your kids are being taught at school. Encourage your children to dress up as their favourite characters. You could even join in. Reinforce the idea that reading is fun.
Most educators and a vast number of parents agree that reading for pleasure is an important part of any child’s development. There is a lot of research to suggest that reading for pleasure helps children do better at school so there are many benefits in helping your kids join in with World Book Day.
Kids who read for pleasure learn to read more quickly, they have improved general knowledge and their understanding of other cultures is better than those children who don’t read for pleasure.
Most schools participate in World Book Day. In partnership with National Book, children are each given a £1 book token which can be exchanged for specific books published for World Book Day. Get yourself down to your local participating book shop or library. Who knows, you might even find something that grabs your attention and sets you off on your own journey of imagination.
