March 2nd is National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss Birthday! What a great day to spend time reading together and doing fun reading-inspired activities.
I’m so excited to be working with fun.com to share a few activities and ideas of ways to celebrate read across America day at home or in the classroom.
As a homeschool mom reading is something that I try to make a part of each day in our home. Both my husband and I spend time each day reading to our kids and they love it.
Since we already read a lot with our children I thought it would be fun to do something a little bit different for Read Across America Day.
In this post, I’m sharing 10 fun reading activity ideas that are perfect for kids of all ages, plus I’m including a fun free printable reading bingo card for kids to fill out and see who gets bingo first! (Get the printable at the bottom of this post.)
Fun Reading Activities for Read Across America Day
These activities ideas are perfect for anytime you want to do a fun literature-based activity, not just for read across America day.
Dress Up and Read
If you have kids that love to dress up this is the perfect reading day activity. Have the kids dress up as a favorite book character or anything else they would like to be. Make it extra special by dressing up with them. I mean haven’t you always wanted to wear a Dr. Seuss hat?
Some of my kid’s favorite picture books to read are the Curious George books so of course, we need the Curious George costume. Even my 1 year old loves walking around in the costume and making monkey sounds.
Fun.com has so many fun reading-inspired costumes for adults and kids that are perfect for this activity.
Act Out the Story
Acting out the story is another fun reading activity to do with kids. I always love seeing which parts of the story have stuck out and are important to my kids.
For the acting out of the story kids can dress up, make props and have fun getting creative as they share their favorite stories.
Pro Tip: If acting isn’t something your kids love doing a pupet show is also a really fun way to act out the story. Plus dont’ forget to remind your kids that when they are acting out a story, they can make changes if they want! I mean they make changes to books all the time in plays and movies. So of course kids should be able to make changes too!
Read the Book and Watch the Movie
There are so many books that have been made into movies. It can be a lot of fun to read a book together and then watch the movie together.
When doing this activity don’t forget to ask if your child liked the book or the movie more. Keep the discussion going by asking follow-up questions.
Have a Book Themed Snack
If your kids are like mine you know that food and snacks are always a hit. For National Read Across America Day instead of doing your normal snacks, make some fun book-themed snacks.
There are tons of different snacks you could choose from depending on what book you’re reading. You could choose to make homemade snacks or purchase a snack that fits with the book.
Here are a few simple Dr. Suess book inspired snack ideas:
- Strawberry and Banana Dr. Seuss Hats are fun and easy to make.
- Colored Goldfish are fun to eat while reading one fish two fish red fish blue fish
- Cotton Candy Truffula Trees
- Green Eggs and Ham
Enjoy “Tea Time” Reading
Tea Parties with hot chocolate and jucie are a favorite time to read at our house. The kids love making a fun drink and snacks, then enjoying while I read to them.
This Dr. Seuss mug is the perfect cup to use for your “tea time” reading. We have one of these mugs and everyone wants to use it, so needless to say we need to collect some more fun mugs for our “tea time” reading.
Pro Tip: Combine a fun drink and book-inspired snacks for an extra special tea time reading.
Have a Silly Sock Day
These fun Dr. Seuss inspired socks are perfect for read across America day and for a silly sock day. I got these socks for me, but my kids love wearing them. So yes I find these fun silly socks all over my house and I can’t help smile.
Illustrate the Story
Have your kids illustrate the story, instead of showing them the pictures in a book, let them create thier own pictures. You can do this with a picture book or it’s also a great activity for kids to do while you read aloud a chapter book.
Write Your Own Story
Having kids write their own stories is a fun and creative activity for kids of all ages. There are a lot of different types of books kids can use as inspiration for how they write their own stories.
They could write a chapter book, a picture book, a counting book, a book that rymes and so many more.
Learn about an Author
Another fun activity to do with kids is learning about different authors. You can read books and watch movies about different authors. You can also have the kids write the author and sometimes even have a surprise author visit.
Play Reading Bingo
The last reading activity I want to share is playing reading bingo. This activity can be done anytime and is the perfect “homework” for teachers to send home with kids.
The bingo board is filled with different reading activities and types of books for kids to read. Having the board with fun suggestions can make reading more fun even for kids who don’t love it.
Make reading bingo extra fun with prizes for those that complete bingo rows and those that get blackout.
Do An Activity Based on the Book or Author
Another fun thing to do along with reading is a fun activity to go along with the book. These Dr. Seuss Activities are fun or you can use Pinterest to find activities to go along with the book you are reading.
Free Printable Reading Bingo
Please keep this printable for personal and class use. Feel free to share the link to this blog post, but not the pdf file.