Today is the last day of school. No. I’m not ready. I’ve been having small panic attacks all week when I think about the fact the kids will be here all day, every day. In one way it’ll be nice not to have to worry about homework, Girl Scouts, orchestra, et al. On the other hand – – the kids will be here ALL THE TIME and I know I won’t be getting anything done until September.
One thing I did get done is making a fun summer reading incentive program for the kids. Before you go thinking I’m all smart, know that I saw the idea in the most recent edition of Family Fun Magazine. They called it a book bonanza and did it a little differently. By differently, I mean prettier… with colored envelopes, and type-written titles on pretty medallion stickers. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
I did what I could. I bought 24 cards from Target for $4.99, used file folder labels I had laying around the house, and hand-wrote everything in Sharpie. Each girl got 12 books….
The article suggested having little prizes in the envelope. That’s NOT my idea of fun. I hate throwing away little tchotchkes that no one plays with, especially when I’m the one who bought them.
Instead I came up with coupons that fit our family…
The article did not give a list of book genres or prizes to cover 12 weeks. Boo. I spent more time thinking up those lists than I did filling out the envelopes. In case you want to do something similar, I’m going to make it easy and tell you my book genres and coupons. You could use whatever envelopes you have in the house and put little papers in them if you don’t want to spend the money on cards. It’s up to you. Have fun! And don’t forget that area businesses and public libraries offer summer reading prizes. I know there are at least 4 in our area. Double Yay. Now on to the lists.
Genres:
1. Fantasy
2. Sci-fi
3. Set in another country (geography)
4. Historical fiction
5. About a girl
6. Your choice
7. About {child’s favorite subject} a puppy/Native American
8. About an animal
9. About orphans
10. Adventure
11. Mystery
12. Biography
(you could also do about space, about art, a classic, a book that’s won an award, a nature guide, a how-to guide, joke book, fairy tale, choose-your-own-ending, graphic novel, science experiment book, about your home town)
Coupons/Prizes:
1. Ice cream treat from Brusters (local ice cream shop)
2. 20 mins later bedtime
3. Cuddle time with mom
4. Mom paints your nails
5. Falling asleep in mom and dad’s bed
6. Pick a chore for mom to do from your weekly list
7. Play date
8. Choose an activity with mom (20 mins max, must be at home)
9. Your favorite candy
10. 1 book from the used bookstore
11. Dessert before dinner
12. Treat from the vending machine at the pool
Comments (4)
your prizes sounds fun. What do I have to do to get a prize? haha 😉 good job! Your kids are going to be so well read!
Jocelyn came home from school with different books n activities to go with them so this summer this is what we are going to do .
I saw the same article in Family Fun and clipped it as a “to do when Calvin is older” project. 🙂 I may have to write down you ideas for prizes and put it in my idea book. So fun!
I am so taking parts of your plan. Our local library has school teachers come in every two weeks to help kids pick out books to read, then they have a reading program to win prizes and then (yes there is more) they have people come in to teach the kids about music, magic, bats, etc..so its a score all the way around.
I have also found a great way for the kids to earn computer time and tv time and xbox time. I have colored sticks each with a written chore on it. They pick a chore, complete the chore and return the stick to mom so I can check their job. They then recieve a sticker to put on their daily chart to redeem that day. The harder the chore the more time they receive. If they so choose to save times up they can redeem for a larger gift( ice cream with mom or dad at the coldstone)etc
They all have to do some workbook time in the morning so they dont turn into mush. School has been out a few weeks so in the first 2 weeks they are allowed to decompress from any school work, we are back at workbooks this week and the kids love that they get to choose what to learn each day.