5 Ways to Encourage Parents to Read at Home with their Child

In this article, we will explain 5 ways and tips for encouraging parents to read at home with their child.

1) Offer Reading Workshops or Reading Cafes

The key to improving parental engagement with reading at home is to understand any barriers or difficulties they are experiencing. Is it access to texts? Is it being unsure of how to support their child or is it time? Do they understand why reading is so important?

Consider running a reading workshop to run through what you are looking for and to support parents with their understanding. Or something less formal, like a reading cafe, where you invite parents in to read with their children and for tea and cake.

2) Organise a 'Book' Sale or Swap

It could be that access to reading material is a challenge, so think about organising a book sale or book swap. Remember, that it can be any reading material, it doesn't have to be books, it could be comics, newspapers or even Manga.

3) Organise a trip to the local library

Think about organising a trip to the library, which is local to your school. Consider inviting parent helpers too. This will help children and parents to understand that books and reading materials are freely available. It could also excite the children and encourage them to want to visit the library in their free time.

4) Think outside of the Box

Consider any and all ways you can include parents in the reading community of your school. Could you invite parents in to read their favourite books to a children in assembly? Could you ask a parent once a term to come into school a read from mystery books, where the covers can't be seen and then put them onto a bookshelf for children to enjoy?

5) Run a Whole School/ Class Reading Challenge

Launch a reading challenge in assembly. It could be encouraging children to read different genres, taking photos in unusual places reading at home or a readathon.

If parents are reading with their children but their reading record isn't making it back into school, why not consider a digital version? Pageticker, launching in late January, is a digital reading record, created by teachers. Sign up here to trial it for 30 days for free.

If you enjoyed this article, take a look at our article with 5 ways to boost parental engagement.