Summer Activities: Summer Reading Programs 2012

PBS Kids and IVillage have a FREE six week reading program and a chance for you to win daily prizes for participation.

PBS Kids and JetBlue get a travel activity booklet and track your minutes. You can also send a postcard with Hooper.

Barnes and Noble – Read 8 books and get one FREE. Get a passport online. For grades 1-6.

Feed Your Brain – Half –Priced Books gives $5 for reading 300 minutes or more each month. For ages 14 and under.

Chuck E. Cheese – Read books for two weeks and redeem 10 tokens on your next visit.

Read for the World Record with Scholastic Books. Schools and Students help set a new world record. Sign up with your school or on our own. Keep a reading log online. Schools with the most minutes will be published in the 2013 Scholastic Book of World Records.

Sylvan Book Adventure – Children choose from a list of over 7,000 titles and take multiple choice quizzes and earn points. Redeem prizes with your points. For grades K-8.

Summer Break Reading Challenge Book It Program – Students can read 5 books and become eligible for a chance to win a prize package. For grades K-6. June 15 through August 15.

Pottery Barn for Kids Summer Reading Challenge – Read books from the list and track your progress. Enter for a chance to win a backpack full of books and receive a free book at your local store.

Check with your local library to find out what they are offering.

Summer Activities: Local Library

A trip to the library is free and fun. It’s a great place to take your children this summer. They have tons of programs available for children of all ages and resources for everyone in the family.

Libraries are great places for everyone to learn about something new. Most libraries have  DVD’s, CDs, magazines, audio books, computer usage and more. Check your local library to see what they offer. 

 Our state has the Metropolitan Library System and each library is joined together so you can get resources from all of the libraries. If there is a book or something else that you want to check out and the current library doesn’t have it available, you can get it sent to your nearest library and pick it up a couple of days later. They can do this with almost any media they have.

Libraries offer programs for all ages. They have concerts, craft classes, animal classes and educational classes too. They are free to the community.

During the summer months the libraries offer a summer reading program for kids birth-teen. The children get rewarded for how many books they read and get entered into drawings for prizes. Over the years we have gotten coupons, trinkets and tickets to our local museums and sports games.

The library system also has an app that you can download on your smart phone to check out audio books. It’s a free app and free downloads. You check them out using your library card and listen to them and after the lending period is up they get check back in automatically. The app is called Overdrive. Download it to see if your local library is available.

If you haven’t been to your local library lately, check it out. It’s full of exciting things to learn about and I promise your kids will find something they like. If you have kids that don’t like to read the library offers comic books, craft books, magazines, art books and books on drawing. They are sure to find something fun.

What’s your favorite thing to do at your library?