If your child only reads when you’re watching, you’re not alone.
Many parents are searching for clever ways to turn reading from “required activity” into “can we read another one?”
It doesn’t take a Pinterest-perfect book nook or hours of spare time, either.
Here are fifteen simple, brilliant ways to get your child talking, moving, and laughing with every page—no creative arts degree or glitter explosions required.
1. Set Up a Book Treasure Hunt
Children love a good scavenger hunt, especially when there’s a story at the end. Hide books (or even single pages or clues) around your home and let your child “discover” their next bedtime tale.
Each clue could relate to a character or setting in the story for extra excitement. Suddenly, “fetch your book” becomes a full-on adventure—one that ends with a snuggle and story.
2. Get Dramatic with Voices and Props
Channel your inner thespian. Give every character a unique accent (bad impressions encouraged), and watch your child’s face light up. Grab a wooden spoon, sock puppet, or even a tea towel and let it join the fun.
According to experts in early literacy development, using silly voices and props isn’t just hilarious—it helps kids remember stories and understand character emotions.
3. Make Reading a Two-Way Street
Turn reading into a conversation, not a lecture. Pause and ask, “What do you think will happen next?” or “Would you want to be friends with this character?”
Invite your child to take over the storytelling. Even the youngest kids have theories—sometimes wild, sometimes wise, always entertaining.
4. Bring Books to Life with Art Projects
After the last page, take the story to the craft table. Recreate the setting with building blocks, paint your favourite scene, or make a paper crown for a storybook king or queen.
The goal isn’t a masterpiece, it’s to keep the story alive (and, perhaps, to get five blissful minutes of quiet while they glue googly eyes to a cardboard dragon).
5. Act Out the Story Together
Kids’ energy levels can rival a wind-up toy’s. Put that to good use by acting out the plot. Become sneaky foxes, dancing princesses, or superheroes leaping across the sofa (mind the lamp).
Acting lets children process what they’ve read in a whole new way—and burns off the sugar from that extra biscuit after dinner.
6. Switch Up the Scenery
Reading doesn’t have to happen on the sofa. Bring a stack of books to the park, read under a blanket fort, or have a “cuddle and story time” picnic on the living room floor.
New surroundings add novelty and can help even the wiggliest child focus for a few extra chapters.
7. Build Your Own Stories Together
Collaboration is king. Fold a piece of paper in half, and you start a story on one side, your child finishes it on the other. Or try the “one sentence each” technique—guaranteed to yield outrageous tales involving tap-dancing wombats or talking toilets.
This not only boosts creativity, it sneaks in vocabulary and grammar in the sneakiest way possible.
8. Use Interactive Books and Apps
Some books are born to be prodded, poked, and wiggled. Seek out lift-the-flap, touch-and-feel, or sound books for younger kids.
For the tech-loving crowd, apps like Homer Reading or Epic! offer stories that talk back, ask questions, and let children choose what happens next. Screentime gets a literacy upgrade.
9. Incorporate Music and Movement
Singing isn’t just for the shower (or the car, windows up). Many picture books are practically begging to be sung, clapped, or danced through. Pick stories with rhythm and rhyme, or invent your own theme song for each book.
According to early childhood literacy research, moving while reading cements language skills and makes storytime more memorable.
10. Let Kids Choose the Books
If your child wants to read the same book for the 37th time, grit your teeth and go with it. When kids pick their own stories—even if they’re about talking trucks or sassy unicorns—they’re more engaged.
Libraries are perfect for this: arm them with their own card and let them rule the shelves for a bit. You might be surprised by their choices.
11. Create a Reading Reward System
Not all bribery is bad. Set up a simple system: a sticker or tiny treat for every book read, or a star chart leading up to a special “family reading night.”
The reward isn’t just the sticker, it’s the built-in routine—and the sneaky sense of achievement.
12. Invite Siblings or Friends for Group Storytime
Peer pressure can be a wonderful thing, especially when it comes to books. Invite siblings or friends to join, and let older kids take turns “reading” (or narrating, or making up wild sound effects).
Group reading builds confidence and gives everyone a chance to shine—even if it gets a bit rowdy.
13. Connect Books to Real Life
Bring stories off the page and into your everyday. Reading about dinosaurs? Visit a museum, stomp around the garden, or make fossil-shaped biscuits together.
Finished a book about a chef? Cook a snack inspired by the story (or at least pretend that a cheese sandwich is a “famous French delicacy”). Real-life links help reading feel relevant—and unforgettable.
14. Make a Family Book Club
No, you don’t need matching jumpers or cheese platters. Simply pick a book to read together—one chapter a night, or picture books for the younger crowd—and chat about it afterwards. Take turns picking titles.
You’ll discover stories you wouldn’t have chosen on your own, and your child will relish the grown-up feeling of being part of a “club.”
15. Encourage Book-Themed Play
If your child is obsessed with a particular story, encourage book-inspired play. Build a bear cave out of pillows, host a tea party for stuffed animals, or draw a treasure map for a pirate adventure.
Play deepens understanding and lets your child become part of the tale—pirate hat optional, but highly recommended.
Reading Magic Without the Stress
Every parent wants their child to love stories—but real life is busy, and perfection is overrated.
A few tiny tweaks, a dash of silliness, and a willingness to let the child lead can transform reading from “just another item on the to-do list” into a moment everyone looks forward to.
Tonight, pick one idea from this list, give yourself permission to skip the “right way,” and enjoy the wild, wiggly, wonderful world of interactive reading.
Your child may not thank you with a Nobel Prize acceptance speech just yet, but you’ll see it in their eyes: reading time has become the highlight of the day.
And who knows? You might just fall in love with stories all over again, too.
