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Summer can be a super-busy time. But if you have kids, sooner or later on long summer days, you’re bound to hear those dreaded words: “I’m bored.”

I’m not a fan of allowing kids to become “bored,” I’m apt to give them a nice long job washing windows or folding laundry to overcome their boredom, but they do have a point. All year long they’re used to hectic schedules that begin early and end late. They’re not used to managing their own schedules.

Here’s an idea to kill two birds with one stone. Do a weekly neighborhood reading club with all the eligible kids in the neighborhood. It’s easy to do and lots of fun too. But before I tell you the four easy steps to a successful reading club, let me tell you about a wondrous part of our family history.

My daughter, Sara, was too young to join our church’s club for girls. Just before she turned eight, and could have joined, we moved. It broke her heart. So we did the next best thing, we organized our own girls club at home.

There were eight or nine regulars and I think we topped out at fourteen girls in our three summers of meetings. One of the best parts of that club was the name. The girls had a hard time voting between wonderful choices such as the Strawberry Shortcake Girls and others I forget. But I won’t forget the one they finally chose.

Our niece was living with us, she of the evil eye and wild behavior. She sweetly raised her hand and suggested the “Golden Halo Girls Club.” There were gasps. You could hear the other nominations falling to the ground. Golden Halo Girls Club it was.

Here’s what we did.

  1. We were a Christian club so we read several chapters of the book of John during the week and talked about it for a few minutes at the beginning of our meetings.
  2. We read short stories from a great children’s book called Pockets.
  3. We did a craft each week. I remember doing colored sand jars, simple sewing projects, making strawberry freezer jam and making bracelets.
  4. We had a snack.
  5. At the end of each summer we took a field trip. The one I remember best was an overnight at the beach.

Here’s what you can do.

  1. Make it a true reading club. Choose a chapter book and find multiple copies so each person can have their own to take home. (Sometimes libraries have multiple copies or you might check with your neighborhood school to see if teachers will “check out” copies of multiple titled books.) If nothing else, have each child donate a few dollars and order copies from your local book store. Be sure the book is worth the time. Choose a medal winner such as a Newbery award winner. Get online and find comprehension questions or write your own. Use the questions as you discuss the chapters read each week.
  2. Do something fun such as making and eating a snack or playing games before or after reading discussion time.
  3. You might plan some sort of extension for the chapter read that week. Maybe you could act out a scene from the book, draw pictures of the characters, make puppets, or create a mural.
  4. Just like an adult reading club, you’re in it to get the most out of the story. Make the tone of the reading time serious enough to really understand basic concepts, but be sure that kids have fun too. You might make a different child the leader each week and allow them to call on others when questions are asked.

Kids love clubs and they need to read over the summer to maintain reading skills. Include younger children if they’re willing and able to follow along in the group. Allow a parent or older sibling to read aloud to the younger child during the week.

You may or may not need to name the group. See what the kids think. I’m pretty sure they won’t want to be called The Golden Halo Girl’s Club, but you never know.