(951) 674-9400 (Lake Elsinore Corporate Office)
(760) 761-4300 (San Marcos Office, Recruitment and Training Center)
information@kamalii.org
Donate
We’ll have fun, fun, fun, now that summer is here! It’s time for all the summer adventures you could possibly imagine, from camping in the mountains, to swimming in the ocean, and… visiting the library? That’s right! A good book can be a passport to adventure when you let your imagination roam free. Take trips to Egypt, Europe, the past, the future, or even space when you let your mind get lost within the pages of the novel in your bag — without ever having to leave home.
Summer reading is also an excellent way to instill a strong foundation for learning and to help prepare for the upcoming school year. But how do you encourage reading when the options of swimming and playing with friends are literally right outside?
As strange as it may seem, libraries have your back! Many offer summer reading clubs, events, and competitions to keep readers of all levels interested. With themed weeks, weekly movie nights, guest authors, and the opportunity to make new friends, you can make the library the hottest summer spot. Joining the library’s summer reading program is a perfect activity for the introverts and extroverts in your home.
If getting to the library this summer seems out of reach, there are still plenty of other ways to keep reading and learning ongoing in your home. Start listening to audiobooks in the car instead of music on the way to your kids’ sports camps or friends’ houses. Audiobooks are a great way to keep children engaged and learning, and can even help during the school year if your students are reading below average or falling behind.
Lucky for you, audiobooks are more available than ever — look to Audible, your local library, or a number of other helpful sources!
If a book club or an audiobook seems like too much for your little ones, a great solution to get them moving and involved but still learning is encouraging them to create their own plays. Whether you choose to bring a published play to life, or better yet, if your little actors decide to write one of their own, they are learning important principles of writing and story creation. Remember, all a story needs are characters, a setting, a problem, and a solution! Encourage everyone to create their own props and costumes from what they find around the house — this will keep them busy, learning, and encouraged to channel the artist that lives within.
Within a resource family, reading can sometimes feel especially challenging. The school year may seem like enough of a battle, and you and your child may both be tempted to take a well-deserved break — but that is exactly why it is so important to keep up with reading. This is your chance to come together as a family, and encourage your kids to grow, succeed, and prepare for the future.
Summer is the perfect time to help those in your life fall in love with reading, so run, don’t walk to the library, car, or writer’s desk. Adventures await for the astronauts, pirates, princesses, detectives, and students in your home.