As your kids enter a phase in life when they can start to read and understand, it is recommended that you introduce them to more productive toys that could help them in improving their reading and writing skills. One of the ways to do this is by creating a reading nook for the kids. Many parents create a reading nook but it isn’t much appealing for the children that’s why we recommend designing it in certain ways to add more interest to your kids to utilize it.
What is a Reading Nook?
Elders call it as a “study” and for children we use the term “reading nook”. A reading nook is a reading corner where one can come specifically for the purpose of reading. How is it different than simply reading on your bed? A reading nook is a specialized corner that has been designed in a particular manner. People usually make it for the kids so that they are attracted to come and read in their spare time.
One can find different types of items from Amazon.com to be used at a reading corner. With some effort, you can also provide your children with a playful environment where they can read and have fun at the same time. Fostering the interest in books and reading in your kids is as easy as “A.. B.. C..”. All you need to do is design the reading nook in an ideal manner.
Designing a Reading Nook For Kids
When you are designing a reading corner for kids, you need to consider everything that could create an appeal and add them as much as you can. On the other hand, there are certain things that children are not comfortable with so you should avoid them.
Find out more on how to have your child’s interest in reading – How Can Children Start Reading on Their Own?
Sufficient Space
There has to be sufficient space where you are planning to make a reading corner for the kids. There shouldn’t be any extraordinary space for the kid to get out of focus nor should there be any kind of very restricted space such that the kid is not able to move freely. Sufficient space would be required to have the relevant furniture such as a rack, cushions, shelves, and other different items. Make sure that wherever you want to have this nook, there is enough space to cover all this furniture and some space for the kid to play / read.
The space you have selected should be the one that is in the way of walking as it can hinder the child’s time for reading and he might feel discomfort. The person who is walking in the pathway will also be bothered. Sufficient space should be arranged in an area that is usually free.
Ample Lighting
Many parents design a reading nook but often forget to take care of the lighting. Usually, corner spots in a room do not have enough lighting and that is why your reading nook might not be very effective for the children. Therefore, we recommend designing a reading nook near a window so that the children have proper lighting access and do not find any kind of discomfort in reading.
On the other hand, you also need to consider the nighttime lighting. Some kids are not daytime learners and prefer to engage in reading and related educational activities at night time. Therefore, you should be having proper lights set up in the reading nook for the night learners.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the lights you have set up are interesting for the young one. For example, kids would be attracted if the light is coming out from an elephant-shaped lamp. Another way to do this is to use the hanging lights which also make it interesting for the kids. We also recommend using the yellow bulbs or the orange ones instead of the simple white ones. You can also go multicolor by using both white and yellow bulbs.
Appealing Furniture
One of the most important things you should be having in the reading nook for kids is that the furniture should be appealing for the kids. Of Course, the children will not like a simple chair and table. You need something more to have the kid come to it and spend some time at it. Perhaps the simple floor with many cushions or a single bean bag would be more attractive for the children.
You also need to make sure that the furniture includes several toys as well since the child will come close to it more frequently and utilize this space. This increases the chance for your child to spend time reading. Educational toys such as flip cards, boxes, or other such toys can also be used to have the interest of your child.
Decorative items should also be placed appropriately as they will be quite helpful to attract the child. For example, use a hanging bell and the kid could ring it when he likes to do it. Moreover, there can be a photo frame of the entire family or pictures of the kid himself.
Fill with the Books
Filling up your reading nook with books is not difficult but having the “right books” for your child is something that requires effort by the parents. One of the most recommended tips is that you should get those books which have ample pictorial illustrations along with reading material so that the child is fully engaged in reading and himself wants to read further and more rather than leave the reading as it is.
Filling with books does not mean overstuffing the reading corner with so many books that the child is puzzled or loses his interest in reading. Have all types of books rather than just a particular subject. This will help the child in moving to other types of books when he is bored with the previous ones. For example, if he is not interested in reading about animals, he could move on to read about cars and so on.
Read about the best books you can add to the reading nook – Top 30 Adventure Books for Children.
Maintaining the Reading Nook
Cleanup
Maintenance matters a lot and if your reading nook isn’t properly managed or taken care of, it will soon present the picture of a dusty place to sit making it not healthy for the child as well as also making him lose interest in coming to the corner. Make sure that you regularly clean the corner, its furniture, toys, and other items that are over there. If the kid has a habit of eating food in this spot, you need to have the leftovers cleaned. We also recommend that you sanitize the area frequently.
New Books
One of the most important things that many parents do not consider is that they do not add new books to the reading corner. As a result, the children might get bored out of the old ones and would not be engaged in reading. Depending upon the size of your reading nook, we recommend changing books frequently between 2 and 4 weeks so that your child is able to gain more knowledge while reading as well as he does not get bored from the previous ones.
We also recommend having some playful books rather than simply the textbooks for reading. For example, there are coloring books, dot-to-dot matching books, puzzle books, and many others which are not for the purpose of reading rather they are just like a toy for the kids. Once the child is attracted to the reading corner with these books, he will surely read others as well that are available.
Spend Time With Your Child
It is our recommendation that you spend time with the child in his reading corner. In case he does not have siblings or friends that can visit him home in this corner, the child might not feel like spending too much time in the reading corner. Therefore, as parents, you should frequently sit with your child at the reading corner and ask him to read out a story to you. Bring some expressions depending upon the story and your child will be intrigued to read more. These are some tactics that can be used to make sure that your child has an uninterrupted reading session that goes best for his future education as well.
Conclusion
When it comes to reading nooks, we believe that making the right one matters the most and for that reason, we summarize some of the most important tips for designing the most ideal form of reading corner for the kids. If you properly take care of all the factors which we have outlined above, we are sure that it will be a charm for your child to read in his personal space. Make sure that you properly maintain it from time to time so that the child does not get distracted rather stays interested.