16 Tips for Starting a Children’s Book Club
One of the things that’s come up frequently as summer begins is starting book clubs for kids!
To be honest, I’ve never done one, but I asked for suggestions on Instagram and so many chimed in with fantastic suggestions for how to start a children’s book club and make it a success!
The great news is that there is no right way to run a children’s book club – you can make it work for you!
If you’re considering starting up a book club for kids this summer, I hope you’ll find these tips helpful.
16 Tips for Starting a Children’s Book Club
- “Let them run it but be there to support.” I love this suggestion – if they have ownership over their own children’s book club, it’s likely to have a lot more momentum than if you’re driving the whole thing. Will there be hiccups? Almost certainly, but those make for the best learning experiences!
- “My daughter’s book club meets weekly and talks about the chapter or so they read and they also read a chapter together.” What a great reminder that there are a million ways to run a children’s book club! You could do it monthly or bi-weekly or every week, and you can decide how many books you’re reading – it doesn’t have to look like an adult book club!
- “We do it during the summer with the kids of the moms in book group!” This is such a great way to get a children’s book club started if you already have a group of moms who love reading and book clubs!
- “Each kid chooses a book and then they host the month of their books with treats and activities related to the book.” This is such a terrific way to get buy in from every child participating and also not make it overwhelming for one child or family.
- “Email moms, have a meet up w/ kids to plan, make a schedule and do it! It’s so fun and worth it.” I love having kids involved in the initial meeting to help them feel buy into the book club!
- “My kids are in a children’s book club. They make a bookmark at every meeting to remember the book they read.” Oh my word, I love this idea!
- “Everyone in the club listens to the first chapter on audiobook together.” You know I love this suggestion – what a great way to help everyone make that tricky jump into the beginning of a new book and get some momentum before they even leave the meeting!
- “Every kid brought the book they are currently reading and shared/answered questions.” This is a terrific way to let kids read what they want instead of feeling pressured into reading something that might not work for them AND help kids get interested in trying other books!
- “My 10yo runs a weekly zoom call with a once a month in-person party theme around the book at the end.” Whoa, I love this suggestion. (And how awesome that it’s the child running it!).
- “Read books that have been turned into movies then compare!” This is a perfect summer theme for a children’s book club. I have a whole list of children’s books that have movie versions here!
- “I grew up in a mother-daughter book club. The best thing ever. Daughters picked the books.” This was a very popular suggestion (along with parent/kid book clubs). This is a wonderful way to spend time together and connect over books!
- “I do one at my school for our 2-4 graders. I select a title, given the kids about a month to read and then we have a lunch bunch and discuss.” Steal this librarian’s idea and host a little monthly book club lunch where everyone can chat about the book!
- “Do a book club with your kids. You and the kids read the same book and discuss. It’s so fun!” This is especially great if you don’t want to manage other people’s schedules or don’t have other kids or families to easily invite to join!
- “Add a food that goes with the book to the gathering.” Everyone knows that the food is the best part of book club! And that goes just as much for children’s book clubs as it does adult ones!
- “No longer than a half hour, pre plan and assign the questions, have snacks, no more than 8 kids.” It’s really helpful to decide from the beginning what your boundaries are around book club, whether it’s number of children, length of books, length of meeting, etc. Then everyone knows what to expect!
- “Read books at the reading level of the lowest in the group.” This is a great suggestion if you have readers on multiple levels and ages.
Any other suggestions or tips for hosting a children’s book club? I’d love to hear!
