11 Tips for How to Enjoy Reading Aloud
I grew up with parents who read aloud. My mom was the primary read-alouder, reading to us nearly every night before bed and then individually during the day as part of our homeschool routine, but my dad would step in if my mom was out of town and occasionally he’d pick his favorite childhood books to read aloud to us (I have especially fond memories of Cheaper by the Dozen, The Phantom Tollbooth and Five Children and It).
Naturally, I knew that reading aloud was something I wanted to be part of our family culture when I had children of my own.
But reading aloud isn’t always as easy or fun as it looks from the outside! I’ve heard from hundreds of parents over the years who WANT to read aloud but find it pretty tedious and not the enjoyable experience they were hoping for.
If that’s you wondering “how can I make reading aloud more fun?” I hope you’ll find these tips helpful!
How to Enjoy Reading Aloud
- Pick a book you’re interested in. This is the baseline. I love to read aloud to my kids but if we’re reading something I’m not enjoying, all the fun of it is gone IN A MOMENT for me. Pick genres you’re interested in, childhood favorites, or books you’ve been wanting to read. We can FLY through a book I’m enjoying as a read aloud because I miraculously find all this extra time to read something I love.
- Use audiobooks instead. There’s no gold medal for you being the one to read aloud to your kids. If you truly hate reading aloud, pick a great audiobook read by a professional, snuggle up on the bed or couch (or put it on in the car!) and listen together. You’ll still get all the benefits of sharing a great book together without you having to be the reader.
- Only read for 10 minutes. You don’t have to read aloud for hours a day to get the benefits of reading aloud. Set a time for 10 minutes (or hey, even 5!) and feel great about having read aloud. Even if you only read aloud 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week, you’d hit more than 2500 minutes a year which is a LOT of reading aloud!
- Choose shorter books. Sometimes, reading a 300 page book aloud feels truly overwhelming. Pick something shorter that you can get through in a few read aloud sessions (some suggestions for younger readers here and older readers here).
- Stick with picture books. If chapter book read alouds feel overwhelming but you can handle picture books, by all means stick to the picture books! There are no gold stars for reading chapter books instead.
- Let them play while you read. Sometimes the behavior management of reading aloud is a real deterrent for parents. Set them up with a coloring book or Play-Doh or LEGOS and let them go to town while you read aloud (they’ll probably pick up MORE of the story if they can do something a little physical like that!).
- Try different times of day. Reading aloud doesn’t have to be at bedtime. For years, when I had babies and toddlers, I was just wiped by the end of the day and 30 minutes of reading aloud sounded more like torture than a pleasant bonding experience. Instead, I read aloud to my kids during the day or while they ate snack or after school or even before they went to school. Find something that works for you, even if it’s different from what you see other families doing.
- Keep a drink nearby. If your throat gets dry when you read aloud, keep a water bottle or mug of tea or whatever appeals to you within arm’s reach so you can pause and wet your whistle in between paragraphs or pages!
- Walk while you read. I’d never considered this but when I asked on Instagram for suggestions, lots of parents said they love to pace while they read. It helps them get their steps in AND prevents you from getting that “I’m drifting off” feeling that sometimes happens when you sit down with a book in the evenings (or anytime, for a parent of young children!).
- Alternate reading. I’m very familiar with this technique because my mom and I would alternate pages as we read aloud together during homeschool. If your partner is up for it, switch off pages or chapters. Other people like to switch back and forth between reading aloud and using an audiobook version. Or let your kids read aloud every other page or every other chapter (bonus that it helps THEM develop reading and read-aloud skills!). You don’t have to be the only one reading aloud.
- Practice makes a huge difference! When I first started working as a school librarian, the reading aloud to my classes just about killed me. My throat would feel so dry and I didn’t like it AT ALL. Now, more than a dozen years later, I’ve gotten much better at it with all the practice I’ve done! If you want those read aloud experiences with your kids, keep practicing and notice how much easier it gets as time goes on.
Any other tips for how to enjoy reading aloud? I’d love to hear – it makes these posts WAY more helpful when you share in the comments!
if you liked this post about how to enjoy reading aloud, you might also like these other posts:
- First Chapter Books to Read Aloud
- 6 Tips for Transitioning from Board Books to Picture Books
- My 11 Favorite Read Alouds
Great tips! One that’s made reading aloud easier for me: don’t expect all of your kids to be present/ listening to every reading session. If one wanders off or isn’t interested that day, it’s okay. I’ll quickly fill them in on what they missed before the next session (usually they don’t miss much).
What a gift your blog is! My son has loved every book you have recommended.
On an unrelated note, please share where you got all of the beautiful white eyelet shirts you are wearing in your instragram videos. Thank you!
Pretty much all from thredup! Mostly Madewell brand.
My only tip is that I read picture books to my kindergartener and third grader, but after I tuck my younger son in I read a chapter book just to my older son at his interest-level for like 10 minutes. Our current book is A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga 🙂