Create a Summer Library for your Kids

We finished up our homeschool year the last week in May and my kids had only been out for a few days and were already whiny and bored. Uggh. (Anybody else's kids do that??)  They seriously didn't know what to do with themselves without school!  But thankfully some friends of ours unknowingly came to the rescue when they gave us a box of books to borrow.  So I set this up...a little Summer Library on top of our workboxes in the office!  Lydia had fun decorating the chalkboard that we set behind it. =)

 The rule is that they can only have one book out at a time and they have to finish it before putting it back. Lydia read three books in four days.  Whoa. Pretty sure I have a bookworm on my hands!!

Boxcar children books are great, my kiddos love them!  If you've never read them, you've gotta find book 1 at the library...your kids will be hooked! 

Spools of thread in a 25 cent yard sale jar makes a perfect bookend, don't you think? =D

In the book box were also a bunch of the missionary stories in the Trailblazer series.  I was so excited about this because I don't want my kiddos just filling their brains with fiction...these biographies on missionaries are so convicting and inspiring.  Definitely a must read!

I also threw in some books from our own bookshelf for some fun girly crafting. =)

On the stack of sewing books are also a few Nature Friend magazines.  A lady in our church gets these and gives them to my children.  They are Christian magazines and full of neat things to learn about our world and animals.  My kiddos love these too!  I also added my box of Felicity books (American Girl) that I've had since I was my daughter's age!

Even if you don't have some books packed away you could bring out or some friends to borrow from, you could check out several books from the library and do the same thing.  And if you're children aren't old enough to read on their own, you can read great books to them! They will love listening to you read.  We've read "real books" aloud to our children from the time they were very little and I believe that has a lot to do with why they enjoy reading so much.  Before Lydia was even two we were reading things like Charlotte's Web.  You may have to break it down into chunks for them or even allow them to play with legos or something while you read, but if you want to build a strong foundation in reading, you need to begin reading to them while they are tiny. =)

So far I've had no more complaints of boredom...if anything I'm practically having to pry a book from their hands to get them to do anything else!  (That's a good problem, I know!)


Do your kids love to read?  Where do you find great books for them?  What do you do to keep your kids from being bored in the summer?