Hands-On Education's Book Challenge

We have just launched our free reading challenges for kids of all ages!

Get Involved In A Book Challenge

This month I’m excited to share Hands-On Education’s book challenge with you. I love books and understand the joy of becoming immersed in a story. This is why I have created these book challenges to support parents and teachers in guiding children to explore and discover the wonderful world of books.

There are three free packs you can choose from, each with appropriate challenges and resources suitable for different age groups. These include: the EYFS Book Challenge for children aged 4–5. The KS1 Book Challenge for children aged 5–7 and the KS2 Book Challenge for children aged 7–11. Each pack provides a list of book challenges to motivate and encourage children to explore different types of books. This is accompanied by a variety of hands-on reading challenges.

You will know the children in your care best and can personalise learning through activities and books which excite them. I have designed the challenges to be fun and not stressful. Children do not need to complete all of the tasks to receive their certificate. It is up to you, the parent or teacher to decide what is best for the young reader to further encourage them. The Hands-On Education Book Challenge is about providing your child with opportunities to discover different types of books and to find out what they enjoy.

Why do a book challenge?

Participating in a book challenge can be a great motivational tool to encourage children to explore books. There are a number of benefits to opening up the world of books to our children. Developing literacy skills is truly important, but there is so much more a book can provide:

World Book Day

World Book Day is a fantastic way to promote a celebration of books and reading. Created by UNISCO in 1995, World Book Day is marked in over 100 countries. According to this organisation, ‘reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future successes.’ With this in mind it seems imperative that all children are provided opportunities to access books and discover what they enjoy.

This year World Book Day will be celebrated on the 7th March 2024 and the website provides a range of ideas and activities to help you celebrate. Many schools take part in the event but home educating families can also participate by organising their own get-together with friends. Some children enjoy dressing up as their favourite characters, role playing different characters, or building a scene from a book as a way to share their favourite stories with friends.

This year on this World Book Day I plan to make a dream potion, inspired by our reading aloud of the BFG by Roald Dahl. I’m not sure what will go in our potion yet, but it will be a fun way to explore some messy play and experiment with coloured water and glitter.

Love Your Library

I cannot discuss books without mentioning the library! Local libraries provide a wonderful service – you can borrow books for free! For kids, having the freedom to browse through a number of books and find what interests them is invaluable. Borrowing books from the library can also save a lot of money and allows parents and children to access a whole world of books.

Although they differ from area to area, many libraries participate in a summer reading challenge. This programme is designed to support and encourage primary aged children to continue reading throughout the summer holidays. This programme is also available to home educating families who can sign up for free either at the library or online.

Booklist

Here are a list of books Teddy (9) and Harry (8) are currently enjoying. A common theme is that many of the books on the list are graphic novels. These types of books really gave them the confidence to begin to read independently. They love analysing the details in the pictures before even looking at the words. The speech bubbles are also not as visually overwhelming as a full page of writing which encourages them.

While my husband and I no longer read to them aloud as much as we used to, but we still enjoy this as a family. They boys are not required to sit quietly and listen to us, and as there are few or no pictures it seems a little unfair to ask for that. They will often play quietly while one of us reads.

The Hands-On Education’s Book Challenge is free to download and use. Simply follow the links below. Whether you are using our Book Challenge alone or alongside World Book Day or A Summer Reading Challenge;I hope you enjoy discovering books and stories alongside your child.

Reception Book Challenge	Key Stage One KS1 Book Challenge	Key Stage One KS2 Book Challenge	Key Stage One Tell Me A Story: One