Kids’s Summer Reading Project and a Giveaway!
We read so many school books during the year that it is a fun change for the kids to be able to do more pleasure reading over the summer. I like to encourage reading as much as I can and one way is to keep good books around. I’m a sucker for a book. I scour sale racks and garage sales and thrift stores, anywhere I might find a hidden treasure. We have shelves full of them!
So I told 2 of my boys, the 10 & 12 year old, to go find 5 books each from our shelves that they would like to read over the summer. Then I will go buy them one more making six books that they will have a goal to read by the end of August. They can read other books too, of course! But these 6 will be something they set as a goal.
They gathered their books while I prepared a little project for them. I used a stack of vinyl I got from Expressions Vinyl. I love their vinyl and I have tried a lot of different brands. It is my favorite!
We cut brown book covers using the big roll from the hardware store that is for protecting your floors while you paint. It’s inexpensive and a roll lasts us forever.
Then we got to work decorating their book covers. They used scissors to cut vinyl shapes while my older daughter Faith cut out some die cut shapes the boys chose our on die cut machine.
Several of their books were about mice, so they wanted to use the little mouse on their book covers.
We used the transfer paper from Expressions Vinyl to make a star bookmark. We used the non sticky side of the transfer paper and peeled off the back of the stars (their red glitter vinyl makes perfect stars) and stuck them to the paper. Now, when the boys finish a book they can peel off the star and stick it to the book cover to mark it as “read.”
The boys are excited about reading these books and I am hoping it will lead to more reading later in the summer. If they finish these early I am always glad to get out the vinyl again and make some more covers together.
And guess what! Expressions Vinyl is giving one of you a $25 gift certificate. You can use it to make summer reading book covers or try something new! They have so many gorgeous products you will have a hard time choosing.
AND that’s not all! This Thursday night I will be hosting a Twitter party for Tommy Nelson. We’ll be giving away books and talking about ideas for getting your kids to read over the summer! It’s going to be great! Come on and party with us at 8:00 PM CMT following the hashtag #TNSummerReading
Linking to: Teachers of Good Things
Love this Lisa!! Thank you for sharing!
Love this idea. My girl is reading to earn a My Little Pony book. She does well with incentives. Thanks again for the idea.
What a fun project! Thanks Lisa!
That’s a great idea. My kids are all signed up for our library’s summer reading program. The more minutes they read, the more prizes they get. I am reading to them at lunch time still, and then they are averaging an hour a day on their own. Summer reading is great!!!
This is such a fun idea!
I’ve got a Silhouette Cameo on the way, and I’d love to try out my hand at some vinyl projects with that!
Love the bookmark idea as a way to check off the books that are done! We are doing a big basket of books. My Kindergartener learned to read this year so this summer will be so fun!
I would like to try out that vinyl. Bookmarks, shelf lining, decor for plastic drinking cups….
great giveaway!
What a fun idea! I love that the boys were able to use the vinyl with scissors. Thanks for sharing!
What a fantastic idea Lisa! My children will love it! I am just learning to use vinyl and find it so much fun and so versatile so I would love love love to win! Thanks for the chance!
Great idea! I love reading and encouraging others to read. I always did reading incentives with my boys during the summer.
Super excited about this giveaway. Our grandchildren would love to do this craft
Decorating books sounds like a great idea! My daughter has already wrapped many of her books in brown paper, but I’m sure she’d like to doll them up a bit.
I would use the vinyl for miscellaneous craft projects (Pinterest!). 🙂
My kids needs challenged during the summer! Great ideas! Thanks!
Always in need of vinyl to make more crafts. I would be making signs for my patio. Love to sit out on our patio and read and enjoy the outdoors!
Anything that encourages children to read is okay by me. I love the creating their own bookcover idea…..creates even more excitement about a good book they already want to read. I have never used the vinyl, but I can already think of several uses for it…I have been stockpiling things on sale or clearance to do craft projects with my granddaughters over summer.
I don’t know what I would use the vinyl for, right off hand, but I LOVE what you guys did! As a former special ed teacher, I can not stress enough the importance of the JOY of reading. It makes me so happy to see others that love books and pass that love on to their children. Reading your blog is always such a blessing to me!
Summer crafts with the kids
What a great idea! I’m sure my creative daughter would find even more uses for the vinyl. I’d just give some to her and watch her go.
Great idea about the star bookmark!! What a great twitter party tonight! Thank you for your patience with a newbie (I need to learn how to retweet 🙂 So much enthusiasm with everyone, that it gets us pumped for a great reading summer. I DM’ed my info (hope I did that correctly). And it was a wonderful opportunity to follow some great blogs too 🙂
Thanks for hosting 🙂
Love this idea. I have been wanting to use make wall decals, what a great idea as book covers!
I would make some vinyl monograms or something for my daughters’ canteens for band camp.
Hmmm … I would probably decorate some plain ol’ picture frames I have lying around!
Off hand, I couldn’t say what I would use it for-i’m very indecisive. 🙂