Read-Aloud Activities

[GalmiBorn]

What types of things do you let your kids do while you read aloud? If you read aloud for more than 30 minutes at a time, do you let them color, draw or what? My kids are 9,8,6 and 3. I'd really like to start reading for longer periods of time but I struggle with letting them occupy their hands, minds with something else while I read. I did start using audio books and have noticed that they are still able to answer questions even if they had been coloring of whatever.

So, what other things could I have on hand for them to do? Especially the younger two.

Along the same lines, how many different books might you be reading through during this read aloud time. Currently we read from our children's Bible, Greek Myths, Archimedes and a historical fiction. I'd like to just do all of this consecutively and not broken up during the day but am unsure as to how that will work. Will they be able to take what they hear in the historical fiction and apply it later to our VP/SOTW lesson? Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Any way, any feedback would be great.

[asmall]

When my girls were young, they loved to use play dough while I read to them. We also did coloring, painting, zome tools, pattern blocks, and geoboards. As far as reading aloud goes when my girls were younger we would read for up to 20 minutes at a time, and then have a break. I found with my kids if we kept going they lost their focus and missed things. A break can be really short, we used to do jumping jacks, tossing balls, jumping on the trampoline, brain gym and dancing. Anything that was very active would have them ready to listen again in 10 minutes or less.

AL

[MandJsMama]

I let my kids play while I read. They are 9 and 6. They play with legos, snap circuits, playdoh, color, spin around on their heads, etc. The only thing I don't let them do is read another book while I am reading. My son tries to do this and he is able to still follow along with whatever I am reading. But it bugs me too much.

[GalmiBorn]

Those are great ideas. I really like the playdough and puzzles. Its hard for me to let them do other things since I was raised with the sit still and listen style reading aloud. I really want it to be a fun part of our day though and have realized they are pretty good at multi-tasking! I just need to chill a bit.

[ABQmom]

Anything quiet. They like to weave, color, draw, make bracelets, build with blocks and Legos, etc. The Legos and blocks sometimes get too loud--I hate reading over the sifting through the blocks for just the right one.

 

My older girls will sometimes straighten or curl their hair while I read. :001_smile:

 

My youngest plays with her dolls and dress -up clothes while I read. Since she's the only one who does this, I allow it. I think if more of the kids were coming in and out with weird outfits on, it would be distracting. Ha! She comes in and out of her room and can tell me everything about the story we are reading. That always amazes me.

 

I usually keep one read aloud going at a time. I don't like reading from several books at one sitting. I have an additional read aloud for my youngest at bedtime.

[ALB]

My kids can do anything as long as they are not being distracting. Sometimes, I do have them come sit next to me on the couch if we're reading something especially important.

 

We have many read alouds going at the same time, and I have had the same question often. Usually, we do what works naturally within the flow of our day, which is to read them all together at the same time. After we do math and language arts each morning, I gather our stack of books that we are reading through and sit on the couch. I read from each one, letting them choose the order. They give me narrations from at least one of the readings, and if it is history or science related we sometimes pause to make a notebook page. Actually, working on an illustration for their notebook page is a great quiet activity for them to do while they are listening to me read.

[lindsrae]

Ditto to what was said above. If we are doing a history read-aloud, my girls love to cut out paper dolls or color in coloring books related to the time period...Dover has lots of good ones. History Pockets are another good resource.

[GalmiBorn]

ahhh, I'm seeing it better now. We have a little 'school room' upstairs in our house where we do seatwork like math and grammar but we like to read downstairs in the comfort of the living room. Maybe a basket with coloring items and some quiet toys for reading time will help. The idea of drawing for the narration/notebook page is another great idea. This way we can save time later. Thanks so much for all the ideas. This is our first year hs-ing and I am slowing transitioning in my mind to a more relaxed/CM idea of school. It all sounds good but my mind still have the student/teacher/desk/quiet kind of picture sometimes!