KIDS READING / BOOK CLUB 

  • Event - Reading Club

  • Date - Daily

  • Location - Finchley road 

  • Time - 4pm - 5pm

  • Age groups - 3-5 years / 5-8 years / 8-12 years

ABOUT

Vinse Active (VA) reading  club for kids of all ages, interests and abilities. This free Club is offered once a week at the 02 centre Finchley road, London UK, as well as online. The Club celebrates UK authors, illustrators and stories, and inspires kids to explore the fun of reading their way. This is key to building a lifelong love of reading.

Actives

  • Group reading by instructors 

  • Individual reading to group (to build confidence)

  • Script play reading 

  • Book review 

  • Book story writing workshops

  • Print colouring sheets

  • There's something for everyone, preschoolers and their families.

WAYS TO RAISE A READER

Make reading a part of your children’s lives by encouraging them to read for fun. Allow kids to choose what to read, have ready access to books in your home, visit the public library, and demonstrate good reading behaviour yourself so you can become a family of readers.

Studies show that kids who keep reading outside of school, do better when they return to school after their school break. The VA Reading / Book club is a great way to build excitement about reading. 

Literacy for pre-readers  (0-5 years olds)

You are your child’s first and best teacher. The five key skill-building practices to raise a reader are play, talk, sing, write and read.  

  • PLAY: Kids learn about the world through play, which helps them understand stories

  • TALK: Kids learn about language by listening to you talk and joining in the conversation

  • SING: Singing with your child increases awareness of the sounds of words

  • WRITE: Writing helps your child learn that letters and words stand for sounds and that print has meaning

  • READ: Shared reading is the most effective way to help kids become good readers

School age kids (ages 6-12)

Parents play a key role in supporting literacy growth, even after their children learn to read on their own. Here are a few tips and resources to keep kids reading at all ages.

  • JOIN A READING CLUB: Studies suggest that reading clubs are an effective tool to prevent learning loss and improve children’s reading performance, the VA Reading / Book club is a great way to do so and it’s free to join.

  • CONNECT KIDS WITH A BOOK SERIES: Sometimes all it takes is one special book series to spark a love of reading in a child. Ask a members of the VA team for recommendations. 

  • THINK OUTSIDE THE BOOK: Encourage kids to engage with reading in different formats. Put that screen time to good use by reading e-books, or listen and follow along with a talking book. Consider decodable books, graphic books, short stories, free-verse poetry and other books for reluctant or new readers.

  • BUILD READING EXCITEMENT: Check out checkout our reading calendar to help build reading excitement in Kids and connect them to communities of readers. 

Does your child find it easier to read audiobooks, ebooks or in braille? Several of the titles on the VA Reading list are available in one or more of these formats, or there may be other titles related and fun topics that kids may enjoy. Here are two ways to find summer reading books in accessible formats:

 

  • Through your library. Libraries often have huge collections of audio and ebooks that you can read using a computer or app. Specialised reading tools can read aloud the text on the screen, allow you to enlarge the text size or line spacing, or have other supports to help your child decode and understand the words.

Supporting your child

There are many ways to support your child so they can participate in the club and enjoy all that their bookshops has to offer. As an advocate for your child, you can make a difference by using these tips to help you connect your child to a love of reading and their bookshop:

 

  • Talk to bookshop staff about how they can accommodate your child’s accessibility needs. They may not realise that your child prefers to sit close to the speaker so they can hear the story, or that your child is in a wheelchair and would need a ramp if they were called to read

 

  • Look into lots of books in different formats to give some variety to the titles your child enjoys. Some audiobooks come with sounds and have entertaining narrators to make the books come alive. Ask if your bookstore has Playaway Kids titles, decodable books for early readers with dyslexia, or printbraille or braille picture books if your child is blind or has low vision.

 

  • Inquire if your bookstore offers sensory story times or sensory boxes for kids with autism or other sensory disorders.