Kids love to be part of a club or group. What better way to promote literacy, the library and a love of reading and listening then to create a club that rewards kids for frequent reading? That was the idea behind a club based on frequent flying miles that we created at two of the libraries I worked at.We created a credit card-sized "club card" with eight boxes. Each time a child came to the library during the two month program to check out books, we stamped off one of the eight spaces on their club card. We created an extra stamp opportunity at each library to promote something we wanted to accomplish with the kids (at one library, kids received double stamps if they had their library card at check-out; at my present library if they attended a night-time family storytime they received the bonus) and to optimize the kids opportunity to have all spaces stamped.
All kids who got their eight spaces stamped by the end of the program received a free paperback book that they chose by themselves. We found that this really motivated kids to use the library, to pick more materials and it helped to create a regular "habit" of coming in. We had a chance to talk to the kids about what they were reading , get to know them better and suggest good books for them to try. It was definitely a program worth doing!
Image: 'seasoned traveler' http://www.flickr.com/photos/63225294@N00/1874324170
This is so cool, Marge. We had a similar program through Book Buddies - when the students reached a specific milestone, they got a new book. Would you happen to have a list of the titles the kids loved to pick? Since they picked their own books, it may help folks pick books for the kids in their lives.
ReplyDeleteTerry, we just made sure to have a huge variety of titles for a variety of ages and interests..popular characters; classic titles; non-fiction...you name it we had it. The kids browsed and took time to decide and it just seemed like they each found a book that spoke to them!
ReplyDeleteIt's a great program that gets kids and families excited about reading and checking out books at the library. Happy reading!
ReplyDelete