Kindergarten Summer Reading Readiness

Get your little one ready for kindergarten with fun, engaging reading readiness activities this summer! From interactive story time and letter scavenger hunts to playful word games and hands-on crafts, these exciting experiences build early literacy skills while keeping kids entertained. Spark a love for reading with these creative, confidence-boosting activities! Free printable Summer activity calendar!

It’s always seemed to me that Summer had a maddening way of flying by so fast! Before I could turn around school was starting again! Is it that way for you too? By creating a Summer activities calendar you can make sure everything gets planned AND done. When school starts your little one will have had a summer of fun that secretly helped them be more prepared for a great kindergarten year!

Mix and Match Reading Fun Calendar

It’s super easy! Just print out as many calendar pages as you want then print and cut out the activity squares. Glue the activity squares on your custom calendar! Easy peasy!

No other prep is required to get started. I like this bright white card stock and these glue sticks.

What’s on the Calendar?

I know summer is a busy time so most of these fun reading activities take little to no prep time. It is important to plan time to get your kindergartener ready for a super successful school year along with all your other plans for the summer break. Print and cut out the fun summer reading activities printable and then mix and match them on the custom calendar also in included. Super easy! Here are some examples of what’s on the printable.

• Book Cover: Talk with your kiddo about what goes on a book cover: Title, Author, Illustrator, and a Picture that gives a clue what the book is about. Have them draw a new cover for a favorite book. This seems like an easy one, but for an early or pre-reader this really helps get them ready to pick out books they will like and be interested in. “Predicting” is an important skill in school and this helps develop it.
• Visit the Library: I recommend setting a limit on the number of books they can check out based on how often you plan to visit the library and how often you plan to read to them. I made the mistake of not doing this with our three kids… the hassle of finding all the library books and the library fines for the ones we didn’t find in time were horrrendous! Three kids can check out a lot of books!
• Write a Letter to the Author: If your child can write the letter themselves that’s great! But if they aren’t up to that just yet, they can dictate it to you. Note that at the beginning of the letter (dictated to Mom by Sally Smith) and then have them sign their name. Writing is such a solitary work that writers really enjoy getting letters from readers, especially telling them what they liked about their book. They may even write back!
• Retell a Story: This combines a lot of important skills: comprehension, recall (key phrases and words specific to the story), sequencing (what order things happen) and the beginning of public speaking.
• What Might Come Next?: This is like writing an epilogue to a really great story.
• ABC Games: ABC letter hunts in the backyard (plastic refrigerator letters work great for this!) finding or thinking of things that start with each letter, Site Word Go-Fish or this great ABC Bingo game.
• Letter Writing Activities: Making letters out of cookie dough (buy ready made if you want to save time and mess) sand tray letters, dotted letters, practicing their name.
• Write a Shape Book: Let your child be the author!

How the Calendar Works

Let’s face it, all our summer schedules look very different from anyone else’s. So to accommodate for that we provide blank calendar pages for the summer months and preprinted activity blocks you can chose from and work into your summer plans.

You may want to, for example, visit the library every week. Great! But maybe your schedule is so full every other week works better. Also great. Some of these activities may appeal to your child and you more than others. I have tried to provide a good variety so you and your child have lots to chose from.

Pick the ones that look the best to you and stick them on your calendar! Let your child decorate them if that will build their excitement for the things they will be doing this summer. While these activities are about learning, they are also about FUN! Have lots of fun reading with your little one this summer so they can have the best kindergarten next year!

Grab Your Free Summer Reading Readiness Calendar

Just toss your email in the box below and the download link will appear in your inbox in a jiffy!

Other Reading Resources for Parents

• Reading Assessments For Reading Success
• Write a Shape Book with Your Pre-Reader
• Bedtime Stories Are More Important Than You Think
• Tips For Helping Early Readers
• Sight Word Games To Prepare For Kindergarten: Go Fish!
• Leafy Indoor/Outdoor Alphabet Hunt

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