Regardless of age, research shows that spending time reading with the family at home greatly benefits children’s literacy and language skills, as well as cognitive development, personal relationship with reading, and much more.

We've compiled a list of five ways to engage with reading at home with your child or teen - read on, and get ready to celebrate with YOUR family! 

1. One Book, One Hour

Choice plays a key role in a child's relationship with reading. 

Have your child or teen pick a book that speaks to them, and spend one hour reading it together as a family. If an hour is too long for your reader, take thirty minutes. The important part is that you’re allowing the reader to choose the book - and that you're reading together, of course!

2. Set an Example

According to Scholastic, children who frequently say they enjoy reading have parents who are frequent readers, and strongly believe that reading for fun is important. 

If you are a parent, take note of the time you set aside for reading at home for yourself. Seeing you enjoying a book at home reinforces reading as a positive, entertaining activity that can be done for fun and leisure - not just for school.

3. Stock Up 

Be sure to have age-appropriate reading material around the house for your child or teen to read as they please. 

By increasing the amount of books you have in your home, you surround your reader with more opportunities to engage with literature. Let them know that reading a chapter can be enough, and encourage them to expand their horizons with new titles that interest them.

4. Book with a Bow

Giving books as gifts is a powerful way to instill a love of reading in your child or teen. 

Start encouraging your child to read at home by giving books as presents - and not just for birthdays. Reward studying, improved grades, and test scores with a good book - or just because. Another option, for older readers, is to give gift cards to bookstores so that they can choose their own.

5. Awesome Audio 

Reading aloud is the single most important activity for success in reading. 

For younger readers as well as older, reading aloud improves verbal expression skills, language comprehension, and vocabulary. Simply taking the time to talk to your child, in depth, about a book they're reading is a helpful way to practice, and improve these skills.

We hope you enjoyed this list, and try putting some of these tips to the test in your own home. 

Happy Family Literacy Month, bookworms!

Sources used to compile this list are as follows: Scholastic, Children's Literacy Foundation, Child Development Institute, American Psychological Association, Reach Out and Reach, American Library Association, NCES, and NEA. Click one or more of the links for statistics, studies, and more on family literacy.