Book Party!

Now that summer is almost here and my daughter will be home from preschool, we will looking for EASY ways to fill our days.  When it's too much of the same thing, the children bicker and fight.  (Okay, they fight daily, but monotony makes all of us that much crankier.)

One way I love to have some fun with the kids is with a book party.  I gather up lots of books, and even have the children bring some, too.  We put the books into a pile.  Then the children take turns picking books!  A book party also encourages me to read lots of the library books at one time to the children.  (We tend to take so many out at once that I sometimes a book or two get ignored before our next trip to the library.)

Our first book party was in April of 2009.

Sometimes we get lots of pillows and sit on my bed surrounded by books.  Other times, we pile the books on the living room floor and relax on the couch.  Either way, it's enjoyable and just by calling it a party makes it fun.

You could even take it a step farther and have a special treat.  (We don't typically do this, but this summer we will, but not every time.)  Creating bookmarks is a really easy and fun craft.  I just cut some paper or cardstock to size and let the kids "at it" with markers and stickers.

A book party only lasts as long as there is interest.  Sometimes we only get through three books, but other times we read many, many books.  I hope you consider your own book party!

(If your first book party isn't full of books and reading, don't be discouraged.  For our first book party, we read a book or two, and then a diaper desperately needed to be changed.  Once that happened interest was lost, but we have had many successful parties since then.)