Kids are out for Summer and I’ve been getting press releases saying “don’t let your kids brain turn to mush” “kids play to many video games” “3D is safe” “3D is not safe” “kids no longer use their imagination”, ok so some of those are paraphrased, but seriously, what will we do with our kids all summer long? Of course we’ll send them outside as much as we can, but we need to have activities for them inside too and one of the best ways to keep their minds active and stimulated over the summer is to get them reading.

Now, at our current state, 3 year old Miles and 4 year old Zoe love to look at books and pretend to read. They love to sit and listen to me read. Miles has the attention span of a 3 year old boy, but that’s about what I expect for him. So, what if you’re kids aren’t into books? What should you do?

PBS KIDS is teaming up with iVillage to keep kids excited about reading. Starting yesterday, June 6th running all summer long you can join the iVillage PBS KIDS Summer Reading Community Challenge. PBS KIDS and iVillage would love for your family and friends to join the summer reading mission. The 6-week program to help children discover the joys of reading is free to Sign up. When you sign up at iVillage you will receive:

A daily email with fun activities to build reading skills
Tricks and advice from your Challenge coach

Challenge Coach, Angela Santomero, Creator, Executive Producer and Head Writer of SUPER WHY!, will provide daily reading activity assignments, answer parent questions and offer advice throughout the online event.

Great book suggestions for kids of all ages
Tips from other parents taking the challenge
A chance to win daily prizes

PBS KIDS will also offer other summer literacy resources on-air and online, with themed weeks airing on PBS KIDS, as well as online tips and resources for parents to use with their children this summer.

And for even more tips ideas and book suggestions don’t forget about Scholastic, they’re in on this special program too. At Scholastic’s website kids can log into their account and log their reading minutes and enter sweepstakes. When they reach the weekly goal they will have the opportunity to win digital prizes and help to set a new world reading record for the summer of 2011. We had the opportunity to host a small reading party. We shared books, tips and all of the events going on with PBS, iVillage and Scholastic.

My husband and I have been discussing a weekly trip to the library too. Our local library has story time for different age groups every morning, and also has an age appropriate computer station for the kids to explore. Libraries usually have summer reading programs and suggestions for parents to get their kids reading too. Be sure to get your children reading this summer.

Disclosure: We received samples to share with our friends for a Summer “Raising Readers” party.