Have you ever participated in a reading challenge?
They can be so much fun, whether doing individually, as a group of friends, or as a family.
Here are two favourites of mine:
The I-Spy Challenge
Person Animal Transport Building Tree Water
The challenge here is to find a book to read that has one of the categories above on the front cover.
You need to find a different book for each category, so you end up with 6 different books at the end of the challenge.
I’ve made the categories very broad, but you can tailor them to your child/group/family as desired. If you are boating enthusiasts then instead of
transport you might want to use boat instead. If you have a dog in your family, then instead of animal, have dog as the category. If you are a group of girls, then instead of person maybe use girl.
It can be so much fun looking out for a book that has something on the cover…and may lead to checking out new books from the library when you can’t find one in your collection that fits the category.
Fix a suitable time for the challenge to run. If your children are young and reading picture books, then the challenge may only run for a week. If they are older and reading longer length books, then maybe a month is needed.
Of course you don’t have to have 6. You can have as little as 3 (Any less and the fun of the challenge would go, but if you had only a week free to do it, then 3 could work) or as much as 10. (More than that, and the challenge might start to become tedious.)
The What’s in a Name Challenge
This one is similar to I-Spy, but instead of items on the cover you are looking for words in the title of the book. Here are some examples:
Number – One Starry Night 
Size – Little House in the Big Woods
Colour – Anne of Green Gables
Name – Zack Black and the Ink Trick!
Place – Canyon Echoes
Weather – Snowfall
Both of these challenges are also fun for adults to join in on with their books too!
You might want to have a family night/group outing at the end of the time to celebrate finishing the challenge and just enjoy some time together doing something fun you all enjoy.
Have fun!
So, which challenges have you done before?
Which are your favourites?
~ Wendy Sparkes ~
You might also want to check out Summer Fun!, a post I wrote last summer filled with lots of activities for each day of the week.