A Halloween Readathon for Kids is a fun way to create reading memories, encourage reluctant readers, and ration out that Halloween candy!
We received a fun package last week from Penguin Random House as part of their Wicked Reads Campaign and it gave me a good idea!
In the package was The Curse the Werepenguin (a new book by Allan Woodrow) along with candy, fake vampire teeth, and a penguin mask. It was so fun to open and I thought: Let's have a Spooky Halloween Readathon this year! (Note: Amazon links in this post are affiliate links)
Halloween Readathon for Kids
A readathon is an event, usually with a time limit, where you set a certain goal you would like to reach. The goal of a readathon is to set aside time specifically for reading and ideally read more than you usually would.
For kids, a readathon can be a simple way to create fun reading memories. It's also a good way to coax reluctant readers into picking up a book without a big struggle. Involving a bag of Halloween candy just makes a readathon that much more fun.
Here's how we're running our own family Halloween Readathon this year:
- Every child has a bag of Halloween candy (this is a great way to ration out the candy after the holiday!)
- I am reading aloud from The Curse of the Werepenguin and every time I finish a chapter, we all get a piece of a candy.
- Rather than setting a specific time limit, we'll stop when the book ends and trade in what is left of the Halloween candy for cash.
We went trunk-or-treating at church last Friday, so we've been doing our Halloween Readathon for Kids for almost a week now with great success! We've been reading two or three chapters a day, which equals the maximum amount of Halloween candy I think we need to be eating each day. Everyone has been enjoying it!
More options for a Halloween Readathon for Kids:
- Use individual candy pieces, like M&M's or Skittles, and earn a candy per page instead of per chapter. This might work better for really young kids and picture books.
- Earn full size candy bars for every book read in a month. This could be a fun annual family tradition in October or November. This may be a good idea for teens too!
- If you enjoy a little competition, then you could have a grand prize (maybe pool together all of the Sour Patch Kids from everyone's Halloween Bag!) for the person who reads the most pages in a day/week/month. It would be fun to make this an annual family tradition in October or November.
- And if you want to do this in a classroom (or at home), it's a fun idea to have candy that matches the book you're reading. Penguin Random House sent us Swedish Fish to go along with our Curse of the Werepenguin book, and I think that is so fun!
Good Books for Spooky Reading:
We're only a hundred pages into The Curse of the Werepenguin, but so far so good. It's a great book if you want something that is more funny than scary, but still just a tiny bit spooky. We've been doing a lot of laughing while reading this week.
Also, check out this list of Scary Middle Grade Books.
And here's our list of Favorite Halloween Books too.
I received a copy of The Curse of the Werepenguin from the publisher for review purposes. All opinions are entirely my own.
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