World Book Day will be celebrated on March 3^rd, 2022 around the world. The day will be celebrated in around 100 countries around the globe. UNESCO has designated World Book Day especially to promote and encourage children to read.

How important is reading for children? It has been proven, that more than any other indicator for a child's success is reading. It is more important than family circumstances, income level and parents' education level.

It is no wonder that parents, teachers and academic experts around the world are always looking for opportunities to promote reading among children. Let us learn more about World Book Day, how you can celebrate with your children and some great children’s books to buy this year.

About World Book Day

UNESCO started World Book Day on April 23^rd, 1995. The day celebrated around the world, has turned into a charity in the UK. The charity by the same name works to promote reading in children’s lives.

The tag line of the charity is ‘Changing lives through the love of books and shared reading.’  The charity works with one aim in mind: To see more children who may not receive the opportunity to purchase books or read to start reading for pleasure. They do this by encouraging children to develop a lifelong habit of reading just for fun.

They found that just reading 10 minutes a day to your children could make all the difference. Children who are read to, are more like to develop a habit of reading for pleasure.

There are six building blocks to encourage children to read for pleasure:

• Reading to your children regularly
• Having books in the home
• Giving children the opportunity to choose what they want to read
• Having adults and peers recommend books
• Making the reading experience enjoyable
• Creating a designated time for reading

These six elements are considered the hallmark of promoting reading among children. World Book Day uses them as guidance and a beacon for all of their activities and campaigns.

Why is World Book Day So Important?

While it is established that reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator when it comes to a child's success, what we forget often is the other benefits of reading for children.

In school and at home, reading will help children gain confidence and do better at school.

Benefits include:

• A child’s vocabulary will improve if they start reading at an early age when compared to children who are not reading
• Performing better in subjects other than English
• Reading for pleasure is an important indicator of test scores for children 16 years and older
• Mental wellbeing and reading for the pleasure of positive correlation
• It has been shown that reading for pleasure will improve a child’s empathy skills
• Giving children the choice of what to read and when they can read has a great impact when compared to instructional reading

The evidence is clear that giving children the opportunity to read will greatly increase their chances of being successful. It holistically will improve your child’s mental wellbeing and do better later in life. With one in five children who cannot read satisfactorily by age 11 in the UK, promoting reading is taking precedence.

Children love being read to. Studies have shown that 83% of children enjoy and benefit from it. An activity that can take less than 10 minutes a day but has a long-lasting impact. Picking up a book and spending time with your children to read can encourage them to pick up books later on in life.

Ways to Celebrate World Book Day with Your Children

Celebrating World Book Day can be more than just reading storybooks with your children. As parents, you are always looking for ways to motivate your child to pick up a book and put that tablet down. But have you ever thought of creative ways you can encourage children to read?

There are so many fun ways to get children to become interested in books. Let us look at a few below:

Participate in Show Your Shares

World Book Day created something called Story Shares. Every year before World Book Day, parents around the world are asked to take pictures of their children participating in reading books in a fun costume, in an unusual place or in a silly pose. Every week during World Book Month, a winner is chosen and posted on the website. For more information about how you can participate, click here.

Make a Bookmark with Your Child

What a fun and crafty way to get your child to become interested in reading books!

Choose from lots of fun designs and interesting templates online. If you have a child who is interested in using crafts and artistic then this is a sure way to get them to get motivated to read.

Create a Virtual Book Club

If you want to get kids together to participate in a World Book Day Club activity but are socially distancing then a Virtual Book Club is a great idea. Get some of your kid's friends together and host a Virtual Book Club where kids can dress up as their favourite characters and share the story of their favourite book. You can create a list of questions to ask each child beforehand so that the session will be fun yet organized.

Create a Special Place to Read with Your Child

Create a special place in the home where your child can sit and read. If you have books scattered in different places throughout the house, why not create a nice book corner. All you need is a comfy chair, a small shelf and a rug or throw. Have your child help so that they feel involved and part of the activity. The next time your child needs a quiet and peaceful place for reading books they will have a place to go.

Classroom Activities for Teachers for World Book Day

Teachers can take advantage of World Book Day by having children participate in fun activities throughout the month leading up to World Book Day.

A classroom is an important place when it comes to promoting reading. Children are spending most of their day in school, and it is an essential place to promote reading for pleasure.

Here are some fun and easy ways for teachers to create some excitement around World Book Day:

Literacy Murals

Literacy Murals are a great way to get children interested in reading books. Teachers can have children start at the beginning of the month work together on a mural that they can complete right before World Book Day. The Mural can be designed by a professional artist or inspired by designs available online. The sky is the limit, and kids will love to see something they created together.

Skype an Author

Arranging for a Skype session with a children's author can be a great experience for children. Many local authors would love to be a guest in your classroom. And with Skype, you can schedule anyone anywhere in the world! Have children prepare some questions to ask the author, and if possible have children read one of their books before the scheduled session.

Date a Book

This is a fun and fast way to get kids interested in reading. Cover some books with brown paper and place small descriptions on the top similar to dating blurbs. Have children pick books based on the descriptions. What a fun and exciting way for children to choose a book!

Soundtrack to Reading

Have children create a soundtrack for a specific book. They can use an audio recording device and use material from the classroom to create sound effects. Divide the classroom into two sections and have competed with one another.

Book Trailers

Have children create book trailers like movie trailers. They can create them using PowerPoint or movie making software. The trailers can be shown and a winner can be chosen. Children can get creative by creating different kinds of trailers and using background music. Who knows, you may have a young filmmaker in the making!

Children’s Books You Can Buy for Your Child for World Book Day

Looking for books to buy for your children for World Book Day? Look no further, we have created a great list of books you can purchase for your kids today!