How to get 6yo boy to read

[HamishBamish]

DS1 is 6 and has just entered P2 (Scotland). He finished P1 on red band books, which was standard for the class. The teacher had no issues with his reading and said he was coming along fine.

I didn't do anything other than just read to him as usual over the holidays and encourage him to help to read road signs, menus etc. However, his reading really seems to have come along leaps and bounds and apart from some expected issues with pronunciation of some longer words, he can read pretty much everything fairly fluently. I don't know how this happened as we didn't really practice at all.

The problem is that he doesn't really seem to enjoy reading. He loves being read to, but wouldn't pick up a book and read for his own enjoyment. I think he still finds it an effort and associates it with hard work. I feel that if he just had a little more practice it would become easier and he would start to enjoy it a bit more.

I really want to start encouraging him to enjoy reading for pleasure, but I'm a bit stumped about how to go about it. He has lots of books and I've tried some of the usual suspects (e.g- Astrosaurs, Horrid Henry etc), but nothing really seems to enthuse him.

Any ideas of advice would be most welcome, even if it's just to let things be an keep reading to him (which I really love anyway).

Get him comics and magazines.

My 6 year old was a reluctant reader but was good at reading so we carried on getting the books and reading to him and getting him to read a line here and there and gradually increased what he was reading by asking him what certain words said and what was yapping in the story and what did he think would happen next. Took us nearly two years but now loves independent reading.

While all this was going on we would buy him things like the Doctor Who Magazine, Beano, Ben Ten, Spiderman etc and he would devour them. He even started to read DH NewcScientist. It's a great way of getting them to love reading.

I would've said try comics, too. Or graphic books. Also non fiction, on a subject/hobby he is interested in.

Let things be and keep reading to him. Read really exciting books. Stop at a cliffhanger. Leave the book in his room.

Thanks for the advice, I'll get him a few magazines/comics and see what he makes of them.

There is a natural hesitation at this stage I find - it must be hard making that jump to independent reader, and for some they just like to stay on the 'safe' side for a little longer.

@MollyBdenum 's idea is a good one - I've had success with that too.

Let him see you reading too.

Be confident, and let him find his own pace ... it will happen.

Author Paul Jennings has some great tips for Reluctant Readers.

This book is great: www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/alison+david/help+your+child+love+reading/10497519/

Although recommending great books to them is important I'd also suggest taking them to a bookshop and letting them choose what they want to read. It doesn't sound as though he'll have any problems getting into books but at this age it's really important to make sure they're interested in the books! Roald Dahl is great for cliffhangers for MollyBdenum's excellent suggestion!

What you say really makes sense emma. It must be a bit daunting to go from being read to, to picking up a book and having a go by yourself.

He took and interest in Roald Dahl's BFG, so he's been reading a chapter to me each night before bed. Having me there seems to give him confidence and also the chance to correct any pronunciation issues, which to be fair there haven't been many.

Does anyone know if the 'Phoenix' magazine (I think that's what it was called) is still going? I saw it a while back in the supermarket, but couldn't spot it today.

I get the Phoenix for my daughter but I get it subscription and not via shops

Maybe he isnt that moved by fiction. DS1 was like that but he would read anything about science. There was a great book called "how things work" with a mammoth illustrating it. He loved all the horrible science series. There were puzzle books he would do.

We used to go to the library and buy discontinued non-fiction books with his pocket money. He liked that and he got some truly random stuff.

These days I expect you could also use the interweb and let him surf some sites like the science museum.

Agree totally with the others. My DS went through exactly the same stage and we kept reading to him. I bought him a couple of football magazines and the Beano. He soon got through it.

In the meantime, model reading yourself, and your DH if you have one and limit screen time.

DS was like this and still, at 8.5, prefers fact to fiction- he has quite a collection of war/history/science books now. He did love Fortunately the milk (Neil gaiman) Recently he has enjoyed the Eagle comic serialised life of Winston Churchill!

Captain Underpants seems to cut it with lots of 6 yos.

It's half comic half novel. And lots of poo and wee!

Tell him how naughty it is to read comics under the covers at night with a torch

My son went through all the Beast Quest books from the age of seven, so you're getting to that stage now. I started reading one to him and then seemed to have less and less time so if he desperately wanted to find out what happened next he had to read them himself. He lost one several whole days that summer in a book - bliss!

My 6 year old loves captain underpants, beast quest, roald dahl and action dogs. He is just starting to get lost in a book which is lovely to see. He usually does it on long car trips when he has nothing else to do, or when he should be asleep :-).
We still read to him every night so he doesn't see it as us stopping reading to him now he can do it himself.

Some of the lower reading levels are as dull as dishwater (not much scope to be otherwise) - my DS was not interested. So I bought a few stages higher - ones with a bit of a story line with the same characters as the school ones. He became more interested in reading and could see the school books would lead to something more interesting.

I also found old style high frequency words on a magnetic board helped - we made a game out of how many he could get right.

Another suggestion is audio books - where he is following the story and has to turn the page at the right time.

The Natural History Museum in London has a good magazine aimed at kids, which you could subscribe to.
Kids just love something addressed to them coming through the door!

at Eating. Yes, that would be so naughty! Wish I'd thought of telling my DS that at the time

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - part book, part comic and lots of them.

Put some comics/books in the toilet :)
My 6 yr old has a sit and a read in there till his feet go numb!

Heard good things about "Phoenix" comic.

Ds is 8 and won't generally read books for pleasure. What he does like is minecraft manuals, comics, and things that tell him how to make/do things

I don't push him to read fiction (apart from his school reading books).

To me it doesn't matter what he's reading so long as he's reading something

Joke books?