Share your tips for encouraging kids to read at home to win £100 worth of books from the Reading Ladder

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Reading Ladder is a brand new reading series which provides quality stories for a wide range of readers. Featuring well-loved authors, classic characters and favourite topics we’ve got something for everyone! Perfect for parents and great for teachers too the series has been developed with leading literacy consultant Nikki Gamble!

Parents told us that they wanted a simple system for choosing the right book for their child and we think Reading Ladder is it! Our system of three levels is easy to understand and every book features clear, appealing level branding. Each title includes guidance for parents and carers and tips for shared reading and they are all branded for use as resources in school!

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Share your tips for encouraging kids to read at home for a chance to win 20 books from the Reading Ladder series worth £100

This discussion is sponsored by Egmont and will end on 9 May

Whenever we read a board book to our baby, we hold the next page slightly open and let him turn it, which gives him a way to join in rather than being a passive audience (he also loves slamming our fingers in the book!)

Secondly, I leave a book on the floor with his toys so that it's always available for him to crawl over and play with, and recently he's started sitting with it, turning the pages and babbling as though he's reading to us, which is adorable when he's holding the book upside down!

Rope in siblings- eldest ds loves reading to ds2

We've read from day 1 with both DS1 and 2. There's always time for a book. They both know I read voraciously, and they both have a range of all different reading materials available to them from picture books, non fiction, fiction, poetry, to comics and magazines. They both know we will support their reading 100% and we try, as much as possible, to indulge in a new book or two each every month - which doesn't happen with toys.

With DS1 (7) he also finds it interesting to debate WHY reading is important. I've worked in areas where childhood and adult literacy is very low, and he is fascinated by how it affects lives. His Dad is also a non reader (although he can read) and he notices a massive difference between the home of DH and I and that of his Dad in what we encourage and how we spend our time. I recently found out some statistics about language acquisition as a byproduct of reading (thanks MN) and he found it really interesting.

Bedrooms are also only for books and "quiet" toys (such as Lego). Both boys are encouraged to read if they wake up early, and can stay up "late" reading in bed on a weekend or in school holidays. They realise it is the same for us, as DH and I don't have a TV in our room, but our books and my kindle are always by the bedside.

We also talk a lot about authors, even those which aren't suitable yet. DS1 is interested in Stephen King, for example, based on the "spooky covers" but knows he can't read them because of the language, the inappropriate horror themes and the adult themes. He's fine with that, but he likes an age appropriate breakdown of the story to sate his interest, and there's nothing wrong with that.

My DC have always known me to be a reader. DC1 flew with reading, however DC2 didn't. Both love reading now.

If you chop up a plate of vegetables and refuse to share... try reading one of their books and not reading aloud. Just a few minutes and, oh my, the veg/books become irresistible.

My DS was very reluctant to read the phonics books he had even though they were age appropriate and started off with 3 lettered words (Sam's pot). He could read them OK but just put up a mental barrier and I could get nowhere then one day he brought me Puss in Boots that I had borrowed from the library to read to him. It took him longer to read one page than it would have to read a full book of the others but it is what he wanted and I was just happy that he was reading. Now I always let him choose his own books and he gets disappointed if he can't read to me at bedtime.
My main advice is to be flexible with the child, let them lead because if you push too hard you can put them off reading altogether. Let reading be a joy not a chore.

Iv always read to my daughters from them young as I love to read and want them to be same.we have lots of different books from Disney to fairy tales to other fun stories. I let my eldest daughter pick at minute what we read and she loves bringing books home from nursery every day too.we have just bought biff and chip books to start to read so my eldest can start to learn to read.At the minute she loves to look at pictures and make up her own story or once we have read it she tells me what has happened if she really loves the story.She has a great imagination thanks to us reading from early age.cant wait for my youngest to get to age where she will sit and listen properly to them.

Start reading to them as early as possible. This helps them form a habit of reading.

read to your children when you can.go crazy with character voices. we read every night if we could in bed it was storytime.
when shopping ask them what certain things say.
when eating out even mcdonalds ask them if they can spot or read anything.
let them choose.dont try to put pink on girls or blue for boys let them have dragons or princesss in the books they want to read.
go for the classic.biff and chip.winnie the pooh its not all about peppa pig!!
illustrations when they are young are great. letting them see the characters your reading on really gave them pleasure.
play outside of reading with character from the books.let them make their own sotries for the character of pooh corner:)
have themdraw or paint them.
join a library they love feeling all adult and going to get books out.
make time to listen to them read.when your all sat turn the tv off.you can read a magazine but just chill. give them a time to read.not pressure or ordered to but just calmly put nice time to sit and read.
keep them reading.when they start getting older books stop existing for games,computers,boyfriends etc.keep them reading and they'll never want to stop.

Find something they like! I've always read to my DC and taken them to library to choose their own books. Eldest however just would not read himself, he has recently discovered Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and has read the whole series within a week. He is now debating his next books! Just needed something to capture his imagination.

It doesn't matter what they are reading, as long as it's enjoyable to the child.
Let them choose. It doesn't matter that you know the Gruffalo forwards, backwards and inside out, if that's what they want to listen to, read it.
Mine is into factual books now, and has just sat joyfully writing a book review on why toilets are life savers. The reason for his glee? Toilet talk it banned at school, and now he has an excellent reason to discuss wee, poo and toilets with his teacher and class mates. Whatever works!

We've had bedtime stories since before our eldest was born, reading to the bump. We continued once she was born and now every night both girls get to choose their book for the night and we read it together.

We also take frequent trips to the library so we can refresh the books on offer at night.

Both our girls love books and they are 4 and 23 months

Reading doesn't have to be quiet and bedtime doesn't have to be boring.

DS loves books, and part of what he loves about them is that we make the noises, do the impressions, laugh, shout, act bits out.

So when we read the BFG, we made the noises of the whizz poppers, and acted out him flying up in the air while he did one.

If there's a silly voice, we do it. If there's a silly name, we say it in a silly voice. If there's a funny bit that makes him laugh, we will read that bit more than once and keep laughing at it.

If there's a sword fight, we have a sword fight with imaginary swords.

If there's a loud bit, we shout it, or we sing the singing, or scream the screaming.

He likes books that get his imagination going, or that get him laughing, so favourite authors at the moment include Roald Dahl, Barry Hutchison, Guy Bass, Johnny Duddle, Eva Ibbotson.

Just have fun with the book, start reading as soon as you can (DS was the youngest member ever to join our library when he was just a few days old) and let them see you reading too.

Reading to your children from birth will encourage a love of stories. Not every child will love reading. I have always loved to lose myself in a book and thought that if my children saw how much I enjoyed reading then they would automatically love it too. My four dyslexic children (now all grown up), do not read for pleasure, the two who are not dyslexic do. I think there is a lot of pressure put on parents from well meaning teachers, a choice of books from school is very important. Many children will not see the point in fiction, preferring to read about something which is not an abstract concept. Making reading time a fun and relaxing time will certainly help, and mean that children will look forward to it rather than dread the school reading book coming out of the bag.

I have found that the easiest way to get children interested in books is just to make them part of everyday life. MY two children (5 and nearly 3) have been members of our local library since they were about 3 months old. We've been to a song and rhyme group held at the library where they are free to pick up the books to look at. Both of my kids have a book sling in the living room full of books and some others in their bedroom. I'll quite often find them settled down on their beanbags looking at books. My little girl is now in reception and the excitement that she is getting now she can finally read some of the words in her favourite books is so lovely to see! x

Start reading with your children from an early age and make books something exciting. Show them how much you love books and they will follow. Take them to book shops and libraries to pick out new books and read together every day.

Read with them right from being babies and make it part of your nightly bedtime routine. Encourage conversations about the things you read about and help them see that books can be an escape into other worlds - minds & imaginations have no limits! Let them read anything & everything - comics, magazines, information signs when you're out & about. All reading is good reading!

Read at bedtime, buy books as treats!

Our experience has been that it's about finding books they like that are in a series. For my eldest, the tom gates books or ketchup face and stink bomb worked wonders for her independent reading. Now it's anything minecraft. My younger one is at the stage where she is starting to read on her own and she loves the rainbow faries books but has also read a few of the roald dahl books on her own. I have supported them by letting them read anything they were interested in. We also read at bedtime together and they always want to read a little more by themselves. (Mine are 5 and 8 so previous to that it was all about just having tons of picture books that were interesting to read but kept them engaged)

Read at bedtime, buy books as treats! I also get my 3 year old to tell me the story through the pictures.

My DC is 3 and he loves reading and books so I think it's really important to encourage it and keep it up. We go to the library to choose new books as I think the act of actually going keeps it exciting, we have tens of books and encourage him to choose a couple to read during the day and then choose himself for bed (3 or 4) to get him involved in the decision making. Rhyming books are great for language development so I think they're important to read together and are really fun. Lots of encouragement and change helps to get the most enjoyment out of books which will hopefully stick with him into adulthood.

Reading with them. Doing different voices.
We started off with Rhyming books esp Dr seuss & it's made my youngest ds who isn't the strongest reader much more confident, he gets the rhyme & it makes it easier to sound out the words.

I don't ask my girls to read if they're too tired, they just get frustrated, so I read to them. I encourage them to read to me, regularly visit the library & charity shops so they can choose books, & let them see how much I love reading & tell them about the books I love now and as a child. Huge praise when they go up a reading level at school! Anything to I still a love of reading which is invaluable to me and my own life./

We read to her from the outset, did silly voices, pulled funny faces.Dd now 9. Bed time reads are part of our routine. She sees us loving books ourselves, talking about them recommending them to each other. Spotting plot holes is a big fave with her. We have books all over the house and each have a kindle. She loves creating collections in her space on my kindle.

Like others have said, read to them from an early age and make sure there are plenty of books around. Try some books with a repetitive phrase (eg Going on a bear hunt)- read part of the phrase and encourage them to join in with the rest. I think this helps them to feel like they are part of the reading process before they can actually read.

When they can read, 'share' the reading sometimes (eg one sentence/page each). Definitely take them to the library and let them choose their own books.

When they can read a little, encourage them to read signs/notices etc when you are out and point out how useful and interesting it is that they can read this for themselves now.

let them choose the book
talk about the pictures and characters if they start to become bored with the story
take it in turns to read to speed up the process
never make them read when they are really tired
try and make it fun
most small children love cuddling up and being read familiar stories while older children will hate having to read the same book over and over again so just go with the flow and give them plenty of choice - if you don't use the local library then buy books in charity shops or from book clubs