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

Start reading to your DC from a very young age - I think I was looking at books with mine from when they about 3 months!

Read every night as part of the bedtime routine. Let the DC pick what they want to read.

As well as just reading the book, talk about it, look at the pictures, ask questions. Maybe relate it to something that has been said or done in real life.

Go to the library as often as possible - we always have library books out.

Visit book shops together - I love that!

Stories are part of our bedtime routine, and have always been a part of life more widely. Lots of people read to my daughter which I think is great - she hears lots of voices and it builds relationships with lots of people.

I have always read to mine from newborn, always have books in with their toys so they are associated as a fun item. Iv never forced them to sit and read but will often offer and they love it.
Never allow them to read on a kindle or screen of any sort as I think real books are important. I'm always buying new stories. Also trips to the library where they are allowed to choose their own books are very popular.

Sit with them every night and read a few pages, not too much and be very patient.

My oldest is a preschooler and cant yet read but is recognising letters and some words.
We read bedtime stories every night, a mox of old favourites and new stories from the library, i think the reading habit is getting instilled as she often asks to read a bit herself after stories before she sleeps.
We also go to the library together often, so she can decide what stories interest her and explore the non fiction books too.

We have also recently made our own story books, with dd drawing the pictures and me transcribing her story - great fun to further explore books in our craft activities.

I thought of something else as well. Read factual books as well as fiction.

We've just had "ten minutes" with a very beautifully illustrated atlas, that turned into over an hour of laughing at how many volcanos they have in Iceland, the way you can look at an ancient burial site and a lot of potatoes in the Netherlands, and the urinating boy statue called Manneken Pis in Brussels. DS was particularly pleased with that one.

We've done impressions of sea creatures and wondered if we'd rather live in a country with bears or wolves and talked about all the countries we've been at war with, including the time we decided to fight ourselves, then compared it to Denmark and Canada fighting by swapping flags and alcohol on a rock in the middle of the sea. DS thinks that's a better way to have a war.

Children are interested in everything if you just spend the time with them.

Start reading to them from the off and as they get a bit older get them more involved, read together and make it fun. Bedtime stories are a great routine, but for daytime reading I would say if the child shows an interest in something, try to find a book/story that relates to that subject/item/animal etc. I taught my daughter early on to be responsible with books, to look after them, and it made her feel quite grown up when old enough to start organising her own little library and choosing books to add to it. She now treasures her book collection as much as I do mine. Books make great presents, but time spent together learning and laughing, exploring and having literary adventures is one of the best gifts ever and makes for some good childhood memories.

My oldest needs no encouragement, every time I look up she has her nose in a book. My 5yo DS does enjoy reading, but it's not the first thing he thinks of doing, he'd rather play superheroes. I have created a little nook with beanbags and cushions, and put a little sling bookcase in there. He really enjoys taking himself off for a bit of peace and quiet reading, and loves it even more when I join him!

I read to my children every day and always let them pick the books they're interested in. I have to read big pig four times in a row most nights these days.

Our children have always been surrounded by books, we've read even before they understood what was going on, soft touchy feely and bath books are brilliant as babies can really get into them. Now that our eldest is in school he is eagerly trying to learn how to read and it's opening completely new doors for him and us x

I would suggest reading to your child from a very young age. I also read a story every night before bed and do the actions and try to make the story more interesting by doing funny voices or emphasising words. Have a book corner in your room, be it a stand or just a box of books so that they can dip in when they want to. I am a keen reader myself so they have always seen me read too which I think does give them an interest. I also just read the days of the week or the dates from the TV mag to my 2 year old and he repeats it and often flicks through himself and says the numbers. You can make reading fun with anything really.

Making it a habit is my top tip. Also showing interest in their interests. It's nice to validate that it is ok to read books about things that they enjoy.

Start enjoying books with your children from an early age and take advantage of the quality time together that books can bring.

I read some research that said the best way to get kids reading was to read in front of them (rather than with them or to them). I like that idea a lot, being a pretty keen reader.
We never did get in the habit of reading to the dc every evening, our evenings were quite busy when the 3dc were tiny, and I don't really like reading out loud much. But they always saw me and Dp reading. and they all read too.

Another thing we did was go on holiday without screens or wifi (often camping) and pack a whole box of books. Lots of time to read without screen distractions.

We introduced books from being almost a newborn and incorporated it in to the bedtime routine. We let him pick the story each night and as he is getting older he is enjoying reading bits of it out to us too.

He enjoys choosing new books from the library and from the shops too, he can then pick themes that he enjoys.

He has always seen us read and knows that books are there to be enjoyed.

DS is only 2.5 but he loves cuddling up with stories. He corrects me if I miss a word in his favourite books. I encourage him to join in and always make books available for him and make time to read them together. I hope this is enough for him to develop a love of reading in the future.

Reading together regularly from a really young age establishes a good basis. Always read books that you like and are interesting - my son loves the horrible science books and will spend hours pouring over them and rabbiting facts at us.
Books don't necessarily need to be easy but do need to be interesting. Libraries are a perfect place to explore what interests your kids but it's also good to have special books they can go back to when they want to.

We encourage our DD to read by reading ourselves: when she sees us enjoy reading then she wants to read too. We also have ensured that she has enough books to choose from, and always read her a story at bedtime. Removing the bedtime story when she misbehaves has also proven effective punishment.

Having my 2 little grandkids living in the same road i usually pop in at night to read to them ,my daughter says they take more notice of me and it helps with there reading. So it would be nice to win these books .

I love reading new stories with my boys, even though they are at different levels we read a lot of stories together.
If it's possible when we're out visiting new places of interest I will pick book or let them choose books relating to where we have visited. It usually offers variety in writing styles and broadens their knowledge.
I love that my 8yo now slows down in the street to read posters and signs in windows. My 6yo tries reading Street signs. Reading is a game and they are both doing well.
I also write about my sons in my blog, my 8yo, likes me to load up the pages and reads my posts.
It's all about exploring, learning and enjoyment. We read most days, I agree reading in the morning is best.

My son loves reading - we have always used the library but also buy a lot of books from the book people and the works - letting him choose what he wants to read . We don't have set times to read as I don,t want it to feel like a chore . He also loves reading magazines which are expensive but encourage him to read . I recently heard of a school that have a book bell where all children carry a book and when the bell goes the lesson , playtime, whatever they are doing stops and they read for 15 mins - great idea ! Most importantly make it fun

5 year old loves to act out favourite stories, Mr Bump is guaranteed to get his baby sister laughing. He also pores over non-fiction books about transport and space.

I'm really lucky that my kids both love reading and will just go and get a book rather then play on electric toys. I make sure they have a range of different books and different authors

Start early with good quality tactile board books. Even small babies can engage with black/white patterns at first and then the 'touchy' brightly coloured books.
As they get older find books which engage their particular favourite interests or characters - pirates, animals, princesses, football etc. As others have said, encourage them to cherish their books and treat them with respect and there's a good chance you will produce some adult book-lovers.

We have a reading challenge to see how many books we can read in a certain time. The prize is going to buy a new book of their choice. If you try to make it fun it seems to make them want to read more.