Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The Gift of Reading

I have a secret project I am doing. If you promise not to say anything to my family, I'll let you in on my little secret. :) 

Okay. Here it goes...

Our children love to read! They also love to learn! And... they all enjoy gifts! I am thankful that each of our readers know that reading is a gift. And to springboard off of that knowledge, I'm creating a family reading gift basket. My plan is to collect new or gently used books for all levels of reading abilities and interests our children have. 

I'm creatively wrapping the books to reflect the theme of the books and/or to give little clues about the story. I'm using just enough information to make them curious and draw them in. Plus, wrapped books are more enticing than books sitting on the shelf because the new titles kind of get lost with books they have enjoyed reading multiple times.

Check out a couple of my wrapping jobs...

© Principled Academy
Makes ya' want a donought, now doesn't it? :)

© Principled Academy
A lunch bag suits the food theme quite well... don't you think?
(Never mind that donoughts are not technically a food.) :)

© Principled Academy
Inside this package is Billy and Blaze.

I mentioned I'm putting together a family basket, right? Yeah, we have a very limited book budget right now. The thought of accumulating endless quality books for the kids to each own is dreamy but... right now it's mostly a dream (I should think many of you can relate). So the idea is that when the kids each reach their personal learning goals they get to pick a book to be the first to read. Of course, the books will end up circulating among them and there will be lots of discussions going on about what they are each reading. I think this will be fun for them!

As I'm typing this, I'm thinking of maybe doing a creative shelf display instead of a basket. Maybe a shelf display would keep the books in front of them better than a basket. Hmmm.... choices, choices.

Creatively wrapping gifts is something I have always enjoyed. I have limited time to do this, so some of the decorating is hand drawn, some (like the horse) is clip art, or quick little collage techniques. Even the busiest of us mamas could do a special wrapping job for something like this. 

Has this post inspired you? How? Did you give it your own twist? What did you do? Please leave a comment letting us know!

Blessings!

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2 comments:

  1. I love this!! Such a wonderful idea! I am going to try this with our next read out loud book!!

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    1. That's a beautiful spin on it, Donna! What fun to think how excited they will be for the next read aloud surprise to be unveiled. This will definitely add to the precious memory of family reading time. ~Heather :)

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