Summer Book Baskets
… a beloved summer tradition.
Summer book baskets (happening June-July) started many, many years ago as a way to encourage quite afternoons in our home. We have always been a summer reading challenge family. My kids have participated in local library challenges, as well as personalized at-home challenges. We have tried all kinds of methods, but book baskets have been the biggest success, by far.
The goal has always been encouraging reading, not assigning reading or making it feel like homework. In this spirit, I created Summer Book Baskets. Each child has their own basket and the items are swapped weekly. Each basket contains 4-5 “fun” reads, a quite activity (logic games, puzzles, rosary/prayer card), and a treat to eat. They all look forward to this every week. Even their friends enjoy coming by on Tuesdays and sitting with them to go through the baskets!
How I Make These:
I will be quite honest and share that our library has a home delivery service (maybe yours does, too?) which makes it a lot easier for me. You can also put things on hold and schedule a weekly pick-up day. The baskets contain 90% library finds and 10% things I pull from our house. When I started this, I invested in several wonderful logic games and puzzles, which has paid off over the years. I store these in a bin and they are only pulled out for use in these baskets. I will share our favorites at the bottom of the page:)
Next up, I choose themes, which makes it easier for me to curate the baskets. I have a master list of themes and I reuse them each year. Here are some of our favorites:
Survival Stories
Extreme Weather
Aliens & Space
How It’s Made
Facts & Data
How To
Biographies
Sunday Comics
Movie Magic
Life Skills
Oddities (Ripley’s Believe It or Not, random books on random weird topics)
Wild Card (topics that they have shown interest in over the last year)
Based on these, I can easily search the library catalogue and make our selections. I typically plan two weeks ahead of time which helps ensure the holds arrive in time. Sometimes the baskets have a singular theme, but most of the time it is just a hodge-podge collection of fun.
Contents Based On Age:
Non-Readers: For the kids who do not know how to read, I choose a lot of picture books with limited words (board books, colorful illustrations). Seek and Find books are always a hit, as are treasuries like THIS ONE.
Emerging Readers: Again, it is picture book heavy, but I do include some level-appropriate readers. My kids have always loved “easy readers” like Fly Guy Series. Again, my goal has always been instilling a deep love of reading and at this level, confidence-building. Due to this, I always choose books that they will enjoy and that will boost their confidence.
Readers (upper elementary): While I still include picture books, these baskets contain a much broader range of books. Short chapter books, graphic novels, visual encyclopedias, collected works, sometimes an audiobook of a longer text. I utilize audiobooks at this age because I find it is easier to get them to do their chores if they can listen to a book. It is a win-win in our house!
Middle Schoolers & High Schoolers: Baskets for my middle school/high school crowd contain a wild and wide variety of materials. I have put text books (car maintenance, finance, coding), old comics (Dilbert, Foxtrot, Family Circus), biographies, weird true crime stories, urban legend collections, cookbooks, etc. Once they hit high school, I assumed they would no longer be interested… the opposite occurred and they were insulted that I thought they didn’t want them anymore. Sometimes, they request to have fewer and sometimes they are content to just trade items rather than get new ones weekly. This year, I am downloading some audiobooks and printing the covers onto some notecards that I will stick in their baskets. These will come in handy when I ask them to do some landscaping, haha!
Tips For Starting:
Make sure your reading history is activated on your library account! This helps when you want to reuse books in the future!
Copy your weekly lists and save them. I have a notebook, because I am a pen and paper gal, but consider using a folder or printing your weekly lists. My notebook holds a record of what I put in each kid’s basket. At the end of the week, I highlight the books that are winners. I will use these when making birthday or Christmas gift lists! They are also helpful because many a time a kid has come to me asking about a specific book they loved and I can easily track it down.
Start SMALL. Maybe weekly is too much. Schedule what is manageable for you!
Set a time. When we started, baskets were set out every Tuesday at 1pm. Tuesday because it is our library day. 1pm because it was during naptime and this mama needed QUIET.
Pick a treat you never buy. I buy novelties to make it fun- pop in a glass bottle, a Little Debbie snack, fun ice cream bars, weird snacks, processed junk not normally allowed in the house… this kind of thing.
Keep them in a designated area. Baskets are not to leave the main floor of our house (unless authorized). We had too many lost library items and due to this, all basket items must stay in the basket and put away when not in use. It is easier for me to keep tabs on them this way. That master list also helps!
Put more on hold than you think you need. Sometimes, you get a book and it is a dud. I always have extras and will return the ones that don’t work.
Logic Games & Activities.
Logic games and puzzles have also been nice to include. It is by no means necessary, but for us it has been an added bonus. My kids get overwhelmed when I tell them to “pick out a game” or “find something to do” and end up doing nothing. Giving them specific items (especially the younger crowd) has helped them focus and adds an activity element to the afternoons. Here are some of our favorites:
Littles:
Bigs:
I will be sharing the weekly book baskets in my stories over on my Instagram, and will save to the highlight “book baskets” in my profile. Follow for some inspiration:)
This has been one of the most fruitful and most loved summer traditions in our home. My children count down until this begins and are sad every year it ends. I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours does!
PS- If you are a reading log family, my boys all love this reading log and it has helped motivate them. I print it and keep it on a clipboard inside their baskets:) When completed, they get a special prize. Enjoy!
