+44 (0) 1273 386849Holiday Goals for School Librarians: What Did You Do Today That Made You Read?
Creative summer reading activities for school librarians to share with parents and carers
Every July, school librarians send children home with reading lists, information about Summer Reading Challenges, and plenty of encouragement to keep turning pages. Those things matter, but perhaps this year we could give families something even more valuable.
Instead of asking, “Have you read today?”, what if we asked, “What did you do today that made you read?”
It’s a subtle shift, but it changes the conversation completely. Reading stops being the goal and becomes the tool. Children read because they want to solve a problem, create something, answer a question or satisfy their curiosity. That’s an ultimate life skill.
Why the Summer Reading Dip Matters
The summer reading dip is a familiar concern for schools. While not every child loses reading skills over the holidays, one thing is consistently true: children who stop engaging with reading altogether often return to school in September with less confidence and fluency.
Rather than asking parents and carers to recreate school at home, perhaps we should help them recognise something much simpler. Reading isn’t confined to books. It’s there when children help cook tea, work out the quickest bus route, search for a better way to edit a video, compare reviews before downloading a new app or try to identify the bird singing outside their window.
Our role as librarians isn’t simply to promote reading. It’s to help children become confident, independent learners who know how to find information, question it and use it well.
Give Children Permission to Take the Lead on Summer Reading Activities
Independence doesn’t require expensive days out or carefully planned activities. It starts with a question.
- What bird is singing outside my window?
- What is that star I can see every evening?
- Why does my football keep curling the wrong way?
- How do artists make portraits look so realistic?
- How do you edit a video?
- Can AI help me build a game?
- How do you fix a puncture?
- What’s the quickest route across town?
The temptation is to give children the answer. Instead, give them the confidence to find it for themselves.
Every one of those questions leads to reading instructions, comparing information, watching demonstrations, asking better questions and deciding which advice to trust. That’s literacy in action, and it builds confidence alongside reading skills.
Encourage Them To Create More Than They Consume
Many children will spend time on YouTube and TikTok this summer. Rather than fighting that reality, encourage them to swap just one hour of watching for one hour of creating.
For example, ask them to make a short video explaining how something works.
It doesn’t have to be polished or public. They could explain how to score a goal from a corner, make the perfect snack, care for a pet, draw a favourite character, solve a puzzle, create a Minecraft build, or make friendship bracelets.
To create a clear explanation, they will need to research, plan, organise their ideas, write notes, explain themselves clearly and often improve their first attempt. They’ll be reading throughout the process without it ever feeling like another school task.
The same applies to audio. Children could interview a grandparent about their childhood, chat to a trusted person about their job, review their favourite game or record Five Things I Learnt This Summer. Storytelling, listening and communication are all literacy skills.
They could even take their first steps into creating software. AI-powered coding tools now allow beginners to describe an idea in plain English and build simple games, quizzes, websites and interactive stories. Some people call this vibe coding, but whatever the name, the real skill isn’t writing code – it’s thinking clearly.
Children quickly discover that the first result is rarely the best. They need to refine their prompts, test what they’ve created, spot mistakes, improve their ideas and explain how it works to someone else. That’s problem-solving, communication and critical thinking rolled into one.
Turn Curiosity into Critical Thinking
In your summer reading activities, encourage children to be curious about what they see online.
If a YouTube video claims octopuses have nine brains, can they find another source that confirms it? If AI helps them write a story or generate some code, what did it get right, what did it miss and how could they improve the result? If two websites disagree, which one feels more trustworthy and why?
These are important life skills. In a world where information is everywhere, the ability to question, compare and verify is just as important as the ability to read.
A Summer Curiosity Menu
Instead of sending home another reading log, why not offer families a menu of possibilities for summer reading activities? There’s no expectation to complete everything. The aim is simply to encourage children to explore, create and discover.
This summer, challenge children to:
- Go somewhere new – it doesn’t have to be far away. Visit a different street, park, nature reserve, library or part of your town. Use maps, signs and reviews to help you explore.
- Make something – follow a recipe, build a model, repair a bike, grow herbs on a windowsill or learn a new craft by following instructions.
- Create something – record a video, make a podcast, build a simple game with AI, design a website or produce something that teaches another person.
- Learn something – master a new app, experiment with a digital tool, or discover a skill you’ve always wanted to try.
- Question something – choose one surprising fact you’ve heard online and investigate whether it’s really true.
- Teach someone – explain a skill, demonstrate a hobby or show a friend or family member how to do something you’ve learnt.
Every challenge involves reading. More importantly, every challenge gives reading a purpose.
Helping Children Return to School Ready to Learn
Libraries have always been places of curiosity. Today’s world simply gives us more ways to satisfy it.
This summer, don’t worry if every child doesn’t finish a towering pile of novels. Celebrate the child who learnt to edit a video, built a simple game with AI, worked out how to use a new piece of software, compared bus routes, followed instructions to fix something, or confidently taught someone else a new skill.
The children who return to school most ready to learn won’t necessarily be those who read the most books. They’ll be the ones who discovered they could teach themselves something new.
Perhaps that’s the greatest gift a school librarian can give this summer. Not another reading record to complete, but the confidence to see that literacy isn’t a subject to be practised for twenty minutes a day. It’s the skill that helps us navigate the world, solve problems, make informed decisions, and turn curiosity into lifelong learning.
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