Check out these FREE summer reading programs to entice your child to keep reading over the summer.
School’s out for summer! No more fighting over homework!
No more badgering your kiddo to do the math problems and reading assignments!
Be sure to check out our other book lists for kids!
Photo Credit / Modified
So how on earth do you keep your kids engaged and their brains nimble over the summer?
You’ll love that their still doing “school work” while they’ll think they’re having fun and earning cool stuff.
Now, if I could just find free summer reading programs for moms…
FREE Summer Reading Rewards Programs
Be sure to pin this page or bookmark it so you can come back to it all summer!
Don’t miss out on additional age-appropriate summer reading lists for all the kiddos – from Kindergarten all the way through 8th grade! Plus – 200 FREE Summer Activities for the Kids.
This post is based on last year’s summer reading programs, which run from year to year.
If the programs change, I’ll be sure to update this post. 🙂
Free Summer Reading Programs at Your Local Library
I guarantee one of your local libraries has a great summer reading program.
Last year, my son earned a free Elephant and Piggy book from Mo Willems.
You would have thought he’d won the lottery he was so excited.
Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge
Through Scholastic’s site, your little reader can log minutes all summer, take weekly challenges and even earn online rewards.
They’ll also be entered for a chance to win awesome books every time they reach a weekly reading milestone.
Plus, they can help set a new reading world record!
Learn more and get signed up by visiting the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge site.
Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program
Read any 8 books and record them in the provided online reading journal.
Bring the completed Reading Journal to your local B&N store and your kid can choose a FREE BOOK from their selection on the Reading Journal list at the store.
Visit Barnes & Noble’s Summer Reading site for more information and to sign up.
Pottery Barn Kids Summer Reading Challenge
Kids who read 8 titles from Pottery Barn’s recommended reading list by July 31 will receive a free book at participating stores.
Don’t forget about their weekly story times held at designated stores.
Visit Pottery Barn’s events listings to learn more and locate participating stores.
Pizza Hut Book It! Program
Have your child read 5 books and fill out the entry form online to be eligible to to win a prize.
Visit the Pizza Hut Book It! Program to learn more and sign up.
Sylvan Book Adventure
Kids in grades K-8 can search for books on Book Adventure, read them offline, come back to take a quiz on what they’ve read and earn prizes.
Learn more on Book Adventure.
Half Price Book Feed Your Brain Summer Reading Program
Read for at least 15 minutes each day for a month.
Once you’ve read 300 minutes, turn in your child’s completed reading log to earn your $5 HPB Bookworm Bucks reading reward for the month.
Half Price Book will award one top reader per age group each month with a TOP READER prize – a $20 HPB Gift Card!
Learn all about the program and get the reading log to complete by visiting Half Price Book’s Feed Your Brain Summer Reading Program site.
Random House’s Step Into Reading Summer Reading Challenge
Read at least three of the Step Into Reading series and send away for free lunch bags.
Get the form for the Step Into Reading Summer Reading Challenge here.
Chuck E. Cheese’s Reading Rewards
With this ongoing program, have your child read every day for two weeks straight and they can earn 10 free tokens for their next visit.
Get the Reading Rewards Calendar on the Chuck E. Cheese site.
Regional Summer Reading Programs
There are also several regional summer reading programs that may be in your area!
Did I miss a free summer program? Let me know in the comments!
TELL ME HOW YOU KEEP YOUR KIDS READING THIS SUMMER.
Thank you for this list! I homeschool but I’m always looking for incentives to keep my kids learning all summer. I’ll have to check these out!
Definitely do, Krista! We’ve been doing summer reading programs for several years and my boys love them… it’s just a fun extra incentive to keep them going 🙂
Great list! I had no idea about a few of them and will definitely check them out. Pinned as well!
My boys have loved doing these reading programs over the last couple of summers.
This has got me so psyched! I forget about our library program each year, but I think we’ll try it out. And chuck-e-cheese? My kids are going to go bonkers when they find out they can get tokens for reading. Never mind that 10 tokens will probably earn them a plastic spider ring or some other amazing 2 cent tchotchke 🙂
LOL! It’s true that the Chuck E. Cheese tokens don’t get them much but BOY does it get them motivated!!! Happy reading 😀
Wow! Great list to keep the kids reading this summer! Thank you for sharing this information with us at Brag About It!
~Laurie
Glad to share! We’ve done this reading list for several years and my boys just love love love participating!
This is an informative list for all the homeschoolers and others on summer break. Thanks for bringing it to #HomeMattersParty
Kathleen
My boys have absolutely loved these summer reading programs and look forward to starting them up again 🙂
Hi, great post. Be sure to link up with us at Literacy Musing Mondays. Here is this week’s link:
http://www.maryanderingcreatively.com/literacy-musing-mondays-week-20/
I’ve never heard of these kinds of schemes before. What a good idea. I wonder if there are any in our neck of the woods. Thanks for sharing!
#blogfair
If you’re US based, many of them would definitely be in your area!
Very nice! I saw your post on the #Blog Fair and couldn’t resist- I love to read! This list will be very helpful in my family!
We’ve loved these reading programs and can’t wait to start this summer 🙂
Thanks for this great list! I’ll have to look into these and see if any of them apply in New Zealand. Thanks for sharing with the #BlogFair. Hope you can visit again this week.
Great summer reading reward program list! I’ll be featuring this post tomorrow at the Thoughtful Spot! Thanks for linking up your wonderful posts!
Sweet. Thanks for featuring 🙂 My boys have absolutely loved doing these reading programs the last several summers 🙂
Lifeway Christian Book store is doing a reading program now through August 1st. You read 6 books (they have recomended ones but you don’t have to choose those) and you get a free Bible and a free book upon completion.