Fun Activities for Early Readers (Featuring Favorite Book Characters)

Over Spring Break, I kept the kids plenty busy with fun outings almost every day. But, we still had our fair share of downtime at home. My daughter, who is in first grade, is currently OBSESSED with the Critter Club series. A few weeks ago, I did some research on the books to see when we'd eventually run out: book 17 comes out next month, so I think we're good for awhile. And while I was clicking around Simon and Schuster's website for the series, I found printable activities! I saved them up for Spring Break and my girl was BESIDE HERSELF.

Her own clue journal! As well as a form to play her own game of MASH. Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is still a thing, and it's awesome. Now that she's got the hang of it, we play all the time. We've wasted time waiting for big brother to get his hair cut, or waiting for our dinner after Cirque du Soleil playing MASH. The 'name of the person you will marry' has been substituted with 'the name of your pet' in accordance with the theme of Critter Club.

I then went down the rabbit hole of all her favorite book series and their websites, and most have fun printable activities! Some even have educational teacher guides (which would be great for parents, too) and event kits for parties! Perhaps a book club meeting for 7 year olds is in order... So, if your first grader also loves Heidi Hecklebeck, Ivy and Bean or Judy Moody - click on the links and print away. We only got through Critter Club stuff over break, but I'm saving up some of these others for the inevitable rainy day this summer. 

Not wanting my fourth grader to be left out, I did some sleuthing on some of his favorite series and, lo, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid contingent did not disappoint. It happens to be the 10th anniversary of the series and there's a bunch of fun stuff on the Wimpy Kid website. He's growing out of some of these things, but had fun testing his book knowledge, drawing his own Greg and book cover. 

I could kick myself for not discovering these activity packs back when he was in first grade and reading Stink Moody, Captain Underpants and Big Nate. Alas, I thought it best to share this information in the event that someone else hadn't figured this out yet either, and would find it as awesome as I did! Big thanks to Simon and Schuster, Chronicle Books, Scholastic, Harper Collins, Candlewick Press and Amulet Books for enriching our kids reading lives.