Have a little more time for reading activities during your breakfast club? Encourage deeper engagement with reading with these 10 minute activity ideas!
As always, Book Squad is there to make it even easier to embed reading into the school day. Don’t worry about having to spend time and resource on preparation – we hope these short but impactful activities show that pupils can get hooked on books in just ten minutes.
10-Minute Activities for Deeper Engagement
Use these slightly longer activities to really immerse pupils in the joy of reading.
1. Character Hot Seat
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What to Do: Ask a pupil to role-play as a book character. The rest of the class takes turns asking them questions (“What’s your biggest secret?”).
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Why It Works: Pupils love embodying characters, which deepens comprehension and fuels imagination.
2. Act out the story
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What to do: Take the character hot seat to the next level and act out a scene from a book.
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Why it works: Thinking about books and stories through a different lens can promote engagement and involve even the most reluctant readers. Group activities can also promote social development.
3. Book Talk Prompts
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What to Do: Use Book Squad’s “Book Talk Prompt Cards” to start meaningful conversations. For example, ask questions like, “What would you change about the ending of this story?” or “What do you and the main character have in common?”
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Why It Works: Discussions make reading a shared experience and encourage pupils to express themselves.
4. Guided Peer Reading
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What to Do: Pair pupils up and have them take turns reading a short passage aloud to each other. Bonus points for using fun voices!
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Why It Works: Reading out loud helps develop fluency and creates a relaxed, supportive atmosphere.
5. Create a new cover
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What to Do: Allow your pupils to express themselves creatively by encouraging them to create their own book cover, either for an existing title or one they have made up!
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Why It Works: This activity allows pupils with more hands-on creative minds to engage with stories and reading.
5. Build-a-Book Review Wall
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What to Do: Invite pupils to write short reviews of books or specific chapters they’ve enjoyed. Visit Book Squad for free “Book Recommendation Cards”, or add them to the “Book Club Poster”!
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Why It Works: Sharing reviews opens up peer recommendations and encourages others to try new books.
Bring These Activities to Life with Book Squad
Book Squad makes it even easier to incorporate engaging, reading-for-pleasure activities into your classroom with resources designed specifically for busy teachers.
Find a book for every pupil
Use these book collections, curated by the publishers at HarperCollins, to find a book that every child will enjoy.
Introduce Top Authors
Use Book Squad’s videos to showcase authors discussing their own stories, directly connecting pupils with the minds behind books.
Create Buzz with Book Clubs
With Book Squad’s step-by-step guide, you can easily set up a classroom book club to fuel ongoing excitement.
Start inspiring reading today!
Discover free, ready-made resources and ideas with Book Squad. Click here to explore more and help every child in your class fall in love with books!
Let’s make reading the best part of the day! 📚✨