Be a Healthy Kid This Summer!

Reading is an important part of being a healthy kid!
This summer join the Chicago Public Library for Rahm’s Readers, our 2012 summer reading program and celebrate ways to be fit and healthy in your family:

• Find a great book about staying fit at your library. Motivation is everywhere: in poetry, chapter books and informational texts, too. While you’re there, be sure to check out a healthy living cook book for new ideas of foods to make at home.
• Exercise as a family! Try taking a walk together and talk about the books you’re each reading as you walk.
• Eat a rainbow! Make sure to include at least 5 colorful fruits and vegetables in your food every day, and challenge your whole family to eat a whole rainbow of healthy foods in one day.
• Play! Play! Play! Summer is a great time to get away from all the screens and get out and play—it keeps kids happy and learning all year long. Have kids play the roles of their favorite book characters and bring their books to life.
• Wash your hands! Sing the happy birthday song two times as you scrub your hands with soap and water. Now recite your favorite nursery rhymes while you wash. It’s a great way to stay healthy and have fun singing and chanting at the same time.
• Take a healthy picnic to the park and throw in a good book to read after you eat. Get out and play while you’re there.
• Walk to a neighborhood festival . . . and once you’re there be sure to dance -- it’s a great way to get your heart pumping! Check out a neighborhood festival for family fun. Go to the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events for details.
• Don’t knock your noggin’: Bike to your branch library as a family, but always wear your bike helmet and other protective gear when participating in active sports.
• Grow your salad: plant lettuce, tomatoes and radishes and soon you’ll be eating your own crops. It’s a great way to talk to children about where food comes from and keeping the planet healthy, too. Check out a book on gardening from your branch library for inspiration.
• And, of course, be sure to have a Chicago Public Library card so you can check out more great books about food, health and play today and everyday.

Join Us for You Are What You Read

It’s a great way to encourage health, wellness and to encourage your child’s reading and school success. Here are some easy tips to help build a love of reading in your children:

• Set aside reading time every day. Read aloud to your young child for 20 minutes a day. Set time aside before bed or in the morning for independent readers to curl up with a good book.
• Read aloud to children. Long after they are reading independently children still benefit from hearing you read to them. Take turns: have your child read and page and then you read a page.
• Share a chapter book together—it’s great family time for everyone! Check out audio books for car trips together.
• Read informational books: going on vacation? Find a book about your destination in your library and read it together! Looking for things to do with the veggies in your garden? Check out a cookbook and learn a new recipe together! Tie books in to everything you do so your children learn just how relevant books and reading are in their lives!
• Your children will do what you do: model healthy reading habits to your kids. Pick up a book, read a newspaper, study a magazine while your children are reading.