10 Fun Ideas for Celebrating World Book Day in the Classroom

A book swap is a fun way to encourage children to read new books and discovery new authors. You simply ask the children to bring in a book that they have read and enjoyed and then get them to swap books around so that each child has a new book to read. This is a fantastic way to encourage children to try out new genres and to share their favourite books with others.

Another good idea is to organise a book club meeting for your class. A book club meeting is a great way for children to discuss their favourite books as we’ll as share their opinions and ideas & learn from each other. You could assign a book for the class to read ahead of time and then organise a discussion around it. This exercise allows children to think critically as well as to develop their analytical skills.

Ask children to dress up as their favourite book character. This is a fantastic way to get children excited about reading helps them to identify with the characters in the books they read. Why not hold a parade or a costume competition to make the event fun. You can see all of our World Book Day fancy dress costumes here.

Invite a book author to come to your class and speak about their book. This will help children to learn about the book writing process, to ask questions about books and to get inspired to write their own stories. You could also ask the author to sign books or to hold a reading for the class.

Pair up children from different grades or classes and get them to read together. This is a fantastic way to get children to develop their reading skills. You could assign books or let children choose their own. This encourages older children to take on a new mentoring role and develop leadership skills.

Create a designated space for children to go to read quietly away from distractions. Decorate the nook with posters, cushions and books to make it more inviting. This is a fantastic way to get children to read and make reading a part of their daily routine.

Create a book bingo card for your class. Each square should feature a different kind of reading challenge, for example “Read a book with a red cover” or “read a book about animals”. Children then mark off each square as they complete the challenge. Book Bingo is a great way to encourage reading as well as making it more fun and interactive.

Ask children to make book trailers for each of their favourite books. A book trailer is like a movie trailer but for a book. The children can use a variety of multimedia tools such as iMovie or Powerpoint to create a great trailer which highlights key elements of the book. This exercise encourages children to be creative and develops their multimedia skills.

For this activity you hide books around the classroom or the school and give the children clues to help find them. This encourages children to explore the school and make reading more fun and interactive. You could also hand out prizes for the children who find the most books.

In this activity the children take turns reading a book out loud, each child reading a few pages before passing the book on. This is a fantastic way to get children to read out loud, develop public speaking skills as well as learning to work together as a team.

World Book Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the joy of reading with your students. Why not incorporate some of the fun ideas listed here into your classroom and develop a love of reading that will last a lifetime. There are many way you can make World Book Day an unforgettable experience for your students. So get creative, have fun and let you students discover the joy of reading.