Of all the tasks that kids are set providing a book report is one that many find daunting. Yet this doesn’t have to be the case. There are many ways in which teachers can give the children inspiration for their reports, many of which involve them more readily and are surprisingly innovative.

We found a great resource listing some cool ideas that will get the children into their books and give them ideas that they can use in their reports. Let’s talk about the best ways to give kids something interesting to get to grips with!

Inspiration for the Kids

We found a great site called Appletastic learning that is dedicated to sharing creative teaching and book report ideas. After all, the best way to engage kids is to make the mundane enjoyable, and as we’ve mentioned, book reports can be boring. But what if you asked the kids to dress as one of the main characters from the book, to deliver their report as the character itself? That’s just one simple and yet innovative idea that could make things a lot more exciting!

Or you could try one of the suggestions we really liked which is the ‘Paper Bag’ book report. In this, each child is given a small sized paper bag into which they must find 5 items that are relevant to the book or the characters in the book in some way. The next class involves sharing the items with the child explaining how and why they relate to the story or the characters involved.

This is a great way of giving kids the incentive to start thinking about the book more creatively. Yet there’s more, as this very inventive website offers a great deal of options on this and other subjects.

Further Fun Ideas

Another way to get the class more involved in their book reports is to have them construct a diorama of a scene. A cardboard box is a starting point, and the teacher can demonstrate ways of creating 3D depictions of characters and notable scenes. This is a good talking point for a class discussion, and you may want to split the class into teams to create their dioramas.

One other creative suggestion is to ask the children to design a book cover. This can be anything they think relevant to the story involved or the characters within, and is a great way of encouraging them to express themselves in art. These simple ideas are just of few of many that we enjoyed reading at the Appletastic Learning website, and there is plenty of inspiration to create more ideas.

Engaging and Fun

Book reports can be an engaging and fun task when tackled in some of the ways we have mentioned, and in others that are described in addition to these, and we believe that there is a creative element in every child. Why not bring your book reports to life by working with the class on one of these great ideas, and you’ll see how you can interest them further.