How to Make a Reading Buddy

My son is heading to first grade this year.  We met his teacher the other night, and found out that she absolutely loves reading.  I was thinking of a small gift he could take to school to give to his teacher and each of his classmates and the "reading buddy" came to mind.

When I taught kindergarten, I saw this idea to make a cute little reading stick out of a large craft stick and a wiggly eye.  I called them our "reading buddy."  The kids loved them and took to them immediately.  It gave their busy hands something to do and really helped them keep track while they were reading.  When I moved up to first grade, I remember them being really helpful, especially in the beginning of the year, when tracking was still helpful to some students.

To make these, you need a large craft stick (they look like tongue depressors), a large wiggly eye and some glue.  You just glue the wiggly eye to the stick and you have a "reading buddy."  The kids use the eye to point to the words as they read.

I made up enough of these for the friends in his class and added a little school tag saying, "This Reading Buddy is for you.  Happy Reading!  Your Friend, Kaden."  You could use the plain wooden craft sticks or the colored ones.  And I got the cute apple tag HERE.

I also decided to make up an extra batch for his teacher so she could keep them in her classroom to use.  I made this simple drawstring bag for her to keep them in.

Even if your child is not reading yet, the "reading buddy" can still be helpful while reading to your child.  They can use it to point to simple words that they know as well as identify letters in words.

I shared this craft on the following blogs: