If you want to mix up your teaching a bit and make learning more engaging for students, you are going to find these reading project ideas helpful plus inspirational.
The benefits of using reading projects instead of traditional literacy assessments are many.
One such advantage is providing students of all abilities and levels – from elementary to high school – the opportunity to showcase their learning in a creative way, highlighting their academic strengths.
Here you will find a variety of fun reading activities that can be used for any book.
Additionally, these reading project ideas can be transformed into monthly reading projects or activities that can be done on Reading Day.
Utilizing these reading project ideas will bring reading to life, motivate students to search for deeper meaning within their books, and prompt them to read with a purpose.
What’s more, they can be incorporated across different subject areas.
So as you’re planning activities for your literacy block over the next few weeks, pencil in some of these fun reading project ideas into your lesson plans.
Reading Project Ideas
Following are some really good reading activities and project ideas for students of all ages.
1. Make a Shoebox Float.
For this reading project idea, students will transform a shoebox into a miniature float that represents important parts of a book.
These important parts may pertain to any of the story elements, important vocabulary, or the overall main idea of the story.
Students will arrange and decorate the shoebox in a way that showcases the overall theme and main idea of the book.
See instructions for how to make a shoebox float.
2. Create a Reading Mobile.
Mobiles are so much fun to make because they are hands-on and engage students to the fullest.
Students will gather needed materials: a hanger, string, and artifacts such as pictures or objects that symbolize important things, objects, or people from the book.
They will then hang an artifact on each piece of string.
As an extension, have students attach a notecard to each artifact explaining how each one connects to the main idea of the book.
3. Write a Biography of a Character.
If you seek simple reading project ideas that are very effective, have students write a biography of a character.
This project idea works especially well for nonfiction texts that highlight a specific person.
To create the biography, students will choose a main character from their books and make a timeline of the main events of their lives.
4. Present a Google Slides or PowerPoint Presentation.
For reading project ideas that integrate technology, have students create a digital presentation.
Presentation ideas include story elements, recurring themes, figurative language, and main ideas.
Alternatively, you could have students create a digital ABC book where each slide represents a letter of the alphabet.
Students choose a word from the book that corresponds to each letter, show an image of the word, and then explain why they chose that particular word.
There’s much flexibility in the type of guidelines that you can provide for students.
5. Design a Bulletin Board.
If you’re looking for creative reading projects, this one is a perfect fit.
For this activity, students will take on the role of a graphic designer who’s in charge of brainstorming a bulletin board idea that represents the main idea of their book.
They will sketch their ideas on a piece of paper, combining written and visual elements.
Consider providing guidelines for students’ creations, or allowing students to freely explore using their imaginations, creativity, and knowledge.
6. Construct a Diorama.
A diorama is a 3D presentation that showcases a scene from a book using an open-faced box.
For this project, students will choose a significant scene from their books and use a variety of materials to recreate the scene.
Accompanying the diorama will be a 5” x 8” index card with a summary explaining the scene.
See diorama reading project ideas.
7. Make a Movie Ad For the Book.
Students will create a reading project in the form of a movie poster that aims to persuade readers to see the movie.
Provide a set of guidelines that students should follow as they design their promotional posters.
They must keep in mind that their ad should convince readers to check out the movie version of the book (if it were to exist).
Final Thoughts
Throughout their school days, students will complete their fair share of reading projects.
That’s why it’s essential for teachers to provide original ideas that will engage them meaningfully.
That’s what this collection of reading project ideas aims to do.
Utilizing these fun and creative projects (that can be used in all subject areas and for all learning abilities), students will boost their literacy skills and stretch their creativity.
Say goodbye to boring book reports!
What’s more, these fun book projects will help students bring their books to life, creating an enjoyable literacy experience.
What a wonderful way to increase students’ love of reading and literacy.