Read White and Blue Summer Reading Nook

Read White and Blue Summer Reading Nook

This summer, the younger children and I will be participating in the Summer Reading Program for our county. I created a Read White and Blue Summer Reading Nook to generate excitement (not sure how well that’s gonna work). I also wanted a special place to store our library books. Notepads and pens will also be needed to track our progress.

My goal is not only for the girls to continue reading over the summer, but to develop a real love for reading. My dad belonged to a book club when my parents were married, and bought me a book nearly every Friday night at the mall when I lived with him. We’ve talked about books for as long as I can remember. I’m hoping to share the same type of fellowship with the readers in my house.

The Summer Reading Program begins on June 1st and runs through July 31st at our local library. Adults and children willing to read anything for 20 minutes per day receive a small prize anytime they reach a “star” on the Summer Reading Gameboard. Readers who complete the entire gameboard become eligible for the big prize drawings at the end of the program. I’ll be putting my name in the hat for a Westin Resorts weekend getaway for 2. If you live in Beaufort County, you can read about the program here.

I didn’t really become familiar with the public library, and all of its benefits, until I became a teacher. As a student, I always loved the library at school, and worked as a library helper my senior year. However, I never realized you could check out as many books as you wanted at the public library, and request almost any book imaginable through the library’s loan system. In elementary school we could only check out two books at our weekly trip to the library. I usually read those before the day was over, and could have really used access to more reading materials. Families (especially homeschooling ones) can save so much money by utilizing the public library.

Materials:

• patriotic fabric (half a yard would be more than enough)
• a brown paper bag
• fabric scissors
• black Sharpie
• a patriotic container for pens, notepads, and bookmarks
• battery-operated red, white, and blue star lights from Dollar Tree
• bookends- I used faux mercury glass jars filled with garden pebbles.
• patriotic decor- A Pilgrim Pottery pitcher filled with red, white, and blue silk flowers from Old Time Pottery adds vintage charm.
• lots of fun, exciting books from your local library

Design Elements

To create a fabric scarf for my maple china cabinet, I used some outdoor flag fabric left over from my Patriotic Potting Table. Place a brown paper bag on top of your flag fabric. Trace around the bag with a black Sharpie. Cut the fabric along the black Sharpie lines. The hardest part is over- and it wasn’t even difficult! Place your completed fabric scarf in the center of your shelf or china cabinet.

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I used my Hand Painted Ice Cream Cone Flower Pot to hold the notepads, pens, and bookmarks. There is one fishy Dollar Tree notepad for each reading program participant. We will use these to log our daily reading progress.

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Do you need bookmarks for your summer reading nook? See the tutorial for Upcycled Metal Washer Bookmarks here.

This pitcher from Pilgrim Pottery looks perfect with the patriotic flowers I bought from Old Time Pottery in Charleston, SC.

I found these gorgeous faux mercury jars at my local Goodwill. I filled them with pebble garden rocks to make them heavy enough to function as bookends. I do not want our library books to slide around or fall from side to side.

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The battery-operated patriotic star lights came from Dollar Tree. I’m going to turn them on during our 30 minute daily reading sessions. As an extra incentive, I plan to take the girls to Starbucks each time we head to the library to pick up our small prizes.

If you’re participating in a summer reading program this year, I’d love to hear about it!

Blessings,

Kristie

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