Diving Into a New Adventure: 2026 Summer Reading Activities for Kids
Summer is a great time for kids to rest, but it’s also important to keep reading skills active. Just a few minutes of daily reading can help maintain vocabulary, comprehension, and language development while preventing the “summer slide.”
To support this, several well-known organizations continue to offer summer reading programs in 2026 with fun rewards and engaging activities for kids.
The BOOK IT! Program continues in 2026 through Pizza Hut, encouraging kids to read and earn a free Personal Pan Pizza by meeting monthly reading goals set by parents.
Families can track progress and redeem rewards through the BOOK IT! app, making it simple to use at home.
The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge remains a widely used free program in 2026, encouraging kids to read books of their choice while participating in online activities.
It also provides reading logs, book lists, and printable resources for families.
The Half Price Books Summer Reading Camp rewards children for reading during the summer with Bookworm Bucks, which can be used in-store for books.
This program helps build reading consistency and encourages kids to choose their own books.
The Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program continues to support students in grades 1–6 by encouraging them to read books of their choice and earn a free book reward after completing a reading journal.
Local public libraries continue to offer free summer reading programs in 2026, often including reading challenges, prizes, storytimes, and family literacy activities. These programs remain one of the most accessible ways to support reading development over the summer.
Summer reading does not have to feel like schoolwork. Programs like BOOK IT!, Scholastic, Half Price Books, Barnes & Noble, and local libraries help make reading fun, rewarding, and meaningful.
Even 10–15 minutes of daily reading can help maintain important language and literacy skills throughout the break.
Jann Fujimoto, MS CCC-SLP, picks at least one book each summer that she has previously read in high school or college to see if the story still lands with her in the same way. She’s is a speech-language pathologist and owner of SpeechWorks in Oconomowoc, WI. SpeechWorks helps children become confident communicators.