3 Ways I’m Learning to Foster My Child’s Love of Reading with Playstories

This post was sponsored by Playstories. All opinions expressed in my post are my own.

When my 9 year old became reluctant to read, I knew we needed to do something different to spark a love of reading. See how Playstories personalized storybooks have helped foster my daughter’s love of reading in 3 ways.

I love to read. I’ve loved reading my whole life. Even at 8 and 9 years old, I would sit down and read a whole book and look for another as soon as I finished. If you ask me what my hobbies are – reading would definitely be on the top of that list.

When Sophia learned to read, she took after me immediately. At 11 years old now, she’s already read the Harry Potter series twice and if she isn’t swimming, playing piano or, Animal Crossing, she likely has a book in her hand. She definitely has the same love for reading as I do!

So, as a naive-at-times mom, I just expected that Moreaya would be the same way. I read to her every day as a baby and toddler and she loved looking at books when she was younger. Reading definitely came a little slower to her than it did her older sister, but she got it and is excellent at reading. There’s only one thing… she doesn’t really enjoy it like Sophia and me.

Moreaya is a 9-year old that would rather be out doing back handsprings or dribbling a basketball than sitting inside with a book. And while staying active is great, I knew that instilling that enjoyment of reading at her young age is so important for her future. I knew she didn’t need to love it as much as me, but I did hope I could help her see reading as less of a chore and more of a fun activity.

So I started this process of helping her to learn to enjoy reading by choosing Playstories story books. If you haven’t heard of Playstories yet, let me give you a bit of background information on this unique company.

Playstories creates personalized books that transform children into protagonists in order to develop self-identity and spark an interest in reading. Their books feel and read in today’s current world – with today’s technology and life issues that arise from that type of technology-driven world.

One of the first ways I set out on this task, to help Moreaya love reading more, was that I began to offer more books with interesting concepts. Although I want her to love classics as much as I do, I had to face that she just doesn’t – yet, at least. Playstories offers a wide variety of books and subjects, but I was really drawn to their social-emotional learning books for Moreaya.

There are eight Playstories titles to choose from in this collection that range from Happiness to Sadness and all the emotions in between. I chose four of the titles that I felt like Moreaya could really benefit from reading. It takes a bit more time for her to open up and we’ve been discussing how to explain our emotions in words, so these books were a totally great fit.

All of the books feature an emotional “monster”. The monster is actually a cute little character that meets the child and explains the feeling of its emotion, why it comes, and how to deal with it. It’s a great breakdown of emotions, especially when it uses so much of present day situations.

Now, while I knew that these books at first glance might make Moreaya a bit apprehensive, since she is a little slow to open up about her emotions, I knew the pictures would draw her in.

Playstories books feature lots of pictures, which is something Moreaya always looks for in a book. When she sees a book with pages that only contain words, I think she becomes overwhelmed with there being so much to read and she gets discouraged. But with the brightly colored photos and illustrations in the Playstories social emotional books, she has more confidence.

Playstories has helped me with my goal of fostering a love for reading in Moreaya by offering personalized storybooks. It’s the whole idea behind Playstories! Here’s a quote from their co-founder, Flavio Aguilar, that explains just how and why these books are so great for all readers, not just hesitant ones!

“Some children are naturally drawn to books and others may be more resistant readers. No matter where a child falls on this broad spectrum, studies show personalized stories not only engage the reader, but help improve knowledge retention in kids.”

Personalized storybooks aren’t a new concept, but let me share with you just how Playstories is! Playstories puts your child as the protagonist – not only by name but by looks and features too. When you order a Playstories book, you get to personalize the main character to look like your child! You pick the skin color, eye color, clothing, and accessories. I ordered these books as a special surprise for Moreaya so she loved checking out all the books and seeing how she was dressed!

I was also incredibly impressed with the quality of these personalized storybooks from Playstories. Not only did they ship quickly, but they are all hardback and contain thick pages that will last through the years. And Moreaya would tell you that she also loved the personalized dedication at the beginning of each book. They each come with pre-loaded text, but you can customize the dedication when ordering!

There’s no better time than NOW to help your child foster a love of reading, even if they are a little hesitant like my daughter. I feel like personalized storybooks that contain pictures and interesting concepts are definitely a great way to get children more interested in books. It’s definitely working for us as Moreaya loves to read these books over and over now!

Just in time for the holidays, you can save 15% on your order at Playstories! The discount code will automatically apply when you order through this link. You can purchase Playstories personalized storybooks individually or save 20% when you purchase a bundled collection.

Now, I’d love to hear from you! Were your children natural, eager readers? If not, have you tried anything to help them foster their love of reading? Leave me a comment below!