When my children were toddler and preschool age, we fell in love with good literature. We spent hours reading from huge stacks of books every day, but sometimes a particular book would be on repeat in our house. I thought it would be fun to invite some friends into a preschool book club and do activities related to a book we were loving. We would spend an afternoon playing games, doing crafts, and enjoying themed snacks for books like Go Dog, Go! and Blueberries for Sal. It was so precious and began to shape a deep love for good literature and a culture of being book lovers in our home. 

Related: Preschool Book Club Playdate: Go Dog, Go!

As they grew, we began to read aloud short chapter books like The Trumpet of the Swan and The Mouse and the Motorcycle. I loved the idea of ending each book with a celebration to reflect on what we read and invite my children into fun experiences related to the themes in the story. After doing this on our own a few times, I decided to invite a few close friends to join us again for a book club. Over time, we invited more and more friends and adjusted things to be more of a collaborative effort. We continued this book club consistently for almost two years and it was hands-down one of the highlights of my children's education so far. 

Related: Book Club Meet-Up: The Trumpet of the Swan

We have recently started hosting a book club again and I had forgotten how much we all love it! This time we are choosing family-style chapter books that engage my children ages 5-12.

Recently, we read Swallows and Amazons with our local Wild and Free group. We met together for snacks inspired by the book and made origami paper sail boats, pitched sheet tents, created flags and reenacted the story. The kids shared their favorite characters and parts of the story and gave it a “review,” which gave them a chance to practice public speaking. It was an all-around perfect homeschool day and a wonderful celebration of a really great book!

If you love good literature and want books to be celebrated with community, I am sharing how we have set up our book club over the years and some tips to begin and facilitate your own! 

In this blog post:

• Choosing book club members
• Making a book list
• Creating a host rotation schedule
• Incorporating babies and toddlers
• Activity ideas for book club meet-ups
• Treehouse Book Club

Choosing book club members

I recommend inviting families with children within a similar age range as your children so they can enjoy the same books and participate in the activities together. For many years, the children in our book club ranged from 4-7 years old, which worked well for our group. Now, our group has children ages 5-12. Truly, any age group can work if you choose books that all can enjoy and think ahead on how to adapt activities to various ages. 

I also recommend limiting your book club to a number of children that is manageable for leading activities When it was mostly younger children, my general rule was to have as many children as could fit around a kitchen table. Now, with older children to help and a larger space to host, our group is closer to 15-18. 

As you are inviting parents to participate, communicate that the book club is a collaborative effort. You will want to find parents who are willing to host/ lead, help create experiences, and are willing to be involved and help their children with the activities. This works best when it is a group effort where everyone makes suggestions and helps facilitate the learning. I personally wanted a committed group of moms that would make it a priority to read the book with their children and attend as many meet-ups as possible. 

For communication purposes, you could use a private Facebook group or an app like Heylo or GroupMe. 

Making a book list

In my groups in the past, all of the moms submitted books they wanted to use for the book club. We made a list and posted it in our Facebook group. If there were any books on the list that certain moms didn’t want to read for any reason, we removed them from the list. We constantly added to the list as we discovered new books we wanted to read together. 

Related: Best Sources for Preschool and Elementary Living Books and Treehouse Schoolhouse FREE Book Lists

Creating a host rotation schedule

The main reason our book clubs have been successful is because all of the parents share the responsibilities. The planning does not fall on any one mom. In our group, the moms rotate who hosts and leads. This has worked well for us.

The host is responsible for:

1. Choosing the book. Using the book list that we compiled, the host chooses which book is next to read and communicates that to the group. 

2. Choose the book club date. We usually go about four to six weeks between meetups. It is the responsibility of the host to determine how much time families need to finish the book (less time for shorter books and more time for longer books). It is also their responsibility to communicate to the group and nail down a date that works for everyone. The host creates the event on whatever platform you choose or through a text thread with all the details. Meet ups could be anywhere between 2-5 hours, depending on if you want to make space for lunch and free play as well. 

3. Choose the location. The host either has the book club meet up at their house or chooses an outdoor location with picnic tables. 

4. Keep communication going as we prep for the meetup. During the weeks leading up to the meetup, the host reminds the other moms to RSVP and to submit their activity and snack ideas to the group so that we have a good variety.

5. Facilitate the meetup. While each parent is responsible for contributing a themed snack and one group activity, the host is responsible to make an order of events for the book club to keep the activities going on meetup day. We like to set up the order of events in a way that moves the kids around throughout the activities, rather than keeping them in one spot for a long period of time. We have done activities in the kitchen, outside, in the living room, and at the kitchen table. We put snack time in somewhere in the middle and do some book discussion or presentations as we munch. We have also experimented with breaking the group into two smaller groups and rotating the smaller groups through activities. The host is responsible for looking at the activities and deciding on the best order and way to implement them with the group. Whichever mom brought each activity, also leads the group in the activity.

Related: 40+ Ideas to Engage Children During Read Alouds

Incorporating babies and toddlers

If you have baby and toddler siblings in the group, it may help to set up a separate area for them to play during the meetup and rotating moms in to watch them. At one time we had seven babies and toddlers that came to our meetups, so it got really loud and challenging to lead activities without a plan in place. When we set up a play area for them, it helped so much! Of course, there are still baby-wearing mamas, nursing sessions, and toddlers needing their mama, but having an area set up just for them with toys or sensory bins has been a helpful option. 

Related: Homeschooling with a Baby in Tow

Activity ideas for book club meet-ups

• Role play - Play charades using scenes or characters, create costumes of characters, make props from the story, and invite children to reenact scenes in the story.
• STEM challenges - Design something related to the story like igloos out of sugar cubes, a bridge from popsicle sticks, or an animal trap! This could be guided with clear instruction or left open for kids to experiment and work as a team to figure things out.
• Bake or cook together - Use a recipe inspired by the story and cook or bake together as a group.
• Create and craft - Get creative by turning any of the themes in the story into a handcraft or project. The sky is the limit here. We’ve made bird houses, party hats, clay swans, and so many more. It’s so fun to create something to bring home to remember the story.
• Games - Light-hearted competition and team games like paper sailboat races, capture the flag, or any other game that connects to a theme in the story can be great fun and connect the group together. 
• Tutorials - We’ve done group origami, sketching, or watercolor tutorials of animals or objects related to the book. We’ve had an older child or a mom lead and other times have used a video tutorial. 
• Discussions and presentations - Often during snack time, we start discussions about the book by asking questions. We’ve also had a time for presentations where children can share their favorite part of the book, favorite character, or show and tell something they wrote, drew, or created at home while reading the book.

Treehouse Book Club

If you are inspired by this idea, but could use more guidance in which books to use and ideas to make the story come to life, you will LOVE Treehouse Book Club. 

Treehouse Book Club is where curriculum meets community. It’s an invitation to dive deep into fantastic literature in your homeschool and connect themes in the book to science, nature, geography, history, and language arts. Read the book club selection and join with friends to celebrate finishing the book with engaging activities and presentations. 

Treehouse Book Club features a book selection along with reading schedules, lesson plans, discussion prompts, activity ideas, and so much more!

I can’t wait to read great literature alongside so many of you and watch it come to life around your tables and in your living rooms as we dig deeper and chase rabbit trails that spark our children's interests. I can hardly contain myself from beginning the first book. I am holding off though, so we can all begin together.

Related: Introducing Treehouse Book Club

Would you start a book club with your children or in your community? Let me know in the comments below.