The last three times I tried to take my children to story hour at our local bookstore have been a disaster! The books weren’t appropriate for their ages, supplies for the art projects were limited, and one time the reader didn’t show up at all. Not exactly the best way to foster a love of reading.

If you find yourself in similar circumstances, if you don’t have a story time in your area or if you just feel like being creative, you may want to plan your own story hour. Talk to neighbors, friends, and moms’ group members whose children are the same age as your own, and take turn hosting your own story hours. Before you know it you’ll have your very own book club for kids!

To get started, choose a book (the library or the used books at Amazon.com are great places to find kid’s books on the cheap) and plan a theme around the book. You can coordinate snacks, songs, art projects and more around the book you read that week. Some great kids’ book club themes include:

Back to School: Read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and Judith Dufour Love and The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, pack snacks in brown paper lunch backs (add a few Hershey’s kisses!), and make bookmarks as an art project.

Food: Read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Pickles to Pittsburgh by Judi and Ron Barrett, have the kids help make a giant pancake for a snack, and make macaroni necklaces or pictures as an art project.

Fish: Read The Rainbow Fish and Rainbow Fish to the Rescue by Marcus Pfister, serve goldfish crackers as a snack, and make paper plate fish as an art project.

For more theme ideas, visit the website of the Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California. And no matter what theme you go with, remember to include fun, lively discussions about the books you read. Soon your kids will love books as much as you do!