Boys Club: The Ultimate Library Program to Help Boys Fall in Love with Reading

Boys are notoriously reluctant readers, and motivating them to be excited about reading can be a challenge. In fact, according to UNESCO, “while 46% of girls say they like reading very much, only 37% of boys do.” The importance of reading for pleasure can’t be stressed enough, as doing so from an early age not only impacts reading achievement but is also “linked to better cognitive performance and mental wellbeing,” according to a recent study by the University of Cambridge.

To spread the joy of reading to the boys in our community, we created Boys Club, an hour-long literacy-based program held once a week for six weeks over the summer. One session was offered for grades 3-4, followed by another for grades 5-6, with attendance ranging from 10 to 40 boys per week. In addition to promoting the joy of reading, each week’s activities were (sneakily) designed to provide opportunities for attendees to practice both reading and writing skills.

Below you’ll find the activities and read alouds our fellas enjoyed the most. If you don’t have the time and resources to offer a multi-week program, you can easily pick and choose activities for a one-time event, book club, or other literacy-based program perfect for grades 3 through 6.

Boys Club Overview

Each hour-long program included the following activities, typically conducted in this order:

Icebreaker or Guessing Jar
Read Aloud OR Guy Community Speaker
Physical activity/game
Literacy-based activity/game
Time to discuss what they’re reading & browse books

We intentionally named this program “Boys Club” instead of “Boys Reading Club” because we didn’t want the boys to feel like they were attending summer school. While books and literacy-based activities were significant components of the program, we made an effort to pair them with physical activities that were purely fun.

Each week, as the boys arrived, they were invited to fill out a slip for the guessing jar and update their summer reading logs. Next, the librarian would do a short read aloud, or a male guest speaker from the community would present for 10-15 minutes. A physical activity or game would follow to get the restless boys moving, and then a literacy-based activity or game would follow. We did our best to leave 5-10 minutes at the end to book talk a few titles, ask the boys if they have any recommendations for each other, then let them loose to browse for books.

Icebreakers

Guessing Jars

This is an excellent activity to do while you wait for attendees to arrive. Fill a jar with unique items, such as crayons, candy, pencils, puzzle pieces, mini marshmallows, Legos, and pom-poms, and challenge the attendees to estimate the number of items in the jar. Use any items you already have in bulk around your library, or ask the boys what items they’d recommend.

Challenging the boys to fill out a guessing jar slip was also an opportunity for them to practice writing their name, phone number, and a numerical guess. You can announce the winner at next week’s meeting or contact the winner by phone if they are unable to attend. Prizes could include $5 gift cards or the items in that week’s jar.

The Transformation Game

It’s the silliest Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament you’ll ever play, and perfect for groups of 6+ people. In a nutshell, participants walk around challenging each other to a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner “levels up” and must find another player at their level to challenge. Losers “level down” and must find players on their level to compete in hopes of leveling back up. How it works:

1. ​All players begin as an egg and must perform these movements to show they are eggs: Arch hands over your head to imitate being inside an egg and make a high-pitched “me-me-me” sound.
2. Walk around the room to find another “egg” and play rock, paper, scissors.
3. The winner levels up and transforms into a dinosaur.
4. Dinosaurs walk around with T-rex-style claws, making dinosaur roars until they find another dinosaur to play rock, paper, scissors.
5. If dinosaurs win, they become chickens, but if they lose, they devolve into eggs and must find another egg to keep playing. Here is a sample transformation chain, but feel free to mix it up with book characters or other creatures:
   • Egg: Hands arched overhead & make “me-me-me” sound
   • Dinosaur: T-Rex style claws with a dinosaur-ish roar
   • Chicken: Arms bent into wings and clucking
   • Superhero: Superman flying pose with an optional cry of “faster than a speeding bullet!” or “Zoom!”
   • Alien: Fingers make antenna on top of head, with a “biggle biggle” type noise

See The Youth Desk’s Book Clubs page for more icebreakers.

Great Read Alouds for Boys

Each week, the librarian would read a short story, picture book, or chapter aloud to the students. The read aloud typically tied into that day’s activities or got the boys laughing. Here are the read alouds our fellas enjoyed the most:

Guy Community Speakers

Bringing in male role models from the community to share their thoughts on reading is an excellent way for boys to see that dudes read! We’ve brought in teachers, businessmen, local state representatives, the fathers of staff members, and pretty much any guy willing to share their own reading interests. It’s not only an excellent opportunity for the boys, but a fun, new experience for the men in your community. Provide the speaker with 10 minutes to speak and an additional 5-10 minutes to answer questions, for a total presentation time of 15-20 minutes.

Give each presenter a few talking points to consider, but once they get going, they will feed off the interests of the kids. Don’t be embarrassed if the boys just want to know if the presenter plays video games or has pets. The boys may not have experience interacting with male adults, so any opportunity is a good one. A couple of very accomplished businessmen told us they could easily present to groups of 100+ shareholders, but presenting to a group of boys for 15 minutes was nerve-racking until they had done it!

Talking points to give your speakers include:

• A line or two about who you are and what you do. 
• What did you like to do for fun as a kid?
• What did you read as a kid?
• What do you read now?
• Does your job require you to do any reading? (ex: emails, reports, etc.)

Physical Games & Activities

After listening to a speaker or sitting through a read-aloud, your attendees will need to get moving, so follow it up with a physical activity, such as:

Extreme Hopscotch

Use chalk to create a hopscotch obstacle course that includes words written on the ground (that they must read to accomplish the course!), like “Spin 2 Times”, “Touch Your Toes”, “Hop on one foot to the next chalk star”, all while being timed by a stopwatch to see who can complete the course the fastest. 

Freeze Tag with Silly String

Boys must run from one point to another without getting sprayed with silly string. If you get hit, you must freeze.

Shake Your Own Ice Cream

Boys must read and follow recipe steps to get it right! Give each boy a gallon plastic ziploc bag and a sandwich bag. Set out the following instructions, ingredients, and measuring cups & spoons. They must fill their bags with the correct portions and then shake them like crazy to complete their concoctions. Napkins, spoons, bowls, chocolate syrup, and sprinkles were also provided. Here is a tried and true recipe:

1. Add ½ cup half-and-half, 1 tablespoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon of vanilla to smaller ziplock bag.
2. Seal it!
3. Add 3 cups crushed ice and 1/3 cup rock salt to gallon ziplock bag.
4. Add smaller bag to gallon bag and seal the gallon bag.
5. Shake for 5 minutes!

Chalk Monsters

After reading Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty to 3rd & 4th graders, go outside to draw monsters! Split the kids into groups of 3-4 and assign someone to draw the body, head, arms, mouth, ears, etc, and of course, create a monster name.

Opening Lines Balloon Pop

Before the event, print out the opening lines from various children’s books, cut them out, roll them up, and insert them into balloons. Inflate the balloons and you’re ready for fun! Instruct the boys to pop two balloons by sitting on them, and then choose their favorite of the two opening lines to read aloud. Unleash a barrage of balloons and let the fun begin (aka pure chaos and laughter).

Feel free to download, print, and cut my list of children’s book opening lines. Some fun examples include:

• “Where’s Papa going with that axe?” from Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• “The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.” from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
• “There was a boy called Eustace, Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader By C.S. Lewis
• “Things are a lot different around here since that Unicorn moved in.” from Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea

Literacy-Based Activities

Mixed Up Silly Stories

Challenge attendees to write their own silly stories by randomly drawing slips with their story’s character, action, setting, and conclusion. You could end there and let attendees share the stories they’ve drawn aloud to the group, OR extend the activity by creating illustrations for their silly stories. Overall, this activity is incredibly fun and results in numerous belly laughs.

Write a variety of character names, actions, settings, and conclusions on paper slips and separate them into bags labeled with each thing. Feel free to download and use my Mixed-Up Story Lines. Ask the boys to close their eyes and take one slip from each bag.

Next, provide the boys with these instructions and blank paper or booklets:

• Page 1: Write your character
• Page 2: Write your action
• Page 3: Write your setting
• Page 4: Write the action of your choice
• Page 5: Write your conclusion

Pass out colored pencils for illustrating these silly stories and add titles to the cover.

Make Your Own Comics

Printable blank comic sheets like these are free and perfect, but if you have the budget (or a grant or sponsors), I highly recommend providing each boy with a Blank Comic Panel Book. You can provide them with my Comic Book Starter Sheet to get their creative juices flowing.

Book or Character Specific Activities

Read a chapter from a specific book and provide a related activity or craft. For example:

• How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell – Write your name or a message using Viking Runes with a Viking Runes worksheet.
• Harry Potter – Make Potions or any of the millions of HP-themed activities and crafts out there.
• Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi – Make a poster in the library, like the characters do.
• Try any of these activity ideas for Jon Scieszka’s books.
• Don’t forget graphic novels or classic comic characters from Marvel and DC Comics!

Wrap-Up & Book Discussion

Wrap things up by asking the boys to showcase any projects they worked on that day, but make this portion optional to keep things light and low-pressure. Before releasing the boys to browse the library and check out books, spend a couple of minutes chatting with them about what they hope to read over the next week. This allows them to discuss what they’ve been reading and perhaps offer recommendations to others. Believe it or not, a kid is way more likely to choose a book recommended by a peer than by you.

Program Evaluation

The first summer we conducted this program, we consulted local teachers who recommended students who would benefit the most from a summer literacy program. Many of the teachers and parents were willing to confirm student reading scores at the end of the school year and the beginning of the next school year. This provided us with quantitative data indicating that students who participated in the program maintained their reading levels over the summer as a result of the program.

That said, due to various factors, including the private nature of asking parents to disclose their child’s reading scores, we chose to rely on PLA’s Project Outcome surveys in subsequent years. These were emailed to parents after the program and included questions such as:

• Did your child maintain or increase his reading skills over the summer as a result of the program?
• Does your child read more as a result of the program?
• Does your child visit the library more as a result of the program?

Promotion

In addition to your library’s traditional promotional methods, we’ve had great success asking teachers to help promote the program. After obtaining permission from our school district’s superintendent, we emailed our district’s second through fifth-grade teachers directly with information about the program, including a digital flyer. We also dropped off print flyers with each school’s main office to distribute as they saw fit. This gave teachers the ability to share the promotional information with their entire class or discreetly give it to the caregivers of children they thought might benefit from the program the most.

More Resources

• Educator Sarah Jean Meyer helped plan and run Boys Club during its first year way back in 2015. Her classroom management skills and teacher insight took the program to new heights. Check out her website for more activity ideas our boys enjoyed.
• Jon Scieszka’s Guys Read books and information about getting fellas reading.
• Boys and Books from Reading Rockets
• Getting Boys To Read by Teacher-Librarian Mike McQueen
• Connecting Boys with Books: What Librarians Can Do by Michael Sullivan

What library activities and books have your boys enjoyed? Please share in the comments!