Ah, the familiar (and sometimes dreaded) book report.
When I was in elementary school, we had to give book reports in front of the entire class. I never minded, because I loved books and always wanted to talk about them to my classmates.
But everyone didn’t love doing them.
And it’s easy to see why. Just writing a report about a book isn’t necessarily fun.
So I thought it would be helpful to share these five fun homeschool book report ideas you can try with your children!
These are simple to do and they’re engaging, so if you have children who don’t love writing about the books they read, these different book report ideas may help.
Read on to see the full list!
And, for more ways to bring books to life, take a look at our tips for making reading fun for active kids!
5 Fun Homeschool Book Report Ideas for Kids
Images c/o: AndrewLozovyi / Depositphotos
The Cereal Box Book Report
Take an empty cereal box and glue butcher paper or construction paper all around it.
Have your children draw an important scene from the book on the front and write the book title at the top.
Use the space for the nutrition facts on the side to list characters and places inside the book.
On the back, kids can describe the basic plot and explain what they liked about the book.
The Story Cube
Pick up a few dry erase dice and let kids draw a scene from a few of the book’s chapters on each side.
Challenge them to use the drawings to retell the story.
You can also do this with an empty tissue box. Let the kids draw scenes from the story and glue them around the sides.
Then they can use the story cube to retell the major parts of the story. Or “roll” the cube to tell random events.
The Comic Book Report
Hand out a couple of pieces of paper, with markers and colored pencils, and let the kids make a comic book summary of the story.
Keep it short (eight or twelve panels) and see if they can depict the events in the order they occurred.
Afterwards, they can use the comic book to retell the major plot events.
The Stage Play Report
If you have children who love to dress in costume and perform (like I do), why not have them try a stage play book report?
They can dress up as the main characters and act out a scene or two from the story. Let siblings help to make a “set” and play other roles too!
Older kids may want to try writing a soliloquy or monologue showing the main character’s internal conflict and struggles.
After the play is finished, let the kids hold a character “wax museum” while they’re still in costume!
Each one can hold up a sign with the name of their character and a few important facts about him or her. As parents, you can walk around to see each “exhibit” from the story.
The Build A Scene Report
Grab some art supplies and recyclables from around the house to build a model of a scene from the book.
Choose a specific setting from the story (such as a village, castle, apartment, forest, etc.) and challenge the kids to use as much detail as they can. This is a great way to help the kids pay attention to descriptive details in the book.
You can also use LEGO blocks to construct a setting from the story. With a smartphone, older kids can create a stop-motion video to show a few of the major events!
Which of these fun homeschool book report ideas do you think your kids would like? Let me know how they work for your family!
Try some of these other ideas for making reading fun!
