November is Family Literacy Month, and here at Mother Daughter Book Club. com I’m talking about increasing literacy for everyone in the family through reading groups. (See previous posts about starting a group and ideas for what to read by age group.) And if you’d like to enter your name for a chance to win a copy of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs, just leave a comment on my post with tips for getting started. I’m choosing a winner each Friday in November, so there are still two chances left to win.

It’s true that kids and adults are more likely to enjoy reading if it’s fun. How do you make reading fun? Make sure that everyone is enjoying what you read. Read aloud with silly voices and sound effects. And add in a game or other activity every now and then.

Art projects make particularly good activities to go with a book you are reading in your family book club. Scheduling time to create art inspired by the book also lets you talk about what you’re reading. And that may lead to all kinds of topics that help parents and children communicate about issues that are really important.

Here are a few ideas for projects you can easily tie into your family book club.

Make a bookmark. Buy posterboard or heavy card stock and outline the shape of a bookmark in pencil. Don’t cut it out until after you and your kids have finished your creations. Using colored pencils or markers, finger paints or watercolors, draw something inspired by the story you’re reading. For instance, if you’re reading the Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White, you may want to draw a swan blowing a trumpet or the pond where Louis is born.

Even younger kids can draw squiggles that represent things, like the bears in More Bears! by Kenn Nesbitt and Troy Cummings. Once everyone has a bookmark they are satisfied with, you can cut the shape out and begin using it right away. If you’d like to make your creation last for years, you can take it to a local copy store and have it laminated.

Older children may enjoy games set around the book too. Think about creating a word search or crossword puzzle using words in the book that may be good for your child to focus on. Or, play a game of charades using words from the book written on slips of paper. Just a little creativity is all it takes to bring the pages of the book to life and make your family book club even more fun.