While I don’t really have to worry about Vanessa not reading during the summer — she’s a bookworm, just like her mom — I must say I do love the idea behind iVillage PBS KIDS Summer Reading Community Challenge, which starts tomorrow, is free and lasts six weeks.

The way it works is pretty simple. Basically you just sign up and you’ll start getting daily emails with literacy-building tips and activities from experts at PBS KIDS and Scholastic, two of our favorites!

After you sign up you will also get suggestions for books as well as discounts, free downloads of PBS KIDS shows and a chance to win $1,000 and other great prizes on a daily basis!

To get my family started with this challenge, PBS KIDS sent us a summer reading party kit which we shared with our friends from our bilingual playgroup last Friday. The timing was perfect because all of our kids had just finished a week-long summer camp where they were immersed in Spanish pretty much all day long. The reading party kit kit not only contained one book for each of the kids, but it also came with activity sheets, bookmarks, coloring sheets, stickers, progress charts, notebooks and markers. The best part? The book they sent is a Scholastic favorite in Spanish: ¡Compórtate, Pablo Picasso!

By the way, in case you didn’t know PBS Parents has a bookinder where you can go for help choosing books in Spanish or bilingual.

As you can see from the photos, the kids had a blast with all the goodies and they left our house all ready for the summer reading challenge!

How do you encourage your bilingual kids to read in the summer months?

Disclosure: I received a summer reading kit with materials to host a summer reading party as a PBS Kids Very Important Parent. No monetary compensation was received to host a party. As usual, all opinions are my own.