Five Fun Ideas to Celebrate Día de los niños, Día de los libros

Are you celebrating Día this year? We have five fun ideas to fuel your celebration planning.

In its 20^th year, Children’s Day, Book Day/El día de los niños, Día de los libros (known as Día) is the annual celebration of bookjoy created by children’s author Pat Mora. The nationally recognized initiative emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children, from all backgrounds and creatively links them to the gift of reading.

March is the perfect time to plan the details of your Día celebration. Now is the time to pick your location, check and evaluate your book inventory and invite your guests. Try these great ideas and find more tips for organizing and planning your celebration in our downloadable Día guide.

Decorate! Cover the doors of classrooms and offices with the covers of multicultural books. Line the walls of your school or program with book quotes. Make a bookjoy banner filled with you the books you plan to have at your event.

Plant a poetry garden. Work together to write nature-inspired poems. Then, place the poems on popsicle sticks and plant them somewhere outside.

Host a Book Carnival. Have a book walk instead of a cake walk. Play book bingo, using words from a book you read aloud to kids and fellow educators. Host book trivia and use literacy related prizes!

Engage everyone in storytime. Everyone in your community has a place in your book celebration. Principals, teachers and parents can organize read-alouds to younger students. Middle school and high school aged students can read their favorite books from childhood aloud to younger partners. Young readers can practice reading age-appropriate books to one another or tell their own stories through pictures.

Create. Bring out the hot glue, stickers and glitter! Have students make their own bookmarks or masks of their favorite book characters.

Need more ideas for Día activities? Educators and program leaders serving child in need can download our free Día guide and shop for Día resources on the First Book Marketplace.