Summer Reading 5-in-a-Row Game

Every summer we try to encourage the kids to read with something fun. We've done game boards, a beach scene, caterpillars, scratch-off boards, balloon pop, and a plinko board. This year we are playing a 5-in-a-row game.

I made a large grid. I assigned the kids each a color and cut out circles with my silhouette machine. On the back of each circle I attached a coupon and put the circles in an envelope for each child. I made a list of ways the kids could earn circles and filled in the grid with the corresponding words. My kids are big readers, so I chose the following:

Book
church magazine
Personal Progress/Faith in God/Duty to God
Journal (5 pages, 2 for younger kids)
Typing (2 hours)
School Book
Scriptures (2 hours)
Khan Academy (2 hours)
Non-Fiction
Classic
Writing/Art (2 hours)

You choose what you want to encourage your kids to do. My sister chose for each of her squares to be earned after 1 hour, and chose some different genres to put on the grid.

After earning a circle, they pick it out of their envelope and take off the coupon. You can find my coupons here: summer reading coupons.  They then choose where to put the circle on the grid. When they get 5 circles in a row they get to choose a prize from the prize basket. Some of the coupons include a free circle and taking off a circle, so if someone is blocking you there is a way to remove it. However, if a circle does get removed I tell them they just put it back on a different square of the same type so that the other child doesn't lose that circle. I also say they must have a circle to put on that space if they are removing one - they can't just remove one to make their sibling upset.

I've told the kids that they can only reuse 1 circle in their row of 5 - so that to earn a prize they at least need to have 4 new circles, but that may change depending on how quickly they fill up the board and run out of room. I put a mark on their circles once they've been used in a row of 5 so I don't get confused which ones are new. I also write on what they did to get the circle so the kids don't have to look underneath to see what it was if they're looking to remove a circle.

Since this is the first summer we've done something like this I have no idea how well it will work. So far the kids are loving it and reading lots. I guess we'll see if I need a new board half way through the summer!