6 fun World Book Day activities to enjoy at home or school

 

When you think of World Book Day, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? For us, it’s seeing children and adults dressed up as their favourite book characters - the more creative the better!

 

If you’re in need of ideas, you might want to check out 40+ easy World Book Day costume ideas.

But World Book Day is about more than just dressing up. It’s a celebration of all that’s wonderful about books and reading. Anything that gets children talking and thinking about books and why they enjoy them gets a big thumbs-up from us.

There are loads of fantastic, book-related activities that children can get stuck into for World Book Day whether at home or at school – the only limit is your imagination! But we thought we’d kick things off with a few simple, easily-printable ideas which we hope you’ll enjoy:

World Book Day word search

What a combination – book fun and literacy skills – this is a win-win activity for World Book Day! We’ve hidden 10 words related to writing books in this grid. Simply print it out and see whether the kids can find them all.

World Book Day character wanted poster

This activity encourages kids to think about their favourite book character, but there’s not a glue gun or sequin in sight!

Oh no, their favourite book character has gone missing from their story. The kids need to design a wanted poster to help them be found. They will think about what they look like, how they behave and whether they should pay a reward!

World Book Day Bingo game

Bingo is such a simple game but always lots of fun. What’s more it can work well both in person and via video call if needs be. 

We've created a set of 25 book character cards for you to use along with 6 playing boards. Head here to get started (or send your friends there to download their own board!)

As a final challenge, why not see how many of the characters you and your friends recognise from the picture clues we've given?!

Illustrated book quotes for World Book Day

We’ve pulled together some of our favourite quotes about books and reading here. Perhaps you could invite children to illustrate them or to colour-in simple illustrations you’ve created yourself.

Craft and cooking ideas for World Book Day

If you have more time for a book-themed activity, you may be interested to check out these two ideas, also shared on our blog:

 

We hope you find these ideas useful – we’d love to hear how you get on.

You may also be interested to check out 8 World Book Day 2024 books and activities we’re getting excited about and our Guide to great World Book Day ideas for costumes and activities.