If you want to be sure that you raise children who love to read, you have to make it fun.

Young readers have no idea of the true pleasure that reading can bring them over the years, so to make sure they get hooked early, adding a few fun accessories to encourage them to settle down with a good book is a great idea.

One of the best, coziest places to read is in bed. Making your child his or her own fancy read in bed pillow will make this much more comfortable and therefore even more fun for the child.

The project starts with a purchased read-in bed pillow. Find one with a solid color, smooth cotton cover in a color that your child likes. From there, it's just a matter of decorating the pillow and you have created a gift that is sure to be enjoyed.

Two things make this pillow really fun for kids. One is that much of the decoration will glow in the dark! The next is that you'll give the child, along with the pillow, a matching flashlight. And don't forget to put a small bag of the child's favorite candy in the pocket!

What You Need

Purchased read in bed pillow
Two squares yellow felt
One square darker blue felt
Tacky glue
Star shaped buttons, if desired
DecoFabric Glow in the Dark Fabric Marker
FabricMate chisel tip fabric marker, Cobalt Blue

What to Do

1. Draw a simple star shape on a scrap of cardboard, approximately 2 inches by 2 inches. Use this as a pattern to cut six stars out of the blue felt and seven out of the yellow.

2. Get out a scrap of paper to test the glow in the dark marker on. Shake first to force ink into point, then test on paper before using on your stars. If your ink makes a giant pool on the paper you will be glad you tested it first. These markers are tricky and tend to be messy so always test on paper before applying to fabric. Proceed to outline all of your stars with the glow in the dark marker.

3. Sew a star shaped button tin the center of each felt star, if desired.

4. Start in the center of the back and use tacky glue to glue a felt star onto the rolled edge of the pillow. Alternate colors of stars and glue one every few inches all the way down the edge of the pillow.

5. Use dark blue chisel point marker to draw stars directly on the pillow. Fill in till solid.

6. Test glow in the dark marker first, then make dots all over blue stars and in between hem. Add a row of dots between the stars that you glued along the top of the pillow.

7. Cut a rectangle of blue felt and use a needle and thread to create a snack pocket on the inside of one of the arms of the pillow.

8. Use scraps of felt to make a cover for flashlight. Add stars and buttons for decoration.