Begin a Healthy Conversation About Feelings
By Samantha Kurtzman-Counter & Abbie Schiller
Ruby’s Studio, $9.95, 30 pages
It’s not always easy being a kid. So many changes happen in such a short amount of time. There is a lot to deal with – school, family life, friends, sports, clubs, church, pets, acne, bullies…no wonder life sometimes feels like a roller coaster! A child feeling emotionally out of control often finds comfort in drawing, coloring or writing about their new and confusing feelings. Abbie Schiller and Samantha Kurtzman-Counter, authors of My Feelings Activity Book have created a resource that allows elementary school kids to become the author of their very own book! With personalized fill-in-the-blank activities on each page, children can explore who they are and how they feel as they use their creativity and imagination to answer fun questions and draw pictures.
The beginning of the book asks the child to reflect on themselves, their family and their home. Questions aren’t just on a sterile white page – there are quirky, colorful doodles scattered around that create a scrapbook feel. For the rest of the book’s activities, children use the included feelings stickers (“I feel mad when…” or “I feel shy when…”). After they’ve placed their feeling sticker in a highlighted area, they write about or draw a picture of a time when they felt that specific emotion (i.e. “When I feel sad I snuggle with an animal or blanket.”) The eight main feelings addressed in the book include proud, shy, frustrated, jealous, sad, scared, happy and mad. Even if a child isn’t having a particularly difficult time with feelings, it is never too early to start discussing healthy ways to experience emotions. This book is a fun way to begin the conversation.
Reviewed by Kathryn Franklin
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