It’s More Than a Book! Going Beyond Words and Sparking Creativity

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During the month of March, children around the world celebrate Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’s birthday. What better way to celebrate the month and birthday than with a Seuss book!  

Children’s Day will be using Dr. Seuss’s My Many Colored Days to help open up the conversation to feelings and how we express them. Dr. Suess was a master at creating beautiful stories with equally wonderful images to help teach a lesson, encourage emotional or social development, or inspire expression through his rhyming words. Dr. Suess encourages discussion by inviting children to explore the different emotions they can feel on different days. “Some days are yellow, some days are blue. On different days I’m different too.”

Listed below are some ways you can go beyond the book at home with little ones in your life. Take some time today for an adventure with your child by reading a book together.


Fun Facts About Reading Together:

*Sharing stories encourages communication, enhances fantasy play and story-telling, sparks creativity and promotes social skills and connection, and helps a child find his/her voice.

*Listening, reading and communication skills are developed and strengthened by reading stories.

*Growing your child’s vocabulary and comprehension of the written language is enhanced through spoken language.  Children’s skills can be enriched through the experience of reading out loud together.

*Take a look at our feeling faces chart below and ask your child to pick a feeling, and then talk about that feeling.  For example, you can ask about a time when they felt that way, or tell them about a time that you had that feeling. Together, you can practice making faces that show that feeling.

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Ideas for How to Talk about Feelings while Reading at Home:

  • As you read, ask your child(ren) to identify the feeling of the character in the book.

  • Ask your child questions such as “When do you feel______ (mad, sad, excited, scared, etc)?”

  • Check out this great website with more tips on using books to talk about feelings: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/booknook/many_colored_days.pdf