"A friend is one of the best things you can have, and one of the best things you can be."---Winnie the Pooh
Making friends is a vital part of children’s growth and social development. Children learn compassion, collaboration and self-confidence from playing with their friends. There are several studies that prove that friends can positively influence children’s health. However, young children can be rough when playing with their friends. We are going to use books to teach children how to manage a positive friendship this month.
1 year old:
What do friends do together? Noni the pony and his friends play, cuddle together, and make each other feel better when they are scared of something. Ask your children what they do with their friends? If you have very young children, suggest some activities for your children to play with their friends. In addition, parents can use this book as an opportunity to teach children early math and language skills.Children can try to classify animals by animal’s living habitat. For example, try to encourage children to sort animals by farm, ocean, and forest. This book also includes some rhyming words. Try to create some rhyming words with children together. For example, Noni and pony rhyme. Doni and pony also rhyme. Can you think of another word that rhymes with pony? Children will find the fun of rhyming from creating rhyming words themselves.
2 years old:
Rex wants to join the play with other friends. However, he always joins the group by destroying other children’s play structures. In real life, a lot of very young children haven’t built the language skills yet to engage with other children. They may use some “violent” ways to get attention. Parents can use this book to teach children about empathy and some tools for children to engage with other kids. Teach your child, ‘ Can I join you?/ Can I play with you?’ if he/she wants to play with other kids. Ask your child, ‘How do you feel when someone knocks down your buildings? How can you treat others differently to make other people feel better?’ Also try to role play with your child, let the child think of some solutions when others knock down his/her structure. Should we forgive others or hit others? Should we find a way to include others in my game?
It’s a hilarious book which is filled with frog and rabbit sounds. However, it’s a great book to teach social emotional learning. It’s totally normal for friends to have conflicts during play. But how can friends solve conflicts by themselves? This book may give children some inspiration about conflict solving strategies.
3 years old:
Bear has a routine for all the things he does prior to going to sleep: he sets out his glass of water, adjusts his nightcap, fluffs his pillow, and finally climbs into bed. But most of all, Bear needs absolute silence to go to sleep. Ask your child if he/she has a night time routine. Encourage your child to describe and draw his/her bedtime routine. In the story, the bear needs absolute silence to go to sleep. Ask your child if he/she has a pet peeve during sleep time. In addition, this is a perfect book to encourage children to predict the story. Before reading, parents can point at the cover and ask what’s going to happen in the story. In the middle of the reading, ask children what will happen? Will the bear kick the mouse out of the house? Before ending, ask children to predict an ending. It’s a fun way to engage children into reading and practice children’s language skills.
Sometimes children would like to play with 1 or 2 particular people. This book tells children to be friends with everyone and be inclusive. Sometimes it’s hard for some children to play with everyone. Parents can encourage their children by telling them that let’s make a new friend, and try to play with a new friend every day. Friendship starts with an easy sentence, ‘ Can I play with you?’ Kindness is another key point of this book. When someone wants to join your play, your kind gesture can ease the nerves and warm others’ hearts.
Not only is it a great book to learn some Spanish words, but also an excellent book to learn about being a nice and kind friend. It's the snake's birthday, but the rabbit keeps persuading the friends’ to buy gifts which are not appropriate for the snake. After reading, ask the following questions: Why did the snake ask the rabbit to leave? Why were the friends mad at the rabbit? What did the rabbit do to make everyone feel better eventually? And at last ask your child what’s the trait of being a good friend?
Sometimes, children would like to have what other children have. They want their siblings or friends to behave like them or someone they admire. In reality, people are very different. Instead of trying to change someone, embracing one person’s unique quality is more important. The best part of friendship comes when you are truly able to recognize and embrace your friends’ sparks and special talent.
Although the tiger and the rat are good friends, and always play together, their relationship was kind of unbalanced at the beginning. Tiger was sort of a bully to the rat. One day, the tiger pushed too far, and the rat decided to quit the friendship. Stop the reading at this point, and ask your child what can the tiger do to save the friendship. Finish the book reading, and discuss with children how to be a fair friend.
In this book, a friendship just simply starts with a “Yo! Yes?” conversation. Ask your children the following questions: How did you meet your friends? What do you usually do with your friends? What do you enjoy most when you are with your friends? Do you and your friends look alike or very different? How do you let your friend know when you’re sad? Happy? Encourage your child to draw a picture of him/her and his/her friends playing together.
4 years old:
This is a story about a boy called Brian being left out in the class. Before reading, ask your child to predict what will happen in the story by reading the title. After reading, ask your child if they noticed how the illustrator illustrates Brian? Do you think Brian is happy at school? How does Justin feel when the other kids judge his lunch? What did Brian do when other kids judged Justin’s lunch? How do you feel when you are left out? How do you feel when someone judges you? What are some things you can say/do to someone to help that person feel included?
This story is about the lifelong friendship between two sheepdog brothers, Sweep and Gyp. Due to some differences between the two dogs, they had different life paths. Any child can encounter this type of friendship. Due to some life differences, children have to say goodbye to their friends sometimes. But when they reunite, they can always recognize each other, and enjoy their temporary reunion.
This story is about Stanley remembering the date wrongly for the crazy hair day. He had crazy hair on a formal school picture day. When Stanley entered the classroom, he was teased by his friends. Stanley then ran to the bathroom and hid himself. But the ending of the story was quite touching. Again, parents can discuss with children about the qualities of a good friend and the importance of friendship. We show our friends how we cherish the friendship by our actions. The way we talk, the way we treat our friends, the way we honor and respect them, love and appreciate them tells our friends how special the relationship is.
This story is about a child who immigrated to a new country to be safe. However, the new country seems strange to her. She doesn’t know the place, she doesn’t know the language, and she doesn’t have any friends. But one girl in a park started to play with her, and taught her the language. Later she made a new blanket. After reading, parents can ask the following questions. How would you feel when you go to live in a new country which speaks a totally different language? How can you communicate with others when no one speaks your language in the new place? Is there anything that makes you feel safe or home when you are away from home? What made the girl feel safe in the story? Parents can also make a safe blanket with children together after the book reading. Collect the things which make the children feel safe, and put everything together to make a blanket.
The theme of the book is with a heavy heart. The protagonists of this book are a Japanese girl who is about to be sent to a Japanese American Internment and a Jewish boy whose family relatives were treated unfairly in Germany. At first Sam joined with his classmates to shun Keiko. Later when Sam found out his relatives were in the same position as Keiko in Germany, he changed his attitude. Eventually Sam made a special gift for his friend. The story talked about how some ethnic group was treated unfairly. Ask your child was there a time someone was treated unfairly in the class? What can you do to change the situation? What can you do when something unfair happens in the community? When your friend goes to some faraway place like Keiko, what can you do to keep in touch with your friend?
Early Reader:
If you are a fan of the Frog and Toad book series, you will enjoy Mouse and Mole. One message from this book is that everyone is different. Someone can be good at drawing while someone can be good at writing. Children learn how to appreciate their friends’ talent. In addition, Each chapter offers something meaty for kids to chew on: bird behavior and songs, how nests are built, crafting a disguise, and collaborating on a book. Parents can copy some of the activities from the book, and do a bird observation session, build a nest, or make a book with kids together.
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