We are loving this In My Heart Book Craft! It’s so fun to take someone a happy gram and teach my preschooler about feelings. Make one too!
My son has a hard time reading emotions on other people’s faces. So, I try to find books about emotions that will keep his attention and teach him about them.
I came across the book In My Heart – A Book of Feelings By Jo Witek.
I love the simplicity of the book and the color choices. It’s bright and uses white space, so it’s not overwhelming for my son. It describes each feeling in simple words my son is able to connect with and understand. My hope is that if he understands the feelings he feels, he will be able to recognize them in others.
Of course, reading a book is great! Especially, when it’s so cute. But, at our house, we love going beyond the book and extend learning and fun.
If you haven’t noticed yet (tehe), my friend Beth (from Days with Grey) and I have been teaming up each month to provide a book and a craft/activity that you can do with your kiddos to help prepare them for story retelling.
They absolutely don’t have to master the skill now. But, introducing them to the idea is a great way for them to have a great kindergarten year.
You can see a couple of our past Book Box Story Retells here: Room on The Broom, Dragons Love Tacos, The Watermelon Seed.
But, back to In My Heart. We made a Happy Gram to spread happiness to someone else. Check it out!
In My Heart Book Craft – Happy Gram Materials
- Pencil
- Lined School Paper
- Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Ribbon
- Tape
- Construction Paper (Yellow, Blue, Orange, Green, Red, Purple)
In My Heart Book Craft – Happy Gram Instructions
Step One. Open the book to the second feeling page (Happy) with the big yellow star. Place your lined school paper on top of the star and trace the outline of the star using your pencil.
Step Two. Trace the heart on that same page in the center of your traced star. Cut the star outline out.
Step Three. Trace your star stencil on yellow paper and cut that out.
Step Four. Then, cut the heart on your star stencil out. Trace the heart on blue paper.
Step Five. Cut a small edge off your heart stencil and trace that on the next color paper. Repeat this step until you have multiple hearts in various sizes and colors. It should resemble the star and hearts in the book.
Step Six. Have your preschooler arrange the hearts biggest to smallest on a table. Lay out the star along with a glue stick. Then, have your preschooler start gluing on the hearts in the middle of the star starting with the biggest one.
activity suggestion: as your preschooler is gluing on the hearts, review the feelings in the book. Then, ask her “what are some things that make you happy/sad/mad/silly/etc?”
Step Seven. Tape a piece of ribbon to the back to make it a door hanger. And write a happy message, “Be Happy Today.”
You have a Happy Gram! Ask your preschooler who they’d like to help make happy and then go leave the Happy Gram on his/her door knob.
And for another fun feelings activity, check out my friend Beth’s activity at Days with Grey!
Tag us in a pic on Instagram when you try out the fun activities! @themamaworkshop and @dayswithgrey
Are we connected on Pinterest? Let’s connect and be pinning buddies @themamaworkshop
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