Rainy Days and Mondays

I missed the April showers, but in my neck of the woods May is actually one of the wettest months on average, so if your May is rainy too, here are some of my favorite rainy day books titles, just for you.

• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema - One of my all time favorite stories, especially for a rainy day. The repetition in this book is great for phonological awareness and pre-reading skill development.
• Just a Thunderstorm by Gina and Mercer Mayer - Little Critters can get scared by thunderstorms some times, this story shows how Little Critter and family deal with a storm.
• Lila and the Secret of Rain by David Conway and Jude Daly - If you like Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain then you will love this book too. It tells the story of how a Masai girl saves her village from drought.
• One Big Rain: Poems for Rainy Days compiled by Rita Gray - This book has poems for all the seasons, rain and shine. It is a good book for developing phonological awareness, as well as for teaching poetry.
• Rain Dance by Kathi Appelt - This short and simple rhyming book is great for 0-3 year olds as well as early readers. It help introduce numbers as well as having some great word choice!
• Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons - Gail Gibbons is an excellent author of children's non-fiction and this book does not disappoint. This book was one of my favorite weather books growing up, and it still holds up today.
• Wet Weather: Rain Showers and Snowfall by Jonathan D. Kahl - This is a great non-fiction book about the water cycle and precipitation, especially good for older kids.

Even though I love the rain and we need those showers every year for the plants to grow and for the water we all drink, it is also worth remembering those in the Midwest and South who have been hit hard by the weather so far this spring. Check out the Red Cross for information on how your family can donate money and supplies to the victims of the tornadoes and floods.

National Children's Mental Health Day

Tomorrow, May 3, is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day!

Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the day is about awareness of emotional and mental health in children in normally developing kids, as well as kids that have suffered a traumatic experience and/or who have a diagnosed mental health issue.

This day can be a great reminder to check in on the emotional well-being of the kiddos in your life! Below is a list of great books about feelings for kids. These books can help give your child words to describe how they feel so that you as their caregiver can better meet their needs!

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
• Andrew's Angry Words by Dorothea Lachner
• The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• The Berenstain Bears in the Dark by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Feelings by Aliki
• The Feelings Book by Todd Parr
• The Grouchies by Debbie Wagenbach
• The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
• I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer
• My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
• The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too by Mo Willems
• Sometimes I'm Scared by Jane Annunziata and Marc Nemiroff, Ph.D.
• A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret M. Holmes and Sasha J. Mudlaff
• Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis
• Understanding Myself by Mary C. Lamia, Ph.D.
• Walter Was Worried by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
• What Are You So Grumpy About? by Tom Lichtenheld
• When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang
• When You're Happy and You Know It by Elizabeth Crary

This is list is by no means exhaustive, I could (and plan to) write whole blog posts just on books for kids in foster care, dealing with divorce, abuse, etc. These books can hopefully provide a good jumping off point though, especially for normally developing kids, to help them have the words to describe their emotions, feelings and fears. Sometimes just having the words can help immensely!