Little Dinosaurs, Big Feelings

By Author / Illustrator

Swapna Haddow, Yiting Lee

Genre

Mental Health & Wellbeing

Age range(s)

Publisher

Magic Cat Publishing

ISBN

9781915569233

Format

Hardback

Published

04-01-2024

Synopsis

Doctor Diplo is the Jurassic kingdom's best-loved therapist.

Meet him and ten of his Jurassic friends...
Steggie the Angry Dinosaur
Rex the Scared Dinosaur
Bruno the Sad Dinosaur
Minka the Happy Dinosaur
Poppy the Lonely Dinosaur
Percy the Shy Dinosaur
Terrie the Excited Dinosaur
Trev the Overwhelmed Dinosaur
Iggy the Bored Dinosaur
Nino the Content Dinosaur

Hear their stories, and discover how to navigate different emotions with simple mindfulness tools and exercises.

This cute and funny, full-colour guide on emotions and feelings for children 5+ offers:
-Ten read-aloud stories demonstrating tools to help navigate different emotions
-An opportunity to open up conversations about feelings in a gentle and approachable way
-Simple mindfulness exercises from Australian child psychologist Amber Owen
-Sweet, colourful illustrations that bring the story to life and provide opportunity to discuss each feeling in turn
-A 'how to use this book' guide for carers at the back of the book

Written by best-selling, prize-winning author Swapna Haddow, with calming, charming illustrations from Yiting Lee, this is the perfect book to help every little person master their big feelings.

Download Extract

Reviews

Little Dinosaurs, Big Feelings is a unique book. Ten Jurassic friends share their emotional journey in bite-size stories; exploring emotions, such as anger, excitement and sadness. Whether it is Steggie the angry Stegasaurus or Terrie the excited Terrasol, these playful, fun-loving dinosaurs will guide us through difficult feelings and explore ways to cope in these moments.

The book is like a mini self-help book; a tool kit for exploring ways children can grow into emotionally resilient individuals. The stories could be shared and discussed with children aged 5-7 years, and in any class either as whole class or in smaller groups as part of PSHE sessions.

Little Dinosaurs, Big Feelings would also be good to really develop emotional awareness. It teaches children different psychological strategies for managing the range of feelings when they arise. It teaches children mindfulness, positive visualisation and breathing techniques. In schools it could be used as part of ELSA support, one-on-one, to develop this level of awareness around emotions.

The book also encourages children to share their own experiences of different times or events which have evoked such feelings. A truly invaluable resource for any home or classroom.

112 pages / Reviewed by Louise Gahan, teacher