Reading to children every day is so important! One of my favorite series to read to the kids when they were little was and is The Berenstain Bear books. They are all great for gently teaching how to get along and deal with situations. Bedtime battles? Trouble telling the truth? Messy rooms? New baby? They’ve got us covered for all that and so much more.
Sometimes, they are just great fun. This week I got to introduce this fun book to some new little friends before mailing it off to one of my favorite new readers. The Berenstain’s delightful The Spooky Old Tree is a lot of fun to read to little ones–especially at this time of year. Gather them around…make sure at least one of your little ones is on your lap so that you can wiggle them all around making big shiver movements–and big surprised eyes–when the little bears finally get scared. Be as animated as possible reading this fun tale. Point to those bears and count them as they head out on their adventure. Point to the stick, the light and the rope each time you read about them. As you get to the end of the story, speed up so that you are verbally running along with those scared little bears all the way home…whew! to safety!
I especially love the subtle message that
Mom = home = safety.
I hope that you enjoy the Berenstains adventures as much as we have.