The Colour Monster

Product Information

This sensitive book . . . encourages young ones to open up and discuss how they feel, even when their thoughts are confusing." — Parents

The book also emphasizes being able to feel and honor whatever feeling comes up and tell us that it is OK to feel all of these feelings, it is okay to listen to our bodies, and it is okay to cry! So powerful, especially for young people who often get flooded and want to repress feelings. Remember to read The Colour Monster Goes to School and try our related ideas too! Teaching Ideas and Resources: English RPT-S™ , and EMDR Consultant. I help therapists that work with kids and teens go from a place of stress and survival to inspired and thriving. I give child therapists the resources, tools, and skills they need to be effective and confidentin their practice!From music lessons, to lunchtime, to making new friends, the Colour Monster’s first day of school is filled with exciting new adventures. Make a list of words that the author links with each colour, e.g. yellow = bright and light, blue = gentle and alone. Can you think of synonyms for these words? As a therapist I left the feeling words blank as to let client creativity lead the way (for older clients more feeling words and younger less) and not to have rigidity about what the feelings should be. Make a diary to show how you are feeling each day. You could write this or draw coloured monsters to show your emotions.

Make a timetable that shows when Colour Monster took part in different activities at school. Can you think of some word problems based on this?In this story, yellow refers to happiness, red is for anger and blue is linked to sadness. Do you agree with those colour choices? Why?

Love the collage-y illustrations of this picture book, but the text has some troubling issues. While it is vital to teach children to identify their emotions, it is just as important to help them understand that it is normal to feel more than one single emotion at a time, even about the same thing/person/idea. furthermore, labeling emotions with specific colors doesn't work as a one-size-fits-all solution, since color is a very personal experience; people feel very differently about the same color. Telling children that blue is sadness will confuse children who experience blue as tranquility, or power, or curiosity, or any number of other emotions. This book goes so far as to tell children how to experience certain emotions: Let me know what else you are looking for and I might be able to brainstorm a solution to your problem! Here’s hoping this activity brings you and your clients some superpowers to help untangle those messy, chaotic, and confusing feelings! The next sheet is all about taking time to separate out and honor each feeling. With the My Feeling Jar worksheet you can clearly identify each feeling experienced and how much of each feeling. You can go deeper with young people and identify triggers, how they felt it in their bodies, warning signs of these feelings, and choices that might be helpful vs unhelpful to honor what is going on for them over the week.Sometimes feelings get… all tangled up. This can be confusing and sometimes we need help untangling them and sorting them all out. Enter “ The Color Monster” by Anna Llenas! This book is AMAZING and as I talk about here and here bibliotherapy is such a wonderful practice that is so adaptable to provide as a therapeutic approach in all sorts of settings – office, in home, at school, and of course Tele-Play!