For some years now, we have been aware of how important it is for the full development of our children to work with them on emotional education. Stories that talk about emotions have become a necessary and ideal ally to teach children how to manage their feelings and sensations.
We have to show them that every emotion has a meaning and prepare them to face both good and bad emotions in the best possible way, which is why in this blog we will tell you about 5 stories to educate emotions.
But let’s start by looking at the functions of stories in general, not only those related to emotions:
Function creative: to help develop imagination and fantasy. Imagination is one of the functions of the mind, complementary to reasoning and thinking. This function must be rescued so that it is used not only in childhood but throughout our lives.
Playful function: a story has to be entertaining in order to engage attention and fun. It must provoke curiosity.
Ethical function: transmission of values through storytelling, used in all cultures and in other times of cultures and in other eras.
In addition, stories contribute to the socialization process, as they learn the values of cooperation, they understand that there are rules to comply with, as we are living together, and they understand that there are other ways of feeling, other ways of thinking, of acting, sometimes very far from their own, but which open children’s minds, unfold their world of experience, allow them to observe human behaviour that in their day-to-day lives they may not have contact with.
Therapeutic function: to see in a story the solution to a problem.
Educational function: The narrative of the story is based, in most cases, on the moral. All stories have a learning function that helps children (and adults) to understand and assume the values necessary to live in society.
But in addition to all these functions, stories that work on emotions must have the following requirements:
- Different emotions should be clearly shown. In other words, the reader should be able to easily identify the conflicting feelings. For example, frustration – success.
- Children can easily identify with the characters and feel what they feel.
- That they show equality in emotional expression.
- That they defend the right to expression against repression.
- That the illustrations clearly show the gestural expression of the characters.
- That the illustration is coherent with the text or with the emotions that the characters are feeling.
There are many stories that can be used to educate emotions or emotional intelligence, today we will only tell you about 5 stories to educate emotions. Some of them have become very popular in recent years.
Today we would like to recommend some stories both for your children and for you:
Lobo and Estofado are very peculiar characters. It’s not every day you see a wolf and a sheep with such a strong friendship. During one of their walks, they find a strange egg on the ground and both friends decide to look after it until it cracks and hatches… a crocodile! Throughout this adventure, the little ones will have fun learning values such as friendship, the importance of caring for others, and tolerance in the face of differences.
Author: Steve Smallman
Publisher: Beascoa
The dragon’s tail
Another tantrum? With the help of the main characters in this book, Ana and Javier, the little ones at home learn to recognize and manage anger while they go on adventures hand in hand with these characters. With illustrations by Sandra Aguilar, it is designed for children between the ages of two and a half and eight. It also belongs to a collection from the same publishing house that aims to deal with a different feeling with each title, from joy to peace of mind.
Author: Mireia Canals Botines
Publisher: Salvatella
Malena Ballena
Malena is a little girl who has a hard time at the swimming pool because the other children pick on her for being heavier than they. One day her swimming teacher teaches her a trick and, thanks to it, her life changes and she feels better. This is a book that develops the idea of self-esteem and how our gestures and comments can hurt those around us.
Author: Davide Cali
Publisher: Libros del Zorro Rojo
Guess how much I love you
Sometimes, when we love someone very, very much, we try to find a way to describe the size of our feelings. But as this wonderful story shows us, love is not an easy thing to measure.
Author: Sam McBratney
Publisher: KOKINOS
Stories to raise happy children
It is divided into 10 keys that the author considers important for achieving happy children: giving them unconditional love, developing their self-esteem, encouraging their autonomy, developing their self-confidence, valuing their effort and perseverance, living with honesty and sincerity, respecting their individuality, knowing how to apply limits and rules, providing them with security and educating them in peace and tranquillity. Each of these aspects is accompanied by stories and a practice sheet.
Author: Begoña Ibarrola
Publisher: SM
This selection shows just a few of the large collections of stories about emotions.
What do you think of these 5 stories to teach emotions? If you haven’t yet decided to start with this type of story, at Lápices we encourage you to get one at home. Your little one will enjoy it.
