Barefoot Book of the Month:September

WOW, so summer is over (well not officially but there is only a slight hope of more sun and a late holiday) so it's time to think about getting back to school and making a fresh start! Our Barefoot Book of the month for September had to be the fabulous new addition to the ' Bear' series, Bear's School Day.

With Bear as your teacher, you can join in and follow the fun of the school day. There’s singing, crafts and story time, and even a map to help you find your way around. The illustrations are so colourful and engaging, with so much detail put not every page. Our favourite is the super cute nap time image, which helps children see that there first year at school can be comforting and fun. A lot of children will be looking forward to school, so this book is a great opportunity to be excited together and for your children to talk to you about what they are most looking forward to or are most apprehensive about.

We especially love the last  page, which shows a map of a school where children are encouraged to show bear around the different parts of the school. This is a very useful tool to help prepare children for their first day and what to expect. Why not ask your school if they have a map so that you can talk your little one through what to expect and encourage school to be a fun place to be.

If your children are a little on the quiet side when they come home from school, take a look at this article for some tips on what questions to ask about their school day and how they are feeling. Children will have had a busy day and will be full of different emotions that they may not be used to, so the last thing they may want to do is take about it all. Some of the questions in this article are a little intrusive for our liking but there are some great conversation starters that may just help your children talk about their day without feeling the pressure.