Peter the Cow is having a bad day. After missing the bus and wiping out on his bike, he loses his temper and gets in trouble. To make matters worse, all the other kids and cows are teasing him, calling him "Moody Cow." Peter's day just seems to get worse until his grandfather comes over. Can Grandpa teach him to settle his mind and let go of his frustration? This vibrant children's book is a fun and funny way to introduce children to the power of meditation. With full-color illustrations by the author, Moody Cow is ideal for parent-child sharing and for repeat reads.
Moody Cow Meditates
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"It’s a great way to introduce children to the practice of meditation, while also helping them become aware of their feelings." —Tynette Deveaux, "Good Reads for Little Buddhas," Shambhala Sun
"Salty, satisfying, and clever book." —Spirituality & Practice
"An amazing, yet simplistically beautiful story that teaches children (and caregivers) how to meditate." —Circles of Light
"This book is a true gem to those of us with children and that struggle with trying to teach them meditation." —Precious Metal
"Salty, satisfying, and clever book." —Spirituality & Practice
"An amazing, yet simplistically beautiful story that teaches children (and caregivers) how to meditate." —Circles of Light
"This book is a true gem to those of us with children and that struggle with trying to teach them meditation." —Precious Metal
About the Author
Kerry Lee MacLean has been meditating since she was 14. Together with her husband and three daughters, she leads children's meditative arts and Shambhala Rites of Passage programs around the world. Her workshops teach children to self-settle and self-soothe using The Great Mind-in-a-Jar Experiment, Zen archery, rainbow calligraphy, Haiku Hikes, yoga and sitting meditation. She is the author ofPeaceful Piggy MeditationandThe Family Meditation Book.
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More About the Author
Kerry Lee MacLean is author and illustrator of three best-selling and award-winning series of picture books: The Peaceful Piggy Meditation series, the Moody Cow Meditates series and the Pigs Over Colorado series. She has been leading family meditative arts workshops of all kinds at Shambhala Meditation centers in Europe, Australia and North America for 15 years. Kerry just collaborated with 4,000 Boulder elementary school children on the writing and sketches for Pigs Over Boulder 2, to be released November, 2012, and Moody Cow Learns Compassion was just released, too! Her next book will be for parents and kids together: The Family Meditation Workbook.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
62 of 62 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great! Funny and Relevant, and Introduces a Meditation Many Children Will Love
September 29, 2009
Format:Hardcover
I liked the author's prior book on meditation for kids, Peaceful Piggy Meditation, but I think I like this one even better. It is funnier, and teaches a meditation that many preschool and elementary age children will love. The story centers around a young cow/boy who has had a VERY bad day (thus earning him the nickname 'moody cow'). He has a bad dream, his sister bugs him, he misses the school bus, he gets in a bicycle accident - like I said, a VERY bad day. And he gets VERY angry. To help calm him down, his grandfather helps him make a 'mind-jar', where sparkles swirling in agitated water represent his angry thoughts. Then he 'meditates' on the mind-jar by watching it until all the sparkles settle peacefully at the bottom. At that point, of course, he is feeling much better himself too.
Not only is this a great way to introduce meditation (instructions for the mind-jar are included in the back), but it also provides a way to talk about difficult emotions, and the situations in kid's lives that make them feel that way, in an open and non-punitive fashion. And it's appropriate for parents, teachers, and kids of any religious (or non-religious) background - meditation is not presented within a religious framework. Highly recommend!
EDIT 7/9/10 - I came back to edit this review after reading some of the other reviews. It is true that there is a lot more anger represented in this book than others, and that moody cow's expression of that anger - and his sister's - are pretty aggressive. And the mother's initial reaction to the behavior is punitive. But personally, I feel it has a fairy tale feel to it, because the characters are animals, and so these actions trigger discussion, but aren't presented as models for behavior.... Read more ›
Not only is this a great way to introduce meditation (instructions for the mind-jar are included in the back), but it also provides a way to talk about difficult emotions, and the situations in kid's lives that make them feel that way, in an open and non-punitive fashion. And it's appropriate for parents, teachers, and kids of any religious (or non-religious) background - meditation is not presented within a religious framework. Highly recommend!
EDIT 7/9/10 - I came back to edit this review after reading some of the other reviews. It is true that there is a lot more anger represented in this book than others, and that moody cow's expression of that anger - and his sister's - are pretty aggressive. And the mother's initial reaction to the behavior is punitive. But personally, I feel it has a fairy tale feel to it, because the characters are animals, and so these actions trigger discussion, but aren't presented as models for behavior.... Read more ›
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By J. Griffith
Format:Hardcover
I have a very bright, emotionally intense six year old who's best friend loaned us this book a few days ago. We love it! I went out today to buy the fixings to make our own "mind jars"- my son is absolutely fascinated by the idea (he calls it a mad jar). At a playdate this afternoon he related the entire story almost verbatim to another friend, who now also wants to go out and get this book so he can make his own mad jar. Just think, we could end up with a whole population of six-year olds who know how to meditate! Fabulous!
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By J. Steitzer
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I got this book for my Moody Cow daughter, 7 years old, but found that my 5 and 4 year old really benefitted from the simple act of letting their angry thoughts settle using the technique described in this book. It really works well because it is multi-sensory... VISUAL - kids watch as sparkles sink to the bottom of the jar. AUDITORY - they listen to gong to begin the meditation, and again at the end. EMOTIONAL - The grandfather listens to his grandson's misfortunate day, and EMPATHIZES as he goes along.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By E. Berglund
Format:Hardcover
We purchased this book for my sweet & sensitive 4yo boy's birthday. We read and loved Peaceful Piggy, which was rec. by a friend. I do like Moody Cow Meditates, however I do not recommend it for kids younger than 6 for a few reasons: the book is about having an awful day that gets worse and worse and then what 'moody cow' does to feel better & release the negative energy (the mind jar meditation). I love the solution (the meditation) but do not care for the focus on having a terrible day. I have purposely never even suggested you can have a terrible day to my 4yo, and instead have taught him how he can create his day. I do not use words such as 'terrible, awful, rotten' so, we have to delete these words in the beginning of the story, along with ideas such as throwing a ball at a window. I can see how older kids could relate to this (or kids with siblings), and these words are not uncommon to them even if their parents do not use them. Even with this caveat for younger kids, the message in this book is wonderful and I do recommend this book and ALL of her other books! I definitely rec. Peaceful Piggy for the young ones - ages 3 and up. I teach yoga & meditation classes to kids, and we learn tools to release negative energy. I definitely plan to add all of her books to my lending library for kids (ages 6-14).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Sarah_S
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I use this book in my practice as a child therapist. The book hold the kids' interest for the first third, but it starts to get long and a bit repetitive. I tend to paraphrase with younger children to keep them engaged. The best part of this book is that it included instructions to create a "mind jar" - a meditation tool. I would recommend it for kids between 6 and 9 or 10.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Moody Cow Meditates" is a fantastic book that introduces parents, and children, to an ingenious activity that children can get involved with, and seemingly, have the attention span to accomplish.
Peter, now known as Moody Cow, is having an extremely horrible day. His sister ruins on of his things, he trips down some stairs and falls off of his bike. The day couldn't get any worse, but it does for Moody Cow.
After these unfortunate events, his mom calls in the cavalry, his "Zen-like" grandpa. Moody Cow enters a room where his grandpa is sitting in meditation, so Moody sits on a cushion as well. His grandpa grabs a jar full of water and compares the jar to Moody's mind. He also introduces a bowl full of sparkles, and compares them to Moody's angry thoughts.
Moody is taught to grab a pinch of the sparkles and drop them into the jar, as he is doing so he is taught to visualize each pinch as one moment that affected his day. After putting several pinches of sparkles into the jar, it is capped and shaken. His grandpa goes onto explain that this is how his mind is, cluttered by all of the angry thoughts. Moody is taught to sit and watch the jar, to just breathe and watch the bad feelings settle in the jar.
This book is a true gem to those of us with children and that struggle with trying to teach them meditation. I've tried a few times with my son, but his attention span is like that umm, of a kid. He desperately wants to do it, but fidgets.
The last page of the book explains how to set up the meditaion that Moody and his grandpa did. I can't wait to try this as I think it will help my son understand what meditation really is.... Read more ›
Peter, now known as Moody Cow, is having an extremely horrible day. His sister ruins on of his things, he trips down some stairs and falls off of his bike. The day couldn't get any worse, but it does for Moody Cow.
After these unfortunate events, his mom calls in the cavalry, his "Zen-like" grandpa. Moody Cow enters a room where his grandpa is sitting in meditation, so Moody sits on a cushion as well. His grandpa grabs a jar full of water and compares the jar to Moody's mind. He also introduces a bowl full of sparkles, and compares them to Moody's angry thoughts.
Moody is taught to grab a pinch of the sparkles and drop them into the jar, as he is doing so he is taught to visualize each pinch as one moment that affected his day. After putting several pinches of sparkles into the jar, it is capped and shaken. His grandpa goes onto explain that this is how his mind is, cluttered by all of the angry thoughts. Moody is taught to sit and watch the jar, to just breathe and watch the bad feelings settle in the jar.
This book is a true gem to those of us with children and that struggle with trying to teach them meditation. I've tried a few times with my son, but his attention span is like that umm, of a kid. He desperately wants to do it, but fidgets.
The last page of the book explains how to set up the meditaion that Moody and his grandpa did. I can't wait to try this as I think it will help my son understand what meditation really is.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love
Great story with a wonderful lesson . The kids in my yoga class loved it . I made the glitter jar and it was a big hit .
Published 5 days ago by marlene koenig
5.0 out of 5 stars
great social skills lesson
This book will be a great social skills tool for teaching kids with autism self-regulation because the jar provides such a clear visual for what we want them to accomplish. Read more
Published 22 days ago by S.H.D.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kids meditation activity
This seems like a good way to give kids a visual exercise to understand how their thoughts affect them. Read more
Published 2 months ago by M. Paterson-brown
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for toddlers +
I got this and Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda and love both of them. I recommend them for toddlers and older children.
Published 2 months ago by Simone C
3.0 out of 5 stars
Way too long for the younger crowd
This book is way too long for the younger crowd and only has 2 pages on the actual meditation. I was really disappointed. I expected better.
Published 3 months ago by Mary
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cute book
I like this book. I think that it is written in a way that children will understand. I am going to try the meditation method out and see how it works out.
Published 4 months ago by serena andrews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real skills for the real world, good for kids and adults
The more kids (and adults) that meditate in the world, the happier we will all be. This book gives some real world advice on what to do when your day gets a bit too stressful. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Shelley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great children's book
I read this to my three year old when he has a day with an over-the-top tantrum. I practice yoga and meditation and I think this book is a great way to introduce the benefits to... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Tia Piccolo
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book
My daughter's teacher gave refferal to get this book when I told her that my daughter would get angry easily.
It is a nice book, but not simple for 1st grader.
It is a nice book, but not simple for 1st grader.
Published 5 months ago by mimi ito
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nine year old's review
Review from my nine year old daughter: It was a very funny book. I loved it. I liked that it was talking about Moody cows day. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ari Lin
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