Customer Reviews

Take a Deep Breath: The Kids' Play-Away Stress Book/Book, Clay and Cookie Cutters (A play and read book)

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I am a mental health therapist who has worked in the counseling field for 23 years. I bought this book years ago and loved it. I lent it out and never got it back which led me to purchasing another one. This is one of the most creative and fun books that I have ever used to work with children on stress. The book comes with playdoh and cookie cutters to cut out figures and the children whom you are reading this book to get to use clay to learn about stress. One example of how the use of clay is utilized in the book includes making a shape like a snake with clay and then stretching it till it breaks to show how stress can make you feel like your body is stretched to thin by stress. Another example of the clever use of clay involved hitting the clay until it broke in pieces which showed how stress can make you feel like you are going to explode in a hundred pieces. The clay is also used as you teach coping skills. There are other techniques used to teach coping including breathing to relax, using imagination to picture a relaxing scene, using imagery so the child can picture himself floating onto a cloud as the stress is left behind and progressive relaxation exercises. I would highly recommend this book for both professionals and parents whom are concerned about how that special child is handling stress. I have used this book with youth as young as 5 (had to do some extra explaining here and there but the child caught on) all the way to adolescent. I highly recommend this product. I takes some stress techniques often taught to adults but reframes these skills so a child can understand and implement them. Having said this, I would not suggest that the child be given the book to read on his own. The lessons are clearer and easier to understand under the guidance of an adult.

Today's children are surrounded by stress. They experience stress in every situation from what they see, hear, and do. This is a major factor in causing both psychological and physical problems and yet we do very little to teach children the very important lessons on how to deal with this stress. This very uniques book combines activities, advice, and checklists to help with this never-ending job. Includes clay and two cookie cutters for the activities.