Managing Big Feelings and Hidden Fears: A Practical Guidebook for ‘Who’s Afraid of the Monster?’

To get the full Who’s Afraid of the Monster? experience, this book can be purchased alongside the storybook. Both books can be purchased together as a set: Who’s Afraid of the Monster: A Storybook and Guide for Managing Big Feelings and Hidden Fears, 9781032334318.

A vital resource, this guide provides practical strategies to address children’s anxieties about real and hidden issues. Intended for use with the accompanying storybook, Who’s Afraid of the Monster?, which offers a child-friendly story in verse of a monster who nobody has seen or heard and a King who pretends to be brave but is very scared. This guide provides the theory behind and offers practical solutions to a variety of Big Feelings and Hidden Fears.

A companion guide for use by primary educators, support staff and all those working with children, the book is divided into three easy to follow parts. Part One presents the theory behind how and why Big Feelings in children arise and how Creative Art and Drama can help. Part Two contains activities and exercises with photocopiable instructions, as well as a list of resources for each activity and guidelines for safe working. Part Three offers further activities and ways in which to exploit the story such as discussion points, plays and models.

Underpinned by substantiated theory into the stages of children’s emotional development, it offers realistic solutions for parents, carers, teachers and classroom assistants who simply do not have the time or resources to attend to their children’s very real but hard-to-verbalise fears.