Sweet Picture Books
Embracing Positive Friendships
Positive friendships help us develop trust, compassion and a sense of belonging. Lena Aburdene Derhally writes in The Washington Post, “Friendship is often underrated, considering the tremendous impact it has on our well being. Early-childhood friendship is something that is frequently overlooked as a positive developmental influence. We don’t always realize how attached young children are to their friends.”
Harmonious friendships take practice. Arguments and fighting are common occurrences among children. As children grow they will make friends and lose friends and they may not always get along. Through these ups and down children will develop different types of friendships where they can share hobbies, humour and sorrows.
Starting school is one of the biggest time in a child’s life to make new friends. Some children will confidently walk into their new classroom. For others, it is an overwhelming experience. They may hang around the doorway too shy to enter. It can be hard for these children to make new friends because of their fears.
Resources to Help Develops Positive Friendships
Here are a few resources for shy or nervous children to make positive friendships in any environment, not just school.
- HuffPost: 8 Tips for Helping Shy Kids Make Friends
- Jump Start Your Confidence: The Importance of Friendship for our Kids
- Psychology Today: How shy kids can gain comfort and confidence in social situations
- WikiHow: How to Help Shy Kids Make Friends
Here are a few more resources to help children develop positive friendships.
- Child Mind Institute: Friends and Socializing
- Harmony Early Learning Journey: 6 Ways to Encourage Long-lasting Friendships in Childhood
- Healthy Families Beyond Blue: Developing Friendships
- PBS Parents: How to Help Your Five-Year-Old Build Healthy Relationships
- Northern Ireland Curriculum: Getting Along with Others
- Scholastic: Building Bridges of Friendship: Classroom Community Activities
- Teaching Tolerance: New Friends Learning Plan
- British Council: Friendship Lesson Plan
- Scholastic: The Very Lonely Firefly Lesson Plan
Don’t let children be hard on themselves if they find it difficult approaching new children. Their confidence will grow with each new encounter, even if each one doesn’t end with more than an exchange of smiles. Be positive and encouraging!
This collection of picture books encourage children to share, cooperate and see events from a different perspective. The books offer strategies on how to work towards positive and good-natured friendships without being spoon fed.
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Positive Friendship Picture Books
Alfie by Thyra Heder
The Almost Terrible Playdate
The Forever Tree
The Girl and the Bicycle
Love, Triangle by Marcie Colleen
Molly and Mae: A Friendship Journey by Danny Parker
Nothing Rhymes with Orange by Adam Rex
On Sudden Hill by Linda Sarah
The Perfect Pillow by Eric Pinder Cover
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld Cover
Sad, The Dog by Sandy Fussell
Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev
Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass by Dean Robbins
Yoga Friends by Mariam Gates & Rolf Gates
Do you have any favourite picture books to promote positive friendships in your classroom or at home? Let me know in the comments below. It would be great to have a selection of recommended books to choose from when I update this post.
You can also check out other related posts on Children’s Library Lady below. Finally, you will find some more friendship related books from Amazon.