The first time I heard the book read at a toddler story time, I fell in love with My Many Colored Days. The way the colors and animals give children a connection to the meaning of the feelings described on each of the pages is simple yet profound. It is seemingly written for that tender toddler age.
As a baby steps (no pun intended) into toddlerhood they have a full range of emotions to grapple with, partly in relation to their reach towards independence. Another part of that is the attempt at effective communication that is often times cute and often times frustrating. Consider for a moment a baby who has graduated the world of cruising and now toddles towards things they want. Sometimes those things are off limits as we protect our baby from danger. Yet, from their perspective, the other walking people seem to have full reign and few limits. A whole new world is open to them, yet invisible boundaries still limit them. On the flip side, exhilaration abounds at all the new achievements toddlers experience; in part due the novelty of being able to do something they once could not do. So often times the feelings are felt in a big way.
Just as babies are not born with all of their teeth and teething seems an unfair painful experience, toddlers must undergo a lot of trial and error as they progress in their verbal language journey. And so baby sign language has been a tool of choice for the modern day parent. I knew right away that I would utilize this lesser known book of Dr. Seuss’ in my Sign, Play & Learn classes as a tool to show parents how a book can connect the dots for complex ideas such as feelings.
Here I share with you a reading and signing of My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. Let me know which of the signs you plan to show your baby/toddler.
