The Someone New is a wonderful story by Jill Twiss and EG Keller about being brave in the face of the new and unknown. Join us on an adventure as we read the story and explore its themes with our bodies and minds. Thank you to teaching artist Heather Hughes for bringing this story to life for us.
Story Time: Watch and Listen
Watch as our friend Heather reads us The Something New.
Explore Emotions
Just like the characters in the story, when we’re feeling big feelings on the inside, our bodies and faces show those feelings on the outside. With a parent or a friend or even by yourself in front of a mirror, see what it feels like to act out some of these feelings.
Jitterbug- At the beginning of the story, Jitterbug the chipmunk feels nervous about someone new arriving. Jitterbug is afraid that things might change if someone new moves in, and new things can be scary.
- What do Jitterbug’s body and face look like when Jitterbug is afraid or nervous?
- What do YOUR body and face look like when you feel afraid or nervous?
Pudding-When we first meet Pudding the snail, Pudding is sad about the storm that has ruined their home.
- What do you think Pudding the snail’s body and face look like when Pudding is sad?
- What do YOUR body and face look like when you feel sad?
At the end of the story, Jitterbug and Pudding are happy to be friends living their lives together
- How do you imagine feeling happy changes the way their bodies and faces look?
- How do your body and face look when YOU feel happy!?
Now, let’s try other feelings out and see how you look and move as they change. Here are some to try:
- Worried
- Exhausted
- Mad
- Excited
- Thankful
- Frustrated
- Loving
Let’s Get Hands-On
Connection Hearts
When we’re feeling nervous or lonely it’s easy to forget how many wonderful people we have in our life. This craft will help you think about all of the people that mean the most to you and to remember that even during the times we’re far away from the people we love, they’re always with us in our hearts and minds.
- Find a piece of paper, it can be any size or color you’d like. In the center of the paper, draw a heart, and inside that heart, write the names of the people you live with (don’t forget to include yourself!)
- Now draw smaller hearts surrounding the big heart, and in the middle of those hearts, write the names of family members and friends who mean the most to you.
- Once you’ve drawn and filled in all of the hearts with names, draw connection lines between all of the hearts.
Now that all of the hearts are connected to your big heart in the center, take a look at your picture. See how every heart is connected in some way, even the ones that feel really far from the center? That’s how it always is—even when we have to be far from one another, we’re always connected.
Bravery Crown
- Take a piece of construction paper (or any paper!) and measure to make sure it fits around your head—if you need to tape or glue a couple of pieces of paper together so that it fits, that’s great!
- Lay the paper flat on the table, cut the top into any pattern you’d like and decorate it with crayons, markers, stickers, ANYTHING! We wrote words and statements that make us feel strong and brave on ours, as well as decorating it.
- Whenever you feel nervous or upset, you can put your crown on and be reminded that you can always practice being brave, even when you’re feeling scared.
Bravery Playlist
Listen to this playlist to pep you up when you need a little help feeling brave.