Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.
- Claude Monet
Dad Suggests was created to share with others the many different things that we have loved sharing with our own children.
Our hope is that - by reading or visiting our children’s bookstore - you will find something special to enjoy with your own family.
- Ryan
These are the best picture books that teach colors. Illustrating a picture book must always be a challenge. But I imagine that illustrating a picture book about colors is a very special challenge in-and-of itself. You’re tasked with capturing the very essence of illustrations themselves.
I think that one of the secrets of My Little Scythe’s greatness is that behind the cute exterior lies an extremely well-balanced and incredibly interesting strategy game. Created by a father/daughter team, this board game is vibrant and detailed and screaming for a cartoon adaptation.
Following your passions is vitally important. Khalida and the Most Beautiful Song is a picture book that teaches kids the importance of following your dreams and listening to your heart. It also comes with the added bonus of championing creativity and the arts in a world that tries to diminish their importance.
I must admit I personally have a soft spot for anything that champions the lost art of the high five. High Five is an interactive picture book that has truly sparked the imagination of our children. Get ready for the craziest and most serious high five competition you’ve ever seen.
Can you make it through this list without shedding a tear? I think it’s important to cry every now and then. And I think it’s actually a good thing for kids to see Dad shed a few tears as well. So buckle up and brace yourself for the tearjerkers to come.
What we really love collecting now are games that introduce strategy and decision making in a bite-size, family-friendly format. Very recently we’ve added a new board game to our collection that fits this description perfectly. Its name is Honga.
The Little Green Girl by Lisa Anchin is a beautiful picture book that reminds me to truly appreciate the people that I love for who they are. It’s a reminder to celebrate what it is that makes them special. And it’s a wonderful tool for teaching empathy to our kids.
This style of reading aloud creates a much more engaging experience for everybody involved. If you start early with your little ones, you’re going to encourage a lifetime of thoughtful reflection and engagement with literature.
These are the best board games for 2-year-olds. They might teach practical skills like cooperating and counting and following directions. But, most of all, they are fun - and they provide us very valuable bonding time for the whole family.
My First Castle Panic has turned out to be a perfect family board game for us. Having a 3-year-old and a 3 year age gap between our kids always makes it a truly remarkable experience when we find a game that legitimately works for all of us in the spirit of a true family game night.
Let’s Have a Dog Party! is a perfect addition to our collection of books that can teach empathy to kids. But it is certainly more than just an empathy lesson - it’s also a beautiful story about love and friendship.
Our son’s imagination is very strong, and he’s prone to get super excited when he gets his hands on something like Zombie Kidz Evolution and its tracking system. And the more he heard about this board game, the more excited he got.
We are firm believers in the magic made while reading to your kids - not to mention how incredibly important it can be for a child’s development. While diapers may be a very useful and practical choice for a baby shower, I always make a point of including some of our favorite books as well.
Dragon Night by J. R. Krause is a beautiful, new picture book about friendship - and taking care of each other. And there are many reasons I’m very excited to add it to our collection of books that help pass empathy on to our children.
All five of these games give me a mental workout where I begin to calculate my options and the possible outcomes, just like I’m playing chess. But my wife and our 6-year-old give me more than my fair share of defeats.
Bedtime for Frances is perfect because it does so many things well - primarily humor, fear, and a display of loving, patient parenting. It’s very hard to argue with the credentials of a book that legitimately shines in all three of these categories.
From my experience, it’s clear to see that no matter what the medium, being given a choice during a story fires up our 6-year-old’s imagination and sucks him into the action like nothing else. I really think Prospero Hall and Z-Man knocked it out of the park with House of Danger. It’s like the perfect storm of imagination for a family activity.
I think that spreading happiness is just about as noble a cause as you can come across these days. So I’m very excited to begin a series of articles titled How to Teach Empathy to Kids. The first book in this series is The Happy Book by Andy Rash - a very appropriately-named starting place.
