”We say we can. We make a plan. We get right to it. And then we do it!”
Sometimes I am so grateful for social media and how it connects people. I just happened to be on twitter one day and must have made a comment about a duck (random, I know), The Can Do Duck re-tweeted it and the rest is history. I popped over to check them out and was so impressed with these unique motivational children’s books that I had to have them!
Can’t is a word that we struggle with daily in our home, for the past 6 months it seems to have gotten progressively worse with Alivia. We have run into constant challenges with getting her to step outside of her comfort zone and trying new things, I’m not entirely sure where she picked up the word can’t, but it is a word I’d like to erase from her vocabulary some days. I’m always on the hunt for educational books to help her overcome her fears and I’ve found a gem in this motivational series!
We have read both The Can Do Duck & Can Do and Friends to the Rescue and have been so impressed with both books, with fun playful rhyming and silly children’s illustrations they easily grab Alivia’s attention. The rhyming serves double duty, you can read the story or have fun and sing-song it while reading, the past couple of times we’ve read the book we stop at the last word and see if Alivia can guess what comes next.
The Can Do Duck; a Story about believing in yourself was our first read. It tells a fun, motivational tale and helps both mom, dad and the kids learn to overcome the “I Can’t!” mentality. Often times we get so wrapped up in fear that we trick ourselves into thinking we just can’t do something before we have even tried; this book focuses on positive self talk using positive imagery to overcome fears. Most importantly, it shares a message of unconditional love regardless of success, which I find so incredibly important when trying to motivate kids. No one wants to try to do something new if they are going to be worried if they fail that someone will be disappointed in them.
Can Do and friends to the rescue; A story about getting along and working together was our next read, I definitely preferred the message of the first Can Do Duck story though there is definitely some valuable teaching in this one as well. The second book in the series focuses on controlling your anger and outbursts when you disagree with someone and how to instead brain storm ideas and learn to compromise and collaborate without hurting other people’s feelings. I did love that this story touched on environmentalism with trying to save the pond! Peaceful communications are extremely important for all of us to focus on, it’s easy to blow off the handle and get frustrated, but that certainly doesn’t help us achieve anything.
At the end of each book is a section with parent and teacher guidelines, questions you can discuss after the story is over to continue the dialogue, how to implement the lesson in every day life, and how to reinforce the positive messages they’ve just learned. I love that the positive mantra is easy to remember and fun to sing, it’s a great way to start off the day and keep the positive energy flowing!
You can buy the books off their website in both paperback and e-book form, if you are an educator I would recommend grabbing the multi-book discount and sharing throughout the classroom! The books are very reasonably priced and printed on thick pages which makes them perfect for little fingers (and prevents major ripping!). Grab yours now!
I was so thrilled to hear that not only is there a series of books for The Can Do Duck, there is also a fun musical opening this February in New York! The show will run for four weeks starting February 8, 2015 and shares the story of how the family wrote the Can Do Duck series and learned to say “I Can!”.
These books were a labor of love and the musical is no different. The main song was written by dad & daughter, and the show itself was written, created and directed by Ducktor Morty’s daughter Arielle!
The musical follows the story of two families, a human family and a duck family, as they learn to try new things, work as a team and learn to love and accept each other even with their individual differences.
For more information on Can Do Duck; The Musical visit www.candoduckthemusical.com. If I was closer, I would so be going!
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(And yes, the books can double as periscope, have fun with them!)