I know I am not the only mom God has blessed with very strong willed and passionate children! Helping my little ones learn to understand and control their strong feelings is a daily challenge. One of the most successful techniques I have found is reading books to familiarize them with the different emotions, normalize their strong feelings, and teach techniques for dealing with emotions. Here are some of our favorite books about emotions, feelings, social situations, and more.

What Do You Do With a Grumpy Kangaroo? is one of our favorite first books about feelings. Grumpy kangaroo feels a range of emotions from anger to fear to sadness to happiness throughout his day. This book is simple enough to help a one or two year old to name the emotions.

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear is not specifically about emotions, but it is easy to pick up the wide range of emotions the mouse feels throughout the story and point out his expressions.

The Rabbit Listened is a powerful lesson for parents and children about the importance of just being there and listening to someone when they’re sad. Toddler Taylor experiences loss, and many animals think they know how to help with words, distractions, and solutions. But in the end, the rabbit is the animal helps the most because he is willing to simply listen to Taylor.

Jilly’s Terrible Temper Tantrums: And How She Outgrew Them is the perfect book for the young child who struggles with terrible temper tantrums. Jilly has to learn to allow her parents to help her manage her strong emotions. I love how Jilly’s parents exhibit patience and calm throughout the story!

When I Feel Scared, When I Feel Sad , and When I Feel Angry are part of a series of books written specifically to help young children identify the emotions they feel and deal with these emotions in healthy ways. These books contain a section at the back with teaching tips, questions to discuss with your child, and further ideas for handling emotions.

Can God See Me in the Dark? takes a Catholic look at a mild fear of the dark by addressing whether God is still watching over children in the dark. We love this series by Neal Lozano!

One Special Day: A Story for Big Brothers and Sisters is not overtly about emotions, but it does offer a good lesson about different situations where different feelings are appropriate to act on. Active, crazy Spencer takes his energy and wild feelings outside so that he can be calm when his new little sister is around.This book is great for reading to new older siblings to help explain how to act around a baby.

Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale recounts the struggles of Clark, a cheerful, boisterous shark who wants to play with others but keeps knocking them over. His teacher helps him learn to control his desire to bump into others so he can make friends.

The Treasure Tree: Helping Kids Understand Their Personality is a wonderful story about four animal friends with very different personalities who use their strengths to together complete a treasure hunt. This book is great for showing children that no matter whether you are strong-willed or meticulous or anxious by nature, you have something to contribute to a group of friends.

We love What Should Danny Do?, a creative book that presents the concept of free will in an engaging manner for young children. Check out my review here!

Not a book, but I’ve had good success playing Q’s Race to the Top Educational Board Game as an extension of reading about emotions and feelings. This game helps children practice skills to deal with emotions and empathize with others.