Read & Think: Chicken Lily

After reading Three Hens and a Peacock recently, #thebigone and I continued our discussion of knowing your strengths, and valuing your abilities by reading Chicken Lily. This sweet picture book written by Lori Mortensen and illustrated by Nina Victor Crittenden is a great way to keep the conversation going, and bring the idea of bravery into the chat as well.

Lily is the cutest little chick who is great at lots of things, but lacking confidence in the face of uncertainty or new experiences. As a pretty anxious person myself, I see a lot of me in Lily. Public speaking? No. Raising my hand to answer a question? Nope, nope, nope. Don’t even get me started on heights. Or spiders. Or arriving first at a party. [Seriously, I’m a scaredy cat.]

Even though I can fully acknowledge the limits of my own confidence and bravery, that is not how I want my kids to grow up. I don’t want them having anxiety & nerves that are disproportionate to the stressful stuff in their lives. Chicken Lily provided #thebigone and I with the perfect opportunity to chat a bit about our fears, and the times we have been brave enough to face them, just like Lily.

When he used the free creative writing and drawing printables to do some more thinking on the topic, #thebigone may have taken a few artistic liberties in the illustration portion of his work… For the record, every nurse I have ever encountered at his pediatrician’s office has been very kind, they have never once let out an evil laugh prior to administering an injection, and no, the needle wasn’t really that big!

Give your kids a chance to think, write, draw, and talk about a time when they felt a little chicken, but faced their fears anyway. Everyone benefits from a reminder of their inner strength and a few moments of shameless pride once in a while!

What experience did your kids bring up during your discussion? I’d love to hear about it, so let me know in the comments, or take some pictures of their work and tag me on social media!

Printables right here, if you’re looking:

Activities based on children’s literature are a great opportunity to help your kids with retention and comprehension of the stories you share. Here’s some other great ideas to try!