Karen Katz 'No Hitting' inspired art

Since our core subject this month is family it felt like a perfect opportunity to talk about behavior and how we should treat our friends and family. We were gifted the Little Dos & Don'ts: A Gift Box Set written by Karen Katz and I especially loved her 'No Hitting' book . It's basically a story about kids who are upset and giving them alternatives to take our their frustration.

This felt just right with a very determined, temperamental three year old that I have had on my hands.

Supplies:
Book: No Hitting by Karen Katz
clay (we used air dry but really any mushy sensory clay would work)

We read the book and talked about things that make us upset and what are ways to let me know that he is upset instead of hitting, pushing, or yelling at someone. In the book the example of playing with clay was given so that is what we did. I set out a small ball of clay in front of them and let them explore it when it was dry. After a few minutes I poured some water on it and let them explore it wet. Once done I set their creations to dry and will later go back and let them paint it.

It was a simple way to explain different ways to let out frustration and something I have been referencing back to over the last few days that has really seemed to help. I am looking forward to using the other two books in the set in a similar fashion as well.

**note Mr. Rogers has a three part episode series about just this. Finding different ways to let out your anger, it has been a wonderful addition to this lesson**