These videos are designed for children aged 3-6 to enjoy with an adult. We have created this series for children who love to listen to stories.
*JH Kids videos are accessible to all. To view subtitles on videos, click on the icon in the bottom right-hand corner of video. You can move the subtitles around the video, so it doesn't block the picture book by clicking on the subtitles and dragging them to where you want them.
Join us as we read "In my heart, a Book of Feelings". Written by Jo Witek and illustrated by Christine Roussey.
Activity 1: Print feelings cards and enjoy 5 games together. You will need- scissors and glue. Click here to access free printable.
Activity 2: Create your own feelings faces. You will need: paper or paper plate, textas/crayons/coloured pencils, and if you want to take it to the next level- glue, scissors, string, googly eyes, playdough, cut out shapes etc. Click here for face ideas and free printable.
Activity 3: Change the lyrics to "If you're happy and you know it" and play Simon Says with a twist.
Join us as we read "The Very Cranky Bear". Written by Nick Bland.
Activity 1: Lion paper plate face - paint or colour a paper plate the colours of a lion. To make his mane you can use whatever items you have at home like coloured paper, newspaper, crape paper or even wool.
Activity 2: Moose headband antlers - trace around your hands and cut out your hand prints. You can use whatever colored paper you have available and then glue or staple them onto a crown.
Activity 3: Zebra handprint - You can either paint your hand to make a hand print or trace around your hand and then draw or paint in the black stripes.
Activity 4: Woolly Sheep - print out a picture of a sheep and glue cotton wool all over the sheep making him all soft and woolly.
Join us as we read “Room on the Broom”. Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.
Activity 1: Colouring in page. You will need a printer and colours of your choice. Click here for printable colouring page.
Activity 2: Friends on a Broom. You will need a printer (or you can draw your own broom) and colours of your choice. Click here for printable broom image.
Activity 3: Grab a plastic bottle from the recycling bin, clean it out and use your imagination to create your very own special potion. Ideas may include: water, soap, food colouring, natural items that you find outside etc. Stir it up, seal the lid tightly and enjoy watching the swirling around- just don’t drink it…it won’t be tasty or healthy!
Activity 4: Matching game. You will need a printer, scissors and if you want to colour the cards in then you can use crayons or textas. You can spot the images in the book or play a matching game with your sibling or parent. Click here for printable cards
Click here for more Room on the Broom activities, including some for older children.
Join us as we read "Wilfrid Gordan McDonald Partridge". Written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas.
Activity 1: Origami box – you will need a square piece of paper and origami box instructions. Click here for video instructions or click here for picture instructions
Activity 2: Create your own memory box. Everyone in the family has time to collect 1-2 important memory objects. Once everyone has collected their objects, the whole family sits together and takes turn sharing their memories and explain why they are so special. If you like you can keep them together in a box.
Activity 3: Decorating Miss Nancy’s beautiful, colourful dress. You will need a picture of an old lady sitting on a chair, crape paper, scissors and glue. click here for a picture to print or have fun drawing your own.
Join us as we read "When I’m Feeling Angry" Written and illustrated by Trace Moroney.
Activity 1: “When I feel angry” board/ box. Sit down together and have a think about what helps you and your child when you feel angry. You will need paper, colours, scissors and glue for the board OR household items for your calm down box. Draw an angry face in the middle of the page and draw calming down activities around it. Ideas include exercise, stretching, blowing up a balloon, squeezing playdough, scribbling, crying, running your hands under water etc. and you can draw pictures, or add visual prompts to your board. You can also create a box that has in it a balloon, straw, crayons and paper, play dough, something that smells nice, something stretchy, something rough. Click here to watch a video about creating your very own Messy Feelings Masterpiece. Click here for 5 ways to make your own squishy ball.
Activity 2: Shape Breathing. You will need a printer, crayons/textas/ pencils and scissors. Or if you don’t have a printer you can draw the shapes yourself. Decorate the shapes and trace the perimeter with your finger as you breathe. You can cut them out, laminate them and pop them into your calm down box. Click here for printables.
Activity 3: Monster Bubbles. You will need a cup, milk OR water and a straw. Fill up the cup half way with liquid and blow through the straw. A fun everyday activity, and also a great activity to calm angry feelings. Or to create even bigger bubbles you will need a bowl, half filled with water and a few drops of liquid dish soap. Place a towel underneath the bowl and pour some drops of soap into the water. Pop the straw into the bowl and blow… See those monster bubbles grow and bubble out of the bowl.
Click here for more resources for helping children manage anger.
Join us as we read "Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella" Written by Pamela Allen.
Activity 1: Creating your own car. You will need half a paper plate, glue, scissors, paint, crayons, textas and paper for the car windows and wheels. Click here for step by step instructions.
Activity 2: Make a crab with your hand print and a paper plate. You will need a paper plate, paint, scissors, stapler or glue and a marker.
Activity 3: Toilet paper roll puppets, using whatever fun products you have at home like balloons, soft balls, string, wool and even wrapping paper. Get creative when making the puppets and put on a fun puppet shows for your friends and family.
Join us as we read "Don’t Worry Grandpa". Written by Nick Ward.
Activity 1: Guess the feeling game part one. Click here to print out a copy of feeling cards. Spread out a set of cards face up. Take turns to choose a card but don’t tell the other players the card you have chosen. Tell a short story about a time you felt like that and see if the other players can guess which card you chose.
Activity 2: Guess the feeling game part two. Using the same cards from the previous activity. Spread out a set of cards face up. Take turns to choose a card but don’t tell the other players which you have chosen. Make a face and see if the other players can guess which card you chose just from your facial expressions. Click here to show your prereaders a video example of the game.
Activity 3: Thunder cloud weather craft. You will need white paint for clouds, yellow paper for lightning bolts and glitter to make the page shimmer for the lightning show. Click here for an example.
Activity 4: Rain cloud in a jar. This is a weather science experiment giving your children a chance to explore clouds and rain in a hands-on and engaging way. You will need shaving cream, clear jug/cup filled with water, food colouring and a liquid dropper or syringe. Click here for instructions.
Join us as we read "Let’s Celebrate Rosh Hashana". Written by David Sokoloff.
Activity 1: DIY Shofar using paper or cardboard, paint, crayons, stickers and sticky tape. Click here for instructions.
Activity 2: Pompom Apples. You will need wool, a little piece of cardboard and 2 pipe cleaners. Click here for detailed instructions.
Activity 3: Science Experiment- Apple Volcanoes. This is a simple baking soda, vinegar and food colouring experiment which turns a wholesome treat into a fizzing, frothing volcano. Click here for instructions.
Join us as we read "The Very Best Place for a Penny". Written by Dina Herman Rosenfeld and Illustrated by Leonid Pinchevsky and Eliyahu Meshchaninov.
Activity 1: Make your own Tzedakka/Charity box. You can use a cereal box, empty plastic container, milo tin, spice container etc. You will need bits and bobs from around your house like stickers, stams, pipecleaners, crayons etc. to decorate your box. Please ask an adult to help you cut out the hole on top for the coins. Click here for an example.
Activity 2: Origami Dove. Yom Kippur is a time to pray for peace. This is a fun and cute reminder. You can even hang it somewhere in your home to fly around. Click here for video instructions. Click here for picture instructions.
Activity 3: Yom Kippur entertainment box. Find a shoe box or a large container. Before Yom Kippur fill it with some healthy snacks, games and toys that you can quietly play with on your own while your parents are praying or resting.
Join us as we read "Sukkot". Written by David Sokoloff.
Activity 1: Create your own Sukkah using paddle pop sticks and glue. You can get creative with what you use for Schach. In the examples in the video, I dyed spaghetti green as that is what I had at home and could use. Instructions to dye pasta.
Activity 2: Do lemons and lime float or sink? You will need a lemon, lime, container with water and maybe a knife and a vegetable peeler. Please see link provided for instructions and explanation about the experiment. Click here for instructions and explanation.
Activity 3: Sensory food challenge for the whole family to participate in either in the sukkah or at the dining table. One person in the family goes into the kitchen and picks a variety of foods that could be sour, sweet, crunchy, slimy, chewy or salty. Everyone closes their eyes and tries each food stating what it is and what type of food it is. You can take turns being the food picker and eater.
Join us as we read "A Squash and a Squeeze". Written by Julia Donaldson and Illustrated by Axel Scheffler.
Activity 1: Paper plate cow. You will need a paper or plastic plate, some black paper, pink paper (or colour in white paper). Goggly eyes or you can draw your own. Scissors, glue/stapler/tape and a black marker. Click here for an example.
Activity 2: Lego recreation. Have fun with this one. You can use lego, or a shoe box with dolls and stuffed animals. Let your imaginations run wild. Click here for an example.
Activity 3: make something squash and squeeze. Find something around the house that you can squash and find something around the house that you can squeeze.
Activity 4: Play squashed sardines. This is a reverse hide-and-seek game where one person hides and everyone else in the family individually goes to find them, when they find the person who is hiding, they squish in and hide with them like squashed sardines. Click here for game instructions.
Activity 5:- Bouncy Egg Experiment. You will need a raw egg, a glass, white vinegar, and some patience as it can take a few days. Click here to watch the experiment.
Join us as we read "Semi’s New Friend". Written by Linda Burdett and Kim YoungCheol.
Activity 1: Friends paper chain. These are super easy to make and all you need is paper, scissors and some colouring pencils. Click here for instructions.
Activity 2: Create your own friendship tree with painted hand prints and an image of a tree that can be either drawn or printed. Click here for instructions.
Activity 3: Science experiment showing and explaining how effective cleaning our hands with soap is against germs. You will need a bowl or container, glitter and dishwashing liquid. Click here for instructions.
Join us as we read "Grumpy Monkey". Written by Suzanne Lang and illustrated by Max Lang.
Activity 1: Ocean in a bottle. You will need an empty plastic bottle, vegetable oil, water and food colouring. Click here for instructions.
Activity 2: Action card game. Print out these cards, colour them in and cut them out carefully. You can play a matching game with them or an action card game. Take turns doing the actions/movements and you may find yourselves rolling around laughing with your children. Click here for printable cards.
Activity 3: Feeling faces. Create your very own Grumpy Monkey face or any other feelings. You can colour in the money face, laminate it and then your child can cut out the facial features to create different expressions on the monkey. This can be silly and also a tool that they can use when they are having difficulty expressing themselves with words. Click here for printable images.
Join us as we read "When I’m Feeling Loved". Written by Trace Moroney.
Activity 1: Make a list (write or draw) of people that you love and love you. Discuss the idea of love being limitless – no matter how many people we love, there is always more love in our hearts.
Activity 2: Get creative and make a card for someone you love. Ask your child who they would like to make a card for and talk about why they chose that person. Is that person kind to them? Do they enjoy spending time with that person? Think about how that person makes you feel and how we can try to display those same qualities to other people around us.
Activity 3: Experiment time. Get some cups filled with water, food colouring and paper towel and what the coloured water running up the paper towels. This is how love and happiness and move from one person to another. Click here for instructions.
Join us as we read "Will you be my Friend?" Written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram.
Activity 1: Make your very own friends crown. Print off the crown template. Click here for template. Colour it in, cut it out and then tape or staple it together.
Activity 2: flower handprints, get your friends over and paint flower hand prints. The hand print flowers are your friendships blossoming. You will need paper, paint and maybe a paint brush.
Activity 3: Get the whole family to put on a puppet show around asking someone to play with them. Often practicing with puppets and toys reduces the fears surrounding new scenarios.
Activity 4: Create your own stress reliever using baby oil, jar, water, food coloring and glitter. Click here for instructions.
Join us as we read "The Smartest Giant in Town" Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.
Activity 1: Float a boat. You will need a plastic bowl, blutack or playdough, a straw or paddle pop stick, a piece of paper or cardboard, tape, scissors and paint or colours to decorate your sail. Click here for online instructions.
Activity 2: Make your own tie. Make one to give someone else. You will need paper, scissors, something to colour with and a stapler. Click here for a tie template.
Activity 3: Kindness crown. You can add stickers to your kindness crown when you do kind things for others. You will need scissors, something to colour with, stapler. Click here to print out a crown template.
Join us as we read "You get what you get and you don’t get upset!" Written by Heath McKenzie.
Activity 1: Sing this fun song with your whole family and think of actions that can go with the song, record it and send us your version if you'd like.
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
If you’re surprised and you know it say “Oh my!”
If you’re sad and you know it rub your eyes “Boo hoo”.
If you’re scared and you know it shiver and shake.
If you’re sleepy and you know it close your eyes.
If you’re angry and you know it stomp your feet.
And always make sure end up with “happy” again.
Activity 2: Create emotion masks. Sometimes we feel disappointed when we don't get what we want. You can use these masks to display different emotions that are You will need paper plates cut in half, textures, paddle pop sticks and sticky tape.
Activity 3: Playdough Mats. Print off the faces playdough mats and create different play dough faces and talk about the emotions linked to the face created. To make the mats reusable you can laminate them or put them in a plastic sleeve and then put the playdough on top. Download faces here.
Join us as we read "A Chanuka Story for Night Number Three". Written by Me, Matisyohu Dov Ber Chaim Tzvi. Illustrated by Vasilisa & Vitaliy Romanenko.
Activity 1: Watercolour Dreidles. You will need watercolours, or any colouring in items, scissors, cardboard or paper. Click here for instructions.
Activity 2: Drinking Straw Menorahs. You will need straws (paper or plastic), cotton buds, textas, glue or sticky tape, scissors. Click here for instructions.
Activity 3: Flip your own latke. You will need a small paper plate, yellow cellophane or textas, cardboard, stickers if you want, a paddle pop stick, string. Click here for instructions.
Activity 4: Potato Latke Recipe. You will need potatos, onion, eggs, oil. Click here for recipe.
Join us as we read "Being Friends with Bodie Finch". Written and illustrated by Candy Lawrence.
Click here to buy your own copy of the book.
Activity 1: Learn some Auslan sign that could have helped Bodie express his needs and wants:
Activity 2: Stress ball balloons. You can use different ingredients to stuff the balloons. For example, flour, playdough, rice, sand or dirt. This can get very messy but it is a lot of fun. Click here for instructions.
Activity 3: Calming choice book. Together with your kids create a calming choice book using the difference choices of calming techniques. Click here to print out the list of choices and pick out the ones that are right for you and your family.
Join us as we read 'First Day'. Written by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Kim Gamble.
Activity 1: Family portrait. Using paint, crayons, coloured pencils or textures draw a picture of your family just like the children did on their first day of school.
Activity 2: Finish the pattern. Colour in the pictures and work out what images goes next in the pattern.Click here for the activity. You will need scissors, glue and colouring pencils, crayons or textas.
Activity 3: Guess the healthy food game. Print out the images and cut them out. You will need something that your child can place on top of the correct answer like a peg, rock or a small flat toy.
Activity 4: Teddy Bear School Lunch. Place pretend play food or lunch food into different lunch boxes and create a ‘school’ like lunch picnic. This can give your child practice and prepare your child to be able to open their own lunch box and containers when they start big school.
Join us as we read ‘The Playground is Like a Jungle’ by Shona Innes and illustrated by Irisz Agocs.
Activity 1: STOP game. Let’s practice saying ‘Stop’. Stop is a short and strong word that can have varying impacts. When a child feels unsafe we want to teach them to say ‘Stop’ with a loud strong voice to alert those around to what is happening.
Activity 2: Draw a picture of what you enjoy doing in the playground, or a memory of something you didn’t enjoy, and what you can do about it for next time. You will need paper and colours.
Activity 3: Body language game. Use a doll or toy to practice interpreting body language. Feelings express themselves in our bodies. What may this look like on the outside? You can also roleplay as a family or turn it into a guessing game.
Activity 4: Make your own magnifying glass. It can be useful to be like a detective in the playground- curiosity is key. You can foster this curiosity by pretending to be a detective. Click here for instructions.
Further resources for older children here.
Join us as we read “The Great Gratitude Surprise”. Written by Rod Soper.
Activity 1: Create your own family gratitude box. Each family member can choose an item they are grateful for and add it to the family box.
Activity 2: Make a gratitude flower. You will need 2 different coloured papers or cardboard, glue, scissors and a texter to write your child’s name in the centre and the things they are grateful for on the petals. Click here for instructions.
Activity 3: Make a gratitude stone. You will need a stone, tissue paper, crafting glue, scissors and a paintbrush. You can then different games with your gratitude stones; for example a treasure hunt in the garden or leave them out in the community for other children to find. Younger children can put hearts on their stones but older children can write what they are grateful for on them. Click here for instructions.
Activity 4: Ice experiment. A fun and great way to explore colour mixing through ice play. You will need to make coloured ice using water and food colouring (yellow, red and blue) mixed together and frozen in ice trays. To explore the different colour mixtures, you will need 3 or 4 different bowls. Click here for instructions.
Join us as we read “First Day”. Written by Andrew Daddo and Jonathan Bentley.
Activity 1: Print off the ‘My Morning Routine’ template and talk about each step with your child. You can turn it into a routine game or a tick chart, with your little one in control of what order their routine is completed in.
Activity 2: Dress up game. Click here and print off the girl or boy you want to dress. Cut out the matching clothes and have fun mixing the different fun outfits.
Activity 3: Imaginative play. Read through the fun ways of say ‘good bye’ and do some imaginative play with saying bye on your little ones first day of school. Click here for PDF.
Join us as we read “The Better-Than Best Purim”. Written by Naomi Howland.
Purim is here! Jews around the world celebrate by reading the megillah, giving charity, sharing baskets of food with friends and sitting down to a festive meal with loved ones. Enjoy the fun and the animals in this book as they prepare the better than best Purim.
For some more Purim fun click here.
Join us as we read “I Am Human”. Written by Susan Verde and art by Peter H. Reynolds.
Activity: I am Human wordsearch. Click here to play online. Click here to download a printable version.
Join us as we read "The Best Four Questions”. Written by Rachelle Burk and illustrated by Mealnie Florian.
Join us as we read "Be You!”. Written by Peter H. Reynolds.
Activity: Colouring page. When you are colouring it in, have a think about 5 things that you can do that make you feel calm.
Join us as we read "Just Ask!”. Written by Sonia Sotomayor and illustrated by Rafael Lopez.
Join us as we read "Can I Play Too?”. Written by Mo Willems.
Join us as we read "I Can Do It!”. Written by Laurie Wright and illustrated by Ana Santos.
Join us as we read "Ivy, the very determined dog!”Written by Maureen and Chris Harrington. Illustrated by Charlotte Bruijn.
Join us as we read "Different- a Great Thing to Be!" Written by Heather Avis and illustrated by Sarah Mensinga.
What are the things about you that make you different? Different is truly a wonderful thing to be. The world would be a lot more boring if we were all the same.
Join us as we read "Sheila Rae, The Brave." Written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes.
What makes you feel afraid? What do you do when you feel scared? Who do you talk to? When have you felt brave? We are all brave- sometimes we just need the reminder.
Join us as we read "Will you fill my bucket?" Written by Carol McCloud and Karen Wells. Illustrated by Penny Weber.
Join us as we read "A Friend for Henry" written by Jenn Bailey and illustrated by Mika Song.
Join us as we read "In My Kehilla" written by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayar and illustrated by Robin Matthews.
Join us as we read "The Feelings Book" written by Todd Parr.
Join us as we read "Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashana Ride". Written by Deborah Bodin and illustrated by Shahar Kober. Engineer Ari has the honour of riding the very first train from Jaffa to Jerusalem. He says some things that hurt his friends feelings and realises this throughout his journey. Join us to find out what he does about it.
Join us as we read "Oops! I'm Sorry". Written by Sara Blau and illustrated by Erin Taylor. This is a special story for Yom Kippur, a time where we think about our behaviours and apologise when we have made mistakes.
Join us as we read "How Do You Feel" written by Lizzy Rockwell.
Activity: Click here for some printable feelings cards and a bunch of different games you can play with them.
Join us as we read "Happy Dreamer". By Peter H. Reynolds.
Activity: Click here for the happy dreamer kit, a pdf with a wonderful variety of activities that you can do with your child.
Join us as we read "Say Something" by Peter H. Reynolds.
Activity: click here for the say something activity pack, a pdf filled with wonderful actvities.
Join us as we read "The Way I Feel". Written and Illustrated by Janan Cain.
Activity: Click here and play this feelings game with your very own paper plate faces.
Join us as we read "I Was So Mad" by Mercer Mayer.
Activity: When you finish reading this book with your child, have a discussion about what makes your child sooooooo mad. You can also share what makes you feel so mad. Continue to discuss ways to express yourself when you feel mad.
Join us as we read "Dogfish Just Be You!" Written by Rita Reed and illustrated by Craig Cartwright.
Activity: You will need: a picture of your child, a piece of paper, glue, textas, or colouring pencils. Stick the picture of your child in the middle of the blank paper. At the top of the paper write the words "I AM..." for your child. Help your child to draw or write different things that represent them, and things that they are good at. Stick it up on the fridge to remind yourself and your child of their unique contribution to your family and the world. This reminder can help when feeling envious or jealous of others.
Join us as we read "The Chameleon that Couldn't Change". Written by Little Life Lessons and illustrated by Richard Merritt.
Activity: Pick-A-Boo with a difference. Take a cloth or scarf or small blanket to cover your face. Then slowly lower the cloth as your face/ body language shows a feeling (angry, sad, excited, disappointed etc.). Ask your child to guess the feeling. Do this a few times with different feelings, and take turns with your child. Whilst you are playing you can talk about the importance of sharing all of our feelings with someone we trust and feel safe with, reasons why people might hide their feelings and what can happen when we hide them away. Safe spaces create opportunities for sharing.
Join us as we read "Waiting Is Not Easy" by Mo Willems.
Activity: Is there something that your child is looking forward to? Or maybe they are finding it difficult to wait for something. Together you can create a countdown. Little shapes can represent the days, or hours and together you can check them off as the time passes. Click here for an example. In this example you can see that while my son was waiting for his dinasaur costume to arrive, he used strong strokes with his pen. This is a way for him to express his excitement, or frustration or other feelings as he waited.
Join us as we read "Fill a Bucket- A Guide to Daily Happiness for Young Children". Written by Carol McCloud and Katherine Martin M.A and illustrated by David Messing.
Activity: Click here for a Bucket filler word search.
