The Sweetly Inspiring Stories of the Love Monster

As much as we try to plan ahead, life can throw curveballs that leave us overwhelmed which can be hard to control or understand. It becomes easy to feel anxious and freak out. A few months ago, none of us would have imagined a world where hugging a close friend or family member would feel like a luxury from a past life, yet here we are.

Life has changed in ways that no one thought was possible and even now as things begin to ease many of us are still feeling anxious and worried. So trying to manage those emotions can be pretty tough for an adult let alone a child. It is so important to be supportive when speaking to our children, and reassure that their thoughts and feelings are okay. 

My daughter had a particular tough time with all the sudden changes, not seeing the people she loved or even going out in the car. As parents our priority was to make her feel at ease so we would always  make sure that we were as open and honest as we could be. Eventually she spoke about her feelings and said that she felt sad and trapped because the pandemic is stopping her from doing everything she loved. 

And even though it might seem impossible when they have setbacks, being mindful, supportive and finding ways to show them that it happens to many of us can change the way they deal with those emotions. We have been learning all about the sweetly inspiring stories of the Love Monster who is a slightly hairy monster trying really hard to fit it. But it turns out, it can be hard to fit in when you're a googly-eyed monster. 

But the Love Monster surrounds himself with a group of friends who help him follow his heart and encourage him to try not overthink all the different life lesson they learn on their big adventures. The Love Monster is a delightful character who provides a great role model when it comes to learning about emotional and social development. We love these inspiring stories as they are a really great way to encourage young readers to take a positive approach when life is not going their way. 

The Love Monster Books

The Love Monster books have been written by Rachel Bright and are full of bright and colourful illustrations which are great for children. The are very realistic, and you can see that attention to detail was really important for the illustrator. As well as the bright pictures my daughter really liked the style of writing and the size of the font - these books are perfect for little one who are beginning to recognise letters and words. The Love Monster and the Perfect Present was our favourite book. Everyone in Cutesville was excited for the most special day of the year: Present Day. Love Monster goes on a hunt for the perfect gift for his special someone, but as it turns out, finding the perfect gift is not easy. And the only thing worse than a not-perfect present is no present at all. But Love Monster soon comes up with the idea for the best gift ever. 

The wonderfully warm and witty best-selling books by Rachel Bright are a great way to introduce emotions to your child. By teaching them the importance of kindness, empathy, compassion and teach them ways to deal with feeling a certain way. With each day brings a new adventure and the Love Monster is always very excited to join in, but often finds that by trying too hard to follow with his overthinking head rather than his heart. Something that many children can empathise with. 

The Love Monster Follows His Big Heart onto Cbeebies!

I sat with my daughter and watched a few Love Monster adventures. My daughter really loved watching the Hot Hot Day episode where the Love Monster volunteers to help Book Cub with her fro-yo van while she popped out to get more cups. But after Bad Idea Puppy encourages him to give out extra fro-yo, he gets carried away and accidentally breaks the fro-yo machine, causing a big mess. When Book Cub returns, she is upset, but Love Monster apologises and together they clean everything up. Throughout the episode my daughter made consistent references to the Love Monster and his feelings about whether he should do what he is told not to do - a great episode for a discussion on that life lesson.

We also watched Plant a Seed Day where the Love Monster needed a little patience for the seeds he planted to grow. In this episode the Love Monster begins to get worried as he sees his friends plant growing, but he has to learn that some things take time. This episode is a great talking point for children in understanding the importance of patience. The Love Monster is available every weekday on Cbeebies or you catch up on the BBC iplayer here.

Love Monster Activities

However the fun didn't stop there. We were kindly set over some fun Love Monster activities to do together. The first we did was similar to one of the episodes that we watched together and needing a little patience with planting some seeds. My daughter really enjoyed decorating the pit, soaking the cotton wall and planting the cress seeds. We have been planting a few seeds during the pandemic but it was really interesting to let her take the lead and remember all the things that we needed to do when planting them.

Afterwards we both sat at the dining room table and did some of the puzzles and coloured in some pretty pictures of the Love Monster and his friends. We then finished our day by making some fro-yo pops which are perfect for a healthy snack on a hot day. They were really simple and easy to make and we added some blueberries to ours - we kind of have a thing about blueberries in our house, in that we try and put them in everything. 

We all loved learning all about the Love Monster who is kind and so caring, but it is quite refreshing to see characters like this develop and grow as they learn life lessons. Just like children. The Love Monster is going to be a great learning resource to help children talk about their emotion, understand that feeling certain ways is okay and figure out ways to deal with those emotions.

For a chance to win a set of two Love Monster Books why don't you head over to our Instagram page to enter our latest giveaway. All you need to do is click the link and follow the instructions. Good Luck. 

Love Monster Giveaway!

**We have been kindly gifted these products but as always my words and opinions are my own. Images are subject to copyright, please seek permission before using.**