Dear Parents,

This book was designed with interaction in mind! My own dad used to tuck me in at night, and I remember it being my favorite. I think bedtime is the most beautiful time and my hope is this creates a very peaceful routine between parent and child. Here's a couple ideas on how to use the book!

1. When you read the lines, feel free to grab or tickle that specific part of the body. "Thank youuu - TOES!"  Tickle those toes & make them giggle etc.

2. Go ahead and have your child try to locate the hidden "smiley faces" or "animals" within the book. How many can you count? Can you find them all?

3. Using the lines as prompts to the day, you can walk through what the child did that day. "Thank you hands". "What did you use your hands for today?" You helped me bake, you set the table and held all those plates, you drew with your crayons for Mommy! What did you draw? What else did you do? Etc. You can also get them in the mindset of never being angry at their bodies, but thankful. So, if they have a boo boo on their hand, you can say, "That was so nice of your hand to protect you from that fall today".  Same with tears! Tears are good! 

4. Feel free to have them place their own hand on their heart for thank you heart and take a big breath. Let them feel it beat beneath them. Can they hear yours? You can teach them how grateful we should be that our heart pumped for us all day long. That our lungs breathed for us all day long! That our ears listened for us all day etc.

5. The book is designed to end with "Thank you arms" and "Thank you lips" - so it ends with a great big hug and a great big kiss! 

With so much gratitude,

Venetia Pristavec

PS: I made an accompanying lullaby song as well. Feel free to download it here.