Tummies Flip, Hearts Skip - by Kris Downing (Hardcover)

About the Book

In Tummies Flip, Hearts Skip, children learn to notice body sensations, name emotions, and respond to feelings through engaging text and vivid illustrations.

Book Synopsis

Help children understand how emotions feel in the body, and what their sensations are trying to tell them.

Tummies Flip, Hearts Skip helps children recognize how their bodies respond to emotions. Happiness might feel warm and tingly. Embarrassment might feel hot and prickly. Fantastical illustrations depict a young girl's emotional journey through larger-than-life scenarios, sparking readers' imaginations. Through simple, engaging text, this book helps children learn the body's language, so they can decode the sensations they feel, name their emotions, and learn to self-regulate.

With a glossary, discussion questions, and activities at the back of the book, Tummies Flip, Hearts Skip helps you guide children in responding to the body's messages by taking action to feel better.

This book:

• Shows how emotions like happiness, anger, confusion, and guilt feel in the body
• Presents common emotions in rich sensory language that's easy to follow
• Features fun, immersive illustrations that help bring feelings to life
• Helps teach kids what to do when their bodies and minds feel dysregulated

Current brain research on emotional regulation shows it's important for children to learn to feel their physical sensations and understand what their body is telling them. Written by an experienced licensed clinical social worker and somatic experiencing practitioner, this book is a great resource for parents, teachers, psychologists, and caregivers looking for children's books on body awareness and understanding emotions.

Review Quotes

"Tummies Flip, Hearts Skip is a beautiful book that engages children in?noticing the sensations that show up in their bodies alongside their?emotions. It's a wonderful resource that will empower children and the?adults who care about them to name the sensations and emotions they?feel."--Gabi Garcia, licensed professional counselor and author of Listening to My Body

"Tummies Flip, Hearts Skip?playfully invites kids' curiosity about the subtleties underneath big emotions. Kris Downing's scientific grounding in how a child's awareness of physical sensations drives their well-being led her to create an appetizing menu of words to help children understand and describe what's happening inside. Each page is rich with color, motion, and fantastic illustrations to match body language with every feeling."--Maggie Kline, family therapist, school psychologist, Somatic Experiencing faculty, co-author with Peter A. Levine of Trauma Through a Child's Eyes, and author of My Inner Doggie Is Growling

About the Author

Kris Downing is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and somatic experiencing practitioner (SEP) currently working as a mental health therapist with children and adults. In her playful work with kids, she finds creative ways to nurture social and emotional development and help connect kids to their own nervous systems. She created the Sensation Game to help child therapists and school counselors integrate somatic work into their counseling programs. A collector of children's mental health books, Kris fulfilled her dream of writing a book that promotes body awareness and healing. Kris is the adoptive mom of two wonderful neurodivergent sons. She is also a pet momma to two Aussiedoodles, Grace and Ozzie. She lives in Austin, Texas, and loves hiking, camping, and playing all kinds of games with kids.

Vivian Mineker is a Taiwanese American illustrator. She loves to create images that bring her daydreams to life. She creates characters and worlds that reflect both her imagination and her observations of the real world. She uses mainly watercolor and gouache, then puts on the finishing touches digitally. When not drawing or painting, she enjoys running outdoors with her dog, Darlie; browsing in bookstores, and occasionally stopping for a cup of coffee or a piece of cake.