Bare Feet

This is a simple short picture story book to invite young children to remove their shoes and socks and explore the earth and natural materials with their bare feet. Follow this child as he explores how grass, sand, water, mud, dirt and wood feel on his feet. There is considerable evidence that suggests that children's physical and sensory development improves if children have an opportunity to walk around and play in bare feet.Yoga poses are added at the end of the story to encourage children to stand still on the earth. This may help children learn to regulate their body and enjoy moments of stillness. Affirmations are added to introduce children to positive self talk. Encouraging children to connect to and enjoy the earth may help them to develop positive ecological identities, ones where they feel they are a part of and equal to the natural world rather than superior to it. This in turn may help raise future care takers of our planet.The story uses rhyme and repetition which is a great way to support literacy development. The child in the story uses adjectives to describe how each surface feels then invites other children to express how they think the surfaces feel.