The Little Volcano
When the big feelings erupt
A tower falls, and suddenly your child is all fists and frowns. This story shows anger as a normal feeling, gives your child a way to cool down (volcano breaths) and words to say what happened, and ends with making things right together.
1 day: we create and check your book · 2–5 days: printing · 3–6 days: delivery
- Free shipping on 2+ books
- Printed in Europe
- Checked page by page before printing
- Secure payment
Helps with
Big feelings
Anger and big feelings: naming them, cooling them down and making things right again.
The tool your child practises in the story
Volcano breaths
Put both hands on the tummy. Breathe in and feel the volcano fill up, then breathe out slowly and let the lava cool down, three times. Then say the feeling in words: "I feel angry because...". Do it alongside your child at first; later a gentle "Volcano breaths?" is often enough.
For grown-ups
What this story is about
When a tower falls or playtime ends, your child feels a little volcano rumble inside. The story treats anger as a normal feeling to name and cool down, never as something to be ashamed of. Volcano breaths do not make the feeling vanish; they make room to think, and your child works out what to do next. It ends with the feeling still there but calmer, the kicked block back where it belongs, and the tower built again.
Three ways to talk about it
- Name it calmly before anything else: "You're really angry. Your tower fell down." Naming a feeling helps it settle.
- Separate the feeling from the action: anger is always allowed; hitting or breaking things is not, and you will help stop it.
- Practise volcano breaths together when everyone is calm, so they are ready when the rumble comes.
Three questions to ask
- What makes your little volcano rumble?
- Where do you feel it in your body: hot cheeks, tight fists, stompy feet?
- When your volcano has cooled down, what helps you make things right again?
Practise the tool together: Volcano breaths
Put both hands on the tummy. Breathe in and feel the volcano fill up, then breathe out slowly and let the lava cool down, three times. Then say the feeling in words: "I feel angry because...". Do it alongside your child at first; later a gentle "Volcano breaths?" is often enough.
If your child's anger is very frequent or intense, lasts a long time, or often leads to hurting themselves or others, it is worth talking to your paediatrician or a child psychologist.
Made with care
Every book is checked page by page before it's printed.
- Every book is checked page by page before it's printed.
- Printed in Europe on thick silk paper.
- A hardcover built to last, for years of bedtime stories.
Look inside
Twelve illustrated spreads: the picture on the left, the story on the right. These sample pages show an invented child called Eva.
CRASH! Blocks everywhere: under the sofa, behind the curtain, one inside a slipper. And deep inside Eva, something began to rumble. Rumble... RUMBLE! Hot cheeks. Tight fists. Stompy feet. It felt like a little volcano, about to erupt. "NOOO!" One foot kicked a blue block, hard. It shot across the floor, out of the open garden door, and landed on the doorstep. BONK.
Lava put both little hands on her tummy. "Breathe in, fill it up." Her tummy went round as a balloon. "Breathe out, cool it down." Whoooosh. A long, slow breath, all the way out. "Three of those," said Lava, "and the lava goes from boiling... to bathwater." Then two hands went onto a very rumbly tummy. And in went a breath.
So, together, they built a volcano tower. A big, fat bottom. A smaller middle. A little pointy top. Lava nudged one tiny block into place with her nose. "Wobble test!" A poke. Not one wobble. Last of all came the blue block: the kicked one, the bath-boat one. It went right on the very top. Taller than the door handle, and a long way from the door.
Spread 1 of 3