First Day at Dino School
Starting school soon?
In this story your child starts at a school full of friendly dinosaurs. A goodbye ritual helps with missing home: a kiss in the palm to keep in your pocket.
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Helps with
Starting school
Starting school: saying goodbye at the gate, carrying a little bit of home all day, and the hello at pick-up.
The tool your child practises in the story
A roar in your pocket
Open a pocket of your child's backpack or coat and do the tiniest, softest roar into it (or a hum, a whisper, your own family sound), then close it up. When your child misses you, they pat the pocket twice and do a tiny roar back: "Pat, pat. Rrrr." Practise at home, use it at every drop-off, and say clearly when you will be back. Some children like to give you one for your pocket too.
For grown-ups
What this story is about
Starting school often means a first big goodbye. In this story your child gets a small goodbye ritual of your own: a tiny roar from home, tucked into the backpack's front pocket. Your child uses it at the gate and again when missing home at rest time, and even shares one with a shy new friend. The missing does not disappear, but your child finds a little bit of home can come along, and you are at the gate when you said you would be.
Three ways to talk about it
- Name the feeling without hurrying it away: "It's okay to miss home. I'll miss you too, and I'll be there after story time."
- Practise the goodbye at home a few times before the first day, so it already feels familiar.
- Keep goodbyes short, warm and the same every day, say exactly when you will be back, and be there when you said.
Three questions to ask
- How did the child in the story feel at the school gate?
- What helped when they missed home at rest time?
- Bo felt shy. How could you help someone who feels shy on their first day?
Practise the tool together: A roar in your pocket
Open a pocket of your child's backpack or coat and do the tiniest, softest roar into it (or a hum, a whisper, your own family sound), then close it up. When your child misses you, they pat the pocket twice and do a tiny roar back: "Pat, pat. Rrrr." Practise at home, use it at every drop-off, and say clearly when you will be back. Some children like to give you one for your pocket too.
If separation stays very hard for weeks, or brings strong distress, tummy aches or poor sleep, 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 Nina.
"Want to play?" Bo nodded, a tiny nod. They built a block tower as tall as a dinosaur's knee. Crash! So they built it all over again. Then Bo laughed. Not a little laugh. A HONK, so big that Teacher Tula's glasses slid right down to the tip of her nose. Nina laughed so hard that the backpack fell over.
After lunch came quiet rest time. The room went still. And suddenly, Nina missed home. Eyes prickly. Chest tight. The backpack came close. Pat, pat. "Rrrr." It came out very small. The missing was still there. But so was the roar. And from the next cushion came a sniffle.
When story time ended, Nina ran all the way to the gate. And there, right by the ferns, just as promised, was the biggest hug of the day. "You came!" "Right here, just like I said." Behind them, Bo honked goodbye. And Teacher Tula's glasses slid all the way down her nose again.
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