Did Pete Cry? Goodness No!!!

Another activity that I just LOVE to do with young children is to read the book Pete the Cat. Pete is fabulous in so many ways. He is a groovy little "hipster" cat that has all sorts of rhythm and positivity. He teaches kids to not let things bother them when they go wrong. It is also quite humorous for the adult reader. His first book is about his favorite white shoes. He loves these white shoes but then he steps in something and they get dirty. "Does Pete cry? Goodness No!!!" all the kids yell it together. This continues throughout the story until the end where it gives the moral of the story "No matter what ya step in.... Keep walkin' along and singing your song" I always giggle on that part thinking about what you could step in on a really bad day. :) There are now sequels to the story. He has a book about going to school for the first time and a new one called "My Four Groovy Buttons". I especially love this one because it kind of has a little rap beat to it. I like the ghetto flava! It also shows kids that material items won't make you happy and to not worry too much about them. For each book their is a free download with the song that accompanies the book. 

Click on these links to check out a bit of each book along with their very grooovvy songs


Four Groovy Buttons

Rocking My School Shoes

Pete The Cat

There is also a little plush Pete the Cat doll and some fun activities to do with him. It serves as a great reminder for kiddos of how to react when things go wrong or they are not happy about something. Our first graders used to sing "I love to Clean Up" whenever they had to clean because they didn't want to clean but they wanted to be like Pete. I also always wanted to have a little take home Pete journal where the kids could write about ways that they overcame some kind of adversity. Could be as small as I lost my favorite toy to as big as a family problem that they didn't let bother them. Small kids could draw pictures about these types of things as well.
Isn't Pete Great? Who wouldn't love a groovy little optimistic cat?!