Anyone else have a toddler or preschooler who’s a tiny bit skeptical about the whole mask-wearing thing? You’re not alone. Lovevery to the rescue! The brand behind those awesome play mats and tot-sized toy kits just released a brand-new e-book to help kids better understand why we’re wearing masks and social distancing. The best part? It’s free.
The book is called Doing My Part and it’s a sweet and empowering explainer that touches lightly on the COVID pandemic (“a virus is something that makes people sick”) and why wearing a mask is the tiniest step we can all take to protect each other and the people we care about. (“You might not know you’re infected, so wearing a mask is a really good trick to keep everybody protected.”)
The rhythmic story—told through the eyes of a little girl—also addresses all the reasons kids might be feeling trepidatious about not just masks, but social distancing in general. (Bonus: The book doubles as a script of sorts for parents who are nervous about finding the right words to talk to their young children about everything from the pandemic to why we can’t hug Grandma and Grandpa right now.)
We repeat, it’s free, so you can test it out with your kid and see how the message is received. But, FYI, this PureWow editor tried it on her own two-year-old and he’s now identifying masks by name and is a lot less afraid. Progress!