The Zones of Regulation Storybook Set – Understanding Feelings and Emotions & Exploring Tools to Help Manage Them (Zones of Regulation Series)

These two storybooks provide engaging social scenarios and strategies to help children at developmental ages 5-11 explore how lessons from The Zones of Regulation curriculum book can be used at school and at home. Kids love stories and will identify with the characters and the everyday situations as they learn about their feelings and emotions and how their bodies help show and tell them what they are feeling. Readers will also learn along with the characters that they can manage and control how they feel by using tools—such as movement, activities, and art—to relax, focus, and stay calm so they can meet their goals and needs of the day.

What’s inside the two storybooks

Come along with Gabriel, Suhana, Julian, and Vivian as they begin their journey on The Road to Regulation and discover tools and strategies for regulation and emotional control at the amazing Regulation Station.

The Road to Regulation: A Story about Understanding Feelings and Emotions (Storybook 1 of 2)

The Road to Regulation, the first storybook, takes readers on a school-day journey as Gabriel and his classmates learn about The Zones of Regulation throughout their day. Whether they are on the noisy bus, trying to focus in class, feeling left out in the cafeteria, or scoring a homerun in a kickball game, they experience a wide range of feelings in different sizes, intensities, and levels of energy. During a school assembly, they learn that all those high, low, and in-between feelings fit into four colored Zones. The Zones of Regulation gives them an easy way to talk and think about their feelings and the connection to what their bodies are feeling and doing. When a fire alarm sends everyone reeling in different ways, the kids have a perfect opportunity to reflect on the ups and downs of their day and see how they were in different Zones at different times. Best of all, they realize that all Zones—and all feelings—are okay and learning to recognize and understand them are the first steps on The Road to Regulation.

The Regulation Station: Exploring Tools to Help Manage Feelings and Emotions (Storybook 2 of 2)

In The Regulation Station, the second storybook in this two-book set, Gabriel falls asleep and dreams that he’s on a fantastic adventure with his friends. After a wild bus ride, they discover a magical place, The Regulation Station, filled with activities, art, and movement. As they explore different experiences at the Regulation Station, they begin to notice how they feel afterward–more relaxed, focused, and calm. Back at school, Gabriel realizes that the activities from his dream are actually called “tools”—and that these very real tools have special powers that help him and his classmates (and all of us!) regulate their feelings and bodies so they can meet the needs of their day in the classroom, on the playground, and with their families.

Special features and supports for interventionists

Both storybooks include these pages following the story:

-Extend the Learning Section (with guided questions and curriculum references)
-Vocabulary list of special terms
-Dos and don’ts
-Variations: Storybook 1 includes two Activity Sheets; Storybook 2 includes three sample tool cards from the Tools to Try Cards for Kids strategy card deck (these tools are mentioned in the story: Wall Pushes, Bird  Breath, Walk It Out)

How to use the two-storybook set

The two storybooks are a supplement to, not a replacement for, the in-depth lessons found in The Zones of Regulation curriculum book.

• The storybooks are sequential, so don’t skip ahead! Start with The Road to Regulation, in conjunction with the lessons in The Zones of Regulation curriculum for deeper teaching and extending activities and applications before moving onto The Regulation Station.
• To expand teaching and continue conversations with the child(ren) about concepts covered in the storybooks, specific lessons and chapters from the curriculum are referenced in both storybooks on the “Extend the Learning: Tips for Facilitators” pages after the story.
• The storybooks can be used in multiple ways: read to a whole classroom of students, used as a therapy tool, read at home with a caregiver, or for children to pick up and read on their own. When reading the storybooks, take the time to discuss the social scenarios and help children reflect on and process times when they have been in similar situations and how they might have felt.

Using The Road to Regulation & The Regulation Station storybooks and Tools to Try Card Deck for Kids at Home

The storybook set and the strategy card deck are supplements to The Zones of Regulation curriculum and are excellent ways to practice and support at home the lessons children are learning in the classroom or therapeutic setting. When family members and caregivers learn, model, and practice The Zones of Regulation language, self-awareness, and regulation tools and skills with their children, it provides a powerful and rewarding learning opportunity for all.

The Zones of Regulation products to use with the two-storybook set:

The Zones of Regulation®: A Curriculum Designed to Foster Self-Regulation and Emotional Control
The storybook set and the products listed below are supplemental and were created to support the framework and lessons within this curriculum book.

Tools to Try Cards for Kids: Regulation Strategies to Focus, Calm, Think, Move, Breathe, and Connect

The Tools to Try Cards for Kids deck was designed to be used in conjunction with the second storybook and curriculum lessons addressing the choice of tools to help us regulate. Samples of three cards from the deck are included in the back of storybook 2, The Regulation Station.

The Road to Regulation Poster

Adapted from two pages in The Regulation Station storybook, this poster reviews the four steps needed to (1) recognize our feelings, (2) identify our Zone, (3) choose a tool, and (4) use the tool to help regulate.

Navigating The Zones

Navigating the Zones is a cooperative game that supports learning about The Zones of Regulation and self-regulation strategies