A Mighty Girl's top picks of books for kids -- and their parents -- on the joys of outdoor play, exploration, and discovery!

For many kids, there's nothing more fun than the chance to play outside! The winter's thaw has already provided plenty of opportunities for puddle jumping and planning this year's garden, and soon nicer weather and the end of the school year will soon provide more opportunities for hiking, beach trips, and lots of outdoor playtime. Best of all, it’s good for them: research shows how much benefit kids get from unstructured play outside. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of bullying prevention and empathy-building books for young children.

“The End of Bullying Begins With Me” is the message of National Bullying Prevention Month and at A Mighty Girl we believe that’s absolutely true! By teaching our children about bullying — what it is, the effects it has on everyone, and the ways that we can stop it — we can work to ensure that bullying becomes a smaller and smaller part of all our lives. Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's favorite picture books about Mighty Girls starting preschool, kindergarten, and first grade.

The first day of school is exciting, but it's also a little nerve wracking, even for the bravest of Mighty Girls! For kids starting preschool or kindergarten, the big questions are likely to be about what school is like, how they'll manage missing Mom and Dad, and whether they'll make friends. Children moving up to first grade may also wonder if they're up for the increased expectations and bigger challenges that come with no longer being brand new to school.

Fortunately, there are some great picture books out there to help reassure kids that they can handle whatever comes their way at school. These books provide helpful tips in age appropriate ways — and equally importantly, get kids giggling about how the Mighty Girls in the stories get through their own first days at school. Continue reading → Continue reading

Our favorite girl-empowering adventure stories to inspire your own Mighty Girl's adventures!

What adventures is your Mighty Girl planning this year? Will she bike to the park by herself, swim for the first time, or learn to ride a horse? Maybe she’s going on a trip with the Girl Scouts, or hiking in the woods near her house to find the perfect place to build her secret hideout. Or maybe her imagination will take her on even bigger adventures — into outer space, magic kingdoms, or realms of fantasy. One thing's for sure: an adventurous child's life will never be boring!

To inspire your Mighty Girl to celebrate her adventurous side,  we’re showcasing our favorite books featuring daring, courageous Mighty Girl characters on adventures of their own. These stories capture all the thrill and excitement of pushing yourself to do something unexpected and new. They might even inspire you to try a new adventure!

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Lola at the Library

By Lili Sandler, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

As a final tribute in our celebration of Black History Month this year, we’re sharing ten of our favorite picture books featuring little Mighty Girls girls of color for the youngest readers. This is only a sampling of what’s available on the site; there are so many fabulous picture books for babies, preschoolers, and beyond with diverse protagonists that we couldn’t possibly highlight them all in one blog post!

It’s never too early to share a love of reading with little ones, and going to the library is one of the best ways to accomplish that goal! With Anna McQuinn’s book, Lola at the Library, your little one will learn to look forward to visiting the library just like Lola does. With bright, vibrant illustrations courtesy of Rosalind Beardshaw, this book is not only a delight to read, but a delight to look at as well.

Another book sure to be a hit with babies and toddlers is Rachel Isadora’s Peekaboo Morning. Every toddler loves to play peekaboo, and they’ll have such fun following the active and adorable protagonist of this story going through her morning, playing peekaboo with her mommy, her daddy, her puppy, and more! This is one of those books your child will want to read again and again. Continue reading → Continue reading

By Katherine Handcock, A Mighty Girl Senior Research Intern

Welcome to the first of two articles about resources to help parents teach their Mighty Girls money management skills! Every parent wants their children to learn how to manage money effectively, but many families aren't sure how to go about discussing finances -- especially since few of us grew up in homes where money, spending, saving, and debt were discussed in any detail. However, with a few good resources and a little time, even very young children can start learning about how money works. In our follow-up post, we provide resources for teaching money management skills to older children and teens.

How Money Works

One early step in learning about money is learning how to recognize different denominations of paper money and coins. A toy like Melissa and Doug's Play Money set, which comes with dozens of pretend bills from $1 to $100 as well as play coins in all US denominations, allows kids to role play the whole process of a purchase: selecting an item, learning a price, recognizing and totaling bills and coins, and making change.

At the same time, parents can read books to their kids that involve money being invested, saved, and spent. One good book is Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins, in which Pauline and her younger brother John-John start their first business -- a lemonade stand. The book covers addition, subtraction, sorting, and money recognition, but also more complicated concepts such as investment and return, selling techniques, and entrepreneurship. Continue reading → Continue reading