Character Building Games:
A Boat Full of Animals

So I set out to do it, and here it is! It is a whimsically illustrated book, called A BOAT FULL OF ANIMALS. The games are related to the specific qualities of each animal referred to in the character building games book. And each game becomes a fun assignment for the child. There are 30 in all.

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What are the best character building games? The ones that offer more than just fun. I wrote this book originally at the request of customers who had come into my gallery and discovered my little book on happiness, THE HAPPY BOOK (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press) now called A MILLION REASONS TO BE HAPPY. “You need to do one for children,” they’d say. Yes, children do need some help with character building. Well, I was busy filling walls with art and other amusing things before I could get to these children's character building games. But, once I started I could see the possibilities of creating a “a book of children's games” that would do what these people wanted and what I thought kids would love.

In using animals to represent desirable qualities and character traits, children are invited to play a different animal game each day for 30 days or one a week for 30 weeks. Each game leads a child to experience the attribute the animal represents. For example: the cat cleans up after herself; the giraffe stretches his greatness; the bird makes sweet sounds; the dog is a best friend. Once experienced, a child takes ownership of that quality or skill and places that animal on board his or her imaginary boat within himself.

Fun to play, these children's character building games help develop a greater sense of self-esteem, awareness of others, and a thirst to grow in ways of kindness, helpfulness, patience, gratefulness, truthfulness, respectfulness, etc.

To go with this book, there is a companion coloring book, featuring large, black line drawings of each of the animals and their particular traits used in the games. The coloring book is made up of the 30 animals, plus a special certificate at the end, "An Award of Excellence," to be filled out by a parent or teacher and given to the child when all the animals have been colored. It is for "a job well done." The book, A BOAT FULL OF ANIMALS, comes with a free sampling of the coloring book... a few pages for your child to try. The 34-page coloring book may be purchased for $1.99. The ideas associated with the animals tend to sink in as a child colors the pages. These then become "colorful" character building games.

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These children's games pass on simple ideas that help children take charge of themselves and their actions.

These children's games are fun, character building games and will lead to happier, more self-confident children. And, of course in my way of thinking, the better our children, the better our world!

Character Building Games

“I am a Speech and Language Pathologist presently working at one elementary and one middle school in Huntington Beach, CA. I have been a Speech/Language Pathologist Consultant and as a Speech and Language Pathologist in public school districts in Michigan, Massachusetts and California for thirty years.

We are also certainly dealing with the hot topic of bullying in a positive school-wide manner. My principal approached me and asked if I could contribute to this project of character building. I pondered on the subject and awoke the next morning to find your Boat Full of Animals... a book full of character building games. Wow! I was excited. I love how we attract what we put out there. So, I purchased your fabulous Boat Full of Animals (as a pdf file,) which is filled with character building games, and shared it with the principal. The crux of your stories is to identify with positive characteristics of the animals and incorporate them into our daily life. Since children have a special connection with animals what a perfect way to embrace and teach these loving, positive and uplifting qualities.

Here is how we’ll use it…Each week one of the animal stories will be read over the intercom. The teachers will have a classroom discussion and come up with an activity that centers around the animal’s unique quality. When a teacher or staff member (from lunch workers to custodian) sees a student or hears of a student doing something positive, they will be given an Ellison die cut of the animal of the week with the words pre-printed “You’ve been caught doing the lovely quality of… _____________________________.” At the end of each week, teachers and staff will place the names of the students in a jar and the principal will pick out a name. One student from each grade level will receive a small stuffed animal that corresponds with the Animal of the Week. This is my strong intention and I am asking you for permission to share this with the elementary school. I also will be writing Ellen DeGeneres Show to share the above mentioned.” -- With gratitude, Antoinette

“I really love this book (A Boat Full of Animals.) It is full of great children's character building games. Such great lessons in life that are so needed and so often forgotten or underutilized! Great reminder for me. Thanks, Sally Huss, for giving me a way to teach my children in such a fun, creative and loving way. This is a wonderful guide for me and a great character building tool for my children.” – Dr. Jenny Rens, dentist and mother of 5-year-old twin boys.

“I read the entire book tonight - I loved it all! I am wondering if this wouldn't be a fantastic addition to the 'civics' requirement in educational standards for students? I love the boat idea too with its 30 children's character building games! It is really a great way to motivate children to practice the values day by day -- over and over again!” – Colleen Crandall, 5th grade teacher

“Wow. I love the messages.

I wish that every middle school student would take the time to read this book to his or her younger siblings. It would remind them to keep his or her boat full at all times.....and who might be missing or forgotten.

No pre-school program should be without a copy. It will become a book children love to revisit again and again. A life, how-to-book..... It can easily fit into preschool curriculum and each animal could provide a character building "theme focus" for every week of school.

The messages, experience through children's character building games, help prepare children to be well rounded, confident, productive adults .....and parents can easily refer to each animal to connect to "real life" situations. ‘Is your Turkey in your boat today.....what would the turkey tell you to do?’

Thanks for sharing.....can't wait to be a Nana....so I can share it!” – Sonja Washer, Middle School Teacher, San Diego

Sally Huss's A Boat Full of Animals (An Invaluable Book of Values)

Children's book review by Steve Barancik
Ages 4-10
A children's self-help book...for parents who know kids need a little help!

Boy, did I expect not to like this one.I see plenty of preachy storybooks. And plenty more books that dispense with the fictional elements altogether and just tell children how to think/what to be/how to behave.

And, technically, A Boat Full of Animals is one of the latter books. But here's what I learned: It's all in the execution. And Sally Huss executes delightfully.How-to-be-a-better-person books, at their worst, push the author's world-view on children, often with religious overtones. But here's what Sally Huss is pushing in her self-help children's book: Happiness. And who can argue with that?

Huss provides a month full of "children's games," all named after animals. The objective, as she lays it out, is for a child to "play" one game a day, as part of his/her day. Here's day 2, "The Dolphin Game."“Today you get to play The Dolphin Game. You get to act and pretend to be a dolphin all day long.

Everybody loves a dolphin. But why? Because the dolphin smiles. He has a smile on his face all the time. Actually he is not really smiling, but the lines of his mouth move upward and that makes him appear to be smiling.

In any case, because of that apparent smile people think of him as happy and friendly and treat him that way. He in turn acts in a joyous and friendly manner. Which came first his friendly way or his friendly smile?”

You can see where this is going. "Just smile and see what happens," children are instructed. Huss assigns ten smiles for Dolphin Day.

Here's a taste of the kind of things the other games teach:

Now, if you're thinking, "My kid could use some of these things more than others," you're right on the mark. Some of these will speak to your kid's issues more than others. To that I say, "Terrific!" Among the 30 games, you can bet that more than a few will resonate for your child. If your child struggles with self-esteem, you might hear yourself saying, "Be the moose!" while that parent over there, whose kid sometimes forgets to pay attention, will probably be yelling, "Be the rabbit!"

Self-help for children--Essentially, author-illustrator Huss is harnessing mnemonics to give you a wonderful shorthand to use with your child to encourage improved behaviors. It's a clever approach, making use of the natural childhood fascination with animals to elicit behavior modification without negative reinforcement. In other words..."Who's going to be a bear tonight?" is a lot less confrontational and provocative than "Go to bed now or you can't watch TV until you're twenty!"

(Bears hibernate, because they know sleep is essential to good health!)A Boat Full of Animals strikes a great balance. Just when The Duckling Game had me fretting that Huss was preaching a little too much blind trust in adults, along came The Wolf Game, urging a healthy, thoughtful skepticism when appropriate. (Huss uses the world of advertising as a great example of what to be suspicious of.)

A couple of the games did leave me unimpressed - or, rather, the animal choices in these instances struck me as a little odd or ill-advised. The Pig Game advocates healthy food choices, but I can hardly see telling a child to "Be a pig!"Intelligent parents will easily adjust though. And, relatedly, let me be clear on one thing: this isn't a true self-help book in the sense that you just hand it to your child, saying, "Go fix yourself." (There is no such book.) No, this book is for use with your children (or grandchildren, or students). Its effectiveness will depend on adult application of the principles. The language is a bit dense for young ones, and the subject matter requires adult contextualization.

Each game finishes with the following refrain:I am a happy child. The happier I am, the happier I get!

Author-illustrator Huss, by the way, is well-qualified to present all this positivity. She's the cartoonist behind Happy Musings, syndicated in newspapers, sold as greeting cards, and appearing on gear running the gamut from bibs to purses.

A Boat Full of Animals (An Invaluable Book of Values) is an ebook, meaning you can download it to various electronic devices, or print it out from your computer. It also means it's highly affordable!