I love doing preschool unit studies with my sons. But sometimes I have a hard time coming up with a topic of study that will hold their attention. I decided to do a unit about different careers so I could discover their individual interests. Here’s a list of our favorite children’s books about careers.
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Even Firefighters Hug Their Moms by Christine Kole MacLean This was my personal favorite book from the unit. A sweet little boy pretends to all sorts of different occupations while his little sister tags along. He took with imagination so seriously, that he had no time for hugs. It introduces many careers and sparked tons of ideas for our own pretend play! (Here’s one scenario, and another great one!)
Diary of a Pilot and Diary of a Firefighter by Angela Royston
are both great books that are written from the actually workers perspective. You get to see the exciting stuff and the mundane. It also introduces the idea of journaling which is a plus! It had just the right amount of text to hold my 3 yr olds attention.
Firefighters to the Rescue by Kersten Hamilton My kids loved the simple illustrations and found the story thrilling. Even my 1 year old would yell, “FIREFIGHTERS TO THE RESCUE!” (Alright, he might have sounded like Scooby Doo saying it, but still!) I’m sure there are a million wonderful books about firefighters (I’ll probably do a unit on that subject soon.) but this was a really fun one that fit our needs.
Librarians at Work, Teachers at Work
and Mail Carriers at Work by Karen Latchana Kenney
from the Meet your Community Workers series. These books were terrific in introducing less idolized careers to young children. It explained how these community workers help people, what kind of training is needed, what sorts of challenges they face and more.
If You Decide To Go To The Moon by Faith McNulty This was a lovely illustrated book about a boy preparing to go to the moon and letting readers know what they needed to expect themselves. Loopy loved the part about floating orange juice bubbles. He started to grasp the differences between the moon and the earth and learned that being an astronaut is a lot of work.
Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy Another great space book focused primarily on astronauts. Learn about their education, different roles, and even what types of toilets they use in space (always a favorite little boy topic!).
The last two books were Loopy’s favorite, hence the following month, we studied SPACE! (See, I told you this a great unit study for uncovering and sparking your kids’ curiosity!)
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Boasting in Weakness: I’m going to admit something I don’t like about myself: I love the approval of people. The praises of others echo in my memory and take a much higher place in my motivation than they should. While it is normal to feel this, it’s not good. I find it ridiculously hard to live for an audience of One. I want to be the kind of person that is ok with living a life that makes sense to no one else, if it’s what the God of the universe has asked me to do.
I’m convinced I can’t will my heart to change in this area. Only the power that raised Jesus from the dead can breathe life into my heart. If you want to know why I reveal my shortcomings, read this.
Cory Blount says
Hi Julie, I would love to make a living making children’s books or comic books. I would love to get my art out there and make a living making books. If not I would appreciate if u would check out my page on Instagram or facebook. Thank u for ur time .
Cory Blount