Reading Matters with Shine

Reading Matters with Shine

During the summer, Shine has been recommending a book a month to families of children under 5 with activity sheets to share, giving parents and carers ideas for enjoying and exploring recommended stories in different ways.

Reading aloud and talking about books with children is a great way to encourage speech development and good fun too.

This October a book for older children is recommended which has a positive message, activities to complete and is written from the perspective of a wheelchair user, Aaron ‘Wheelz’ Fotheringham.

Welcome to the Adventures of Mike Believe

By Aaron Fotheringham and Mike Dolman

This children's book series will change your child's life by igniting the part of their imagination that helps to create the future of their dreams. The first book, "Wheelz on the Moon," shows how to activate your imagination through visualization.

Aaron Fotheringham and Mike Dolman are on a mission to change the way children use their thoughts and feelings to create their future, support one another, and not let anything stop them on their journey to making their dreams come true.

Children can draw right inside the book and become the illustrators.

Aaron Fotheringham a.k.a Wheelz, who is a 'Professional' WCMX (Wheelchair Motocross) athlete, was born with spina bifida and is showing the world that a wheelchair is not just a mobility aid, but rather an extreme sports machine!

In the book, Mike Believe reveals his dream of becoming the first person to ever skateboard on the moon but Mike's mum wants him to skateboard less and focus more on school.

Mike's best friend, Aaron Dreams, a.k.a. "WHEELZ," is living proof that anything is possible. Wheelz starts to see that there are no limits to what he can achieve in life when his father teaches him the power of his imagination.

Wheelz teaches Mike how to activate his imagination, and suddenly, getting to the moon seems possible after all!

Join Mike Believe, and Wheelz, on their journey to unlocking limitless imagination, true friendship, and maybe even other worlds!

Visualisation Activity to try

It is useful to have an understanding of what visualisation is and how you can help your child to build visualisation into their lives.

Here are six steps to visualising, taken from www.swimming.org

Six steps to using visualisation

1. Your child should find somewhere comfortable and quiet where they can concentrate and relax.
2. Encourage them to take long, slow breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth to slow the heart rate and help to relax.
3. Next step is to close the eyes and create the image of something they want to succeed in doing. The subject of visualisation depends on the required outcome.
4. Encourage your child to make the image as detailed as possible. Tell them to think about sights, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes, to make sure all of the senses are aligned to the image and it’s a real as possible. They need to think about what are they wearing, what they hear and how they feel. Detail is vital.
5. If they get distracted, or the image doesn’t go the way they want, they can open their eyes, take some deep breaths and restart the process. It may take some practice to develop the focus and skills that visualisation requires.
6. Ensure the visualisation ends on a positive image, to help boost confidence and self-belief, and to reduce any feelings of anxiety.

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