Fostering self-care and wellbeing through the world of reading

Nicola Schofield
A teacher sat outdoors with young students looking at a book togethr
Reading time: 6 minutes

Growing up is an exciting time. Children are curious and open-minded, and every day welcomes a new thing to learn. They are constantly exploring and discovering themselves and the world around them. But children also have to face many challenging times too as they get older. It is, therefore, important that we teach our young people to be aware of their own wellbeing and self-care, what they can do to lead a balanced and healthy life, and give them the tools they need to help them in difficult times, both mentally and physically.  

Boosting children's wellbeing with reading
Play
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree Pearson can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

What are the key factors to a child’s wellbeing?

Have a look at Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs below. It describes people’s basic needs for good mental and physical wellbeing.

Self-actualization – Children need to be aware of their own feelings and understand how to process them.

Esteem – Children need to grow in confidence, feel valued and receive praise for their achievements. Having hobbies and interests too is key.

Love/belonging – Children need to develop meaningful relationships or feel part of a community. This could be friendships, family, a class, a club or school.

Safety – Children must feel safe in their surroundings.

Physiological – Children must have a home and access to food, water, sleep and exercise.

However, do children know how to look after their wellbeing? 

Ask them to make a list and share your ideas together as a class or as a family. What do they do to look after their mental and physical health? Are there any things that they do lots of or don’t do enough of? What can they start doing or try to do more of?

Alternatively, you could also ask them to put the following items in order of importance. Ask them, ‘What makes you happy?’, ‘What is important to you?’ 

  • Food
  • Water
  • House
  • School
  • Friends
  • Family
  • Exercise
  • Sleep
  • Hobbies 

How can Disney Kids Readers help children’s wellbeing?

Let’s refer back to the hierarchy of needs and see how they can link into reading.

Self-actualization – Disney Kids Readers can help increase empathy and self-awareness through reading about other characters’ emotions and putting ourselves in their shoes. It can help us to understand and process our own emotions too. For example, in Inside Out, we see Riley struggle with her emotions when her family moves to San Francisco. Through the characters of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust, we can see how normal it is to feel a range of emotions and not feel happy all the time.

Esteem – Disney Kids Readers also help children to develop confidence and self-esteem as they progress through the levels. By completing the wide range of activities at the end of the books, children can see that they are learning and improving their English skills as well as having fun reading a book. 

Readers can also help us navigate difficult moments in life and teach us resilience and strength in challenging times. When we read the stories, we see how the characters overcome obstacles and deal with their problems. This can teach children key lessons and help them tackle their own problems in the real world.

For example, many of the characters go through difficult times to which children can relate. In The Jungle Book, Mowgli is scared but then his friend Baloo comes to help him. In Frozen II, Elsa goes on a difficult journey to restore justice for the people of Arendelle and The Enchanted Forest. 

Love/belonging – Reading Disney Kids Readers as a class, in pairs, or as a family can really strengthen relationships and a sense of belonging, which is such an important part of children’s development. Sharing a book is something special that can allow people to develop common interests and therefore make children feel that they are part of a wider community.

Safety – Children can feel safe and more secure when a parent or a caregiver reads to them before bed. Disney Kids Readers are perfect bedtime stories and help children to fall asleep listening to their favorite Disney characters on exciting adventures. Also, in times of stress, reading can help reduce anxiety, allowing children to enjoy the present moment and escape the real world for a little while.

Physiological – Reading exercises your brain. In addition to physical exercise, reading is an excellent mental workout which is so important to children’s health. Ask the children to memorize some pages from the reader and recite it without looking or ask them to memorize the phonics rhyme on the phonics page. You could also ask them to memorize the key words from the glossary list and see how many they remember.

Explore our range of readers and get inspired

Activity ideas

Now try out some of the activities below which can be linked to the Readers which will help your children/young learners focus on their wellbeing.

1. Paint a scene

This activity is calm, relaxing and mindful for the children to complete. The world is a busy place, and this activity links in with the idea of self-actualization and esteem. Painting or drawing keeps our mind focused on one task, and reduces stress and anxiety. It can help us process difficult emotions and can cheer us up when we are feeling down.  

Encourage your young learners to paint or draw a peaceful scene that they can imagine themselves in. It could be a beach, a forest, or even outer space. This activity allows children to express their creativity and imagination while also promoting relaxation and mindfulness.

Need: Self-actualization, Esteem

2. Reading emotion diary

Self-awareness is such a useful tool for our wellbeing – through this activity, the children take a moment each day to read a few pages of a book and then look inside themselves to think about how they are feeling before and after reading. This is powerful, as over time the children will understand that reading is a good way to calm the mind and manage emotions – something that can help them improve their own wellbeing and feel safe. 

Encourage your learner to write down their feelings in a diary after reading and reflect on how the reading has affected their emotions. This activity promotes self-awareness and emotional intelligence, which are crucial for maintaining good mental health.

Need: Self-actualization, Safety

3. Reading emotions

Emotional intelligence is such an important part of life. Understanding how someone is feeling through body language, such as facial expressions, gestures and body movements, can be useful when someone is sad, angry or upset. It can help us decide what they need and can help them feel listened to, loved and valued. In this activity, the children practice this by analyzing the characters’ emotions. It will help children build confidence when dealing with difficult or sensitive topics with family and friends. 

Choose a Reader with a diverse range of characters and ask your learner to identify and describe the emotions shown by each character. This activity promotes empathy, communication skills and social-emotional learning.

Need: Love/belonging, Esteem 

4. Guess the scene meditation

This activity is a great exercise for the brain. It helps children to visualize and picture different surroundings in their minds and imagine different smells, sounds and textures, and bring them to life. As the children’s minds are focused on one thing, they begin to relax and feel calm. This activity can be a great tool to use before bedtime to help children fall asleep peacefully.

Guide your learners through a guided meditation where they imagine themselves in different peaceful scenes. You can also ask them to create their own scene and describe it in detail. This activity promotes relaxation, mindfulness and creativity.

Need: Self-actualization, Safety

5. Develop resilience

In every story there is a lesson to be learned, and through this activity children learn how to deal with difficult situations through the characters. It teaches children that although there are hard times in life, if we are patient, work together and show resilience, then we can work through our problems.  

Choose a Reader with characters facing challenges and discuss with your learners how the characters handle the situation. Encourage them to think of ways they can apply this to their own lives when facing difficulties.

Need: Belonging, Esteem 

6. Create an exercise routine

This activity is creative and fun and will get the children moving and laughing at the same time. Physical exercise is so important to our wellbeing, so what is better than doing a workout with your favorite Disney character? The children can do these workouts in small groups, with family or as a class. This activity promotes physical health and social bonding.

Choose a few Disney characters and create simple exercises for each one. You can also use props or make it into a game by having the children take turns being different characters.

Need: Physiological

Read our blog post 'Choosing the right graded readers for young learners'.

Explore our range of readers and get inspired

More blogs from Pearson

  • Teacher talking to girl working on laptop in classroom smiling
    Designed for learning, built for growth: How Big Ben Education Group reimagined short-term programs
    By Kathy Chan
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    The challenge: Creating meaningful learning in short-term programs

    In recent years, Big Ben Education Group faced a challenge: how to deliver meaningful learning within short-term programs. Although teachers were passionate and students motivated, their short-term courses lacked a clear academic structure, making learning feel rushed and less impactful. At the same time, they relied heavily on a single market and sought to attract a more diverse, global student mix.

    This raised a critical question: How do you design a short-term program that is both academically meaningful and appealing to a global student audience? That question led to the launch of their first Winter Camp in 2024.

    The turning point: From camp to structured learning experience

    The Winter Camp marked a major shift. For the first time, students from across China, Korea, Japan, Central Asia and the Middle East were brought together. Managing this level of cultural and linguistic diversity required more than enthusiasm; it required structure.

    The school introduced Big English as a core academic framework, giving teachers clarity on learning objectives and ensuring consistency across levels, even within a condensed timeframe.

    But the transformation didn’t stop in the classroom. Excursions were redesigned with clear learning goals, turning them into opportunities for real-world language application. This shift from activities to outcomes required careful planning and strong collaboration between academic and operations teams.  What emerged was something new – a structured, student-centered learning experience that balanced academic rigor with real-world engagement.

  • Students sat at a table with microphones talking
    Building fluent, confident speakers: better ways to assess speaking
    By Charlotte Guest
    Reading time: 6 minutes

    Why traditional speaking assessments can make students feel stressed

    Traditional speaking tests often feel high-stakes and performative. Students are asked to respond on demand, usually in front of a teacher or peers, with little room for hesitation or self-correction. This setup can make it harder for students to show what they can really do because:

    • Time pressure shifts focus from communicating meaning to avoiding mistakes
    • Teacher-centered evaluation can feel judgmental rather than supportive
    • One-off testing may not capture a learner's true abilitiy, especially if they're nervous. 

    When people feel anxious, it often affects their fluency. They find it harder to think so they pause more, forget words and feel less confident. As a result, assessments may reflect how comfortable someone feels under pressure, rather than how effectively they can communicate.

    Key components of speaking fluency to evaluate

    Fluency isn't just about talking fast. It involves several clear signs.

  • People studying in a classroom with one holding her hand up
    How to teach business English to beginner learners
    By Margaret O'Keeffe
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    Teaching business English to beginners can feel challenging, especially when learners have limited vocabulary and confidence. However, with the right structure and focus, you can help students build practical workplace communication skills step by step.

    Focus on high-frequency workplace vocabulary

    For beginners learners, communication matters more than complexity. Teaching commonly-used workplace vocabulary allows students to express basic ideas quickly and clearly.

    Focus on:

    • Everyday work routines (emails, meetings, schedules)
    • Common verb–noun combinations (for example, “make a call,” “solve a problem”)
    • Simple functional phrases for greetings and offers

    This focus on high-frequency language helps learners retain and reuse it more easily.

    Introduce vocabulary in manageable, meaningful ways

    Vocabulary learning becomes more effective when it is limited and contextualized. Instead of overwhelming students, introduce a small number of new words per lesson and place them in realistic scenarios.

    For example:

    • Phone conversations
    • Short emails or messages
    • Daily task lists

    Memory improves when learners interact with words actively. Matching exercises, sentence-building and personalization tasks all strengthen recall because they require learners to process meaning rather than just memorize.