A little garden, all kinds of weather.
Every kind of weather is okay.
Gentle picture books and a companion app that help young children name their big feelings — and learn that every storm passes.
or grab the free Feeling Weather MapJust scanned the code in the back of the book? You're in the right place — welcome!
Feelings are like weather in a little garden inside us
The Feeling Forest is a gentle, read-aloud picture book series that helps young children, ages 3 and up, understand their emotions. Through four friends — Pippy, Pat, Mona, and Miles — and one simple idea (feelings are like weather in a little garden inside us), each book explores one feeling, names it, and teaches a real, usable coping skill. Built on the five research-backed skills of emotional intelligence, with interactive “Join In” moments that turn story time into practice. Perfect for home, school, and counseling.
Peek insideTry the world before you bring it home
A page from Book 1 — and a little taste of the weather check your family does together.
What’s the weather in your garden today?
Point to today’s weather, and a friend will answer.
The friends are ready when you are.
In the book (and the app to come), this is where you’d breathe the flower breath together.
Meet the friendsFour friends in Bamboo Hollow
In a green and leafy place called Bamboo Hollow live two pandas and two monkeys — four best friends, each with a little garden inside.
Pippy
The bright-eyed learner — often leads with love and not-giving-up.
- The Garden Inside · Book 1 — out now
- The Warm Glow · love — growing soon
Pat
Calm, steady, the comforter — often leads with calm and courage.
- The Big Storm · anger — growing soon
- The Calm After · peace — growing soon
Mona
Joyful, bouncy, can't sit still — often leads with happiness and kindness.
- Sunny Days · happiness — growing soon
- The Foggy Day · worry — growing soon
Miles
Shy, thoughtful, tender — often leads with the quiet feelings.
- The Quiet Rain · sadness — growing soon
- The Gusty Day · excitement — growing soon
Any friend can have any weather — Mona leads the worry book and Miles the excitement book on purpose. No one here is “the happy one” or “the sad one.”
Book 1The Garden Inside
Pippy wakes up with a storm inside — and learns the secret every one of us carries: a little garden, with weather that changes. Rain helps things grow. Storms always pass. And no one rides the weather alone.
A picture book about feelings · For young children
- Join In moments — your child names their weather, breathes the flower breath, and says the line back: “Every kind of weather is okay.”
- A hidden dandelion on every page — a seek-and-find for re-reads.
- A note for grown-ups — the two big ideas, and how to sit with a storm without rushing it.
Ebook and paperback on Amazon. Hardcover coming soon.
Perfect for home, school, and counseling.
Book 2 · Growing soon
Sunny Days
Mona wakes up bursting with sunshine! But when her friend Miles is having a rainy day, she learns something important: you can't make someone happy — you can only share your warmth by staying close. A joyful story about happiness, kindness, and the very first sparks of empathy.
Coming soon on Amazon — ebook and paperback · For young children
Sunshine grows when you share it.
The appThe app is growing in Bamboo Hollow
A free companion for the daily check-in: your child picks the weather in their garden, the matching friend answers, and you breathe the flower breath together. A few minutes, on a grown-up's lap — then the screen goes away and the garden keeps growing.
Free · no accounts · no ads · nothing leaves your device
Joins the forest email list — we’ll tell you the day it’s ready.
For parents (and every grown-up who reads along)
Most children’s feelings apps ask for an account or a subscription before they help. We built The Feeling Forest differently — on purpose.
Free — actually free.
No subscription, no locked chapters, no “premium calm.”
No accounts.
Not for you, and never for your child.
No ads, ever.
Story time isn’t a marketplace.
Nothing is collected.
The app works entirely on your device — no mood-logging in a cloud, no profile of your child’s feelings. We never see them, and that’s the point.
Made for young children, together.
Built for a lap, not a lock-screen — a few gentle minutes, then goodnight.
On this site we ask for one thing only, and only if you’d like the free printables: a parent’s email. Never a child’s anything.
The Five Feeling Skills
Every book quietly practices the same five skills of the RULER approach to emotional intelligence — developed by Marc Brackett and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence — in words a child can use.
They nurture the five core competencies of social-emotional learning (SEL) that classrooms and counselors focus on — self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making — the framework CASEL is known for.
- 1Notice itRecognizingPause and notice the weather in your garden — in yourself and in friends.
- 2Know whyUnderstandingWonder where the weather came from.
- 3Name itLabelingGive the feeling its name: “It’s stormy in there today.”
- 4Show itExpressingLet the feeling out in a way that’s safe and kind.
- 5Steady itRegulatingUse a tool to ride the weather — breathe, take one small step, stay close.
Those five underlying skills — Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, Regulating — spell RULER. Further reading for grown-ups: Marc Brackett’s Permission to Feel. The Feeling Forest is an original, independent work, inspired by these research-backed skills but not affiliated with or endorsed by Yale, the RULER program, or CASEL.
About the authorWhy I wrote these stories
I believe we grow most through life's hardest weather. For a long time, I didn't have words for what I was feeling — it was through my own challenges, therapy, and a lot of honest reflection that I slowly came to understand myself, and those hard-won lessons changed my life.
I created The Feeling Forest so children can learn that language far earlier than I did: that all feelings are okay, that hard times always pass, and that no one has to face their storms alone.
As a parent, guided by my faith and the values that ground me, I write these stories to plant something hopeful early. My greatest wish is that they inspire children — and the grown-ups reading along — to keep becoming the best version of themselves. Growth is always possible.
— Long Nguyen
A little gift to start
The Feeling Weather Map — a free printable poster of the weathers a heart can have, so your child can point to today’s. It lives happily on a fridge — or in a calm corner. We’ll send the occasional gentle note as new books grow.
Prints beautifully on US Letter or A4.
