Nantwich mums motivated to combat Covid anxiety for children in new picture book

Nantwich mums Rachel Sinden and Hannah Morgan have been bringing smiles and reassurances to children all over the UK with their new picture book about children’s COVID anxiety.

Daisy’s Fuzzy Tummy is about a little girl who, on her 5th birthday, is too concerned about potential sneezes on her cake and not touching gifts to fully enjoy her day, and how mum talks her through it.

Rachel Sinden, Teacher and Director of arts education company ‘Play Pizzazz’, saw a need for relevant, up to date stories and activities to support the anxieties that she was seeing in children.

She soon set to work. “At Play Pizzazz, we are all about creative play the mindful way, and empowering parents to be the stuff that their kids need, not to buy the stuff”, she explains. “As a mum, I saw what our children were experiencing, and knew I had the creative solutions to support them.

Daisy’s Fuzzy Tummy is based around the accounts of friends, who described how their children, who were usually happy- go-lucky children, were behaving anxiously in everyday situations because of the pandemic. I knew I had to do something about it”, she says.

Hannah Morgan, local artist behind the illustration company ‘Hanxmade’ was just the person to create Daisy artistically. “I was really excited to be a part of this project. As a mother of two young children it felt so important to be able to prepare ourselves with the tools to help our kids through these unprecedented experiences. They will undoubtedly have been emotionally impacted by the pandemic. It’s comforting to think that Daisy’s Fuzzy Tummy can at least start those conversations”, says Hannah.

She continues “Rachel approached me just over three weeks ago about this idea and in that short time, we’ve worked flat out and brought it to families in the UK and beyond just hours after its release”.

Rachel adds, “We’ve worked incredibly hard to get this to children as soon as possible, and I’m immensely proud of ‘Daisy’s Fuzzy Tummy’.

Rachel goes on to explain how Play Pizzazz goes even further to support families and schools to mindfully discuss the pandemic with the children in their care.

“To support positive conversations and play in a fun way using ideas for the book, I’ve also written something called ‘Daisy’s Companion’, which is available on the website. For the price of a coffee, it’s full of fun, relevant ideas to support children to open up a little. There are also wipe clean copies available for schools, so it can be used right away, in a safe way”.

Parents love the new story. One of the first people to get in touch with Play Pizzazz during lockdown was Stephanie Dean. She talks not only about how much her daughter loved the book, but also how Play Pizzazz has supported her family through lockdown as a whole.

“Life changed around us when the COVID- 19 lockdown came. My bright, bubbly and imaginative only-child was becoming more withdrawn and rigid in her play, as her interaction with other children was brought to an abrupt stop. A session called ‘Refresh and Reload’ with Rachel at Play Pizzazz helped unlock this and we were soon capturing ninja tortoises to return them to the zoo and white-water rafting down the Zambezi, to fits of giggles, in a bubble of happiness. Because I got so much from this, I got my hands on a copy of Daisy’s Fuzzy Tummy. My little one laughed out loud at moments and gave it 5 of 5 and a big thumbs up”.

Daisy’s fuzzy tummy is available on the kindle store: https://amzn.to/2V45tsS

For activity packs, teacher copies and to book sessions with Play Pizzazz around ‘Daisy’s Fuzzy Tummy’ and more, go to: www.playpizzazz.com.