Bucket filling - asking, helping, sharing a concept to share [Review & Giveaway]

We've all heard of "Bucket Lists" and things to do or accomplish before we're "gone." But there is an even brighter and better concept of buckets. That is - bucket filling. What is it? Who does it? And why do it?

The authors Carol McCloud and Karen Wells have a designed books for a variety of ages and the theme of them all is helping and sharing happiness and kindness. What a much better world we would have in which to live if we all carried around virtual buckets which we filled and which we allowed others to fill for us. There would be more gentleness, more kindness, more happiness and there would be less strife, less meanness, less bullying, and less sadness.

The end pages of Will You Fill My Bucket? give some really good information that I wish to share.....

Imagine that as a very young child you were never held in someone's arms, never pushed on a swing, never cuddled, never played with or even spoken to. Tragically, the world discovered that this was life for many children in the Socialist Republic of Romania from 1974 to 1989.

Determined to increase his country's population and build its workforce, Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu's regime forced women to bear children they could not afford to care for, which resulted in an estimated 150,000 babies and children being warehoused in state-run institutions. While basic needs for food and water may have been met, these orphaned children were fundamentally deprived of love, touch, and human affection. . . . . . We now know that children's buckets, which represent their mental, emotional, and social health, require daily filling with positive affirmation, acknowledgment, and affection. 

Human need for love and affection knows no boundaries; it is the same around the world.

So let's see just what these books look like and how they can be used in my life, your life, your children's lives, and in schools across the world.

ISBN13: 9781933916439
Ages 4 - 7

Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Young Children by Carol McCloud   

This award-winning prequel to Have You Filled a Bucket Today? is the perfect gift for anyone with little ones they love.  When children have their buckets filled and learn how they can fill other people's buckets too, they understand how special, valuable, and capable they are.

My thoughts: This is such a sweet and cute book. It begins by telling how a wee little baby is loved and cared for and how that fills the baby's bucket (his loving heart) and it fills the caregiver's bucket (their heart). It goes on through the child's life showing how kindness and care can fill the child's bucket and buckets of others as well. A lovely book to give a beginner's concept of being kind and how that kindness helps you and others. Charming!

ISBN13: 9781938326134
Ages 4 - 8

Bucket Filling from A to Z: The Key to Being Happy by Carol McCloud, Caryn Butzke, Glenn Zimmer (Illustrator)

This award-winning book uses the letters of the alphabet to help young and old see the many, simple ways that they can fill buckets and fill their own buckets in return. When you help children become bucket fillers, you give them the key to happiness...for it is in friendship, love, and good will to others that we are truly happy. Yes, bucket filling is the moment by moment choice to be kind and caring. Teaching and encouraging children to be bucket fillers is one of the greatest gifts you can give to them.

My thoughts: Very early on in a young child's development, they start learning their ABC's and there is a bounty of different books available that will help teach them as well as entertain. With Bucket Filling from A to Z the child is taken through an energetic rendering of each of the letters beautifully and joyfully illustrated by Glenn Zimmer. They learn how to fill their own buckets and the buckets of others by their acts of love and kindness. They learn, too, that being ugly and mean or bullying result in bucket dipping where someone takes from your bucket or you take from their bucket by dipping. You really don't want to be a bucket dipper robbing others or yourself of joy. This is a delightfully cute book and I love how it seems that a variety of racial and ethnic groups is part of the story.

Hardcover SBN13: 9780996099943

Soft cover ISBN13: 9780996099936

Ages 4-9

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud

Through simple prose and vivid illustrations, this heartwarming book encourages positive behaviour as children see how rewarding it is to express daily kindness, appreciation, and love. Bucket filling and dipping are effective metaphors for understanding the effects of our actions and words on the well being of others and ourselves.

My thoughts: In Have You Filled A Bucket Today? basically takes you through the gentle procedure of filling buckets and finding happiness in doing so. The text is short and to the point giving a variety of activities and instances in which you can share happiness and joy in filling buckets. The illustrations by David Messing are really cute and engaging.

Will You Fill My Bucket?: Daily Acts of Love Around the World by Carol McCloud, Karen Wells

A simple question, Will You Fill My Bucket?, is fervently asked by children from twelve different countries. Sweet rhyming prose and vividly captivating illustrations delight the senses and express the deep joy and love we hope for all children. Will You Fill My Bucket? and the responses given will touch the heartstrings of people young and old around the world. Bucket filling, the essence of being loved and loving others, occurs in those little moments in a day when you stop and just listen, cuddle, play, or spend time with a child.

My thoughts: Will You Fill My Bucket? just might be my favorite of the "bucket" books. I love the easy rhyme and beautiful, joyful pictures throughout. Pictured are people from all nations of the earth - or so it seems when I look at it. It is a really good representation of loving, caring people around the world. So they ask, "Will you fill my bucket with a "hug"......

"Will you fill my bucket

and make me happy, too?

Will you fill my bucket

with the love that comes from you?"

GIVEAWAY

1 softcover copy of each book listed here
Begins August 2

ENDS August 25

Open to USA addresses only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a bit of fun with a cute puzzle (from the Bucket Filler website. Just click to open)

30 Bucket
DISCLOSURE: I received complimentary copies of each of the books to facilitate the review. Opinions are my own. I was not compensated. Giveaway prize copies are provided by the author and/or publisher.