Recently, McKenzie Roman, a community educator from the YWCA in Kalamazoo, Michigan contacted me to ask if she could use some of the ideas in my posts about sexual abuse prevention in a coloring book that she was developing for classroom lessons in Kalamazoo elementary schools. Of course, I said “YES!” The coloring book is now complete and the Kalamazoo YWCA has generously shared it with me so that I can share it with all of you! It was pretty much like my birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and a dance party all wrapped up into one magical moment when I received my copy this week!
The book is titled Very Important People. It contains 13 pages of pictures to color and drawing prompts, as well as a note to parents. You can download it here. It can be used in classroom lessons, as a whole book or by using selected pages, and as a resource to share with parents. It covers the topics of:
- Your body belongs to you
- Private parts are covered by your bathing suit
- Trust your feelings
- Happy/contented/safe touches
- Adults you trust at home and school
- Touch should never be a secret
- Tell an adult you trust about uncomfortable touches
- Uncomfortable touches are not your fault
- Tricky words that might be used to try to stop you from telling
- Ways you can tell about uncomfortable touches
- Telling makes you feel better (real words from real kids)
I absolutely LOVE this resource! It can certainly be used on its own, but it also complements the lessons and scripts outlined in Teaching Kids How to Tell About Sexual Abuse, “I Got Safe So Quickly!”:How Kids Feel After Telling About Sexual Abuse, Kindergarten Lessons for Sexual Abuse Prevention and First Grade Lessons for Sexual Abuse Prevention. I will definitely be using it in my K-3 lessons as well as with older students for whom the coloring book is developmentally appropriate. It would also be a great resource to use in individual and small group settings.
I’d like to extend a very big thank-you to McKenzie Roman for creating this coloring book, and to the YWCA of Kalamazoo for sharing it. Please let me know what you think – I’d love to pass along any comments to our generous friends in Kalamazoo.
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Great resource! You must have been sooo excited to see it. Proud of my fellow Michigander for putting this together.
Thank you so much for sharing these posts. Our elementary counselors group has been searching for several months on resources to update our Personal Safety lessons. Your information pulls so much of it all together, thank you!
This is such a great and helpful resource! I am teaching a guidance lesson this week to a K class on appropriate vs. inappropriate touching and I am going to use parts of this coloring book! I am also using the book you recommend in another blog post “Your Body Belongs to You”. Thanks for all the amazing resources and lesson ideas you post!
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