Picture books aren’t just for children—they hold profound lessons and beautiful insights that resonate with readers of all ages. For caregivers and teachers, these books are especially powerful tools, offering a creative and accessible way to foster emotional exploration and self-reflection. Picture books can serve as a bridge to reflective journaling, unlocking deep thoughts about life, emotions, and personal growth. They provide a unique opportunity to engage both young readers and adults in meaningful discussions, offering simple yet evocative narratives that inspire reflection. In this blog post, we’ll explore several picture books that not only tell compelling stories but also provide rich opportunities for journaling. Each book comes with a summary, a link to a read-aloud YouTube video, and thoughtfully crafted journal prompts to guide readers in exploring their inner world and nurturing personal growth.

One of the things that I love the most about journaling and the journaling community is the atmosphere and feeling that go into getting your thoughts down on a page. Then, add in the stress release of bullet journaling, feeling organized, and getting the running to-do list of groceries, errands, and work down out of your brain and on to the paper as well. Journaling is literal therapy you carry around with you on-the-go. Some of the best feelings is setting and establishing the tone and ambiance of journaling. Enter hygge. Hygge is not a new concept on the blog because it is a light feeling of happiness from self, things, surroundings and places, and even people. This post has a free 30 day hygge journal notebook prompt, and it contains some hygge tips for setting up your journaling atmosphere. Pick what you need from the 30 prompts or check out the 7 days of prompts to get you started and feel inspired in any notebook.

This post is for those on a mission or the ones that may not know what their mission is yet. As a middle school teacher, I have made it my career and life to incorporate all aspects of learning into every part of my life. Simply, I am a learner. We are all learners. I am a problem solver by nature. When faced with something I don’t know, I try to find the answer. This might include literature study in my classroom or figuring out how to install a flapper on a toilet. It might involve looking up how to insert code on a website or following directions on how to assemble a piece of furniture. Learning is about the ah-ha moments-big and small. If you are at a place in your journaling where you feel stuck or you need to figure out what you want to learn next, this is the post for you. Write down which prompts stick out to you and then jot them down now or for later on. This post provides the journaling prompts needed for learning, exploration of new ideas, and finding a pathway to your own education. It also highlights some helpful layouts for traditional bullet journaling.