Review: How to Train Your Amygdala

“How to Train Your Amygdala” helps young children learn to appropriately tame their fight or flight response. The amygdala is portrayed as a creature with fuzzy fur (I’d personally like a plushie of this little guy for my classroom) who often overreacts to situations. However, with proper training it learns to tame its reactions to daily life. This delightful story and illustrations make a pretty complex topic comprehensible to young children.

I love that author Anna Housley Juster makes it clear that our amygdala is important and helps protect us, so we don’t want to punish it. We just need to train it to recognize real danger. 

Similar to many other books in this category, there are tips for adults to help their little ones. There are specific instructions for different kinds of breathing exercises (one example is box breathing)  to help “tame” your amygdala.

This book is great for kids (and their adults) who experience anxiety or otherwise have trouble regulating emotions.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Teacher Created Materials, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.