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You Count: A Five-Senses Countdown to Calm
This interactive board book teaches kids and parents the 5-4-3-2-1 anxiety coping method. Toddlers and preschoolers often struggle with emotions like anxiety, fear, and sadness because they lack the maturity to address, process, and communicate their hardest feelings. But counting down and focusing on the five senses can help calm and conquer any fired-up emotions. Through lyrical rhyme and whimsical illustrations, kids can practice counting, learn the five senses, and redirect their big feelings.
Toddlers and Preschoolers follow an upset baby bear through his daily routine. He is guided by his mama to focus attention on his senses God. By observing the outer world, the baby bear learns to manage his inner world. Once calm and focused, the baby bear’s mama reminds him that God cares about what he is feeling.
You Count! reminds kids that God gave them emotions, and no matter what they feel, they always count to God!
Toddlers and Preschoolers follow an upset baby bear through his daily routine. He is guided by his mama to focus attention on his senses God. By observing the outer world, the baby bear learns to manage his inner world. Once calm and focused, the baby bear’s mama reminds him that God cares about what he is feeling.
You Count! reminds kids that God gave them emotions, and no matter what they feel, they always count to God!
24 pages, Board Book
Published August 15, 2023
5 people want to read
About the author
Champ Thornton
23 books26 followersChamp Thornton (PhD) and his wife, Robben, live in Delaware, have been married since 1996, and enjoy being parents to three energetic teenage children. He is an Acquisitions Editor at Crossway and is the author of numbers of books for kids and families, including The Radical Book for Kids, Why Do We Say Good Night?, Wonders of His Love: Family Advent Devotional, and Pass It On: A Proverbs Journal for the Next Generation. He’s also served as host of “In the Word, On the Go,” a ten-minute podcast for families. You can learn more about Champ at www.champthornton.com.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 28, 2023
This new board book is beautifully illustrated and geared to help preschoolers identify their emotions, practice self-control, and bring those big feelings to the Lord. What a sweet reminder that God collects our tears in a bottle. He knows them all. We always count to him.
July 21, 2023
This board book about emotional coping skills has cute illustrations and a nice message, modeling how parents can help their children process difficult feelings. In You Count, a mother bear helps her bear cub calm down through a sensory exercise where the parent and child focus on different things that they are seeing, touching, hearing, smelling, and tasting. The last pages talk about how God designed our senses and our emotions, understands us, and is always present with us. I like how this book opens with the message that a child's feelings matter to their parent, and then ends by saying that their feelings also matter to God.
Champ Thornton's rhyming text is reassuring and kid-friendly, and the illustrations from David Creighton-Pester are colorful, cute, and interactive, with many of the illustrations picturing things that kids can count and relate to their senses. For example, when the mother bear tells her cub to count five shapes while they're in the kitchen, many objects in the room have prominent shapes that kids can easily identify. There is also a simple seek-and-find element, with a number hidden in the illustrations for each of the counting pages.
You Count: A Five-Senses Countdown to Calm is a great book for parents to use with young children. The board book format is durable and easy to hold, and the reassuring text and bright, colorful illustrations will appeal to kids and adults. Some books like this just feel like training tools for parents, but this is something that kids can genuinely understand and connect with at well. I would also recommend the similar book Count Yourself Calm: Taking BIG Feelings to a BIG God by Eliza Huie. That one is geared towards slightly older children and has a different focus, but both books would compliment each other well and are helpful tools for parents to teach children about their emotions and God's presence.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Champ Thornton's rhyming text is reassuring and kid-friendly, and the illustrations from David Creighton-Pester are colorful, cute, and interactive, with many of the illustrations picturing things that kids can count and relate to their senses. For example, when the mother bear tells her cub to count five shapes while they're in the kitchen, many objects in the room have prominent shapes that kids can easily identify. There is also a simple seek-and-find element, with a number hidden in the illustrations for each of the counting pages.
You Count: A Five-Senses Countdown to Calm is a great book for parents to use with young children. The board book format is durable and easy to hold, and the reassuring text and bright, colorful illustrations will appeal to kids and adults. Some books like this just feel like training tools for parents, but this is something that kids can genuinely understand and connect with at well. I would also recommend the similar book Count Yourself Calm: Taking BIG Feelings to a BIG God by Eliza Huie. That one is geared towards slightly older children and has a different focus, but both books would compliment each other well and are helpful tools for parents to teach children about their emotions and God's presence.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
November 4, 2025
I grabbed this without realizing it was a Christian book, but was pleasantly surprised.
This board book teaches kids to use the five sense grounding technique used by many licensed therapists. As someone who grew up in the Christian church, I was impressed to see psychology and God's love used together in such a positive, healthy way.
Illustrations show the parent bear telling the baby bear that they are safe and loved and cared for by both them and by God. The parent discusses how sometimes we can't even name an emotion and "just feel odd," and how when you pray, you can tell God anything- there's no need to hide any part of ourselves or our feelings.
There are different scenes for each of the senses- sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste - and it's always a plus when you can laugh together about the stinky skunk smell... and even identify numbers, animals, and shapes. It shows other animals with empathetic looks on their faces, and as I said, I was pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth of this book.
I assume that it could also be accessible for many different faiths, as it only uses the religious terms "God" and "prayer." There is no mention of a specific religion or denomination anywhere on the book, and includes no religious symbols in the illustrations.
It can be inferred that the parent bear is probably a female, because she has eyelashes (haha) and the neighbor has a beard and no eyelashes. The baby bear has no eyelashes. There is a picture above the baby bear's bed that features two larger bears and one smaller one and they are each a different shade of brown. Only one parent bear is seen interacting with baby bear. I had thought maybe baby bear was sad after losing a family member, but they are shown getting upset after breaking a pot of honey so I don't think that's it. Unless neighbor bear is dad? (Leave it to me to try to figure out the whole back story of this fictional bear family.)
In my opinion, the only downside to this book is that from the front cover, you may not know that it's a religious book. It just says "A Five Senses Countdown to Calm: You Count!" and has adorable animal illustrations. On the back description it does talk about God, but some parents may not notice and expect to use this just as a tool for discussing emotions-- they may not be ready to have a conversation about "God" and "prayer" and feel tricked when they get halfway through the book.
This board book teaches kids to use the five sense grounding technique used by many licensed therapists. As someone who grew up in the Christian church, I was impressed to see psychology and God's love used together in such a positive, healthy way.
Illustrations show the parent bear telling the baby bear that they are safe and loved and cared for by both them and by God. The parent discusses how sometimes we can't even name an emotion and "just feel odd," and how when you pray, you can tell God anything- there's no need to hide any part of ourselves or our feelings.
There are different scenes for each of the senses- sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste - and it's always a plus when you can laugh together about the stinky skunk smell... and even identify numbers, animals, and shapes. It shows other animals with empathetic looks on their faces, and as I said, I was pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth of this book.
I assume that it could also be accessible for many different faiths, as it only uses the religious terms "God" and "prayer." There is no mention of a specific religion or denomination anywhere on the book, and includes no religious symbols in the illustrations.
It can be inferred that the parent bear is probably a female, because she has eyelashes (haha) and the neighbor has a beard and no eyelashes. The baby bear has no eyelashes. There is a picture above the baby bear's bed that features two larger bears and one smaller one and they are each a different shade of brown. Only one parent bear is seen interacting with baby bear. I had thought maybe baby bear was sad after losing a family member, but they are shown getting upset after breaking a pot of honey so I don't think that's it. Unless neighbor bear is dad? (Leave it to me to try to figure out the whole back story of this fictional bear family.)
In my opinion, the only downside to this book is that from the front cover, you may not know that it's a religious book. It just says "A Five Senses Countdown to Calm: You Count!" and has adorable animal illustrations. On the back description it does talk about God, but some parents may not notice and expect to use this just as a tool for discussing emotions-- they may not be ready to have a conversation about "God" and "prayer" and feel tricked when they get halfway through the book.
September 23, 2023
I love this little book. It's a great tool for teaching kids about emotions and how to calm themselves when they are anxious. High recommend!
October 1, 2023
This book is too sweet. Engaging emotions, senses, and faith for a fabulous board book for kids. Everyone is getting this book for gifts!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews