Here at Cardinal Rule Press, we’ve been talking a lot about our newest acquisition: the bestselling and beloved Bucket Fillers series of books! It’s been so exciting to share these books with our community, and to hear from our readers about how they’ve begun integrating the books, like Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, into their home libraries and classroom planning. 

The Bucket Fillers books, including the original title Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, are a well-established collection of realistic stories that focus on a central theme: we all carry invisible buckets with us, and we can either fill those buckets with kind words and actions, or empty the bucket by choosing unkind words and actions. 

But there are many Bucket Filler books beyond Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, and we’re enjoying the chance to share a little about the new titles on our list. 

One new book in our Cardinal Rule Press catalog is Buckets, Dippers, and Lids by Carol McCloud. Buckets, Dippers, and Lids expands on the concepts of bucket filling to offer young readers valuable social emotional skills. This book uses familiar imagery to add to the idea that we all have our own buckets, which we can fill or dip from, and that sometimes we need to use a “lid” to secure our buckets. This protects our happiness, confidence, and personal development. Short, teachable statements are paired with questions regarding difficult circumstances, like sibling rivalries, bullying, and other challenges. Readers will be inspired by messages of resilience and personal strength as they learn how to cultivate a positive mindset for growth. 

Barbara Gruener from The Corner on Character says “This newcomer to the Bucket-Fillosophy family brings an important dimension to the idea of filling and dipping by addressing the invisible lid to help with what to do with the ouches in life. It aims to teach its readers how to bounce back when one of life’s dippers threatens to steal from their bucket’s emotional reserve. Check out this new tool for your Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) arsenal; I think you’ll find it’ll make the intangible concepts of kindness, resilience and grit something that our learners can hold on to and apply as they learn to sail the somewhat stormy seas of life.”

And Darin Godby of Readers' Favorite says “Author McCloud does a wonderful job of helping us understand how to keep our buckets full.”

Buckets, Dippers, and Lids is a valuable tool in discussions of social-emotional learning and growth, and the book gives children a straightforward way of considering how their words and actions affect others, and also how they might be affected by the people around them. For educators, there are many different paths to take with this book, and many of them circle around the concepts of self-esteem and self-empowerment. 

There are more ways to extend the learning with printables, available on the Cardinal Rule Press website. Also, check out these resources for lesson plans and activities that revolve around the Bucket Filling mindset and the original book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? We like these hands-on activities from The Chaos and the Clutter, and this lesson plan for elementary teachers. 

We hope you’ll check out Buckets, Dippers, and Lids. When you do, tell us what you think! You can reach out to Cardinal Rule Press on social media and via our website.

Christie Megill is an editorial and marketing intern at Cardinal Rule Press and she spends most of her spare time reading children’s books. She has experience as a writer, elementary school teacher, curriculum developer, and literacy specialist.