Blank art paper ready for a personalized story about feelings and choices
A cover image of "How I Feel & What I Do" with emojis

How I Feel & What I Do

Join your choice of character on a themed adventure where they face a challenge similar to your own experience. When things don't go as planned, your character learns to notice their feelings, understand their body's signals, discover what they believe deep down, and choose how to respond. Together, you'll make a plan so things can go even better next time!

ConfidenceResilienceSelf-AwarenessSelf-ManagementRelationship SkillsDecision MakingCBTYou Choose

About This Story

What your child will experience

Your child chooses a character and theme, then watches them face a challenge similar to one your child has experienced. Through the story, your child helps the character notice body signals (tight chest, butterflies), name feelings, and explore what they believe deep down about themselves. They'll choose thoughts, actions, and problem-solving strategies—some helpful, some less so—to see how the story unfolds.

Why this approach helps

This story uses CBT-informed techniques to build emotional awareness and regulation skills over time. By practicing in a low-stakes story world, children learn to pause, notice, and choose—skills that transfer to real moments of frustration or overwhelm. Exploring less-helpful choices safely can also clarify consequences without real-world risk.

What to notice as a parent

Help set the stage by choosing a situation and behavior that are as similar as possible to what your child experienced. Pay attention to which feelings or body sensations your child names—they often mirror their real experience, and it might give you more information. Notice the beliefs they choose ("I'm not good enough" vs. "I can try again"). These clues show how your child interprets challenges and can open the door to rewriting those beliefs into kinder truths through gentle questioning.

Personalize This Story

Make this story truly special by adding these details:

  • What theme should this story have?
  • What situation lead to big feelings?
  • What was the response?

Story Questions

Questions your child may be asked while creating this story:

  1. The main character started to think...
  2. What did the main character's body start to feel like?
  3. When the main character thought this way, they remembered something important about themselves...
  4. To make sure things go well next time, the main character could...
  5. Deep down, the main character was feeling like...
  6. Maybe what's really true is...
  7. Next time, the main character will try to...

Loved by Families

Join thousands of happy families who've empowered their children with personalized, interactive stories.

At first I thought it was one of those bedtime ploys to stay up later, but when the request came again first thing in the morning I realized it was just genuine excitement about Wanderly. My two kiddos - ages 7 and 8 - had a blast selecting their adventure pals (they have the cutest "pets" that go on the adventure with them) and choosing the direction of the story every step of the way. I turned up the reading level today and it was neat to see my son work through a few new words and stick with it because he was so excited about his story.

Taryn S

My son couldn't put the story down!

Sebastian

We've been using it every night for bedtime stories for our 3 year old.

Matt

Ok, so I installed this yesterday, and I've already read 5 stories with my 4 year old. That's over an hours worth of time. Today he tried to negotiate to have me read 4 in a row... He's fully engaged, and takes his time over the choices - I think that and the funny moments in the stories are what have him hooked. He lost it when our cat (yes, you can include your pet in a story!) turned into a elephant. As a parent, it's whimsical and a welcome change from the regular books in rotation. I was initially unsure about using my phone to engage him during bedtime, but he entrallment quickly overcame that. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to others.

Simon

It's been fantastic for creating and sharing our stories with beautiful art. What a great keepsake!

Shayla

My dyslexic 4th grader struggles with reading and comprehension. She is finally excited to read using Wanderly!

Bill

As an lifelong educator, I give this app an enthusiastic 5 stars+. With opportunity to choose and name characters, type of story and plot ... what could be more creative? What could be a more productive use of screen time? I love that this app was created and is carefully monitored by a Mom of young kids. She also happens to have technical/AI chops ... she was a Google Product Manager in their Education Products sector. The graphics are quite lovely, the story lines are fun and age-appropriate.

Helen

I'm very impressed with the ease with which I was able to write a fun (and colorful) story. I wrote one for my grandchild and can't wait to share it with her.

Bill

GET STARTED

Ready to hear what your child has to say?

Join thousands of families who've used Wanderly to engage their child's imagination, to practice important skills, and to build confidence. Download the app today.

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