<?xml version="1.1" encoding="utf-8"?>
<article xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://jats.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/1.1/xsd/JATS-journalpublishing1-mathml3.xsd" dtd-version="1.1" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">CEF</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Contemporary Education Frontiers</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn>3029-1879</issn><eissn>3029-1860</eissn><publisher><publisher-name>WHIOCE PUBLISHING PTE. LTD.</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.18063/CEF.v4i3.1726</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title>Research on the Interactive Mechanism between Picture Book Reading and Children’s Life Education from the Perspective of Embodied Cognition</title><url>https://artdesignp.com/journal/CEF/4/3/10.18063/CEF.v4i3.1726</url><author>ZhangLeyao,ZhouXiaodan,SongMiaomiao,ZhangJing</author><pub-date pub-type="publication-year"><year>2026</year></pub-date><volume>4</volume><issue>3</issue><history><date date-type="pub"><published-time>2026-03-26</published-time></date></history><abstract>Picture books are important in children&amp;rsquo;s life education, but most common methods focus on storytelling and stirring emotions, and they treat children as passive receivers. This approach does not consider how a child&amp;rsquo;s physical experiences, like touching things, moving around, and interacting with others, basically shape how they understand life; we use the idea of thinking with the body to redefine reading as an active experience that involves the whole body. A picture book turns into a situation that involves the body; when children touch the pages, copy the characters&amp;rsquo; actions, and imagine themselves being in the story, abstract ideas like care or loss become things they can really feel and understand. We look into how the child, the book, and the surrounding environment work together, and we explain in detail three ways this process works: sensory and emotional links, learning by moving and thinking, and making meaning from the situation. We offer some practical ways, such as setting up multi-sensory environments and connecting stories to real-life actions, to respect how children learn through their bodies; our goal is to create life education that children not only understand but also experience deeply, making it more personal and long-lasting.</abstract><keywords>Body-based thinking, Reading picture books, Life education for children, Learning through the body, Sensory and movement experiences, Meaning creation</keywords></article-meta></front><body/><back><ref-list><ref id="B1" content-type="article"><label>1</label><element-citation publication-type="journal"><p>[1] Nikolajeva M, 2014, Reading for Learning: Cognitive Approaches to Children&amp;rsquo;s Literature. John Benjamins Publishing Company, London.
[2] Varela FJ, Thompson E, Rosch E, 1991, The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. MIT Press, Massachusetts.
[3] Glenberg AM, 2010, Embodiment as a Unifying Perspective for Psychology. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 1(4): 586&amp;ndash;596.
[4] Sipe LR, 2008, Storytime: Young Children&amp;rsquo;s Literary Understanding in the Classroom. Teachers College Press, Columbia.
[5] Kiefer M, Trumpp NM, 2012, Embodiment Theory and Education: The Foundations of Cognition in Perception and Action. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 1(1): 15&amp;ndash;20.
[6] Peng Y, 2006, Picture Books: Reading and Classics. 21st Century Publishing House, Beijing.
[7] Ye HS, 2010, Embodied Cognition: A New Orientation in Cognitive Psychology. Advances in Psychological Science, 18(5): 705&amp;ndash;710.
[8] Gibbs RW Jr., 2005, Embodiment and Cognitive Science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
[9] Kang CY, 2002, Picture Storybooks and Preschool Children&amp;rsquo;s Development. Journal of Beijing Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences), (4): 20&amp;ndash;27.
[10] Matsui T, 1997, The Seed of Happiness: Parent-Child Reading of Picture Books (Trans. Liu DZ). Tomorrow Publishing House, Shandong.
[11] Zhu ZQ, 2020, Why Are Picture Books So Good? New Century Publishing House, Beijing.
[12] Zhou J, 2015, Research on Early Reading Development and Education. Educational Science Publishing House, Shanghai.</p><pub-id pub-id-type="doi"/></element-citation></ref></ref-list></back></article>
