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(More customer reviews)i think that this book is the best kids book of all time.
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Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Spider Kane and the Mystery Under the May-Apple (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) Review
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(More customer reviews)i think that this book is the best kids book of all time.
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Saturday, May 12, 2012
Once Upon a Crime (The Sisters Grimm, Book 4) Review
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(More customer reviews)Descended from the Brothers Grimm of fairy tale fame, eleven-year-old Sabrina Grimm and Daphne, her seven-year-old sister, have had all kinds of adventures since they went to live with their Granny Relda after their parents disappeared. Although Sabrina loves her grandmother, she's not happy that she lives in a town filled with fairytale characters. While it's a dream come true for Daphne, Sabrina wants out since it seems like her family is constantly in danger. This time is no different - their friend Puck is injured and they go to New York City to find his family. While there his father Oberon is murdered and Sabrina and her family barely escape being charged with the murder. While Granny Relda, her friend Mr. Canis, Daphne, and Moth, Puck's would be girlfriend, try to find the murderer; Sabrina wants no part in the detecting. But Sabrina is learning more about her parents especially her mother, and when Sabrina and Daphne are taken away from their grandmother, Sabrina finds out how important family really is.
"Once Upon a Crime" is the fourth book in Michael Buckley's charming The Sisters Grimm Fairy Tale Detective Series. Buckley fills the books not only with characters from "A Midsummer Night's Dream", but lots of characters from fairytales and literature including the Wizard of Oz, the Big Bad Wolf, one of the three little pigs, the seven dwarfs, Scrooge, and Tiny Tim. Buckley has fun tweaking some of the fairytale elements: Mr. Canis is the Big Bad Wolf; one of the three little pigs is a policeman called Mr. Hamstead; and Scrooge runs a financial and spiritual advice shop that is haunted by the ghosts of Easter, Passover, Thanksgiving, etc. Other fun characters in the book include fairy godfathers and Wall Street Pirates (literally!). There's a wonderful sense of humor and play on words throughout the book like when one characters says of the cantankerous gingerbread man "he looks sweet, but he's really hard to swallow". One funny but creepy scene, which might remind readers of Lemony Snicket, happens when Granny Relda is considered an unfit guardian and Sabrina and Daphne are sent to live with a reformed serial killer. Newcomers to the series should start with the first book as this book continues events from the third book. Since this book is part of a series, not everything is resolved by the end, although Sabrina and Daphne do find out who kidnapped their parents.
"Once Upon a Crime" is fun for readers of all ages.
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The Grimms take Manhattan in the fourth book in the New York Times bestselling series! When fairy-tale detectives Sabrina and Daphne Grimm venture back to the big city to help a friend, they land in the middle of a big mystery. Puck’s father, King Oberon, has been murdered, and the Grimms suspect one of the many famous (and infamous) fairy-tale folk who call the city home. Can they find the culprit while coming to terms with their mother’s secret life? And will Sabrina ever accept her family’s destiny? Funny and fast-paced, this series puts a fresh spin on girl-detective stories and has won an everexpanding number of fans.
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Monday, May 7, 2012
The Big Book of Bugs Review
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(More customer reviews)Lots of pictures and information but poorly organized and incomplete. For instance, on page 141 there is a section entitiled "The Fastest Bug on Eight Legs"....but the article never tells you HOW fast the windscorpion can travel. There is no index or table of contents making the book extremely frustrating to use. I would not recommend it!
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Why do bees make honey? How do spiders spin their webs? Which is the smartest bug? Its question like these keep you or your child up at night, this book on the creepy-crawly world of minibeasts is for you!The Big Book of Bugs is loaded with all the facts, figues, and lore any kid (or kid-at-heart) could ever want to know about bugs. And it's fun!This colorful, creatively illustrated volume, with in-depth explorations of bugs habitats and habits, gives you access to the various and entertaining ways in which bugs and people affect each other's lives.And its all done in the most user-friendly was possible with:Twenty 3-D illustrations paired together with the 3-d glasses Over 575 color illustrations and photographsPages and pages of profiles and close-up examinations of all kinds of bugsAnswers to all the most common (and uncommon) questions about bugsFacts about bugsQuizzes that test your bug knowledgeDozens of animal-friendly activities and experiements that kids can do at home
Monday, April 23, 2012
Everything Bug: What Kids Really Want to Know about Bugs (Kids' FAQs) Review
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(More customer reviews)Some kids only go to science books when they have to write a report. EVERYTHING BUG makes reading non-fiction fun! (My daughter took it to the couch and just read it because it was so captivating). The beautiful, enticing photos combine with the lively writing to make a fabulous read for anyone (current bug enthusiast or future one). It's not intimidating like some non-fiction. Just pop it open anywhere and find something fascinating. A great way to excite kids about reading science!
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Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Big Bug Search (Great Searches) Review
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(More customer reviews)EDC Publishing offers three outstanding Usborne "picture puzzle" titles beautifully illustrated by Ian Jackson for children with an interest in nature and wildlife that are as fun and they are informative. In The Great Animal Search (0746017391, ...) there are some 100 animals to spot and identify on every double-page of this oversized book. Each scenario showcases a different part of the world and the wildlife that lives there. In addition to countless hours of puzzle solving fun, there is a wealth of fascinating animal facts presented in succinct, easy-to-read captions. The Big Bug Search (0746027036, ...) follows the same format, only this time for insects ranging from hairy spiders and black slugs to dragonflies and leafcutter ants. With The Great Undersea Search (0746023413, ...) the focus in on live under water in the various puzzle pictures ranging from coral reef to ocean depths to sunken pirate ship, and more. With all three books, should young readers (or their parents!) get stuck trying to find all the hidden things, their are answers in the back. This wonderfully presented, magnificently illustrated series is especially recommended for home schooling curriculums, rainy day pastimes, or long road trip diversions.
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Packed with fascinating facts and up to 100 things to spot on every spread, helps children to develop reading, counting and identification skills. Ages 4+.
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
How Animals Live: Amazing World of Animals in the Wild, The Review
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(More customer reviews)Simply gorgeous drawings by John Francis from cover to inside encourage leisure browsing and reading despite a title which sounds quite ordinary: once inside, kids in grades 4-6 will find How Animals Live is packed from cover to cover with inviting natural history facts about a wide range of animals, from jewel fish and wild schools of animals to gila monsters. It's the lovely illustrations which are eye-catching on every page, making for a survey hard to put down.
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Animals live in hundreds of different ways, some of them quite extraordinary. Kids will learn how animals survive in a world where living is rarely easy. From birds and mammals to amphibians and insects, a large range of creatures are covered.Through accessible explanations and hundreds of vibrant illustrations, budding zoologists will find out how animals care for their young, how they battle for life-either as predators or prey, and how they spend their lives-in groups, in partnerships, or alone.
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Sunday, January 1, 2012
Actual Size (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)) Review
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(More customer reviews)Just this past week I did a welcome-to-the-library introductory class for roughly fifteen hepped-up first graders. This was the first time I'd done such a class, so I was a little nervous about how to reach 'em. The last thing I wanted was to bomb in front of them. I needed a picture book that would really capture their attention. That would make them sit up and take notice. That would let them believe that the library is a cool and happening place full of wonderful fascinating books. So to what book did I turn in my moment of trial? Why to Steve Jenkins' fabulous, "Actual Size", of course. This has suddenly become my sure-fire go-to book. No child that encounters this puppy walks away without falling deeply in love with it. All that and it's chock full of useful scientific facts too.
The premise of "Actual Size" is canny. Using his customary illustration techniques of utilizing cut and torn paper, author/illustrator Steve Jenkins has created a book full of different kinds of animals. But unlike your average book that, say, summarizes the wingspan of the atlas moth, each illustration in this story is actual size. Which is to say, if the pygmy shrew is only two inches long, then the illustration of that shrew in this book will also be two inches long. This makes for some highly original displays. There's no way you could fit the entire giant squid into the book's pages. Therefore, one two-page spread is devoted entirely to the giant squid's eye (12 inches across and freaky freaky freaky). Other pages display an anteater's two-foot-long tongue (twisted about to fit in the necessary illustration). We get an up close and personal view of the four-inch jagged teeth of the great white shark. There are even huge insects (like the giant walking stick) and slimy critters (the monumentally disgusting 36-inch long Gippsland earthworm). Every page contains some brief facts and statistics about the creature being displayed, followed up by more in-depth material at the back of the book.
Needless to say, kids can't get enough of "Actual Size". The best reactions you can get are when you have the kids compare their tiny hands with the gigantic mit of the gorilla. When I showed my engrossed class this illustration they went gaga, clamoring to reach out and "touch" the great primate's palm. Children also get wrapped up in some of the book's lesser known facts. I took a great deal of delight in informing my captive audience that the Goliath frog eats birds and rats. And, of course, some of their reactions were surprising. When I showed the anteater page, hoping to wow them with the idea of a tongue that's two-feet-long, they were instead thrilled that the picture showed termites. Go figure.
If you're at all familiar with Jenkins' Caldecott honor winning, "What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?" then you know what to expect from him. Highly original cut paper pictures. We're not talking namby-pamby Eric Carle "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" type stuff. We're talking breathtaking how-do-you-convey-that-picture-with-cut-paper type images here. This book has a life entirely of its own. As with all Jenkins' creations, I was pleased to see bright and colorful pictures (the Siberian tiger, for example) next to pictures that required the smallest of details (like the pygmy mouse lemur). Best of all, Jenkins is constantly switching about the perspective in this book. One moment you're looking at an animal at a sideways angle, and the next minute you're facing down a tiger, head on (and the tiger doesn't seem to be particularly pleased with the interaction).
As you may have figured out, my welcome-to-the-library presentation was a smash hit, in no small part due to this wonderful book. I have high hopes that it may garner itself a heaping helpful of awards in the future. If you want an educational but highly amusing all at the same time picture book, "Actual Size" is a must-have. It's beautiful, smartly written, and a joy to thumb through. Few children can escape its charms.
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Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tiger Moth and the Dragon Kite Contest (Graphic Sparks: Tiger Moth) Review
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(More customer reviews)I highly recommend every book Aaron Reynolds writes! NO, he's not family. I did met him, once, but that's not why I recommend him.
My kids love his books! From Chicks and Salsa to Tiger Moth, every book is a great read, no matter how many times we've read them out loud together. Reynolds is a gifted writer and he can grab and hold a child's attention like no other. He teaches values in a way kids can hold on to and apply. It's amazing how they retain what they've learned from his books.
Any of Aaron Reynolds' books is a great addition to the kiddo's library, just pick one. I will warn you, the books are like potato chips, you won't be able to have just one. : )
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A kite flying contest is being held to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but the Fruit Fly boys try to cheat their way to victory.Written in graphic novel format.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wings of Adventure: Paper Airplanes that Really Fly Review
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(More customer reviews)I happened across the first two books in the series at a bookstore and could not resist buying them. Since then, I've bought this book.
To date, I have not made any planes in this book yet (though I have made planes from his other related books). I have looked through it extensively and am impatiently waiting for having spare time to work on the planes. There is a nice selection of planes from a WW1 Tiger Moth all the way up to Burt Rutan's Voyager that flew around the world on one tank of gas. I personally look forward to building and flying the Voyager and the GeeBee R-2. The planes are from a variety of countries, as well.
In addition to the planes, there are nice historical backgrounds for each aircraft included. I'm an airplane nut, and there are some planes in here that I'd never heard of.
I should mention that this is not a typical 'paper airplane' book. You do not simply take a sheet of paper and fold it in various ways then fly it. You have to cut out numerous pieces, form them to get the proper curves, glue them (carefully, so that the paper doesn't warp when it's drying), and THEN fly them. Even though that may sound challenging, the first few airplanes are enough to learn the skills necessary for the later (and more challenging) airplanes. And...THE PLANES FLY GREAT when built with patience and care. Mine have survived some great crashes into walls and radiators since I have a habit of launching them indoors (all the planes have a hook for launching via rubber bands).
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Wings of Adventure takes paper airplanes to a thrilling new level. These lifelike, three-dimensional aircraft have everything from wings to authentic fuselages. Using the simplest of tools, you can makeairplanes that mirror the originals, and let them fly on a breeze or launch them with a rubber band. Wings of Adventure presents some of the most thrilling tales in the annals of aviation, featuring such fearless pilots as Charles Lindbergh and Chuck Yeager, and a host of storied aircraft including the Spirit of Saint Louis and the space shuttle.
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Thursday, October 13, 2011
Jazz Fly 2: The Jungle Pachanga (book w/ audio CD) Review
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(More customer reviews)This is a truly unique project. Great music, a jungle adventure, and it will teach your kids some Spanish to boot! You'll definitely want to let the author do the telling. He's got the rhythm, he does the scat singing, he's got the jazz quintet. (And they're GOOD!) The original Jazz Fly is a staple around our house, so we knew right away to listen to the CD. If anything, this is even better than the original. Same cool grooves behind the bouncy narration, but here every time a jungle creature speaks Spanish, the band switches into Latin rhythms with maracas, congas, bongos and timbales, then back to swing when the English narration continues. What a cool way to introduce Latin music to kids! The illustrator Karen Hanke also outdid herself. Lots more vibrant colors and details than the first Jazz Fly. The story involves a tropical tour. The Fly takes his insect band to the jungle in their limousine. They need to get to their performance at "El Termite Nook" (a giant termite nest). But when their car breaks down, they have to ask for rides in Spanish from a sloth, a spider monkey and finally a parrot. Mixing Spanish words with scat, they get their point across. They get to the pachanga (dance party), where a ladybug starts making eyes at the Fly. The Fly feels giddy and sings his heart out...until the giant termite nest is attacked. I won't say what happens next, but I can tell you that each time we finish listening to the CD, I know I'm going to hear a kid's voice in the back seat say, "Again!" (P.S. Amazon describes the reading level as pre-K through K. Pre-K kids will enjoy the CD and illustrations but the reading level is more like 2nd or 3rd grade!)
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Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wildlife Gardening Review
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(More customer reviews)This is the most exciting gardening book I've seen! The information is thorough and these doable projects are full of beautiful and cute pictures in each step! I especially like the top 10 plants to attract bees, birds, butterflies, caterpillars, ladybugs, etc. It also shows top 10 water plants and night plants.
Thanks to this book, I finally understood how to make composts, frog ponds, bird houses, butterfly houses, moth catcher, bee hotel, stag beetle bucket, spider web catcher, wormery, newt houses, owl nest, bird feeder, bird bath, bats garden, and even more with inexpensive materials! They are also full of interesting facts! What else do you need to know!?
I got this book for my daughters, but my whole family is enjoying this book. This book is absolutely wonderful!
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Friday, September 30, 2011
Doctor Dolittle in the Moon Review
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(More customer reviews)The movie musical version of "Doctor Dolittle" was on cable this weekend, and after cringing a bit at Rex Harrison's portrayal of the Doctor (about as faithful to the book as Julie Andrews was to P.L. Travers's original Mary Poppins), I pulled down several of my Hugh Lofting classics to remember why I loved these books so much. You probably know the general story: the adventures of an English animal doctor who learns the language of the animals. All of these books are great (start with "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle" or "The Story of Doctor Dolittle") but "Doctor Dolittle in the Moon" was always my favorite as a kid, and I'm please to say it holds up extraordinarily well reading it in my late thirties! The adventure is continued in part from the previous book, "Doctor Dolittle's Garden," but you don't have to read that book at all to get right into the action: the good doctor is already on his way to the moon, on the back of a giant moth (it's not as silly as it sounds), along with faithful companions the parrot Polynesia and the monkey Chim-Chim--plus a stowaway, the Doctor's protégé and apprentice, Tommy Stubbins. They discover on the moon's dark side a fantastic world of giant--and talking--plants, weird creatures, and the mythical, millenniums-old Man in the Moon. I'm not *at all* doing justice to this--the setting is moody, spooky, even a little chilling, and always exciting--in my mind, no juvenile author has portrayed an alien world so well until Eleanor Cameron's "Mushroom Planet" books. It astonishes me how far ahead of his time Lofting was; I had to glance at the copyright page and actually check that it was published in 1928. I don't mean that he was prescient in what the moon is actually like (Lofting's moon is a weird but lush, living landscape), but his themes and ideas in this book were far beyond most of the books I read as a kid, and must have been revolutionary for juvenile lit in 1928: the ideas of evolution, the extraordinarily precarious balance of nature (and how a man who can talk to the animals and plants can help bring justice and fairness to their society), and even a reflection by the Doctor on man's inhumanity to man--and why he prefers the company of animals. The science is fantastic but believable: Lofting's imaginative speculation on the low atmosphere and gravity of the moon, and how the plants and animals have evolved to compensate, is one of the highlights. This book entertained and thrilled me as a kid, and I'm pleased to say it did so as an adult as well. Sadly, it's currently out of print. I can definitely see fans of the Harry Potter adventures also enjoying Doctor Dolittle...it's time for a savvy publisher to make the entire series available again for a new generation. (And the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron, too, while you're at it!)
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Contents: 1. WE LAND UPON A NEW WORLD2. THE LAND OF COLOURS AND PERFUMES3. THIRST!4. CHEE-CHEE THE HERO5. ON THE PLATEAU6. THE MOON LAKE7. TRACKS OF A GIANT8. THE SINGING TREES9. THE STUDY OF PLANT LANGUAGES10. THE MAGELLAN OF THE MOON11. WE PREPARE TO CIRCLE THE MOON12. THE VANITY LILIES13. THE FLOWER OF MANY SCENTS14. MIRRORS FOR FLOWERS15. MAKING NEW CLOTHES16. MONKEY MEMORIES OF THE MOON17. WE HEAR OF "THE COUNCIL"18. THE PRESIDENT19. THE MOON MAN20. THE DOCTOR AND THE GIANT21. HOW OTHO BLUDGE CAME TO THE MOON22. HOW THE MOON FOLK HEARD OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE23. THE MAN WHO MADE HIMSELF A KING24. DOCTOR DOLITTLE OPENS HIS SURGERY ON THE MOON25. PUDDLEBY ONCE MORE a selection from Chapter 1 --WE LAND UPON A NEW WORLD: In writing the story of our adventures in the Moon I, Thomas Stubbins, secretary to John Dolittle, M.D. (and son of Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh), find myself greatly puzzled. It is not an easy task, remembering day by day and hour by hour those crowded and exciting weeks. It is true I made many notes for the Doctor, books full of them. But that information was nearly all of a highly scientific kind. And I feel that I should tell the story here not for the scientist so much as for the general reader. And it is in that I am perplexed. For the story could be told in many ways. People are so different in what they want to know about a voyage. I had thought at one time that Jip could help me; and after reading him some chapters as I had first set them down I asked for his opinion. I discovered he was mostly interested in whether we had seen any rats in the Moon. I found I could not tell him. I didn't remember seeing any; and yet I am sure there must have been some-or some sort of creature like a rat. Then I asked Gub-Gub. And what he was chiefly concerned to hear was the kind of vegetables we had fed on. (Dab-Dab snorted at me for my pains and said I should have known better than to ask him.) I tried my mother. She wanted to know how we had managed when our underwear wore out-and a whole lot of other matters about our living conditions, hardly any of which I could answer. Next I went to Matthew Mugg. And the things he wanted to learn were worse than either my mother's or Jip's: Were there any shops in the Moon? What were the dogs and cats like? The good Cats'-meat-Man seemed to have imagined it a place not very different from Puddleby or the East End of London. No, trying to get at what most people wanted to read concerning the Moon did not bring me much profit. I couldn't seem to tell them any of the things they were most anxious to know. It reminded me of the first time I had come to the Doctor's house, hoping to be hired as his assistant, and dear old Polynesia the parrot had questioned me. "Are you a good noticer?" she had asked. I had always thought I was-pretty good, anyhow. But now I felt I had been a very poor noticer. For it seemed I hadn't noticed any of the things I should have done to make the story of our voyage interesting to the ordinary public.--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
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Friday, September 23, 2011
Spider Kane and the Mystery at Jumbo Nightcrawler's Review
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(More customer reviews)This book was very good. It was very interesting. There was always a question in the beginning or middle of the book, but at the end all the questions are answered. My mom got it for me because I liked the Magic Treehouse books so much. I didn't think I was interested till my mother bought it for me but when I started reading it was great. The whole book is about bugs! Everyone in the book is a bug, except Spider Kane, who you can guess is a spider.
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Sunday, September 4, 2011
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Chinese Edition) Review
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(More customer reviews)Story Synopsis:
- A caterpillar eats his way through different foods until he is full and weaves a cocoon transforming into a beautiful butterfly. Charming colorful illustrations of foods along with the fat caterpillar and catchy little holes in the foods where the caterpillar "had his snack" make this book a hit with young children.
Review:
- Eric Carle's classic, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" has charmed millions over the years with it's simple memorable story, striking illustrations and the gimmicky holes on each of its' pages. To date, more than 12 million copies of this book have been sold in its original, full-sized edition, and mini editions. This beloved tale of science and gluttony has also been translated into 20 languages and counting. Die-cut pages (each page has a hole where the "caterpillar" ate through the food item) illustrate what the caterpillar ate on successive days. Strikingly bold, colorful pictures and a simple text in large, clear type tell the story of a hungry little caterpillar's culinary progress through an amazing variety and quantity of foods. Full at last, he weaves a cocoon around himself and goes to sleep, to emerge a few weeks later as a wonderfully transformed and beautiful butterfly! The final, double-page picture of the butterfly is a joyous explosion of color, a vibrant affirmation of the wonder and beauty of Nature. This story is a hit every time. Carle's bright colors and clever die-cut artwork never cease to entertain even the youngest child, and there is surely nothing in nature closer to magic than the emergence of a butterfly. This is a beautiful, educational and fun book.
Literary Features For Young Readers:
- Simple words appropriate to pre-readers, younger children and ELLs (English Language Learners).
- The predictability of the words and their tie-in with the illustrations makes the book easy for pre-readers to understand.
- The rhythm of the prose makes the book memorable and fun book to read for little people.
- Strikingly bold, colorful pictures tell the story of the hungry little caterpillar in complement with the simple words.
- Eric Carle's art gimmick (i.e. the die-cut holes through the food illustrations on each page) gives small children (and the occasional adult like me!) an extra bit of fun and enjoyment
- The moral lessons of the story are simple and universal: "Don't judge a person by the way they look" and "real beauty is more than skin-deep."
Teaching Tie-ins:
- Counting skills (Foods accumulate progressively)
- The days of the week.
- Nutrition (The best food for the caterpillar is the leaf, not the candy, cake, etc. or why we can't eat chocolate and candy all day long)
- Intro to science and biology:
It is a fun book with its' "holes" that have been eaten through the pages, and become a preschoolers introduction to science/biology when the little caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly.
- Shapes (foods)
Possible Projects:
- Food or nutrition mobiles and other related projects.
- Art collages in the style or Eric Carle using torn tissue and other media.
- Simple life cycle science projects (posters are life cycle mobiles)
- Caterpillar art activity: creating caterpillars out of an egg cartoons.
- As a preschool and kindergarten teacher, I had classes perform simple plays for young children based upon this book.
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I highly recommend this charming little book for younger children and ELLs (English Language Learners).
Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan
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Monday, August 22, 2011
Take a Walk with Butterflies and Dragonflies (Take a Walk series) Review
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(More customer reviews)The third book in the outstanding Stillwater Enterprises "Take A Walk Books" series, Take A Walk With Butterflies And Dragonflies by Jane Kirkland is an ideal reference guide for children ages 8 and above to finding, observing, identifying, and understanding butterflies and dragonflies. Enhanced with beautiful color photography, Take A Walk With Butterflies And Dragonflies will enlighten young readers where to look for eggs and chrysalises and turn an outdoor excursion into an exciting, "low impact", do-it-yourself adventure! Also very highly recommended are the two other titles in this unique series: Take A Backyard Bird Walk (09709-75406, $9.95) and Take A Tree Walk (0970975414, $9.95).
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The magical world of butterflies and dragonflies is revealed as children learn the differences between dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies and moths; what eggs, larvae, and adults look like; and how these insects adapt and survive in a changing world.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Nature's Playground: Activities, Crafts, and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors Review
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(More customer reviews)This is a year-around treasure of helpful ideas for all parents. Nature's Playground is beautifully illustrated, with an attractive layout. Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield share their creative experiences on getting kids outside to play in every season -- not just the summer months.
Nature's Playground has a sturdy cover, with bookmark flaps, which I simply love. Whether you read the book through from start to finish, or pick and choose activities, this book is a wonderful resource. Older children might enjoy it so much they decide to read it on their own.
You will find tips for parents to help keep the kids from getting into trouble with nature, complete with supply lists, so make sure you have everything on-hand before beginning a new project.
It's like having your own personal nature guide along with you in your adventures. This book is perfect not only for homeschooling families, but single parents, who don't have time to plan activities themselves and for busy parents everywhere. This is one book that will get used all year long.
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Introducing children to the excitement of the natural world, this guide to outdoor adventure provides hours of creative, safe, and fun activities. Children will learn how to build a den from branches, make twig boats to sail across a pond, and voyage through the backyard to find tiny insects and creatures. Activities include invigorating games, natural crafts, and lively adventures, all of which are organized by season. An additional chapter also addresses safe activities for children after dark. Perfect for families, caretakers, and educators, this creative resource encourages children to turn off the television and play outside all year round.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Oscar and the Moth: A Book About Light and Dark (Start with Science) Review
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(More customer reviews)Teachers of young children are always looking for quality literature to support curriculum that is lively, engaging, and informative..skirting the border between fact and fiction. This series is a lovely example of a perfect fit for teaching kids between the ages of 3-7 about early, and sometimes complex, science concepts.
Thank you for writing this series.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Oscar and the Moth: A Book About Light and Dark (Start with Science)
A first science book that introduce young readers to core science concepts through fresh, graphic illustrations, engaging stories, and supplemental activity suggestions.As Oscar the kitten watches the sun set one evening, he has lots of questions about light and dark. Who better than Moth to help out? Moth shows how sources of light are as different as the sun, stars, fireflies, streetlights, and airplanes, and also explains how shadows are made and why darkness comes at night. Includes lesson summaries!
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