Now that the kids are back in school, it’s also time to get back into our routine. As the weather gets wetter and cooler and with TV time limits tightening up, I’m starting to look for more inside activities for my kids. DK Books has a Back to School Boutique featuring tons of educational books perfect for them! Most of these are aimed at older kids, but we discovered a couple of books that my girls found fascinating. They both get completely engrossed in leafing through the books and looking at all the pictures. These books are a great way to encourage their interest in the natural world!
Smithsonian: The Animal Book
I was sad not to see the plucky platypus here, but other than that omission, The Animal Book does an excellent job of introducing kids to the extraordinary diversity of life on Earth. The book is structured according to the scientific taxonomy of species with sections on microscopic life, fungi, plants, invertebrates, insects, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. More than 1500 species are presented here in gorgeous full colour photography.
Fact boxes help kids learn the key features of each class of creature (see the Insects page below), and scale boxes compare various groups of creatures to the size of a human thumb, hand, or body to help give a better idea of their relative sizes (see the Bears page below).
While the book is targeted at somewhat older children (8-12 years), both my girls loved simply flipping through all the gorgeous pictures and asking questions about the familiar, weird, and wonderful living creatures contained in the pages.
Science: A Visual Encyclopedia
Science: A Visual Encyclopedia introduces kids to the fascinating world of science. With topics ranging from atoms to acids, sound to spaceflight, friction to fungi, electromagnetism to evolution, and spanning the fields of chemistry, physics, optics, electromagnetism, and biology, every child will find something in this book to get them excited about science!
The last section presents an overview of some of the greatest scientific discoveries and scientists down through the ages, as well as a highly simplified and abridged visual timeline of great inventions from 15,000 BCE to present. I do wish there was a little more meat in this section, but since the encyclopedia is targeted at 7- to 12-year-olds, it makes sense that the editors have had to select the discoveries and inventions that will most interest kids.
Girls are underrepresented across the board in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), and it’s important to me to expose my daughters to these subjects and encourage their interest. Of course most of the material is beyond them right now, but this is a book we will keep for many years so the kids will grow into it. As with The Animal Book, the girls enjoy looking at all the pictures and asking what they mean. I really love how the material fosters their curiosity about the world around them.
Win!
DK Books is generously offering one This West Coast Mommy reader their own copy of Smithsonian: The Animal Book. Enter for your chance to win in the Rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway is open to Canadian residents, 18+. All entries will be verified.
Check out my other open giveaways listed in the right sidebar!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I received sample items for review. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ. This post contains affiliate links. This West Coast Mommy is a participant in the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.ca.
I would love to win this book for my nephew whose favorite animal is the lion.
My son. His current favorite animal is the penguin or sharks…but it changes almost daily lol
I’d like to win this for my kids. Their current favourite animal is frogs.
my nephew loves snakes.
I want to win this for my daughter. Her favourite “stuffed” animal is a frog. We live on a farm so she gets to play with bunnies, chickens, goats and horses regularly. She loves them all!
I would love to win this for my niece. My fav animal is a tiger.
i would like to win it for my daughter and her favourite animals are Otters
for my daughter (our whole family, really) Fave animal? Turtle!
My daughter loves pandas
My daughters. They love horses, rabbits, frogs, lizards, etc!
nephew got to be a tiger
I’d like to win this for my two sons. My youngest son’s favourite animal today is the lion. Rawr!
Want to win for my 8 year old daughter who loves all animals but especially beluga whales and meerkats!
Probably my nephew and he is a big elephant fan!
I’d like to win this for my nephew, he loves all kinds of animals but preferaly dogs
i would love to win this for my son, who loves all things BUGS (he wants to be an entymologist) but his favorite animal is a narwhal
This would be for my son. Right now his favorite animal is elephants, but since we go to the zoo every week he changes his mind quite often!
This would be for my grandchildren, the 7, 8 and 10 year olds. Their favourite animals change quite frequently bu today they are giraffes, lions and tigers
I would love to win this for my daughter ,her favorite animal is a dolphin
it would be for my granddaughter who currently is liking hippos
I would like to win this for my nephew and his favorite animal are dogs
I love all animals as do my kids. Even the scary ones 😉
They have some DK Canada books and love them and I love to support Canadian!
Besos, Sarah
Blogger at Journeys of The Zoo
For my grandsons. They have a few favorites depending on the week. lol Right now it’s turtles, bears and lions. Thanks for the opportunity.
Carol L
I want to win it for my nephew Nik !
I’d like to win it for my grandson. He likes elephants.
My grandson..he loves Bears!
My daughter would love this book. Our recent trip to the pet store revealed her favourites as fish and birds.
I would love to win this for my son. His favourite animal is a cheetah.
I want to win this for my daughter and she loves dolphins
My son! He loves turtles
I would love to win this for my grandson , his favorite animal right now is coyote , but last week it was a dinosaur and the week before was a bear lol
My godson, who loves bears!
I would win it for my son, but also for my husband, since they could read it together! Our family “totem” is the WOLF!
My 4 year old daughter who’s favorite animal is a turtle.
My son is 10 and he loves tigers.
for my daughter she loves zebras
I’d love to win this book for my youngest daughter, who adores owls.
I would like to win for my seven-year-old son. He’s crazy about bugs right now, so I know he’d love reading about grasshoppers and other insects
My daughter’s favourite animal is the owl. She would love this book.
I would love to win this for my daughter! I know that she would find it facinating. Her favorite animal is a frog lol.
I’d like to win for my daughter who loves all animals especially elephants
I’m having a baby soon and I’d love to expose them to reality as opposed to fantastical creatures. I’m sure they will love the beautiful photos. Since I haven’t met baby yet, can’t tell you what their favorite animal is!
I would love to get this for my boys, 2 & 4, who are a different animal almost hourly 🙂 Any animal is their fav but yesterday they were honey badgers
I want to win this for my daughter whose favourite animal is a chipmunk at the moment.
This would be for my son, hes only 2 but loves all animals! I think his favorite would have to be dogs though!
My son! His favorite animal right now is platypus
My daughter, Maire. She loves birds of all kinds.
I want to win this for my nephew. He loves giraffes!