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 llove to win for my 5 year old. He LOVES animals. Thanks!
I would win this for my daughter. her favorite animal is a monkey.
My child likes cows
My little girl would love it! She is all about books nowadays….and her favorite animal is the giraffe!
I would win it for my friend’s daughter, she likes monkeys.
I’d like to win this for my oldest daughter. She is always switching what animal is her favourite. Lately she has been talking a lot about barracudas
I would like to win this for my kids their favourite animal is Sharks.
My grandson his favourite animal is a monkey.
I would like to win for my kid who’s favourite animals are monkeys
I want to win for my nephew. He’s in 2nd grade and is a really good reader. I think his favorite animal is snakes.
I would love to win this for my son. The pictures are amazing in these books!! His favourite animal is a goblin (An Aye Aye – too much Wild Kratts!!)
My son loves foxes best but is fascinated by all animals
My daughter loves dogs and cats right now, these books would be great for her!
For my godson who just started grade 1. He likes all animals but is crazy over my 2 dogs!
this would be for my grandchildren, what a beautiful book π
My grand daughter LOVES dogs
I’d like to win this book for my very curious granddaughter.
I would love to win this for my son who loves monkeys!
I want to win this for my daughter who told me her favourite animal is a bunny rabbit.
I would love to win this book for my 6 year old son. He likes reading above everything else. He is always telling me what he has recently learned about any particular animal. He was just talking to me about Gazelles today. His favorite animal is a lion.
My granddaughter loves animals and her favourite is dog.! We went to the zoo recently and she called all the animal big puppies. The penguins seem to be her favourite that day.
I would win this for my sons and my sons love monkeys and turtles!
For my son <3 I love sloths lol
My sister’s son – monkeys are his favourite!
I’d like to win for my son. His favourite animal is probably the shark.
For my daughter who loves cheetahs.
I would like to win it for my niece who loves cats.
My granddaughters who are homeschooled would love this book we took them on vacation with us and they were crazy about the manta rays and the dolphins, they love science and often do experiments, and they like all kids love the exploding gysers with the candy and sodas, they would love this book.
niece – elephants!
I would want to win this for my oldest son, he loves all animals and insects. He wants to know all he can about them.
I would love to win this for my grand daughter. She loves chickens and ducks.
My son Jackson loves cheetahs!
I’d love to win this for my daughter. She’s not old enough yet to have a favourite, but we want to teach her about all sorts of animals and this book would be great!
My son he loves all animals but particularly dogs, bugs and tigers
I want to win this for my son. A while ago he LOVED ducks, but he’s been a little less interested in them lately.
I’d love to win it for my sons.
would like to win for my daughter.. she likes bears right now
I would like to win for my youngest 3 sons (ages 4, 5 and 7). They like cats and dogs π
I would love to win this book for my daughter whose favorite animal is the elephant.
I would love to win this book for my 5 year old daughter. Her favourite animal is a giraffe π
My son and nephew! Frogs are one of my son’s favorites.
I want to win it for my son who is 3 months so doesn’t have a favourite animal right now. But he does love his elephant teether…
I want to win it for my 7 year old that I home school. This would help with his science see o much. His favorite animal is a bear.
My son Ben
My daughter who loves Tigers.
My granddaughter who loves monkeys
For my daughter Elliana, she loves any kind of cat including tigers. Kitty kitty kitty is what she says!
I would love to win this for my niece–whose favourite animal is a puppy!
For the Christmas Bureau…could be any animal
Both my son and daughter would love this book.