Educations Matters: Diverse Children's Book Reviews
Science non fictions books and fun experiments for kids to do at home.
Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It by Dr. Joann Deak [non fiction picture book, ages 4-8] is gently encouraging kids to try new things after taking time to point out how the brain works. The message to the kids is that you are one sculpting and shaping your brain so be the driver not the passenger in this amazing journey called life!
This was our 5th vacation in the Kennebunk/Kennebunkport, Maine area and we’ve always had a wonderful time. This year, however, the kids said it was the best vacation ever. What was on the agenda: a fishing trip aboard the Allyson, surfing lessons, The Children’s Museum in Portland, and, of course, our favorite tide pool spot.
My preschooler had this experiment set up in his classroom but when my kids were visiting for Pancake Breakfast Day, they would not stop playing with this. It’s a great way to demonstrate the science of tornadoes AND use up some recyclables. And this would be a fun and stress-free activity for the the summer.
I pair these two excellent books together because they tell two parts of the same story: the near eradication of the Snowy Egret caused by a fashion trend and the birth of the Audubon Society in Boston, Massachusetts.
True or False series by Melvin and Gilda Berger is a young science series in a fun question-and-answer format. My kids reviewed Storms and Birds and gave both a thumbs up. For ages 6-9.
This series is about Sam Gribley living unhappily in New York City who runs away to some forgotten family land in the Catskill Mountains. He learns to live off the land with the help of a kindly librarian, a falcon baby, a flint and steele, penknife, and a ball of cord. He is joined by his sister in book two, and book three chronicles Frightful’s migration journal south.
Take the hockey-puck-on-a-rod test a Michigan high school kid cobbled together to help figure out if a knock on the head has caused a concussion. Sports medicine specialists are increasingly worried about the long-term implications of mild, repeated head trauma.