Category: Resource

Art Book Series: Art Play

11/10/2016

You know what happens when I look at this book Art Play by Marion Deuchars? I see FUN with 6-8 year olds. Doing art, exploring different ideas, seeing what others are doing, learning and growing and experimenting. This is indeed a neat book to review.

So not only did I learn new terminology (like what in the world is gouache paint), but I had fun looking at different way to blend colours, ways to make the same piece of art work different, how much fun ink blots could be and SO MUCH MORE.

This is seriously, a really neat book. :)

Divided into seven different areas:

Within the 224 pages of this book, you will find numerous ways to explore art with your child. Using your fingerprint, paper people, drawing, repeating patterns, engaging your mind and body as you explore new ways to do art, or even rediscover old ways.

Don't you think it would be fun to get a group of children of different ages working together, letting an 11 year old inspire a 6 year old to think broader, to see more possibilities? To let the uninhibited 7 year old show a 12 year a new way to mix colours? Seriously... it would be GREAT!!!

So many things to think about with lots of opportunities to not only learn about doing art but different ways you can do it yourself.

Oh...the possibilities are endless.

Take the time today.. Do some art with your children.
It can be fun! It is DEFINITELY play

The way this book is written it is meant to be used, to set yourself or your child loose it in. That is the intention of the book.

But I see this book and I just see the possibilities of having fun with a group of children. Learning and growing. It would be so easy to replicate the pages to create a classroom experience for your class. To use the pages as a springboard for discovery.

Won't you add it to your library today?

Art Play
Author: Marion Deuchars

Laurence King Publishing
Book size: 8.45 x 11.41 ·
224 pages
Ages 7-11

Reviewed for : Raincoast Books

Affiliate Links are used in this post as a way to help you find your own copy should you be inspired to get one. :) Doesn't hurt your bottom line, and helps support this blog.
I thank you.

Amazon.ca : Art Play Amazon.com: Art Play

Review: Natural Disasters

10/21/2016

Natural Disasters... they happen all the time. Wild weather, wild water, wild temperature extremes and more. Do you want to help your children understand them?
Here's a book that will help: The Ultimate Interactive Guide to Natural Disasters.

What you get:

48 page fact book
27 x 20" poster
3-D Volcano Model to Assemble
Spinning Tornado Model
Coil bound hardcover
Full colour pages

What Did I Discover:

Clearly presented information
Simple drawings to help explain systems such as water and weather cycles
21 chapters
Coil binding so it lays flat
Maps and diagrams
Tables
Cut outs
Excellent explanation of the global impact
Introductory sections for each new disaster

Intriguing Factoids to Whet Your Curiousity

Did you know that sometimes when lightening hits sandy ground it can turn solid?
Storms are named so,we know which major storm is being talked about as there can be more than one happening at once
Can you imagine a heat so hot it can melt roads?
There is a lake under the glaciers called Lake Vostok. Scientists investigate.
Sandstorms change the colour of the sky.
Cenotes, in Mexico.

What do I think?
This book would be excellent to let children read alone, or use as a spine for a larger study of natural disasters around the world. Little tidbits just begged to be studied more, for instance, I want to teach my lad more about the Cenotes in Mexico. This book is a great introduction to how the world works in regards to natural disasters.

The Ultimate Interactive Guide to Natural Disasters

Author: Ian Graham
Illustrations: Simon Morse and Simon Taylor

Pages: 48
Publisher: SilverDolphin

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Affiliate links are listed below for your convenience. Any support given benefits the blog, and you earn my appreciation.

Cleared for Takeoff, a review

8/25/2016

I cannot tell you how much the lad and I have been enjoying this book called "Cleared for Takeoff, the Ultimate book of Flight".

We've giggled, gasped, been awed, been shocked and a whole host of other emotions. Oh but it's a delightful, thorough treatise on flight. Call signs, hand signals, obscure airlines, interesting birds, the history, the joys, the sorrows and so much more are contained within the 320 pages of this book.

This video below bespeaks some of the things we learned in this book, but definitely not all that we learned.

Neither one of us has read this "Cleared for TakeOff" all the way through, we've picked our way through some of the pages that have peaked out interest.

Being amazed at the size of the Hindebergh Zeppelin.

His Joy in finding the Canadian aircraft symbol.

The text is well written with scores of full colour pictures, most look like painting, a few from real life. It was just a pleasure to go through.

Occasionally experiments are provided to assist in the understanding of a concept, from making pop rockets to hovercrafts, enough experiments to intrigue most children. As a parent/teacher one of the things I appreciated about the experiments was the teaching component came first with the experiment coming second. All the experiments I found were distinguishable in being all in black and white. All use easy to find materials.

As I mentioned earlier, this book was filled with full colour pictures to delight and inform. I was delighted that it held global appeal, interesting tidbits from around the world are found within it's pages.

Did you know that a Canadian Pilot once landed a 767 airplane successfully that had run out of fuel and therefore all it's systems were shutting down. None of travellers lost their lives, a only a few injured when they disembarked the aircraft? Simply amazing. We also learned why different countries use modified Phonetic Alphabets (for instance Saudi Arabia uses Washington rather than whiskey because of the alcohol connection).

I have been ever so pleased to have had a chance to review this book. It's a marvellous resource for anyone interested in the world of flight. The only thing I found lacking was an index at the close of the book, to quickly find facts.

If it is something you are planning to do a unit study on, or a create a lapbook from, snatch it up. You really won't regret it. :)

For the Canadian link to amazon Cleared for Takeoff: The Ultimate Book of Flight and for the american link Cleared for Takeoff: The Ultimate Book of Flight for your ease in finding it. :) Thanks!

Review: Amazing World Atlas

8/24/2016

I think I have found our next geography book! One of the things the lad and I like to do at night is read books before he goes to bed. We have an animal book, a couple of fiction books, and an encyclopedia/information type book that we read. It's a nice together time for us. Anyways, the book? Amazing World Atlas by Lonely Planet Kids. It's a great atlas for children (and their moms!) :)

Now...you and I know atlases right?
Maps of the world, cities highlighted and maybe some cutouts showing an area up close.

This children's atlas is different.

YES, it has maps. :)
Not what I would call full of close details.
But that's not the purpose of this atlas, this atlas is meant to show the world to the reader. To give the basics of the land mass, but to say, this is what is neat about this country. Europe has snow and mountains and olive gardens and sunny beaches. It has it all. So this map includes interesting pictures to give the highlights of the given area. Two pages per land mass. Below is an example of an introductory page:

And here is an example of a secondary page. Cities are pointed out as well as interesting sites. If the area is for say Europe, additional pages follow breaking it into section like northern, central and southern Europe.

As you can see there are lots of pictures, and tons of interesting information. More examples follow.

Going through this atlas your child will learn major holidays, people groups, interesting artifacts, population and so much more. This atlas is jam-packed with full colour images, information, maps and more. A cornucopia of geographical fun!