Birds - the Wonderful World of the Birds - Touch Screen for Kids (Animals Book 2)

We read the results of these surveys, perhaps, with a mixture of consternation and insecurity. My own children can name a moorhen but not a collared dove, a blackbird but not a starling. They know oak but not hawthorn, beech but not ash. They like to recall the time in a wood when I confidently identified — from 10 yards away — a reddish object as a fly agaric toadstool.

On closer inspection it turned out to be a discarded slice of water melon I blamed my glasses. For a decade or so now I have been fascinated by the relationships of naming, knowing and nature, writing a book on the subject called Landmarks in I am unconvinced that children need names to need nature. Each Monday for three months they explored the park, mapping it through their stories and drawings. I was fascinated by how the children wove words, images and actions together in their inhabitation of this modest landscape bounded by a dual carriageway and a hospital car park.

Given the chance, children will new-mint stories for nature and coin gleaming names for it. Given the chance, they will meet the living world eagerly with their bodies and minds, touching and eating and dreaming it: But I also believe that names matter, and that the ways we address the natural world can actively form our imaginative and ethical relations with it.

Without names to give it detail, the natural world can quickly blur into a generalised wash of green — a disposable backdrop or wallpaper. Good names open on to mystery, grow knowledge and summon wonder. And wonder is an essential survival skill for the Anthropocene. Clearly the lack of natural literacy — especially of nearby nature — is involved with the major structural changes that have occurred in the experience of minority-world childhood.

Online culture has boomed and screen time has soared. Traffic growth, the pressures of school work, parental fears and the decrease of available green space have all helped close down wild play and the knowledge it brings. Meanwhile, childhood wellbeing declines, with obesity rates rising and mental health dipping. Such buttonholing headlines disguise a complex picture, though. Access to nature is hugely unevenly distributed across the population, with class, income and ethnicity playing strong determining roles.

Shocking headlines also occlude the hopeful signs and good work that are, to me at least, presently visible in Britain and beyond. Inevitably, such a shift — if it is a shift, rather than a new edition of an old problem — has consequences for imaginative territories as well as real ones. This glorious story fest is open to five- to year-olds, and typically attracts more than , entries, supplying an annual corpus of well over 50m words.

Plots and characters can be seen emerging and fading. One of the two most popular plots was achieving sudden internet fame after posting a YouTube video. Technology is miraculous, but — and — so too is the living world, including the everyday nature with which we share our everyday lives. Nature, naming and dreaming are all tangled together in perhaps the most famous childhood reading scene in English literature.

As Jane turns the pages, her mind is set wandering: By far the most powerful books, though, were those in which nature mingled with the supernatural. These novels all took deep root in me as a child. Thirty-odd years on, they continue profoundly to shape my fascinations as a writer with deep place and deep time, with wildness, power and the more-than-human world.

Questions of naming and nature return repeatedly in these books. Early on the young wizard Ged realises that to name the natural world is to gain aspects of its power:. When he found that the wild falcons stooped down to him from the wind when he summoned them by name, lighting with a thunder of wings on his wrist […] he hungered to know more such names […] the name of the sparrowhawk and the osprey and the eagle. The cards are beautifully produced and a joy to use. I would love to see this used in the Reception classroom, not simply as a wall frieze on its own although it is great for that but to be part of a nature table display so the children could be encouraged to bring in relevant objects, pictures etc.

It would be a lovely way to get them involved and to help them appreciate the beauties of nature. A most attractive way to learn the alphabet. This beautifully designed and produced book helps start the process by encouraging the careful observation of the plants, animals and weather conditions typical of each season. It provides interesting nature-based activities including: Part of becoming a young naturalist involves learning about the ways in which we categorise the natural world…But the aesthetic aspects — the sheer beauty of the changing seasons and weather conditions as well as the attractiveness of living things — have been a concern of this author and illustrator.

So we have exquisite illustrations of grasses, shells and leaves as well as many appealing pictures of creatures. These illustrations are a lyrical combination of artwork and photography and all have been created especially for the book. No picture banks used here! A fold-out wall chart shows the plants and animals associated with each season and would be a helpful resource in a nursery or early years classroom. But this book and wall chart package would also support a family helping children to learn more about nature by enjoying together the activities which are the backbone of what is on offer here.

It has the charm and individuality of another era while also offering quality information and insight into the natural world. It is the sort of nature book I would have loved to have been given as a child. Authors Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington have created mazes, riddles, quizzes and drawing games that burst with colour and include engaging wildlife facts to intrigue young minds. It claims to be a highly original collection of nature based activities to inspire a love of the outdoors.

There is also a big fold-out poster with lots of picture of wild life and animals on it. The books, which include titles on birds, butterflies, garden wildlife and flowers, along with flashcards and a puzzle book, contain illustrations and information, as well as stickers and tick lists.

The books and cards are designed to be both fun and educational, and to inspire a love of nature from an early age. The approach is very original and I love the friendly approach of the text. An excellent way to engender a love of nature and thoroughly enjoyable. Information includes parts of a butterfly, facts, food and life cycle. Parents can finally breathe a sigh of relief: Each of the first four titles in this new nature series is packed with different animal and flower species to find, fascinating facts, a fold-out sticker scene and over 30 reusable stickers.

Getting the kids to ditch their electronic games consoles and out and about looking at wildlife and nature has to be a good thing! The Get Out book has spotting, drawing and guessing games as well as stickers — everyone loves stickers! Handing an old-fashioned style book to a child could go badly wrong in the 21st century.

But we took our chances and handed the Get Out activity book to eight-year-old Sam. She immediately liked the look of the book. Watching her investigate the book, she was drawn to the puzzles and games and carefully chose her first few tasks: Find the matching pairs of shells, Help the worker bee out of the maze and Name that group of animals a multi choice game. Next she pulled the Nature Wall Chart from the back folder of the book and spent time considering the wildlife she already knew and others that she had never seen.

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3. The ANUNNAKI Were Here! (History of the ANUNNAKI Book 3)!
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A promise from dad, John, to spot more of this wildlife in the school holidays made her smile. I like the pictures.

• Reviews of the children’s nature books and activities from Fine Feather Press?
• Be Ye Transformed: Understanding Gods Truth?
• A voyage of discovery: the best children's titles - www.newyorkethnicfood.com?
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• Fragile but Strong.

There is lots to do in it and it makes me more interested in wildlife. I want dad to go with me to the countryside to learn more now.

A voyage of discovery: the best children's titles 2017

John reported that the activity book kept Sam busy over a weekend, with still more games left to do. She really likes drawing. She also learned a lot and kept coming to tell me about different types of birds and animals. I am surprised that she enjoyed this book so much because she would normally prefer to be playing a games console. I was a reader from a very young age. My parents taught me and my brothers to read long before we went to school.

Press Reviews

I remember arriving in low babies on the first day and thinking: That was my test for a character at the time: If I met this person, would they like me. And usually the answer was, no. The boys in my books were too tough, handsome and popular to ever hang around with me. And then, when I was seven, Stig of the Dump came along. I was home ill from school and my mother decided to cheer me up with a book from the second-hand shop.



• The Sand Hill Review 2010.
• Badger or Bulbasaur - have children lost touch with nature? | Books | The Guardian.
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To be honest, I was not initially impressed with a book about a dump as I was a fastidious child, but I soon realised that this was the book my heart had been waiting for. The main character was not this Stig creature, but Barney, a young English boy staying with his grandparents on the Chalk Downs. Barney was quiet and bookish and lonely and very obviously my kind of character and I thought to myself: But as is so often the case, I was wrong.

Barney fell into a chalk pit, met a stone-age boy he named Stig and travelled into the past. I finished it in record time and asked myself: Would Barney and Stig like me? The answer was a resounding yes. Stig led me to other books where I felt I might be welcome inside the pages: Huckleberry Finn, for example, and Treasure Island though Jim was dangerously close to heroic. I know now that the measure of a fictional character is not whether or not they might like me, but rather whether or not they are finely drawn. But way back then, when I was searching for a way into the wonderful world of books, Stig and Barney opened the door.

Once when, aged 10 or 11, I was sick at home for a couple of days, I was given a book to keep me occupied. I quickly became engrossed in the wintry world of Narnia with its mythological beasts, talking animals and ghouls and goblins of every kind. Leading our heroes and the good creatures against the evil White Witch was the great lion, Aslan.

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Had I known that Lewis wrote the story as a Christian allegory I would probably have been put off, but I raced through it just loving the adventure for itself without seeing any hidden meanings. The sinuous line drawings by Pauline Baynes added immeasurably to the experience for me. Not that I loved them unreservedly. I have given copies of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to many reluctant readers over the years and I have never yet known the magic of Narnia to fail. If the child in your life loves trains, this quirky picturebook is perfect.

It's packed with simple facts and vibrant illustrations that leap off the page. This large format book is a celebration of the wonder of the world, both natural and man-made, from oceans to rainforests, cities to villages. Each vibrantly coloured spread is packed with detail and it's a book my son and I come back to time after time.

If your child loves animals, this is the perfect gift, a generous hardback featuring all manner of life, from beetles and spiders, to fish and whales. The delicious watercolour and ink illustrations by newcomer, Lorna Scobie are a joy to share. Suitable for all levels of Irish, it covers topics like the weather, clothes and sport in glowing colour.

If your child is interested in history, this charming story of one remarkable family is ideal.

Born in Cork, the Boole sisters went on to become novelists and scientists, defying conventions of the time. Jaunty writing combined with fun illustrations make this a great introduction to women's history or 'herstory'. See below for more great 'herstory' books. Originally produced using crowdfunding of more than a million dollars - the most-funded original book ever - this illustrated book has become a phenomenon, inspiring dozens of women's history or 'herstory' books for children. Our own Grace O'Malley is in the mix, along with well-known pioneers and activists such as Helen Keller, Malala, Rosa Parks and many other women who will be new to readers.

The illustrations alone are a work of art. Both Macfarlane and Morris see nature as strange, beautiful and magical and these lyrical poems and accompanying watercolours are ideal for reading aloud and sharing with children and adults who still have wonder in their hearts.

This striking book brings together 50 women from the world of science, from Marie Curie to Jane Goodall. Although the book is quite text heavy, there are lots of quotes and snippets of information on the pages, and the biographical information never seems overwhelming. What makes the book a real winner, however, is the distinctive design. Each spread has a saturated black background and Ignotofsky uses one bright colour to highlight the women's portraits and the text. And it's waiting for you. Jackson is a space expert and the exuberant illustrations by students from the London College of Communication send this fascinating book into orbit.

Anne Cunningham This year saw some remarkable debuts, along with some gems, from more experienced pens. From history to politics, popular science, nature, cookery and music, it's our guide to the best non-fiction of