Category: childrens books

June 21, 2019

The Big Book of Knowledge

A whole world of discovery awaits in the Big Book of Knowledge, and it will keep curious kids endlessly captivated.

About Big Book of Knowledge

The perfect encyclopedia for any information-hungry kid who would like to boost their general knowledge, this pocket-sized book is packed full of facts.

From earthquakes to Marco Polo, magnets to how the brain works, this fully updated six hundred page book covers just about every topic that a curious child will want to learn about.

The perfect resource for school-aged children, this book will be a reference point for years’ worth of homework, research, and school projects.

Updated photography and illustration are combined to show what others only tell you. Annotation points out the details that you might miss at first and gives you a detailed overview of every subject that you can think of.

Our Thoughts

This small but mighty book is jam packed with everything and anything you would ever need to know (or didn’t even realize you wanted to know).

The book covers four chapters: earth and space, the natural world, our world and science and technology. Each chapter is further broken down into additional sections such as, plant life, people in the past, food and farming and so on.

You can start off reading this book how ever you want – you do not have to read it from the front cover to the back and I encourage you not to. Instead open up that table of contents and choose a chapter and section that appeals the most to you. We started with the natural world as our kids love animals. Of course the very first page we stumble upon – Plankton! It was not the Plankton that our youngest had imagined (thank you Spongebob) but he really did enjoy learning about this creature before moving on to the mammals section.

Each topic has two dedicated pages to it (i.e. apes will span both pages) and each page is just slightly larger than a 4×6 photo and easily fits into the palm of your hands. The book contains beautiful images but the words take prominence in this book which I loved but also makes it suited to an older child or young adult.

This is a fantastic book to get your child (and you) learning in the summer months. Read as much or as little as you want each time, bring it to the beach, enjoy it at a soccer game – the possibilities and learning are endless. You will truly treasure this special small book that is jam packed with knowledge.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Indigo.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

June 21, 2019

DKfindout! Space Travel

This children’s book on space travel is packed with inspiring stories and facts about space exploration, astronauts, and the first moon landing.

About DKfindout! Space Travel

DK findout! Space Travel is ideal for children who love to learn about adventures in space. From the first astronaut in space to the Apollo Moon landings, this book is full of exciting facts about the astronauts who explored space, including Yuri Gagarin’s first journey into space and Neil Armstrong’s moon landing.

Learn about the sun, our solar system, the International Space Station, how to be an astronaut, the Space Race, and new worlds discovered by space-exploring probes.

This children’s book is packed with amazing facts that will delight young readers. It is written by experts and checked by an educational consultant. Part of the award-winning DKfindout! series, this exciting book includes amazing photography and illustrations that help children understand the wonders of space travel.

Our Thoughts

Do you have a little Astronaut in the house? Someone who loves space, rockets and space travel?

Then this book is for that special child in your life. This soft cover book explores the world of space travel and is packed full of interesting facts, incredible photos and more. The coolest fact we learned? In 2001, Dennis Tito became the first space flight participant – he paid more than $20 million to spend a week on the ISS! I had no idea that a regular person had already gone up in space nor that it could cost that much money (I guess my plans are now out the window!). This book also features fun games – want to play a game of space quest? Check out page 44 for some fun to break up the reading.

This is a fun book for children of all ages who want to be an astronaut, love space travel or maybe love Star Trek or Star Wars. It gets them thinking about the world around us, what it would be like to travel in space, is there life outside of our planet and what does space travel have the potential to look like in thirty, fifty and even sixty years from now. They will enjoy and appreciate the bright, bold photos and the amazing amount of cool facts found within its pages. A definite must read for children this summer – maybe even get them started on building their own space rocket in the backyard?

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Indigo.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

June 11, 2019

Knowledge Genius

Open the pages of Knowledge Genius to find out what you know, and challenge yourself to learn even more!

About Knowledge Genius

A fun general knowledge quiz book for kids – test their brain and see who will be crowned a genius!

Children won’t be able to resist the Knowledge Genius brain-busting challenge. For every topic, pages are packed with eye-popping pictures – but do you know what they show? To help you, “Test Yourself” panels list what you’re looking for. With three levels of difficulty, the challenge gets harder as you work your way from Starter, to Challenger, and finally the truly tricky Genius category. If you need it, there’s a fun fact with every picture to give a helpful clue.

With more than 60 topics, from across the encyclopedia, there’s something for everyone. Can you name the most famous rivers worldwide? Do you know your cranium from your clavicle, or do you need to bone up on the parts of the human skeleton? Are you a demon on dinosaurs, and able to spot the difference between an archaeopteryx and an allosaurus? Perhaps you’re a brain box and can do all of this standing on your head? You can!

Our Thoughts

This amazing hard cover book was so much fun learning both together and on my own (I say on my own because I wanted to cheat a bit and study before we quizzed each other the second time!).

In order to use this book, you start off each chapter with learning about the basics of that chapters (chapters include: space, nature, geography, history and culture). Then comes the harder parts, you need to challenge yourself by looking at the test yourself section and then the quizzes. Each page has helpful pictures and clues to help guide you to your answer, along with increasingly difficult questions. You can find the answers at the bottom of each page upside down. Each chapter starts with its own picture quiz, which I didn’t realize at first!

This is an excellent learning tool and activity to play together as a family and especially for those little ones who may not be always so keen on reading by themselves. They will truly enjoy the challenge of answering the questions, reading the clues and looking at the pictures. You definitely don’t have to do the whole chapter at a time – you don’t even have to go in order. The learning should be fun – I started with History which I love (and knew I could beat those kids with!!) but they loved the nature section. This will become a true family favourite in all homes.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Indigo.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

June 3, 2019

The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs

By empowering young chefs to make their own choices in the kitchen, America’s Test Kitchen is building a new generation of cooks, engaged eaters, and curious experimenters.

About The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs

Want to bake the most-awesome-ever cupcakes? Or surprise your family with breakfast tacos on Sunday morning? Looking for a quick snack after school? Or maybe something special for a sleepover?

Using kid-tested and approved recipes, America’s Test Kitchen has created a cookbook that every kid chef needs in their home. Whether you’re cooking for yourself, your friends, or your family, The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs has delicious recipes that everyone will love.

Recipes were thoroughly tested by more than 750 kids to get them just right for cooks of all skill levels— and this includes recipes for breakfast, snacks and beverages, dinners, desserts, and more.

Our Thoughts

There is nothing more empowering for a child than learning an important life skill (like cooking) from their parents. This was not a skill that as a child or teenager that I thought was important and I suffered for this when I left my childhood home to live on my own. Eating five minute rice and breakfast sausages for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the first year of University was not pleasant and I am determined for my boys not to be the same.

This hardcover book is packed full of not only recipes but also an introduction to the kitchen (measuring, prep-work, tools, etc..) and healthy eating and how to read recipe and nutrition labels (calories, macro and micro nutrients). This is very important for young children (and some adults!) as they begin to learn their way around the kitchen and get comfortable with new words, labeling and instructions. Plus they let you know that mistakes are okay, how many of us have started to make something in the kitchen only for it to turn into a disaster? It is so important for young ones starting out that they know that this is normal and happens to everyone. I know that I have created several desserts and dinners that have needed to go straight into the green bin.

I loved how the book was divided up into sections, making it easy for you to find recipes and jump back and forth. Each recipe comes with its own coding for beginner, intermediate and advanced and also if it requires the use of a knife, stove top. Each recipe comes with either a photo of the finished product or multiple photos showing the steps along the way (featuring children – not adults!). We found that this helped us decide on what we wanted to try out first, some of the final photos looked too delicious for words! The font, colours and instructions are well geared to children and teens. They should have no problem following along with the instructions.

This is an excellent resource for young children as they start out in the kitchen, with a good variety of recipes that will suit the needs of even the pickiest eater in the house.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 23, 2019

Calm Mindfulness for Kids Book Review

Calm: Mindfulness for Kids shows that supporting a child’s positive mental health doesn’t need to be expensive, time-consuming, or difficult. Activities help children to de-stress, focus, and get moving while having fun.

About Calm Mindfulness for Kids

Teach your kids how to focus their thoughts and notice the world around them with this fun mindfulness kids activity book.

Mindfulness activities are a great way to teach children about their thoughts and feelings and how to understand them–while having fun at the same time.

This book is packed with activities–make a mindfulness jar, learn how to appreciate food with mindful eating, and get out into nature and explore the outside world. An illustrated journal section at the back of the book encourages children to make notes about their own thoughts and feelings.

Calm: Mindfulness for Kids has everything you need to know about focusing your child’s mind to help them enjoy and appreciate things that they take for granted every day, while boosting their confidence and self-esteem. Children are guided through each activity, to make sure they achieve maximum enjoyment and awareness. All children will learn and react to each activity in a different way and parent’s notes give advice on how to encourage children to embrace mindfulness in the modern world. Each specially designed activity is flexible for each child’s needs and inspires them to seek calmness and tranquility in all situations.

Our Thoughts

Mindfulness is something we hear a lot about in the news, media and research. It is an important to tool in the busy times we live in. It helps us to focus, pay attention and remain present in the moment.

Sometimes, children can be overlooked and brushed off as being too emotional or acting out. Children feel a lot of emotions but many don’t have the tools to help them understand their feelings and how to process them. We need to teach our kids these skills in order to be successful later in life.

What I really liked is this book is geared towards children. She writes to the child first – you as a parent can read a long and help but the child is the most important part in this book. She speaks to the child in a mature, open and caring manner that encourages your child to open up, read more and try each activity presented.

She presents six chapters and encourages your child to move through them in any order they need – the choice is up to them. The chapters include: focus, calm, move, change, care and reflect. Each chapter has activities, crafts and exercises that they can do alone or with a parent or a friend. Each section has helpful tools to encourage your child to reflect on the activity, exercise or craft – this helps to reinforce the learning process. We started with rainbow breath and unwind stress – these were also amazing for Mom too! Our next craft to try is energy slime!

This is an extremely thoughtful book for children of all ages to help them get in touch with their emotions, feelings and body and encourage a positive outlet for them.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Indigo.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.