Saturday, January 10, 2009

Yucky-Cool Nature Books for Kidlets

In Kid World, gross = cool. These are two of my most-used, superfavorite, yucky-cool nature books:



Yuck! by Brita Granstrom, is a fun picture book highlighting the fun yucky stuff that some baby animals eat (delicious delicacies like worms, rats, etc.) This is a great one to read with a felt story. I think it took me maybe 15-20 minutes to whip up all the felt pieces from scratch (sticky felt is my friend!)

I usually use this book as an introduction for food themes: "What are your favorite foods?"/ "What sorts of foods can we find while we take a walk?" (berries for birds, flowers for butterflies, etc.), but I've also used the book for lesson plans focusing on baby animals, and the Web of Life ("Why are yucky animals important?")




What Do You Do With A Tail Like This, by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, is all about the odd and amazing ways different animals use the same body part. There are lots of great, squeal-inducing tidbits, like the lizard who squirts blood out of his eyes ("AHHH!!!") This book captivates little ones, and bigger-little ones, too (it's a breezy starting off point for 3rd graders studying animal adaptations.) For younger ones, it's great for reinforcing comparisons, and the concepts of same and different ("What do you use your eyes for?"/ "How many eyes do you have?")

3 comments:

Michelle Breum said...

Most kids love "yucky". I know mine do. Thanks for the book recommendations!

Melissa Taylor said...

these do look excellent - thanks! I hadn't see the Yuck book before and can't wait to read it.

Isil Simsek said...

Interesting books, my daughter would enjoy the "yucky" one.I would love it if you linked up to my Book Sharing Monday
http://smilinglikesunshine1.blogspot.com/2011/07/book-sharing-mondaymini-masters.html
Thanks