I Love Dirt!
52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature
Jennifer Ward
Illustrator: Susie Ghahremani

Roos Books
May 2008 / ISBN: 1590305353
Nonfiction/Children 4-8
Amazon

Reviewed by Willie Elliott

Jennifer Ward, with the help of illustrator Susie Ghahremani, has published a delightful little book that as the subtitle puts it, has 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature.

The author has purposefully, I think, provided 52 activities-one for each week of the year and covers all four seasons.

At the end of each assignment, the author includes an expected outcome. For example, on the lesson "Hear. Here," the expected outcome is "stimulate awareness of one's surrounding, relaxation, and appreciation of senses."

An additional bonus to these lessons is the ease that they can be adapted and extended. Many of the exercises could easily include writing and photography and take nothing from the original but add to it. In the activity "A Little Birdy Told Me," the child could learn the operation of a recording device and record the sounds he hears and listen to them later.

Each of the activities offers the parent and child a chance to observe and learn from nature and at the same time provide for a time of relaxation and wonderment.

Just the book to have on hand when they say, "I'm bored."