Top Ten Science & Nature Books
Top Ten Tuesday this week features bloggers’ top ten favorites in a book category and, of course, I chose Science & Nature.
Top Ten Science & Nature Book Picks at Blog, She Wrote:
Let’s- Read -and- Find- Out Science series – These books come in a variety of topics and levels for elementary aged students. I love how well concepts are explained and the illustrations are lovely.
Usborne Big Books of Experiments & Science along with the Usborne Science Activities books- Usborne is a great company with so many titles. The Big Books contain a lot of detailed procedures and ideas for crafting science activities. The Science Activities (three volumes) are superb for having kids read their own science and try the ideas by themselves.
Finder Books– Dichotomous keys for many species like trees, ferns, flowers, winter trees, and winter weeds. These require a different set of skills to use besides picture matching. You identify items by the process of elimination based on characteristics of the species.
Cool Stuff and How it Works– just like the title says, this book contains facts on how cool things work. For example, LCD screens, mp 3 players, x rays, infrared photography, etc is explained in this wonderfully illustrated book.
Ben Franklin Books- There are quite a few books about Mr. Franklin and his inventions. Here are a few fun ones we’ve enjoyed:
- Ben Franklin Book of Easy and Incredible Experiments
- How Ben Franklin Stole Lightning
- Amazing Ben Franklin Inventions You Can Build Yourself
Usborne Discovery Internet Linked Books– not sure these are still around, but they have excellent photographs and Usborne has a landing page for the internet links. That means they keep them up to date…no broken links. In theory.
The DK Encyclopedia of Animals– a fun reference book for the animal kingdom. It’s not exhaustive, but it is enjoyable and the pictures are fantastic. E14 loved to read about animals so he poured through this one when he was younger.
One Small Square Series– Oh how Iove these books! The illustrations are amazing and you get a look at a habitat from under the ground to above the trees. Embedded within all the facts are activities for you to enjoy.
Kaleidoscope Kids Books– There are a variety of topics in this series from history to science. These are great activity books full of hands on things for kids to investigate along with facts and history.
Janice VanCleave Books- how could a list like this be complete without a nod to Mrs. VanCleave? She has several series of books devoted to all areas of science and beyond to math and geography. I love her Mind Boggling Experiments You Can Turn into Science Fair Projects books. The best part about these books is you can always find an easy experiment that works. If you are hunting for an idea on how to develop a concept or you are discouraged by what experiments your curriculum has, this is your source for the tried and true.
As you can see, we have no shortage of favorites. What are your most used science and nature resources?
Other bloggers of iHN are participating in the 10 Weeks of Top 10 Lists 2013. We’ll be linking up every Tuesday and I encourage you to hop over and see some other blogger lists.
What a great list, Heather. Several title I’ve never heard of and others that are family favorites at our home. That Finder series looks intriguing. I’ll have to be on the lookout for that one. Thanks for sharing your passion with the rest of us!
Thanks Jamie!
The dichotomous key is fun to use, but takes some getting used to. I get them at library sales, but they are pretty reasonable on Amazon!
Awesome list!!!
I’m pinning and sharing this one.
Thanks!
What a great resource! I love using living books with our science studies and this list gives me new titles to try.
Thanks Heidi! I could easily list another 10 or 20… 🙂
I have used many of these as reference materials in my hands-on science demonstrations.