A Field Guide to Spring: Play and learn in nature

By Author / Illustrator

Dorien Brouwers, Gabby Dawnay

Genre

Environment

Age range(s)

Publisher

Thames & Hudson

ISBN

9780500653517

Format

Hardback

Published

21-03-2024

Synopsis

The first book in the charming new series 'Wild by Nature', inspired by the Forest School movement and designed to teach young children how to engage with nature from season to season.

A Field Guide to Spring is a pocket-sized introduction to spring, inspired by the Forest School movement. Building on children's natural curiosity about the world around them, this book aims to establish a connection with nature at an early age that will go on to last a lifetime! Hunt for seedlings, squelch about in the mud, identify birds' eggs and build your own nest. Discover how tadpoles transform into frogs and why rainbows appear in the sky.

This book features lyrical poems, hands-on crafts and activities, scientific facts, and identifier pages to help children spot different animals and plants. Whether a child's access to nature is in the form of an urban park, a private garden, a field, or a forest, there is so much to discover and experience.

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Reviews

A charming mixture of experiments and activities, science and poetry, A Field Guide to Spring is a wonderful introduction to that season, sure to inspire children to use all their sense to explore the wonders it offers.

The book is easy to navigate with both a clear contents page and an index, yet it is perfect for browsing through at the reader's own pace, pausing on pages which capture curiosity and interest. It balances encouraging natural inquisitiveness with developing respect and care for the environment.

Information about pond life, flowers, birds and animals helps children to observe and understand the world around them whilst activities like making seed balls and creating a rain gauge encourage hands-on experiments to develop this interest further.

Explanations are included, of the water cycle, for example, which are simply written and clearly illustrated, supporting understanding of the 'science behind the fun' and offering the perfect starting point for further investigation should this be desired! Perfect for enhancing natural curiosity!

64 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher