Science Activity Book

These books are a nicely presented package of activity and non-fiction. They are in soft colours and really attractively designed and illustrated by Vicky Barker, the text being written by different authors for the different subject matter. These are three of a set of six, the others being Science, Engineering, and Art. The activity book nature makes them unsuitable for class books, but they would make a very nice gift for a child of around 7 years and up, interested in STEM subjects. I think a good test of an activity book is that they make you want to do the activity, as opposed to seeming like a worksheet. These books happily pass that test as they are a mixture of finding examples in the pictures, as in recording in a table in the Maths book; a word search type activity such as the one on space in the Physics book, or drawing pictures such as a fantasy car in the Technology book. Interestingly there are no experiments to try out - possibly the authors feel that is covered in other books on the same subjects. I am certain many children will enjoy the activity component of these books and it makes a good balance with the information; the right amount of information with each activity. The only criticism of these books is that the text is very dense in places, possibly a bit off-putting for an emergent reader; whilst the content and activities do not match the level of reading required. It feels like these books cannot quite decide where they belong, but I think they make a refreshing change to the endless workbooks on Maths and English that many publishers produce.

Suggested Reading Age 7+