We're Going on a Bear Hunt: Let's Discover Birds

A little gem! This activity book - and it's pairing in the series, Let's Discover Bugs - are great for inquisitive minds. The book is designed to be a carry-along guide for children and adults whilst on their adventures discovering birds. I really like that this book is lightweight and a great size to fit in your bag whilst out and about with the children. It is packed with colourful illustrations, easy to read labelled diagrams and images of the characters from We're going on a Bear Hunt. The book takes you on a journey from start to finish. It begins with a handy 'Stay safe' guide and preparation ideas as well as some useful information to 'know before you go'. It seemed to progress in difficulty/chances of spotting particular birds according to their habitat (e.g. starting with home birds-House Sparrows, Pigeons etc) and therefore engaged children from the start, making the activities accessible for all as soon as you venture outside! Each page gives you information about different species of birds, where to find them and what to look for. As well as this, there is a craft activity on each page as a follow-up to fieldwork, discovering the different species. There are so many great ideas to use with the children, to encourage work outside the classroom and for fieldwork trips. The pages can be photocopied and provided to children for reference. As a Geography co-ordinator in school, I know that I would be excited to see more invaluable resources like this in school, engaging the children to explore their surroundings. Throughout the book there are fun facts, mini activities and my favourite little addition was the snippits of information/definitions given for some of the scientific vocabulary used. These were provided in place of a glossary that we would normally see in an information book like this and I think it worked really well as the definitions were provided on the pages where the words were used and were short, sharp and easily digestible for children. 100 plus stickers are an added bonus, especially the blank colour-your-own ones! If used in class these could be a daily treat for one pupil each day to colour in one of the stickers and add to the book, maybe even enough for two goes! 32 pages / Ages 5+ / Reviewed by Nikki Stiles, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 5+