Activity Books

Activity Books

Backpack Explorer Series

Grade K-2

Storey Publishing, located in North Adams, Massachusetts, specializes in books on farming, nature, and children’s activities. This series, colorfully illustrated by Oana Befort, is packed with activities, prompts, scavenger hunts, and small experiments to create your own outdoor adventures.

Backpack Explorer Series

Backpack Explorer: On the Nature Trail

From worms, birds, and spiders to trees, flowers, and clouds, young explorers learn what to look and listen for wherever they are — whether in a nature preserve, an urban park, or a suburban backyard. Seek-and-find lists, on-the-trail art projects, and discovery games get kids engaged in hands-on learning about nature, and a real pull-out magnifying glass helps them get a close-up glimpse of leaf veins, seed pods, and tiny insects.

Backpack Explorer Series

Backpack Explorer: Beach Walk

Little beachcombers are encouraged to discover all the wonders of saltwater oceans and freshwater lakes, from identifying shorebirds to learning about the life found in tide pools to listening to the waves and watching the tides.The book includes 12 interactive field guides (for shells, jellyfish, and more), sensory scavenger hunts, science experiments such as a Stick Sundial, games, and simple projects including food chain match-ups and driftwood fish. Equipped with a real magnifying glass, stickers, and a beach log for recording shoreline sightings and adventures, this book is the perfect take-along for any beach adventure.

Backpack Explorer Series

Backpack Explorer: Bird Watch

The book invites budding naturalists to head outside for a walk — in the woods, a park, or right in their backyard — to spot feathered friends. It introduces the basics of birding, from identifying common birds to learning about habitat and migration and listening for bird songs. The pages are packed with prompts and activities, including 12 interactive field guides (for common birds, nests, eggs, tracks, and more), sensory scavenger hunts, activities such as building a bird nest, matching games, and simple discovery zone pages about food chains and the life cycle of birds. Equipped with a real magnifying glass, stickers, and a birding log for recording sightings and encounters, this book is the perfect take-along for any nature adventure.

Bugs

Grade PreK

The Backyard Bug Book for Kids

Written by entomologist Lauren Davidson this book combines a story with illustrations that contain actual photographs of bugs and small puzzle activities. It introduces young children to the types of bugs they’re likely to see during their day, and help them remember what they’ve learned with fun, on-the-page challenges.

Exploring nature

Grades 2-5

Exploring Nature Activity Book for Kids: 50 Creative Projects to Spark Curiosity in the Outdoors

Encourage young nature lovers to get outside and track, explore, discover, and create. This book is filled with hands-on, educational outdoor activities that kids will love to learn from, like crafting bird feeders out of fruit, pressing flowers, or creating sundials. They’ll get their hands dirty and their imaginations revving while staying active outside.  The book features 50 fun outdoor projects to inspire a lifetime of curiosity, with tons of guided, interactive ideas that let kids observe animals, plants, and even outer space in action. By stopping to notice and record what’s going on around them, kids will practice important skills like observation, memory, writing, drawing, wildlife safety, and more.

Microscopy

Grades 3-5

The World of Microscope

The World of the Microscope by Chris Oxlade and Corinne Stockley is a great starting point to learn about the microscopic world. This small book introduces a variety of objects that are too small for the eye to see but can be revealed with the help of a microscope, from insects and bacteria, to rock crystals and microchip circuits. Step-by-step diagrams show how to get the best results from a microscope and how to make and keep slides. The book also covers the history of the microscope, different types of microscopes, from magnifying glasses to electron microscopes, and there are plenty of exciting suggestions for projects which reveal the incredible detail of everyday objects.

Kitchen Table Experiments

Grades 3-5

The kitchen pantry scientist: Biology for kids

Goal of the author, mom and former molecular biologist Liz Lee Heinecke, is to make it simple for parents to do science with kids of all ages, and for kids to experiment safely on their own.   This engaging guide offers a series of snapshots of 25 scientists famous for their work with biology, from ancient history through today. Each lab tells the story of a scientist along with some background about the importance of their work, and a description of where it is still being used or reflected in today’s world.  A step-by-step illustrated experiment paired with each story offers kids a hands-on opportunity for exploring concepts the scientists pursued, or are working on today. Experiments range from very simple projects using materials you probably already have on hand, to more complicated ones that may require a few inexpensive items you can purchase online.
 

Birdwatching

Grades 3-6

Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard

This conversational, humorous introduction to bird-watching by Annette LeBlanc Cate encourages kids to get outdoors with a sketchbook and really look around. Quirky full-color illustrations portray dozens of birds chatting about their distinctive characteristics, including color, shape, plumage, and beak and foot types, while tongue-in-cheek cartoons feature banter between birds, characters, and the reader. Interactive and enjoyable tips bring an age-old hobby to new life for the next generation of bird-watchers.