Field Trips: Bug Hunting, Animal Tracking, Bird-watching, Shore Walking
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Fun activities for long summer days
REVIEW BY JAMES NEAL WEBB Children are born scientists: put them outside and with little or no prompting they'll be exploring their environment-climbing trees, digging in the ground, wading into creeks, peeking under rocks. Kids should be encouraged to explore, and that's why Jim Arnosky's new book Field Trips is such a treasure. A fun instruction manual for kids who are curious about nature, Arnosky's book uses easily understood sketches and simple direction to guide readers through simple nature activities, beginning with the creepy-crawly part of the outdoors that youngsters become aware of before they can talk: bugs. With info on how to identify and hunt them, as well as tips on insects to avoid, the book will help get the budding scientist off to a great start. Next on Arnosky's list is tracking animals, a great way to explore the outdoors. There's plenty of advice on how to distinguish footprints-from deer to fox to grouse-and how to follow sets of tracks. Arnosky also provides tips on how to record findings in a field-trip notebook. Arnosky's observations get a little more sophisticated as the book progresses. His next activity is bird-watching, and his delightful drawings should have kids looking to the sky. His artwork reminds me a lot of Robert McCloskey (Make Way for Ducklings); while not as whimsical, his drawings are detailed and thus very accessible to his intended audience. Finally, the author guides young explorers along the shoreline-rivers, lakes and oceans. From the vantage point of the water's edge, he identifies aquatic plants, fish, shells and fossils. A wealth of opportunities for observation and collecting await young explorers along the shore. Summer is almost here, and this book should be in the library of every home with a budding Jane Goodall or Robert Ballard. If your kids are whining "there's nothing to do," give them Field Trips and a sketchbook and turn them loose in the backyard, the vacant lot or the park down the street. You might even want to go with them-who knows, you could all learn something! James Neal Webb likes to walk the shoreline of Radnor Lake in Nashville.
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