Preschool

How Do Bees Make Honey?

Book cover: 'How Do Bees Make Honey?'
Author(s): 
Anna Claybourne

A small, inexpensive book filled with pictures and lots of other information picture about bees and other insects. You'll learn how to tell bees apart from other insects, how bees live together in colonies and all about their beehives, how bees communicate with each other (my children have really enjoyed trying to re-enact the bee's dances) and of course how bees make honey. The one thing I didn't like is that the material is so disjointed because it jumps around between different kinds of insects.

How a Seed Grows

Book cover: 'How a Seed Grows'
Author(s): 
Helene J. Jordan

A very simple, charming book that explains to young children what seeds are and takes them through the development of some bean seeds. The growth present each day is illustrated in the book and the child is invited to try grow the beans themselves and watch the progress in real life. The book also introduces children to different kinds of seeds (for trees, flowers, vegetables, etc.), and how each seed will grow into the same kind of plant that it came from, and the basic things necessary to make a plant grow.

What Lives in a Shell?

Book cover: 'What Lives in a Shell?'
Author(s): 
Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

This beautifully illustrated book, designed for preschool and kindergarten, explains different kinds of shells and the creatures that inhabit them. The shells are compared to the shelter occupied by people and by other animals. We learn that some shells do grow larger along with certain animals while other animals must shed their out-grown shell in favor of a new one. Many shells are beautifully depicted and identified and the story-format of the text is very easy and interesting for young children to follow.

See How I Grow

Book cover: 'See How I Grow'
Author(s): 
Angela Wilkes

This well-worn book has been kicked-around, chewed on and well-loved by my young children since my second oldest received it for Christmas just before the birth of his new baby sister (he was two at the time). The book is a photo-story of the author's daughter as she grows from a new baby to an active toddler. Each two-page shows a number of pictures of the baby doing whatever she does best at that given age.

My Hands

Book cover: 'My Hands'
Author(s): 
Aliki

This is a nicely illustrated book for very young children on everything having to do with hands. The very simple text covers the names of the fingers (index, middle, etc.), the sense of touch, right or left-handed, the importance of thumbs and how different hands can be ("Daddy's hands are different from mine. They are big and rough and bony. Mother's hands are soft...") This is a charming little book for helping children appreciate how wonderfully they are made.

My Five Senses

Book cover: 'My Five Senses'
Author(s): 
Aliki

Aliki, in her classic - simple and charming - style, explains each of the five senses for preschoolers. Text and pictures explain what each of the senses is used for - "When I drink my milk and eat my food, I use my sense of taste. I am tasting." My children ask for this book over and over.

My First Body Book

Book cover: 'My First Body Book'
Author(s): 
Melanie and Chris Rice

This is a fun and very kid-friendly introduction to the body and its various functions and capabilities. It begins with a set of transparent overlays which portray the skeleton (skeletal system), the heart, lungs and blood (cardiovascular system), and the brain and nerves and digestive system. When I first got this book (back in the days when I was a DK representative for a short time) I worried that this book wouldn't hold up very well. After more than three years of use by little hands, I have to admit it's done quite well.

The Big Dipper

Book cover: 'The Big Dipper'
Author(s): 
Franklyn M. Branley

A very simple science book for children with cartoon-like pictures (nice cartoon, not cheezy-cartoon) that introduces some basic concepts about the stars. The very simple story line discusses looking at the night sky, that you see different stars in the summer and winter, where the big dipper got it's name, the names of the stars that make up the big dipper, how people can find direction from the North Star and the traditional constellation Ursa Major that the Big Dipper belongs to. The language is very simple, but not at all dumbed down - especially appropriate for preschool.

Life of Jesus

Book cover: 'Life of Jesus'

We put this poster up in our upstairs hallway thinking that the colorful pictures would be attractive to the little ones and help them develop a better understanding of the Life of Jesus. The full color drawings are attractive but dignified. It's been a big hit so far. I find my six year old reading words here and there, my four year old asking about what happens in different pictures and my two year old pointing to her favorite scenes. The pictures include simple descriptions and dialogue along with Biblical references.