Preschool (3-5 years)

Pack up sandcastle-building supplies, sunscreen, and this take-along activity book that turns a day at the beach into a learning adventure, with search & find challenges, sand games, and at-the-beach science and crafts. In the second book of the Backpack Explorer series from the Editors of Storey Publishing, 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.Backpack Explorer: Beach Walk is packed with prompts and activities, including 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.

Make a bird walk a learning adventure for kids as they discover the fun of identifying the sights, sounds, and signs of bird life around them with the help of this fun interactive, take-along activity book. The third book in the Backpack Explorer series from the Editors of Storey Publishing invites budding naturalists to head outside for a walk—in the woods, a park, or right in their backyard—to spot feathered friends. Backpack Explorer: Bird Watch leads kids aged 4 and up through 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.

The latest addition to the best-selling Backpack Explorer series (455,000 copies in print) invites kids ages 4 and up to head outside and find, collect, and learn about rocks with this take-along activity book! Backpack Explorer: Rock Hunt is packed with prompts and activities, including: 12 interactive field guide pages introducing rock classifications (color, shape, size, texture); sensory scavenger hunts; hands-on outdoor creative activities; rock experiments; and discovery zone pages with facts about geology, landforms, igneous and metamorphic rocks, gems, fossils, and more. The book includes a real magnifying glass, stickers, and a log for recording rock finds, making it the perfect explorer guide for budding geologists, whether in a backyard, a city park, or a nature preserve.

Head outside and get the buzz on bugs with this interactive take-along book that invites kids to go on bug-seeking adventures to identify insects, learn about bug lives and habits through hands-on activities, and track discoveries. Packed with educational prompts and activities, this fourth book in the Backpack Explorer series encourages junior naturalists to spot insects while on a walk in the woods, playing in a park, or searching right outside their front door. Twelve interactive field guides help young seekers identify fliers, crawlers, and pollinators, while sensory scavenger hunts, projects such as Weave a Web or Make a Bug Hotel, and cool bug facts boost the insect intrigue.

In this Backpack Explorer nature book, kids can search for wildflowers, ferns, grasses, seeds, and more, and learn basic plant science through activities that includes scavenger hunts, a plant log, stickers, and a real magnifying glass.Head outside and learn about the amazing plants and flowers all around! In the seventh book of the Backpack Explorer series, junior naturalists search for ferns, wildflowers, grasses, water plants, edible plants, and more in this take-along nature book. Backpack Explorer: Discovering Plants & Flowers is packed with prompts and activities, including 12 interactive field guides, sensory scavenger hunts, activities such as Paint with Dandelions, Watch a Flower Grow, and discovery zone pages with tips for identifying plants and flowers, plant science, leaf shapes, seeds, pollination, and more.

Backpack Explorer: Discovering Trees encourages junior naturalists to step outside and get curious about the trees they see, whether in their backyard, in their neighborhood, in a park, or on a trail. With this take-along activity book—the fifth in the best-selling Backpack Explorer series from the Editors of Storey Publishing—kids will stop, look, listen, and touch as they search for leaves, count tree rings, notice the sound of birds or wind in the branches, gather pinecones, and feel bark. Each page is packed with prompts and activities, including 12 interactive field guides for identifying common trees, simple craft projects such as Make a Tree Rubbing or Make a Nature Mask from colorful leaves, and simple discovery features with fun tree facts.

Hideout is a dreamlike, lyrical picture book with shades of Where the Wild Things Are that illustrates the power of imagination to transport us to new worlds from author Susanna Mattiangeli and illustrator Felicita Sala. A Junior Library Guild Selection It's time to go, but no one can find Hannah! That's because she's in the park with much to do. She needs to collect caterpillars and sticks, make a bow and arrow, and build a bed out of leaves. Deep in the shrubs, she sets up a secret hideout for herself and her companion, an Odd Furry Creature. Together, they hunker down over the campfire, lost in their own little world. But then a voice cuts through the branches and clearly says, "Where are you?" Hannah brushes off her paper, and the reader learns that Hannah was lost—not in the woods—but in her drawing. "A marvelous exploration of the depth and creativity of a child's imagination. Readers will easily lose themselves in this fantastic story." —School Library Journal

Journey through a magical woodland with poems to read and things to find in the beautifully illustrated picture book If You Go Down to the Woods. My woodland's full of animals, of every different kind. So shall we stay here for a while and see what we can find? Experience the everyday wonder of nature in this first book of poetry, exploring a magical woodland year. With poems by acclaimed writer Rachel Piercey and illustrations by Freya Hartas, join Bear on his journey from spring to winter with lots of friends to meet, places to explore, and things to spot along the way. "A tour de force of interactive two-dimensional nature." —Kirkus Reviews

A beautifully illustrated collection of eight life lessons, written as stories from a parent to a child, full of wisdom to take with them on their life's journey This is a stunning, heartfelt collection of short stories, told from a parent to a child, encompassing the life lessons they want them to take out into the world. In "Stones," a little bear builds a tower, only to see it come crashing down, but that's OK—it's the chance to start again and dream a new dream. In "Sparks," they realize that they don't have to be good at everything all at once—they just have to begin. In "Stars," they discover that hope is always there, if they're brave enough to look for it. Beautifully and thoughtfully illustrated, this is a book of wisdom for someone to carry close to their heart wherever life's journey might take them.