Simple Steps Activity Book by Molly Smith and Illustrated by Tad Carpenter

Published by Chronicle Books

Pages: 80

Ages:9-12

Publishers Summary: It’s easy and fun to be green! Printed on 100% recycled materials and developed in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council, this one-of-a-kind activity book encourages kids to reduce waste and make their homes, schools, and neighborhoods more environmentally friendly. It’s packed with plenty of in-book and out-of-book activities and 2 pages of stickers. Kids will have a blast while they develop an understanding of local and worldwide environmental challenges.

The Turkeybird Speaks: “I love sticker books! Did you see the discussion all about how sticker books helped me to learn to speak? It was great, if I do say so myself! Sticker and activity books are some of my favorite types of books most of all because I love to learn new things. Also they’re great because I get to work with mom and dad. I always love being able to find the right sticker or draw something that they get really excited over! It’s so neat to have them say that I did a ‘great job’!

“This activity book has been so much fun, because there are stickers and I get to color in it. One of the first activities I did was learn all about different whales from all over the world. It was so so neat! My mom even took a picture:

“I just love learning about the outdoors and outer-space right now, so it was perfect! There are pages all about animals and plants and even some about cars, which you all know I am a huge fan of. It was also really fun to learn how to help mom by making sure to turn my light off when I leave my bedroom and not run the water too long after I wash my hands. There were so many things to learn, and I’m still not done. I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll get to do a little bit more with mom or dad, because it’s just so much fun!”

Mom’s Two Cents: “The Baker and I are definitely of the mindset that we have the ability to impact our environment by taking small and simple steps. We believe it’s important to care for not only the earth we live on, but also our bodies, by way of monitoring our food sources. Yes, for some it may be extreme, but for us it works. That’s not to say we aren’t without fault when it comes to being ‘green’, but we definitely try our best to be mindful of our individual impact on the earth. Because of this we also feel responsible to carry that knowledge on to Turkeybird and Littlebug and Simple Steps is a great book for just that purpose.

“Yes, the book is for kids a bit older than ours, it recommends ages 9-12, but there’s no need to hold back. I’m a firm believer that activity books are meant to be an involved activity with both parent and child. So, if you take this advice to heart it’s easy to take topics like ‘The Problem with Plastic’ and ‘Energy in Motion’ and make them applicable even to little kids. Besides, Simple Steps is loaded with fantastic stickers and coloring activities that you can use to help illustrate each of the topics. As you can plainly see, The Turkeybird gets pretty excited about finding the right sticker to go in the right place:

“This is definitely one of my new favorites when it comes to activity books. Some activity books can be pretty basic and carry very little variety, but not Simple Steps. From our homes to the forests and oceans, you learn how we each have an impact on our world and what we can do even as children to make a difference. In addition to that there’s even a guide to buying seasonal produce and using your local farmer’s markets. Simple Steps is just that, the simple steps we can take in our individual lives to improve the quality of life for ourselves and everything in the earth around us. A wonderful activity books for kids and parents to share and learn from.

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 3 and up. A perfect activity book for little ones beginning to learn about our earth and great for parent interaction!

For the Comments: Is there anything “simple” your family does to try and make the earth a more healthy place for all of us?

Simple Steps has quickly become a favorite that we want to share. Because of this, There’s A Book is offering 5 copies to our wonderful readers. Each winner, 5 total, will receive one copy of the Simple Steps Activity Book by Molly Smith.

Details: Five winners will be chosen at random after the contest closes to receive one copy each. You MUST fill out the form below, comments will not count as entries. Only one entry per household. Must be a follower of There’s A Book. Giveaway is open to US/Canadian Residents only. The giveaway will run from June 24, 2010 until July 16, 2010 midnight EST.

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you so much to all who entered, please check back soon for the winning announcement! Make sure to check back often for more great giveaways coming very soon!

This book was provided by Lara from Chronicle Books. Thank you! Make sure to take a look at their website and find them on Twitter here.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with IndieBound.

©2012 There's A Book. All Rights Reserved.

How and why would we want to incorporate activity and sticker books into our family reading rituals? Activity and sticker books are often used by parents as “babysitters”, but when used appropriately they may help a beginning reader make connections between visual images and words on a page with reality. In fact, these valuable resources can be an excellent teaching tool when used in conjunction with reading daily, especially for children who may struggle with some form of a learning disability.

Turkeybird’s Struggle
Our sweet Turkeybird was an early reader, but a late talker. He was diagnosed with a form of Autism called “Hyperlexia” at just around 20 months of age. It basically boils down to him reading by the time he was just older than a year old, but not being able to communicate verbally or interact socially until he was a bit older. I know you’re thinking, “he couldn’t talk, but he could read???” Yes, he would literally read words off of pages but hardly say hello when greeted by another family member or friend.

We sought the aid of a speech therapist and children’s counselor not knowing how else to help him. They used evaluations and problem solving games to help him express visually the words he was struggling to connect verbally. This continued for a few months and shortly thereafter our sweet Littlebug was born. For some reason, maybe a lack of attention, triggered in him a greater desire to communicate with us, but he still struggled to connect the “truck” on the page with the truck in his bedroom.

Soon, we moved across country and no longer had the aid of outside therapists and counselors. I decided there had to be something else that I could do as a parent to help him make those little connections. While looking through some “teaching” books and materials on the internet one day I came across some sticker books. The Turkeybird has always been a huge fan of sticker and activity books. What kid doesn’t love a sticker as a reward for a trip to the doctor or for a job well done? This was it, I thought! I ordered some and the work began.

Work Together!!!
Working with The Turkeybird was the key to progression. Children learn the most when they are read to or when they are taught directly.* Starting with the above pictured Sticker Activity book and moving on to many others, we worked together.Every day, while Littlebug slept, we sat down together at the table and went through the pages of the books one at a time. The first book focused on numbers, but also used “real” life objects to illustrate the numerals. Even from the beginning I tried to allow him to place the stickers in the appropriate places and verbally tell me what each was. After this we would go on excursions, be them around the house or to different venues (the park, petting zoo, etc.), and we would point out the different things he found in his activity books. Soon, he began to connect the dots.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
To this day we still use the sticker books on a daily basis. We read on a daily basis. And we play together on a daily basis. It’s important to create routines in all children’s lives, but especially in those that struggle with some form of learning disability. Even as adults we benefit from a daily routine and continued persistence with a difficult task. Why would it be different with a child?

Everyday the Turkeybird looks forward to our “mini-school” sessions and asks for the next task. This shows me that he is making connections and learning more everyday. He loves to learn and I can tell when I see his face light up at the mention of crayons, stickers and books.

The End Result
The Turkeybird is talking more now, carrying on long conversations with non-family members and can now connect the words on the pages in his books to real life objects.  His social skills have progressed far beyond what was originally thought he would be capable of at this age. He continues to love reading and learning and his mom continues to love to read to and teach him.

I’m not saying that sticker and activity books will solve all your learning/teaching dilemmas, but if done right they can’t hurt. I’m not a professional, just a mom, and I make no presumptions about how effective these activity books may be in your own child’s life. Make sure to use them with your son, daughter or student; this is where you will find the best result. Children love to be taught, they love attention and exultation when they’ve accomplished something they’d never been able to do before. Interact and show you care about the outcome. And then, do it all over again.

This post was presented as part of the Share A Story Shape A Future Day Two. Make sure to stop by The Book Chook’s site for more posts pertaining to Literacy My Way/Literacy Your Way!

Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

*Referenced & paraphrased from: On the Road to Reading: A Guide for Community Partners – December 1997

©2012 There's A Book. All Rights Reserved.