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A review by dreesreads
I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature by Jennifer Ward
1.0
This is one odd little book. If I had bought this book I would have been so upset.
I'm not entirely clear on who the audience is. The subtitle says "your kids"--but the activities are for toddlers. At the end of each activity it tells you its supposed benefits--"Stimulates imagination and relaxation".
However, these activities are things kids do on their own. Looking for spiderwebs, counting ladybugs, watching the clouds, looking for bird nests. Kids don't need to be led to these activities. Kids are naturally curious, naturally imaginative, and naturally playful, they do NOT need to be led to imagination--and if you are leading them, it's not really imagination, is it?
And then there are the warnings: try to designate play clothes that are allowed to get dirty!; Do not hold or handle ants of any size; remember to wear sunscreen and a hat; never try to hold a spider; make sure the sun is not shining directly in anyone's eyes; layer and bundle your kids.
The very simplistic explanations (what a blue moon is, how ants smell, what is wind, what are leaves, etc etc) are at a toddler's level, not the parents. Any parent (or older sibling!) who does not already know these things is not the sort of person who would ever buy this book.
Also--this book is assumes you live in the northeastern US. It rains in spring, snows in winter, you have cardinals and blue jays, birds migrate to warmer areas, there are lots of deciduous trees, and summer is the most comfortable season to be outside.
And, um, it does snow in part of the saguaro's native range.
I'm not entirely clear on who the audience is. The subtitle says "your kids"--but the activities are for toddlers. At the end of each activity it tells you its supposed benefits--"Stimulates imagination and relaxation".
However, these activities are things kids do on their own. Looking for spiderwebs, counting ladybugs, watching the clouds, looking for bird nests. Kids don't need to be led to these activities. Kids are naturally curious, naturally imaginative, and naturally playful, they do NOT need to be led to imagination--and if you are leading them, it's not really imagination, is it?
And then there are the warnings: try to designate play clothes that are allowed to get dirty!; Do not hold or handle ants of any size; remember to wear sunscreen and a hat; never try to hold a spider; make sure the sun is not shining directly in anyone's eyes; layer and bundle your kids.
The very simplistic explanations (what a blue moon is, how ants smell, what is wind, what are leaves, etc etc) are at a toddler's level, not the parents. Any parent (or older sibling!) who does not already know these things is not the sort of person who would ever buy this book.
Also--this book is assumes you live in the northeastern US. It rains in spring, snows in winter, you have cardinals and blue jays, birds migrate to warmer areas, there are lots of deciduous trees, and summer is the most comfortable season to be outside.
And, um, it does snow in part of the saguaro's native range.