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This gorgeous book is basically a visual encyclopedia of the natural world. As is typical of most DK books, the photography is stunning. You’ll see crisp, large, detailed images of everything from minerals, fossils, microscopic life, plants of every type, and of course every type of animal on earth. Each page is amazing and inspirational. If you and your children didn’t already have a grand appreciation for all of creation, you will after looking at the photos in this book!
We have used this in a variety of ways. Most of the time we have one copy that sits on a side table in our living room, open to a page that is inspiring or interesting to us. Sometimes the kids change the page to display something they like. We use a book stand for this purpose and that makes it a really nice focal point, and keeps the book safely open and not falling over. (This is the book stand we have. Love it! I bought it for our homeschool a few years ago and am thinking about getting another one. It looks beautiful, and is sturdy and well-made.)
At times we have used this book for copy work. Each child picked a page that was of interest to them and copied the text into their nature notebooks, and tried to draw the item as well. One son got super interested in tarantulas and worked for weeks getting each section copied perfectly and drawing each picture! We really like the nature notebooks where you can draw on the top half and write on the bottom lined half. Here’s one example for younger kids, but there are varieties for older children as well. Prismacolor colored pencils are perfect for the drawings, too.
Of course Natural History is also great for extra research or to learn more about something we’re studying.
I’ve decided to give away a copy of this book to one lucky winner! The winner with receive the actual physical book, fresh off the shelves at amazon and delivered to your home! (USA addresses, including military, only.) Just a little something to spark some fresh joy and learning from our homeschool to yours. Simply enter your email address to be included in the giveaway! I’ll contact the winner after the giveaway closes on May 20, 2016.
Great idea to use this type of book for copywork!
Beautiful book! Nice of you to give one away, thank you.
What a beautiful book and we love Smithsonian resources!
What a neat book!
Thank you for the give away! I love DK publishing and Smithsonian!
Heading to the library website to reserve this;)
I love reading these types of books with the kids. Not only do they learn something I usually learn something new with them.
This book looks amazing! Thanks for sharing how you use it. I’m going to see if we can get a copy from the library for one of my son’s in particular. He is always outside exploring and catching thingso, observing them and releasing them. He would love this.
I love the idea of using this for nature and copywork!
Thank you for the giveaway, what a beautiful book!
Love the idea of using resource books for copywork!!
After flipping through the book on Amazon, I am a little in love with it. And the idea of having it propped open to “inspire” on a nice book stand is brilliant!
Beautiful book! I hope I win. Our 8 year old loves the natural world.
I’ve been eyeballing this book for a year, and you just made me want it even more! The copywork idea is fabulous!
This sounds like a great book. I’ve always enjoyed DK books because of the photography and the layout. I never even thought about using a book stand during my years of homeschooling! That’s a great idea to keep the book open on display and also using it for copywork and nature drawings. My homeschooling years are over but I do have grandchildren visit often who would love the book.
Sounds like a great resource. My toddler is obsessed with all the DK board books about cars and trucks. This sounds like a great read for my older children. Thanks for sharing at the #LMMLinkup.
What a lovely giveaway, the book sound amazing. Creation is amazing. Thanks for offering this to the readers of the Blogger’s Pit Stop
Kathleen
Sounds like an excellent book. My daughter would devour the contents. I am sure she’d find something to further research, create, or copy as a way to practice cursive penmanship. Thank you for the opportunity!
I didn’t give it a thought about this book until I saw your Facebook video and you showed it. Well, of course, I fell in love with it immediately!
Oh wow, looks like a great book!
What a beautiful book. Thanks for sharing with#thecozyreadingspot