It’s spring time! Finally! After many months buried under layers of clothing, and staring at dark, gloomy skies out our windows, it’s time to enjoy blue skies, birds singing and green grass. Even the landscapers who tend to our condo complex has been here already mowing the lawn, not that there was much to mow to begin with. I can’t wait for the smell of freshly cut grass in the new few weeks. Ah…
Easter is just around the corner too.
I miss the days of creating Easter baskets for my kids. They still enjoy some sweet treats on Easter, but they are long past the age of receiving an Easter basket from the Easter Bunny.
I was never one to fill their baskets up with candy, mostly because they also received Easter baskets from their grandmother (my mother in law), their grandparents (my father and stepmother) AND their great-grandparents. Needless to say, my kids received A LOT of candy on Easter. More candy than when they would go trick-or-treating on Halloween.
When it came to Easter baskets, I always included books, coloring books, a new box of crayons, a few small toys, a plush toy and SOME candy. My kids never once complained, even long after their great-grandparents passed away and their other grandparents stopped showering them with way too much candy (I would literally have Easter candy up until Halloween!).
If you are like me and like to give children non-candy options for Easter, you should definitely look into gifting books from the Easter Bunny. I’d love to make some recommendations from National Geographic Kids books. I am an “adult” (most of the time – ha ha) and I LOVE Nat. Geo. Kids books. They are awesome!
I was provided these same books to check out for myself.
Celebrate Easter (ages 6-9) – The joyous celebration of Easter is seen through a global perspective in this National Geographic volume featuring over 25 vibrant photographs. Witness the holiest day on the Christian calendar as it is celebrated throughout the world: from the famous Easter Egg Roll at the White House to the traditional bonfires throughout Europe, to colorful customs, to the universally popular dying of eggshells worldwide. The first-person narrative leads young readers through the origins and traditions of this springtime festival of rebirth and hope and a special note by Reverend George Handzo gives parents and teachers a historical and cultural background.
This is a fun book for children (and parents) to learn about holiday traditions around the world, as well as things like why we enjoy jelly beans at Easter and why we decorate Easter eggs. There is even a yummy recipe in the back of the book.
This book would be a perfect addition to any Easter basket.
NG Kids Baby Animal Sticker Activity Book (ages 4-8) With 1,000 stickers and fantastic graphics and text, these high quality, super fun sticker books are a great way for kids to learn about animals and the natural world. The Baby Animals sticker book is chock-full of the cutest creatures on the planet: pandas, piglets, wolf cubs, ponies, polar bears, elephants, bunnies, kittens, puppies, and many more. With a fun, brightly colored design and loaded with animal facts and games–such as mazes, counting, matching and more–this book is sure to provide endless entertainment.
This book features a lot of fun activities including mazes, coloring pages and word searches. They are all really easy to do (great for kids!).
This book also comes with a lot of stickers. Many of the stickers need to be placed in certain spots within the pages of the book. You learn where stickers go based on the stickers shape, the image on the sticker, and the information presented on the pages.
There are also a lot of extra stickers that children can enjoy using to decorate books and things around their room.
There are plenty of super adorable animal pictures in this book as well.
National Geographic Pre-Reader: Ducks (ages 2-5) – From fuzzy ducklings to graceful birds, waddle your way into this adorable early reader, all about ducks! Perfect for beginning and young readers, National Geographic Pre-readers include simple, expert-vetted text and large, engaging photos on every page. A vocabulary tree at the beginning of the book introduces kids to key words in concept groups, helping kids make connections between words. Plus, a wrap-up activity gives kids a chance to use what they’ve learned, while expanding their understanding of the world.
This is a sweet, simple book to read with just a few words on each page (short sentences). The book provides information about ducks, their habitat and what they look like. Each page features colorful images of real life ducks.
Cutest Animals on the Planet (ages 8-12) – NEW SERIES ALERT! Meet the world’s most adorable animals and learn fun stuff about them in this aww-some first book in a brand-new series from National Geographic Kids. Whether you like mammals, aquatic creatures, insects, birds, amphibians, or reptiles, this browsable book contains kids’ favorite animals that would ALL be contenders for the grand prize in a cute competition. Big photos pair with upbeat descriptions that highlight each critter’s crazy cool skills and unique behaviors. This adorable book showcases popular animals such as hedgehogs and pandas as well as unusual species such as tapirs, kakapos, and pangolins. Special features include a head-to-head cute-off, sure to keep readers amused and informed. Perfect for curious tweens, animal lovers, and future veterinarians alike.
As the title suggests, this book is filled with ADORABLE images of puppies, kittens, penguins, mice and monkeys. There are even creatures in here you wouldn’t normally consider “cute,” but in a way, they are, such as bats, hippos and geckos. Sorry Nat Geo, but I don’t think Praying Mantis are cute. They scare the heebie jeebies out of me!
There is some text in the book that tells you a little bit about each creature, but for the most part this is just a fun book to flip through the pages and enjoy the photos. You’ll be “ooo’ing” and “aahh’ing” your way through the pages.
Treasury of Bible Stories by Donna Jo Napoli, illus. by Christina Balit (ages 8-12)
A worthy cultural treasury with appeal to both the faithful and irreligious.” — Kirkus
Noah’s Ark, Moses, David and Goliath, the ten plagues, Daniel and the lions’ den, Jonah and the giant fish, and many more of the Bible’s most powerful stories — 27 in all — are compellingly retold in this beautifully illustrated treasury. Readers will be fascinated by the ancient people and events they encounter, surprised by some of the lesser known accounts revealed, and inspired by the lessons these tales impart. Stories cover important ground beyond religion, such as culture, history, and geography, and they touch on issues that remain relevant today–faith, loyalty, kindness, violence, generosity, greed, jealousy, and more. These accessible, readable stories give kids a rich picture of biblical times, which encourages them to think about our role in the world and to learn more.
Napoli’s magical storytelling is sure to ignite children’s imaginations. Along with Balit’s stunning art, this is a book kids will want to explore again and again–a classic that families can read aloud together.
I WISH I had a book like this when I went to Sunday School.
Important stories from the Bible are broken down into stories that span just a few pages (perfect bedtime reading length). The text is easy to read and understand too. I think only some of the people’s names might be heard to pronounce, but other than that, older children can read this book with no problem.
The stories a accompanied with beautiful illustrations which really bring the stories to life. In addition, there are interesting facts sprinkled throughout the book.
I am familiar with these stories in the book, having gone to church. But reading them in this book really made them so much for interesting.
5,000 Awesome Facts About Everything (ages 8-12) This book is literally busting its covers with fascinating, fun-tastic facts on super, sensational topics that kids love. Who knew that there were so many sweet things to learn about chocolate or that a dozen delicious details about peanut butter would show up on a page with a few splotches of jelly to whet our appetites? Keep turning and a terrifyingly toothy shark tells you all about himself, while other spreads lay out tons of tips on toys and games, mysteries of history, robots and reptiles, sports and spies and wacky words. A visual feast of colorful photographs surrounded by swirling, tipping, expanding, and climbing bits of information in a high-energy design, this book will satisfy both the casual browser and the truly fact obsessed.
This books is amazing. Scratch that – it’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!! I am an adult, and I consider myself pretty smart (I do well on Jeopardy), however, I never knew a lot of these incredible facts found in this book.
The book covers a variety of subjects. Each fact is a brief “tid bit.” It’s not a lengthy description. It’s just a little factoid “nugget” of information. There are a few pages that provide you with “100 facts about…” which look like a lot to read, but it’s really just 100 facts written to look like a full page.
Did you know that every person in the US uses 100 gallons of water PER DAY? Or that there are more kangaroos in Australia than people (that is crazy!). Also, there are 400 breeds of domesticated horses? My mind is blown!
The book features hundreds of full color images which really bring the facts to life. Even if you don’t read the facts, the images in the book are fun to look at.
The cover even “invites” you in to check out the pages inside. The way it’s designed, it looks “sparkly.” I tried to get a good photo of the effect, but it didn’t turn out so well.
You can find these and other great National Geographic Kids books on the National Geographic website. Their URL is Kids.NationalGeographic/Books.
A lot of these book titles are also available at other retailers including Amazon.
Nat Geo Kids have been kind enough to provide all of these book titles to give away to a lucky reader.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will end on April 6, 2021. The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via email and will have three days to reply or a new winner will be chosen in their place.
To enter, please comment on this post and tell me which book sounds the most interesting to you and/or who you would give these books to if you are the winner?
For extra entries you can use the Rafflecopter widget (below).
Kimberly
*I received free copies in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way. The sponsor is providing the prize package.
Daniel M says
would be for my niece & nephew