Even the littlest ones can help save the planet

By Luisa LaFleur, The Children’s Book Review
Published: October 7, 2009

Environmental awareness is on the rise and kids are taking notice. In school and on TV the calls to “reduce, reuse and recycle” are growing and there’s an increasingly large body of literature that purports to teach kids and parents how to save the planet.

playBac Publishing has recently published several environmentally aware books for parents and children that use stunning photographs and simple, fluid text to spark children’s creativity and imagination. One of these books, “Help Your Parents Save the Planet” lists fifty different ways to go green that are easy to understand most importantly, easy to implement. The book contains so many interesting and simple tips for going green that it can appeal to young children as well as the tween and pre-teen set. Some projects are as simple as turning off the lights while others are more difficult–such as making a rain gauge to collect rainwater for a garden. The simple and creative projects will provide hours of fun with a purpose.

Sticks, Stones, Leaves and Snow are four beautiful board books that give the reader many ideas on how to use nature for play. The books focus on showing children and parents the different ways one can pay with things like sticks and leaves, while limiting the emphasis on commercial products.

From Sticks: “Long sticks are good for fishing. Short sticks are good for splashing. The best sticks are magic wands.” The accompanying photographs have children demonstrating the text with smiling, happy faces.

From Stones: “Stones can be rocky roads, and stones can be hiding places.” The text provides ideas for imaginative play that can also help parents when we sometimes have no clue what to do next….

From Leaves: “Green leaves are a sign of summer and orange leaves mean it’s fall.” The text provides a jumping off point for explaining the sometimes difficult concepts of time and seasons. The beautiful pictures perfectly illustrate the text, providing much visual stimulation.

From Snow: “When winter comes, I can’t wait for snow.” There’s really nothing else to say. In this book, each picture is really worth 1,000 words.

Add these books to your collection: Help Your Parents Save the Planet, Sticks, Stones, Leaves and Snow.