Activity idea books -- recommended reading

Here are some great books and mail order catalogs we unearthed while writing and developing our Preschool Power activity videos series.

Arts & crafts

Painting with Children, Brunhild Muller

This is a Waldorf-oriented activity book that has some marvelous ideas on getting young children interested in color and painting. She teaches an interesting technique using wet paper that makes the paint blur beautifully. It’s fun, easy and it works. The book also has lots of good tips on types of paint and brushes to look for, etc.

Scribble Cookies, Maryann F. Kohl

We like this book a lot. It has all kinds of ideas for letting children work in different mediums. Tons of recipes for making your own clay, too—including some that a child can make himself as no heating is involved.

Hands Around the World, Susan Milord

An interesting book filled with ideas for exploring other cultures through there crafts. Lots of good ideas here some of which we’ve already used in Preschool Power! shows.

Easy Wood Stuff for Kids, David Thompson

Good ideas for teaching simple woodworking at home including lots of safety tips

Build it with Boxes, Joan Irvine

We haven’t used anything from this book yet but we're planning to add a regular segment on the theme of "Cheap Toys" kids can make and use and this book looks like it will be worth some good ideas. Maybe you’ll find something good in here as well.

Doing Art Together, Muriel Silverstein-Storfer

Here again, we’ve yet to get around to using any ideas from this book, put out by the educator in charge of the Metropolitan Musuem of Art’s children’s program. But it looks like a goodie. Enjoy.

Cooking activities

Of course, you don’t need a special children’s cookbook to figure out recipes that will be safe and easy for young children. But if you’re looking for good ideas and want to save some time, these will lighten your load

Cook and Learn, Beverly Veitch and Thelma Harms

Lots of good pictures so even children who can't read yet can follow along as they cook.

Cup Cooking, Barbara Johnson and Betty Plemons

Good ideas for making single portion snacks—just the right size for a toddler’s tummy—and easy enough for him to make on his own with a little coaching ahead of time from you

Brown Bag Cookbook, Sara Sloan

Healthy nutritious ideas for what to put in the lunchbox. And a lot of them can be made by your preschooler!

Small World Cookbook, Montessori Teacher’s Association of Pennsylvania

The Montessori teachers often make teaching about world culture an integral part of their curriculum--which is a great idea, we think. There’s a strong emphasis on geography both in the preschool and elementary, for example. This book, filled with delicious-looking recipes from around the world, offers ideas for introducing preschoolers and older kids to other cultures via their stomachs.

Sugar-Free Toddlers, Susan Watson

More healthy, nutritious ideas that can be adapted to be put together by little hands.

Show Me How I Can Cook, Sara Maxwell

A large, glossy book with huge, lovely pictures.

Exploring nature and the environment

Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children,
Carol Petrash

Arts and craft ideas using the world around us. Lots of good and inexpensive ideas for working with an appreciating nature.

Kid’s Nature Book, Susan Milord

Many ideas—arts and crafts, science exploration, etc.—categorized by season.

Fifty Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, Susan Milord

There are some ideas here on how even the littlest kids can get involved

General toddler & preschooler activity idea books

Extraordinary Play with Ordinary Things, Barbara Sher

We haven’t had a chance to do more than thumb through this yummy-looking book whose focus is taking everyday items from around the home and making them into fun games and toys. Looks good, however.

Things to Do with Toddlers and Twos and More Things to Do with Toddlers and Twos, Karen Miller

Good ideas for the very youngest set.

Entertaining and Educating Your Preschool Child, (Usborne) Robyn Gee and Sue Meredith

Another good place to look for idea activities.

The Outdoor Learn and Play Book, Karen Miller

The title says it all. Another excellent resource for all sorts of activity ideas.

Mail-order catalogs

If you have preschoolers at home or in your charge, you’re undoubtedly familiar with most of the big mail order catalogs specializing in children’s products. Here are a couple that you may not have come across. If you’re interested in trying out some of the activities outlined elsewhere in this material and demonstrated in Preschool Power! programs, we think you’ll really find it worth your while to have these companies add you to their mailing list.

Montessori Services 1-800-483-9822 (free fax) Tel. (707) 579-3003;836 Cleveland Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95401

This catalog has most of the scaled down tools your child will love-–and at very reasonable prices. They also sell big and little trays that are so handy for setting up activities and a host of other mostly inexpensive items that may interest you. Highly recommended.

Michael Olaf’s Essential Montessori (707) 826-1557 Fax (707) 826-2243 P.O. 1162 Arcata, CA 95521

This is also a wonderful catalog. In addition to carrying all the scaled down tools like small brooms, mops, pails, crumb catchers, dish racks, etc. they’ve got some great books for sale. In addition there’s a lot of interesting little articles interspersed throughout. The catalog is divided up into sections beginning with birth to one year and going on up through elementary school so it’s quite easy to find books, tools and activities that would be most appropriate for your child. And they charge you $5 for your first catalog, the price of which is taken off your first purchase. It’s a fat catalog full of a great deal of interesting and useful information. In our opinion, it’s well worth the 2 bucks.

Hearth Song 1-800-325-2502

Most of you are probably familiar with this Waldorf-oriented catalog as they do a lot of mailings. They’re a little pricey but not nearly as bad as many we’ve seen. And their stuff is so lovely and unique. We used their colored block domino set for our domino demonstration sequence in Preschool Power! We also found Painting with Children here (listed under Arts and Crafts books above).

Chinaberry Books

If you don’t happen to be on the mailing list for this catalog, I recommend you call them and have them send you a catalog. They’ve got excellent taste in the books they carry and it’s nice and fat with in-depth reviews of every book they sell.

Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Nontoxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping, Annie Berthold-Bond

We just love this book because we do so many housework demonstrations in Preschool Power! tv programs and videos. One of our writers tried out the vinegar and olive oil furniture polish we used in Preschool Power! and now swears she’ll never use anything else on her own furniture! There are totally safe recipes for cleaning and polishing everything from silver to shoes to kitchen sinks. Great for kids who want to help around the house. And great for us big guys, too!!

Who Says a Dog Goes Bow-Wow, Hank DeZutter

We love the idea of this book—it tells the sounds people make for animals in different languages. For instance, a cat goes Nyan-Nyan in Japan instead of Meow. A turkey goes Ader-Ader in Hebrew! A good way to build awareness of cultural diversity and at the same time have fun. We plan to use some of these in the next series of programs we produce.

The Biggest Tongue-Twister Book in the World, Gyles Brandreth

We use a lot of tongue-twisters in our programs. Preschoolers get as much of a kick out of them as do adults. Obviously, don’t pick long ones that are difficult to remember. "Toy Boats" is our all time favorite with "A pack of pesky pixies" running a close second.

Montessori-related

Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years, Elizabeth G. Hainstock

A really good and useful resource for parents who want to use Montessori methods at home with their children. Clear and easy to understand plus it has lots of ideas for making classroom materials inexpensively yourself. Highly recommended!

Montessori Play and Learn, Lesley Britton

We haven’t had a chance to use this book yet. But it looks to have tons of good ideas on how to get young children involved in good learning and working activities at home. Expert preschool Mom, Phan MacLennan e-mailed us the following comment about this book: "Montessori Play and Learn is really fabulous. While we do not subscribe wholeheartedly to the montessori principle, there are so many aspects of this educational option that are wonderfully useful, even to those of us teaching our children at home. This book was what first got me interested in these methods."

The Montessori Method, Maria Montessori

Dry reading for some. But if you want to know more about this truly revolutionary educator who developed her ideas working among Italy’s slum children this is as good a place to start as any. Interestingly, the poor children for whom she started her first school had been classified as retarded—or close to it. But after a few years in her innovative new school, all or most went on to hold their own in the mainstream school system. Quite a remarkable and inspiring true story!

Parents Are Teachers Too: Enriching Your Child's First Six Years, Claudia Jones

An excellent resource for working with your tyke at home.

Movement activity

Co-Op Games Manual, Jim Deacove

A lot of charming and really fun non-competitive games for groups of children. Many work for preschoolers.

Hand Shadows, Henry Bursill (Dover Reprint)

Hand shadows are fun for everyone—preschoolers included. Check your local library. Our local library had several books on handshadows that were also excellent.

Step By Step, Sheila Kogan

This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in teaching movement to children! Although the focus is more on slightly older children, Kogan has many special tips for working with the very youngest kids. This book has been an immense help to our children’s director in "training" our preschool stars to demonstrate movements like shaking, swinging, twisting and jumping.

Science activity books for preschoolers

Bubbles, Rainbows, and Worms, Sam Ed Brown

This is one of our favorites. We’ve found a lot of ideas for science activities here that we were able to use in Preschool Power! tv programs and videos.

Mudpies to Magnets and More Mudpies to Magnets, Williams, Rockwell, and Sherwood

These are great! Try ‘em. You’ll like ‘em.

Everybody Has a Body, Science from Head to Toe, Rockwell, Williams, and Sherwood

By the same authors who did the "Mudpies" series and full of more good stuff to try with your preschoolers

Doctor Zed's Science Surprises and More Science Surprises from Dr. Zed, Gordon Penrose

These books have great pictures that make it easy to set up experiments for your preschoolers

Science Secrets, Robyn Supraner

More good ideas for exploring science with preschoolers

Science Surprises, Gaby Waters (Usborne)

A lot of these experiments are for elementary school children but there are also some good ideas that you can adapt for the preschool set.

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