One of the greatest books I have found for an introducing Science to a young child is the very simple Flip-the-Flap Body Book. This book gives you three areas of the human body to explore. You can select from any one of the book in order to explore the parts of the digestive system, the senses and the reproductive system. Each subject area is covered at a suitably basic level and is a platform for much laughter whilst answering some of those common anatomical questions.
The Digestive System
My boys found talking about their digestive system funny at first. I guess everyone has their own reasons why some provide feedback can make you giggle especially when it comes to gas trying to escape from either end of the system. The upside is that they can now also talk about it quite seriously without breaking into a giggle. This has enabled them to communicate very clearly not only the importance of food but has also been an instrumental in developing their understand of a healthy mindset and developing a dietary approach that utilises nutritious food. It also helps significantly when they have a stomach ache!
The Senses
My children also had fun exploring their senses both through the book as well as using some games we played. There is nothing like being blindfolded and being asked what something is by taste, touch, sound or smell! This section has been great for expanding the vocabulary that my children use to extend the ' this tastes good ' to include descriptions button of the taste as bitter, sour, salty or sweet as well as the texture being soft, creamy, mushy, hard, or crispy. It has complimented their skill development also in being able to describe leaves and plants in nature study, or animals that they have seen. The senses can open your children's eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands to a whole world of exploration.
The Reproductive System
However, the best part for me at the time that we read it was having a book to explain the development of the latest addition to our family without stressing about giving too much information. The book explains very clearly the different physical responses with go through from morning sickness to fatigue. It also discusses the baby's development over the nine months and some of the things that they can expect once the baby arrives. It was a great chapter that was read over and over in the final weeks. As their expectation of the baby arriving grew so did their desire to read this chapter! The only issue we have not dealt with is the fact that there is a belief that sperm can be differentiated into ' boy sperm ' and ' girl sperm ' by their color-which you will understand when you buy the book!
You can find out more about the Usborne Flip-the-Flap Body Book and view a range of activities that complement the learning from this book at [http://readplaylearn.com.au/usborne-flip-flap-body-book]. Organic Learning's Read, Play, Learn web site has been developed on the basis that ' where there is fun learning's '. The goal of the website is to equip parents and teachers to demonstrate that reading books is fun and that there are plenty of stimulating activities that can complement them. Making reading enjoyable takes 99% of the sweat out of teaching literacy.
Organic Learning is a web based community dedicated to supporting the journey of life long learners with a special focus on the home education community. You can read the blogs of home educators, find articles on home education and find a range of other resources all on http://organiclearning.com.au/.