Time for Kids: Amazing Fact and Puzzle Book
During our latest visit to Five Below (which has some cool finds, even if the music is horrendously annoying; we hear “Call Me Maybe” every time we go), I ran across a book that I had to purchase for my daughter. It was two bucks, and it’s called Time for Kids: The Amazing Face and Puzzle Book with More Than 200 Amazing Facts. Considering that I got it new and it’s going for $10 retail, I think I got a fairly decent bargain.
The book is only 80 pages, but don’t let that fool you. It is chock full of not just awesome and amazing facts about animals and the world—from sports to politics to music and everything in between—but also fun activities to do. They are slightly past my daughter’s age, which is fine; she can grow into them.
This book is like a current events primer, discussing everything from melting polar ice caps to President Obama. Various climates and places of the world are also included, which I love; my daughter absolutely loves the idea of travel, and though we haven’t been able to really take her anywhere far away just yet, we like to travel by book as often as we can.
Flipping through the book together last night, we ran across some absolutely amazing facts (see, the title doesn’t lie!). For example, did you know that wombats can build a hole faster than a human using a shovel? That might not sound amazing, but have you ever seen the size of a wombat? It’s sort of incredible to think about. And there is a squid called the vampire squid because it has long fangs in front of its face. I thought the fish in Finding Nemo were weird! (Actually, the viperfish, the scariest fish in Pixar’s film, is included in this book as well.)
For those interested in the educational aspect, in addition to all of the reading, there are plenty of word games, music notations, maps, and other fun activities to mull over. Weeks of lessons could be designed from just this book alone.
We checked out the National Geographic Kids 2012 Almanac as well, and I must say that I like that book much better. However, this Time book is still a lot of fun and very enlightening when it comes to our world and our current events today. I would recommend it for any home or classroom.