Evan-Moor Smart Start STEM Grade Pre-K Activity Book Hands-on STEM Activities and Critical Thinking

My 4 year old LOVES this. He hasn't been into workbooks lately, but he loves this one, mostly for the experiment part. I like that the experiments are scientific concepts I want my kid to learn and that they are directed enough to tell me what to do, but gives very broad choice in what you can make the experiment out of and none of them so far has said to use anything I don't have. This is a first for me, because I have like 4 other books of toddler projects to do with common household items and I never have ANY of the useless junk the other books want, but this book just says find something you can build a ramp out of and lists a half dozen ideas. My kid has blocks, so we made a ramp out of blocks. He has cars. Car went down ramp. At first I wasn't sure my kid was getting anything out of this, because I was the one building the ramp and putting the car down it. Then my kid repeated this on his own for like 3 days.

I have loved using this book with my preschooler and she gets so excited to do an experiment as well. It is filled with doable and easy to grasp lessons and activities that give them the opportunity to understand bigger concepts and use the vocabulary they learned while discussing their experiment. I love that these projects use things I can find in my own home and don’t have to go shopping. Some of the units we have tried and enjoyed so far were landforms, where they construct a mountain and valley from clay and make measurements, rocks, needs of living things and air is everywhere, where she built a maze for a cotton ball to travel through using her breath. I am an elementary school teacher and I think this is a great way to get young children excited about science.

Our 3.5 year old has had a blast with this book. The projects are too advanced for them to complete on their own, but this is fun to do along with them. We like that the text and images are large and the pages are uncluttered. It helps keep the child's attention. Only wish the book was a little longer, as it won't take long to complete all the pages/projects (and for the most part, it's one-time use since you end up drawing/coloring on the various pages).

I ordered 3 books with the buy 2 get 1 free promotion. But 2 out of 3 have a little damages on the cover (this book is one of them). It seem like the book was not brand new. I am not happy for this purchase. My daughter was happy for her new books though.

This is a great book to allow children to think and not just fill in information. I like the hands-on challenges, which allow children opportunities to do things their way and show what they can do. If you're teaching more than one child, it will allow them to see there is often more than one way to achieve a common goal.