Traveling may not be possible right now, but we found a few ways to travel without leaving home. Enjoy this reading list with places in nature to visit around the world.
Take in the wonders of nearby landforms! These titles give insight into mountains, wetlands, beaches, salt marsh, deserts, and much more. The “A Day in…” series is a wonderful introduction to some animals that call these habitats home and what you might see if you take a walk, kayak, or climb! For a broader overview of habitats found in your neighborhood, try This Land is Your Land or Habitat Spy.
Come along on a journey through the aquatic habitat of a forested wetland. Meet birds and bobcats, along with the beavers and beetles that call the soggy forest home. Kevin Kurtz continues his award-winning “A Day In” series, and once again delights readers with a rhythmic, nonfiction look into a typical day for the animals that live in this wet habitat.
Travel deep into the ocean way below the surface and you’ll encounter some creatures you never knew existed! This book takes you on a journey through the dark depths of the sea towards the ocean floor. Most ecosystems need sunlight, but deep in the ocean where the sun doesn’t shine animals have adapted some very interesting ways to see, protect themselves, and eat. Discover the unique habitats, adaptations, and food chains of these deep -sea creatures.
Come spend A Day on the Mountain, the follow up to Kevin Kurtz’s award-winning first book, A Day in the Salt Marsh. Rhyming verse and vibrant illustrations take readers up a mountain, from the forested bottom to the snow-covered top. While climbing, they witness the changing habitats and meet the plants and animals that live there. Learn about Black bears, Great Gray Owls, Garter snakes, Clark’s nutcrackers, Bighorn sheep, Hummingbirds, Yellow-bellied marmots, Mountain goats, Salamanders, and Snow fleas.
Enjoy a day in one of the most dynamic habitats on earth: the salt marsh. Fun-to-read, rhyming verse introduces readers to hourly changes in the marsh as the tide comes and goes. Watch the animals that have adapted to this ever-changing environment as they hunt for food or play in the sun, and learn how the marsh grass survives even when it is covered by saltwater twice a day. An activity on adaptations is included in the “For Creative Minds” section.
Take a trip around the world to discover a wide variety of Earth’s landforms and geological features through the rhythmic verse in This Land is Your Land. On the journey encounter plains, plateaus, and rolling hills. Find out how a stream can make a canyon or lava creates an archipelago. Read aloud and discover new terrain with the flip of each page.
Told in rhyming narrative, Habitat Spy invites children to find plants (or algae), invertebrates, birds, and mammals living in thirteen different North American habitats: backyard, beach, bog, cave, desert, forest, meadow, mountain, ocean, plains, pond, river, and swamp. Children will have fun discovering the characteristics of each habitat as they “spy,” identify, and count the resident plants and animals and learn about the interactions between living and non-living things.
Remember, you can read all these books for free right now on Arbordale’s website. Check it out here: https://www.arbordalepublishing.com/digitalbooks-permissions.htm
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