We read a lot of nonfiction books around here. The girls always have animals they want to learn more about, places they want to see on the map, and more “Why?” questions than I could ever answer! Plus, I think learning how to read for information is a really important skill that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves.
Whenever we go to the library, we pick up a few books that the girls are interested in. Lately, we’ve been bringing home a lot of children’s atlases and books about polar animals and birds. Sometimes, we grab some nonfiction books that are seasonally appropriate – I’ve been grabbing a few extra plant and insect books to get ready for spring!
Here’s a few of our favorite nonfiction series to get you started:
Scholastic First Discovery Books
A Picture Book of… (Biographies)
When
Do you read nonfiction with your preschooler or young child? What kinds of books get your kids excited to learn new things and ask questions?
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I still remember reading Zoobook magazines with my mom as a young kid, and I just realized they have magazines for toddlers too – I’ll have to check those out!
Thanks for this list of books. My kids love to read and explore.
Seymour Simon’s See More Readers and Scholastic’s Science Vocabulary Readers are a hit with my 4 year old. “Your Big Backyard” and “National Geographic for Little Kids” are great non-fiction magazines for little kids . We also pull out our Merriam-Webster Children’s Dictionary several times a week.
My almost-4-year-old enjoys all modes of transportation, so we read nonfiction books about trains, trucks, airplanes, etc. I also try to sneak in books about the weather, one of my favorite topics!
We love Gail Gibbons books! Our local library is indispensable for our family. We always come home with a mix of fairy & folk tales, nonfiction books about whatever topics the kids are currently interested in (space seems to be the favorite at the moment) or learning about in preschool, fiction, classics and kids magazines, including Babybug for my almost 1-year-old…
One important point I wanted to make about nonfiction books is that they are great for struggling or reluctant readers – those who don’t necessarily enjoy the traditional book might really take to reading if the book involves a favorite subject (such as bugs or horses or a soccer).
DK has such great non-fiction books!
I’m a little late joining this discussion, but I just came across your blog recently and am loving it! In fact I recently blogged about doing the “sink or float” activity with my kids, and I linked to you. Thanks!
Anyway, we’ve recently been reading a lot of non-fiction at our house too. My five year old is in a major question-asking phase and I’m loving it. I blogged a while back about some of our favorite non-fiction books here:
http://sparepages.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-were-reading-non-fiction-for-kids.html
Thanks for sharing your favorites – I’m going to look into them!