“It’s Summer!” by Linda Glaser - This book is about all the changes a little kid observes with the start of a new season. It’s is filled with many great summer activities, crafts, and games.

“Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping” by Peggy Parish – Amelia is excited to go camping for the first time. She tries repeatedly to help, but always gets instructions mixed up and leaves a bigger mess. This is a hilarious, classic story about one of summer’s most fun activities.

“By the Seashore” by Maurice Pledger – A cute story filled with beautiful illustrations, lift flaps, and different textures you would find at the seashore. This book introduces different aspects of the ocean world to children and makes for a fun time reading.

“Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey - A little girl named Sal, goes on an adventure; blueberry picking. No matter how many berries she picks, her bucket is still empty. At the end of the day, Sal has eaten hundreds of berries and managed to run into a mother bear and her cub. This is a cute story about growing children’s curiosity and appetite.

“Painting the Wind” by Patricia & Emily Maclachlan and Katy Schneider – A beautiful story about a young boy and his dog. All summer, he learns from the artists who visit his island.

“The Summer Solstice” by Ellen Jackson – “The Summer Solstice” is a great book for young children. It’s all about the longest day of the year, and has many different cultural customs and beliefs. This book is filled with great activities and has a little science sprinkled in.

Don’t see your favorite summer book? Leave a comment. Have fun reading this coming summer!

The Runaway Bunny presents lots of learning opportunities.

The Runaway Bunny is a book and about a young, white bunny who wants to runaway from his mother. He suggests many impossible ways that he could leave her; Becoming a boy, a rock on top of a mountain, a little sailboat, and several others. She continually insists on following and finding him. In the end the little bunny decides to stay and be her child. This is an extremely cute story with wacky illustrations and a perfect description of any mother’s love for her child. The Runaway Bunny is written by Margaret Wise Brown, and illustrated by Clement Hurd.

Ways to teach social awareness to children using The Runaway Bunny:

Parents and Family- The little bunny wishes to leave his mother, and run away. She tells him that no matter where he goes, she will follow him and bring him back home to be her boy. If you are the child’s parent, tell them what you would do if they ran away or were missing.

Strangers- It is never a good idea for a young child to go off on their own. The Runaway Bunny puts a cute twist on an important lesson that all kids should learn. Teach your child the danger of running away and talking to strangers.

Art activities you and your child can do:

The bunny imagines becoming many different things when he runs away. Have your child pretend to be one of those and draw a picture of it. Are they are flower? A sailboat? A fish?

Early Home Economics that can be learned with The Runaway Bunny:

In the end of the story, the little bunny stays with his mother and eats a carrot. Have your child help you prepare and eat some of your own carrots.

Recreational activities that you can do with The Runaway Bunny:

The mother bunny tells her boy that she will find him no matter where he goes. Play hide-and-seek with your child. Take turns being the seeker.

Green Thumbs: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening

Written by Laurie Carlson and published by Chicago Review Press, this book is over 100 pages of fun and creative gardening projects geared for children ages 4 through 8. I like that the activities cover things that can be done both indoors and outdoors.

Good Growing: A Kid’s Guide to Green Gardening by Klutz Books

The editors of Klutz books have produced another great book and activity kit with this one. Reading level ages 4-8, this book has 62 pages and includes a seed starter kit and two packets of seeds so kids can start their own vegetable gardens indoors!

A Kid’s Guide to Making a Terrarium (Gardening for Kids)

This indoor gardening book by Stephanie Bearce is published by Mitchell Lane Publishers and designed for children ages 9-12. Chapters cover what a terrarium is, how to select plants for your terrarium and more. Everything you need to know to build your own miniature garden indoors!

My Little Box of Gardening: Start-Up Kit for Kids With Green Thumbs

Not just a book, this is a full gardening kit for children ages 4-8. Part of Barron’s Educational Series, the box includes the book Let’s Get Started Gardening for 10 fun gardening projects. Then the kit also includes a gardening journal for the children to write or draw their own gardening observations, a trowel, two gardening containers, plant labels, seeds and kid’s garden gloves! What fun!

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: Gardening Together With Children

Written by Sharon Lovejoy and published by Workman Publishing Company, Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots is called one of the best gardening books for children, by more than one reader review. Over 170 pages for parents and children ages 4-8, the gorgeous illustrations are just the beginning of benefits to this book. The gardening activities presented will challenge children of all ages while making the outdoors, and nature, more accessible for young children.

Science and Nature With Zinnia’s Flower Garden

Gardening: Help your child plant their own seed, either in a pot or cup inside, or in a garden, and watch it grow. What are some of the things that all plants need? What happens when a plant gets too much or not enough water or sunlight?

Seasons: Spring is the obvious gardening season, but there are plants that grow at all different times of the year. Take a look at how plants differ from season to season. What makes spring the best time of year for growing? How is it harder for plants to grow in Summer, Autumn, or Winter?

Anatomy: Following the pictures inside the book, show your child all the parts of a plant, sprout, and flower. Although humans don’t have roots, stems, or leaves, we do have many different parts and grow just as plants do. Teach your child the words and motions to “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and see how fast you can go.

Use Zinnia’s Flower Garden to Teach Math

Zinnia has a lemonade stand and sells the flowers that she has raised over the spring. Collect spare change and lemonade or flowers and make your own stand. Practice counting money and making change with your child.

Character Building Lessons in Zinnia’s Flower Garden

Work Ethic: Zinnia plants her seeds, pulls out unwanted weeds, waters, and cares for her plants. She works hard to help her flowers grow, and in the end, has a beautiful garden. Work can be a bother at times, but is necessary. Assign your child jobs throughout the day. Keep track of their accomplishments and reward them. Find a way to make their work more fun and also affective.

Patience: Plants, just like people, grow very slowly. Teach your child the importance of patience while you wait for their seed to sprout.

Writing and Language Arts Skills to Teach from Zinnia’s Flower Garden

Every page of the book shows a journal entry from Zinnia’s garden journal. If your child is old enough to write on their own, have them keep a diary recording the changes they observe as they watch their plant grow. If they aren’t yet able to or don’t wish to write, they can draw pictures of the different stages of their plant’s growth. Its not necessary to write every day as plants don’t change noticeably within twenty-four hours. Have them check and log the progress of their plant every three to five days, or as often as they water it.

Using Zinnia’s Flower Garden to Increase Social Awareness

Every flower in Zinnia’s garden is unique, but beautiful. Children are the same. Find some of the things that make your child individual and special. Share some of your unique characteristics as well. What are some ways the two of you are alike? How about your differences? Compare with other friends and family members.

Beautiful Art Skills from Zinnia’s Flower Garden Book

Colors: Flowers come in every color. Take a walk out side and see how many different colored flowers you can find. Have your child draw some of them. Get creative and draw the craziest colored flowers you can think of.

Shapes: Every flower has a different shape to it. Some are circular and others look like hearts. Draw a circle, square, triangle, pentagon, heart, star, oval, and any other basic shape you’d like, each on a separate piece of paper. Let you child turn each shape into a different type of flower.

This whimsical and delightful children’s book is a must-have for any parent’s bookshelf. Use these story stretching ideas to make Zinnia’s Flower Garden as educational as it is fun!

Reading Books to Your Child is Educational - Photo by Aline Dassel

Parents and preschool workers should evaluate the books they read for that story’s ability to encourage other learning opportunities. Here are some evaluation tips to help you get started.

• Read through the story once – what is the main theme or concept of the book? Does that present an interesting conversation opportunity to teach the preschool child a moral or lesson?
• Look at the illustrators techniques – Are there unusual art techniques involved that a preschooler needs to learn?
• Examine the illustrations themselves carefully – Are there cultural references or interesting pictures in the illustrations? Hidden pictures? Repeating elements that a child needs to learn to recognize?
• Listen as you read the story aloud to yourself - Is there a use of rhyme or alliteration that is important for a preschooler to begin learning? Are there difficult vocabulary words to stretch a child’s understanding and introduce new words to their language skill repertoire?

Consider whether there are geography, cultural, science or other skills and lessons to be learned from the story and how you can present those concepts to your preschooler through the book. A child’s development can happen in a natural and organic way, when the growth stems from his or her favorite picture books and classic children’s stories.

So many children's books offer educational opportunities. Photo by Armin H.

Pick a book with lots of meaty learning potential and read it once a day for an entire week. Each day present a new educational concept and spend the day exploring these new ideas with your preschooler.

You’ll be amazed how much a child can learn before Kindergarten, simply and easily, as you help them analyze their favorite stories. It’s up to us as adults, to help bring that world to life for our children.