Recommended Reads

Introduce little ones to the great outdoors with this beautifully illustrated treasury exploring the wonders of nature in four glorious seasons.

Fatima Khazi is excited for the weekend. Her family is headed to a local state park for their first camping trip! The school week might not have gone as planned, but outdoors, Fatima can achieve anything. She sets up a tent with her father, builds a fire with her mother, and survives an eight-legged mutant spider (a daddy longlegs with an impressive shadow) with her sister. At the end of an adventurous day, the family snuggles inside one big tent, serenaded by the sounds of the forest. The thought of leaving the magic of the outdoors tugs at Fatima's heart, but her sister reminds her that they can keep the memory alive through stories--and they can always daydream about what their next camping trip will look like.

This photo-illustrated book for elementary students describes hikes from a simple nature walk to a miles-long trek across rough terrain. Includes information on safety and equipment needed. The Q&A features throughout promote reader inquiry and critical thinking. Includes glossary, further resources, and index.

When two curious kids embark on a "wonder walk," they let their imaginations soar as they look at the world in a whole new light. They have thought-provoking questions for everything they see: Is the sun the world's light bulb? Is dirt the world's skin? Are rivers the earth's veins? Is the wind the world breathing? I wonder . . . Young readers will wonder too, as they ponder these gorgeous pages and make all kinds of new connections. What a wonderful world indeed!

Join the global movement and challenge your family to match screen time with outdoor time—with hundreds of fun, fresh-air ideas.

Did you know that the average American child spends 1,200 hours a year in front of a screen? And that outside play can boost children in every area of development? This book has everything you need to reset the balance and swap screen time for outdoor fun!

Challenge your family to spend 1,000 hours outside this year with this collection of games, crafts, and activities, organized by season to help you find something you can do every day. Play leaf pile games, take a hot chocolate hike, make corn husk dolls, go on an animal home hunt, and much more with hundreds of ideas for all ages, abilities, and family types.

No matter how busy you are, this book gives you all the ideas, photos, activity instructions, and inspiration you need to get outdoors with your family all year round.

Learn how a seed becomes a tree with Eric Carle's classic artwork and The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

In this nonfiction story, young readers explore the transformation of a seed into a tree. The miracles of nature come to life in this early-learning series centered around life cycles, featuring simple text and Eric Carle's classic illustrations!

Celebrate diversity, imagination, and friendship with this spirited celebration of playtime around the globe. What games do children in other countries play? What are their favorite toys? How do they have fun? Colorful photographs and joyful text highlight the differences and similarities of this universal childhood experience.

Open your senses to a world of wonder by taking a walk along the beach!

Set off on an adventure and find natural treasures, from spiraled seashells to discarded mermaid's purses. Then learn more about the marine plants and creatures in this fact-filled guide to the outdoors.

Sisters Abby, Emma, and Ollie have gone from being best friends forever to mortal enemies.
Thanks to their months-long feud, they are sent to Camp Unplugged, a girls’ camp deep in the heart of the Idaho mountains where they will go “back to nature”—which means no cell phones, no internet, and no communicating with the outside world. For two whole weeks. During that time, they had better learn to get along again, their parents tell them. Or else.

The sisters don’t see any way they can ever forgive each other for what they’ve done, no matter how many hikes and campfire songs they’re forced to participate in. But then disaster strikes, and they find themselves lost and alone in the wilderness. They will have to outrun a raging wildfire, make it through a turbulent river, escape bears and mountain lions and ticks. They don’t have training, or food, or enough supplies. All they have is each other.

And maybe, just maybe, it will be enough to survive.

The trappings of childhood change from generation to generation, but there are some timeless activities that every kid loves. Celebrate these universal types of play, from organized games such as hide-and-seek and hopscotch to imaginative play such as making mud soup or turning a stick into a magic wand. Lyrical poems and bold illustrations capture the energy of a group of children in one neighborhood as they amuse themselves over the course of a summer day. 

"Dr. Ruth Wilson explores the great potential of connecting young children with special needs to the natural world. Drawing on her knowledge of research and her decades of work with children in nature, she weaves together advice, real-life examples, and testimonies from educators and families on the healing, nurturing power of nature in the lives of young children with diverse abilities"-

The Hike is a plucky and sweet adventure story about three intrepid young female explorers set out to conquer the outdoors intheir local forest.

Here is the best and worst of any hike: from picnics to puffing and panting, deer-sighting to detours.

The Hike is about how fun it can be to explore nature in your own backyard.

This photo-illustrated book for elementary students describes where to camp and ways to have fun. Includes information on tents, RVs or motorhomes, avoiding wild animals, and campfire safety. The Q&A features throughout promote reader inquiry and critical thinking. Includes glossary, further resources, and index.

Brother and sister soon leave their garden behind, venturing through breathtaking landscapes, crossing deserts, climbing mountains, sailing the seas, and exploring jungles. Along the way, they encounter animals from black bears and scorpions to barracudas and orangutans, and many that are endangered or nearly extinct.

Blending storytelling, adventure, and information, Play Outside! highlights the beauty and fragility of the natural world and celebrates our human connection to it. Readers can search for more than 250 animal species hidden in the art, each one featured in an illustrated index that shows where in the world they can be found and highlights their level of vulnerability to extinction.

This delightful book embodies the magic of gardening and encourages all readers, from those who LOVE the outdoors to those with hesitation, to interact with nature at their own, comfortable pace.