Not only is this a wonderful resource that can be used in the home or school setting, the author reminds us that it is about the process and not the product, that it is okay to make mistakes, encourage them to tinker, and give them the freedom to be innovative.
I am a big advocate of having Non Fiction books readily available for children to read. They are great learning tools that often don’t make the reader feel like they are learning because they are having so much fun, yes learning can be fun.
I am a big believer in children having the opportunity to read a variety of types of books, especially Non Fiction. When choosing books for the Smarty Arty Aussie Animals kit I knew that it was most important to have non fiction books so that children could learn facts about the animals they made. Reading Non Fiction books gives them a good knowledge base and an understanding of the animals around us.
When looking through books to add to the Aussie Animals Smarty Arty experience I found a lot of indigenous books. These books engage children in aspects of Aboriginal culture, beautiful art work and stories of Australian Animals. The library I borrowed them from had such a good variety of indigenous themed books that I found it hard to chose, but these are some which I thought would be fun to pair with the art experience.
