Book Review: Nature School: Planet Earth

April 3, 2025 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Learning about the Earth, its place in the universe, what its made of and the creatures that live on it are all a part of understanding our place in the world and why the planet needs protection. Nature School: Planet Earth by Lauren Giordano, Stephanie Hathaway and Laura Stroup aims to inspire kids to learn about the world and explore and observe things around them.

The book starts with a wide view of the universe and solar system and where Earth fits in it. Each chapter zooms in closer, with information about the composition of the Earth, the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, aka life on Earth.

The chapters include short sections, fun facts and illustrations to keep kids engaged. Each chapter also includes activities kids can do, some of which involve writing in a nature journal and others that are more hands on. For example the solar system chapter asks kids to research a planet, build a solar system model and try sun printing, among other activities.

The book covers a lot of ground quickly. For example the chapter on the composition of the Earth goes over things like the Earth’s core, different kinds of soil, tectonic plates and how mountains are formed, geological characteristics and topography, different landforms and more, in the span of just a few pages.

Students around ages 6-12 should enjoy learning all about the Earth with this fun and colorful book, exploring the activities and engaging in their own investigations in the world around them. This book could supplement homeschool science learning materials or be used in the science center or library of the classroom as a reference book. Teachers could also pull activities from the book when learning about these topics in their regular science curriculum.

In addition to this book there is a companion workbook with more than 100 different activities and includes readings, puzzles, games and touches on art, reading, geography, science and more.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback. Published 2025 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $19.99

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Ghost Craft Ideas for Kids

Ghost crafts are a lot of fun for kids to make and they’re a way to get into Halloween crafting that’s not really scary. Here are some easy ghost crafts for you to make with kids, whether it’s your kiddo at home or a class full.

I love this simple ghost made with a pompom or cotton ball covered in paint and used as a stamp. This one is from Crafts on Sea and you can have kids just hold the pompom or hold it with a clothespin to make it a little less messy.

Use cotton balls and printable facial expressions to make these silly ghosts from Housing a Forest. The post includes the printable templates or you can just add googly eyes.

Little fabric ghosts are a classic, whether you make them with white fabric or fall or Halloween fabric. Buggy and Buddy shows you how to make these little ghosts with a few cute embellishments. Just make one or two or make a garland or Halloween tree full of them.

There always seem to be paper plates lying around, and this paper plate ghost from Crafts by Amanda is a fun one. There’s a printable in the post for the facial features and arms, or kids can draw their own faces (and leave off the arms if you want to keep it simple).

What kid doesn’t love peeling dried glue? Turn that impulse into a craft with these glue ghosts from Friends Art Lab, and don’t miss the tip in the post that helps you turn these into window clings.

This handprint ghost in the window craft from Glued to My Crafts is so cute and easy for kids to make alone or with help. The post shows lots of variations so it would be fun to make these in a classroom and let each kiddo design their own “window” or add embellishments.

These sweet little tissue paper ghosts from Red Ted Art are actually mini pinatas, but you can just make it as a ghost without anything inside if you’d rather.

And you know I love a good kids’ sewing project so I can’t resist sharing these little felt ghost puppets from The Craft Train. Kids can sew them by hand or you can make them out of paper if you don’t want to try sewing them. The template for the ghosts is free to download, and you can also just make little softies instead of puppets if you like.

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