Little Learning Labs: Unofficial Minecraft for Kids--an abridged edition of Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids--offers a variety of creative exercises that explore the game through fun, educational lessons. Activities selected from an Amazon Best Kids’ Books of 2016 pick! Balancing your child's screen time can be difficult, especially when it comes to wildly popular, open-ended video games like Minecraft. Minecraft offers players an environment focused on exploration, imagination, and creation, but its nonlinear game structure can mean spending a lot of time in the game. You will start the book by brushing up on some common Minecraft terminology and examining the two main modes of game play: creative and survival. You’ll then use this knowledge to venture off onto the six different quests that combine out-of-game and in-game activities and encourage child and adult participation. You'll even learn how to screencast and narrate your own videos to share with family and friends. Little Learning Labs: Unofficial Minecraft for Kids provides fun, educational gaming goals that you and your child can reach together!

Dig in and learn about the Earth under your feet. Little Learning Labs: Geology for Kids features 26 simple, inexpensive, and fun experiments that explore the Earth’s surface, structure, and processes. This family-friendly guide explores the wonders of geology, such as the formation of crystals and fossils, the layers of the Earth’s crust, and how water shapes mountains, valleys, and canyons. There is no excuse for boredom with these captivating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) activities. In this book, you will learn: How to identify the most common rocks and minerals How to maintain and display your rock collection How insects are trapped and preserved in amber How geysers and volcanoes form and erupt How layers of rock reveal a record of time How to pan for gold like a real prospector Geology is an exciting science that helps us understand the world we live in, and Little Learning Labs: Geology for Kids actively engages readers in simple, creative activities that reveal the larger world at work. The popular Little Learning Labs series (based on the larger format Lab for Kids series) features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, geology, math, and even bugs—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Little Learning Labs.

Packed with 26 fun and colorful exercises geared toward 3- to 6-year-olds, this book offers parents and teachers an outstanding source of creative art activities to inspire and enrich this wide-eyed and open-hearted age group. Activities are organized by medium and designed to encourage self-expression. Each Lab also features the work of a prominent artist for inspiration. Gorgeous photography shows different results from different people using the same lesson, exemplifying the way the lesson brings out each artist’s personal style. Have fun: drawing with food coloring–tinted ice cubes. painting using a spray bottle and tempera paints. printmaking using balloons, lace, and potatoes to place ink. sculpting with tinfoil, cups, and papier-mâché. creating mixed media art with magazines, oil pastels, and wallpaper samples. Targeting one of the most critical developmental periods for children, Little Learning Labs: Art for Little Kids is the perfect book for both parents and teachers who are seeking enriching and unique experiences to offer this age group. This inspirational book stands out as a unique reference for creating fine art with children through finding the student’s own voice, marks, and style and with playful lessons that result in significant skill building. The popular Little Learning Labs series (based on the larger format Lab for Kids series) features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, geology, math, and even bugs—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Little Learning Labs. Explore a fun and inspiring collection of wonderful art activities for the preschool set!

In Math Art and Drawing Games for Kids, you’ll find an amazing collection of more than 40 hands-on art activities that make learning about math fun! Make Art + Learn Math Concepts = Become a Math Genius! Create fine art-inspired projects using math, including M. C. Escher’s tessellations, Wassily Kandinski’s abstractions, and Alexander Calder’s mobiles. Make pixel art using graph paper, grids, and dot grids. Explore projects that teach symmetry with mandala drawings, stained glass rose window art, and more. Use equations, counting, addition, and multiplication to create Fibonacci and golden rectangle art. Play with geometric shapes like spirals, hexagrams, and tetrahedrons. Learn about patterns and motifs used by cultures from all over the world, including Native American porcupine quill art, African Kente prints, and labyrinths from ancient Crete. Cook up some delicious math by making cookie tangrams, waffle fractions, and bread art. Take a creative path to mastering math with Math Art and Drawing Games for Kids!

Replicate a chemical reaction similar to one Marie Curie used to purify radioactive elements! Distill perfume using a method created in ancient Mesopotamia by a woman named Tapputi! Aspiring chemists will discover these and more amazing role models and memorable experiments in Chemistry for Kids. This engaging guide offers a series of snapshots of 25 scientists famous for their work with chemistry, from ancient history through today. Each lab tells the story of a scientist along with some background about the importance of their work, and a description of where it is still being used or reflected in today’s world. A step-by-step illustrated experiment paired with each story offers kids a hands-on opportunity for exploring concepts the scientists pursued, or are working on today. Experiments range from very simple projects using materials you probably already have on hand, to more complicated ones that may require a few inexpensive items you can purchase online. Just a few of the incredible people and scientific concepts you'll explore: Galan b. 129 AD Make soap from soap base, oil and citrus peels. Modern application: medical disinfectants Joseph Priestly b. 1733 Carbonate a beverage using CO2 from yeast or baking soda and vinegar mixture. Modern application: soda fountains Alessandra Volta b. 1745 Make a battery using a series of lemons and use it to light a LED. Modern application: car battery Tu Youyou b. 1930 Extract compounds from plants. Modern application: pharmaceuticals and cosmetics People have been tinkering with chemistry for thousands of years. Whether out of curiosity or by necessity, Homo sapiens have long loved to play with fire: mixing and boiling concoctions to see what interesting, beautiful, and useful amalgamations they could create. Early humans ground pigments to create durable paint for cave walls, and over the next 70 thousand years or so as civilizations took hold around the globe, people learned to make better medicines and discovered how to extract, mix, and smelt metals for cooking vessels, weapons, and jewelry. Early chemists distilled perfume, made soap, and perfected natural inks and dyes. Modern chemistry was born around 250 years ago, when measurement, mathematics, and the scientific method were officially applied to experimentation. In 1896, after the first draft of the periodic table was published, scientists rushed to fill in the blanks. The elemental discoveries that followed gave scientists the tools to visualize the building blocks of matter for the first time in history, and they proceeded to deconstruct the atom. Since then, discovery has accelerated at an unprecedented rate. At times, modern chemistry and its creations have caused heartbreaking, unthinkable harm, but more often than not, it makes our lives better. With this fascinating, hands-on exploration of the history of chemistry, inspire the next generation of great scientists.

Professor Figgy’s Weather and Climate Science Lab for Kids provides 52 exciting projects and educational activities, both inside and outside the home, to explore the fascinating, ever-changing, and universal subject of weather. As champion of educational fun Jim Noonan (aka Professor Figgy) guides you through the topics of weather and climate through fun and easy activities, he also teaches the importance of affecting change in the world, through the lens of our climate’s uncertain future. With a foreword by DIY trailblazer Martha Stewart, this comprehensive, hands-on weather and climate learning resource collects captivating activities covering subjects such as: The Atmosphere Sun & Clouds Wind & Rain Severe Weather Pollution & Climate Change Each experiment includes: Easy-to-find Tools & Materials Safety Tips & Tricks Step-by-step How-To Instructions The Science Behind the Fun And, a bit of a trivia—featuring people of interest, historical events, and facts and figures that ground the ideas in the real world and diversify the learning experience The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

Dig in and learn about the Earth under your feet. Geology Lab for Kids features 52 simple, inexpensive, and fun experiments that explore the Earth’s surface, structure, and processes. This family-friendly guide explores the wonders of geology, such as the formation of crystals and fossils, the layers of the Earth’s crust, and how water shapes mountains, valleys, and canyons. There is no excuse for boredom with a year’s worth of captivating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) activities. In this book, you will learn: How to identify the most common rocks and minerals How to maintain and display your rock collection How insects are trapped and preserved in amber How geysers and volcanoes form and erupt How layers of rock reveal a record of time How to pan for gold like a real prospector Geology is an exciting science that helps us understand the world we live in, and Geology Lab for Kids actively engages readers in simple, creative activities that reveal the larger world at work. The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, bugs, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

Produced in association with the National Audubon Society, Audubon Birding Adventures for Kids introduces you and your children to the love of all things birding. Whether exploring the forest, the backyard, or the city, you and your kids will learn about the habits of North America’s most popular songbirds, how to create safe and welcoming environments for them, how to observe them, and how to construct easy and safe species-appropriate birdhouses and feeders for common birds. The bird ID section includes descriptions of species and range maps. Kids will find exciting activities and games, as well, including how to form birding groups, scavenger hunts, and a birdsong listening game. In addition to practical, field-tested knowledge and fascinating information about the species covered, this guide is packed with beautiful color photography. Since all the information presented is the product of years of National Audubon Society expertise, both you and your kids can be sure you're getting the best advice before setting about your birding adventures.

Explore famous scientific discoveries through humorous comic strips - then have a go at copying the science experiments for yourself!

The Video Games Textbook takes the history of video games to another level, with visually-stimulating, comprehensive, and chronological chapters that are relevant and easy to read for a variety of students. Every chapter is a journey into a different era or area of gaming, where readers emerge with a strong sense of how video games evolved, why they succeeded or failed, and the impact they had on the industry and human culture. Written to capture the attention and interest of both domestic and international college students, each chapter contains a list of objectives and key terms, illustrative timelines, arcade summaries, images and technical specifications of all major consoles. Key Features Explores the history of video games, including the social, political, and economic motivations Facilitates learning of material with illustrative timelines, arcade summaries and images Highlights the technical specifications of all major consoles Illustrates the breakthroughs and trends of the gaming market