Teachers.netPlanet Earth
BRONZE Medal WInner- 2008 Moonbeam Children's Book Award
Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself provides an engaging guide to the natural world and encourages children ages 9 and up to get their hands dirty and actively connect with the environment. It then introduces key environmental issues—wind and solar power, pollution, endangered species, global warming, and recycling—and posits potential solutions. Trivia, fun facts, and 25 captivating hands-on projects investigate ecology basics, such as the food chain, oxygen, and animal habitats, as well as ways to lessen the strain on Earth's resources by reducing human consumption and waste. Activities include building a worm composting castle, a wind-powered bubble machine, and a gardening project that illustrates the burden of overpopulation. With Planet Earth kids will learn how to respect and protect our unique planet.
- Curriculum Connections: School Library Journal "Kathleen M. Reilly's Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself presents background material and easy-to-replicate activities that focus on the basic elements of the natural world and environmental issues. "
"Could easily serve as a supplemental textbook in science and environmental classes for children...very informative and age appropriate." Recommendation: Recommended - CLEAR Library Reviews December 2008
"This award winning book by Author Kathleen Reilly is an engaging guide to the natural world. It encourages children nine and up to get their hands dirty and actively connect with the environment. It is a great introduction to key environmental issues." -Calgary child Magazine July August 2008
"Kids today are feeling very deeply the stress of the planet - they hear all the talk of Global Warming and see on TV and the internet the effects of devastating storms and earthquakes around the world. It can be scary and overwhelming for them unless we can put it into kid-sized perspective for them. This book does that, and helps them become the solution." -Hudson Library & Historical Society
"Both comprehensive and approachable, this title in the Projects You Can Build Yourself series combines explanations of science concepts and environmental issues with hands-on projects. Extensive further readings and an eye-catching design filled with drawings complete a title that while educating kids about the environment steers them past despair with the reminder that every individual action helps: "Some changes are better than none."- Gillian Enberg, Booklist, May 1, 2008
"Fostering an understanding of the interconnectivity and interdependences of all things on earth is a vital component of environmental education. Through this knowledge learners can understand the relationships between human activities and the health of the biosphere. Kathleen Reilly’s Planet Earth effectively illustrates these concepts in a user-friendly approach. This book provides young learners an accessible way to acquire the important environmental insight needed to create a sustainable world."—Edward Wilson, President & CEO, Earthwatch Institute
Books and Articles
Burton, Bob. Endangered Environments! Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1996.
Davies, Nicola. Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth. Candlewick, 2006.
Donald, Rhonda Lucas. Endangered Animals. Children's Press, 2002.
Gralla, Preston. How the Enviroment Works. Ziff-Davis Press, 1994.
Hoyt, Erich. Extinction A-Z, Enslow Publishers, 1991.
Kalman, Bobbie. What are Food Chains and Webs? Crabtree Pub. Co., 1998.
McCay, George. The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide. University of California Press, 2004.
Simon, Noel. Nature in Danger: Threatened Habitats and Species. Oxford University Press, 1995.
Simon, Seymour. Earth: Our Planet in Space. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2003.
Simon, Seymour. The Sun. HarperTrophy, 1989.
Sussman, Art. Dr. Art's Guide to Planet Earth: For Earthlings Ages 12 to 120. West Ed, 2000.
Tagliaferro, Linda. Galapagos Islands: Nature's Delicate Balance at Risk. Lerner Publications, 2001.
Thornhill, Jan. This Is My Planet: The Kids’ Guide to Global Warming. Maple Tree Press, 2007.
Environmental Organizations and Websites
Conservation International (www.conservation.org)
2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500
Arlington, VA 22202
National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org)
11100 Wildlife Center Drive
Reston, VA 20190
Nature Conservancy (www.nature.org)
Worldwide Office
The Nature Conservancy
4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22203-1606
Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org)
National Headquarters
85 Second Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
World Wide Fund for Nature (www.panda.org)
1250 24th Street NW
Washington, DC
Fun Web Sites for Kids
EPA Environmental Kids Club: http://www.epa.gov/kids/
EEK (Environmental Education for Kids): http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/eek/ National Geographic Kids: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
EcoKids (Canadian site): http://www.ecokidsonline.com/pub/index.cfm
US Dept. of Energy: http://www.eere.energy.gov/kids/games.html
Earth Matters for Kids: http://www.earthmatters4kids.org/main.html
Farah Rizvi is a graphic designer and an illustrator. She moved to the United States in 2000 and received her bachelor’s degree in graphic design with a concentration in French from Colby-Sawyer College.
The wind created by a fan will not only generate the power to turn this bubble machine on, but also blow the bubbles too.
