My Body

Do you help young children develop science concepts by setting out information or by encouraging practical work and experiments? This book, recommended for about age three years and upwards, does both: it explains stages in sixteen hands-on experiments and provides background information and interesting facts under large, user friendly fold-out flaps. It covers the usual Body Book topics, including ‘What’s inside me?’, ‘Heart beat’, ‘Breathing’ and there are sections on the five senses.  Each topic is organised into a double page spread and involves a carefully thought out experiment or activity so that children are put in the role of young scientists.  For example ‘Body detective’ shows how to draw your own body outline and then cut out the main organ shapes in coloured card to stick on, making a poster.  Other experiments are more demanding, for example the simulation of lung function using plastic tubing and a bottle. The written text is conversational and speaks directly to the young learner, but the correct terminology is used. The visual aspects – the many fine photographs and the clear diagrams – give the book a modern look. Children at the younger end of the book’s intended age range will need considerable adult input in gathering the items needed for each experiment, working through the stages and responding to the results. For me, there are two ways in which the book could be improved. A simple contents page would help young readers and the sharing adult see the scope of the book quickly. And we might reasonably have expected something on the working of the bowel and kidneys. Nevertheless this is a lively and interesting book which stands up well amongst the huge number of existing books on this topic.