Title: Nature Photography – A Fun Activity Guide (With Knowledge Expanding Crosswords and Word Searches)
Author: Michael Fleming
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-4907-7895-2
Pages: 92
Genre: Workbook, photography, Children’s
Reviewed by: Barbara Miller
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
Author and photographer Michael Fleming has put together a project workbook for youngsters to expand their appreciation of nature, enhance their photographic skill sets, play interesting word games all while learning. Yes, this book titled, Nature Photography – A Fun Activity Guide (With Knowledge Expanding Crosswords and Word Searches), does just that.
In this book Fleming instructs each of the readers to grab a camera and take a walk outdoors. Seeing examples of photographs such as roses, or trees, or ferns, each of the participants is asked to take his or her own pictures and place them in the corresponding blank area. Then, Fleming goes on to teach about the subject of the photograph, all the time while asking thought provoking questions for discussion. After the sequence of photographs, Fleming then provides simple testing skills such as filling out related crossword puzzles or finding hidden words in search puzzles. With this multi-media, multi-tasking, and multi-fun series of activities, all readers will find this book becoming a favorite pastime activity.
Intended for a group such as boy or girl scouts, or a lower grade class workshop, this book can also be a gift given by a parent for a birthday or holiday occasion. Presumably best done with the limited supervision of an adult, it can be taken on by children as being a goal for their own accomplishment, enabling it to become more important because of the contributions they each have placed between the book’s covers.
In this ever expanding genre of children’s books, having this type of workbook with the inclusion of photographs by young, inspiring photographers, along with the educational information doled out with the cloaking word games, makes this an interactive book of cross genre. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with the simple yet effective layout Fleming has put into his book. For those with limited attention spans, he even has a final chapter showing the answers to all of the wordsmithing puzzles – but hopefully kids will only use that as a last resort.
It’s not a coffee table photographic book of nature, but a book which will become a fun filled experience for all youngsters lucky enough to immerse themselves in this project. As most every kid has access to a camera nowadays, this book is best to be bought in the paper version, so printed photos can be cropped and inserted where suggested, crossword puzzles can be filled in and word searches can be outlined. What a wonderful project Michael Fleming has assembled and published. This reader has the feeling his first draft of this book was used for his own children and after seeing how enthusiastic they were he generously thought to bestow this fun activity book for others to share.
The perfect book to encourage kids and families to spend more time outdoors exploring nature and having fun! Nature Photography – A Fun Activity Guide is a wise investment to have for little explorers!
