8 joyful, powerful books that teach s.t.e.m. by osmosis

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8 joyful, powerful books that teach s.t.e.m. by osmosis

This post was first published in June 2017. It listed the fastest growing future jobs, with percentage growth predicted over the following five years (U.S.).

Crystal-balling the future is ever moving, but those predictions still seem to be pretty much on point. Which means today's kids will need to become comfortable with s.t.e.m. and s.t.e.a.m. concepts (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) as part of everyday life!

Fortunately, there's a wonderful subset of picture books to help with that. They're fun, beautiful and powerful, and they lead kids to the point of becoming s.t.e.m. and s.t.e.a.m. natives—which gives them so much advantage in interacting with the world, however it turns out for them.

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24 cool things-to-do that work your brain at any age

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24 cool things-to-do that work your brain at any age

Fun is ambiguous don’t you think?  One person’s fun is another person’s special agony (I’ve heard there are people who really enjoy cleaning the oven—never met one, just heard), but most of us find that there’s nothing quite as fun as giving our brain a workout ... here's a collection of things-to-do that work your brain at any age—with links to books to cement, inspire and connect that wonderful work.

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Beegu: a three eyed, long eared alien child reminds us to be welcoming and inclusive

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Beegu: a three eyed, long eared alien child reminds us to be welcoming and inclusive

ages 2 to 8 years
Feeling lost, unwelcome or out of place is one of childhood’s certainties. They’re feelings that will come to every child in one measure or another. Teens, of course, continue to have those feelings, and so do adults. For displaced people, regardless of age, those feelings are frequently more than an emotional reaction—they can be the cold hard facts of life. Beegu is a displaced alien child who....

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3 fabulous stories about authority

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3 fabulous stories about authority

ages 2 to 10 years
These three books are all about authority—they let us question who should have it and how it should be used. Those are important questions, as evidenced by the number of times, every day when I was working in junior kindy, that I answered the question: “Why?”.

1)  DON'T CROSS THE LINE!
2)  MY UNCLE'S DONKEY
3)  KING PIG

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5 classic Christmas stories to read aloud and linger over

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5 classic Christmas stories to read aloud and linger over

Christmas for me is all about long days, warm nights, outside play in the dark, a bath or a swim and then a chapter or two of a story read aloud to the whole family. Then there's the summer camping trip where a read-aloud book after dinner is essential! All of which means that Christmas stories full of snow and fur lined coats feel almost surreal. But we love them anyway and today's selection are good for both hemispheres.

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Tea and Sugar Christmas: a peaceful Nullabor Christmas full of delight and excitement

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Tea and Sugar Christmas: a peaceful Nullabor Christmas full of delight and excitement

ages 2 to 12 years
A perfect Australian Christmas picture book, it’s the story of Kathleen – a little girl who lives along Australia’s Nullarbor Plain – and of the Tea and Sugar Train which used to travel across the Plain each week. A charming balance to the OTT commercialism that sometimes surrounds Christmas.

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