Sticks and Stones: A Kid's Guide to Building and Exploring in the Great Outdoors Kindle Edition

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I am a homeschool parent and I wanted a book that would be bright and colorful, clear and easy to understand. I hoped for new and different lessons about how to create useful tools, as well as things that can be done outside just for fun. This book has ALL OF THE ABOVE. I am very pleased with this purchase. My 10 year old and 4 year old are both very interested in these projects.

Okay, I am just in awe of this book. This is the real deal when it comes to using the outdoors to its fullest potential! So many ways to inspire the kids to get creative, play, build with natural materials. I will definitely be using this with my kids (especially this summer). What I really love is I can tell my children (ages 7 and 11) will both not only love the activities, but I can see them using these ideas as a springboard for even more creativity and building on their own. I also love that so many of these ideas are toys or structures that a parent or teacher might think "how fun to build this for my kiddos to play with all year long"- like the magical play fort or the log weaving loom fort, but with this book you are actually encouraging the KIDS to see the building and creating as part of the fun. High quality book, superb ideas, a keeper for sure. (I'll be snagging a few for gifts too!)

Melissa provides not only fun ways to enjoy the outdoors, but the science and engineering behind the play to take advantage of teachable moments while children explore the natural world. The ideas are simple and require use of items that are either free or that many families will already have. Her descriptions are clear and easy to follow, enhanced by beautiful photographs that make it easy to understand the suggested projects. Even better, she provides suggestions for how to take each idea a little further, which will be appreciated by parents whose children are especially enjoying any of the outdoor adventures described in this book. With the summer coming fast, this would be a welcome source of ideas for parents who want ideas to entice their kids outside and away from their televisions, cell phones or computer screens! I am getting this as a gift for a friend who has an adventurous toddler. This is a source of great ideas for this summer and is full of suggestions that her child will continue to enjoy for years to come!

Our family loved the creative ideas and ease of implementing them! Loved the format, the colorful pictures, and instructions. My eleven year old went through and found several things we are going to be doing this summer, off the electronics! I bought another copy for my son’s school even!

As I type this my daughter 9yrs old and her little brother 4yrs old are outside making things from ideas out of this book. The neat thing is, you can go off of every detail per project or take that project and make your own similar with a bit of creativity. I highly recommend this book.

This is such a great book - in this day and age of electronic fun, it is so refreshing to find a book that celebrates the outdoors!! I ordered this book as soon as I saw it, and my kids have been asking to go to the park every day since. There are fun activities through this whole book, many that kids can do on their own. The pictures are amazing, and step by step instructions make it so easy. I have already ordered more as birthday gifts for my nieces and nephews!

If I'd seen more of the interior, I would not have bought it. My intended audience was a 4-1/2 yo boy with a big backyard. These were not activities for him and seemed very location dependent - e.g. putting stones across a creek to walk across. There were good ideas in here, but, overall, not what I had hoped for. The photography was very nice, though.

I bought this book for my 8 year old grandchildren and there are so many great outdoor projects in this book! A lean-to, a teepee, a bridge...so great for the imagination and fun of exploring outdoors. All they need are lots of backyard sticks and twine and time. Probably all pretty abundant right now as parents are looking for activities for their kids. I highly recommend this book.

This is another good little reference book although it would benefit from more concise instructions. For example, one of the knot tying pages could have been broken down in to step by step instructions with step by step pictures for people who are less confident with knots. It is one of those books which has lovely inspiring photos and not so much in the way of clear or step by step instructions hence it makes for a good reference book. Some of the ideas you might want to look up on the internet to clarify how to do them if you struggle with the limited instructions and can't tell from the pictures, how to do them.

The projects in the book are very doable and usually don't require much other than the sticks and stones themselves. The pictures really sparked my son's interest, and we've had some great times making things from the book. Really useful source of ideas for outdoor play, creativity and mindfulness.

Great book for outdoor activities to do with children of all (primary) ages

The cover, the size of the book make it so easy to carry on nature trails and parks. Creative ideas that bring joy to everyone.

Some amazing ideas for both outdoor and indoor activities.