This is an advertorial.  Books are a great tool for supporting children's learning and development beyond just their ability to...

Supporting Children's Learning with STEAM Books

Wednesday, May 01, 2019 BookBairn 2 Comments


This is an advertorial. 

Books are a great tool for supporting children's learning and development beyond just their ability to read and their literacy skills. They are also wonderful for teaching children lots of new and fascinating facts such as historical events, about the world around us, people of historical significance, flora and fauna and all sorts of interesting things. If you are a regular reader you will know that I also believe that books are also great for building the blocks of self-esteem, mindfulness and empathy. But when I was browsing the great selection of books over on The Book People's website as I often do when their latest catalogue drops through the door, I noticed that they have an interesting selection of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering. Art and Maths) based book sets and when the opportunity to collaborate on a blog post with them came up I thought it would be a great opportunity to try them out. And we have! Here's what we thought...



This series takes a fun, first look at maths in the environment around us by using photographs objects and that children are familiar with and can relate to it really brings to life mathematical concepts in a way that children can understand. Each book takes a different maths concept and simplifies it down, whilst also using correct vocabulary that children will hear in the classroom, and encourage them to count objects, or sort them based on a variety of criteria or measure them. I love the simple layout of these books which are not text-heavy at all and are written in a language that little ones will be able to gras easily. I also love that the books have a word-bank at the end to reinforce some of that key vocabulary that they will hear in school. And the bright photographs are lots of fun. These are perfect for children in preschool up to primary two to help them building maths skills.




These simple stories follow children as they use their STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and maths) know-how to make a difference in their everyday lives. Introducing a variety of learning objectives such as addition and subtraction, electricity, planning and designing projects and energy amongst many others. These are lovely stories about things that children will have enjoyed doing in their own lives like decorating cookies, going on a picnic that your little ones will enjoy reading. But interspersed amongst the story are small challenges which the characters can solve with your little ones help making them much more interactive and engaging children in their learning of these STEAM areas. We love the illustrations in these books which star two adorable characters as well as a cast of others, including some lovely animals. This is a lovely box-set and would be great for children in their first years of school.




This is such a bright and cheerful book. telling the story of what Teddy and his family get up to throughout the day. And little ones can join along by turning the hands on the clock to make it match the timings in the story (with guided instructions on each page). It's a really lovely book. It focusses purely on the o'clock 'on the hour' timings. But that's exactly where you would want it to start. It's super sturdy too so if you are looking for a book that will stand the test of time (pardon the pun) then this book will see your toddler from enjoying the story to a preschooler playing with the clock to a school-aged child beginning to grasp the concept of time. A great book for little time-wizards!




One of the key skills for starting school is being able to tie your shoelaces and I thought that this book looked like a great one for littles who are learning this. (Please note I'm not saying that children have to be able to tie their shoelaces before they start school but I do recommend that you don't send you children to school in laced shoes until they can do them theirselves, until then stick with velcro.) This is a lovely bright and colourful book that will appeal to little ones who will want to play with the brightly coloured laces. Inside, on the left-hand pages there is a lovely story of two bunnies playing, and on the right-hand side there are step-by-step instructions on how to tie laces. There is also a recap on this on the final pages. I love the simple instructions in this and I love that they have coloured one lace yellow and one lace red making it easier for children to follow. A delightful book for little lace learners.


And all these books were on a super discount in the hand-picked favourites section on The Book People's website (I've linked the titles of each so you can find them easily).



If you haven't used The Book People before, they are an online and catalogue (as well as pop-up events in schools) bookseller who specialise in discounted books. And, from my own experience, there are some real gems on their website! I often spot a new-ish release much cheaper than on/in other retailers and I love their bulk and box sets for getting bundles of books for gifts! When I was a teacher I used to use their website regularly to top-up my class library (the Roald Dahl box set was my very first purchase when I started teaching and it's still a great bargain!) and also for end of year and Christmas gifts for my classes. You can get all sorts of books on there but checking out their "hand-picked favourites" is always a great place to start as you will find the best discounts there as well as the most interesting books. Delivery is always excellent and BookBairn recognises the box and is always keen to open them!! And you can often get additional discount codes which are promoted on their own website as well as top-up cashback by using sites such as Quidco. So, in short, it's a really great place to get awesome books at low prices. 

Hope you find some great bargains on their website too! If you check out our InstaStories I try to share deals on there when I find them.

Happy Reading!
Kim and BookBairn

Disclaimer: This book was sent to us by the The Book People team for review after I selected them and this blog post was sponsored by The Book People.


2 comments:

  1. These books look great. I particularly like the sound of the Maths collection and the STEAM series. Look forward to reading them. Also the clock book appeals to me. I’ve often wondered when kids should learn to tell the time. I think BookBairn is just about ready. PS - I’m moving back to Velcro :-)

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    1. Hahah!!! Telling the time is so tricky to teach in school as they are only there 9-3 and need parents to talk about it in 'real time' at home too! This will really help!

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