Plants & Art Activities (Arty Facts)

Grade 2-4-Two unsuccessful attempts to pair art activities with specific branches of science. Planet Earth contains information and crafts related to geology, volcanoes, precious metals, fossil fuels, etc. Plants focuses on leaves, bark, spores, etc. In both books, the basic activities are geared toward a preschool to very young elementary audience, and would require ample supervision. The continuing theme of the majority of the projects seems to be on cutting out various materials, pasting them to another material, cutting them out again, and mounting them to poster board. In most cases, several steps could be removed to make the project less time-consuming. Most of the crafts only vaguely relate to the accompanying text, and a few don't seem to be associated with it at all. The texts themselves, aimed at an older audience than the activities, leave out key aspects of the sciences they discuss. For instance, Planet Earth explains that the movement of Earth's plates at their juncture results in earthquakes, but the author never introduces the terms plate tectonics or fault lines. Adults would be better off developing their own curricula-related projects using general children's craft books.
Heather E. Miller, Homewood Public Library, AL
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