Lonely Planet KidsLonely Planet Kids Wild Things

To be fair, I purchased this book because it was recommended after some of my other favorite purchases and I had only seen the fairy flower petal outfits and read the other customer reviews. So, I did not fully understand that the "magical" part of the title was meant to be taken literally and was the throughline of the book. I thought this was just an ideal book for an unschooling/wildschooling family that liked to be outside and involved in nature crafts and projects. The pages are stunning, full of gorgeous photographs and drawings. But the language posits that these magical creatures are absolutely real! I love encouraging my children's imaginations and telling them stories, but I do not think that it is necessary to lie to them in order to do so. There are ways to word things that leave mystery open and available to them without a flat out lie. I don't tell my kids that Santa Claus is real. Why would I tell them that dragons and goblins are? Children can 100% enjoy putting together a fairy garden without me swearing that fairies exist. They can go on thrilling night adventures without being told that they will need a red-lensed light to see magical creatures at night. That is so very concrete- how else is a child supposed to make sense of that? I think I will keep the book and use the projects on our outings from time to time, but I will not read it properly to them. And that means we'll have yet another book that is good but not ideal. The search continues.

The book itself is awesome, but arrived horribly damaged that it has to be returned. The spine was damaged which was the worst part of the damage, pages were all bent in the corner throughout the book. The spine damage makes it pretty unusable. I'm shocked that the seller would send this out in this condition. I will buy another and try again though because the ideas are fun and simply magical! The ideas in the book are fun and whimsical and for all seasons. A lot of the ideas you may have to go somewhere to explore like a forest or national park if you dont live in a natural area. But some you can do at home from the store like BlackBerry dragons blood or making monster prints in your back yard. So there is a variety. But this would be a fun camping companion!EDIT: Ordered a 2nd copy which came in perfect condition. And am in love with the ideas from the book.

I wrote a review of this book and it wasn’t accepted, not sure why, but I’ll write a second one. This book is so beautiful and amazing and every parent of a wildling, homeschool, unschooled, nature loving kid should have this book on their shelf. We made masks from a tutorial in the book and apparently they weren’t appropriate to share with the review but the book is totally and absolutely a must for your collection. Buy it and come back and tell me how much you love it :).

This is a great mythical/whimsical/mystical starter book. It has simple background explanations for each creature and a multitude of craft ideas. My daughter enjoys going through the book, admiring the photos and suggestions.

Love this book. It's great for inspiring kids to observe nature more closely and be creative in their adventuring. The pictures are gorgeous, the ideas are just enough instruction without dictating what kids should do. It contains some winter activities as well as warm weather ones. My 6 year old has already been inspired so many times by this. Looking forward to years of fun with this book.

I love this book so much! If I could rate it higher than a 5 I would. If you and your family love fairy tales, make believe and magic you will have so much fun with this book. So many ideas for some wonderfully creative things to do outside while honoring the plants, animals and planet. Honestly, it's just wonderful.

We bought this a few years ago but my kids still use it. We bought it for homeschooling fun they could do on their own, getting out into nature and being creative. It proved to be a great book.

I 100% recommend this book. Day 1 with it and my 5 and 7 year olds have spent several hours outside, only coming in to have help with the hot glue gun. My 7 year old son made a bow and arrow set, a lizard, and a boy fairy. My 5 year old daughter stuck to making her own potions. They have more adventures planned with it and have asked to go on nature hikes to find more supplies.

Great quick go to book for ideas. Beautifully illustrated with some lovely activities Some original, some not, some ideas taken from their other great books, some easily found on the internet. I find this book handy for a quick reference if you don't want to trawl the internet. I like how the book is sectioned in to themes such as mythical creatures, elves and fairies with (simple) ideas to make magical outdoor experiences with children.I work outdoors a lot and recently used some of these ideas for looking for signs of dragons in the woods. I'd never thought to look at where dragons might have scratched their nails on the bark (although we'd searched for stony dragon eggs before I bought this book). Such a simple idea yet I'd never thought to do it. Children were really inspired to look for more signs of dragons and I never thought to actually turn whole fallen trees in to dragons by adding stones stuck on with clay to make teeth. We usually just make faces on trees with clay. So, this book really gets you thinking about doing things a different way, to what you might do normally. Originally, I was going to give it a 4 because I didn't feel many of the ideas were original or that I hadn't thought of them or used them before but I really liked how the writers had extended these ideas so you can take them further and not just say- oh look, that tree looks like a dragon. I can now say, that tree looks like a dragon, lets make it look even more like a dragon by sticking some stone teeth on it with clay!This would be a great book for people with little or no experience of making playing outdoors more fun. but it's also not bad for the more experienced outdoor practitioner either, who may be looking to refresh some outdoor topics or themes that you may have done many times over. The more I read this book, the more I like it and discover things I hadn't noticed before.

This may be my favourite thing I’ve ever bought for my two little girls for creativity, fun and amazing memories. I’ve just sat and read through all 175 pages, possibly more excited than what my girls will be when I show them. I’ve never seen such a well presented book for nature led activities, most of which I can really see us doing and enjoying together. This book sums up what I think childhood should be all about. FYI I very rarely write reviews...

As soon as I saw the pictures, I knew my kids and my friends' kids would love this book-- I have bought several copies already.There are stunning photographs, and some of them have magical scenes and creatures beautifully drawn in, to hint at how children might be (or could be) imagining the world around them. The book is packed with wonderful ideas for arts, crafts, and adventures outside. The ideas for making mini-worlds full of elves and fairies, magical potions (all made with natural materials), have already kept my kids entertained for hours. Imagining monsters and seeing nature in new ways made our last walk through the woods so much more fun and less whiny!Sometimes books of outdoor activities seem like they were written just for the parents, but this book is so much fun for kids to look at, so full of imagination, and at the same time so practical: I really haven't seen another book like it!

This book was a gift to both my nieces along with seeds etc. They are having many forays into their garden and i feel it is so beneficial to plant, nurture and watch their efforts and become so much more observant and aware, in lives that are often dominated by routines, and having to attend after school hobbies and interests. There is a lot to be said in time just being still amongst nature and taking time to breathe, relax and observe and enjoy.

I always think glowing reviews might cause disappointment but they didn’t in this case. Such lovely activities, encouraging imagination and a deep love of nature. I’m very excited to get going with this book, as is my 7 yr old son. This is going to be our Home Ed curriculum for a while... it’s more inspired than any other book I have of this sort & I have a few.