For as long as I can remember I’ve loved watching National Geographic on TV and reading their magazines. When I hadn’t learned to read yet, I’d look at all the pictures and examine them to see what I could understand from the images alone. Fast forward to having two children, D is almost 4 and Baby Z, 2. They’re both obsessed with animals and love these books!
This truly works in my favour in so many ways. I myself love animals and enjoy learning new things and when I read a book or put on National Geographic shows, they’re both intrigued! Whether while reading books or through an episode, I highly recommend engaging with your children on what they’re looking at. I love to ask Daniyal questions about what we’re watching or reading. Before reading I’ll ask him, “what animal is this?”, or “tell me something about this animal”.90% of the time he knows and tells me, the other times he’ll try to guess. I give him clues of where the animal lives, what it eats or perhaps a species category. Anything to start a conversation about it. This is a great way to encourage curiosity.
I don’t get the same reaction from my children when reading books with illustrations, compared to real life fascinating images of animals and facts. He enjoys reading these Weird But True! books because of the fascinating images that bring the facts to life. The Weird But True! facts started showing up in National Geographic Kids magazines in 2004, and it’s been their most popular feature to date. It was actually an idea from a former magazine editor’s 60-year-old mom! We love that there’s a mix of all sorts of facts in these books. And more than a third are about animals.
The National Geographic Kids Weird But True! books can be found here: natgeokids.com/wbtbooks. This series has lots of videos as well. My kids love watching videos about animals and learning new things about them. I Save these YouTube videos into an album or playlist:
• Weird But True! Shorts playlist: bit.ly/2C5fVYv
• Weird But True!—Fast Facts playlist: bit.ly/2ycnN7N
• Weirdest, Bestest,
• Everything Weird But True! playlist: bit.ly/2E7XJAf
When I started reading some of the facts out loud I even surprised myself! Like, I didn’t know rats can laugh?! And now I want to know what that sounds like. Or do I?
These books generally retail for $7.99 in the US and $10.99 in Canada. A portion of all book purchases help support National Geographic Kids magazine. ENTER TO WIN:
Weird But True! Canada Contest – Do you have a weird fact about your hometown, province or country? Share it by January 31st, 2019 at
www.natgeokids.com/wbtcanada.
