#2019top50

🔥POPULAR 🔥 “Thigmotropism is the sense of touch that some plants have that makes them grow in spirals around things.” “Zenography is the study of the planet Jupiter.” “A hippophile is someone who loves horses...” not hippopotamuses, as I had guessed. All remarkable. Unusual. Difficult. And so fun!

Jane Solomon’s The Dictionary of Difficult Words reveals over 400 delightful details of the English language, from abecedarian ("someone who is learning the alphabet") to zygodactyl ("if a bird is zygodactyl, its feet have two talons or toes facing forward and two facing backward"), and so many words in between.

This book is a really wonderful gift that will wow kids (and their parents) with the wonders of language. Bold and stylish illustrations by Louise Lockhart bring depth to each definition. A new favorite.

⭐️ AWARD-WINNER ⭐️ Proof: The Fast-Paced Game of Mental Math Magic is an award-winner (the 2019 Teacher's Choice Awards) and I saw why within one minute: My kids started playing the card game’s similar online challenges and were immediately hooked. An amazing tool for the classroom. But like doing a crossword puzzle or sudoku, Proof is also a legit game for adults—fun and challenging with kids or without.

Lay 9 cards out in a grid and race to find the hidden equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square roots. Prove the equation? Take the card. The player with the most cards wins.

I love finding fun math games that keep my kids connected with numbers. This is absolutely going under our tree this year.

🔥POPULAR 🔥 Whenever I look at history books for kids, I worry that they might not be inclusive as I might want or expect. With DK’s Explorers: Amazing Tales of the World's Greatest Adventures by Nellie Huang, with illustrations by Jessamy Hawke, I needn't have worried. Not only does this book focus on a diverse group of 50 explorers from across the globe and throughout time, but there are also additional profiles on helpers and companions, people who often received no credit for their accomplishments.

Packed with images of maps, artifacts, information, and stories, Explorers covers Sea and Ice, Land, and Air and Space. And the forward is written by adventurer Barbara Hillary, the first known African-American woman to reach both the North Pole (at the age of 75 in 2007) and the South Pole (in 2011). #TIL

Looking forward to read more of this book. It's captivating for kids and adults alike.

🔥POPULAR 🔥 Kinderfeet’s wobble board is a beautiful balancing toy that can hold up to 220kg/485lbs. Impressive! And fun for all ages. Made with sturdy Beech plywood. Balance, rock, make a bridge or a little stool... kids will have lots of ideas, perfect for rainy days and sunny days alike. We all want this.

It sold out on their site during the pandemic but it's back on their site and on Amazon. You can also ask for it at your local toy shop!

🔥POPULAR 🔥 I would have loved these as a kid, and my kids have them on their recommendation list: Blank. Flip. Books. Oaktown Supply ships out these 100-sheet-thick, durable craft paper books that are cut to just the right size, all bound and ready to animate. For kids and adults who love to draw, create tiny stories, or are super tired of stapling hunks of paper together to make their own. We love these.

🔥POPULAR 🔥 This ‘My First Book’ hardcover series is a standout. They’re well-made books with illustrations by Eduard Altarriba that help introduce the basics. What is electricity? What's a quanta? Atomic spectroscopy? (Fave.) How do we measure time and space and how are they connected? Matter and antimatter?!

It may sound like complex stuff for ages 7+, but kids absorb a lot and I’ve now personally seen that reading about big ideas regularly at a younger age can help the concepts and vocabularly feel like familiar territory for middle school, and hopefully beyond. Honestly, these have been informative for me, too.

If you like Chris Ferrie's science for babies books, try these next.

Buy these books

🔥POPULAR 🔥 Discovering Architecture is a new favorite of ours. It reveals iconic structures, materials, concepts, architectural eras, and influential designers throughout history, all appealingly illustrated by Eduard Altarriba. Pyramids, domes, Japanese palaces, skyscrapers, igloos, modernist pavilions, Zaha Hadid, Antoni Gaudí, Le Corbusier, and so much more. A smart and delightful introduction to the design and engineering that surrounds us.

I became a bit obsessed with Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk after watching a video about how it’s the chalk mathematicians adore. Hard-to-get Japanese chalk with a fanbase? Chalk worth stockpiling and rationing? “The chalk of champions?” Why? It’s dustless and it “writes as smoothly as butter.” As someone who had a chalkboard wall and a toddler at the same time, I am all about dustless chalk.

Then, after 80 years, Hagoromo closed up shop.

Luckily, 2 of Hagoromo’s 3 original machines were bought by South Korea’s Sejongmall. They now produce the original formula under Japanese Industrial Standards and it’s highly-rated on Amazon. Get it in white and a rainbow of bright colors.

Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life answers key questions about evolution, steadily connecting key components of history and biology. The book is easy-to-understand yet remains it smart, with entertaining illustrations. Understanding evolution is essential for scientific literacy and I love that this book can be an engaging and effective tool for classrooms and at home.