Busy Books for Travel and Beyond Usborne Great Searches

From The Great Animal Search

Many children enjoy the "Where's Waldo" books, but if you want to move to a higher level of picture puzzle books consider the  Usborne Great Searches books. (Usborne books are available at on-line and storefront book stores. Many older editions can be found in used book stores.) These books are composed of picture puzzles surrounded by various animals or objects for the reader to find. The individual object picture includes some information about that object, as well as how many will be found in the larger picture.  In The Great Animal Search various ecosystems form the puzzles in which the animals can be located.

It is a lot of information and entertainment in one place. This book series covers topics from castles to bugs. Children can search under the sea or in a floating market in Thailand. They can wander through the desert or through time. Although the pictures are very detailed, some very young children will enjoy the search. Older children can tally how many animals they find and figure out a strategy to organize their search.  

These are great books to take on road trips, to read when it is too hot to play outside, or to peruse when one is too sick to go to school. This series is an easy way to keep a child occupied while practicing figure ground skills, learning new information, using math (How many more to I have to find?), paying attention to details, learning new vocabulary and general knowledge, and perhaps opening the door of curiosity to learning more.  Oh, yes, and the answers are in the back if one gets too discouraged when unable to find the second quoll.