As Earth Day approaches, we want to share with you a special selection of books that will not only educate but also inspire young minds to care for our planet—and maybe even to get outside. These books are filled with fun and engaging activities that will encourage students to learn about the environment and the world around them while having fun at the same time.

For Families:
Nature Study for the Whole Family
By Laurel M. Dodge
$15
Living Now Book Awards-Winner Finalist
Book of the Year Awards

Nature Study for the Whole Family encourages families to explore the plants, animals, and insects around them, whether they’re somewhere as small as their own backyard or as big as a national park. It offers guidance on finding suitable places, pacing the exploration for children, recording and identifying findings, and making nature study an enriching part of family life. The author shares personal stories and sketches of her experiences with nature, making the book a beautiful and inspiring guide for anyone interested in exploring the natural world with children.

For 5th- to 9th-Grade Classrooms:
Ferret It Out: A Problem about Endangered Species and Animal Ecosystems
By Shelagh A. Gallagher and Dana L. Plowden
$45 for the unit set
National Association for Gifted Children Curriculum Award-Winner

This is a problem-based learning (PBL) unit, which invites students to collaborate as they investigate a problem and then come up with a solution for it. In this unit, students are put in the role of members of a recovery team assessing the reintroduction of black-footed ferrets in Fort Collins. They learn about the complex issues involved in saving the endangered species, including genetic bottlenecks and conflicts with ranchers. The unit concludes with students making a decision and advocating for their point of view.

For Individual 5th- to 9th-Grade Students:
Ferret Ecology: A Problem about Endangered Species and Animal Ecosystems
By Shelagh A. Gallagher and Dana L. Plowden
$45 for the unit set

Ferret Ecology is the adaptation of the PBL unit Ferret It Out for a single student. It takes the same problem but alters the PBL experience so that an individual child can participate in the process of learning about the issues involved in trying to save an animal from extinction through discovery, research, and higher-order thinking.

For Teens in Classrooms and at Home:
Amazing Ants: Simple Sidewalk Science
By W. Barkley Butler, Ph.D.
$20

This book is a guide for teens to learn about the scientific process and how to design experiments using ants—the easiest and most readily available live animal to study. It covers finding, baiting, and identifying ants; conducting experiments; analyzing and presenting data; and more, all of which can be done either at home or in a classroom setting. The book, which is written for the students themselves, also includes an instructor section with sample exercises and advice for keeping ant colonies. Kids will learn a lot about the scientific method, but they’ll also come away with the understanding that science is not just a collection of facts; it’s a method of studying the world.