Children love summer vacation, but parents often find it difficult to keep them engaged in productive activities. 

Most kids experience a learning slump during their time away from school. At best, they show little or no academic growth over the summer, according to the National Summer Learning Association. At worst, they lose 1 to 3 months of learning. 

It is, however, possible to keep your children engaged and stimulated over the summer months. Books like I’m a Scientist: Backyard—part of a new series for younger readers (5+ years)—introduce kids to the world of science with interesting outdoor experiments. Clear, step-by-step instructions allow children to absorb science easily. 

You can also use summer vacation to instill a love of nature, the outdoors and organic gardening. I’m a Scientist: Backyard teaches preschoolers and early elementary students to: 

• Take a garden safari
• Make a bug house out of a soil sample to observe the creepy-crawlies that live within
• Perform plant-based experiments that foster an interest in botany
• Experience wind power by making their own pinwheels
• Discover a tree’s age and measure its height using just a stick and a piece of string
• Make a sundial to tell time using only the sun’s position
• Learn about centrifugal force with a simple bucket of water 

The book retails for $12.99 and will be released July 19. You may preorder it on Amazon and save 20% ($10.39). 

Photo courtesy of DK Publishing

Sunday marked the beginning of Animal Action Week, an International Fund for Animal Welfare campaign to teach both children and adults about biodiversity, habitat and ecosystems.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, an IFAW honorary board member, is promoting the campaign, which provides schools with a free education pack and Under One Sky: Why Animals Matter, a 15-minute film he narrates. Click here for access to educational downloads. You’ll also find a wide selection of downloadable Animal Fact Sheets—great tools to share with your kids.

Students may enter an art contest, with the winning design to appear on next year’s campaign poster. Families are also encouraged to sign a global pledge to make lifestyle choices that better protect the environment we share with animals.

“Animals and their vital habitat face more threats than ever before,” DiCaprio says. “Animals, like people, need a home that provides food, water, shelter and space. It’s our responsibility to protect animals and our planet’s vital ecosystems if we want to leave a better world for future generations.”

For Your Organic Bookshelf: The Animal Ethics Reader

If you missed Walt Disney Studios’ Earth in theaters, pick up the DVD, which releases today. 

Gorgeous cinematography captures polar bears marching across ice, elephants enjoying a swim and whales breaching the ocean’s surface. (Click here to watch the trailer.)

 The film is the first feature-length documentary from the new, eco-conscious production unit Disneynature. Cowritten and codirected by the award-winning Alastair Fothergill (Planet Earth, The Blue Planet), and narrated by Oscar-nominated actor James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader!), it’s an amazing tour of our home planet.

 “In addition to providing compelling entertainment that audiences of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy, we also hope to raise awareness of the many ways that everyone and anyone can do their part to help our planet,” says Disneynature head honcho Jean-Francois Camilleri.

 Adds Martyn Freeman of coproducer BBC Worldwide: “Earth captures some of the rarest and most beautiful imagery of the planet ever photographed by a team of the world’s top cinematographers. Audiences will get to see their planet in an exciting new way.”

 I agree with Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly (one of the most trustworthy film critics out there), who calls the finished project a “super-duper deluxe nature documentary.” She believes Earth “clearly aims to recruit young viewers as conservationists.”

 That’s a mission we all can support.

 Save $13

 The DVD’s suggested retail price is $29.99, but Amazon is currently selling it for $16.99.