Cico Kidz recently sent me through a few of their My First books to review - if you look closely, you might be able to work out what the other two titles are. If not, you'll just have to wait for the reviews coming up next week !
The first title that we explored was My First Bicycle Book. All three of the Madhouse kids - 12-year-old Sophie, 8-year-old Juliette and 4-year-old Pierre - own a bike and love whizzing around the big car park opposite our house on them. They've never really thought about how a bike works though, or even how to look after one properly, so I was interested to see what the book would teach them.
Well, the first thing that leapt out is that this is a really fun, entertaining book that aims to be as enjoyable as it is informative. The kids were instantly attracted to the sticker page at the back of the book which is there for you to use to decorate your bike.
The book has the perfect balance of serious, educational pages and fun activities to try out. There are sections on adjusting your saddle height, using your gears, pumping up a tyre or mending a puncture, keeping your bike clean as well as a whole chapter on the science of bikes, which looks at concepts such as friction, momentum and streamlining which can be taken beyong bike-riding into the world at large.
But it's not all scientific theory and "how to" guides. There are also cool ideas for things to do on your bikes such as creating an obstacle course.
The butting bottle and ducking gate idea uses nothing but common household items - empty bottles with lids, a cane and some string. It gets kids involved in a fun arts and crafts activity painting the bottles before getting outside in the fresh air on their bikes and actually trying it out.
Juliette is desperate to make some handlebar streamers out of old plastic bags now too !
If I hadn't received the book for review, it's not a title that I would have gone out of my way to buy. The Madhouse Mini-testers love riding their bikes but I didn't really think they'd be interested in reading about them. However, I've been proved totally wrong. The book is packed with fun projects and interesting facts that have had them reading it cover to cover.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £9.99
- Paperback: 128 pages
- Publisher: CICO Books (11 July 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 178249037X
- ISBN-13: 978-1782490371
- Product Dimensions: 27.4 x 20.4 x 1 cm
Disclosure : We received the book in order to write an honest review.
Other reviews you may be interested in :
No comments:
Post a Comment