Plant a pumpkinseed with a child, and cultivate wonder. This simple act of reconnecting with children with nature is Sharon Lovejoy's purpose and joy and gift. Author of "Sunflower Houses: Garden Discoveries for Children of All Ages "and "Hollyhock Days: Garden Adventures for the Young at Heart," Sharon Lovejoy is a nationally known garden writer whose books, television specials, and projects at her learning landscape in California have introduced thousands of children to the pleasures of gardening.
In her newest book, "Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots," she presents 12 spirited, easy-to-implement ideas for theme gardens that parents and kids can grow together. Illustrated throughout by the author's own lyrical watercolors, each garden includes a plan, the planting recipe -- seeds, seedlings, and growing instructions spelled out step-by-step -- and activities. There's the Pizza Patch, a giant-size wheel garden planted in "slices" of tomatoes, zucchini, oregano, and basil. A Flowery Maze to get lost in. A Moon Garden of night-blooming flowers, including a moonflower tent. And Mother Nature's Medicine Chest.
Discovery Walks teach kids how the gardens work, and a chapter on gardening basics includes a child-friendly 10-Minute Plan for planting and maintenance, plus a list of the top 20 plants guaranteed to make gardeners out of kids.

Have a crafty Christmas this year: cut and glue, make beautiful pages, pockets, frames and other charming creations. Use your creativity to make lists, make notes, write poems, short stories, diary entries and add other things to make it yours. You can draw and colour, write and doodle. This is your book, made by you and for you.

Craft meets STEAM in these lively books that will help you design, build and create! Get ready to build your very own transport hub! From a maglev train to a cable car to a helicopter, step-by-step projects will give you all the instructions you need to make every element a model transport hub requires. Learn about principles of design and engineering as well as craft techniques to unleash your creativity! Every project has been designed to work using things you can find lying around at home, like disposable containers and packaging, and basic art and craft equipment. Why not check out the other books in the Maker Models series? Each book focuses on a place and will go through creating various parts of the structure. You could learn to make a space centre, a fairground, a transport hub, a mini-garden and biosphere or a theatre and film set, and all the elements that constitute them. For children aged 9+, this illustrated series will be great for rainy days and science days and a good inspiration for DT classes and clubs.