Quick Summary: A wonder-filled resource

My Review: Sticks and Stones: A Kid's Guide to Building and Exploring in the Great Outdoors by Melissa Lennig was a delight to this STEAM advocate. With a colorful pictorial log and simple instructive directives, it thrilled me with its creative approach to imagination and learning.

My Final Say: I believe kids will absolutely love this book. Parents will see the value in it. STEAM advocates will view this as a winning resource.

Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: Kids and Up

#NetGalleywishlist
#libraryread

* Sincere appreciation is extended to the author, to the publisher, and to NetGalley, who were instrumental in putting this book on my radar. I have voluntarily submitted this review.

* A Goodreads review has been posted.

This is a really fun outdoor activity book with sticks and stones (which kids always love to play with)! It would be great for younger Scouts or anyone who wants to enjoy the outdoors and do projects with their children.

This is a brightly illustrated, fun book full of projects for kids to do outside involving sticks, logs and branches. There are 30 projects, such as building a tipi-style play fort, making a stick catapult, and making a log birdfeeder with peanut butter birdseed in it. The steps are very detailed and color photos accompany all the projects.

Kids are likely to get a lot of inspiration from the book, particularly if they live in the country or have access to forests and other places with lots of larger logs and sticks. Some kids may feel frustrated by how many involve lots of large branches or more complicated steps and sometimes power tools and/or adult help.

My rating system:

1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

This book would be a great book for Girl or Boy Scout Leaders. Also for anyone who does outdoor family camping to introduce your child to the wonder of outdoors. I am all for outdoor activities in exchange for tv or computers. This book teaches everything from Building a survival shelter, A hotel for bugs, a simple seesaw, bubble wands, nature blocks, building a campfire ring to making land art. Each one has materials needed, a design challenge, and the process of doing it with photos. This book is a great way to get your child outdoors and have some quality family time. I recommend this book for children 7+.

Sticks and Stones: A Kid's Guide to Building and Exploring in the Great Outdoors has 30 fun ideas to make the outdoors even more fun. With simple materials like logs, sticks, rocks, and an adult’s help for certain projects, kids will have a great time following the step by step guide and learning to build and create with nature.

Sticks and Stones by Melissa Lennig is full of delightful projects for kids and adults a like. The projects encourage kids to get out in nature and explore. What I loved most about the projects was that they encourage kids to use their creativity and imagination. This is what being a kid is all about-- a life of sticks and leaves and creeks-- not digital screens and artificial play. If you are looking to encourage your child to get outside and develop a sense of wonder, this is the book for you. My almost third grade son loved it so much! I absolutely loved seeing his big smile just peering at the table of contents and planning what he was about to do. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own. We are also about to order a hard copy to keep and reuse!

This is another inventive and creative book for kids which will teach them creativity and self-reliance - things which will last far longer than any toy they can make or buy. But more than this, it helps eke out a tight budget and also gets kids outdoors. Time away from that video screen is never a bad thing. On top of this, we need more engineers - especially female ones. Who knows? Working with their hands and seeing how to turn ideas into a working finish product could well lead them into a useful and rewarding career. At the very least they will have a love and appreciation of nature and the outdoors.

In this book they will learn how to use outdoor materials to build a shelter and a fort (outdoor survival and history right there!) as well as bridges, dams, and fences. There are large and small scale projects including simple things like making ochre paint from rocks and a marshmallow roasting stick. It's never a bad thing to lure them in with something offering a treat if it hooks them on learning rather more complex projects! And picking up basic manual skills will build confidence and inventiveness which will grow their mind.

The book includes a score of projects and also, most importantly, includes a wealth of safety advice. I commend this as a worthy, educational, and useful read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.


There is some GREAT information in this book. Especially for a mom like me who has NO idea what she's doing! My kids loved this book too!

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A lovely short book with 30 ideas how to use sticks and stones for everyday outdoor play. Lots of activities for small and older children alike. Each activity is explained, there's a materials list, step-by-step instructions are provided where needed, and ideas for further use are given.

I enjoyed seeing those ideas. Took me back to my own childhood and there are definitely a few things I want to try out with my children.

It is a book for parents who want to combine the bonding time with their children with outdoor fun. All you need for implementing the ideas mentioned in the book is a time and desire to create, materials for projects can be found literally everywhere.
Thanks to the author and NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions are mine.

I need to remember that not everyone has access to the outdoors that we do living in rural upper Michigan. That being said, even those who have easy access will find project to do from this gem of a book. My grandchildren will love the projects we can do right in my back yard. Well organized, good extension possibilities and wonderful photos.

We really loved this book, our two older children go to Cubs and found some great ideas in here for projects. The instructions are really clear and easy to follow and there are some unusual suggestions alongside things you would expect. We've used the book a lot and had great fun.

Sticks and Stones is a fun way to help get your kids outdoors. The author provides easy to follow instructions for shelters, tripod and many other projects. The author also challenges the reader to go further and expand their knowledge learning math and science along the way.