Top 5 Nature Gifts for Kids this Holiday Season

A southern hemisphere Christmas coincides with the start of the summer school holidays, so it's the ideal opportunity to give gifts that encourage children out into nature.

Here are my top 5 nature gift tips for kiwi kids.

1. Something to read and something to do. Pair a nature book with an exploration aid - binoculars, magnifying glass, waterproof notebook or bird whistle.

Team 'At the Beach' with a waterproof notebook

Tips for Reading With Children - Under the Ocean

To help children, parents and educators get the most out of my books, I've written down ideas for reading each book, activities and further places to get good information. These have been on the publisher's website, but a recent revamp means these pages are temporarily inaccessible. So for now I'm putting these ideas on the blog.

Tips for Reading Non-Fiction With Children

3 Top Nature Websites for Kiwi Kids

As a writer of children's books I spend a lot of time reading and researching, using books and websites. I keep an eye out for websites that I can recommend to children and their parents. It's amazing how many websites there are that fall into the New Zealand nature category. Check out my Pinterest board New Zealand Nature Online to see some of them. Most are written for general audiences but many are specialist sites that focus on one geographical area, such as a sanctuary, or one species, such as yellow-eyed penguins.

Here are my top three nature websites for children interested in New Zealand nature. 
My criteria are: easy navigation, informative and interesting content that children can grasp, a range of media (not just text to read).

Number one is the Kiwi Conservation Club website www.kcc.org.nz.