Written by Jeralee, Guest Reviewer

From the website:

“I Cherish Planet Earth is about appreciating and preserving nature and our planet. It is a celebration of Earth’s life and beauty. It is an inspiration to learn about and care for all life, from the tiniest flower to the greatest forest. It is a natural addition to any go-green program, at home, neighborhood, school, or other community.
book-cover

For centuries, pair-matching games have been the perfect tool for sharpening concentration and short-term memory in people of all ages. FocusBloom™ takes a giant leap forward by combining the game with affirmations, a book, and inspiring visuals. Affirmations offer a powerful means for creating a lofty, focused mindset. The picture book, A Love Letter to Our Planet, helps build meaningful understanding. The game extensions are well considered and offer the opportunity for communication, creative self-expression, and action.”

My daughters and I had the opportunity to read “I Cherish Planet Earth, A Love Letter  To Our Planet,”  and it’s accompanying  matching game.

game 1

The simple explanation of this book is that it covers just about every aspect of being environmentally friendly, taking care and appreciating your natural surroundings and doing your part to not waste natural resources and recycle.

For the most part, we enjoyed the book.  While the matching game that came with the book was met with only moderate enthusiasm in our household, the other games were a hit!  After reading the book again and following the suggestions for the cards on the last page,  my daughter took turns pulling a card out of the bag and role playing and/or making up a skit that went a long with the concept.  I found both girls teaching their stuffed animals how to “reduce, reuse, and recycle.”

Another concept that they applied from the list of suggestions, was sharpening their memory.  They each drew one of the picture cards from the bag and studied the picture for a good 20-30 seconds.  Then they put it back, face down and described the colors, shapes and items from the card.

Pros:

  • The illustrations are absolutely beautiful!  I particularly loved each watercolor print on every page.book 2
  • The attached game that helps reinforce the concepts learned in the book.
  • At the end of the book, there is a page for other suggestions on how to use the picture cards, probably the best feature.
  • Environmentally friendly, using only vegetable based ink and recycled paper.
  • 1% of the proceeds of this book are donated to the organization, “For The Planet.”

Cons:

  • I found it odd that they called it “I Cherish Planet Earth,” but then referred to earth as “Mother Earth” throughout the book.  My children made the same comment.
  • I thought the suggestion of taking a picture card a day and look at the quote on it to use as a daily affirmation was kind of cheesy.  I honestly do not see any small child  walking around the house repeating the mantra, “I cherish big and small” or “I dream of a healthy Earth” to themselves throughout the day.
  • Though the illustrations were beautiful, they were a little difficult for my 8 year old to match up in the pairing game.   I attribute this to the muted colors and the amount of objects that are displayed on each card.  For this reason, it may not be the best matching game for a young child – under 5 years old.

The Bottom Line:

This is a well written book  with beautiful illustrations.  The accompanying cards come with several different suggestions and games on how to reinforce the concepts learned about the environment and recycling.  These concepts could be applied at home or in a classroom setting.

Price: $16.99


Where to Buy: Amazon, Three Sisters, My Toys Mart, Tree Hollow Toys, My Little Green Room


Win It
One Babes and Kids Reader will win a “I cherish earth” book/game set

Here’s How to Enter:

  • Tell me how you teach the children in your life to appreciate and protect our earth.

Additional Entries

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Please leave each entry as a separate comment. Contest is open to US residents and will end at 11:59 MST on November 3rd. Winner will be drawn via random.org and has 48 hours to respond to winning e-mail or prize will be forfeited and given away in a live giveaway.

The product buzzed about in this article was a sample provided to me by the company or PR representative. These views and opinions are my own and I was not compensated by this review.

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