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Timberdoodle Review

Lily, Johnny, and Emma place animals where they think they go on the map

My kids search for suitable habitats for their play animals on the included “Landforms and Bodies of Water” map.

I had read intriguing reviews of Timberdoodle products on a few of my favorite blogs, so I was thrilled to join their Blogger Review Team! We received a copy of their Beginning Geography, grades K-2 curriculum, which both Emma and Johnny (and, for the maps at least, Lily) have enjoyed exploring. Several activities in the workbook were too advanced for Emma (it’s designed for kindergarten through second grade, and she won’t start kindergarten until this fall), but there was still plenty for her to do, and she surprised me on a couple activities. I learned, for example, that she knows the difference between left and right, a skill I remember struggling with when I was seven or eight years old! Because Emma doesn’t read, she needed help with all of the activities, but there were pages that a reading five- or even four-year-old could complete with minimal assistance. There were even a couple activities that Johnny could complete, with me reading and helping him along.

I feel like this book is an excellent introduction to geography, and I expect it will get a lot of use with both Emma and Johnny (with assistance) in the coming months. It is set up as a workbook, but the publisher (Evan Moor) allows you to photocopy all of the worksheets, as needed! Some pages of the workbook are set up so that they HAVE to be photocopied in order to work (you are supposed to cut out shapes and glue them onto the other side of the worksheet). I do wish that it were either set up so that a child could use it with no photocopying, or to have the pages arrive in a more photocopying-friendly manner (such as in a binder, simply unbound, or even as a digital file). You can have workbooks like this cut apart for a small fee at many office supply stores.

Would you like to see more? Evan Moor provides flip-through access to the first 24 pages here!

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

8 thoughts on “Timberdoodle Review”

  1. Hi MaryAnne- Found you through Feature Yourself Friday. What a fun blog you have. I want to come back! I’m over at Milk N Honey Learn and Grow (www.milknhoneylearnandgrow.blogspot.com). That’s great that you get to review for this company.

  2. I didn’t choose this one to review, but so wanted it. It was already taken. It looks like a great one. I really am pleased with all of our Evan Moor books. Have a couple more on my to get list.

  3. Two Chicks and a Hen

    I also just came across this company on another site. I’ve been meaning to ask you–are you planning to homeschool, or are you sending Emma to school for kindergarten?

  4. I saw this book reviewed on a couple of blogs I read and thought that it sounds pretty neat.

  5. Elisa | blissfulE

    Your picture reminds me I should hang our big wall map of the world so the kids can start interacting with it.

    Michael loves looking through our city map book in the car. Geography is a fascinating study with so many layers, and it is fun to see it in a hands-on kid-friendly format.

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