Family child care professional and adjunct college professor Nikki Darling-Kuria presents Brain-Based Early Lerning Activities, a collection of educational activities designed to stimulate interest and development in language, mathematics, science, art, motor skills, social skills, music, the environment, and more in children from birth to age 8. Each activity lists the brain connections that the activity supports, multisensory variations, diversity adaptations, and extension activities. Some examples of language-based activities include "Thyming Scavenger Hunt" (for age 4 years and up_ in wihich children are challenged to talk in rhymes (begin with classic nursery rhymes then have children go on a scavenger hunt to find items that rhyme), and "Flannel Fantasy" (for age 2 years and up) in which children are provided with a flannel surface to use felt pieces on to represent objects and events in a story. A superb supplement to classroom, home schooling, and even parent's and babysitter's collections, Brain-Based Early Learning Activities is highly recommended.

Brain-Based Early Learning Activities: Connecting Theory and Practice covers learning activities from birth to age 8, providing a set of activities that offer diversity adaptations, extension activities, and arts sections ranging from fingerplays in language to science sections on food. Each exercise includes objectives, materials, and setp-by-step teaching instruction, making this an oustanding pick for any early education collection!

For early childhood professionals, Darling-Kuria, a family child care professional and adjunct professor who develops curricula for early care and education programs, provides brain-based learning activities for use with children from birth to age eight to simultaneously engage the whole brain in cognitive and physical development. After giving information on the brain, its parts, and their functions in learning and memory, as well as creating brain-compatible learning environments, she describes activities for language, math, science, art, motor skills, social-emotional development, music, and the natural environment, with age range and materials listed, and multisensory variations, diversity adaptations, and extension activities. No index is provided. (Annotations 2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)