Snakes are fascinating creatures.  Even if you don’t care to meet them in real life, they can be very interesting to study.  Awesome Snake Science is a hands-on science book providing 40 different activities for learning about snakes.  (The back cover creeps me out, though, as it has photos of a cobra, a rattlesnake, and a coral snake.  I prefer my snakes “non-toxic,” thank-you-very-much!  😉 )

While some hands-on science books contain activities that seem to have been devised simply to give children something to do, the activities in this are truly educational (and fun!).  What is it like to see through a snake’s eyes?  Make the snake-eye goggles to find out.  How do a snake’s jaws work?  Make the fun folding fangs.  Practice camouflage, “snake stink,” and spitting like a cobra.  Most moms will be relieved to hear that no actual snakes are required for any of these activities!

There is enough information here – and enough activity recommendation – that you could probably make an entire year’s science curriculum from this!  (It wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.  Apparently, students learn scientific principles more effectively by studying a single topic in-depth than they do by studying a tiny bit of everything.)  This might be an especially good way to engage a young boy who thinks school is “boring”!

The book is in black-and-white, which is understandable for printing purposes, but made one or two of the in-book activities a little trickier.  There’s a spot, for instance, where the student is asked to locate the snake in a photograph (to see the effectiveness of its camouflage at work).  Given the size of the photo and the lack of color, it’s very difficult to locate.  (It’s actually easier to see in the answer key, where not only is the snake pointed out, but the photo is enlarged!)

The target readership is ages 9-12, but many of the activities could be adapted for use by younger children (especially if you help them with things they may not have the motor skills for yet).

This book looks like a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to really diving into it with my kids.

Disclosure: I was provided by the publisher with a copy of Awesome Snake Science to facilitate this review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.