Exploring Nature's Pattern Magic product reviews

The cover of this book begged me to look inside. I teach art to children and have always had an interest in patterns in nature. This book looked just perfect for sharing a passion of mine with my children and the children I teach. When I flicked to the Contents page in the book, I was already being presented with stunning images of patterns from nature. The contents page also demonstrated that there would be a wide rages of patterns and mathematical concepts covered in the book. I was seriously looking forward to moving through to the rest of the book.

Miss 3, Mr 5 and I sat down to look through the book together. We found that every page was jam packed with colour and a variety of patterns. Many of the sentences on the pages follow a curved design and that added to the visual effect of each page. We found that we spent quite a bit of time on each page, reading and discussing what we were seeing and reading about. Miss 3 and Mr 5 love learning about things in nature and I am sure that this will inspire them to look at nature in a different way. I imagine that we will be taking a lot more time on walks and in the garden from now on!!

When I teach children the basics of digital photography, I always encourage them to get in close to what they are photographing and although we don't often have the opportunity to get extreme closeups, we do get some great shots. I can see that I would also show children in my classes this book as we discuss the interesting things that they might like to capture with their cameras.

I liked the way that mathematical and scientific concepts have included on the pages, where appropriate. Some examples of these concepts are spirals, light, symmetry, tessellations and polygons. Each page has photos and examples of the type of pattern, a pattern fact and ideas of where to look for that particular pattern type.

I think that a huge amount of work has gone into finding rich examples of each type of pattern and the montage of photos on each page is visually appealing and encourages the reader to take the time to take in the facts, text and images presented to them. The price on the book may seem a little on the high side for a paperback book, however I think it is necessary to appreciate the work that will have gone into the book and the benefit and joy that the reader will get out of reading the book. It is a great teaching and learning resource and I will keep and enjoy. So much fabulous information is on every single page of this book! It is FANTASTIC!!

After enjoying this book, I am even more excited about the way that nature creates such amazing patterns. I think that the way this book is put together promotes intrigue and interest in nature and patterns. I think that any child who gets their hands on the book will be privileged and will hopefully develop an awe of nature and the world around them.