A beautifully illustrated picture book about how and why animals play. The prose is very simple and often accompanied by a small box of deeper explanations. The recommendation says ages 5-9 but to me it seems to be geared more towards toddlers and preschool ages.

#SmallMatters

#PlayLikeanAnimal #NetGalley
I don't know about you but over the years I have spent hours at different zoos or on wildlife shows watching animals play. It is captivating. This book is the next best thing to being there. There are 30 full and inviting pages of animals at play. Each animal or animal family gets 2 pages. On the first page are one word descriptions of what the animals are doing. and on the next a brief explanation of how this play will lead to essential life long skills that will keep them alive. There are animals from around the world: peccaries from Central or South America, there are Keas from New Zealand, there are kangaroos from Australia, gorillas and elephants from Africa , rhinoceros and antelopes from Southeast and Euroasia.
I highly recommend this book for children from preschool to 2nd grade. It will be a favorite for repeated readings.
Play Like an Animal!: Why Critters Splash, Race, Twirl and Chase.

Play Like An Animal is a great picture book to teach kids about the behaviors of different animals, and what they learn from them. It also relates it all in the end to how our behavior is similar to the animals talked about, and for similar reasons. Really beautiful illustrations captivate your attention while learning simple animal facts. I'd be excited to add this one to our physical collection!

Thank you to Millbrook Press for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this to my 3.5 year old and she LOVED it. She loved seeing all the animals and the way the story talked about how they moved in ways similar to her. The occasional fact box was also very interesting to her.

The story was fun to read, and has lots of movement words that mean you could easily add in movements if this was read in a storytime or school setting (or even at home). The illustrations are gorgeous, bright and colorful. Definitely eye catching, and easy for adults and kids to tell what is going on in them.

I would recommend this book for toddlers and older!

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was cute and informative. It demonstrates the different ways that animals play to learn life skills then compares them to human play. The illustrations were fun and playful.

#PlayLikeanAnimal #NetGalley

This sweet hand drawn picture book teaches kids facts about the animals and how they behave naturally in their habitats around the world. This will teach the kids about bigger mammals and basic facts they can absorb and build on as they discover more as they grow up.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Play Like An Animal is a fun and educational picture book. The illustrations are cute. The rhyming text has a playful tone. The short snippets of educational facts are nice additions to the book without making it too dense or text heavy. The book encourages play and provides fun animal themed play activities to incorporate with story times or similar programs.

This one was cute. I love the illustrations. I felt like this was great to read to my 3 year old son even. It almost gave two different types of stories. You had the kids’ story and then you had red boxes that gave actual animal facts for why animals do different things. Cute, educational, engaging, and interactive. I loved it.

What a cute book to show kids how animals play like them too! The illustrations were fun and I loved the little facts about the animals on the pages. As well as the pages of animal facts at the end of the book. I think kids will really enjoy the fun pictures and learning about how animals play!

I really enjoyed sharing this story with my children. This is a fun and colorful book that shows all the different ways that animals play, and what their methods of play teach them. I also really enjoyed the unique mix of animals in this book, and even learned new facts as an adult!

Play Like an Animal! by Maria Gianferrari is an beautifully illustrated children’s book teaching children different ways animals play and what they learn through play. Maria then ties how the same kind of life skills/lessons are learned when we (humans) play. I read the book with my 3 year old son. He excited he could read along (many spot words) and to find out his favor animals played the same way he does. I enjoyed learning about lesser known animals and lots of fun facts. This book had it all... fun, beautiful, and engaging. We highly recommend this book and will definitely be adding it to our personal library this April!

Play Like an Animal! by Maria Gianferrari is an exciting book that teaches children the different ways in which animals play and what each animal learns through that play style that will benefit them later in life. Mia Powell's illustrations accompany the animal facts beautifully. Flip to the back of the book to learn even more facts about all the animals mentioned in the book and the find further suggested reading material. I really liked that some of the animals they put in this book are not as well-known, which makes it interesting even to the adult reading it to their child.

I really liked this one! The illustrations are beautiful and whimsical and it’s very informative about how animals play and the benefits of it, e.g. social, physical, etc. This book is also informative for parents, who may not always realize how crucial play can be for children’s development. Each page has a basic, simple description of different animals at play, and includes additional facts highlighted in red about the benefits of each animal’s play style. The basic text and pictures would be great for kids 2-3, while the highlighted facts would be more appropriate for kids 4-5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for providing an ARC of this book.

'Play Like an Animal' is a fun read. The story-telling is engaging and the illustration is gorgeous and vivid. I like how the art captures each of the animal's actions and how each page is appealing. The little fun facts were a great bonus (especially for the curious).

I'd definitely recommend this read and can't wait to read this to my niece.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an EARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was wonderful! The extra little facts about the animals within the pages helped make this more of a learning experience. This book helped my niece learn some new words as we read. The illustrations added to the story by displaying ways to play.

I love the educational facts throughout and reading the sounds made this a fun bedtime read. Great illustration. A little long for the age group it targets. My little 3.5 year old lost interest towards the end.

How do animals play? Just like YOU!
This fun children's book takes kids through how different types of animals play and why... from wallowing in the mud by rhinos to wolves playing tug of war. The best part ate the little lessons about how to play nicely and extras about the animals at the end. My 3 year old enjoyed it.

A fun look at how and why animals play. With commonly known animals, such as rhinos and gorillas (the gorillas playing tag were my favorite), to peccaries and keas, each child will find something they are interested in. The illustrations are playful and sweet. Action words and simple sentences make this accessible for very young readers and listeners. Boxes with more in-depth facts make this interesting for older readers and caregivers. I didn't love the look of the boxed facts, but everything else was very visually interesting.

I will be ordering a copy for my public library.

Thank you NetGalley for the free advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun and informative book with some great images!

I liked the section at the end of the book too which allows children to find out a little more about the different animals in the book too.

A great way to learn a few new words and a few fun facts too - 5 stars from me for this one - this is exactly the kind of book that I want my daughter to be reading!

Maria and Mia what a team! The author amusingly explains why animals do some of the crazy things they do, and the illustrator (Powell) illustrates them with verve and passion. The idea is of course, to talk kids into exercising their right to be animals as well, playing like these amusing creatures do, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The book covers a variety of animals, but as usual with young childrens' books, it's mostly the mammals which are favored, such as peccaries, rhinos, monkeys, gorillas, and so on, but there are also aquatic mammals featured such a dolphins and otters, along with a couple of birds - ravens and keas - and who wouldn't mourn a kea?! (Sorry, I could not for the life of me resist.)

The behavior of the animals is explained in growing - they need to learn to defend themselves, to get a mate, to stalk prey, to escape being prey, and even to develop their minds, as is the case with ravens. The book was gorgeously illustrated and amusingly written, and I commend it as a worthy read.