Wild & Woolly Mammoths :: Children's Books & Art - Eva Varga

We read a number of books last week about woolly mammoths and other mammals of the most recent Ice Age. We particularly enjoyed, Wild & Woolly Mammoths by Aliki. This is a factual book about mammoths; where they lived, what they ate, how they died, what kinds there were, how we know about them, etc. Many of the Latin names are included.  The watercolor illustrations were detailed and engaging. There are many nice pictures of mammoths. However, you should be warned that there are also pictures of people hunting, slaughtering, and using mammoths. For us, this provided a great springboard for discussion about natural resources and sustainable living.

We read numerous other books about prehistoric times. Each of the books we read also mentioned the cave images with which the prehistoric people decorated cave walls. We thereby took a virtual field trip to the cave of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc in France and created cave art of our own.

We love it when a children’s book inspires us to create art of our own.