Been There, Done That: Reading Animal Signs is a book for children, ages 4 to 8, to learn about their environment in a natural way. Written by Jen Funk Weber, this 32 page book follows the story of Cole, who comes to visit his friend, Helena. They take a stroll through the woods, and Helena shows Cole all of the animal signs that she sees. Helena sees signs of snowshoe hares, bald eagles, beavers, moose, grizzly bears, and humans. This book, which retails for $9.95 as a paperback, can be used by homeschoolers or children who attend school. While it can be read simply as a fun, educational book, it can also be used as much more than that. At the end of the story, there are extra additional pages in the back that cover topics such as Animal Signs Matching, Animal Signs Around You, and Tracks and Other Signs.

My daughters and I read this book aloud together and did some of the activities in the back. My girls are 6 and 7, and this book was at just the right level of writing and detail to keep them interested. I loved that it was a fairly quick read with fun illustrations, but it was also chock full of information. This book would work for most kinds of learners—auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. It’s also ideal for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers who would like to observe in nature what they learn through this book

For the level this book is written, it is excellent, and I would consider using it along with several others to teach my young kids about science in a fun way. To that end, I would have liked to have seen even more activities at the end of the book to teach my kids even more.

Been There, Done That: Reading Animal Signs is a fun book to read aloud to your children and teach them more about the world we live in and the animals we share this world with.

--Product review by Melissa Batai, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July, 2016