Learning is always fun, but sometimes, learning can be downright silly.  This is the main lesson I take away from National Geographic Kids Weird But True! series.  I was given four books from this series by the team at Moms Meet Canada, and it became a source of a whole lot of silly learning for everyone in this family (check out the volumes we got and one of our favorite pages on Instagram.)

I have to mention that these books were read by toddlers, and not by the older children that they were written for.  However, it begs to be underlined, again and again, how much toddlers love these books, especially toddlers who have enough language skills and listening abilities to ask questions about everything in these books, from the pictures to the facts they contain.

It being December and all, and us being in Canada, we focused mainly on the Canada and Christmas editions that we were sent.  Because each fact mentioned in these books comes with a very well chosen picture, it becomes easy for a parent to explain the fact being shared with a toddler using said picture.  And because the facts are really interesting and quite surprising, and because there are a total of at 3,500 facts in just the main books of the series, curious parents are going to enjoy flipping through these books as much as their children do.

I even brought the book to the dining room table, where the fact that we read became fodder for hilarious conversations over the course of our meal.  The soft covers of the books didn’t make them easy to leave open on the table, but that was easily remedied with a well placed smartphone.

These books are easy conversation starters and provide hours of family entertainment.  I’ll be taking one of these books on our next trip.  Going through 350 “outrageous facts” is bound to make a transcontinental flight go by a lot more quickly than anticipated!

I’m a huge book reader and a big supporter of encouraging everyone to read.  These books seem to be the kind that can help reading it to the next level, though.  As a community organiser, I can see, easily, the usability of these books as community-building tools.  Starting with bringing a family together around the dining room table to getting friends to talk about something interesting while hanging out, you’ll never run out of interesting things to share and, hopefully, spark a good conversation (or more…)

There are 10 volumes of Weird But True! series currently available, which is quite à propos, seeing how the series is celebrating its tenth anniversary.  There are also special editions available, such as the abovementioned Canada and Christmas editions.  All are available for purchase on the National Geographi Weird But True website.