Last Updated on July 31, 2020 by Natalie
I’ve followed Asia Citro’s blog for a few years now. I found it when I was looking for fun, messy play activities I could recreate at home for my littles. Her younger child is right around the same age as my kiddos, so she has many safe, fun activities for very young kids. In addition to messy play activities, she’s also written a book series about a young scientist and her mom. Young Zoey needs to run experiments in order to help out magical creatures. It’s fantastic!
Okay, so I love it, but what do my kids think?
➜Here are great messy play activities to do with kids, which are a great foundation for science experiments and talking about scientific concepts.
Disclaimer
Milkweed and Messes is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Posts on this site might contain affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission. I received a promotional copy of the first book, Dragons and Marshmallows, though a blog review was not expected or required by the publisher. I’ve purchased additional copies of the first book and purchased the rest of the series on my own.
Illustration of a hypothesis within Dragons and Marshmallows.
Before I tell you about Zoey and Sassafras
Full disclosure: I applied to be on the parent launch team, so I received free stuff, including an advance copy of the first book, Dragons and Marshmallows. No blog review was required in exchange. I’m writing this because the first book is so good and educational that I wanted my readers to hear about it! All opinions are mine.
The Zoey and Sassafras book series
In our educational journey (homeschooling/unschooling/worldschooling, whatever label you give it), I am always on the look out for fun and educational books, activities, and so forth. Zoey and her cat, Sassafras, discover her mom can see magical creatures! Not only that, these creatures will come to her mother for help when sick. The best part? Zoey can see them, too.
While Zoey’s mom is out of town, Zoey takes over! Her first sick animal is a baby dragon. Zoey’s first question is what do baby dragons eat? She lays out the experiment. She chooses 7 different foods, measures out the exact same amount of each, and puts one food on each of 7 identical plates.
Zoey’s hypothesis is that dragons eat worms. She conducts the experiment and … well, I won’t ruin the surprise!
Dragons and marshmallows
Citro writes in an engaging way and clearly illustrates scientific concepts (like how to do an experiment). It’s simple enough that my 3 and 4 year olds are fascinated with this book. My 4 year old son, in particular, is captivated by the story and insists we read several chapters a night. We are already on our third time through. I didn’t think my kids were ready for chapter books. I’m so glad to be mistaken!
One child wanted to be a marshmallow for this picture, in honor of “Dragons and Marshmallows”.
I’m also bought the first three books for my 8 year old niece, and she loved it, too. I hoped that the series would continue beyond the first 3 books and luckily for us, it keeps growing! Zoey is a great role model for both young girls and boys. When asked her favorite thing about the book, my 3 year old daughter said, “Zoey.”
My son concurs and also enjoys Sassafras.
#STEM
If you’re looking for an easy way to introduce scientific concepts, Dragons and Marshmallows (book one in the Zoey and Sassafras series) fits the bill. My children are eagerly awaiting the next book to come out!
That’s three thumbs up!
Zoey and Sassafras series updates
Since this review was originally published, Ms. Citro has written more books for the series! I have purchased all of them and my kids still love them at ages 7 and 8. Each book keeps the magical animal component and mixes it so well with real life science best practices (age appropriately, of course). They often want to do experiments, though still mostly on a play level.
The books are great stories that make science seem accessible and fun for kids. Though the protagonist is a girl, this series can absolutely also appeal to boys. There really isn’t anything else like it out there, with great stories and solid scientific concepts.
More About Asia Citro
Asia Citro’s blog is Fun at Home With Kids. While many things are too messy to do while traveling, there are many great ideas of fun projects to do at home! She also runs Innovation Press, which publishes educational books aimed at young girls. I also interviewed her for Blissmersion. You can read the interview with Asia Citro here.
Do you have feedback about the Zoey and Sassafras series? The best feedback comes from readers. Please leave your comments below!
