Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python

Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python
by Al Sweigart (Author)

Booktalk: Learn how to make computer games using the popular Python programming language–even if you’ve never programmed before!

Begin by building classic games like Hangman, Guess the Number, and Tic-Tac-Toe, and then work your way up to more advanced games, like a text-based treasure hunting game and an animated collision-dodging game with sound effects. Along the way, you’ll learn key programming and math concepts that will help you take your game programming to the next level.

Snippet: All you need is a computer, some free software called the Python interpreter, and this book. Once you learn how to create the games in this book, you’ll be able to develop games on your own.

Computers are incredible machines, and learning how to program them isn’t as hard as people think. A computer program is a bunch of instructions that the computer can understand, just like a storybook is a bunch of sentences that a reader can understand. To instruct a computer, you write a program in a language the computer understands. This book will teach you a programming language called Python.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2017 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Recycling

Recycling
by Rebecca Pettiford (Author)

Booktalk: For Earth Day –or any day– learn about how everyday products and packaging can be broken down and reconstructed into new items.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2017 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

A Rocketful of Space Poems

For National Poetry Month we are featuring A Rocketful of Space Poems, chosen by John Foster and illustrated by Korky Paul, at Growing with Science blog.

The collection includes poems from the likes of J. Patrick Lewis, Eric Finney, and Judith Nicholls. Many of the poems are not particularly serious, since they are about monsters, witches, magicians and aliens. They allow the reader to “fly into space, drive to the moon, meet an asteroid dog and a flurb blurp, and then play intergalactic Squibble-Ball.” As you can see, the featured poems are highly imaginative but have a science-based foundation underneath.

Korky Paul’s illustrations are wacky and delightful. Each two-page spread has a frame around it filled with fun things to discover.

Pick up A Rocketful of Space Poems today and share a few with young readers for National Poetry Month. Let their imaginations soar!

And be sure to stop by Growing with Science for related activities and more.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2016 Roberta Gibson at Growing with Science All Rights Reserved.

Amphibians

Amphibians (Animal Classification)
by Erica Donner (Author)

Booktalk: In this Animal Classification series book, early readers learn about the defining characteristics of this animal group. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage early readers as they discover what features set these animals apart.

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It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2017 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.