“Students continue to devour activity books and kits that allow them to experience concepts firsthand,” says Karen Edwards, editorial director at Workman Kids. The company’s long-running Brain Quest line is a key example. “In 2023, we published the 30th anniversary revision of our core pre-kindergarten through grade six multi-subject workbooks and smart cards, and one of the new features that garnered much praise is the section that introduces students to the foundations of technology on a variety of levels,” Edwards says.
Workman’s Learn by Sticker series was also “extremely well received,” according to Edwards. As a result, “we expanded the series by publishing two more of the math- and phonics-focused activity books in May of this year and have more in the pipeline,” she says. “The innovative approach of creating fun pictures through solving math and ELA problems really resonated with young learners and their families.”
At Quarto, “We are seeing a maintained desire to cultivate screen-free learning and outdoor engagement for the next generation of digital natives,” says Angela Corpus, associate director of marketing. “As public school enrollment declines, parents are looking for creative, easy, out-of-the-box resources for alternative learning.”
Examples on her list include last year’s Nature School: Lessons and Activities to Inspire Children’s Love for Everything Wild. “It demonstrated the ongoing demand for experiential, nature-based learning resources,” Corpus says. Plans are to publish a companion interactive write-in workbook later this year and to bring out series extensions Planet Earth (Nov.) and In the Garden (July 2025). Another new title, Science in the Wild (Sept.), “takes STEM/STEAM learning outside with fun and accessible projects and activities achievable regardless of whether your outside is covered with grass or concrete,” Corpus adds.
Stephanie Miller, content strategy director for Capstone, notes that her company has lined up two new series with hands-on elements. The Pebble Maker Science series “provides early readers with simple and age-appropriate activities that supplement the topics they are studying in the classroom,” she says. Each title includes one project with step-by-step instructions and provides additional resources for the reader to take the activity to the next level.
The new In the Lab with Max Axiom series, featuring one of the publisher’s most popular characters, is aimed at independent readers. “Max invites readers into his lab to learn more about a variety of physical science concepts,” Miller says. And, like Pebble Maker Science, this series gives readers hands-on activities that “they can do in school or at home, with minimal adult assistance.”
