Catch a Fish, Throw a Ball, Fly a Kite: 21 Timeless Skills Every Child Should Know

by Jeffrey Lee, Philomena O'Neill (Illustrator)

Knowing how to fold a paper airplane can make you a better parent!

Well, maybe not better, but you’ll certainly have more fun with your children, who understandably assume that you know how to do just about everything. If they only knew!

Catch a Fish, Throw a Ball, Fly a Kite is for parents who want to teach their children what they really want to learn--even the skills you never mastered or haven't practiced in a few decades. This book contains clear, simple, step-by-step instructions for teaching more than twenty little life skills that every child should know, including how

• Work a yo-yo
• Build a fire
• Eat with chopsticks
• Skip a stone
• Fly a homemade kite
• Throw a Frisbee

While you teach your children, you get to learn the skills too, or at the very least improve on them. Activities range from practical, like locating the constellations, to completely frivolous fun, like turning a blade of grass into a musical instrument. Some are simple enough for four-year-olds, and others will appeal to the most jaded adolescent. Each skill is illustrated and is rounded out with fascinating trivia (did you know that the world’s largest sand castle measured six stories high?) or funny jokes. Age-appropriate information is given for each skill, but they all have one thing in You and your kids can do them together!

Genres: Reference, Parenting

273 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2004

Reviews

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeffrey Lee is a parent. He wrote Catch a Fish to impart valuable skills to children and parents alike. The book contains 21 skills. I am not one of the intended readers, but I learned new things despite that.

The book uses text and pictures but focuses on the text. The most important aspect of parenting is time. You don’t need to do everything or even have proficiency in the things you attempt.

I have no issues with the book, but the challenge is real. How do you teach someone how to throw with a paragraph? Lee does a great job, regardless. Other skills the book imparts are riding a bicycle, baking bread, and naming stars.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little read, if not for the jokes and interesting tidbits alone.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book to skim through. It has detailed instructions on how to teach children 21 different skills, ranging from baking bread to throwing a ball. I didn't expect it to be so thorough, so much so, that if you'd never even seen a ball before, you could follow each step and teach a kid to throw one (as in, throw and catch in a T-ball game). And it was kind of enlightening to me to realize how many of these I don't even know how to do (or do very well) -such as, eating with chopsticks, catching fish, doing a magic trick, etc. So I don't find them to be essential skills, necessarily (I think I turned out ok without some of them!).
But this paragraph in the introduction made it worth it for me:
"Teach the child in front of you, not the kid you wish she would be. It saves everyone a lot of frustration. And when you know exactly where she started, you can tell when she makes progress, no matter how small it is. Progress is always worth celebrating. Why miss out on anything so sweet?"
And that's a great point to remember no matter what you're trying to teach. :)

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is a very detailed instruction manual, I used it more as a checklist to see if there were any new "projects" we could tackle as a family. It's a fun book, but there's not anything in here that is not available on the internet.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explains different skills you could teach your child. I think I enjoyed the writing style even more than the information. I may revisit this when my children are older.

[Suz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I read it out of curiosity, but it really is well written.