Kit Tries Again: Oops! Almost!
Description
Kit's first try doesn't work. The cardboard wobbles. The tape doesn't hold. The thing he built doesn't look quite like the thing he drew. Most kids stop right here. The thing didn't work, the day didn't go how they pictured, and the easiest answer is to walk away.
Kit does something different. Kit takes a breath. Kit says "oops, almost." Kit goes back to the table.
In this seventh book of the Kit's Little Sparks series, Kit takes the step that separates inventors from everyone else. The first prototype didn't work, so he tries again. Not perfectly. Not with new materials. Just with the patience to make one more attempt. He looks at what went wrong. He fixes the wobbly part. He cuts a new piece. He tries the tape from a different angle. He laughs at the parts that fall over. He keeps going.
Kit Tries Again teaches toddlers and preschoolers the most underrated skill in the inventor's toolkit: frustration tolerance. Adult inventors call it "frustration tolerance." Preschool teachers call it "the bridge between giving up and trying again." Either way, it is built through stories like this, and through small repeated practices of saying "oops, almost" instead of "I can't."
The book is built for ages 2 and up. Soft watercolor illustrations, page rhythms designed for read-aloud, and a closing activity page that invites the child to think about a time something didn't work and what they could try next. Parents and educators will find a free printable activity sheet, an educator guide aligned to NGSS science and engineering practices, and a narrated read-aloud at Little Sparks Books website.
Written by Chris Kuczynski, an engineer turned patent attorney and co-founder of a preschool. Kit's Little Sparks is the 20-book picture book series Chris wrote so every child can walk the inventor's path that real working inventors walk every day, starting at age 2.
Book 7 of Kit's Little Sparks. Part of the Making phase of the series (Books 5 through 8), where Kit draws, builds, tries again, and improves his ideas one fix at a time.
