Recently I was about to check out one of dozens of homeschooling books I’ll be sure to read this year when I was flipping through its science section and found myself appalled at some of its language. The gist was that the author deemed evolution to be “junk science,” and that she had all of these “respectable” books about creationism listed for like-minded people to choose from instead.

This book was not marketed as a religious one; in fact, it looked pretty darn ordinary and did not mention Jesus, the Bible, or Billy Graham at all on its outside or inside cover. But I’m finding that more and more of the books written for—and especially by—homeschoolers tend to be religious whether you want them to be or not—further fanning my desire to write books for homeschoolers, but also that they be labeled so we know what we’re getting into. At least I wasn’t purchasing the book; I was only considering it for an interlibrary loan (see if your library has them; they probably do, and they are pretty much the highlight of my life!).

While reading through the ever-awesome Geek Mom blog, however, I ran across this super cool resource for parents and teachers who do teach evolution. It’s called Charlie’s Playhouse: Evolution for Kids, and it was created by—who else?—a Geek Mom. It’s a place where you can purchase all kinds of toys, visual aids, and even t-shirts (my favorite is a onesie that says “98% chimpanzee”) about evolution and other science topics.

The products offered here are so cute and helpful! There’s a flipbook where you can watch a fish evolve that I’d really like to purchase, as well as a giant evolutionary timeline with a mat you can walk on that features 67 different creatures across 600 million years of evolution, which won several toy of the year awards and is recommended for both teachers as well as homeschooling families.

Of course, the site isn’t all products (which are mostly eco-friendly, according to the site) for purchase; it also features lots of resources for parents, teachers, homeschoolers, and journalists, including interesting blog posts, book recommendations, and other cool things to learn. I can’t wait to get some of these cool science tools to use at home. My five-year-old is still very much into dinosaurs, as well as preventing extinction of modern animals, and some of these toys—particularly the animal cards and mat—would be right up her alley.