Just in case the kids need an incentive to get outside, hosting a picture-book picnic in the garden can turn even the simplest of sun-times into an adventure.

In Michelle Beech’s peep-through picture-book The Tiger Child (post wave, £12.99, 3+) the young protagonist needs encouragement to leave the comforts of her bedroom. She would be happy to stay in her indoor teepee, but when she spots the swish of a tail in the undergrowth outside her window, she is inspired to investigate the secrets of the garden.

Is it a cat, a fox, a tiger out there? Is she brave enough to find out? “Come, child, into the wild,” provides a reassuring refrain through the pages as the girl confronts her fears, and Beech plays with the visual reader’s expectations too in her expressive illustrations as the peep-through format comes into its own.

Now the young reader has found their way outside, will they be able to spot The Green Child, the star of this gentle introduction to environmental responsibility (Post Wave, £12.99, 3+). Green Child has just woken from her seasonal slumber to spread an important message through the ever-brightening summer days: “The world is much too hot and there is work they need to do.”

Hollie Hughes’ allusive text is suggestive rather than prescriptive, and Britta Teckentrup’s exquisite textural illustrations, which layer earthy tones and nature-shapes throughout, are the star of the show. The Green Child, with her floral headdress, must be saved.

The protagonist of Laura Dockrill and Eva Byrne’s Sockflea (Walker Books, £12.99, 3+) is raring to get out into the wild. This little elephant is “SO good at nature”, she doesn’t even need to bring her teddies when she goes camping overnight, despite the caution of her “stressy adult”.

Luckily, her adult manages to improvise a new friend to comfort her – the floppy-eared Sockflea – who has as much personality as all the other creatures brought to life in Byrne’s lively, large-eyed characterisations. (Bad Debbie is particularly memorable.) Sockflea is a great story for exploring both caution and comfort.

For a shared reading experience with bickering siblings, Rafi and Rita (Walker Books, £12.99, 3+) is just the ticket. It pairs prolific picture-book maker Jarvis with the equally industrious Chris Judge for what becomes an amusing ‘tall-off’ between twin giraffes.

Rafi and Rita “like the same things … do the same things … are almost the same in every way … Except … ” Rafi claims he is taller. Rita disagrees. So begins an amusing bragging battle in which each twin makes more and more outrageous claims, forcing Judge to create images that traverse the spine and must be held sideways to be fully appreciated. With their mother’s gentle intervention, the children manage to make up, but, as the final page tantalises the young reader, only until the next time.

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How to Do (Almost) Everything (What on Earth, £25, 8+) will give young adventurers plenty of reasons to head outside, with a ‘how to’ formula for all kinds of fun in the natural world. Try spotting stars without a telescope, reading fossils or the phases of the moon. Give growing a sunflower, identifying birdsong, or tying knots a chance. Follow expert instructions to maintain your own bike or, better yet, build a den.

If you get lost, you can look up how to read a map. In case of a (minor) emergency, page 74 will show you how to tend to wounds. There are indoor options for rainy days too, from the highly practical tutorial in boiling an egg to the more intriguing steps you can take to write a secret message on a piece of toast.

Written by Becky Baines with humour as well as clarity, colourful drawings by Laurie Avon are blended with photos in a stimulating design, making How to Do (Almost) Everything a brilliant boredom buster for long summer days.

For further inspiration, Mix and Match Inventors (Post Wave, £14.99, 5+) by Jane Wilsher and Mar Hernández invites budding engineers to explore the infinite possibilities of machines, with a brilliant flip-book format that allows the reader to mix and match the possibilities of powering a variety of vehicles and tools, from solar-powered tractors to fan-powered maglevs, star-powered robo dogs to dream-powered beds.

Wilsher’s clear and concise texts illuminate the science behind suction-power and electromagnetic forces, while Hernández’s illustrations on graph paper let us follow the same two curious characters across the pages as they travel under the sea and into space, making music, ice-cream and cakes with their inventions.

Sara Keating is a freelance arts journalist