Yeah, mostly the DK Eyewitness books weren't
my thing, for sure (well, except for the one about string instruments)-- but DD seems to like that scattered kind of visual/spatial approach. Or did, at least, at younger ages. They may have appealed to her primarily because they are so good to look at again and again. There's no narrative flow, but they are a rich source of "Oh, wow... I didn't see that before!" moments for re-reading. Some kids definitely like that kind of thing better than others, though. My DD tends to be a hummingbird reader like that, but I am not.
Someone else mentioned 'shopping' at the library for non-fiction. I second that. We basically went once a week and checked out dozens of books. In the Dewey decimal system, this is section 500~680, by the way... and in the LC system, it's call numbers Q, and to a lesser extent R and T...
I second the recommendation for the Cornell Ornithology program. We were a birdwatch yard for a lot of years, and we still do birdcounts. A truly
local bird guide and a small pair of binoculars is a must! DD's obsession for the past few years has been wildlife photography of birds in our yard, so we've deliberately planted attractive plants to lure certain species of birds and insects. (Along the way, we studied different modes of plant pollination, invasive non-natives, insect/mammal/bird vision and sensory processing, and the electromagnetic spectrum.) We also did FrogWatch at a local wetland (and learned about mutagens, amphibians as indicator species, etc). One other-- my DD's been addicted to
What'sThatBug for many years.
The
USGS has some incredible resources about vulcanism, seismicity, and natural resources.
For weather, we like Weather Underground-- lots of data to look at there. (It can even be a little overwhelming.)
Sometimes your local county extension office can be a rich source of this kind of naturalist-oriented science/field study.
