Book Description
It's instant fun. Activities to do in minutes. Super-quick games to roll out at a moment's notice. Filling a need that every parent of young children has, 324 Anytime, Anywhere Activities! for Kids is a perfect antidote to those "booooring" car rides, endless waits in the doctor's office, restaurant fidgetiness, and assorted child-unfriendly chores. And you don't need to bring along any special props.

Several years ago, Cynthia Copeland shared the wisdom of her three children in Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me, which has 356,000 copies in print. Now she's written a parents' survival guide for those times when kids seem more at wit's end than wise. In the car? Try Red Car, Blue Car, Old Car, New Car; How Far, How Fast?; Raindrop Race; or I Heard It!, where the first one to hear the secret word on the radio wins. While waiting for the pediatrician, try Sock' Em, Cents of Hearing, or Body Double--draw the outline of your child lying on the examination table paper, then let him or her fill it in. Stuck at the bus stop? Gather the kids to play Simon Does, Knot Happening, or Blind Man Walking. There are mind benders, story-telling games (including It Was a Dark and Stormy Night)--in all, hundreds of ways guaranteed to engage their imagination and lift their spirits. Not to mention yours. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Kept in the car and put to good use daily!
This book is a lifesaver sometimes. It's enabled me to avoid cranky kid meltdowns in public places several times over. I keep it in the glove box of the car so we have it on hand for waiting in line, dr. office visits, waiting at restaraunts, airplane trips, etc. Anytime kids are antsy and complaining about waiting somewhere- pull out this little gem and get them busy with a distraction. Every frazzled parent needs one of these!

Should be delivered by a stork to every parent 3 years after birth!!!
Coming in at a small size of 4-inches wide, 6-inches tall and about an inch thick... this book is worth quantum times more than its size. It should be delivered by your family's stork on your kids' third birthdays! It's a must have for every diaper bag! It's even as critical in your minivan as gasoline!

The opening line is a quote from Cesare Pavese, "We do not remember days... we remember moments." And, this book is meant to create a lifetime of childhood memories in those everyday life events where we all have a few moments to spare (many of which you don't realize you have!): waiting for food in restaurant, waiting in line at grocery store, waiting in a waiting room, long drives, short drives, even when mom and dad are just plain ol' busy, etc.

Here's some examples that I'm gonna randomly open the book and include:

Once the waiter takes your drink order, choose one family member as a guesser. The rest pass a penny from person to person underneath the table until the drinks arive. Once they do, everyone puts their closed hands on the table. The guesser then must guess who holds the penny. It's not rocket science. It's quick. It's fun. And, it beats watching the kids try to color on the back of the menu with the lousy yellow restaurant crayon that breaks into 50 small pieces!

Waiting forever for the doctor to arrive? Have your child draw their body double on the crinkly white paper that covers the examination table. Color in eyes, nose, clothing, where it hurts, etc. This makes the time go faster and distracts the discomfort your little one might be having that brought them to the doctor in the first place.

Got a drive the kid's aren't looking forward to? Have one come up with a secret category in their head (billboards, blue pickup trucks, cars with something on their roof). Each time you pass it on your drive, your child counts out loud the number of times they see their category item. Everyone else must guess the category. The correct guesser goes next.

The book's even loaded with cool little tips. Got kids who can't sit still? Keep them in the car as you drive through the drive-through. Once you get your food, unload them. Go inside and eat immediately from the sack vs. the tray!

Buy the book to get the other 321 great ideas. It's cheaper than one hour's worth of babysitting! And, your kids will remember these moments with you forever!!!

Greatest little book!!
This book has helped with both my 3 yr old and my 13 yr old!!! It is a great little book with loads of ideas!

Creating Fun
'Boring' is one bad word around our house. Creative and intelligent children can create fun where ever they may be and without a lot of props. This book is full of good ideas for doing just that. We keep ours in the car to give us ideas when we are driving, waiting or just plain out of good ideas to keep us occupied. I would highly recommend it for any family.

Excellent family activity book
This is a really well written and beautifully designed book. Each of the activities is genuinely fun and kid-pleasing, and not something you've seen printed over and over again in parenting and women's magazines. Even the categories of games are fun: e.g., waiting room games, hairdresser games, bus stop games, waiting-in-line games. The author put a lot of thought into this handy, purse-sized activity book and it shows. This is the best family activity book I've found yet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lifesaver on the way to DisneyWorld
Every time my children got bored on the 1600 mile trip to DisneyWorld, I would pull out this book and find a new game. They now have their favorites that we play every time we are in the car for more than 20 minutes. Great little book. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
This colorful book of crafts features fun-to-make projects that give families positive and creative reasons to get together. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Beautiful color photos, short on practicality.
I am still trying to figure out where the 501 crafts are in this book, considering there are only 224 pages. The photos and projects that are included arecolorful and beautiful, but not practical. I'd have to make a few trips to the store to purchase the materials needed for these projects. Better to subscribe to a magazine like "Pack-o-fun" or buy a different book if you are looking for projects you will actually take time to create.

501 Fun to Make Family Crafts
We are enjoying tthis craft book.Lots of fun ideas to do with the kids!!

Wow!So many different projects in all seasons!
In this book, they grouped the projects with nice symbols and by season to make it easier for you.There are Nature Projects, Back-to-School Projects, Bird Projects, Sport Projects, Pumpkin Decorations, and a whole lot more!The Cool Paper Book Covers in the Fall Season are a good project for kids (as well as a lot of other projects for kids).My favorite project in the book are the heart embellished Valentine Day cards.I haven't made any of those projects yet, but I am sure I will have so much fun making them! :-)

Great book of crafts for the holiday and fun with Kids
The wife enjoys all kinds of crafts. When she saw this book she knew it would be a keeper. She enjoys working up things to make with the kids. It provides a lot of things we can make with the kids. A fun family time.

some many ideas so little time
This is a great addition to any kids craft library.

The ideas a grouped by seasons.We haven't done any of these craft yet. We are having a hard time chosing one to start with!Lots of fun for years to come! ... Read more

Book Description
Useful for both parents and children, this guide to the seder service provides all the Hebrew parts that families desire combined with English text for those needing help in translation. Two versions of the Passover story-one for adults and a brief one for children-are provided. In addition to all of the seder's 14 steps, this Haggadah provides explanations of the Passover traditions, as well as fun multiple-choice questions so families can understand the service better and gain a greater appreciation for its purpose and meaning. Many of the features are designed to encourage discussion among family members, both young and old, which is an important part of the Passover experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Disappointing
I've been searching for a way to make the seder more engaging and fun for kids -- and I mean little kids, like from toddlerhood until adolescence. For them (and for many adults) the hour or two until dinner is just plain boring -- a whole lot of talking with a smattering of songs, but not really fun songs (think Wiggles). This book had a promising title, good reviews and a colorful cover, but it just doesn't live up to its name. Like so many other "fun" or "family friendly" haggadot, its answer to the boredom is more talking: discussion topics, interesting facts and history, quizzes, etc. Those are all well and good for adults and older kids, but for the wee ones it just makes it drag on longer. It's not particularly well illustrated either -- not in a way that would engage small children while the adults drone on for what seems like an eternity. Young children need physical stimulation (songs with choreographed hand movements they can learn, for instance) and broader and more energetic interactions. In defense of this book, I haven't found an actually really fun haggadah yet and I've been searching for a couple years. Maybe it doesn't exist and I need to make up my own.

The Really Fun Family Haggadah
We read the Haggadah over and we think this will be the best year for your seder yet.My childern are 8 and 5. The older one reads hebrew the younger is able to sing the songs.We are looking forward to sharing this new family tradition with extened family and friends. ... Read more

Product Description
Tired of the "Me- Me- Me" syndrome? Want your children to be LESS greedy and selfish and MORE generous, charitable, and hardworking? Then you will absolutely love this book! Merrilee Boyack shares 52 ideas on how to get children to love to serve. Each chapter includes an engaging service idea, modifications for young children or teenagers, family discussion tips, and fun family activities.Youth leaders, and Scout leaders looking for great service activity suggestions will also treasure this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

shallow water
This book is really geared to the lower denominator in terms of what there is to do in the Black Hills.Not very much insight that you can't get from the tourist info you get from flyers.Should say more about how anti-family Deadwood has become and about the incredible natural resources that are in the area.

travel lover
We just returned from South Dakota.We took our [...]grandson.The book was perfect for us.It gave us all the things that kids loved to do and we let him decide which ones he wanted to see.We had 5 days there and we used it all the time.We had bought another book but it was not nearly as good as this one.

Great guide for going to South Dakota with kids
We just got back from spending over a week in the Badlands and Black Hills. I turned to this book over and over since we brought 3 kids under the age of 10. A great resource when you're looking for things to do with kids. You'll need a separate book for hotels, restaurants, etc. but this book was exactly what I needed to plan activities throughout the day that my kids wouldn't be totally bored with. ... Read more

Book Description
BABY'S FAVORITE LIFT-THE-FLAP FUN IN ONE BOX!

Everybody in Baby's family loves Baby!

Four lift-the-flap books about babies and their very special family members.

THIS BOX SET CONTAINS:

Where Is Baby's Mommy?

Daddy and Me

Grandpa and Me

Grandma and Me

... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great gift or item for your own child
My daughter loves these books now...She didn't love them when I first purchased them, when she was 9 months old.But by about 13 months they were her favorites since she had figured out how to lift the flaps on her own.The books have held up well to her rough handling.I think the price is excellent for 4 board books of this quality and will use these as shower gifts in the future.The books are very colorful, cute and fun and help build baby's vocabulary without being too heavy on the amount of words per page.

Nice little book set, some issues with flaps.
This is a very cute little box set.My daughter has always enjoyed books by Karen Katz.I love the interactive aspect of it. However, as is the case with all Karen Katz's books, the flaps come off way too easily when a child pulls on them slightly. I have to use clear tape to attach the flaps back where they belong in all of the books. We already had to buy 3 replacements for the books my daughter enjoys the most. Perhaps it's the publisher's way to ensure constant demand. I found these books at local TJMaxx and Marshall's for $2-$4.

A Must-Have for Interactive Reading
These books are a must-have for all babies! The artwork is adorably colorful, and the interactivity of the flaps makes reading more fun; it gives baby something to do while you read.

Great books
Our daughter fell in love with these books around 6 or 7 monhts and still gets excited and selects them over others at 14 months. She has learned so much through them too! We have many of Katz board books with the flaps, and are so happy the author is so prolific. Our daughter likes them all, but the 4 here are her favorites (and "What Does Baby Say?"). Keep them coming!

Great for the family
These books are a great way for everyone in the family to feel appreciated and loved.They make the reader (grandmother for example) feel even more special.I love that.The only thing is that though the babies in the book do look like they could be a boy or a girl (come on, you know they do), at least one of the stories (the grandmother one) is clearly for one gender.So it's like my son's reading about getting a nightgown from his grandmother.
They're also sturdy enough for my 9 month old to play with and chew on.These aren't his favorite books (that's Violet's House) but they're still good in general.

And I love that it's cheaper to buy the set than it is to buy the books individually! :)I love book sets. ... Read more

Book Description
A year's worth of unplugged activities to keep kids entertained and keep the family connected.

Recent studies show that too much time spent in front of the television can lead to attention deficit disorder in children. But most parents don't need science to tell them that there are better ways to entertain kids than to prop them in front of "electronic babysitters." Full of amazingly simple, easy-to-implement suggestions, The Ultimate Book of Unplugged Family Activities provides a year's worth of inspiring alternatives.

Here are ideas for entertaining kids while you cook or for turning sick days into indoor crafts days; ideas for distracting kids while waiting in a long line or for engaging them in games during a long car trip. With The Ultimate Book of Unplugged Family Activities, parents can turn spare time into share time, as well as too-much-time-on their hands into time well spent. Comprehensive and constantly creative, it is a book every household should have within reach. ... Read more

Product Description
Hardback edition ... Read more

Book Description

Family Computer Fun: Digital Ideas Using Your Photos, Movies, and Music will give you ideas for dozens of fun projects to enjoy with your family. The book starts with a quick tour of what's needed for the projects in the book, which doubles as a guide to buying a new PC or products to enhance your current one.

Projects in the book include creating custom photos albums to share, editing photos to add effects or retouch, uploading home movies to edit and burn to DVDs, sharing video or photos over the Internet, and turning a PC into a home recording studio. Later chapters offer a quick guide to streaming video and audio to a TV and stereo in the living room.

The author creates each project with tools that are both affordable and easy-to-use, and finishes with pointers to more advanced software should you want to explore further. Unlike other books on digital media, the activities in Family Computer Fun are designed with the family in mind, with software that anyone can use and projects that will be fun for the entire family to explore together.

Customer Reviews (1)

your PC as a media centre
Bond shows how your PC can be an invaluable and fun part of your life, if you want to capture and manipulate pictures, video and audio. The idea is to transform the PC into a digital media centre. Now, to be sure, there has been a lot of hype about this kind of thing, from vendors. Here, you can see for yourself what is easily achievable by an average or new PC user.

Many of the comments in the first part of the book are directed towards a reader who might already have been taking traditional photos for years. (Decades?)Bond explains a photo editing package called PhotoShow. This can trivially remove redeye from your photos of people that you took with a flash, for example. With traditional photos, redeye was a constant affliction to be endured. But now, it is remarkably easy to remove. PhotoShow has many other features, of course. Like annotating a photo with text. Or rescaling and rotating the photo.

Later parts of the book discuss manipulating audio and video. Not surprisingly, these operations are more intricate than simply editing single images. But Bond explains how, with the right software, you can also understand and apply these ideas. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Every family with young kids should get this book!
This book has fun excellent ways to raise Great Commission kids.The chapters are short enough for a busy mom to read and inspiring enough to get me rejuvenated. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

GREAT FAMILY FUN TRAVEL COMPANION IS A USER-FRIENDLY KNOW IT ALL THAT EVERYONE WILL LIKE!
VERY USEFUL AND RECENTLY UPDATED - 5th EDITION [2004]

IN A NUTSHELL:

This a very useful travel guide for local families with children, families visiting for the day, weekend, summer or winter. It is useful for families looking for fun attractions, places to eat, places to stay, shop or just plain out see things. The key here is family travel and fun.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK:

The book is organized by region [5] within Indiana making eight separately organized touring regions. Other books in this series have seperated the major cities, making them into touring regions of their own, but this book includes Indianapolis in the "Central Region".

Each region has a chapter that begins with; "TOP PICKS". Ten interesting destinations and their phone numbers. A MAP OF the "Southern Indiana" region is on the 2nd page of this chapter and on each of the following chapters the same organization continues with a regional road MAP following the "TOP TEN PICKS".

Following the map, the "TOP TEN PICKS" plus many more attractions are detailed covering an average of forty pages per region.
At the end of each region's chapter there is a hard-to-miss page titled "ANNUAL EVENTS" which is formatted very much like the "Top Picks" that begins each chapter. "ANNUAL EVENTS" aids in the planning stage so that your excursion may be as well timed and fun-filled as possible.

If there is one weakness here, it is the lack of discrimination between the interesting destinations and the world-class destinations. You will have to figure that out for yourself. It is difficult to know which park is best for you and your family and of course which accomodations and/or meals. However, this is generally a personal choice. You will find an extensive "ATTRACTIONS KEY" which aids the reader to quckly see all the ammenities any given attraction has to offer. The format outline above is repeated for the five distinct regions in equal detail. There is alot to go through and you can do it quickly and effectively with this guide.

As concise and useful as one can expect for so convenient and portable a travel guide. This 5 th edition is brand new for 2004 and represents the second edition of this book written by Margaret Gisler.

Easy to use
Book is divided into five areas: central, western, eastern, northern, and southern. I found it easy to locate places to go based on region. Book also includes places to eat and stay.

Fun With The Family in Indiana
I thought this book gave very good descriptions and fun things to do with the family in northern IN.However, I did find an error in a phone number which made it difficult to locate the Hannah Lindahl Children's Museum.The phone number is 219-254-4540. Also the city was misspelled.It shouldread Mishawaka.Otherwise, a good resource.

The top ten picks were agood mix of things to do indoors and outdoors and all could be done in aday trip or less depending on your starting location. ... Read more

Book Description

Volunteering is an important way to cultivate compassion, gratitude, and empathy in children and to bring families together in meaningful ways. For busy parents who want to spend time with their kids while still contributing to their community, family volunteering is an op-portunity to combine two commitments into one. This book is -perfect for every family because it offers flexibility--volunteer for long-term projects or one-time events. Whether you have a two-year-old or an eighteen-year-old, you'll find everything you need to know to have a fulfilling and fun volunteer experience, from finding the right opportunity for your family to answering hesitations you may have. The perfect book for families who want to do good things for their community, spend quality time together, and have fun!

The Busy Family's Guide to Volunteering shows you how to access the resources and information available to find volunteer opportunities that meet the needs of your family. Every family can begin volunteering -together today with the wonderful ideas provided, such as volunteering:

To start a neighborhood garden
At animal shelters
At children's museums
At schools reading to children
For disaster relief organizations
For campaigns for candidates running for office
For campaigns to ban land mines
And many more!

Jenny Friedman has published over one hundred articles for both local and national magazines, including Parents, Parenting, and American Baby.

Customer Reviews (4)

A great gift for families
Between two careers, three kids, homework, countless school and after-school activities, and the daily grind of laundry, cleaning, and cooking, I have yet to find that perfect "balance" proclaimed possible by so many women's magazines. Throw in the idea of volunteering, and I might just cry. Tell me I should get the whole family involved, and I'm more likely to laugh.

How in the world could I find time to get my family to volunteer together?

Jenny Friedman has an idea. In fact, she has lots of ideas for families of all shapes, sizes, and income levels. From toddlers to teens, Friedman lists activities kids can tackle from home to the ends of the earth.

Friedman makes the case that one of the best ways to teach kids compassion and responsibility is by letting them help others, and by tying their volunteering opportunities to their interests and passions.

Accordingly, her new book lays out volunteer possibilities working directly with people, protecting animals, supporting the environment, fighting poverty, building community, and taking social action. From letter-writing to mentoring, serving in soup kitchens to organizing fundraisers, tutoring to coupon clipping, there are ideas even the youngest and the most over-stressed can manage.

This book should be in every church and school library, and would be a great gift for young (and not-so-young) families.

A must-read for all families
Jenny Friedman's book is the ultimate "how-to" for busy parents who understand the true value of caring about others; want to raise children who are empathic, caring and generous; and are seeking meaningful ways to connect and spend time with their children. As a child psychologist and busy working parent of three children, this book is particularly meaningful for me. While I strive to teach my children the importance of community awareness and volunteerism, I often feel as though there aren't enough hours in the day. Jenny Friedman's book provides simple, easy, meaningful ways for families to make a difference in the lives of others-- often without ever leaving the living room! We have already incorporated countless suggestions from this book we are so grateful for this invaluable reference.

Opportunities to make a difference
The Busy Family's Guide to Volunteering is a wonderfully comprehensive digest of multiple opportunities that exist for families to work together to make a difference on a one-time, intermittent, or ongoing basis. Ms. Friedman offers very supportive advice about not letting this become one more complication in a busy family's life. Her book offers so many different ways to contribute so that almost anyone's schedule can be accommodated. The anecdotal stories contribute to the sense that these are reachable and doable tasks for all ages. The many references are concise and informative; the thoughtful appendix provides ways to get started as you assess your families' interests and abilities to help. This is a valuable resource for home, school and public libraries, as well as faith-based organizations and service groups.

Excellent book on how to practice giving as a family
JFK asked us to see what we can do for the country rather than what the country can do for us. I read this book and got excellent insight as to how we can practice family values by working together to help the world around us. Volunteering as a family provides some solid foundation for the children of tomorrow. As we all have learned, our children, learn not by merely what we say and ask them to do but by what we do.I am delighted to see Dr. Jenny Friedman write a simple, step by step yet very compelling and practical ideas for the families to provide service to make this world a better place to live.

After I read this book, I decided to buy a personal copy of this book as my holiday gift to all of my staff. My staff are based not only in the United States but also in Japan, Ireland, Spain and Germany. Each of them have already called me to express their appreciation for this thoughtful book and it's ideas for volunteering with their family.

I wish this author great success in promoting this idea not only in the USA but around the world.

Jay ... Read more