Unplug Your Preschooler with more than 200 screen-free games and activities

Unplug Your Preschooler with more than 200 screen-free games and activities!

“Just plain fun!... Will help parents give their children the kind of childhood that more and more children are missing.”––Mary Piper, PhD., author of Reviving Ophelia Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
 
From Animal Doctor to Lunch Bag Puppet, Letter Hunt to Life-Size Me, here are more than 200 screen-free games and activities to help kids enjoy the wholesome, old-fashioned experience of playing creatively and freely...without technology. There are outdoor games and indoor games, games to play solo and games to play with others, arts and crafts, songs and rhymes, playdates and party favorites––even instant activities to do at the kitchen table while dinner’s cooking. All games are preschooler-tested and approved.  

A note to parents: Play matters! Technology has its place, but these unplugged games are designed to stretch the imagination, spark creativity, build strong bodies, and forge deeper connections with family and friends.

My Thoughts

So we all know that this last year has been tough. There has been a lot of time spent in the house with our children. In the beginning of quarantine and the lockdowns, I remember saying, "He is cooped up inside and can't see his friends, who cares if he watches a bunch of tv or plays with his tablet." Well as Covid lockdown goes on and on and on and on, we have to change up our thinking with that. No one thought it would go this long. It is time to put some structure back into the world for my children lol. This book is adorable, and well organized. There are sections for how you are going to play; by yourself, with mom and dad, other kids, at a party. There is indoor activities, outdoor activities, things to do in the car, etc. There is a great and descriptive introduction on their theories behind this back and how children should and do play, and also how to use the book. Definitely something a parent should read before getting into these activities. There are quick activities, long activities, toy recommendations, recommendations for children with special needs.  

Sometime they are things as silly as putting stickers on cans in your pantry, building a fort our of a kitchen table, to more intricate things like making your own play dough, and art work out of fabric scraps. Some of the things were a little obvious like sidewalk chart or painting, but some of the things got me excited to try and were very inventive like Dunkin' Ducks. They even have a "shopping list" in the back for what you should have on hand for a good preshcool play closet. We have tried a bunch of them. We just moved and the tools and fix it activity was adorable. It went really well with him "fixing" a bunch of stuff in the house while we unpacked. It backfired us when he took Daddy's hammer for him, and gave him his "hammer" telling him he wanted to switch lol. Otherwise it was adorable. We have done sidewalk chalk, built forts, made our own play dough. I think as we get into more of the cold of winter this book will become our everyday manual. Highly recommend for your kids. It gets very inventive. 

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Peel & Discover Sticker Books will take you on adventures

The sticker book series that provides young learners with a world of intriguing information to discover using—you guessed it!—stickers! Each sticker page features hidden facts underneath stickers. Once a sticker is peeled off, a relevant, fascinating fact is revealed. Activity pages with corresponding prompts are featured next to the to the sticker pages for readers to use as sticker landscapes, adding hours of fun to the whole experience. Kids will turn into trivia buffs right before your eyes. 

Welcome to a world of watery wonders!

Discover the world’s oceans using hundreds of stickers featuring puffins and penguins, horseshoe crabs and clown fish, and mysterious deep-sea creatures like the Dumbo Octopus, the Vampire Squid, and more. Plus build your own coral reef, wade into tide pools, and explore water so deep that sunlight can’t reach it as you learn about the amazing diversity of life under the sea.
 
How it works:

1. Peel a sticker to reveal a fascinating fun fact
2. Use stickers, markers, crayons, and more to decorate the activity pages—make them your own!
3. Once all the stickers are peeled, remove the overlay for a Peel + Discover surprise

                                               

Welcome to outer space!

Blast off with hundreds of stickers featuring colorful planets, swirling black holes, explosive supernovas, sleek spacecraft, and many brave astronauts—including Laika, the first dog in space! Plus go on a mission to Mars, create a constellation, orbit the sun in the asteroid belt, and float around the international Space Station as you explore the mysterious wonders of the universe.

                                                

Welcome to the world of things that go!

On your mark! Get set! Go! With hundreds of stickers featuring vehicles of all shapes and sizes, from the space shuttle to the horse and buggy, muscle cars to pirate ships, ice cream trucks, submarines, Zambonis, and more. Plus, put on an airshow, build a train, win a boat race, and invent a brand-new vehicle as you learn about the machines that take us over land, across the water, through the sky, and all around the world!

My Thoughts

These books are great. When I, as an adult, learn things, that is a huge bonus lol. My son likes all of these subjects, but he really got into the Cars! Trucks! Trains! one. The books are very similar in their format so I will discuss this one first. Number one, there are a lot of stickers! This book is definitely not wimpy on the stickers. There are all sorts of different activities your child can do. My child is only four so there was definitely a lot of vocabulary to explain to him, but he loves to ask, "What is that?" When you peel the stickers, there are facts underneath each of them. There are mazes, create your own flight formation pages, build your own train, all sorts of scenes to build for yourself. There are boat races, constructions zones, airport landing, etc. These books are very interactive, and customizable. My son can really make this book his own. I also like that unlike some activity books where they are done with them in a half an hour, this book is chock full of activities to keep your child busy for a few different sessions of play or for a very long time. They even have some more unusual vehicles as well like horse and buggy, zambonis, and ice cream trucks. All the different types of vehicles that kids love and are interested in, which is pretty much all of them.

The Oceans and Space books are similar formats with different activities and build a scenes for each of their topics. For the Space book there are scenes like Moon Walks. Mission to Mars, Stargazers, etc. In the Oceans book there is coral reefs, tide pools, shipwreck, etc. All of these books lead to hours of fun and you will not regret getting these books for your child for a long trip or any time really.    

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On the Plane Children's Activity Book

Taking a flight is always exciting, and On the Plane Activity Book is the perfect companion for your journey. Play ‘I Spy While I Fly’, take a multiple-choice quiz and spot the identical pilots on their way through the airport.

 Packed with plenty to keep kids occupied at the airport or during the flight, this book also includes planes to decorate, matching games, fill-in-the-face drawing tasks, true-or-false airplane and flying facts, and behind-the-scenes diagrams to explore. All children need to do is grab some pens and pencils, get ready to draw, write and play, and let their creativity soar!

A recent study found that kids who spend more time on screens tend to be less happy than kids who engage in non-screen activities like reading traditional printed media or doing activities on printed material. Many parents are looking for fun, non-screen activities for kids to do during the winter months. 

My Thoughts

Let's paint a picture that most of us have experienced at some point, it is just you and your toddler on a flight. They are getting antsy, they do not want to watch a movie and snacks are not working. They are starting to get squirmy and louder by the second. You are starting to feel slightly panicky. I had that recently happen to me, when we flew through a bunch of storms, and they did not turn off the seatbelt sign once throughout the whole flight. I wish I had this book then. 

This book is super cute and chock full of great activities for kids when they are on a plane. Each page is a different activity and the pages are colorful and bright. I actually enjoyed doing a few of the activities with my son, which only goes so far with "Mr. Independent". You can make your own passport, design your own plane, I spy games, multiple choice quiz, removable world map, diagrams of planes. My son is your stereotypical little boys. Everything is planes, trains, and automobiles. He loves this book. Only one small problem, after doing a bunch of activities in this book, he took it upon himself to walk right into the cockpit of the plane. Thankfully the pilots were really cool about it. Save yourself some anguish, bring this book on your next flight. 

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Book Review & #Giveaway - Spot a Lot! Vehicle Adventure

Counting has never been so fun! With this amazing picture book, children will love to search, count and learn about the different vehicles!




My Thoughts

Spot A Lot! Vehicle Adventure is a really fun book. It starts out with a delivery boy getting stuck when his truck breaks down. He needs to find another way to deliver his package, and on each page, he hitches a ride from a different type of vehicle. There are trucks, scooters, tractors, airplanes and more.  When he finally reaches his destination and drops off the package, he even gets to ride a rocket pack.

The story is cute and short, so it holds even small children's attention, but this book also helps to teach counting skills. Each time he switches vehicles, the number rises. So there are 2 cars, 3 dirt bikes, etc. There are also other little tasks on each page for the kids to complete, like finding mermaids in the ocean amidst all the boats or sleepy moles  in holes after the yellow diggers wake them up. All of these activities encourage kids to count.

Both my four-year-old son and five-year old daughter really enjoyed this book. The illustrations are adorable and the activities are lots of fun. It's a great book to take along on car rides because it will keep kids entertained for hours.

 The Giveaway

One lucky winner is going to receive a copy of Spot a Lot! Vehicle Adventure  ! To enter just fill out the giveaway tools  form below. Open to the US only. Giveaway will end 6/715. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to Parragon for offering this fantastic prize.

Entry-Form

DISNEY GO GREEN : A Family Guide To A Sustainable Lifestyle

                                           
LEARN FROM MICKEY AND FRIENDS HOW TO GO GREEN

With Fun Arts And Crafts Activities As Well as Tips and Tricks, DISNEY GO GREEN Shows How To Live A More Sustainable Lifestyle

Many children are interested in sustainability and learning how their actions impact the planet.  Now everyone can join Mickey and friends in living greener with DISNEY GO GREEN: A Family Guide To A Sustainable Lifestyle (Edda USA; $12.95/hardcover).  The book explains how to create a more sustainable lifestyle in a simple, understandable way by exploring the Three R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – and discussing our ecological footprint – a measure of how much we take from the earth’s resources to produce the things we use.  DISNEY GO GREEN includes interesting facts and great tips for sustainable living, and has lots of fun activities to try at home and school.

The purpose of the craft activities is to show children how to be artistic using items found in nature or reusing items, to reduce the impact on the planet.  For instance, instead of going to the store to buy paint, children can make their own watercolors by boiling plants in water to release their natural dyes.  Here are a few options:

red onion peels: crimson red & burgundy
pokeberries: deep red
orange pekoe tea: brown
black walnuts: black
Queen Anne’s Lace: green
marigolds: green
blueberries: blue
cayenne pepper: rust red
yellow onion peels: yellow & tan
coffee beans: brown & tan
dandelions: mossy greens

Some suggestions for other projects that reuse materials are:
·     turn an orange juice carton into a bird feeder
·     use different tube-shaped materials to make a marble run
·     notch old paper towel and toilet paper rolls to make Lincoln log structures

DISNEY GO GREEN also emphasizes making better food choices to reduce our ecological footprint.  This includes planting container gardens and composting.  There are also recipes for using locally grown ingredients.  Here’s one for apples picked from a local orchard:

Easy applesauce
Peel, quarter, and core apples to remove the seeds.  Cut into small chunks, place in a saucepan, and pour enough water to barely cover the apples. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice and as much raw sugar as you would like, but not too much.  Simmer for about 20 minutes on low heat.  When cooled, mash up your sauce with a fork and pour into a sterilized glass jar.

In the book, readers are reminded, “Sometimes making green choices takes us out of our comfort zone.  It takes us away from the things we usually do and what’s comfortable to us.  At these times, it’s good to remember that we’re doing what’s best for us, and what’s best for the environment.”  For children looking for fun activities and great advice about sustainability, DISNEY GO GREEN is the perfect resource.

My Thoughts

The Mickey & Friends Go Green book is a great way to have fun with your family and teach them how to live a sustainable life style at the same time. Their favorite characters walk them through pages of fun activities suitable for all the changing seasons. 

The book begins by explaining to kids why we need to go green, and how it will effect their lives in the future. This is handled very well. It's not scary or too complex for small kids to understand, but gets the point across. It explains the circle of life, the importance of being active, and how to make good choices. It goes on to explain how recycling works, and how to reduce and reuse items.  These are only a few of the topics mentioned. The second half of the book gives you craft ideas for each of the four seasons. Make soil paint in the spring, watercolors in the summer,  play dough in the fall, and birdseed mosaics out of ice in the winter.

This is a great book that touches on a lot of important topics, but it is very long. You can't sit down and read this is one sitting, and if your kids are very young, a lot of it will be over their heads. I would recommend it to kids around 8-12. Smaller kids will enjoy some of the crafts, but most will lose interest if you try to read it to them. Overall, a great book with a lot of fun ideas.

The Paper Hat Book Review

Complimentary product was received for free in exchange for an honest review

Hats are pure fun and the perfect item to cap off any costume or ensemble. The right headgear ensures complete transformation, especially on the head of an imaginative child.
The Paper Hat Book offers creative families 20 fantastic paper hats, all of which can be created quickly and easily from readily accessible papers: shopping bags, newspapers, comics, recycled story books, magazines, packaging scraps, and junk mail!
Artist and designer Alyn Carlson creates hats that are perfect for birthday parties, playdates, costumes, and everyday dress up. Each hat can be styled to perfectly suit the wearer by merely selecting the right paper and colors. The hat themes range from Floral Flappers to Viking Warriors, and from superheroes and pirates to beautiful butterfly hats

My thoughts:
This is a really great crafty book.  What kid doesn't like to make things especially hats?  And what parent doesn't like the idea of recycling paper (junk mail, scrap copy paper etc.).

With having twenty different paper hats to make, there is something in this book that just about any kid can find that they would like.  Alyn Carlson gives very detailed and pictured directions for each hat.  She also has a child pictured with the finished crafted hat in color.

My daughter who is ten had some friends over for a sleep over party, and we made some paper hats from this book.  I do think that adult help is needed to get started.  The girls didn't understand some of the illustrated directions.  The girls took their paper hats home the next day with them, and two moms inquired of this book and where they could get one.

Book Review: Keeping Fit from A to Z

Parents, Encourage Your Children
to Put Down Their
Electronic Gadgets & Games,
Get Off the Couch and MOVE!

Whether it's jumping with joy on a trampoline, flying kites on a breezy day, racing with friends in sleeping bags, rafting down rapids with your family or practicing karate kicks in class, exercise is key to one's health and well-being.

Keeping Fit from A to Z / Mantente en forma de la A a la Z is an innovative bilingual picture book for ages 3 and up that will delight children, parents, students, and teachers alike. The book includes more than 150 charming photographs, short captions and text that feature sports, exercise, movement and games.

Indoors or outside, the activities in this book are designed to inspire both young and older children (and their families) to move, be physically fit and be healthy--and at the same time introduce them to the ABCs and new vocabulary in two languages. The photographs are arranged in alphabetical order with their respective translations on the left (English) and the right (Spanish) side of each page, separated by a larger picture in the middle, where the activity begins with the same letter in both languages. Whether it's A for Acrobat/ Acróbata, B for Baseball/ Béisbol, E for Exercise/ Ejercicio, or V for Volleyball/ Voleibol, children and their families will understand that regular physical exercise has enormous health benefits for everyone! This highly visual book emphasizes the importance of both being active and having fun. Through its colorful photographic illustrations, it depicts a vast array of physical activities available in the world today. It also includes an additional list of activities in both languages to stimulate a child's imagination (from playing charades or riding a pogo-stick, to doing jumping jacks or square-dancing). There are activity suggestions involving movement and learning for the classroom (try spelling your name by using your arms, legs or body!), fun traditional games such as "Simon Says" or "Capture the Flag" that are known and practiced throughout the world, and a glossary of information for parents about the health benefits of exercise. My thoughts: What a great book this is.  Each page has vibrant colorful pictures, and a description of each people in both English and Spanish.  Each page represents a letter of the alphabet with activities and fun things you can do that start with that letter.  There are numerous and activities on each colorful page.  My kids are seven and ten, and love this book.  They each take turns on picking what activity/fun thing we are going to do out of this book.  It even has a picture of a small girl vacuuming.  My son wanted to go vacuum our living room, because he said it looked like fun.  There are so many different activities in this book, like wash a car, play leap frog, hopscotch, and so much more.  This book can keep parents busy with their kids for quite sometime.  It is my go to book when my kids and I can't decide on what to do. Whether we are indoors or outdoors. Great book to have in a classroom for younger kids, or in your home library.