233 Activities & Games for Ages 3-5

by Bobbi Conner

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.

288 pages.

Workman publishing.

155 Activities & Games for Ages 1-2

by Bobbi Conner

Unplug your toddler with over 150 screen-free games and activities!

“Every parent ought to have this... [A] feast of unplugged family favorites, forgotten and new.”––Penelope Leach, PhD, psychologist and author of Your Baby and Child
 
From Tunnel Tube to Party Play Dough, Bumper Ball to Hoop-Dee-Do, here are more than 150 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, crafts, songs, guessing games, puppet ideas, playdates and party favorites––even instant activities to do at the kitchen table while dinner’s cooking. All games are toddler-tested and approved!
 
A note to parents: Play matters! Technology has the place, but these unplugged games are designed to stretch the imagination, spark creativity, build strong bodies, and forge deeper connections with family and friends.

224 pages.

Workman publishing.

A pocket-size brain gym.  More than 500 full-color puzzles from the original Big Book of Brain Games—the book that Will Shortz praised as “the most wide-ranging, visually appealing, entertaining collection of brainteasers since Sam Lloyd’s Cyclopedia of Puzzles,” and The Washington Post called “an opus . . . mixing math with wonder.”

Mental games, visual challenges, logic posers, riddles, and illusions, each designed to stretch neurons and give the brain a workout—all in a format that will fit in your pocket.  The puzzles (both original and mind-boggling adaptations of classics) are rated in difficulty from level one to ten, but even the easiest are guaranteed to make the solver feel smart.

A fun book for children and adult to challenge each other or puzzle out together. 

A small size to take on trips, in the car, for line-ups, or just to keep in the living room or bedside table.  Puzzles and games are a delightful way to take a mini-brain vacation!

Softcover, 440 pages.  4.1 x 6 inches.

Workman publishing.

About the Author:

Ivan Moscovich is an internationally known and acclaimed inventor, puzzler, and artist.  He has designed award-winning toys for Mattel, Kenner, Childcraft, Ravensburger, Binary Arts, and other companies, and is the author of the MindGames series and other books.  Mr. Moscovich lives in the Netherlands.

Gardening Together with Children

by Sharon Lovejoy

Plant a pumpkinseed with a child, and cultivate wonder. This simple act of reconnecting with children with nature is Sharon Lovejoy's purpose and joy and gift. Author of Sunflower Houses: Garden Discoveries for Children of All Ages and Hollyhock Days: Garden Adventures for the Young at Heart, Sharon Lovejoy is a nationally known garden writer whose books, television specials, and projects at her learning landscape in California have introduced thousands of children to the pleasures of gardening.

In her newest book, Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots, she presents 12 spirited, easy-to-implement ideas for theme gardens that parents and kids can grow together. Illustrated throughout by the author's own lyrical watercolors, each garden includes a plan, the planting recipe -- seeds, seedlings, and growing instructions spelled out step-by-step -- and activities. There's the Pizza Patch , a giant-size wheel garden planted in "slices" of tomatoes, zucchini, oregano, and basil. A Flowery Maze to get lost in. A Moon Garden of night-blooming flowers, including a moonflower tent. And Mother Nature's Medicine Chest.

Discovery Walks teach kids how the gardens work, and a chapter on gardening basics includes a child-friendly 10-Minute Plan for planting and maintenance, plus a list of the top 20 plants guaranteed to make gardeners out of kids.

Recommended for children aged 4-10 years old.

Softcover.  Storey Publishing.

How to Organize Your Life Now for When You're Not Around Later

A step-by-step program for getting your life in order, so you’re prepared for the unexpected.
 
The odds of getting hit by a bus are 495,000 to 1. But the odds that you’re going to die some day? Exactly. 
 
Even the most disorganized among us can take control of our on- and off-line details so our loved ones won’t have to scramble later. The experts at Everplans, a leading company in digital life planning, make it possible in this essential and easy-to-follow book. Breaking the task down into three levels, from the most urgent (like granting access to passwords), to the technical (creating a manual for the systems in your home), to the nostalgic (assembling a living memory), this clear, step-by-step program not only removes the anxiety and stress from getting your life in order, it’s actually liberating. And deeply satisfying, knowing that you’re leaving the best parting gift imaginable. 

When you finish this book, you will have:

• A system for managing all your passwords and secret codes
• Organized your money and assets, bills and debts
• A complete understanding of all the medical directives and legal documents you need––including Wills, Powers of Attorney, and Trusts
• A plan for meaningful photos, recipes, and family heirlooms
• Records of your personal history, interests, beliefs, and life lessons
• An instruction manual for your home and vehicles
• Your funeral planned and obituary written (if you’re up for it)

Softcover, 256 pages.

Workman publishing.

by Jennifer Griffin

Because it’s two o'clock in the morning and you can’t remember “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Once upon a time, every parent knew Little Jack Horner, Wee Willie Winkie, and Little Miss Muffet. Now you will, too, with this crash course on timeless pleasures of Mother Goose and beyond. It features more than 70 poems, lullabies, rounds, and riddles, from classics like “Hey Diddle Diddle,” to newer songs like “The Wheels on the Bus,” too wonderful non-English versus including “Pío, Pío, Pío,” the sweet yet dramatic Chilean ditty about chickens. Plus, exactly how to perform the intricate finger ballet known as “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Includes downloadable recordings.

Hardcover, 192 pages.

5 x 8 inches.

Workman Publishing.

216 Activities & Games for Ages 6-10

by Bobbi Conner 

Unplug your grade-schooler with 200 screen-free games and activities!

“A terrific prescription for much of what ails children and parents today.”––Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

From Fortune-Teller to Draw Me a Story, Spillin’ the Beans to Monkeyshines, 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, guessing games, arts and crafts, musical fun, and party favorites––even instant activities to do at the kitchen table while dinner’s cooking. All games are big kid-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.  

272 pages.

Workman publishing.

100 Ingenious Crafts for Family Fun

By Amanda Kingloff

A Bigger, Smarter, Hipper Family Craft Book

Move over, macaroni picture frames. Here are 100 stylish, inventive projects that promise endless hours of creative fun. From a rocket ship made with a body-wash bottle to an owl made from a juice box, there are ingenious uses for upcycled objects and materials on every page. This book is packed with hundreds of step-by-step photographs and basic crafting lessons (from pom-pom making to fabric dyeing) to help kids build a DIY arsenal. With lists of must-have tools and materials, a handy source directory, and more, this is the ultimate family craft bible!
Projects feature clear instructions and step-by-step photographs wherever they are needed, easy for both kids and non-crafty adults to understand.

Hardcover, 272 pages.

Published by Artisan.

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