Family Activities Books - Page 4

Great Big Book of Children's Games

Derba Wise

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: McGraw-Hill Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $4.85

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books
Subjects -> Entertainment
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

From the Board Games Editor at BellaOnline.com 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

The Great Big Book of Children's Games is full of fun games of all sorts: Ball Games, Water Games, Chase Games, Card Games, and so on. Many of the games are well-known childhood classics, but many of them are either foreign or totally new.

The book offers lots of ways to play versions of popular games with a make-your-own version. Naturally, it doesn't tell you explicitly, "Don't buy game X, you can make your own!", but it does give great instructions on how to make paper playing boards for games like Shut the Box, Beetle (like a drawing version of Cootie), and also how to get the most out of a game like Checkers.

As far as outside games, it can't be beat, there are dozens of variations on classics like hopscotch, hide-and-seek, and that eternal favorite: tag!

This book is a great gift idea for Moms, Teachers, Daycare Providers, and it's a great one to leave around for the teenaged babysitter if you're going out and you don't want the kids to spend the evening in front of the TV. Wonderful!

Editorial Review:

Games play a crucial role in a child's development, helping children to discover and understand the world around them. Parents are always on the lookout for new games and activities to play with their kids.

The Great Big Book of Children's Games features more than 450 indoor and outdoor games for kids.

Arranged according to appropriate agegroup, the games run the gamut in theme and mood. There are games designed for quiet times and intellectual stimulation as well as those that contribute to physical development, such as strength and wrestling games and races and relays. This book presents parents with a vast array of games for children of all ages, including:

• Card games
• Word games
• Sidewalk and blacktop games
• Tabletop games
• Party games, road games, and more

Gymboree Play and Learn: 1001 Fun Activities For Your Baby and Child (Gymboree Play & Music)

Roni Cohen Leiderman, Wendy Masi

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Key Porter Books Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $14.96

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Sports & Activities -> Activity Books -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Child Psychology -> Development
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Family Activities

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Easy as ABC 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Play & Learn concentrates on key areas of development through age appropriate activities which enhance motor skills, problem solving, coordination, language skills and encourage individual creativity and imagination. 1001 activities for children from birth to age five provides ideas for parents to connect with their children at every stage, helps build a strong sense of self and fosters a positive attitude towards learning.

The first thing I noticed was the sturdy cover, the colorful tab-style layout, with the age clearly marked on the center tab, which makes finding the exact section you're looking for a breeze. The book is filled with gorgeous pictures of children at every stage, brilliant art work and lots and lots of color. At the beginning of each age change (0+, 3mo+, 6mo+, etc.) the authors have written an introduction page that includes a set of four milestones, displayed in color-coded boxes, giving parents a heads-up on what to expect as your little one reaches important and life-changing milestones.

Some of the activities include, recording your child's favorite book on tape, making and decorating gingerbread cookies to enjoy while reading the story, playing footsie and the time tested trick to stop restaurant melt-downs, Mr. Fork and Ms. Spoon. The book is jam-packed with simple but ingenious ideas that help parents amuse and entertain even the fussiest child. With no preparation needed, using everyday household items, or sometimes just the sound of your own voice, these activities will enrich your relationship with your children and provide years of priceless memories.

This is an excellent tool for parents and caregivers, that I highly recommend. Loaded with fun activities that make life a little bit easier for tired parents and lots of fun for curious, energetic little ones.

Editorial Review:

From the world-renowned Gymboree company comes this valuable guide for to activities to enhance children's development of language, problem solving, imagination, coordination, and motor skills. Encompassing diversions for ages ranging from infant to five years old, this collection of fun and enriching activities is a must-have for all parents of small children, as well as pre-school educators and caregivers.

^ Creative Activities for Young Children

Mary Mayesky

Amazon Price: $86.80 List Price: $106.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Delmar Cengage Learning Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $86.79

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Elementary School
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Preschool & Kindergarten

Editorial Review:

Creative Activities for Young Children 9th edition is a terrific book filled with fun, creative, and easy-to implement activities for young children. Readers will enjoy exercising their own creativity, as well as helping young children do the same. Hundreds of activities, and up to date research make this book an invaluable resource for those planning to work creatively with children across the curriculum, and can be used in future teaching careers.

Free To Be...you And Me

Marlo Thomas

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Running Press Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $2.80

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Family Activities
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I think FREE TO BE is a must for kids in 2008... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

...I bought the CD for my 7-year-old daughter for Christmas this year, and she just adores it. I had both the book and record as a child and highly recommend both formats be used together to reinforce each other. FREE TO BE is timeless because of the way it introduces kids to relationships, and how they will develop and grow into adults. It takes them from babies, to childhood friends, to tweens on up to mommies and daddies, showing them in song and poem how we grow into the people we are, and the kinds of choices we have. And, it makes it FUNNY by showing that nobody is perfect and mistakes are OK (not fatal)! FREE TO BE encourages kids to be imaginative and literary by emphasizing poetry, short stories and the like. What a nice change from the current emphasis on celebrity and quick, cheap notoriety as the only way to be successful and important in life. Back when I read this, I know my mom had hopes that gender biases and barriers would be eliminated by the time I had children. Who knew that by the time I had children, things would have gone too far the other way. Now, everywhere I look, people have no shame about exposing themselves just to get attention, literally and figuratively. I disagree that the ideas put forth here are dated. We've lived in 5 separate states, and there are *still* parents out there telling their sons that it's "wrong" to play with dolls, and their daughters should be doing housework instead of trying out for sports. The concepts behind "Atalanta," "William's Doll," and "It's All Right to Cry" still need to be REINFORCED because kids need to understand that it's who they are as people that make them special - with their feelings, ideas, dreams, abilities, and responsibilities - and not how much skin they expose or how many times they are friended by total strangers on MySpace or FaceBook. You can't expect them to just pick this up by osmosis when there is so much out there giving the opposite message. I hope kids continue to be entertained and provoked by certain themes in FREE TO BE because let's face it - as parents, it's difficult to teach children about certain concepts. The more you talk about something you consider important, the more you are tuned out. It's the "Charlie Brown's teacher" syndrome - "Wah, wah wah wah wah." But, these songs are great jumping off points for discussion. And, if you didn't memorize the recording as a child of the 70's (like me), they songs are so easy to remember. If your child plays it as often as mine does, you'll have no choice but to memorize it. ;-)

Editorial Review:

Running Press is proud to offer this beloved 1974 children's classic. It's the original, innovative book that celebrates diversity, challenges stereotypes, and encourages kids to be themselves in a joyful, positive manner, through a collection of songs, poems, and stories to be read aloud and shared with new generations. Also available in a Miniature Edition™

Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children

Sharifa Oppenheimer

Amazon Price: $22.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Steinerbooks Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $18.89

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Child Psychology -> Development
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> General
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Family Activities

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

As we witness the shifting of old forms that once stood as the foundation of our daily lives, parents—who must prepare the next generation to meet this changing world—have more questions now than ever before. Although our culture and the nature of the family may be changing, the atmosphere in the home continues to create the foundation of a child's life. In Heaven on Earth, parent and educator Sharifa Oppenheimer reveals how to make the home environment warm, lively, loving, and consistent with your highest ideals.

Heaven on Earth balances theoretical understanding of child development with practical ideas, resources, and tips that can transform family life. Readers will learn how to establish the life rhythms that lay the foundation for all learning; how to design indoor play environments that allow children the broadest skills development; and how to create backyard play spaces that encourage vigorous movement and a wide sensory palette. Through art, storytelling, and the festival celebrations, this book is a guide to build a "family culture" based on the guiding principle of love. Such a culture supports children and allows the free development of each unique soul.

Responding to parents' questions from more than twenty years of teaching, Oppenheimer has created a gift from the heart. This is a practical, inspiring resource that brings her informed, intuitive understanding of young children into the heart of the home.

Games for Reading: Playful Ways to Help Your Child Read

Peggy Kaye

Amazon Price: $10.85 List Price: $15.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pantheon Amazon Marketplace: 65 new & used starting at $3.69

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Reading
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Elementary School -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

HERE ARE OVER SEVENTY GAMES TO HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN TO READ--AND LOVE IT.

Peggy Kaye's Games for Reading helps children read by doing just what kids like best: playing games.  There is a "bingo" game that helps children learn vocabulary. There is a rhyming game that helps them hear letter sounds more accurately. There are mazes and puzzles, games that train the eye to see patterns of letters, games that train the ear so a child can sound out words, games that awaken a child's imagination and creativity, and games that provide the right spark to fire a child's enthusiasm for reading. There are games in which your child has to act silly and games--sure to be any child's favorite--in which you do.

Easy to follow and easy to play, these games are ideal for busy, working parents. You can read a game in a few minutes and start to play right away. You can play on car trips, while doing the laundry, or while cooking. These games are so much fun for the whole family that you may forget their serious purpose.  But they will help all beginning readers--those who have reading problems and those who do not--learn to read and want to read.

Games for Reading also includes a list of easy-to-read books and books for reading aloud, and a "Note to Teachers" on how to play these games in their classrooms.

Wonderplay

Fretta Reitzes, Beth Teitelman, Lois Alter Mark

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Running Press Amazon Marketplace: 93 new & used starting at $0.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Sports & Activities -> Activity Books
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Nothing you don't already know 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Although I've pulled a handful or original ideas from this book, overall it's nothing I didn't know already. It literally lists the words to the songs "Mary Had A Little Land" and "Old McDonald Had A Farm". I have pulled some fun art projects out of this book, but I wouldn't recommend spending money on it.

This book is not what i expected 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

From most of the reviews, I thought that I would be able to get some fun ideas to try out with my son. But all it has is LAME games and songs we already know. WASTE OF MONEY!

not all that creative 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I have to agree with some other reviews, that it wasn't all that creative. I was hoping for more inventive ways to have fun with my toddler, but was sadly disappointed. Thankfully I also got the Toddler Busy Book, which was WAY more helpful and I use that ALL the time.

Editorial Review:

WONDERPLAY offers interactive and developmental ideas to enrich the time you spend with your child between birth and the preschool years. Activities are divided into age-appropriate sections and range from arts and crafts to exercise and drama. Wonderplay was created by the Parenting Center at the 92nd Street Y, New York City's world-renowned community and cultural center.

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever

Mem Fox

Amazon Price: $9.60 List Price: $12.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvest Books Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $6.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Family Activities
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Parenting -> Babies & Toddlers -> Child Development
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A new and revised edition!

Bestselling children's author and internationally respected literacy expert Mem Fox reveals the incredible emotional and intellectual impact reading aloud to children has on their ability to learn to read.

With passion and humor, Fox speaks of when, where, and why to read aloud and demonstrates how to read aloud to best effect and how to get the most out of a read-aloud session. She discusses the three secrets of reading, offers guidance on defining and choosing good books, and addresses the challenges that can arise. And this new edition boasts twenty pages of fresh material, including two new chapters on boy readers and phonics, a foreword, and a list of "Twenty Books that Children Love."

Filled with practical advice, activities, and inspiring true read-aloud miracles, this book is a favorite of educators and parents and a must-have for anyone interested in how children learn to read.

Games for Learning: Ten Minutes a Day to Help Your Child Do Well in School-From Kindergarten to Third Grade

Peggy Kaye

Amazon Price: $11.56 List Price: $17.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $6.44

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> General
Subjects -> Parenting & Families -> Family Activities
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Elementary School

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best book of its kind. 5 out of 5 stars.
46 of 46 people found this review helpful.

The parenting section of my local bookstore contains several shelves of workbooks designed for parents who want to help their kids with schoolwork. The books are nothing more than page after depressing page of the same dull exercises most kids get plenty of already in school. I assume they must be selling well, or the store would not order so many of them. But looking at those workbooks makes me want to cry. I think it is wonderful that parents want to help their children do well in school, but the parents who buy those books are getting cheated (and so are their children). The last thing kids who are struggling need is more worksheets. And they are even less useful for kids who are ahead of the curriculum and need more challenges.

The games in this book provide an antidote to the worksheet pushers. I am a huge fan of Peggy Kaye's books (She has three more in this series: Games for Reading, Games for Writing, and Games for Math, and all of them are excellent). Whether you are trying to find a way to help a child who is behind in a certain subject or skill, or looking for challenges for a kid who is ahead, this book has some fun ways to help. The best thing is that she has several games for every skill, because she recognizes that children like different things and learn in different ways. So if a game for a skill you are working on falls flat with your child, there are plenty more to try. A few of the games require a little investment of your time, like making playing cards or game boards, but a lot you can do without any advance preparation, and several are so no-fuss they are perfect for car trips, or time spent in a waiting room.

This is a first rate book, the best of its kind by far.

Editorial Review:

In Games for Learning, Peggy Kaye, renowned teacher and author, gives parents more than seventy original, entertaining, and slyly educational ways to help their children master crucial learning skills - in just ten minutes a day. The games cover all the important areas of the school curriculum from kindergarten to third grade: reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, logical thinking, even science, history, and geography. There's fun here for both parent and child alike--plus skills that will lead to success in school and enhance any youngster's self-esteem.

Games for Learning also includes a "Note to Teachers" which shows how to make these games part of school life.

Nature's Playground: Activities, Crafts, and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors

Fiona Danks, Jo Schofield

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chicago Review Press Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $10.35

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Science, Nature & How It Works -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Sports & Activities -> Activity Books -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Nature's Playground 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As a Park Ranger and Master Gardener I found "Nature's Playground very helpful in creating outdoor programs for the pre-school classes that I teach.Nature's Playground: Activities, Crafts, and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors

great creative ideas 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book really gave me some good ideas for using with my 3yo. I really liked the style of writing, it's organization by seasons, & how-to photographs.

Editorial Review:

Introducing children to the excitement of the natural world, this guide to outdoor adventure provides hours of creative, safe, and fun activities. Children will learn how to build a den from branches, make twig boats to sail across a pond, and voyage through the backyard to find tiny insects and creatures. Activities include invigorating games, natural crafts, and lively adventures, all of which are organized by season. An additional chapter also addresses safe activities for children after dark. Perfect for families, caretakers, and educators, this creative resource encourages children to turn off the television and play outside all year round.