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Find out moreActivity books are a great way to keep kids entertained. Pack one of these activity or puzzle books for your next long journey. To help you choose, download an extract.
When a mysterious message arrives from the future, your time-travelling quest begins! Turn back time and explore the past with your handy new time machine. Meet ancient creatures and explore lost worlds in this fun-packed book of puzzles. Solve mazes, wordsearches, number puzzles and more Find the clues and crack the code to finish the story Will you take on the quest? For more puzzling fun...collect the set! Mythical Mystery (9780008457457), Enchanted Lands (9780008457464), The Missing Astronaut (9780008457471)
Invent 100s of games with friends and family | Featuring over fifty stylishly rendered boards, this is an interactive doodle book with a difference, and certainly takes the lingering trend for adult colouring-in books to the next level. Most of the book comprises unfinished boards for users to transform into their own tabletop games – twenty designs in all, followed by twenty-five sets of rules for players to choose to follow, each of which encourages creativity with suggestions for fashioning your own versions of classic board games. There’s also plenty of options for users to invent their own entirely new games, with a superb “Stuck for Ideas?” section that suggests fun themes and mash-ups, among them “Throne of Crowns” and “Uninvited Ghost”. There are suggestions specially devised for younger players too (for example “The Magical Maze” and “Lost Pets”) making this a compendium of creativity for all ages. Taking an average of half an hour to create each game and a further half an hour to play, this provides a plethora of opportunities to exercise one’s cerebral muscles while having a whole lot of fun.
This picture book tells the tale of a prince and a kidnapped princess, of a cheeky bird catcher, a warring king and queen, and of a magic flute. It is of course the story of perhaps the most famous opera of all, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and not only does the book cleverly condense the action into picture book form, but it allows readers to experience snatches of the music too. There are buttons on each page which, when pressed, play excerpts of the score, performed by orchestra and singers. There’s a short biography of Mozart on the final page to spark more interest in him and his music, a glossary and more information on the music, and what to listen out for. The illustrations are lively and full of detail, and this is a thoroughly charming first introduction to opera.
This witty, stylish counting book will catch the attention of adults as well as the imagination of the very young. A rhythmic, rhyming text and eye-catching illustrations present us with one fox in socks, then two gorillas looking in mirrors, followed by three jolly llamas in pyjamas, right up to the twenty birds who have the last words. Along the way we also meet five goats wearing coats, the goats labelled and clearly identifiable under their coats (Nubian, mountain, angora…). Other favourite spreads include the one featuring sixteen chickens reading (and clearly enjoying) Dickens! A wonderfully original counting book that is as handsome as it is effective.
A really effective ‘how to’ book, this gives readers all the information they’ll need to play chess, while letting them know exactly why it is so popular, and how exciting it is. It explains the pieces and their moves, the aims of the game and means of attack and defence. There are regular reminders of what’s been said and exercises to try. Layout and illustration give it a very friendly feel – the pieces are animated and talk directly to the reader - and there’s extra information slipped in too on the history of the game. A book that will really inspire children to open a chessboard and start playing.
Everything is better with a little sparkle, even farm animals! Lift the sturdy flaps in this attractive board book to discover which animal is making the noise on the opposite page. You’ll find a horse, a chicken, a cow and a sheep, all of them together on the last page. Manes, hooves, ears are picked out in foil making the pictures even more appealing. A good book to enjoy with the very young and a fun way to develop hand eye co-ordination and teach colours and first words.
The Editor at Nosy Crow says: "This stunning book is packed full of inspirational activities that any family can enjoy. A seasonal structure means that there’s always something to do – from recipes to crafts to gardening – at every time of year, while beautiful illustrations and a vibrant text make this is a book to be treasured for years to come.”
October 2020 Debut of the Month | What a roar-some romp this is! With its read-along rhymes, fun flaps to lift and energetic animals, toddlers will adore grrr-ing, snapping, ooo-ing, hissing and ROARING their way through this jamboree of jungle dwellers. It’s a joy to read aloud, ideally with exuberant accompaniment from little animal lovers. The rhythmic, rhyming text invites readers to engage with larger-than-life animals in their natural habitats - a tiger hiding in tall bamboo, a crocodile lurking in a lilypond, a snake slithering through leaves, a monkey curled in a tree, a lion prowling a plain - while sharing information about their physical characteristics and - of course - the sounds they make. It’s a beautiful book to behold, too - Katerina Kerouli’s style is both bold and understated. Her palette has an elegant mid-century feel, and her animals are oh-so chicly expressive.
August 2018 Book of the Month | Kate Pankhurst inspires thousands of young readers with her books about the fantastically great women who made history. This book reunites us with those women, including astronaut Valentina Tereshkova, dancer Josephine Baker, and code breaker Noor Inayat Khan – and encourages readers to think more about them while they complete some fun and creative write in activities. There are writing and drawing tasks, a set of postcards to send to the great people in your life, and the book concludes by asking how you will make history, inviting readers to make a list of their own hopes and dreams for the future. Bright stickers featuring Pankhurst’s lively drawings of her subjects make it even more appealing.
May 2021 Book of the Month | With 50 different activities to try out in this book, there’s really no excuse for not getting active. Its message is that wherever you are, you can get moving, and it makes it sound really tempting. After explaining why it’s important to get active, it lists things to do and how to do them, whether that’s trying the long jump to building an indoor obstacle course. The instructions are clear and fun, with charts and photos to make it even more appealing and easy to follow, and you can record your activities as you go on write-in charts. Little ‘Did you know?’ boxes pass on fascinating facts and there extra tips scattered throughout too. Bright, colourful, lots of fun, this is certain to get everyone on their feet.
Take one box – a cereal box for example – and this craft ideas book, and get creating! Thanks to a set of recycled plastic corners just right for joining up card (and neatly contained in a storage compartment) with clear, easy to follow instructions, kids will be able to transform the box into any one of 20 different toys. Once they have got to grips with the easier creations including a dinosaur, a rocket and a fabulous looking car they can challenge themselves with the trickier space helmet or unicorn mask. Like all the best ideas it’s really simple, really effective and likely to be just the start of more creative activity. The JUNKO ethos is all about reuse and being eco-friendly. The Epic Cereal Box Creations is a brilliantly clever concept, turning household waste and packaging into toys: even those plastic corners are made from recycled plastic! Not only is it fun, it’s a great way to build those all-important STEAM skills too. Who needs plastic toys when you can have fun and make your own out of cardboard? Purchase Epic Cereal Box Creations directly from the Junko website here!
Bring the Bolds into your home for some festive fun and frolics! Julian Clary’s stories of the Bolds, a family of hyenas who live in Teddington disguised as humans, are full of fun, mischief and charm, and so is this Bolds-themed Christmas activity book. Packed with David Roberts’ fabulous illustrations it’s gorgeous to look at and the different activities featured are certain to keep everyone smiling too. Naturally the jokes are of a particularly high standard – Mr Bold’s job is to write cracker jokes after all – but there are some good riddles too as well as puzzles and, best of all, lots of chances to draw or write about the Bolds. Lots of fun and a perfect Christmas gift.
