It’s getting close to the time when mothers and fathers everywhere are trying to locate resources and activities to have on hand for summer doldrums or as distractions during road trips. To that end, I’d like to point out a couple of things as a suggestion, both offered by Peter Pauper Press.
Brainiac’s Road Trip Activity Book is a great thing to toss in the backseat of the car right before you take off on your adventure. It’s recommended for ages 4-8 but I don’t think my son, at 3 1/2 is remotely close to being ready to tackle some of the world puzzles in this book all by himself. If you are looking for things that the kids can do by themselves, I would say that this is probably more in the range of 6-10ish (11? 12?) This book contains ideas for memory games you can play in the car, word scrambles, vehicle identification games, and geography games.
It also includes pages to accommodate a good old fashioned game of connect the dots and tic-tac-toe squares. There is a page spread to keep track of license plates that you’ve seen from the various states. There are pages for drawing with creative suggestions, several pages for a good game of Hangman (a personal favorite) and even a “reward page” for the child (or the adult?) to reward themselves for making it through the road trip in one piece! It comes with an erasable pen and is an easy carry-along size, so that it won’t take up very much of that valuable car space! Brainiac’s Road Trip Activity Book is a cute way to keep the kids entertained.
My son’s eyes bugged out of his head when he saw Ready, Set, Draw Under the Sea! (So, for the record, did mommy’s!) This is one seriously nice drawing book. First of all, it’s in a hardbound spiral format for easy reference and durability. (I LOVE hardbound spiral books! Love ’em! Love ’em!) There are 18 page spreads giving you instructions on how to draw your favorite sea animals, from walruses, to octopuses (!!), to crabs and – be still your little heart – even NEMO! (Or a clown fish that happens to look like Nemo at any rate!)
This book also comes equipped with four two-sided colored pencils (8 colors total) and a 48 page drawing pad. The pencils are secure in their holder that sticks to the book so you don’t have to worry about losing them anywhere. This book is square shaped and a bit more awkward to cart around, but it also contains everything a little artist could want or need! WE. LOVE. IT! While Bookworm1 knows of this book’s existence, (and has studied it carefully already), I’m keeping it back until later in the summer when I really, really need a special activity to pull out and distract him with. In the meantime, every scrap of paper you find around our house has jellyfish and octopuses drawn all over them. It’s a fun world!
Now, one of you have an opportunity to WIN both of these books, thanks to Peter Pauper Press. They have offered a copy of each to one of our readers here. To win? Simply leave a comment below! This contest is open to U.S. Residents only.
We’ll announce the winner on May 26.
Happy Early Summer to you!
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Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: #54 – Angela Winesburg
Finally!: #11 Upstatemomof3, #16 Michele Anne
Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know and Reading My Library.
Marla Taviano says
We looooove road trips!!
Stephanie says
Man, we could have used these on our 13-hour-each-way road trip earlier this spring! But we’ve got another long drive coming up in August- these look like they’d be great for my older son.
Annette W says
I bet by the time we travel to Vermont in late summer my daughter would be ready to enjoy these a bit! I love the idea of teaching children to draw simple sea animals…and word games are fun for the whole family!
Lauren says
I am not commenting to win, of course, but my son would LOVE the Brainiacs book. Thanks for the review!
stephanie says
Enter me please!
Dena says
Both of these books would be GREAT boredom busters for my kids, whether in the car or not. My crew includes an aspiring artist and a Braniac so what a perfect fit. Thanks for the opportunity!
Rita says
My DIL needs something like this for her three boys!
Dianna says
How cool is that. Awesome.
Some Lucky Dog says
This would be so fun for my grandson to have in the car when we travel between his home and ours (2-day trip each way!)
Marj McClendon says
What great books for my youngest grandson who travels to his other grandma’s house 2 or 3 times a year. Good and wholesome entertainment.
Anne says
Great recommendations – I think I’ll pick these up to have some activities around for when our nephew visits! (unless I win them first!)
Page Turner (Heather) says
Those look like lots of fun! We’d love to have a chance to win!
Stephanie's Mommy Brain says
I’m currently planning a road trip to DC this summer and hoping for a road trip to TX this fall. These books would be great for keeping little minds and hands occupied!
Steph says
My daughter would love the Ready, Set, Draw Under the Sea book. She is quite the budding little artist already.
katklaw777 says
Books look like fun, thanks.
Michele Anne says
sound great. I would give them to my nieces and nephews.
Inette Hunter says
My son has really gotten into drawing and creating his own books. he really loves learn to draw books. he gets so excited about them
Carolyn says
Very cute… My son would love these books
Toni Trainor says
This looks like a lot of fun. My son loves to color and draw.
Jeri says
These books look awesome I am going to check out how to get them, of course I would love to win them!! All 3 of my kids have been avid listeners and now readers of books!
Beth C says
Look like great books! I’d love to be entered.
Kirsten T. says
I used to love these type of books when I would vacation with my family! Time to pass the love on… Thanks!
Thea says
These both look like great books for the summer!
Upstatemomof3 says
Oh my son would LOVE these!!! What a great asset for the summer – or anytime I guess but since it is summer… ya know 🙂