what activity books are out there besides coloring? 3.5-4YO level...

[fauve01]

we love to color but what else has worked for your DC? does paint with water exist anymore? she loves dot to dot --anyone know of a coloring book style book with D2D? what else? any and all ideas and links appreciated. :-)

we're leaving in two weeks on a 13 hour flight so i need something soon! THANKS in advance. :-)

anne + DD 10-03

[sdbc]

They have preschool books that have activities like match the animal to it's food, and stuff like that. Barnes and Noble has a whole section of workbooks of different levels. Our daughter loves them. Brain Quest is also a big hit.

Sue, mommy to Aurora (Rory) born 5/13/04

[egoldber]

I highly recommend the Kumon series of "workbooks". We use them as activity books. They have fabulous D2D, mazes, etc. at all different levels. B&N and Borders usually have them.

My DD enjoys the Preschool Zone workbooks too. They have lots of activities (find the hidden picture, etc.) type books.

[new_mommy25]

I buy the paint with water books from the drugstore. I shop at Longs but I'm sure they'd have them other places. I have also seen them in grocery stores before. DS also loves sticker books. The Costco ones have tons of pages and are a great price.

[sdbc]

Yup, those are the ones we have: Kumon and Preschool Zone! I couldn't remember the names.
Sue, mommy to Aurora (Rory) born 5/13/04

[californiagirl]

Paint with water books still exist. www.bookcloseouts.com is a great source for activity books (http://www.bookcloseouts.com/default.asp?N=3294+673&Ne=349&org=sub&merch=kids is all the activity books) as is Dover www.doverpublishing.com which is likely to be there sooner.

This is terrible, but I'm beginning to plan my packing for a trip at the end of July (Germany and Ireland), and the first thing I did was make a web page with my carry-on packing list. I don't know which is the crazier half of that sentence. But anyway http://www.otoh.org/xwiki/bin/view/Elizabeth/PackingCarryOn has the (gigantic!) list of packing.

[Twoboos]

Holy Cow, you are an organized traveller! We are flying w/a 3.5yo and 2yo in August and will be referencing your page before then. :-) We have not flown since The Great Chicago 12hr Layover/Delay/MissedPlane Incident 18mos ago, so this well thought- out list is bringing me a bit of calm.

I will also be investing heavily in activity books. :-) Although I am more worried about keeping the 2yo occupied... ugh.

[AmyZ]

My 3 year old likes this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Highlights-Hidden-Pictures-Sticker-Fun/dp/0875342310/ref=sr_1_1/002-9377082-6734448?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180665695&sr=8-1

We also have this one (but they are a bit heavy)
http://www.amazon.com/Oscar-Otters-Sticker-Book-Books/dp/1840110813/ref=sr_1_8/002-9377082-6734448?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180665805&sr=1-8

My DD also loves "Water Wow Doodle Book" with water brush. Don't bother filling the brush up with water, just ask for an extra cup and dip and paint. The books can be found in Target and they used to be in Kohls, but I don't see them anymore. You can get Dora, Diego, Backyardigans etc... They have 4 pages they you can "paint", then they dry and you can do it again!

Amy Z

Eliana 2/04
Abigail 1/07
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[sarahsthreads]

I got this book for DD before a recent trip:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ean=9781402706301

They're nice big pictures, one to a page, like a duck, a big flower, that sort of thing. After doing the dot-to-dot part of it they're really nice simple pictures to color, too.

There were also reusable sticker books, with pages of scenes and stickers you could put on a page then move to another. I didn't get that for DD because I wasn't sure she was quite ready for it, but 3.5-4 would probably be perfect.

Sarah :)

[MMMommy]

My 3 year old loves the Seek and Find books--similar to the "Where's Waldo" type concept, but instead you look for different items listed on a page (i.e. "find 10 princess wands, 1 pot of gold, 10 brooms, etc."). We found some recently at Costco. DD loves to search for all the various items and is so proud when she finds them.

Here is an example--

http://www.kidsbooks.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product/asp/hierarchy/0202/product-id/25904676.html

[fauve01]

THANK YOU!! these are all great ideas and thanks also for the links!

anne

[Babywhite]

Our Target carries the Little People water color books.

Recently, our Dollar General stores have been carrying a lot of water color paint books for $1. (Little People, BABAR, Care Bears, and Tonka Trucks)

R.W.

[daisymommy]

We buy the paint with water and sticker activity books at Target in the kids book section.