Help Entertaining My Kids

[Bookdude]

Ok, I know you should love and cherish your kids, but I've really found lately that I need to keep them busy to stop me going nuts! They like TV (which kids don't?) and books.


Anybody know of some decent books to keep them quiet as I kinda don't like rotting their brains with too much TV. I've got them some books that get delivered monthly I think <snip> but I was just wondering what everyone else does? I have a friend who just sticks a DVD on loop and leaves the kids to watch which I don't think is that great. Any more kids books?

[fatality_uk]

You think? Hmm ok!!!

Could do with an age range for the kids?

If they are old enough to work a keyboard. how about installing edubuntu? They can learn, play and you could even download free ebooks for them to read.

[jesusprice]

look for a book called the " The True Story of the 3 little pigs"

What about "Where the side walk ends?" Something different and kids tend to like the of beat stories

[RATM_Owns]

How old are your kids?

[maniacmusician]

It also really depends on your kids' reading comprehension abilities. I was reading the "Goosebumps" series in 3rd grade, but my little brother didn't start reading for pleasure until he was in 8th grade, and even now, he rarely does it. It's just that no one ever introduced him to it when he was younger, and now he finds it boring because, hey -- words on a page don't move like TV and video games.

Get your kids to do different sorts of visually oriented activities. Jigsaw puzzles are a blast. Sudoku, if they're old enough, usually grabs them for a few days. You could read something to them, asking them to close their eyes and visualize the story (this works for a wider range of ages). If you don't really have a reading voice, get some books on tape.

As for books, obviously depends on your kids, but Harry Potter usually doesn't dissapoint. As their comprehension skills grow (or if they're already advanced), don't be afraid to expose them to difficult topics; the broader their spectrum of experiences is, the better their understanding will be. Try to limit your censorship of their perception to the bare essentials.

When I was younger, I definitely used books as an avenue to discover experiences that my life didn't offer me. It's a great way to understand people and the interactions between them, and also to safely explore the depth of human emotions (possibly your own -- though this obviously years down the road). And plus, they don't rot your brain :)

[Dr Small]

Chess is a nice, quiet, peaceful, strategy-based, thinking game. I love it, and it isn't that hard to understand.

[LaRoza]

Links snipped, as this seems like spam...

[arashiko28]

How about STOP it's a fun cheap game, all you need is pencil and paper, you'll have 7 categories, first name, last name, fruit, country, color, animal and thing (anything), each category worths 100 points, make an alphabet scramble and then get a letter by chance, they have to fill all the categories with names starting with that letter or vowel, if two of them has the same one on the same category it's 50/50. When the first one finished says stop! and all the others must stop writing, count your points and add them on an 8th column.

Makes them think fast and learn on the way.:)

[RATM_Owns]

Or Monopoly. iSpy.
Dora the Explorer.

Come on (Spanish), everybody let's go. Come on let's get to it...I know what we can do it.

Yes, I know the Dora Song. xP

[gameryoshi600]

Depends on their age. When I was young, I liked the book called The Stinky Cheese man which is a spoof of the ginger man book which I forget the title. Install edubuntu also which comes with some educational games.

[|{urse]

Or you could play "the be quiet while i program game" I love it but the kids don't seem too into it.

a GREAT book is "where the wild things are" by maurice sendak

In this book Max (who for some reason is wearing a wolf suit) is naughty and gets sent to his room, his imagination gets out of control and he takes a trip to where the wild things are.

But don't just take my word for it! (queue the music) (lol obscure reading rainbow joke)

[Trail]

A great book that should keep them busy for a few months: Modern C++ Design, by Andrei Alexandrescu.

[maniacmusician]

Links snipped, as this seems like spam...

Wow! That was one of the best done spam posts I've ever seen! So simple that no one saw it...nice catch, LaRoza. Can't believe I fell for that.

[akiratheoni]

Depends on their age. When I was young, I liked the book called The Stinky Cheese man which is a spoof of the ginger man book which I forget the title. Install edubuntu also which comes with some educational games.

You mean this book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stinky_Cheese_Man_and_Other_Fairly_Stupid_Tale s)? I loved that book as a kid too!!! :)

[mips]

Tell them to go play outside, thats what my parents did.

[guildofghostwriters]

Haven't read through to see ages/sexes but my 12 year old daughter loves these comics and will read them til they fall apart:

Bone by Jef Smith
Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi
Akiko by Mark Crilley

She'll also read anything to do with Asterix and any book by Jaqueline Wilson (but those are more girl oriented). I'd also recommend everything by Philip Ullman. He does stuff for younger kids (Firework Makers Daughter, Spring Heeled Jack etc) to older teens (Butterfly Tattoo, His Dark Materials trilogy) and every age in between. Especially good but not often talked about are the Sally Lockhart books - four books starting with Ruby in the Smoke and ending with the Tin Princess. If you have strong religious views you might want to avoid Pullman though - a mate from Texas says his born again relatives refer to His Dark Materials as the satanic Harry Potter.

[mips]

She'll also read anything to do with Asterix

I love Asterix & Obelix as well as Tintin. I suspect your daugter would also like Tintin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin

[gameryoshi600]

You mean this book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stinky_Cheese_Man_and_Other_Fairly_Stupid_Tale s)? I loved that book as a kid too!!! :)

Yeah :D That book rocks.

[guildofghostwriters]

I love Asterix & Obelix as well as Tintin. I suspect your daugter would also like Tintin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin

I love Tintin - as a kid I preferred Asterix but these days I like Tintin more. I'm not sure that she's that bothered about Tintin just now - she doesn't dislike it but I think the jokes in Asterix are more kid oriented and in Tintin a lot of it is very subtle so she misses a lot of it.

[mips]

I'm not sure that she's that bothered about Tintin just now - she doesn't dislike it but I think the jokes in Asterix are more kid oriented and in Tintin a lot of it is very subtle so she misses a lot of it.


You have a point there, I only got into tintin after asterix, keep forgetting about the age thing. lol, getting old.