Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun.

My husband and I are thrilled to have this book!! We have a toddler, a preschooler - and 2 newborns! It's important for us that our small children play (and not watch t.v.) while we take care of the babies. This book is the perfect tool. There are so many wonderful play ideas for each age that are simple and fun and they require things that you would have around the house. It's a terrific way to encourage imaginative and creative play. We like this book so much, we will be buying them as gifts for our friends with small children!

This book is full of so many creative ideas for playing with my children. Some of the games I remember from childhood. I am so excited to teach my children things that they will think of and smile about in 20 years. I love the way this book is organized. It begins with a great introduction and explanation of why children need play that stimulates (rather than siezes) their minds. The games and activities are organized into age appropriate sections and begin with the youngest children. (I loved this feature as we have an infant and a toddler). There are also ideas for individual play, parent and child play, single child play, indoor play, outdoor play and group play. I know this is a book that we will use for years to come!

As a pediatrician and parent, I can attest to the fact that children learn by doing, not by watching. In this wonderful book, Bobbi Conner makes it easy for parents to turn off the TV and have a ball with their children the old-fashioned way. Unplugged Play is overflowing with fun, creative ideas for how to have fun and engage young minds along the way. I hope parents buy this book in droves and put their "developmental" videos in the attic.

If only I had this book five years ago, when my son first started asking for a Game Boy! I might not have bought the device, but even if I had, I would have had a much better idea how to balance electronic, programmed "play" with free, physical, creative play. Bobbi Conner, the host of NPR's The Parent's Journal, has gathered more than 700 different games and activites together and organized them in a practical way: by age, indoor vs outdoor, by how long they take, etc. Some are active running around games, while others are quiet indoor exercises like "Doggy Diaries," in which kids imagine the secret lives of the neighborhood dogs. There are games your parents played that you forgot the rules to, and fresh ideas. The sidebars are crammed with additional information, including scientific studies showing how unstructured play helps children think more creatively and stay more active. A gem.

Playfulness is the name of the game in childhood. Unfortunately, in their workaday world, many parents forget that all work and no play makes Little Johnny a bored, lethargic boy. Thanks to Bobbi Conner, Little Johnny just got 710 reasons to get up off the couch and join his hopscotching playmates outdoors. Veteran radio show host on NPR, Bobbi Conner is concerned about today's kids and their lack of creative outlets. Instead of being busy with electronic entertainment such as video games and push-button toys, she suggests myriad avenues to get down to the business of play in fun, very simple ways. Unlike many guide books that read more like a Martha Stewart manual (and must be secretly backed by major craft store chains), Bobbi's approach is simple - take what you have at home and let `er rip. The book is divided into three useful sections - toddler play; preschooler play; and grade school play. It was gratifying to see many of the games we've thought up on our own are in the book. Necessity is the mother of invention. This book is the mother of children's creativity. Bobbi's tone is real-life and compassionate, not patronizing or oozing with `expertise'. She was once a time-strapped single mom raising her kids with nothing more than her ingenuity to keep them occupied. When we think back to our own childhoods or that of our children, the best times were those spent together around a Parchese board or telling stories to one another. But if you think you have to spend hours with your children to right the wrongs of those hundreds of TV hours your kid has logged, you're wrong. Bobbi recognizes the reality in today's world. She recommends ways in which children can learn independent play by sparking their creative thoughts and having them vary the activities themselves. You needn't micromanage their play. In fact, Bobbi warns against it. This book came in the nick of time as my son recently had a playdate with a boy who is very `plugged' into video games and TV. Concerned we wouldn't make the three hours without hiscrying for TV, I grabbed the book and discovered some cool, easy ways to interest the boys in a new game of toss the button in the bucket. My son's friend only asked to watch TV once, but after I showed him the book and all its possibilities, he never asked again! I highly recommend Unplugged Play for its usefulness, inventiveness, and fun. It may even remind you that all work and no play makes Little Johnny's mommy and daddy very dull girls and boys, too! ~Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of Diary of a Mother: Parenting Stories and Other Stuff and Sahm I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom in Europe, is a freelance writer living near Munich, Germany, with her husband and two extremely playful children.