Posts Tagged Klutz
The Klutz Book of Inventions
Klutz is a wonderfully vibrant company that produces activity books for kids. I’ve written about the brand before here at Practical Travel Gear, as I’m a huge, huge fan. Klutz books, games, puzzles and building kits have entertained my kids for hours — not only on our travels, but also on quiet afternoons at home. I adore Klutz so much, I included its products as one of my top five picks for holiday gifts on the This Week in Travel podcast (special holiday gift guide edition) this week.
Some books and kits are for “doing” while others are just books. Well, not “just” books, but pages that elicit a ridiculous amount of laughter from the back seat of a car — like The Klutz Book of Inventions. This is a hilarious collection of nearly 200 wacky inventions — silly, creative innovations that might never see an Amazon.com sales page, but are certainly funny to read about and envision in real life.
Take, for example, the “Mirror Fork,” so you can check to see if you have spinach in your teeth while you’re eating dinner, or “The Rubber Stampshake”: shake someone’s hand and leave an ink impression of your contact info — no need to carry business cards. Then there are the “Pocketless Velcro Pants”: no need for pockets if you can stick your keys, wallet, iPod and other stuff directly to your thighs. My kids are fond of the “Lawnmowing Tricycle” and the toilet-clearning “PogoPlunger.”
What’s cool is that Klutz brainstormed with a renowned product-design firm IDEO to come up with these clever items, and they actually built them in the IDEO workshop before being photographed for the book. Each product has its own page with a full-color image of it in use, with a funny sales pitch on what it’s supposed to be used for.
A couple of the items — if they were truly for sale — are even appropriate for review on Practical Travel Gear. There’s the “Human Roller Bag,” for wheeling kids where they need to go (say, through big airports), the “Outboard-Powered Floaty” for resort swimming pools, the 4-inch “Travel BBQ,” and the “Seat Saver Sign,” which says “Ask Me about my Hemorrhoids” and you hang it around your neck to scare away anyone from taking that empty seat next to you on the bus.
This hardcover, spiral-bound book would make an excellent holiday gift for any silly 8- to 11-year-0ld on your shopping list. The book by John Cassidy and Brendan Boyle retails for $19.99 on the Klutz website, but you can purchase it for $13.59 on Amazon.com.
Posted by Kara in Kids and Family on December 10th, 2010
Klutz Book for Kids: The Slightly Odd United States of America
When it comes to clever activity books for kids, Klutz owns the market, hands down. This upbeat and irreverent publishing company produces all sorts of portable crafts, science kits, drawing pads and puzzles — many of which are great for traveling. (Minus the spiral-bound Bead Rings that comes with a daisy wheel filled with hundreds of seed beads that would not be fun to pick up off the floor of a plane or the backseat of a car.) The travel section of the Klutz website features such goodies as Doodle Faces, The Cootie Catcher Book, The Encyclopedia of Immaturity and Suction Cup Critters.
A new Klutz release this spring is The Slightly Odd United States of America. For ages eight and up, this book includes all sorts of wacky facts about every state in the nation. Each colorful page is dedicated to one state; my favorites are the ones that have the funny state illustrations: a corn-cob Iowa and a Swiss-cheese Wisconsin.
The book is peppered with historic facts (Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky) and off-the-wall information (Blue Earth, Minnesota, is the home of the first ice cream sandwich and Mr. Potato Head is Rhode Island’s official travel ambassador). Trivial, random information reigns supreme in this book — exactly the kind of silly stuff that kids love.
It also includes word searches and scrambles, quizzes and games to keep kids entertained through a multi-state road trip (though I’d love to see even more pages filled with activities). But this book won’t only occupy children in the car; it will teach them about the differences among the states (trust me there’s a whole heck of a lot of random stuff I didn’t know about the U.S.A.) I also see the book being used in our house to help with school research projects down the line.
Buy The Slightly Odd United States of America on the Klutz website for $12.95. On Amazon.com it’s reduced to $9.32.
More travel items for kids:
Posted by Kara in Kids and Family on April 16th, 2010
