Posts Tagged travel activity
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
Chronicle Kids Books for Traveling Families
Keeping a child occupied while traveling is not always easy, especially when you’re faced with long flights, long bus rides, or boring interstate car rides. Or even worse, delays waiting around for any of these to start. Sure, you can just give up and let them zone out with DVDs or electronic games, but you know deep inside that all that passive activity where their brain is turned off can’t be good all the time.
I’ve been consistently happy with the ones for kids put out by Chronicle Books. As I noted in this review last year for the Julius Pop-up Sticker Activity Book, when these say “hours of fun,” it really turns out to be true.
When my daughter got this extension of the Worst-Case Scenario book as a gift, she devoured it for days on end, reading passages aloud and pointing to the pictures when she came upon a funny one. Besides this Weird Junior Edition—which explains how to defeat Medusa and how to keep a vampire away among other survival tips—there’s a new Gross Junior Edition as well. This one covers bloody noses, “gas leaks,” barfing, and other embarrassments. At less than $8 at Amazon right now, it’s a steal.
My 10-year-old daughter has also bee loving this Uglydoll School Planner. It’s not related to any specific year and can be started at any time, so it’s a good gift for whenever. It’s full of funny stickers for different events, plus its spiral bound and sturdy—with an elastic band to hold it together with additional papers even.
She smiles every time she looks at this planner and I have to admit I do too. At the moment we’re living in a foreign country and she’s going to school in a foreign language, so it’s nice to have things like this along to make it a little easier.
See more from the Chronicle kids line of books and activity kits, including the new MoMa Modern Play Family kit for hipster parents of young children.
See more reviews of travel books for the road.
Posted by Tim L. in Kids and Family on October 20th, 2010
Matchbox Croc Escape Pop Up Adventure Playset
Here’s a fun toy for kids (okay, young boys) that’s not necessarily marketed as a travel activity, but sure could be. The Matchbox Croc Escape Pop Up Adventure Playset features ramps, a tunnel, a ferocious plastic crocodile and a treasure chest that’s all contained in its own case. No assembly required and it comes with one Matchbox jeep.
I brought this toy to a reunion weekend with a handful of college friends to see if it appealed to the kids there. Indeed, children ranging in age from 3 to 7 drove the car around the obstacle course and giggled when the car went off-road into the crocodile’s open mouth. I think, given the pretend-play and car-centric nature of the toy, it would most appeal to 3- to 5-year-old boys.
According to the literature that came with the Croc Escape playset, it can connect to other similar playsets to create a massive course, which many children could navigate with multiple cars at one time. Though I’ve not seen this in action, one of my college friends said her sons (ages 4 and 7) have two playsets that they’ve indeed used together for hours of fun at home.
But I’d definitely recommend bringing Croc Escape along on a family road trip for use at a hotel or camping site, or even for quiet time on a cruise or train trip (if there’s room in luggage — when folded up, it measures about 12 x 12 x 3 inches). When unfolded, it’s too large to use on a child’s lap in the car. And undoubtedly the car would be dropped out of the child’s reach. A lot. (Read: Pain in the butt for Mom or Dad.)
Three button-cell batteries are included. Buy the Matchbox Croc Escape on Amazon.com for $24.99.
Posted by Kara in Kids and Family on July 28th, 2009
