Fun on the Run!: 324 Instant Family Activities

It's instant fun. Activities to do in minutes. Super-quick games to roll out at a moment's notice. Filling a need that every parent of young children has, 324 Anytime, Anywhere Activities! for Kids is a perfect antidote to those "booooring" car rides, endless waits in the doctor's office, restaurant fidgetiness, and assorted child-unfriendly chores. And you don't need to bring along any special props.

Several years ago, Cynthia Copeland shared the wisdom of her three children in Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me, which has 356,000 copies in print. Now she's written a parents' survival guide for those times when kids seem more at wit's end than wise. In the car? Try Red Car, Blue Car, Old Car, New Car; How Far, How Fast?; Raindrop Race; or I Heard It!, where the first one to hear the secret word on the radio wins. While waiting for the pediatrician, try Sock' Em, Cents of Hearing, or Body Double--draw the outline of your child lying on the examination table paper, then let him or her fill it in. Stuck at the bus stop? Gather the kids to play Simon Does, Knot Happening, or Blind Man Walking. There are mind benders, story-telling games (including It Was a Dark and Stormy Night)--in all, hundreds of ways guaranteed to engage their imagination and lift their spirits. Not to mention yours.

Cynthia L. Copeland is the author of more than 25 books, including Workman’s The Diaper Diaries and Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me. Ms. Copeland lives in Keene, New Hampshire.