If your family is like mine, time with everyone together is becoming more and more difficult. We all have crazy schedules, and it’s easy to put family time aside for soccer games, school assignments, meetings, chores, and other obligations. Now that some of my children have gone away to college, I realize how fleeting that family time can be, and that there is no substitute for time having fun together, laughing and learning. If you can set aside just one evening a week, with no other purpose than being together, your family will be greatly enriched. You don’t need to plan anything fancy. An easy game, or even just some conversation starters over dinner, is enough to build happy memories. However, sometimes it’s hard to think of something to do that works for all age groups and engages everyone. That is the purpose of this book. Included here are some of my family’s favorite activities, from silly road trip word games to service projects to cooking contests. Organized by season, these ideas have been tested many times over and continue to bring my family many hours of fun. We play the If/Then game on birthdays, and Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same if we weren't drawing on paper plates on our heads. I hope these ideas help you plan your own family time and bring you many happy memories as well. --from the Introduction

I Love Dirt! presents 52 open-ended activities to help you engage your child in the outdoors. No matter what your location—from a small patch of green in the city to the wide-open meadows of the country—each activity is meant to promote exploration, stimulate imagination, and heighten a child's sense of wonder. Jennifer Ward is the author of numerous acclaimed parenting books and books for children, inspired by nature. "Jennifer Ward has created a book that will serve to gently introduce parents to nature, even as parents are using it to help guide a child into the narural world. Children—and parents—learn to observe, as well as appreciate, the basic joys of getting their hands dirty and feet wet. Discoveres become shared experience."—from the forword by Richard Louv

Turn an in-flight magazine into an engaging game, transform your mid-flight snack into an instant work of art: with 52 ways to keep kids busy, happy, and occupied in the air or at the boarding terminal, this revised and updated deck is the traveling child's essential carry-on item.

The Little Book of Great Dates will help build romance and fun into any marriage with its creative ideas for a year’s worth of weekly affordable dates. This book—a simpler, gift version of Focus on the Family’s The Date Night Challenge campaign—will help couples to proactively and intentionally build their relationship, showing how everyday activities can become “dates” that strengthen the marriage relationship. It includes plans for special-occasion dates, such as the couple’s anniversaries (first date, engagement, wedding), birthdays, etc. Couples can get to know each other better by sharing fun times and discover dating again in their marriage with this great little book of ideas!

DIVAt-home science provides an environment for freedom, creativity and invention that is not always possible in a school setting. In your own kitchen, it’s simple, inexpensive, and fun to whip up a number of amazing science experiments using everyday ingredients./divDIV /divDIVScience can be as easy as baking. Hands-On Family: Kitchen Science Lab for Kids offers 52 fun science activities for families to do together. The experiments can be used as individual projects, for parties, or as educational activities groups./divDIV /divKitchen Science Lab for Kids will tempt families to cook up some physics, chemistry and biology in their own kitchens and back yards. Many of the experiments are safe enough for toddlers and exciting enough for older kids, so families can discover the joy of science together.

“God, please help me...another game of Candy Land...” Quite a few dads spend time with their kids. However, many have no clue what their kids really need. Enter author Jay Payleitner, veteran dad of five, who’s also struggled with how to build up his children’s lives. His 52 Things Kids Need from a Dad combines straightforward features with step-up-to-the-mark challenges men will appreciate: a full year’s worth of focused, doable ideas—one per week, if desired uncomplicated ways to be an example, like “kiss your wife in the kitchen” tough, frank advice, like “throw away your porn” And, refreshingly... NO exhaustive (and exhausting) lists of “things you should do” NO criticism of dads for being men and acting like men Dads will feel respected and empowered, and gain confidence to initiate activities that build lifelong positives into their kids. Great gift or men’s group resource!

Developed for the younger set (4-6 year olds) and targeting one of the most critical developmental periods for children, Art Lab for Little Kids is the perfect book for both parents and teachers who are seeking enriching and unique experiences to offer this age group.