Fun and Games Books

Great book if you want to pass your love of woodworking to your kids or if you just want to build cool stuff for them. Easy, simple and loads of fun.

We are still picking our projects from here, so haven't built anything yet. However, there is so much to chose and the excitement continues to build. (No pun intended.) Really had my eyes opened to a multitude of fun projects to do with my kids. I recommend this book for those without lots of experience and for those with some background, because of the diversity you will find in here.

The book is extremely vague. I thought the book would contain plans to construct forts, playhouses, etc. This is not the case. The book has drawings with a few overall dimensions, but lacks specifics. It does not contain plans, materials lists, etc. This is not a "how to" book.

Please don't buy this book unless you are comfortable reading vague plans and are an experienced carpenter. For all the other "Weekenders" like me who appreciate step-by-step instruction with diagrams/pictures, detailed information on techniques for their projects, discussion regarding suitable materials and tips on finishing the project (i.e. painting, etc.) PLEASE choose a book more suited to your skill level. ... I sense impending doom if I attempt to build his cover playhouse which, by the way, seems rather small at only 6'x6'. I think I will join the ranks and order Norm Abrams plans and video as well. DONT BUY THIS BOOK

I bougth this book the first time in the earlies 80's, and I lost that copy.
When surfing in Internet I found it again I rush to buy a copy, because is a wonderful set of ideas (no detailed plans as other reviewer wanted) to do things with your kids and grand-kids.
The drawings are great and the ideas superb. A book that you want to have.

As a third grade teacher, I am always looking for ways to make spelling more fun and enjoyable for my students. This book makes it easy for me to do that, offering fun and simple activities that my students can access. It is also extremely managable because the book provides instructions and easy to xerox sheets! The work is already done for you!

What I mean by saying this book isn't practical involves the time spent copying, preparing and implementing the games in the classroom. Most spelling curriculum includes practice worksheets. There isn't enough hours in the day to add another activity. Perhaps parents would use this book but I doubt it. The games are fun and helpful but it didn't work for me as a teacher.

This book is a great help when you can't think of any ways to make spelling enjoyable. This book has a ton of great games and fun strategies for learning weekly spelling words.

I am a fourth grade teacher and didn't find this book usefull at all.... Maybe for lower grades it is better. I would recommend the book Spell Well and Spelling Activities for Any Spelling Unit ( I think that's the name).

I have started a stamp collection with my grandson. This was a very helpful tool in getting started. We enjoy looking through the book and all the stamps that came with it.
Thanks,
J Nelms
California

This album is strictly for U.S. stamps and covers the early 1900's through 2005. There are some black and white illustrations for each year, as well as blank spaces for other stamps. The book would have been a little nicer with a spiral binding and illustrations in color. Pages that wouldn't lie flat were a definite frustration for our grandson. A few starter stamps were included, as well as hinges, but there were only about a dozen hinges, so the first thing we had to do was find a source for them. Still, it's a good functional album for providing a beginning without a large outlay of money.

We ordered this kit for a beginner at stamp collecting. We expected the album to be free-form, so he could save the stamps that he likes. Instead the album has pages for specific years, starting in 1901, and photos of specific stamps for many of the spaces. I'm not a stamp collector myself, and maybe this is a standard format, but it's not at all what we wanted. The Guide is okay, and the magnifying glass is inexpensive but okay. But we ordered the kit primarily for the album, and it's collecting dust on a shelf.

My son wanted to look into stamp collecting. I don't know much about it. This is a good review/starting place to see what is involved in the hobby. It made a nice Christmas present, didn't cost much and showed him I had listened to his interests. Nice format and helpful included items.

This is a nice kit for an early beginner at stamp collecting. Please note that the album is only for U.S. Stamps. It's a good deal for the price.

This book contains multiple pages (about 1/3 of the book) that must be cut apart in order to complete. The problem is, the next activity - which often also requires being cut up - is printed on the back of the page! Do not buy this unless you are prepared to photo-copy the entire book. No where in the product description does it mention the book being reproducible, so this is not what I expected. It is poorly organized; subject are tossed in at random. I suggest you avoid this product.

This was an excellent decision, and from Amazon, it was cheaper than buying it from some school-related stores. There are many activities that students can enjoy, and some a teacher might. Great buy!

I bought this to homeschool my 1st grader. The activities all seem to either be way too easy for him, or way too difficult. I have ended up just using the sections as little fun activities to go along with more in-depth material that I am finding at the library.

Appropriate for about grades 1-4. Includes numerous mini-units, on American history & geography. Includes hard to find material such as famous African-Americans.

I like this book but the words in the spelling lists themselves are too easy! There are 30 weeks with a new list each week and my DD is probably at the level of Week 15 right now. Getting ready to purchase the 2nd grade book. This isn't the only spelling book I use--I also use the Barron's series, "101 Words Your Child Will Spell By the End of 1st Grade", which I absolutely love.

I use this series as the basis of my daughter's spelling curriculum. Though I would never use it as a stand alone curriculum. Alone it is boring "busy work", but busy work that I feel is necessary to reinforce her spelling skills with repetition, and visual recognition.
I think it is vital to note that one reason I chose this series is the low amount of worksheets in the book. There are an average of 2-3 worksheets per spelling list (with simple problems and exercises on the front and back pages, in large print). That's not much considering the amount most curriculum provide (some up to 10 pages of work per list!).
To supplement the series we play several spelling games, do oral spelling bees, and practice in other ways to reinforce her learning.
Though my DD does dread doing worksheets (there are some small complaints when the spelling workbook is brought out). She's done with them quickly so spelling practice (along with games and simple oral exercises) is finished in 15-30 minutes; making spelling her shortest and most painless subject.
I am pleased enough with the 1st grade level of this series that we are purchasing 2nd grade now.

This is the type of workbook I hate. It includes alot of busy-work that doesn't actually teach children how to spell. The exercises are boring, and a complete waste of time since they don't actually teach the children how to spell the words. There are dictation sentences for each spelling lesson that include words that are more difficult to spell than the words in that week's spelling list. For instance, in Week Six, the dictation sentence is "I have a pup on the bus." The word HAVE, which is obviously the most difficult word to spell in the dictation sentence, is NOT one of that week's spelling words. The word "I" is, as are "pup" and "bus." (Which also begs the question, why is the word "I" a spelling word? The proper usage of "I" should be taught in a grammar workbook. The word certainly doesn't belong in a spelling book.) Anyway, kids could study their five-word spelling list for Week Six, do all of the workbook exercises, and fail the dictation-sentence test because they wouldn't be able to spell a word that wasn't even on the spelling list. This is just one indication that this series was NOT written or overseen by anyone who knows how to teach children. If your teacher uses this book in the classroom, complain loudly and clearly. If you are homeschooling, don't waste your time and money, or your kid's precious brain cells.

This book includes spelling lists and practice sheets for a very good spelling program. If you're like me, and your reading series does not address spelling appropriately (or at all), then you'll find this book very useful. The spelling words are very appropriate for first grade. (There's also editions for the other grades.) For example the first spelling unit is the words: a, an, and, am, and at. My class is doing very well with this program, and it's easy for me, too. Everything is provided in reproducibles.

The central theme of Exodus is the concept of "attention migration". That is: that more and more people choose to immerse themselves in synthetic worlds (Castronova's word instead of "virtual worlds") - MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games), like Second Life and World of Warcraft. Today they have at least 16 million registered users, and the number is increasing quickly. Also, some of these synthetic worlds function like alternate societies with their own norms of conduct, citizenships, economies, codes and policies and so on. In a information society where attention is central, the increasing attention spent on synthetic worlds will (according to Castronova) create a "atmospeheric event"...
Castronova writes well and he discusses this social phenomenon and it's probable future impact in an interesting way. Though at times I think the discussion becomes a little repetitive, and I can't totally agree that "real" societies will have to become more "fun" and gamelike to compete with the synthetic counterparts. But it is a fascinating thought.

I read and thoroughly enjoyed Castronova's first book on the subject: Synthetic Worlds. And, as in SW, Castronova is at is strongest in Exodus when he explains the "realness" of virtual worlds. The main thesis of Exodus is that because synthetic worlds are more fun, people will increasingly choose to spend time in them over the real world, and that, eventually, the real world must remodel itself, taking cues from virtual worlds; eventually the real world must become more fun. Exodus, though it has a few interesting new contributions, is terribly repetitive book that takes way too long getting to the substantial points. When it finally does, it is shallow in its descriptions and analyses of how, exactly, the exodus to synthetic worlds is going to radically affect the real world.

The biggest flaw (among the several I found in the book) is Castronova's thesis itself - that the real world will eventually have to model itself on synthetic worlds. The flaw is evident in his use of "migration" as the metaphor for what's going on with synthetic worlds. He explains that a family migrates from Old Country to New Country, and then tells its friends back in Old how great New is. Eventually, after hearing how great New is over and again, those that stayed put in Old put pressure on their government to change the country, to make it more like New. Castronova provides no historical examples of this, and I don't know my history well enough to know if this is how it has happened in the past, but the flaw in the metaphor is, and Castronova admits this himself, that the synthetic migration isn't physical, and therefore not permanent. It's super-easy to switch from real to synthetic, or among various synthetic worlds. This undermines not just his metaphor, but his entire argument...

A better metaphor, one that incorporates the ease of movement between places/activities, would be engagement in different activities, like sports: I play baseball when I want to hit home runs; I play football when I want to score touchdowns; I don't complain that I can't hit a home run in football. Or even more broadly: I go to the gym to work out; I go to the library to study. I don't complain that I can't run on a treadmill in the library. Why wouldn't this be the result of synthetic worlds? I hop into WoW to partake of the "good vs. evil" shared lore. I hop into SL to sell virtual real estate. I hop into the real world to go for a run, eat lunch, take a nap, kiss my spouse. Why should I expect to be able to do any of these things in the other worlds? Once it's established that the synthetic worlds provide fun, and that the real world does not, why/how does it follow that the real world must aspire to be more fun, like synthetic worlds? Why would I demand that the real world also be fun?

Castronova's argument that people will go where their utility is highest points to the same problem in his argument. He thinks synthetic worlds provide the highest utility, so off people go. But it's not as simple as "the world with the highest aggregate utility wins." There are different goods to be achieved in different worlds, so people will always come back to the real world for the goods that only it can provide (Castronova raises the issue of childbirth/rearing in a different context, but I think it's an adequate example of what I'm talking about here). Now, maybe some day in the future it really will be possible to hook up electrodes and "virtually" experience things we once thought we could only experience in the real world: eating a cheeseburger, having sex with our partner, giving birth to a child. But I think we are far from that point and can still easily say that there are just some things that we can only do in the real world. It seems more likely to me that we'll end up in a future where we go to synthetic worlds for fun, but still come back to the real world for other activities, even if they aren't fun.

This is a very interesting book that deserves more attention than I fear it's likely to get. The author has used his experiences with synthetic game-worlds to write a thought-provoking look at the social landscape of the future, and craft a compelling argument for the way games will influence "reality" in the years to come.

The author has more game-experience than I was expecting when I picked up this book, and has avoided the easy traps and overgeneralizations that often plague writers who are attempting to explain or interpret synthetic game-worlds. This lends his thesis on the economics of fun a verisimilitude that makes even his more extreme predictions seem a likely vision of what-might-be. Not only is this a book for the interested game, but even more it's a book for the businessman, and the policy-maker, who will more and more benefit from his insight into the games people play.

This book was not what I expected. It is primarily a reflection on lessons learned through development of digital games that could be applied to real life. The author doesn't seem to have any expectation that they will be applied exactly as described and doesn't address the myriad details that would need to be dealt with for that to happen, but the whole concept provides a lot of interesting food for thought.

For example, two general themes that cut through a lot of the lessons are the importance of fun and the idea that people's experiences playing digital games are likely to influence their expectations for how things should work back in the "real world" outside of games. So if the book had been called something like "Real Life Lessons from Digital Games," it would have delivered well on the expectations set by the title.

As it was, I found the title misleading for a couple of reasons. First, while the title refers to "Virtual Worlds" most of the lessons relate specifically to game-based virtual environments. Social worlds such as Second Life are discussed, but the author specifically acknowledges the fact that these are quite different from game-based environments which have clearly defined goals, roles, rules, rewards, etc. Therefore, if your interest relates more to open-ended worlds, such as Second Life, that are used for a variety of purposes and are not focussed on a single unified game, then there may be less in this book for you than you would guess from the title.

Second, the Exodus part of the title made me think that the book would talk more about what will happen within virtual worlds when more of us spend more time in them (e.g., How will it change the ways we work, play, communicate, consume, etc? What are the legal and political implications since so many more of our interactions will involve people from other countries?), but as stated previously the book is more about how interacting within virtual environments will change our expectations for interactions outside of those environments. Related to this is the idea - which seems to stem in part from the games versus more multi-faceted worlds distinction made previously - that we will at any one time be in either the virtual world or the real world and not both simultaneously (at least in terms of our attention). My own belief is that over time virtual worlds will become integrated with the other parts of our lives just as the Web is now, but that type of integration is only discussed briefly in the book.

This is a funhouse book, It is worth a second look. Read it and you'll see, It does splendidly.

Kids love it, Moms love it, Neither throw a fit, And gladly they will sit, To read this book a bit.

The pictures are great! Can YOU find its mate?

I spy books are fun to read. In i spy funhouse it is very good. They are very good at hideing things. I like all of the i spy books. They are all good books.

For those people acquainted with I Spy books, you know that there is one item that appears on each picture page. Unfortunately, in the Fun House book, the recurring item is a pair of clown-dolls. Call me crazy, but those clowns are downright freaky and they frightened me! They are peering out at you from all sorts of the places and they gave me the creeps. I had intended to give this book as a gift to my 8-year-old son, but couldn't follow through. I just couldn't handle those clowns and didn't know how my kids would react. Again, maybe it's just me, but I can't recommend this book. Sorry if you think I'm a wimp, but if there are others like me, I wouldn't buy this book for your kids.
I recommend I Spy Fantasy and I Spy School Days.
Thanks.

I just had to say that when I read the other review that said the clowns in here were too scary looking, I chuckled-- until I took a look at the book myself and saw them! Today I was in B&N and saw this book, and I must say those freaky clowns on each page ruin this book. I love these I Spy books, but although I don't get scared by clowns, I do wish they chose a set of cute little clowns instead. Try the Spooky House I Spy book-- so cute and fun!!

This is a quick but fun way to introduce vocab by using context and picture clues. It is for older elementary and above.

This book will be fantastic for a vocabulary workshop I am presenting for our faculty. I know they will want to purchase it for their own classes.

The cartoons and definitions are great. I also like that each cartoon only takes up half a page. However, the words are harder than I thought they'd be. Also, the words are not in alphabetical order and... brace yourself - there is no index or table of contents!!! You can't quickly find a word you're trying to teach.
- Frustrated Teacher

I thought that this book would similar to other books that I have purchased which use rhyming and mnemonic techniques to help kids remember new words and build their vocabulary. It doesn't. The cartoons are not memorable, and I was not happy with the purchase. This is the first and only book that I ever returned to Amazon for credit (less the return shipping cost).

I bought this book hoping for some innovative games or activities for my kids. Instead, I found the vast majority of the ideas to be either things that any parent of a 3 year old already knows (let child apply stickers to paper, let child draw outside with chalk, read a book to the child, put your hand in a sock and use it as a puppet, rolling and throwing a ball with the child) or 5-6 line poems that the parent is supposed to memorize and sing with the child. Do not waste your money.

It is full of handy, quick ideas. Also, while the ideas are being used, our children are improving intellectual, motor, and social skills not to mention the bonding that takes place between parent and child.

Being a busy mother of 3 children under the age of 5, it can be easy to lose perspective. This book is a Godsend! It reminded me to use that sock as a puppet which my 4 year old puts in his "workbox". Every day they ask for a "raisin story"! (that's a certain story in the book) And, just today my 2 yr. old was saying "goodnight" to everything in his room. (taken from "Goodnight Moon) It's a good source of entertainment, precious moments, and not to mention-lots of laughs!!!

There were several activities in this book which I enjoyed..."Stomp Out Run-Ons" and "Fragment Puzzle." However, many of the activities were not creative and required long paper trails and lots of floor space. I think I would use the noun tree next year, but I received the book after having already covered that topic next year. Overall, I didn't think the book was "hands-on" enough to call itself "awesome."

This book is okay, but there are a lot of references that students today will not get because they are a bit dated. This was probably an excellent book in the 1980's.

This book was extremely helpful to us in a 6th Grade Language Arts unit. this is filled with GAMES and ACTIVE ways to explore nouns, verbs, sentences - types, fragments, and run-ons.

Using the student's multiple intelligences, you actually make language interesting! You read the lesson idea beforehand, gather materials, and then lead the child or class through an activity.

I found it the perfect program to mix with dry sentence diagramming from elsewhere - to lift up the lesson. Afte such creative fun, my son didn't mind getting in front of a blackboard with me to diagram a few sentences.

Also, instead of just deciding if a verb was a verb, we now decide if it is "vivid" and look at nouns as specific or general - great for strengthening creative writing...and with activities across all learning styles, not lecture. That is hard to find in middle school language arts.

As a homeschooler, I did notice two teacher terms used (perhaps this is what the earlier reviewer was referring to) - mnemonics (rhymes for teaching) and rubric (like a short chart explaining something) - and some of the activities have to be adapted as they were designed for a group - still most activities didn't need any adaptation and I was totally pleased with the way my child responded to these active lessons.