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365 fun, creative activities to stimulate your toddler every day of the year.

This book contains 365 activities (one for each day of the year) for one-and-a-half to three-year-olds using things found around the home. It shows parents and day-care providers how to:

All new parents are eager to help their baby discover the world around them, and BABY PLAY was designed to help parents engage their infant in activities that will encourage developmental skills. From the first month home through the twelfth, BABY PLAY offers doctor-approved, age-appropriate activities that stimulate discovery, begin communication, and nurture parental bonding. Developed in close consultation with the play experts at Gymboree Play & Music, the book contains an introduction that explains the value of "play with a purpose," information on how babies learn, and tips outlining what a parent can do to help their little on get off to a good start.

The book also includes a glossary of key terms in child development, beneficial to any new parent, as well as detailed information on how parents can identify development skills as they emerge in their baby. From stretching exercises to puppet games, BABY PLAY encourages learning during that first critical year of life.

Look at what this book offers:

** Includes over 100 activities for babies 0-12 months.
** Organized by appropriateness for each month of life.
** Includes wide variety of play activities, from ball rolling to imitative play.
** Developed in consultation with the play experts at Gymboree.
** Contains a useful glossary of key terms in child development.

365 FUN, CREATIVE ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE YOUR PRESCHOOLER EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR

This book contains 365 activities (one for each day of the year) for three- to six-year-olds using things found around the home. It shows parents and day-care providers how to:

• Save money by making your own paints, playdough, craft clays, glue, paste, and other arts and crafts supplies.

• Prevent boredom during even the longest stretches of indoor weather with ideas for indoor play, kitchen activities, and arts and crafts projects.

• Stimulate a child's natural curiosity with fun reading, math, and science activities.

• Encourage a child's physical, mental, and emotional growth with ideas for music, dance, drama, and outdoor play.

• Celebrate holidays and other occasions with special projects and activities.

• Keep children occupied during long trips or cross-town errands.

The Preschooler's Busy Book is written with warmth and sprinkled with humor and insight. It should be required reading for anyone raising or teaching preschool-age children.

Make leaf rubbings, learn the neighborhood bird songs together, turn an aquarium into a worm hotel, create a firefly lantern. There are garden projects, both for the outdoors-grow a container snacking garden, a pumpkin patch in a pot-and the indoors, i.e., how to use something called "indoor garbage gardens" to grow pineapple tops, sweet potato vines, peanuts, and more. Cooking projects, both in the sunshine-baking in a solar oven-and in the kitchen-what child will ever forget the time the two of you made Potato Volcanoes with Lava? And lots of rainy-day activities for times when nature's in a cranky mood.

Created by Sharon Lovejoy-a grandmother of four and the author of two classic books of garden activities for grown-ups and kids, Sunflower Houses and Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots-Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars is an ecologically inspired guide that combines more than 130 green activities with timeless grandparenting advice. Illustrated with Lovejoy's distinctive, delicate watercolors, it's an inventive resource for grandmother and grandchild to connect with each other through nature. It is the book to make sure an afternoon, a day, or a weekend turns into a memory that lasts forever.

With just a few ingredients and a few hours of time, your kitchen can become the perfect setting not only for a delicious meal but for experiencing the greatest blessings in life.
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In Grace Before Meals: Recipes and Inspiration for Family Meals and Family Life, Father Leo Patalinghug (yes, the same Father Leo who defeated Bobby Flay on Throwdown!) helps you make family meals a way of life. Combining more than 30 simple but delicious recipes related to personal milestones, family holidays, and faith observances, along with scriptural references and short essays offering wisdom on faith, values, and family togetherness, Father Leo shows that mealtime is the perfect setting for discussing the major issues all families face. In fact, research shows that frequent family dinners can reduce many risks facing children, including drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, depression, eating disorders, and poor academic performance. These are meals that nourish body and spirit.

How to Be Party Ready Anytime
The Host: Producer, Director, and Star
Plan to Have Fun: Party Lists and Timetables
Classics with a Twist: Cocktail, Wine, and Cheese Parties
Your Signature Dinner Party
A Breath of Fresh Air: Outdoor Parties

With so many things to think about when hosting a party, you really need to have all the answers in one place. Emily Post's Great Get-Togethers is that place. This jam-packed guide shows a whole new generation how to be ready to entertain on short notice, create a welcoming atmosphere, eliminate stress, and plan ahead. You'll even find easy-to-prepare recipes that your guests will rave about.

With detailed calendars showing what needs to be done when, shopping and supply lists that detail myriad resources at your disposal, theme ideas, menu suggestions, helpful hints, and social musts and "no-no's," novice and experienced hosts alike will find priceless information and guidance. Most important, though, you will learn to cultivate your confidence as a host. Anna and Lizzie show that entertaining is both fun and easy, and their ideas ensure that every party you throw will be one to remember.

When was the last time you climbed a tree? Picked blackberries? Held a snail race? Made maple syrup candy, an old-fashioned quill pen from a bird feather you found, or a plaster cast of an animal track?  If the ­answer is "can't remember" or quite possibly ­"never," The Bumper Book of Nature will inspire you to get outdoors and enjoy the very best kind of free entertainment for you and your family. 

Who wouldn't love to discover a colorful butterfly ­hibernating in a woodshed for the winter or look at a ­snowflake under a magnifying lens? In warmer weather, why not explore rock pools by the seaside, pick wild ­meadow flowers (and then fry up elderflower fritters!), or go on a city safari? 

Whether you live in the heart of the city, the suburbs, or the deepest countryside, The Bumper Book of ­Nature will bring out the child in you with its treasure trove of offbeat, playful nature activities arranged by season. With lovely full-color illustrations as well as related trivia, quotes, and bits of poetry, it's a wonderful keepsake as well as a one-of-a-kind field guide.

101 Improv Games for Children and Adults starts with the basics of improvisational comedy, giving aspiring performers the building blocks required to think on their feet. A great resource for educators as well as for the professional actor or layperson, the book includes rules for 101 games that cover everything from easy warm-ups to over-the-top crowd pleasers, such as Fairy Tales, Bizarre Games, On Your Toes, and Narrative Games.

Children are naturally ready to learn, and parents are eager to teach them. TODDLER PLAY was created specifically to help parents teach their children through age-appropriate play that is fun and relaxed. Based on the content of the successful Gymboree's Play & Music Programs, this book is a "recipe book" of games, finger rhymes, nursery songs, and craft exercises that parents can use to help their children develop physical, cognitive, emotional, and social skills. Filled with fabulous color and fun photos, the book is structured chronologically to match key stages in a child's physical and intellectual development. Written with busy parents in mind, the book contains many quick-reference features, such as a skills checklist, cross-referencing of similar activities, and an index listing games by type of activity, such as art, ball games, discovery games, music and movement exploration, water play, etc. With over 100 activities any toddler will enjoy, quality playtime is just a page away.

Check out the great features of TODDLER PLAY:

** Contains over 100 toddler-tested activities for quality play time.
** Features exciting, age-appropriate activities, clearly labeled to help parents match activities with the child's abilities.
** Written for parents of children ages 1 to 3 years.
** Includes a wide variety of play activities, such as active physical games for strengthening growing muscles or quieter creative games for stimulating the imagination and fostering independence.
** Developed in consultation with the play experts at Gymboree Play & Music Programs.
** Contains a helpful glossary of key terms used in child development.