Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Review and Giveaway of: Travel Activity Kits from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Perhaps one of my easiest posts ever, as Houghton Mifflin's Travel Activity Kits provide parents and children with all the activities they'll need for a lengthy car ride, leaving me no activity planning!

Christelow, Eileen.
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed: Travel Activity Kit.
May 2010.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.


This particular kit includes (all packed neatly into an easily transportable box):
  • two books: Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
  • 30 minutes of audio: Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree (with and without turn-page signals), Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (with and without turn-page signals), and Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake
  • Five Little Monkeys travel Bingo game for up to four players
  • Two sheets of Five Little Monkeys stickers
  • Five Little Monkeys activity book with 24 pages of activities
  • 3 double sided crayons (totaling 6 colors)
Head out to your local library and pick up some of the other Five Little Monkeys titles and you'll have more than enough to fill the entire car ride!

Other Five Little Monkeys Titles:
Add in the Five Little Monkeys Finger Puppet Play Set and you'll really be ready to go!

Burton, Virginia Lee.
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel: Travel Activity Kit.

May 2010.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.


This particular kit includes (all packed neatly into an easily transportable box):
  • the classic book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
  • 1 hour of audio: Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel (with and without turn-page signals), Katy and the Big Snow, and Maybelle the Cable Car
  • Mike Mullingan and his Steam Shovel activity book complete with 24 pages of activities
  • 2 pages of Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel pictures
  • 3 double-sided crayons (6 colors)
  • and 4 postcards (all you'll need to remember are the stamps to actually mail these)
Add in a couple more books by Virginia Lee Burton from Amazon.com or your local library:
and the Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel Opposites Game and/or the Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel... and 3 More Stories about Trucks DVD and your child(ren) will remain occupied for more time than you'll realize!

Rey, Margret and H.A.
Curious George: Travel Activity Kit.
May 2010.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.


This particular kit includes (all packed neatly into an easily transportable box):
  • The original Curious George story
  • Almost 1 hour of audio: Curious George (with and without page-turn signals), Curious George Flies a Kite, and Curious George's Dinosaur Discover
  • 24 page Curious George activity book
  • 2 pages of Curious George stickers
  • a Curious George card game
  • and 3 double-sided (6 colors) crayons
What a great way to introduce your child to the wonderful world of Curious George! Head out to your local library and pick up a collection of their Curious George titles - books, DVDs, and audio books to make your long car ride seem just a bit shorter!

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:
  • In a comment on this post, share with me (and my readers) one of your travel tricks that keeps the kids busy and entertained during long trips!
  • Be sure to leave an email address along with your comment.
  • Deadline to enter is Wednesday, September 1st at 11:59PM EST.
  • For an extra entry(or three):
    1. Become a subscriber/follower of my blog (+1)
    2. Blog about this giveaway on your own blog and leave a link in your comment (+1)
    3. Leave a tweet on your Twitter page and then leave a link in your comment (+1)
  • Contest is open to U.S. Residents only, sorry for any inconveniences!
  • Winner will be selected by special guest poster on Wednesday, September 1st and will receive a complimentary copy of all 3 travel activity kits!


If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

8 comments:

style='clear: both;' Mozi Esme said...

Wow, these sound AWESOME! Some of my daughter's favorite books, plus all the fun stuff!

Travel tip - plan the drive during a typical naptime. And if you're the only adult, refrain from drinks of any kind, let alone caffeine! Nothing worse than having to wake a beautifully sleeping child so you can take a toilet break...

My iPod Touch is a great tool, as well.

janemaritz at yahoo dot com

We posted about this giveaway at Winning Readings: http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2010/08/travel-activity-kits.html

style='clear: both;' Annette W. said...

Wow. What a great giveaway. We love Curious George, too.

Travel tips (though they may not be new to you)- non-salty snacks so you can limit drinks. Children's music cd's that parents don't mind, and children's audio books from our library!

I can't count on our kids sleeping, even if it's nap time.

I really limit my drinks too...

derekannette at gmail dot com

style='clear: both;' Unknown said...

Love these travel friendly books!

To keep our two children busy on long rides we bring each one a cookie sheet. Magnets stick to this well and it can be used as a lap desk for drawing and such.

When we get free magnets from businesses or what have you we repurpose them by putting childrens stickers on them and trimming them down. The kids make new landscapes and tell stories to each other for hours.

Jody White
jcwbiz at suddenlink dot net

style='clear: both;' Unknown said...

Love travel friendly books!

When we travel we give our children cookie sheets for teh car ride. They can be used as lap desks or for using with magnets.

When we get free magnets from businesses or what have you we repurpose them by putting children's stickers or gluing magazine cutout images to them and tehn trimming them down. The children create awesome lanscapes and tell each other stories for hours with these!

Jody White
jcwbiz at suddenlink dot net

style='clear: both;' wmmahaney said...

This is an awesome giveaway.
One of my favorite ways to keep my two occupied is by listening to books on CD or they watch a DVD or play games.
wmmahaney(at)att(dot)net

style='clear: both;' Staci A said...

They sound like wonderful kits!

On road trips, we play road games, like I Spy or counting different things. We love listening to fun music and singing along. And if we're really desperate, the DVD player comes in handy.
mommastaci33 at yahoo dot com

style='clear: both;' Staci A said...

I follow your blog. Thanks!
mommastaci33 at yahoo dot com

style='clear: both;' Unknown said...

My kindergarten class loves Curious George, and we even put on Curious George masks to march to the music of "many Merry Monkeys Marching in a Parade" during our review of letter M. What a great giveaway!