I am SOOOOO EXCITED to share this sneak peek with you guys!  Those of you who started with us back when Fun at Home with Kids started in February of 2013 might remember me saying that my dream was to someday write a book.

I can't believe it has actually come true!!!

I wanted to write this post to tell you ALL about the book.  Hopefully by the end you will be as excited about it as we are!!

Why "Screen-Free"?

I'll be honest, the title was the publisher's choice...but it's grown on me.  Specifically when I read this in the results of a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study:

"Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week)."

At first I didn't believe that statistic, but then I realized how many screens kids can encounter in a given day:  smart phones, computers, iPads, TVs...and it all adds up.  I don't want anyone to be under the false impression that we are a screen-free family, or that I think that kids having any screen-time whatsoever is "bad".  My husband works as a software engineer and I'm a blogger/writer - we definitely use a LOT of screens in our house.  Though our little X doesn't get too much screen-time, S enjoys a TV show basically every day and knows her way around an iPad.  :)  I like to think of the book's title as a reminder that in today's screen-filled world, we have to be conscious of how much screen-time (we and) our little ones are getting.

What's in the book?

Over 150 of our very favorite and best activities for entertaining kids from babies on up to age 10 (though I'll just say that the activities don't stop being fun when you're 10...my husband and I still like them and we're in our thirties).  

I asked a lot of my good (and honest) friends what they did and didn't like about activity books and designed this book around their advice.

Not overwhelming

Several of my friends said that when they get an activity book they don't know where to start - there are SO many activities to choose from, it's overwhelming.  I designed my book so that activities that use a common ingredient or recipe are all grouped together.  The simplest version of an activity or recipe appears first so you can get started there.  Variations on that recipe/ingredient appear in a condensed form on the following page.  My hope is that this will make the book appear more do-able, even though it does contain somewhere around 180 activities.  You can see a listing for each of the main activities here in the Table of Contents!  If you'd like to see a full listing of all the activities, you can view the full index via the Amazon Reader if you are on a desktop computer!

Since I am sharing not-yet-released copyrighted material, please note that you may not share these images on your site, nor may you pin them.  Please feel free to share and pin either of the cover images above instead.

Easy materials/supplies

The next most common issue my friends had was a suuuuuper long list of supplies.  I created a "quick start" list of 15 materials that are all easy to get your hands on (ideally you'll be able to get them all at your local superstore like Target or Walmart).  Honestly most people have several of the items on the list in their house already.  With these 15 materials you can complete nearly half of the activities in the book.  

Over 300 full-color photos

The final most common complaint about activity books from my friends was a lack of photos.  I've got you all covered here!  There are over 300 full-color photos illustrating the finished products as well as the steps and possible variations for the activities in the book.  I don't actually know how the designer in charge managed to fit them all - I think it involved a little magic - but this is probably one of the most photo-dense activity books you'll find.

Repeatable activities

The activities in this book have - no joke - entertained my two kids for the past two and a half years (and S for two years before that!).  Because they are so open-ended, they are highly repeatable; there are also lots of ideas for ways to vary the activities to make them seem new again.

Is there new material in the book?

Absolutely!  Around 50% of the book is new.  But don't worry - all of the most popular recipes are still included in the book - only most of them are BETTER!  That's right - I rephotographed tons of them and simplified the steps or refined the recipes to be clearer and even cooler.  Right now we only have the PDF of the book ourselves - our actual copy is coming in a few weeks - but it is SO HELPFUL to have all the recipes in one spot.  Even though I've created most of these recipes from scratch, I still can't remember the measurements off-hand.  I love having them all so accessible in the book.  And what good would a Fun at Home with Kids book be without the classics like Glow Water, Foaming Dough, and Crystallizing Watercolors, right?  :) 

As you'll see below, all of the sensory activities and recipes are allergen-coded and any activities that are taste-safe are also noted under the title.  Each activity has an approximate preparation time noted.  I made an effort to keep the vast majority of the activities at or under a prep time of 10 minutes, but there are a handful that require more time (they're really cool though).  I've also noted suggested ages for each activity - each child is different, of course, and you know your child's abilities and interests best, but it should give you an idea of what activities may appeal to them.

Since I am sharing not-yet-released copyrighted material, please note that you may not share these images on your site, nor may you pin them.  Please feel free to share and pin either of the cover images above instead.

So you'll be able to find classics like this:

As well as new favorites like this:

And just for fun, here's a peek at 18 randomly selected pages in the book - I had to make it tiny so you can't read it, but hopefully you still get an impression of it:

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Why pre-order?

The book's official release date is November 1st, but you can pre-order it now through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, multiple other online bookstores, and even through your locally-owned neighborhood bookstore.  Why bother to order it before it's out?  Here are a few reasons:

1.  If you pre-order through Amazon, you'll get a smokin' deal.  Amazon pricing can change hourly (isn't that crazy?), but they have a Preorder Price Guarantee.  That means that no matter what the price is when you order it, if a better price comes along before the book ships to you, they'll refund you the difference.  Pre-ordering it now means you have several weeks of price variations ahead and you will get the very lowest price of all of them!

2.  You get the book EARLIER.  Yep.  The latest news from the publisher is that the book could be ready as early as mid-October.  It ships out to Amazon FIRST and they fulfill their preorders immediately.  No one knows the exact ship date until it happens, but at least right now, there's a very good shot you'll have your copy of the book up to two weeks before it's in stores - how cool is that??

3.  Preorder numbers matter to retailers.  Several bookstores and retailers are watching my book right now (eeeek!) to see how many presales come in.  Books that have more presales are taken more seriously....basically if you guys show them that this book rocks with presales, it's WAY more likely to be widely available in stores.

Where can you get it?

The book is available WORLDWIDE.  If you don't see an option for your country listed here and want some help finding one, I am super happy to help!  Just email me at funathomewithkids@gmail.com.  For now, it's only available as a preorder online, but in November I'll be sharing all the places you can go pick it up in person.  Here are some places you can place a preorder:

AMAZON USA

BARNES AND NOBLE USA

AMAZON CA

AMAZON UK

BOOK DEPOSITORY

INDIEBOUND (for locally-owned US bookstores)