5 new books to help you make/craft/grow/cook in the holidays

List by Danielle

'Having a two-year-old is like having a blender that you don't have the top for.'

~ Jerry Seinfeld

School holidays are coming up fast, guys, and the weather's finally starting to show the odd dry patch. Here is a taster of the latest books for kid-friendly activities from the New Titles list, but there are plenty more where these come from (jump on the catalogue and browse through books on cooking, games, gardening and crafting with kids). Get a shot of fresh inspiration these holidays, from simple and delicious recipes and ideas for stuff to make and do and grow and go outside and muck around with, to books that will make you laugh and say yes, SO TRUE, how awesome that it's not just my family that does that (recent fave: Katie Workman's Mom 100 Cookbook, just hilarious and very recognisable).

Top 5 books I would have appreciated as a young girl had my mum let me go crazy and redecorate my shared bedroom

List by Tosca

"I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."
- Anna Quindlen

At ten, though, I didn't want more bookshelves. Now I do but then? Then I wanted to be able to chuck paint on my walls a-la Jackson Pollock's 'Summertime' and call it art. I wanted to be able to make tacky doorway beads and snow globes and put splotches on my bedroom furniture. In short, I wanted to be able to put some part of my still-forming personality on the room and know that I belonged there. This quick and simple post is for the ten year old girl in all of us who wishes she had been able to redecorate her room more often. Can you tell that I feel my personal development as a child was thwarted by parental common sense? Oh, those crazy, crazy parents, making decisions for us! With hindsight (because we're all wise after the event) it was probably a good call. It's never easy sharing a bedroom with a sibling - most days we drew battle lines down the middle of the room avowing death to whomsoever put a toe across the line first - so I do wonder if mum said no to redecorating because one or the other of us would've tried to obliterate any trace of the other's individuality. Maybe she did know what she was doing, after all. Had we been allowed to do so, though, I would have loved having these books available to me in all their kitschy pva sticky glue glory! Although there's nothing says I can't employ a few of these tricks even now, at 35... This list of books also makes for great school holiday craft ideas for young girls wanting to brighten up their living spaces.

School holiday ideas for parents: 5 books chocker block full of ideas or activities you can do as a family

List by Tosca

"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.
- Bill Vaughan

This is true! As a child the best activities mum organised were the ones that cost next to nothing, usually ideas she'd gotten out of books. We forever had those 'Things to do on a rainy day' kind of books around the house. Considering my mum had eight children and seven of them were always underfoot, I don't know how she handled school holidays and stayed sane. I don't ever remember being idle, though. I have memories of mum arranging daily activities to keep us busy which is probably why now, as adults, we try to do the same with the nephews/niece. Every school holiday each of my sisters (and mum until she moved away - wait, was this *why* she moved away?) agrees to take the kids for a day and entertain them. How you choose to spend that time is wholly up to you. I tend to go one of two ways: throw money at it and take the kids to Kelly Tarlton's or the Auckland Zoo and ooh and aahh over creatures and generally run screaming through the grounds (you've probably seen me and didn't even realise it) OR put a bit of thought into it and draw up a day of activities and crafts. The last few years have seen the return of books that advocate retro family fun - the kind of fun we had as kids before technology took over: hopscotch, charades, magic tricks, gift-making, fishing, and so on. For the next few days leading up to the school holidays I'll be recommending books that will give you some great ideas for keeping the kids busy. Today's post is a collection of books that focus on crafts and activities you can do with dad, with mum or as a family. They're also books that I'll be using for my day with the kids. Wish me luck. I may need it.