Unplugged Play No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun.

Too much TV? Too many hours spent on video games? Tired of hearing "I'm bored"? The answer is here. The Unplugged Play Book celebrates the pleasures and virtues of old-fashioned play while addressing the growing concerns of parents who worry about the time their children spend in front of a screen. Written by Bobbi Conner, the creator and host of The Parent's Journal, the long-running, award-winning public radio show, The Unplugged Play Book is the family bible of hands-on fun, a parent-friendly encyclopedia of over 700 games and variations, with not a screen, plug, chip, disk, or battery in sight. Here are games to play alone and games to play with siblings and friends. Games to play indoors and games for outside. Toddler games, ten-year-olds' games, and games for the whole family. There are craft projects, puppet ideas, music activities, card games, guessing games, plus loads of ideas for keeping little kids busy nearby. There's stuff to do with cardboard boxes, with balloons, with muffin tins, with paper grocery sacks. There's how to draw a sidewalk masterpiece in chalk, design a castle, organize a treasure hunt, make silly hats from plastic tubs, build forts and ramps for toy cars and trucks. And dozens of special-occasion games, including birthday party ideas, themes, and activities. Woven throughout are not only the reasons to play unpluggedwhy it's essential for whole development, how it builds intelligence, encourages problem-solving and self-control, boosts creativity and inner strength of characterbut also invaluable help for parents, from lists of best toys (and gadgets turned into toys) to dealing with issues of sharing, shyness, party meltdowns, safety, and much more.

Bobbi Conner created the award-winning nationwide public radio series The Parents Journal and hosted the program for twenty-four years. She is a public radio journalist and writer. She’s the author of The Giant Book of Creativity for Kids (Parents’ Choice Recommended Seal) and Everyday Opportunities for Extraordinary Parenting. Conner’s public radio program, audio interviews, books, and articles have been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, the Washington Post, Parade, Parents, Parenting, CBS This Morning and PBSParents.org. She lives in South Carolina.