Family Travel Forum - Kids' Favorite Hotel Room Games & Activities

Highlights' Which Way USA
www.highlights.com; $4.95 + S&H per set; Ages 7+

Highlights, the company that introduced Highlights For Children Magazine over 50 years ago and has since expanded to include toys and books, introduced a new version of the popular book club series “Which Way U.S.A.” Each book in the series features a different state, with 32 pages of challenging puzzles. There are counting games, mazes, hidden pictures, word searches, matching games, scrambled words and quizzes, all having to do with the particular state. Additionally, each book comes with a poster-sized, colorful accurate map of the state, filled with fascinating facts and information to help complete the puzzles in the book. esides being fun, the books help teach children about each state’s geography and key moments in history, complementing what they’re learning in school. Every five weeks, Highlights will send you two state sets, at $4.95 each; there is no minimum amount of state sets you have to buy, and you can cancel anytime.

The Three Little Kittens Letter Writing Pack (age4-7)
(Henderson/DK Publishing, Inc., $5.95);

Writing postcards to family and friends at home is a challenge for many kids, but this workbook-style kit can help. Activities include alphabet letter formations, word copying, and practice invitations and birthday cards. Also included is writing paper, envelopes, post cards and stickers. Maybe your kids will even write thank-you notes to Grandma and Grandpa after getting some practice with this kit.

Highlights' Top Secret Adventures
www.highlights.com; Adventure Kits for 20 countries 800/962-3661; 1st kit free, others $12.95 plus S&H Ages 7-13

The reader plays the part of a top secret investigator trying to solve mysteries (in my kit, in Japan.) To help you uncover them, there is a 34-page book filled with mazes, word searches, hidden pictures, and much more. The answers to the puzzles help you eliminate suspects and get closer to the solutions. There is also a guidebook to Japan which would have been more interesting if it had more information on daily lives of the people, and a jigsaw puzzle of the country which was fun to put together. It was fun figuring out these mysteries and I was motivated to keep going to the end. Some of the more time-consuming puzzles, like unraveling a secret code, could be hard for younger kids who are impatient, since the mystery takes about 1-2 hours to solve. Madeleine Linares, age 12

Games for Your Brain: Space and Ocean both by Tina L. Seelig, $9.95 each.
Rubberneckers
by Matthew and Mark Lore, illustrations by Robert Zimmerman, $12.95; Chronicle Books

These are decks of cards with a neat fact and number on each. The Space deck is cool because there's stuff to read about outer space on each card so it isn't just like a regular card game. The Ocean deck would be better for a kid who liked the sea. The directions list different games you can play. I liked using the Challenge Cards because you have to look up stuff to win. You can use "Rubberneckers" cards in a hotel room, but they tell you things to look for out a car window. I liked the idea of looking for people picking their nose or getting them to wave back so I could get extra points. Regan Bozman, age 7

Small Miracles; www.smallmiracles.net; $29.99-39.99

When you've got a little princess in tow, it's great to give her some responsibility for her lofty role in life. From the Small Miracles company comes a graceful selection of trunks and totes stuffed with a feather-studded tiara, lavender or pink skirt and suntop, jewelry, and an enormous dose of self-confidence. When Michaela Steele (age 3 of Brooklyn, New York) tried hers on, she immediately place her 'old' clothes in the backpack to take back home.