Presents instructions for 101 games, acts, and tricks inspired by the circus, categorized by four different age groups, with ideas for props and musical accompaniment.

Encourages children to develop their imaginations, social skills, self-expression, and coordination with a collection of 101 dance games that emphasize creativity, no-blame activities, working with a group, and more.

Designed to help teachers and group leaders create dynamic and supportive play environments, this book features completely different games than the first one. These improvisational, noncompetitive games encourage involvement and cooperation--the participants gain as much as they contribute. By expressing themselves physically and emotionally and by exploring a range of possibilities, players gain self-confidence and a greater awareness of the feelings and experiences of others. 39 black-and-white illustrations are included.

This book is filled with dance games that the whole classroom or family can play and learn from. These noncompetitive games reward children for their involvement, encourage them to use their imagination, and show them how to express how they feel without using words. Black-and-white illustrations add to these simple games that release a child’s spontaneity and self-expression.

This action-packed compendium offers parents, teachers, and anyone else who works with kids a wide array of ingenious sound and dance activities from a variety of cultures to get kids singing, dancing, listening, interacting, and involved. 101 More Music Games for Children includes games that facilitate musical development, such as sound games, rhythm games, game projects, and card and board games. All of them have simple, clear rules, and they stress excitement, humor, challenge, surprise, and cooperation rather than competition. Whether or not kids are "musical" or play an instrument, these activities can help them: develop musical skills such as spontaneous singing; create, play, and recognize various rhythms; appreciate the structure of sounds; and learn how to play with all kinds of instruments. Like its best-selling predecessor, this book encourages and enhances creative expression, social interaction, family relationships, and kids' budding powers of listening, concentration, and discrimination.

Award-winning comedian Leigh Anne Jasheway has written 101 Comedy Games for Children and Grown-Ups specifically to make readers laugh. Laughter provides great health benefits, reducing tension and improving overall mood. Jasheway’s book connects readers of all ages with their inner five-year-old, providing 101 games and activities to increase their laugh quota and decrease the pressure in their stress-o-meters. With Jasheway’s help, readers can improve their emotional health and have a great time doing it. 101 Comedy Games for Children and Grown-Ups includes eight different sections, each geared toward a different genre of comedy. The first section concentrates on introductory games for getting to know fellow participants and familiarizing oneself with the basic rules of comedy. Later chapters introduce games geared toward a specific type of comedy. Each section includes numerous games, which are presented with a general description of the activity, the purpose behind it, a list of supplies (if necessary), helpful hints, and rule variations. Jasheway also provides a key to indicate the target ages for each activity, making it easier to pick the best games for the participating group. Jasheway’s book promises to provide fun times and lots of laughs for anyone that picks it up!

101 More Improv Games for Children and Adults: A Smart Fun Book for Ages 5 and Up is the follow-up to Bob Bedore’s popular 101 Improv Games for Children and Adults. This sequel takes us even deeper into the craft of improv — the magical art of creating something out of nothing — with all new games! Author Bob Bedore emphasizes how you can use improvisation, creativity, and teamwork any time, any place, to get your imagination flowing, win over a crowd, or be a wittier conversationalist. Actors and improv students will appreciate the author's fun, down-to-earth approach to developing theater craft. And improv isn't only for serious thespians. Used as a classroom activity, it teaches kids how to have fun, relax, and work together without seeming like an educational tool at all. Great on its own or as a companion to Bedore’s first book, 101 More Improv Games for Children and Adults is centered around entertaining an audience and creating memorable scenes. This sequel includes information on how to produce your own improv show. 101 More Improv Games for Children and Adults is full of wacky and brilliant activities for kids, teachers, actors, comedians, improv groups, or anyone else.

Originally written for drama teachers working with students aged 9 to 18, this collection of short, snappy theater dialogues makes the perfect short break activity in any classroom, camp, or youth group situation. Students get much more out of these dialogues than just acting practice: they increase alertness, cultivate curiosity, boost literacy, and improve school attendance. The one-to-one dialogue format facilitates friendships and allows shy students to demonstrate new skills. Written by a family of drama experts, each dialogue centers around a theme related to young life: food, parents, hobbies, movies, even falling in love, to name just a few. Each dialogue is introduced with brief notes suggesting different ways of playing them at different ages and tips for adapting the dialogues to different age groups and situations. 101 Dialogues, Sketches, and Skits is part of the SmartFun Activity series from Hunter House, which includes over 25 titles that have sold more than 200,000 copies to date.

With game consoles and the Internet, children are playing as much as they always have—but now, they sit still while doing it. Kids spend as much time watching TV, using computers, and playing video games as they spend in school each week. One in every three kids in America is considered overweight or obese, and the number one concern that parents bring up to pediatricians is keeping kids fit. Half of all children are not physically active enough for the development of a healthy cardiovascular system. 303 Kid-Approved Exercises and Active Games helps 6-8 year old kids get off their chairs with fun and age-appropriate exercises. Exercise for children must be fun. These exercises have been used for personal training sessions, kids fitness classes, kids fitness camps, birthday parties and in schools; they have all been “Kid-Approved!”. Kimberley Wechsler, a specialist in Kid’s Fitness, took into account the fundamental attributes of being a child while developing these exercises. Children have specific physiologic differences that make them unique. They grow, mature, and develop skills at different ages, so what may be skill appropriate for one child could be harmful for another child. These exercises reflect the emotional, social, physical level of this age group. At this age, children feel confident with the basic skill of fitness and are now ready to be challenged to more complex moves. They are now at the skill level in which physical challenges like balance, muscle building, hand-eye, hand-foot coordination, increasing challenges for their fine and gross motor skills, and functional training can be more added. They are growing in their intellectual and emotional processes as well, which now allows this age group to follow and understand simple rules of a sport. They are also introduced to the concept of friendly competition and sports fitness. Children also enjoy using their imagination and fantasy, so exercises require the use of their imagination. There are games and fitness challenges that require kids to take an active role in learning new skills, and there are introductions to new sports. Kids still enjoy outside participation so families, friends, educators and counselors can participate in all of the 303 activities. Kids at this age can’t seem to sit still--their minds are always thinking and their bodies are always moving. Children have short attention spans, so most of the activities can be played within a 15 minute period of time and many choices are offered throughout the book. 303 Kid-Approved Exercises and Active Games supports children’s energy and directs it in a positive way; the activities take advantage of a child's natural tendency to be active with unstructured or free play. 303 Kid-Approved Exercises and Active Games develops intellectual, emotional, and social skills for children, all the while promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.

Philosophizing — considering life questions — stimulates thinking: processing information, reasoning, thinking creatively, evaluating alternatives. Many children are natural philosophers. They observe the world around them from a young age, have a keen sense of right and wrong, and ask endless questions. Stories — fables, fairy tales, parables — are a classic device for teaching lessons about life, morality, chance, consequences, and other cultures to audiences both young and old. Philosophy Sucks...Kids Right In! is a guide that parents and educators can use to structure and guide this process. Contributors Nel de Theije and Leo Kaniok have collected 40 short stories that encourage children to ponder the themes of happiness, love, friendship, peace, freedom, respect and equality — and more. An introductory chart clearly lays out the age groupings the stories are appropriate for, a primary theme, possible secondary themes, and the teaching purpose of the story. Many stories come with discussion papers that suggest areas of exploration with children of different age groups (4-6, 6-8, 8-10 and 10-12) and grades. The open-ended questions stimulate children to experience the stories more intensely, encourage self-reflection, and seek their own answers to the big questions of life.