August 9, 2007
Going Wireless
 With all the electronic gizmos and gadgets available for children, the living room can turn into Times Square during rush hour. These days, American kids spend more time watching television than any other single activity besides sleeping. Time to pull the plug.
A new book "Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun," lists 710 recipes for play using simple, inexpensive tactics. Author Bobbi Conner, host of the national radio show "The Parent's Journal" for 20 years, says it's the most basic toys and household objects – a cardboard box, kitchen accoutrements, a fly swatter (a clean one!) – that lend themselves to the most imaginative activities. Below are some of Conner's recipes for fun:
Giant toddler drawing for two: Don't want Junior exercising his inner Jackson Pollock on the dining room walls? Completely cover the kitchen table with either butcher block paper or taped-together, paper grocery bags. Plop a bowl of crayons in the middle, and let your child and his best buddy go wild.
Junior bowling: Set up a mini bowling alley using partially filled small plastic water or soda bottles and a ball. Finally, a good use for those plastic bottles that are so bad for the environment.
Muffin sorter: Babies and toddlers seem thrilled just taking things out of a container and then putting them back in. In this simple sorting activity, the child puts safe objects – giant popping beads, plastic golf balls – in a muffin tray, and takes them out, then puts them in again.
Macaroni mix-up: Preschoolers can use a muffin tray and a bag of various pasta shapes for a slightly more sophisticated sorting game than the one above – a good use of carbs.
Available online at amazon.com.
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