This is a great book for pre school children packed full of ideas for rainy days, lazy days and school holidays.
All ideas are presented well and with the bonus of telling you how much mess is to be expected!
Highly recommend if like me you like to have some new ideas

Really great book. Lots of ideas for me to try with my pre schooler. Really easy steps to follow and lovely illustrations.

Great informative book, an ideal read for anyone with kids, or working with kids, who wants to use some playful mindful activities to awaken creativity. As an art educator I appreciate this kind of publication.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I really liked this book, it was packed full with lots of activities I'd never thought of - as a newly arrived step mother, I wasn't sure if some of my ideas were age appropriate, and a little book like this just helped me feel so confident and not out of my comfort zone, and I am forever grateful for that.

Coupled with my need for creativity and being a bit more of an expert that I am in play, Laura Brand manages to aid me in a lot of trial and error, luckily you don't need a lot of stuff for kids to have fun times, I've had so much fun just flicking through, bookmarking and revisiting!

I will love to have this hand held in a hardback or paperback format, I think it will be so useful to have on the shelf and the ideas are so refreshing and easily adaptable. It's like budget fun on a shoe string, the best fun costs nothing! Perfect book, I've not seen anything like this out there, definitely impressed!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book, in return for my honest review!

This book is filled with simple ideas for activities that parents can do with their children. It's well designed and illustrated. I particularly like the guidance on 'parental enjoyment' which shows the benefits for the adult!

So many incredible ideas in this book for hours of play with children, even my 8 year old would love some of these activities. I love the way each activity has been laid out and I imagine with the physical copy the notes section will come in really handy for keeping record of how the activities have been enjoyed any notes for future attempts at the activities. But all in all a great book that could fill hours of time.

Lovely ideas in a lovely book. I would dip in and out of this easily and over time. Working with children you sometimes get stuck for ideas and these would be easy to adapt to use.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book.

It's hard to properly comment on an e-copy of a book like this. It looks well laid out and illustrated but I think it's the kind of book that needs to be held, flicked through, bookmarked and scribbled in. At the end of each section there is space to write notes and ideas so it's very much a practical book.

There are certainly lots of activities and ideas for young children - indoors, outdoors, messy, clean-ish, quiet, noisy etc. All of them are clearly described. I tried the Moon Sand with my granddaughter and she played with it for hours, and there are lots of activities like that - cheap and easy to make but engaging for children (and adults!)

Definitely worth having this on the bookshelf for ideas to keep little ones busy.

A brilliant companion to anyone who cares for children. I will be borrowing g so many of the activities for my class & also at home with my little ones!

The Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play is a lovely book that will appeal to parents of pre-school children, (maybe even kids who are developmentally early primary school age).

There are lovely ideas to keep little ones entertained and the author has so thoughtfully presented each activity with all the materials needed, an enjoyability rating for parents, as well as for the amount of mess to be expected. Personally I loved this, as it enabled me to do a quick mental calculation as to whether any given activity was a goer in terms of the mess/effort/enjoyability trade off at any given point in time.

The author even highlights some activities as being particularly quick, which is super helpful to parents of young children for whom time is so often of the essence.

There are pages at the end of each section to make notes which gives this book that lovely journal feel, while the illustrations and quirky font further support this impression.

Some of the activities require virtually no equipment enabling people to get started straightaway, most equipment is fairly easily sourced, some activities even encourage the reader to forage in nature to find the required materials, which I’m sure is no bad thing!

I would thoroughly recommend this book to parents, whether they are first time parents, or negotiating life with 2 or more small people to entertain. It will certainly support children’s development, as well as giving parents the kudos of knowing they are providing fantastic stimulating experiences for their young children.

Clearly a lot of thought has gone into the activities in this book, and how to make these as accessible to parents as possible.

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is indeed a journal of magical everyday play for both children and parents. Laura Brand provides a very good background on how this book came about and gives examples of what it was to develop individual activities with her children. She provides a list of the key ingredients you will need, along with how we can be kind to the planet, which is so important, instead of buying plastic toys that the children will play with for a short period of time, then throw away.

I loved the 'indoor treasure hunt' activity, especially in the current pandemic situation, as it allows the children to be active and build their imagination, but did shudder at the thought of the 'kitchen rock band'! Imagine a 5-year old with pots, pans and spoons/spatulas!! As much as I love children, this is one activity that is bound to drive me (and I suspect many other adults) round the bend.

All in all, this book will keep the parents and children occupied for many a day, without having to buy expensive toys or having them glued to screens. It will also to help to build the parent/child bond.

I really enjoyed flipping through this, there are some ideas I’ll certainly take in to my classroom and Scouting!

A great book full of ideas, tips and guidance for things to do, especially with little ones. The book comes over as incredibly positive with an emphasis of the mindful benefits of craft, rather than a competitive nature, which was incredibly refreshing.

This book is a must for all the parents who are stuck with their children at home. It is full of creative, fun and mindful activities. I can see this book creating new relationships between the children and the parents. I like the design of the book and the illustrations.

This is great for those with young children, there are a couple things I will be doing with my 6 year old. My 8 year old may be a bit too old for some of the activities but for those with younger children there are so many easy activities to do all together. I wish I had this when mine were younger.

Loved this journal. I wasn't sure what to expect being a primary school teacher who already has lots of ideas for play etc, but as a new Mum I wanted to see whether there were any good ideas for my little boy and I have to say I was so impressed. The layout of the book was really easy to read, and the illustrations looked brilliant - even on my Kindle! I'll definitely be looking out for a physical copy of this book. The ideas were fantastic and there are ideas for every budget and I love the focus of less plastic and more nature.

This is such a beautiful and well thought out activity book for cool kids and fun Mum's and Dad's.
Thank you for sending me a copy, I have loved trying some of the activities and craft with my kids at home, such a blessing during lockdown, we have had the best home school fun.
Will be highly recommending to my customers and friends and family with wee ones.