The school Easter holidays are almost upon us, and if you parent anything like I do then you’ll know that you need to have a few tricks up your sleeves to get through the holidays with as much peace and harmony in the family as possible.
One trick that I’ve learnt over the years is the value of always having an activity book of some kind in my bag, or in the car, so that it can be deployed whenever we have a wait somewhere. Whether that be at a restaurant or cafe whilst our meal comes, or during a long journey, or possibly even something unplanned like whilst waiting for roadside recovery or waiting to be seen at minor injuries! All of these have happened to our family during one trip or another, and now I aim to be prepared for all eventualities.
I was delighted therefore to be sent the three new addition to the Lonely Planet Kids Sticker World Series – Airport, Castle and Farm. In these Sticker World books children get to create their own worlds. The books are a mix of doodle books and sticker books with each double page spread leading children through designing their own world – whether it be an airport, a castle or a farm in these particular books.
The Sticker World Airport book for example takes you through deciding what your airport will be called and where it will fly to, right through to who will work there and who will travel through it. It also takes children through the whole airport process. Going through security, waiting in departures, a spot of airport shopping, boarding the plane, what they will do on board, what they might eat whilst in flight and even air traffic control. It’s a brilliant way of explaining the whole airport and flight process to children and would be excellent preparation for a child who has possibly never flown before, or one who is particularly nervous, or who maybe has special needs.
Each book contains over 500 stickers that children can use when prompted to create their sticker world. The only small world of warning that I would give about the books is that the shiny pages mean that you need to choose your child’s drawing or writing implement with care so that you don’t end up with either pens that rub off easily, or ones that don’t show up properly. Felt tips are definitely the answer, and I found that the Berol ones that we always use worked fine, as long as you let them dry sufficiently before shutting the book.
In the Castle book, children are invited to help restore an old castle. As well as the layout of the castle itself, they are taken through thinking about the people who live and work inside the castle and what they will wear. Also, what will they find inside the castle? Art on the walls? Hidden treasures being kept safe? And might there be ghosts living there too?
Down on the Farm, children are introduced to all the animals and birds that might live on their farm, and all the jobs that the farmer must do there. There’s plenty to keep him (or her) busy looking after the animals and also fixing various things. They’re also invited to think about what the farm might sell in their farm shop.
All three Sticker World books are brilliant in that they combine pages to keep children occupied with also teaching them a huge amount about each world that they are creating. I’ve already talked about how useful I can see the airport book being if you are travelling with children. I can see the castle one working brilliantly with the castle theme that Master C will do at school in Year 2 and the visit to a local castle that they all go on. The farm one will work equally well if you’re planning a visit to a farm (much like we did recently over on Penny Travels) or learning about farms at school.
Priced at £5.99 each the Lonely Planet Kids Sticker World books are perfect for taking along with you any school holiday trips that you have planned, or just working through with your children over the holidays.
Sticker World Airport, Castle and Farm were all published by Lonely Planet Kids in February 2019 and are priced at £5.99 each. Each book has 40 pages, plus 6 sticker sheets.
Disclaimer: We were sent copies of the Sticker World Airport, Castle and Farm books featured for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.