Update: Giveaway: Mama's Little Book Of Tricks

Update: The winners (and their tricks) are:

• Jenni, whose trick is "to put some raisins in a bottle of lemonade – they were amazed watching the raisins ‘dancing’ about."
• Julia S., whose tricks are talking like a whale like Dory does in ‘Finding Nemo’ and giving her kids ‘the catalogs we are constantly inundated with and they are entertained long enough for me to run errands in relative peace. The catalogs end up in the recycler eventually anyway, but they think its fun that they ‘got mail.’"

It’s not too late to add your little tricks.  And don’t forget you can save 30% and get free shipping on your entire order at ChronicleBooks.com when you enter promo code Kingston (offer expires November 30).

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When the kids are having a meltdown, savvy parents will keep their cool with this fun compendium of silly games, unexpected stunts, and wow-inducing facts designed to entertain little ones aged 2–7. Mama’s Little Book Of Tricks features more than 100 clever ideas for simple and inexpensive activities that are appropriate for restaurants (Impressions with Straws), the supermarket (Go Fish), and long plane rides (Crush a Bottle Without Even Touching It!). Whether they’re making raisins dance or whistling with an acorn, kids will be amazed (and distracted) by their Mama . . . thanks to her Little Book of Tricks.

Some of the wow-inducing moments for the kid in us all:

• Turn a glass of water upside down without spilling a drop
• Spin a ball on your finger
• Amaze with some really bad jokes and very good conjuring tricks

Exclusively for Celebrity Baby Blog Readers:Enter promo code Kingston to receive 30% off and free shipping on your entire order at ChronicleBooks.com. Offer expires November 30. 

Enter to win one of three copies of Mama’s Little Book of Tricks by posting a comment with your answer to this question: What are your no-fail "tricks" to keep your kids entertained?

Comments

My no fail trick is for when my kids are in the tub. They love bat tub crayons. It keeps them as happy as can be n there.

- Ashley on September 21st, 2007

We rely on music a lot – singing songs ourselves or listing to CDs.

- Donna on September 21st, 2007

We always pack a small bag of fun things to keep them entertained when we eat out. I find it works best if it’s things that they haven’t seen or played with before.

- AmyB on September 21st, 2007

I give mine a sheet of stickers (it doesnt matter what they are of!) to stick all over themselves. Highly amusing for them!

- Jenni on September 21st, 2007

Books! The kids are always up for listening to a good book.

- Jean on September 21st, 2007

My ‘no fail’ trick…”Do you want me to call your Father?” or “I bet Grandma and Papa wouldn’t like to see you acting like this!” Yes, I know, not very good tricks, huh!? That’s where this book might come in handy!

- momof2girlies on September 21st, 2007

I keep the kids entertained by finger painting w/ pudding, giving them a roll of tape, and by packing a YooHoo and mini-marshmallows.

- Tara on September 21st, 2007

At this point (22 months), it’s crayons and a coloring book. We don’t leave home without them… and, if we do, by accident, we return home much earlier than originally planned. That’s for sure.

- Jenna on September 21st, 2007

My no fail trick is singing. Neither me nor my husband can sing, but when my son starts to get in one of his “moods” we start singing loudly. My son will stop whining just to find out what the heck mommy and daddy are doing, and before we know it he starts clapping and “singing” along.

- Jherica on September 21st, 2007

When in doubt, funny faces do the trick for my son. He can go from a whining tantrum to giggles in no time at all!

- elizabeth on September 21st, 2007

another thing i did for my kids was to put some raisins in a bottle of lemonade – they were amazed watching the raisins “dancing” about

- Jenni on September 21st, 2007

Ahhh, the blessings of living in North Carolina during the heat of the summer. A paint brush, bucket of water, and some hot concrete to let the kiddies get out their artistic visions. Keeps them entertained for hours!

- Erin on September 21st, 2007

My son is 6 and at the moment his thing is Nascar so usually when we go somewhere we allow him to bring a couple of cars. That keeps him entertained.

- Lorena on September 21st, 2007

What are your no-fail “tricks” to keep your kids entertained?
When my 2 year old starts freaking out on me or spinning into a meltdown, I start singing “Happy Birthday”. Yeah, I know it’s not his birthday, but he can’t resist singing along, and it grabs his attention immediately off of whatever he is upset about.

- Twyla on September 21st, 2007

My “No-fail” trick to keep the kids entertained (ages 6, 5, 4 and 6 months), I always make sure to keep their minds and hands busy. For example, we go on mini scavanger hunts outside. I make a list and they love finding different things outside. Also, they love to fold laundry, match socks, etc. Anything that keeps their hands and minds busy always works for me.

- Denise on September 21st, 2007

It seems that the times I use this trick most often is when I am waiting in line for anything – grocery store, bathroom… I let my children play with my cell phone. (The key gaurd is on, of course.) Just the fact that they can make the backlighting come on by pressing a button seems to intrigue them. If I really get deperate, I go through and play my list of ringtones to amuse them.

- Amy Jo on September 21st, 2007

My MIL taught me a few songs with hand motions. One is called “Have you ever gone a fishing?” and the other has to do with winding up a bobbin. My DS and DD (twins, 2.5 years) love these songs! They even do the hand motions. We sing and giggle and have a good old time. Also, the “Do your ears hang low?” song gets major laughing out of them! Good for a few minutes of distraction and light-hearted fun.

- Pattiann on September 21st, 2007

Well, we have 3 girls – 14 yrs, 5 yrs, and 5 months. We pretty much use each of them to entertain the other. In the car, we play a lot of word games: “Name all the animals you can think of” and we take turns. Or we use the “Excuisite Corpse” drawing game.

- Brooke on September 21st, 2007

As a long-distance grandmother I am always in need of current art to display on my refrigerator. That is usually met with an immediate response of artistic activity and it worked nicely when my children were young. Their grandfather still has many pieces of those artistic endeavors today.

- G.G. on September 21st, 2007

It’s pretty easy to entertain my 4 year old. He loves books and stories, and we’ll make up stories together. I’ll start it, “once upon a time, there was a” and he’ll say whatever comes to mind. For example, last time it was a fish named Alligator that lived in the lake by our house. He makes up one sentence, then I make up another, and we re-tell each part as we go on.
The 7 month old is easy too, put him near his older brother!

- Amanda on September 21st, 2007

My favorite tricks are the ones I use to get my kids to brush their teeth, eat their veggies, and go to sleep! Lately, DD has been falling asleep in the kitchen to the sound of our oven fan.

- Colleen on September 21st, 2007

I pull out a tub of legos and ask everyone to make mommy a surprise. It always works and buys me 20 min or so!

- Paige W on September 21st, 2007

I find that redirection works with my son. If he starts to pitch a fit about not being able to have something (that he shouldn’t,) I bring out one of his toys or a book that I keep separated from his usual toys/books. This works everytime for him. I also keep a few toys that he is only allowed to play with in the car. This makes for much more pleasant car rides.

- Heather on September 21st, 2007

We speak whale! Just like Dory in “Finding Nemo”. The kids think it’s hysterical. Whalespeak works really well at stopping squabbles.

Also, for the “are we there yets?” in the car, I hand out the catalogs we are constantly inundated with and they are entertained long enough for me to run errands in relative peace. The catalogs end up in the recycler eventually anyway, but they think its fun that they “got mail”.

- Julia Schuck on September 21st, 2007

sticker books on airplanes
snacks in the car
paint and an easel or music (either putting some on or playing our own with instruments) at home

- hannah on September 21st, 2007

I agree with Paige: However you are trying to distract your child, use the word “surprise!” That always gets their attention and puts a different spin on something that otherwise might be a lot less exciting and more ordinary. My own personal tip: my daughter always loves dancing on bubble wrap!

- shimmala on September 21st, 2007

I have a 1 yr-old and a 2 1/2 yr-old, so eating out is hard, if not impossible. I use crayons, snack foods (they love dried cranberries and the Gerber freeze-dried apples), we sing songs, we look around at things and point out colors, etc.

- Amy on September 21st, 2007

Pretending like he has the strength to push me far or falling on the ground. Songs like ring around the rosy and of course, books!

- Susie on September 21st, 2007

My no-fail tricks for my almost 18 mos old son are…

1. Tickling. even when he’s crying and pitching a fit if I lightly tickle him or pretend to tickle he can’t help but smile and laugh

2. Singing “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” and pointing out the parts as I sing them…for some reason he loves this song!

3. going outside and letting him explore…he’s a very inquisitive kid and loves to be outside exploring the world!

- Amanda S. on September 21st, 2007

my mother makes “quiet books” with pages like a shoe with a shoelace for the kids to practice tying their shoe and a doll with velcro clothes, etc. keeps the kids entertained all through church and car rides. i love them!

- M on September 21st, 2007

My kids keep themselves pretty well entertained, mostly by playing with their friends outside. My no-fail trick to get them out of my hair when there are no friends around is the Internet They love to read and write stories online, email their friends and family and play games

- Anastasia on September 21st, 2007

Our no-fail trick on road trips now is to pick a color and then everytime you see something that color you say what you see. It keeps the kids attention focused outside, and it even works in the dark, because there are so many different colors of neon signs!

- Mandy Sadlo on September 21st, 2007

I nanny for (just turned) 3 yr old twins, and when we’re in line waiting we have one point out a body part on the other.. “where’s his nose?” “where’s her ear?” ….we make sure not to ask where eyes are, or they’ll get poked! haha

- aidan on September 21st, 2007

Definitely books!

- Doreen on September 21st, 2007

My no fail tip is to keep books, and pads of paper with pencils in the car. That way if we end up having to wait somewhere in the car, we can pull out something to do instead of pull eachother’s hair.

- Jess on September 21st, 2007

In a restaurant my son is always entertained by a few of his Tomica cars and if that doesnt work giving him the box of sugar packets is great fun- dumping them out and then putting them back in, sorting them by color, counting them etc. In the car he likes picture books or sticker books. If we know we are going to be somewhere for a looong time (ie in the car, on an airplane) the laptop with the movie ‘Cars’ works everytime.

- lisa on September 21st, 2007

Crafts! It’s a fantastic way to entertain kids, teach them skills and see their creativitiy unfold!

- KM on September 21st, 2007

Our no fail tricks…
For the 3 year old– stickers usually do it. I always tuck a new pack in my purse before a trip out to eat! That and some cars–always have them!He also loves to people watch so a table by the window is awesome for that!

For the 8 month old–we sing ABC’s for him in cow… (everything is moo) My 3 year old made this cow puppet and when nothing else works–we break it out and sing! How funny songs sound when every word is moo…Not sure why my son is obsessed with cows–we live in a shore town in NJ! No cows in sight!

- Jenn on September 21st, 2007

Always have pen and paper!

- Naomi on September 21st, 2007

My son who is almost 2 will play with anything except for toys which is’nt always a good thing. I can hand him a shirt of his or his plastic spoon and he is “entertained”.

- Lesha on September 21st, 2007

My only no-fail trick so far is bubbles – my 19 month old loves them and we could blow bubbles for hours without her getting bored! But, I definitely need more ideas – I think I’ll have to get this book, whether I won or not!

- Jennifer Garnett on September 22nd, 2007

we charge up one of our old cell phones, take out the sim card and let him play with it. he can push the buttons, make all the noises and feel like he’s just like us.

- chubbyhubby on September 22nd, 2007

My son is always entertained by tickling lately. It doesn’t matter if he’s crying, but if we tickle him, he starts laughing. Now at almost 2 years old, he tickles us back and thinks that’s the greatest thing ever!

- Ashley on September 22nd, 2007

music and dancing usually help. and if it doesn’t the gadgets come out- cell phones and keys keep my toddler entertained every time!

- meg on September 22nd, 2007

Being a kindergarten teacher and a mother of two, i feel the best way to keep kids entertained is with puppets. They seem to never be able to get enough of those things and they dont even mind your lips moving cause its like you’re not even there to them just that puppet.

- Vaughn on September 22nd, 2007

just that when I posted my e-mail address was typed in wrong!! Agh! It’s fixed now!

- Paige W on September 24th, 2007

I put dried beans in Tupperware containers. They become instant maracas.

- winkster on September 24th, 2007

When we go to Gymboree (class) my 2 1/2 year old never wants to leave, so I grab one of their play microphones and she plays with that while I put on her shoes and get ready to go. Once we’re ready to go, we put the microphone away, say bye, and leave. She never puts up a fight this way.

- Rebecca on September 24th, 2007

At this point it’s boxes, pot’s and pans. Hours of endless entertainment. Never fails.

- Carrie on September 24th, 2007

Bouncing on a yoga ball always does the trick of calming him down.

- Alison on September 24th, 2007

Cloth Diapers are the way to go! Is the answer to Which diapers are better for the enviroment.

- Abbie on September 27th, 2007

With my twin boys, the best thing to keep them happy on a long car ride is to make up a story with them as the heros!! They just love pretending to be a pirate captain or a knight in shining armour!!!

- Devina on October 2nd, 2007

We do math to pass the time. We double numbers.. 1+1=2, 2+2=4, 4+4=8.. and see how high we can get.

In the car my boys love playing “Your cows are dead.” You divide up the car into teams, and count the cows out your window. First team to 100 wins. If you see a cemetary on your side, you shout “Your cows are dead!”, and the other team loses their cows. The adults point out the cows, and the kids will count away! This games can take hours, and they stay interested the entire time.

- Heather on October 3rd, 2007