Kits and other Goodies For pre-teen girls: I absolutely recommend The Body Book: Recipes for Natural Body Care. The time spent shopping for a couple of the more unusual ingredients, (like Sea salt) was well worth it, especially for Amanda who has allergies to cosmetics. -Making her own bath and shampoo potions was great, and she treated me to her 'milk bath' and Salt scrub skin exfoliating and softening scrub. It was great! Klutz books are always popular. The Klutz nail art kit, Nail Art is full of amazingly creative decorations that 10-12 year olds can create with a little practice, especially if they paint their toenails, or paint each other's nails. I got Kris(10)¸ The Official Icky Poo Book: Book and Icky Poo (Klutz) and she and her friends loved it. Luckily, her mom was ok with it too. My Sister got Face Painting when her girls were younger- it's still a much treasured resource, although the paints have been replenished a few times. Now they don't use it for dress up, but on Halloween, or as a special team event for a soccer game. They also do face painting for younger kids at our neighborhood picnic. The travel backseat kits The Amazing Backseat Booka-Ma-Thing: Thousands of Miles Worth of Hands-On Games and Activities (Klutz) and Kids Travel: A Backseat Survival Kit never did make it out to the car, they were too handy as an "I'm bored" antidote in the house. Shrinky Dinks Refill Pack was a great companion to the "Shrinky dinks" oven
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, providing more of the special paper with different designs, to supplement the basic kit. Incredible Clay Book (Klutz) is a hit with most any age. For slightly younger kids, especially girls: Cootie Catcher Book (Klutz) and
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were big hits when they were 7-9, and started us on the Klutz addiction.
Games Games are usually good with the 10-12 year old crowd: Sequence Game is definitely a winner, especially because of the team play option. It's good for 2-4 players, and adults don't have any big advantage. Of the classics I played as a kid: Stratego-Milton Bradley Board Games was a hit with the 11 year strategic thinker, who can beat me at chess. Surprisingly, 6- year old Ben was enthralled, too. We made up a modified version with fewer pieces for him to play. Now Amanda wants me to buy Risk so she can trounce me some more. I'll buy it and study the rules before I play with her. Deluxe Wood Mancala was a favorite when I bought it for her at age 7, but she still likes it 4 years later, and I almost never win. This edition was really nice, with a useful folding design and very pretty stones. Clue is still a little advanced, but they enjoyed the CLUE JR. Game version. They also liked "Masterpiece" which is hard to find in stores. Some things never change Monopoly, is as popular as ever.
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