Nature reminds us to play and rewards us when we do.
Susan Taylor Brown - Authors and Speaker.

"If you really want to play freely, stop keeping score."
Sheldon Kopp  

 
 
 

 

     PLAYGROUND   

Everybody needs to take a break and play now and then. Here are some fun literary games.  Word games, altered books, magnetic poetry - I even found some screensavers made from children's books - it's all here on the  playground.  My personal favorite, of course, is the children's author match game.

Ever wonder what your favorite children's author looked like as a child? Here's your chance. You can skip ahead and see all the authors and their childhoohood pictures but playing the game is a lot more fun. Really. Would I lie to you?


All Kinds of Children's Books Quizzes
  First Lines in Juvenile Fiction Quiz
  More First Lines Quiz
  Quiz about children's literature
  First Lines of Caldecott Books Quiz
  Newbery Books Quiz
  Picture Book Classics Quiz
  Children's Book Quiz
  Children's Literature Quiz
  Tons of Children's Literature Quizzes


Other Literary Fun
  Weekly Word-orgin Webzine
  Word games
  Harry Potter Hangman
  Author Scavenger Hunt
  Ad Lib - Write Your Own Silly Story
  Art History Web Adventure
  Magnetic Poetry


Interesting Ways to Look at Ordinary Things
  Altered books - a new art form
  Optical Illustions
  Found Things


Book Related Screensavers
Note: these links will not download the actual screensaver. Clicking them will take you off this site where you can then download the screensaver.

  Jan Brett Books
  Lemony Snickett by Daniel Handler
  Junie B Jones by Barbara Park
  Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories
  Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
   Getting to Know You by Rosemary Wells
  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
  10 Minutes till Bedtime by Peggy Rathman
  The Wereling by Stephen Cole 
  Tales from the Box  by Sally Gardner        
  Gobble, Gobble, Slip, Slop A Tale of a Very Greedy Cat by Meilo So
  Max for President by Jarrett J. Krosoczka 
  Pinky Dinky Doo: Where Are My Shoes? by Jim Jinkins 
  Tom Cat  by Noah Woods
  Mad About Plaid by Jill McElmurry
  Where Do Balloons Go? by Jamie Lee Curtis
   The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
  Tales from the Box by Sally Gardner
  Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan
   Coraline by Neil Gaiman
  Stravaganza by Mary Hoffman
  Marvin Wanted More by Joseph Theobald
  Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
  What Are You So Grumpy About? by Tom Lichtenheld
  Charming Opal by  Holly Hobbie
   Otto! by Todd Parr
  Olivia . . . and the Missing Toy by Ian Falconer 
  Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective
  The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
       
E-Cards from Children's Books
  Jan Brett Books
  Lemony Snickett by Daniel Handler
  Where Do Balloons Go? by Jamie Lee Curtis
  The Wereling by Stephen Cole
  Big Match Manager by Tom Sheldon 
  Pirates! by Celia Rees 
  Whispering to Witches by Anna Dale 
  Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
  The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingey 
  Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan
  Coraline by Neil Gaiman 
   Stravaganza by Mary Hoffman 
  The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
  Girl, 15 by Sue Limb 
  Marvin Wanted More by Joseph Theobald
  The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot