New Releases by Heather Collins

This book in the Family Fun series has everything you need to know about having a fun and safe campfire. This collection of outdoor activities, games, stories, songs and more is for kids and families to share around the campfire. It includes tips on how to find the best campfire site, identify animal cries at night and locate constellations. Kids will also find out how to make pizza over an open fire, tell a spooky ghost story, or create musical instruments for a sing-along. With more than 125 pages of fun things to do around a campfire, this is the perfect book for every camper, canoeist and camp counsellor!

Winter is a special time. As the snow begins to fall, it sets the stage for a whole array of wintry activities, like searching for special effects in the winter night sky. Or sewing up a pair of cozy fleece mitts. Or enjoying an outdoor picnic on a blanket of snow. This book in the Family Fun series is packed with over 120 pages of unique ideas for celebrating winter. In fact, there are so many wonderful ways to enjoy this frosty season -- winter just isn't long enough! Kids can * learn to identify animal tracks * tell silly fireside stories * make marshmallow s'mores * build sparkling sun catchers * set up their own goofy winter Olympics.

Armed with Get Outside, a kid will never say, "I'm bored!" again. This book is a key to the world of fun beyond the front door. Activities are divided into four categories (Nature Lover, Outdoor Fun and Games, Cozy Inside and Look to the Sky), where readers will find instructions for making things like sundials, bird feeders and kites, as well as rules for games such as 500 Up, Spud and Shinny. Accompanying these descriptions are fun facts and scientific, historic and cultural context. The passage on playing jacks, for example, includes a sidebar about a similar game played by the ancient Greeks. Children in Northern climes will love learning to play traditional First Nations winter games and be thrilled to find out how to create a backyard ice rink. It's a wealth of fun and fascination that will captivate any young person -- who won't mind ditching the video game for the great outdoors.