School is almost out and parents across the country will be looking for inexpensive activities to do with the kids all summer. KidsBowlFree.com is a program sponsored by bowling alleys across the US. The program allows you to register your children and receive coupons for up to 2 FREE games of bowling a DAY per child all summer long. All you pay for is the shoe rental.  For a nominal fee you can add up to 4 adults as well.

Bowling is one of our family’s favorite activities – whether we play it on the Wii at home or make an event of it and go to the bowling alley.

As summer nears, I will be looking out for more inexpensive, family friendly activities to highlight here. If you hear of anything or have activities that your kids have enjoyed in the past, please leave a comment!

We were given the opportunity to review the Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa game for Wii and I will say, take what you would spend on going to the movie theater and buy this game instead! The game is already a family favorite. Kids as young as 4 or 5 all the way up to the grown ups will have fun with it. We took the game to our family Thanksgiving get together and it was a huge hit with everyone.

You can play with anywhere from one to four players. There is a story mode where you are working your playing through the story – traditional video game style (jumping over things, catching things for extra power, etc). But there are also a bunch of mini games that are entertaining.

One tournament mode allows you to play “hot potato” with a Durian (it looks like a glowing piece of fruit), play musical chairs, and do springboard diving with Gloria. I wish I would have taken a picture of my 5 year old nephew and my two thirty-something brothers playing this together – it was a hoot.

My 12 year old likes playing soccer against the Foosa and my girls like popping the balloons in one of the other mini games. There are other games like the dance, matching, racing, chess and more.

At $49.99, Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa is well worth it. It has something for everyone and high repeat play value. I highly recommend it!

• Printables4Kids – activities include Print and Play Turkey Tic Tac Toe, Count and Color Plymouth Pups, Thanksgiving Word Scramble, Thanksgiving Word Search and Thanksgiving Coloring Pages
• Check out the cornucopia coloring page and the directions for making a Thanksgiving tree at FreeStuff4Kids.
• Animal Jr. is a fun new site full of great kids activities including a printable Turkey mask, Thanksgiving turkey coloring pages, and a fun online game called Turkey Bowl.
• Make the CUTEST pilgrim hat cookies from gingersnaps and my favorite, Reese’s peanut butter cups.
• How about this cute paper bag turkey craft? Or get creative with wooden spoon dolls?
• You can spend hours at Family Fun going through their Thanksgiving crafts and recipes.

Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy your time with family and friends!

My favorite games include:

Smarty Pants: Trivia for Everyone for Wii – players answer trivia questions in a variety of categories but with a bit of a twist. You may have to play tug of war with your opponents, you can bump the spinner and change your opponents categories, and do a dance for double points. You enter your age when you play the game which helps the game make sure you get age appropriate challenges. This is a favorite family game in our house.

Scrabble – a true classic game for the ages.  Scrabble is available in so many formats including classic board game versions, online versions (Get SCRABBLE FREE with GamePass), mobile versions and even versions for Facebook and other social media sites. Check out the new variation that is for kids and grown ups called Bananagrams.

Boggle – there are so many variations of the game Boggle and it can also be found in a classic board game form, online variations, and you can make printable versions of the game, too. The goal is to see how many words you can make out of a group of random letters moving from letter to letter without skipping over one. I even have this for my mobile phone – for when I am bored out of my mind at the doctors or dentist office.

The Game of SCATTERGORIES – roll a letter and then see how many words you can think of that start with that letter that also are the answers to certain category clues. It is fast paced game that kids and grown ups can enjoy.

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!, and Big Brain Academy are all available for Nintendo DS and other game systems. All three contain a range of games and activities guaranteed to make you think creatively and challenge your brain power.

Cranium -  the Cranium series of games has something for everyone – kids, grownups, big thinkers, and creativity hounds. The new Cranium Family Edition is perfect for family game nights combining the best of the original Cranium with a simpler format and slightly shorter game.

Even a simple game of solitaire, the daily crossword puzzle, or I Spy with the kids is brain exercise that will boost your brain power.

What have you done for your brain today?

My 9 year old daughter loves to cook – and she loves to read about cooking. I discovered the coolest website that takes a look at the science of cooking in a fresh, interactive, and fun way – perfect for kids of all ages. The Science of Cooking features recipes, activities, and Webcasts that make the science behind food and cooking fun.

You can see the molecular make up of sugar, try out the Candy-o-matic, find out how gluten forms and its role in making bread, and so much more!

The Science of Cooking is part of Exploratorium – the museum of science, art and human perception in San Francisco, CA. The entire site is full of great educational subsites and activities.

Here are some of my favorite places to find fun, educational, quiet time activities for sick days, rainy days, and mom I’m bored moments:

• Printables4Kids – this is a site I created with my kids for creating and sharing free, printable activities for kids of all ages. There are coloring pages, word search, word scrambles, mazes and more.
• FreeStuff4Kids – there is a wide variety of fun, free, and unusual activities at FreeStuff4Kids. It is another site made by one of my Mom pals and she is always finding the best activities!
• Seasonal Kids Activities – part of the new eMoms at Home expansion is a great resource called Seasonal Kids activities. Shannon has great ideas and plenty of pictures of fun things for the kids to do all year long.
• Easy Crafts for Fun – Bev has such a creative touch! Her site is full of easy craft ideas for kids and grown ups.
• Crayola Activity Pages – in addition to the store, Crayola has tons of great activities for kids to download for free.
• Highlights for Children’s Hidden Pictures – you can subscribe to receive free hidden pictures activities and free craft ideas from Highlights.
• Penny Whistle Sick-in-Bed Book: What to Do with Kids When They’re Home for a Day, a Week, a Month, or More

I’m going to walk. How about you?

On my Casual Keystrokes site I am hosting a giveaway sponsored by Designher Gals. Stop in to get details and enter to win.

The National Eye Institute has two free activity books you can order for kids.

• See All You Can See: Activity Book for Ages 6 to 8
• Wild About Healthy Vision: Activity Book for Ages 9 to 12

I am assuming they will only ship for free in the US, but the PDF preview files look like the may be the whole activity book and you could just print them yourself.