Our*Play

Great on-the-go games by Barbara Rowley (Parenting Magazine/Early Years)

Keep 'em busy at the store or mall

* Tally Ho - Let your child keep track of how many teddy bears (or people wearing purple shirts or men with moustaches) he can see while strolling through the mall. Give him a piece of paper and a crayon to keep count, and tally his finds at the end of your outing.

* Talk to the hand - Put a small plastic shopping bag on your hand, and , as you push your child in her stroller or a cart, let the plastic bag be a puppet narrating what you see and "talking" to your child.

* Honk if you love..... Choose a funny sound ("honk," "quack") you both can say whenever you see a certain object- candy, a baby, a circle shape. This keeps your child focused on looking around rather than getting out of his stroller!

Keep 'em busy in the waiting room

* Magazine "I spy" - Open a magazine to a page with lots of photos. Tell your child that you spy something green, or something he like to eat. He guesses what you're looking at (you can give him "warm" or "cold" hints), then it's his turn.

* Mini-hide-and-seek - Close your eyes, and ask your child to hide a small toy in the waiting room for you to find. Now hide it yourself.

* Insta-puzzle - Tear a magazine subscription card into four or five pieces, and have your child put them back together.

* Float or sink - Got a half-filled water bottle? Let your child see what floats and sinks. How about a little piece of paper or a piece of cereal? A raisin? A coin? (Keep an eye out so little objects don't end up in your child's mouth.)

Keep 'em busy in the car

* Magnet magic - Give your child a baking sheet with plenty of big, fun-shaped magnets on it to move around and play with (easy to stash under the seat when he's not using it!)

* Laughing all the way - You say "ha." They say "ha-ha." Now you add one more "ha." The object: to keep the ha's going without actually laughing. (Each round doesn't last long, but your kids will want to play again and again.)

* Stick it up - Hand your child a square piece of sturdy cardboard and several pages of stickers. While you drive, she sticks. That's it, yet the most absorbing car craft known to moms.

Keep 'em busy in line

* Cereal drop - Set an empty cup on the floor next to your and challenge your kids to drop a piece of cereal, a small toy car, or whatever else you can find in your pockets into the cup. Kids love this!

* Street artists - Draw a simple shape on your child's back with your finger, and see if she can guess what it is: A square? Circle? Heart? Triangle? Then let her try her hand.

* Posers- in waiting - Both of you strike a silly pose and hold it until the line moves- make a funny face and stand on one foot, for instance. The first person to move before the line progresses "loses," and the other person gets to invent the next pose.