Fun and Games: Book-Inspired Activities that Make Reading Come to Life

What’s better than you and your kiddos cozying up to a stack of new books? Using the pages as your blueprints to some awesome real-life adventures!

By rtemmasmith May 19, 2015

What’s better than you and your kiddos cozying up to a stack of new books? Using the pages as your blueprints to some awesome real-life adventures! We’ve paired up a collection of new children’s titles by local authors and illustrators with nearby activities for you and your family, ripped right from the stories.

This month, we went straight to the good stuff: fun and games. We’ve matched each book, which features kids playing, creating, imagining, and building, with a parallel outing. From taking in a flick at an old-timey movie house to digging a hole to China, these adventures speak to the child in all of us.

Buy Them Some Peanuts and Cracker Jack

Read this: Smarty Marty’s Got Game, by Amy Gutierrez. Illustrated by Adam McCauley. Written by local celeb Amy G., a TV reporter for the SF Giants, this fun picture book will get kids hooked on the addictive art of scoring baseball. Inspired by the author’s own history with her Giants-fan grandmother.

Then do this: Bay Area kids love baseball games at AT&T park, so buy your tickets now (opening day is April 13). Between innings, visit the Coca-Cola Super Slide and the Little Giants Park (a 50x50-foot replica of the ballpark where kids can hit whiffle balls and run the bases). On non-game days all year round, the ballpark turns into the Fan Lot, where kids and adults can play ball on the actual field and enjoy other family attractions.

24 Willie Mays Plaza
San Francisco, CA
415-972-2000
Online: sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/

Do you have any other suggestions pairing great books with real-world fun? Tell us in the comments below!

—Emma Bland Smith