Summer Holidays Gift Guide – Children’s Books & Family Games

Summer Holidays Gift Guide – Children’s Books & Family Games | AD

One of the best things about summer and the summer holidays is having more time to read books and to play games with your family. In this quick summer holidays gift guide, we’ll look at some new books and family games to keep kids busy and entertained during the break from school (and beyond). Let’s get started!

A Day at Fluffyville Port

A Day at Fluffyville Port by Britta Teckentrup is a charming new look-and-find adventure book. This large boardbook will captivate young readers this summer as they’re taken to a bustling harbour. Here, they can explore the scene as it comes to life across seven spreads. Each spread represents a specific time of the day and there’s so much to see on each one. There are a few questions to read to your kids to get them looking for specific things but there’s lots more to see too. 

Every scene is beautifully illustrated and packed with details, playful surprises and whimsical characters. For example, there’s one family that we follow along as they tour the port, ride the ferry and even visit a pirate ship. Then there’s mischievous Bandit Badger who’s up to no good – check what he’s doing on each spread! 

There are many familiar faces to find as they return on a new spread. On the back of the book, there’s a guide to all the characters and their names too. 

This book is recommended from age 3+ and is sure to be a book that kids will return to again and again with its detailed artwork, interactive format, and memorable characters. 

A Day at Fluffyville Port, published by Prestel, is available from good booksellers. For stockists visit prestel.com. RRP £11.99. You can purchase the book from Amazon.co.uk here.

Surfing

Surfing by Jérémy Lemarié and Raphaël Krafft, illustrated by Gazhole, perfectly captures the spirit of surfing. Within the pages of this beautiful book, you can enjoy the sun-soaked charm of surfing with lots of interesting facts, stories, lively diagrams, dynamic full-page scenes, and comic-style panels.

Readers curious about surfing will love learning about the fascinating history, culture and spirit of this sport. From the very first wave riders in Polynesia to today’s world-class athletes looking to break new records… This book is full of energy and colour and shows that surfing is more than just a sport – it’s a way of life. 

Learn about how waves form, how Hawaii incorporated surfing into daily life, and how surfing became popular globally. Explore the crossover with music, film, fashion, activism and skateboarding and also important topics such as environmental awareness and gender equality.

The book has really captured the spirit of surf culture and the sense of adventure that comes with it. A great read for summer for children aged 8+. 

Surfing, published by Prestel, is available from good booksellers. For stockists visit prestel.com. RRP £14.99. The book is available from Amazon.co.uk here.

Campsite

Campsite is a fun strategy game where players compete for the best camping spot. Lay a card, then pitch one of your tents in the best way to score points. Each player has a range of tent tokens with different goals – such as camping in a desert, mountain or meadow location, or near water or trails. There’s also one that needs as many different terrains as possible close by.

After all tents have been placed, that round is finished and it’s time to use the scorepad to add up the points. The game is complete when three rounds have been played. The winner is the one who’s got the highest score.

This game is quick and easy to learn and fun to play whether you love camping or not!

Campsite is suitable for ages 8+, for 2-6 players. It’s available from Zatu Games. RRP £15.00.

Sosig

Sosig is a pocket-sized strategy game for 2-4 players that’s perfect for fun family game nights at home and on the go. The compact size makes it ideal for taking with you on holiday. 

The game is easy to learn and fun for the whole family. It’s recommended from age 10+ but younger children can play too. 

To play, use various head and body cards to create Sosigs of different shapes and sizes, trying to meet the current order goals to score extra points. There’s also a stack of “Mystery Meat” cards that you can use to sabotage other players’ Sosigs! The wiener is the player with the highest score at the end. 

The game takes around 15 minites to play and is the perfect mix of fun and strategy, all packed into a handy, compact box.

Sosig is available from Amazon.co.uk. RRP £7.99.

Hoddog

Hoddog is another pocket-sized, meat-themed card game to enjoy with family and friends. This award-winning game takes seconds to learn and only 5-15 minutes to play so perfect for small pockets of time.

When playing this game, players use the cards featuring sausages with different toppings and place same-numbered matched sets to build the longest hot dog before you run out of time. Once the final ketchup SPLAT card has been drawn, the winner is the player with the longest hot dog! Simple and fun!

The game is suitable for 2-5 players, for ages 10+ but younger players can play too. 

Hoddog is available from Amazon.co.uk. RRP £7.99.

Equipped for Summer Fun!

With these fun and very portable family games and beautiful children’s books, you’ll be well-equipped to keep the kids entertained this summer – come rain or shine!

Collaboration.