If you’ve ever searched for some decent educational activities for your kids online, I’m sure that you weren’t disappointed. I will go online with the intention of quickly finding an activity for the skill I’m working on—or something to go with our current book—only to spend eons looking up even more activities, finding tons of excellent idea-filled blogs, and wishing I had more hours in the day to do all of this stuff with my kiddo.

To avoid the snowball effect of searching, you might want to check out a good book on preschool activities (or activities geared at your child’s age level). There are so many books out there that are filled not only with things to do, but also how those things help your child—whether through motor skills, language development, or other areas.

Thinking Games for Preschool by Susan Baltrus is one such book. Like many books of its kind, I simply ran across it in our excellent library and, after flipping through, knew I just had to check it out and bring it home. It’s not a very big book by any means, but don’t let that fool you; it’s brimming with great ideas to use and share.

There are about 100 activities overall in the book. Each is intended to help teach some kind of skill or concept, and can take place in multiple settings, such as outside or in the car. The writers say that the book can help your child develop tons of different skills, including problem solving skills, memory skills, spatial abilities, visual observation skills, listening skills, artistic expression and much more.

One of my favorite things about the book is that all of the games—or most of them, at least—depend on things you have at home, not things you have to buy. And as much as I love Hi Ho Cherry O, Chutes and Ladders and Don’t Spill the Beans, using a simple bowl and some dried pasta will totally work for me. Most games also include variations in case you want to make them harder to play for older kids—or younger ones who’ve mastered the skill already.

Written with three- to six- year- olds in mind, Thinking Games for Preschoolers is an excellent edition for any parent’s library. What’s more fun than learning through play, after all? And kids at this age simply love games—at least mine sure does—so why not use some games to help get your child ready to learn as well as entertained?