Activity book

Last updated
Example of an activity book. NASA High Flyers Alphabet Activity Book.pdf
Example of an activity book.

An activity book is a type of book, generally aimed at children, which contains interactive content such as games, puzzles, quizzes, pictures to colour and other elements that involve writing or drawing in the book itself. The book may, or may not, have a loose narrative or contain other non-interactive elements structured around the interactive elements. Activity books may be made for entertainment, education or a mixture of both.

Contents

In recent years, activity books for adults have become popular, as not only do they provide entertainment, but they support with mental health and brain activity. [1]

Recent studies have proven that activity books for adults support with relaxation and stress relief in both adults and children. [2]

Specific types of activity books include colouring books and puzzle books. A book is normally referred to as an activity book if it combines a variety of interactive elements and does not fall neatly into one of these more specific categories.

Similarly, adult activity books could include colouring pages (colour by number or free colouring) and puzzles such as sudoku and crossword puzzles, suitable for different ages and abilities. [3]

Examples

Activity books are typically centred around a particular theme. This may be a generic theme, e.g. dinosaurs, or based on a toy, television show, book, or game.

For example, the Where's Wally? series of books (known as Where's Waldo? in the USA) by Martin Handford consists of both puzzle books, wherein the reader must search for characters hidden in pictures, and activity books such as Where's Waldo?: The Ultimate Fun Book , which include a wider range of games and activities as well as puzzles. In 2018, Nintendo announced its intention to publish activity books based on its trademarked characters and games. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picture book</span> Book with images at least as important as words

A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video game genre</span> Classification assigned to video games based on their gameplay

A video game genre is an informal classification of a video game based on how it is played rather than visual or narrative elements. This is independent of setting, unlike works of fiction that are expressed through other media, such as films or books. For example, a shooter game is still a shooter game, regardless of where or when it takes place. A specific game's genre is open to subjective interpretation. An individual game may belong to several genres at once.

<i>Mario Paint</i> 1992 video game

Mario Paint is a 1992 art creation video game developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1 (R&D1) and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Mario Paint consists of a raster graphics editor, an animation program, a music composer, and a point and click minigame, all of which are designed to be used with the Super NES Mouse peripheral, which the game was packaged and sold with. Per its name, the game is Mario-themed, and features sprites and sound effects that are taken from or in the vein of Super Mario World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coloring book</span> Book containing line art, to which the user is intended to add color

A coloring book is a type of book containing line art to which people are intended to add color using crayons, colored pencils, marker pens, paint or other artistic media. Traditional coloring books and coloring pages are printed on paper or card. Some coloring books have perforated edges so their pages can be removed from the books and used as individual sheets. Others may include a story line and so are intended to be left intact. Today, many children's coloring books feature popular characters. They are often used as promotional materials for motion pictures and television. Coloring books may also incorporate other activities such as connect the dots, mazes and other puzzles. Some also incorporate the use of stickers.

Dragonology is a series of books for children and young adults about dragons, written in a non-fictional style. The series contains information on dragons, including about how to befriend and protect them as well as an alphabet of the dragon language, ancient runes, and replica samples of dragon scales. The series later expanded to include figures, plush toys, models, a strategic board game, a card game, and a video game for the Nintendo DS. Books in the series are credited to fictional authors such as Dr. Ernest Drake, a member of the Secret and Ancient Society of Dragonologists, and the author of the series' first book, Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons (2003).

<i>Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time</i> 2005 video game

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is a role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console in late 2005. It is the second game in the Mario & Luigi series, and is the prequel/sequel to the 2003 Game Boy Advance game Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The game was later re-released for the Wii U as a Virtual Console title in 2015, available for purchase from the Nintendo eShop.

<i>Wheel of Fortune</i> video games Video game series

Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, premiering in 1975 with a syndicated version airing in 1983. Since 1986, the syndicated version has been adapted into various video games spanning numerous hardware generations. Most versions released in the 20th century were published by GameTek, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1998.

<i>Wheres Waldo?</i> (video game) 1991 video game

Where's Waldo? is a hidden object game developed by Bethesda Softworks and published by THQ for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. It was the first video game loosely based on Martin Handford's 1987 book of the same name. Mostly similar to the books, players must help Waldo get to the Moon by finding him in each of the eight levels in the game.

Crayola Treasure Adventure is a video game based on the Crayola company line of crayons developed by Firebrand Games and published by Crave Entertainment for the Nintendo DS. The player is a person lost on an island searching for treasure, with only a map and crayons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legendo Entertainment</span> Sweden-based entertainment company

Legendo Entertainment is a Sweden-based entertainment company, led by CEO Björn Larsson. Founded as Iridon Interactive in 1998, the company adopted its current title in 2004. Until late 2018, Legendo Entertainment was a dedicated video game company, taking on the creation, development and publishing of various third-party titles through external development teams; since 2018, the company has taken on several multimedia projects, including comics, music, and animation.

<i>Wheres Wally?</i> British series of childrens puzzle books

Where's Wally? is a British series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozens or more people doing a variety of amusing things at a given location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally and his friends hidden throughout the pages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hidden object game</span> Video game genre

A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a subgenre of puzzle video games in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casual gaming. Time-limited trial versions of these games are usually available for download, although many are free to download on app stores. They primarily make money through in-app purchases and ads. Popular themes include detective crime stories, adventure, gothic romance, and mystery.

<i>Mario</i> (franchise) Multimedia franchise by Shigeru Miyamoto

Mario is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for video game company Nintendo, which produces and publishes its installments. Starring the titular Italian plumber Mario, it is primarily a video game franchise but has extended to other forms of media, including television series, comic books, a 1993 feature film, a 2023 animated film, and theme park attractions. The series' first installment was 1983's Mario Bros. even though Mario made his first appearance in 1981's arcade game Donkey Kong and had already been featured in several games of the Donkey Kong and Game & Watch series. The Mario games have been developed by a wide variety of developers. Mario games have been released almost exclusively for Nintendo's various video game consoles and handhelds, from the third generation onward.

Interactive children's books are a subset of children's books that require participation and interaction by the reader. Participation can range from books with texture to those with special devices used to help teach children certain tools. Interactive children's books may also incorporate modern technology or be computerized. Movable books, a subsection of interactive books, are defined as "covering pop-ups, transformations, tunnel books, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each of which performs in a different manner. Also included, because they employ the same techniques, are three-dimensional greeting cards."

Martin Handford is a British children's author and illustrator from London who gained worldwide fame in the mid-1980s with his Where's Wally? creation.

An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of genres. Most adventure games are designed for a single player, since the emphasis on story and character makes multiplayer design difficult. Colossal Cave Adventure is identified by Rick Adams as the first such adventure game, first released in 1976, while other notable adventure game series include Zork, King's Quest, Monkey Island, Syberia, and Myst.

<i>Kumatanchi</i> 2008 video game

Kumatanchi is a life simulation video game co-developed for the Nintendo DS by Vanillaware and doujin studio Ashinaga Oji-san. It was published on September 25, 2008, by Dimple Entertainment. The premise and gameplay revolves around the player taking care of an anthropomorphic girl based on the mascot character Habanero-tan, seeing her interactions with other anthropomorphic characters over two weeks in real-time. Due to its gameplay and subject matter, it was only released in Japan.

<i>Lego The Incredibles</i> 2018 action-adventure game

Lego The Incredibles is a 2018 action-adventure game developed by TT Fusion and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game is based on the films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018). It was released on 15 June 2018 in North America, 29 June in Australasia, 13 July in Europe, and 2 August in Japan on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One.

Cluedo, known as Clue in North America, is a murder mystery-themed multimedia franchise started in 1949 with the manufacture of the Cluedo board game. The franchise has since expanded to film, television game shows, book series, computer games, board game spinoffs, a comic, a play, a musical, jigsaws, card games, and other media.

References

  1. Professionals, C. B. T. (2015-08-05). "Why is Colouring the Latest Trend for Adults?". Psychologist Gold Coast - CBT Professionals. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
  2. "Exploring the Future of Adult Coloring: Trends, Benefits, and Market Insights". RASPIEE. 2023-11-22. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
  3. Woodrow, Lottie. "Bored Of Scrolling? 28 Adult Activity Books To Keep You Entertained". The Handbook.
  4. "Who says print is dead? Nintendo turns its attention to kids' activity books". Digital Trends. 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2018-06-02.