Color in the Fun

• What: Imagine Ink Activity Books
• When: 2 years and up
• Why: Portable, affordable, easy to use
• Where: Amazon

We received our first batch of these Imagine Ink activity books as a gift, otherwise, much like the Kumon workbooks, I never would’ve known they existed.

Bundle of 3 Imagine Ink Activity Books Moana, Frozen and Trolls on Amazon

My kids loved them from the first time they saw them, but I might love them even more. They come with a flip pad type of white pages filled with coloring, puzzles, mazes, and more. The top contains a case for the magic marker, and I do mean magic. One marker will work for the entire small book, making the color(s) and any hidden images appear.

Kids can color anywhere inside or outside the lines, but the marker only highlights the correct path .

The clear marker won’t show up on most other surfaces, so even if you’ve got a little Jackson Pollock on your hands, they can’t mark up your car, the tray table on the airplane, or the walls of the hotel. Most kids can do them even without any reading skills with a little help, and some, like the mazes, they can do with zero assistance.

You can find almost any favorite character in this type of activity book.

The small size and only one marker required make these books great for travel. I always grab a few for my kids when I see them at a good price. My only complaint is that the commercial character themes, but all bets are off when traveling 35 plus hours, so I try not to care about that, and my kids sure love it.

Bundle of 3 Imagine Ink Activity Books Paw Patrol, Sesame Street and Thomas on Amazon

These books lasted for multiple sittings when we first started getting them years ago. Now, my oldest two kids, at ages six and eight, can finish the entire thing in one go, and spend less than half a hour on it. If you have a long trip coming up, pack extras.