Can anyone recommend a nice book of activities

[BerstieSpotts]

I'm looking for something I can flick through with DC - like a recipe book where you look through and think "Ooh, I'd like to make that!" except not food, but activities to do with children/as a family.

I'm thinking of a bit of a mix of everything, craft, outdoor ideas (not to specific places though please as we're not in the UK) rainy day things, word games, pen-and-paper games, challenges, etc. DS is 5 so not too toddler-centric, although we might have more children in the future, it's mainly for him now and in the future.

I'm sure such a thing must exist? Does anybody know one? Especially one with beautiful pictures?

Also - slightly petty thing, but I would prefer it if any craft activities were more "useful" or at least adaptable. I mean, making a flower out of tissues and an owl out of an egg box and a robot out of assorted cartons is lovely, but sort of pointless. And is going to clog up the house for the next 3 years until I stop feeling guilty enough to throw it away. I don't mind making something that can be played with later, or makes a nice decoration in a bedroom or can be used as part of another toy (e.g. brio train station/chair for teddy/etc) or something useful like an egg cup even if it gets used twice and disintegrates. And maybe something like "How to make animals out of toilet roll tubes" might be useful if it can be adapted to any kind of animal so we can follow a theme some time or make a favourite character he's going through a phase of. But generally, not too many pointless crafts!

[BerstieSpotts]

bump

[ZuleikaD]

There's a good book we've got called This Book Is Totally Rubbish which is all about using stuff you'd normally recycle to make new things. Papier mache etc. But other than that it sounds like one of those big Bumper Book of Activities type things might suit you. And the Dangerous Book for Boys. Thing is, you want to cover a lot of ground - no one book does all this.

[BerstieSpotts]

True! I wouldn't mind having a few to look through :) Sort of mentally building a family Christmas list