The gift of play

Like any modern American, I find out when holidays are by Googling them.

My mother is the kind of person who likes to get gifts. To her, a gift shows you really care. Thoughtless gifts are almost worse than no gift at all. Almost. Among her five love languages, gifts rank supreme. This can be challenging, of course, for her husband and four kids because we don't necessarily feel that gifts should be so indicative of one's love. But she does, and she's my mom whom I love, so I've learned to oblige.

This year for Mother's day I'm getting my mom a book on crafting with kids. She is impressively crafty when the inspiration strikes. There's an artist in there - and an ever present teacher. Since she's the much beloved grandmother of five kids under the age of seven, now may be just the time for a creative nudge.

The universe had me read about Playful, and then Amazon suggested I might like a few more. Here are 4 books worth considering:

This cover makes me worry the book is a little more pretty/styled than practical/awesome.

Screen-free? Yes please! But by telling me there's a website, I waver on the purchase.

This book cover makes me think, GRRRRRRR LET'S PLAY!!!! (Ding Ding Ding?)

Not for crafting with kids necessarily, but this new book is receiving lots of praise.

Don't they look inspiring? I'm convinced anyone near kids would like this gift. Sure there are countless websites collecting kid craft ideas, but my mom is not one to dick around on the internet (she'd totally approve of the phrase "dick around" by the way). I want to flip through each of these in a bookstore to figure out which is best for her, but ugghhh, stores.

So tell me - what am I missing? Are there other books out there in this category that you can recommend? If so, tell me soon! This gift cannot be late.

P.S. Grandparents day is Sept. 13th, but please don't tell my mom about this. Without dicking around on the internet, she will never know.

Bonus link cause it's Friday!