Best Activity Book Overall: Jumbo Activity Book for Kids

We tried out a dozen different activity books with kids aged from preschool to second grade. We were looking for quality activities that were both fun and educational—coloring, tracing, mazes, counting and more.

Busy Hands Books’ Jumbo Activity Book took the prize as best activity book overall for its sheer variety. Here’s more:

What We Liked

• Easy to adapt for different ages. 

• Gender neutral. This book is great for boys or girls.

• Widest variety of activities, from drawing to counting, matching to tracing.

• Affordable.

What Needs Work

• No color—this book is just black and white text. We didn’t have a problem with this, but we know some folks are looking for full-color activity books.

• No perforations. You can’t easily tear out these pages to hang them up.

• Thin stock = don’t use markers. This activity book’s thin paper is see through—it is best not to use markers for coloring, as that could bleed through to the opposite page.

Best Activity Book For Girls: Unicorn Activity Cook for Kids Ages 4-8

Unicorns! Need we say more?

When looking for the best activity book for girls aged 4-8, this book was a home run with our testers. Here’s more:

What We Liked

• Lots of variety. We liked the dot-to-dot, mazes, coloring and word searches.

• One-sided pages means markers won’t bleed onto other illustrations side.

What Needs Work

• One-sided pages = not as many activities as we’d like.

• Thin pages.

• More coloring pages, please!

Best Activity Book For Boys: Space Coloring and Activity Book for Kids Ages 4-8

Mew Lab’s Space Coloring and Activity book is a top pick for space lovers—high quality illustrations with mazes, dot-to-dot, puzzles and more.

What We Liked

• Nice variety of activities.

• Quality artwork.

• Independently published.

• Best for kids aged 4 to 6, based on the difficulty level.

• Thick paper doesn’t bleed through.

What’s Needs Work

• Older kiddos might find this too easy.

Best Variety Activity Book: 365 Jumbo Activity Book for Kids 4-8

When judging activity books for kids aged 4 to 8, variety was a key factor—the more, the better! When it came to sheer variety, we thought this book was the winner: Activity Slayer’s 365 Jumbo Activity Book.

And jumbo it is: we are talking 379 pages of activities here! Wow!

What We Liked

• Amazing variety: tracing; coloring; matching; mazes; word searches; puzzles; find one-of-a-kind; connect-the-dots.

• Great for travel—especially long car rides!

• Good quality illustrations.

What’s Needs Work

• No color. It would be helpful if some of the puzzles were in color, instead of black and white.

• No perforations. You can’t easily tear out a page and hang up your little Picasso’s handiwork.

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing products for the home and families since 1994. We do extensive research, evaluating products with an eye toward quality, ease of use and affordability. When we purchase a product for hands-on testing, we do so with our own money.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Our work is 100% reader-supported!