Monkeying Around Dot to Dot Books Review and Giveaway!

Hi Neighbors!

I just have to share these with you. I am amazed! Monkeying Around does the most intricate dot to dot books I have ever seen! This would make a great Family Fun Night activity. They have a series of 8 books. Numbers 1-4 are slightly easier, with numbers 5-8 being more difficult. I personally am hooked! Forget the kids, I like these! Recently several of us sat around and worked on dot to dots. Wait until you see some of these in the pictures. There are some that are 2 pages! Yes, two pages! Have you ever done a dot to dot with 129 dots to connect? How about 421? Or 1,365? Didn't I tell you they were amazing?



Guess how many dots! It gives you an extra entry. Extra Entry 3. No you do not have to be right for it to count as an entry, just guess.


This is 450 dots! Pretty nice!

Monkeying Around:
Monkeying Around
Since 2000 Monkeying Around has been dedicated to offering innovative dot-to-dot products that will delight and entertain children and adults of all ages. We are pleased to offer "The Greatest Dot-to-Dot Books in the World" (Books 1, 2, 3 & 4), a challenging collection of unique dot-to-dot suprises and variations. We are also pleased to offer "The Greatest Newspaper Dot-to-Dot Puzzles" (Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6), pocket / travel sized collections of weekly syndicated puzzles published in the pages of USA newspapers. In 2007 the first of the "Greatest Dot-to-Dot Super Challenge" (5, 6, 7 & 8) Books was introduced with Book 5 and now Book 8 in 2010."



This one? 149 dots!

These are some of the most intriguing dot to dots ever. Centering on Animals, Vehicles, People, Buildings, Insects and Sports. A fun thing to do is to try and guess what the results will be. Some you have a hint of, but others you won't know until you do the actual Dot to Dot! There are some drawing hints in the book and instructions are in the top corner when needed. Rules and Regulations? There are only two basic rules.1. Try to draw straight lines between the dots for the best results. 2. Follow the numbers in numerical order for the image to become visible. Another hint? Use a fairly thick pen or marker for the best image results. For some of the Dot to Dots you will be required to stop at a star and then start at the next number. Certain Dot to Dots ask you to complete a certain sequence and then start the next one. Such as:1-20, 21-38, 39-56, 57-89 etc. These are a great Family Fun Night activity. You can even time yourselves to see how long it takes you to accurately complete a Dot to Dot. Monkeying Around has my vote for great fun! ( I only included a few pictures of completed dot to dots, because I don't want to spoil your fun!)

"History / Inspiration
by David Kalvitis
"I have looked on Ebay and collected dot-to-dot books dating back to the 1920's. I know they went back much earlier than that. In my books I even made humorous references to the history of dot-to-dots, because I personally couldn't find the origins. There was a book that inspired me but I don't know the title, author or date (probably late 60's or early 70's). I remember the puzzles having lots of numbers and the images being fairly detailed. At that age lots of numbers may have been 50 for me, but it seemed like so many. As an adult I would occasionally create a dot-to-dot puzzle just for fun. I came to realize that all the dot-to-dot books available were for young kids just learning numbers, with drawings that gave away the final pictures. I decided I wanted to design a really intricate dot-to-dot puzzle book for the big kids, with lines wandering all over the place and numbers climbing well into the hundreds. While working on and off for seven years on this goal, I came up with new dot-to-dot puzzle variations involving multiple lines, connecting coordinates and even connecting symbols."

These Dot to Dot books from Monkeying Around run $6.95-$7.95 each. There is a store locator on their site where you can find a retailer near you, or you can order them online through Monkeying Around. These are probably not a great car activity because you need to draw straight lines, but they could be a busy time while waiting at a doctors office, at a restaurant where the children need some entertainment while the adults talk, anywhere you might need your child to sit quietly for awhile.

There will be 2 winners in this giveaway. One will win Books (1-4) The Greatest Dot to Dot Book in the World. The other will win Books (5-8) The Greatest Dot to Dot Super Challenge.

Mandatory Entry:Visit the Monkeying Around website and watch one of the short videos on the home page, then in a comment tell me which one you watched and if you find these books interesting. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but you must leave a valid email where you can be reached should you win. This giveaway will end 1/3/2011 at 11:59 pm CST. The winner will be chosen using random.org and will be notified by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond.

Extra Entries:


1. Become a neighbor ( follower). Leave a comment to let me know that you did/ do. 1 entry

2. Subscribe to At the Fence. Leave a comment to let me know that you did/ do. 1 entry

3. Leave a comment letting me know how many dots you think are in the girl doing the handstand picture. 1 entry

4. Tweet about this giveaway. Leave a comment with the link. 1 tweet per day. 1 comment per day.

5. Do a post regarding this giveaway. Leave a comment with a link. 2 entries, so 2 comments.

6. Leave a comment on one of my review posts (Not a giveaway) 1 entry

Disclosure:I received no monetary compensation for this review. I did receive 8 Monkeying Around Dot to Dot Booksfor review purposes. All quotes are taken from the Monkeying Around website or email. All thoughts and opinions are mine.