The purple flower didn't help me at all... but what did is:
SPOILER!!!!









If you have 4 kids, hit pause and place them on mushrooms or collectibles .. of the 4, 2 will carry the spoils to wherever they belong.

I haven't tried with more than 4 yet.. 2 on will yield only one item, 3 on will yield only one item.. 4 will yield 2.

I can "stick" my kids on the vines.. sometimes. It's hilarious cos if you stick them towards the bottom they will "zip" to the top of the hill and be stuck. But I ended up just letting the 4 roam.. then hitting pause and using my number pad to zip around to place them as needed.

One time I got a "rare" shell.. and I hadn't collected it before.. with all 4 kids grabbing it I got the "you got the last shell" pop-up _and_ 3000 points! That was the only time all 4 grabbed and held an item.

Now that I have level 3 farming.. I can stop hanging over the game and let it run by itself a bit ... TG cos I have spent way too many hours playing it with no time traveling :-)

Guess I'll have to actually interact with my family LOL!!

~misty