Child's Play

Make the holidays less stressful by enlisting little elves to help out with holiday tasks. Children can:

Prepare Holiday Greetings
Kids can make collage cards from construction paper, school artwork or cut-up catalogs and magazines. Younger children can affix adhesive stamps and return labels on envelopes. (The post office will send them even if stamps are upside down.)

Make Gifts
Let children use their imaginations to create ornaments from natural materials such as pine cones and leaves, whimsical clothespin dolls — great for adorning the edge of a potted plant or picture frame — or easy-to-make goodies like Peanut Butter Doo-Dads. Just set out the supplies and stand back.

Help with Meals
Kids can weave paper or fabric strips to make holiday place mats and coasters; mix ingredients for side dishes; set the table and load the dishwasher.

— Lynn Dean

Photography by: Jeff Padrick; Dolls Crafted by Bethany Bosley