Magic pictures

What you'll need: Masking tape, paper, markers or crayons
Best for: 18 months and up

• Make a house or letter of the alphabet by putting strips of tape on a piece of paper. Have your child color the entire page.
• Once she's colored the whole page, carefully remove the tape to show her the picture beneath.

Mythical creatures

What you'll need: Kid-safe scissors, catalogs, glue stick, paper, crayons
Best for: 2 and up

• Have your child cut out pictures of people and animals. (You'll probably do the cutting for a toddler.) Cut heads off bodies.
• Your child can mix and match heads and bodies and glue them to the paper, or draw his own bodies after gluing the heads.

Little weavers

What you'll need: Six rubber bands, sturdy cardboard or notebook, pencils, kid-safe scissors, paper
Best for: 2 and up

• Place the rubber bands around a piece of cardboard. Toddlers can "weave" pencils over and under the rubber bands.
• Preschoolers can cut strips of paper and weave these into the bands.

Polka-dot masterpiece

What you'll need: Paper punch, paper, envelope, glue stick
Best for: 3 and up

• Punch out a few dozen holes and put them in an envelope for your preschooler. She can glue the circles onto another piece of paper.
• When she's done, tape the paper with the punched-out holes onto another piece of paper; let her use it as a stencil by coloring in all the holes.

Barbara Rowley is a contributing editor to Parenting.