If you are using cardboard, cut it into a circle about the size of a paper plate. Cut the center out of the paper plate or cardboard to make a wreath shape. Use various craft supplies to decorate.

Crumble up shredded wheat and mix with enough glue and green food coloring to coat. Put it onto the cool whip lid and shape it to look like a wreath. Press in the red hots for the berries and let dry overnight.

• Cut a heart shape from red construction paper (it should measure about five inches at the widest point).

• Fold the heart in half to form the mouse’s body, then glue together the edges from the tip of the nose to the top of the back, but leave the tail end open.

• For ears, cut out a pair of small pink paper hearts, fold them in half, and then glue them onto the body.

  Draw on eyes with a colored marker.

• Lastly, tuck a lollipop into the body, so that the stick becomes the mouse’s tail.

Bring pipe cleaner under curve -neck- of candy cane and then twist to tighten into a V shape. Bend into a Z shape to look like antlers. Glue on two small wiggle eyes and the small pompom for a nose. String the bell through the ribbon and attach it to the candy cane. You may need to use a hot glue gun - with adult help.

Get creative and make all sorts of Christmas characters. Make Santa Claus; make eyes, ears, and then use cotton balls or felt for the hair and beard. Don’t forget the hat and red nose - like a cherry. You can also make Rudolph, Mrs. Claus, elves, etc.

• prints.

• Have your child create doodles for the border of the card, which you then glue to a master template.

• Make copies of the card template at a print shop, then glue the pictures to the cards using rubber cement.

  Tips: Glue the photo to your template before copying. Your card won’t look quite as elegant, but you won’t have to glue copies of the photo to each card.

Glue pretzels together so they form a circle -like a wreath. Glue a second layer on top of that making sure the pretzels on this layer meet in the center of a pretzel on the bottom layer. Hang with a ribbon.

Paint child’s hand with white paint. Place ornament in palm of hand and have child hold the ornament like a baseball, so all parts of palm/fingers are on the ornament. Let dry. Add snowman features to each fingerprint, i.e., hat on tip of finger, eyes, nose, mouth, buttons, on finger. Looking from the side view you see the snowman. Looking from the bottom you can see the handprint. Include the following poem:

These aren’t just 5 snowmen, As anyone can see.

I made them with my hand, Which is a part of me.

Now each year when you trim your tree, You’ll look back and recall Christmas of 20____.

When my hand was just this small!

• Take a family photo to a copy shop to have it shrunk to 1 1/4 by 2 inches and copied seven to a page.

• Cut an 8 1/2 by 11-inch sheet of card stock in half, then fold each piece in half to make two cards.

• Cut out each picture with decorative scissors for a postage-stamp effect, tacky-glue it to a piece of card stock cut to fit, then glue the picture to the front of the card.

• Cut a piece of acetate to fit, cut holes through the acetate and the card with an “anywhere” hole puncher, and secure the eyelets to the card with an eyelet setter.

• To make an ornament like the one here, wrap one end of a 3-foot length of 18-gauge gold-colored craft wire around a pencil to form a hanging loop. With the loop at the top of a star cookie cutter, press the wire twice around the perimeter of the cookie cutter to form a star shape, twisting it around the hanging loop and using wire cutters (a parent’s job) to snip off any excess. Remove the cutter.

• Now your child can complete the ornament by wrapping the wire outline with lengths of 20-to 24-gauge colored lightweight wire, securing the ends in place by wrapping them around the cookie cutter outline.

• Finally, tie a hanging ribbon to the loop, and your ornament is ready for display.