B a r b a r a s h e r I l L u s t r a t I o n s b y r a L p h

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Attention Games
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any shoe store), which will serve as a lap desk as well as a supply box. This
assortment of interesting stuff will keep kids busy for hours, and isn’t that
what “busi-ness” is all about anyway?
Gift 2
If your child is old enough to use a needle safely, buy or assemble from your
own supplies a box of cotton or a bag of cotton balls, scraps of material,
and needle and thread to make small pillows for dolls or stuffed animals.
Sometimes children just like to plunge their hands into all that softness
or paste it on pictures to make clouds or beards.
Gift 3
Embroidery threads are great for the budding or advanced embroiderer.
You could get one skein of every color, a hoop, some large-eye needles, and
a beautiful small box with drawers to put them in.
Gift 4
An all-purpose cape is great. If you are good at sewing, make a cape out of
old velvet or glossy satin or some other spectacular material so your child
can be Superman or a prince or Cinderella or a sorceress or a wizard. If you
don’t sew, secondhand stores are also good for finding dramatic clothes
and gobs of gaudy costume jewelry.
Gift 5
Assemble a collection of shoe boxes. Shoe stores often have a slew of empty
shoe boxes that their customers didn’t want. The regular-size ones make
wonderful trains for a younger child. You could connect some boxes with a
piece of string running through them, leaving a longer piece at the front
for pulling. You can add wheels, paint it, put animals inside, and so on.
Shoe boxes with lids and larger boot boxes can be decorated by collag-
ing or painting and personalized to make a private place for your child’s
treasures.