Stick Shift

The classic craft of building boxes, castles and multilevel spaceships out of Popsicle sticks is sure to pull even the most cartoon-crazed kid away from the television. The basic building materials--a bag of craft sticks and regular or colored glue--are available at toy and hobby stores, and they are all your young architect needs to construct whimsical or practical structures.

Working on a covered surface, your child can build a foundation, log cabin-style, by stacking the sticks end to end. For a colored wall, have him first build a standing frame with the sticks, then cover it with a piece of the Sunday comics, tissue paper or wrapping paper. For a smooth wall, you may want to lend the builder a hand in gluing the paper to the frame.

To get the whole family involved, host an ice-cream-stick building contest--award points for the tallest structure, the sleekest spaceship, or the wackiest jungle gym, complete with monkey bars.