Crafting With Kids by Catherine Woram Ryland, Peters & Small, £14.99, 3+There are 35 make-together projects for you and your child to enjoy. With simple and fun activities designed for preschoolers from finger-painting on ceramic plates

It’s a well-known fact that children just love to play with cardboard boxes, transforming them into everything from spaceships to Wendy houses. Inspired by his son’s passion for junk modelling, industrial designer Paul Justin has come up

1. Take a wooden (preferably) cotton reel and hammer four nails into the top so that the nails are protruding fully.2. Thread some wool through the middle of the reel.3. Wind the wool once around each nail so that each nail has a ‘loop’ around it.4. Wind the wool once around the ...

Simple but effective, children will love creating this high-flying rocket. It can shoot up to five metres into the air, so it’s best to make use it outdoors and stand back before blast off; you may also want to provide safety glasses

Some of these methods use hard-boiled eggs and so these can be eaten afterwards. If you want to display your creations year after year, you’ll need to use blown eggs.To blow an eggUse a pin or a needle to make a hole in the fat end of an egg. Wiggle the needle around to make a ho...

the mantelpiece from the stick-wielding frenzy of the children.Finally, it is time to blindfold the participants – and to the winner the spoils!

In the April issue of Junior, out on March 2, we feature some brilliant crafty ideas from Homemade Home by Sania Pell (CICO, £16.99). For full instructions, be sure to pick up your copy of Junior. Print out this template to 4x its size and use to make your flag and playsail.

1. Cut two circles from cardboard about the size of the pom poms to be created.2. Cut a circle out of the middle (fold the card in half to cut out this circle).3. Place the two cardboard circles together, then wind a ball of wool through the centre hole and around the outside.4. ...

Click here for an easy-to-use template for a fun pompom ladybird. For this and more great ideas for activities to do with your kids, see  Dad Can Do by Chris Barnardo (Guardian Books, £14.99).

With the Brangelina clan oft frequenting Lee's Art Shop in Manhattan, it's clear that they are a creative bunch. So we've selected some fabulous arty gifts for Christmas we're sure they'd love – and your children would too.First up is this dapper