Craft sets offer budding artists opportunities to make things but are structured enough that children need not be particularly creative to enjoy them. Kits are available for making items such as potholders, jewelry, leather wallets, candles, paint-by-number pictures, Origami toys, soap, and just about anything else. There's nothing quite so wonderful as handmade holiday presents, so suggest your tween create gifts for friends and relatives. Most tween girls love to learn to crochet, knit, and sew. If you don't know how, find someone to tutor your tween to get her started. If you're into pottery, quilting, ceramics, doll making, or have an interest in another craft, the tween years are the time to share your talents.

Your child will soon be old enough to create some real Play Dough statues and figurines, so why not let him whip up a batch of dough? It's easy enough to make finger paints at home, too. Building projects hold special appeal for tween boys, but girls should be encouraged to do them, too. Tweens are the perfect age for LEGOS, where they can exercise their creativity while building. Constructing model cars and airplanes remains popular, as does assembling a crystal radio or motorized rocket from a kit. Some wood scraps and access to real tools is most boys' idea of a wonderful gift, especially if there's enough wood to build a fort. However, keep in mind that tweens need someone older and wiser to teach safety and supervise until they can be trusted to use tools by themselves.

These days, any hobby can be for either sex. Such pastimes as juggling and doing magic tricks hold strong appeal to boys and girls alike. Some tweens become experts at whittling. Carving balsa wood is easy. Carving Ivory soap bars is easiest of all.

Start off a new hobby by giving your tween a book as a holiday or birthday present. Boys and girls love how-to-draw books that teach them to make pictures of horses and other animals and create cartoons and caricatures. You can't go wrong with a joke book or a fact-filled book such as The Book of Lists, The Guinness Book of World Records, The World Almanac for Kids, or Scholastic Kid's Almanac for the 21st Century. Most children can appreciate a calligraphy set or a blank journal and fountain pen. And, of course, every tween girl must have a diary with a lock.