With a stack of paper bags and a handful of markers or crayons, your child can create her own paper-bag city, complete with a bakery, bank and little red schoolhouse.
For each building, your child will need two bags of equal size (paper lunch bags work well). On one of the bags, have her draw or color a building that is positioned either horizontally or vertically. She may want to color bricks or clapboards, then sketch in doors and windows, complete with shutters. A window box filled with flowers or a vine growing up one side of the building is a nice finishing touch. Next, stuff the second bag with crumpled newspaper and slip the decorated bag on top.
Help your builder cut out signs and awnings from colored paper, then glue them onto the buildings. Fashion roofs out of paper rectangles and top them with paper chimneys; use cotton balls for smoke. Doors can be made by folding construction paper into a small card, decorating the front and gluing the back to the bag. Help your child set up the city on the floor or on a table. Add a few little cars and dolls, and you've got your own homemade town.