A gingerbread house for all seasons.

• Position: WHAT'S NEW? Holiday Gift Guide - Create with Clay Gingerbread House - Brief article

Among the many joys of parenthood is seeing the proud look on a child's face when he or she presents you with a handcrafted gift. With a little assistance from teachers and class parents, we can tell how hard the kids work to deliver the perfect macaroni picture frame or flower-topped ballpoint pen. Since they've started collecting milk and orange juice cartons, we fully expect that sometime in the next month, our elementary-schoolers will come home with a graham cracker and candy covered gingerbread house--all precariously held together with vanilla frosting.

Though we truly appreciate the effort, these sticky treats don't last the season and, with their roofs sliding off and chocolate square windows lying in the coconut snow, they look more like rundown shanties than winter wonderlands. Knowing we'll have to dispose (discreetly, of course) of the melting mess, we're glad to be able to pull out Creativity for Kids newest winter holiday kit, the Create with Clay Gingerbread House ($21.99) from Faber-Castell USA, Cleveland, Ohio.

Using air-dry clay, glitter paint, and an...