The Crafty Girl Series is a great entree into the world of tweenie life. Perhaps 20 years ago it would have been targeted at teenagers, but today's tweenies are just that much more sophisticated.

The series - which includes books on hair, makeup and beauty, games, craft activities and party planning - has a lot to offer mothers and daughters (and their brothers and dads) who are looking for fun and practical activities to do together.

The beauty book shows your daughter that she doesn't need to splash out on a spa to pamper herself, with instructions for whipping up a variety of beauty products such as toners, masks and soaps right in the kitchen. The hair book has recipes for making shampoo and rinse, as well as hair colour (temporary). It also has instructions for creating fancy hairdos such as the French Twist, and craft activities such as making hairwear.

Fun & Games has ideas that will appeal to boys, as well as crafty girls, with instructions for making glittery slime, kitchen sink cookies and treasure rocks (a kind of play dough you can use to encase small treasures and then crack them open later). Cool Stuff will get your daughter's creativity going full tilt with ideas about how to decorate her room - by gluing photos from a magazine on to plastic shower curtains, decoupaging photos onto her bedroom door (some parents might want to be asked first) or glueing rhinestones on everything from picture frames to telephones to calculators.

Many of the ideas in these books have been around for a long time. Using dry-ice at a party is rather old hat nowadays, and you can find the recipe for making slime on the internet, but there are plenty of ideas that will undoubtedly help instil a sense of creativity and even self-reliance. (What parent has never lamented that today's kids don't know how to keep themselves entertained?)

Moreover, the presentation will appeal to any modern girls' sensibilities, making it a real treasure and a keepsake - at least until she develops other interests.

Verdict: Artful work