Are your kids excited about opening holiday presents? Of course they are, and that’s normal. But how can you teach kids that giving can be as much fun as receiving? Plan a holiday family activity that helps others and watch your kids smile with true Christmas spirit.

"Christmas is an excellent opportunity to challenge children’s creativity and imagination, a proactive approach as opposed to entertainment, which is non-active," says Harvey Martin, professor of Christian education at Northwestern College in Saint Paul, Minn.

Your family might help make and serve dinner at a homeless shelter or visit a lonely nursing home resident.

"We love it when people bring in ‘tray favors’ -- homemade cards or small crafts to put on patient’s food trays," says Merlyn Delamelena, director of volunteer services at Cottonwood Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Cottonwood Hospital needs 80 tray favors per day.

"One year during the holidays someone made cute pipe-cleaner reindeers for the trays," she says.

She stresses that cards should avoid commands like "get well soon" or "have a great day" because some patients are too sick to get well or feel better. "Use feeling phrases like ‘you’re special’ or ‘I’m thinking about you,’" she says. She encourages families to make tray-favors and deliver them to a nearby hospital.

Most hospitals don’t allow homemade foods due to infection control risks and patient dietary restraints, but Delamelena suggests families make and bring in a quilt.

"We really appreciate receiving handmade baby quilts or even larger quilts for adult patients that have long hospital stays," she says.

If you’re unsure about a project call your local hospital and discuss your idea with someone in the volunteer services department.

The need for charitable projects is endless. Talk with your family and find a cause that interests them. This November, Suzy Maloney of Raleigh, N.C. encouraged her sons, ages 5 and 11, to start a book collection for homeless kids. Maloney helped them make and distribute fliers asking for new children’s books. The week before Christmas the family will deliver the books to a homeless shelter and ask that they be given to kids.

"My sons are not often exposed to the ‘other side’ of life and obviously at their young ages don’t realize how truly fortunate they are," she says. "They feel really good about collecting the books."

The family plans to start a tradition of collecting and distributing books for kids.

"My boys love to read so they can’t imagine children not having books," Maloney says.

As a family Christmas project, Wendy Walton of Portland, Ore. modified an Irish family tradition. Instead of buying clothes for the poor in the name of a dead friend or family member, she and her sister gave their kids money to buy a gift for a needy child. Their kids are also encouraged to clean their rooms and give outgrown toys and clothes to toy drives or church charities.

"We don’t have to tell the kids not to be selfish about it, which is encouraging," Walton says.

Her 3-year-old son made his mom proud by dragging out a box of toys and clothes and announcing that it was for other children’s "giffs." Last Christmas her niece thought of adding disposable cameras to gift baskets so families without cameras could have pictures.

"She even found a free development coupon in the newspaper to send with the camera," Walton says.

Walton encourages families not to limit giving to Christmastime. Her kids collect coupons for daily necessities (soap, toothpaste, deodorants, bubble bath and baby products) year-round. The kids make gift baskets with the items and donate them.

"Watch for double coupons," she says. "It’s easy to go bankrupt when buying lots of these things."

Sometimes you only have to walk next door to spread holiday cheer.

Connie Myers of Salt Lake City, Utah found a creative winter project for her teenage son.

"When he’s shoveling snow, I encourage him to continue on the sidewalk around the corner to my neighbor’s house," she says. "It doesn’t take too long to shovel both driveways. And since he’s wet and cold anyway, the extra work helps to warm him up -- in spirit as well as body."