With the holidays upon us, lots of financial gifts – money, savings bonds, stocks and so on – will be ending up in little hands. And lots of givers have some sort of personal-finance goal on top of ordinary giving.

So I have a suggestion or two.

Many parents – and especially grandparents – want to make gifts whose primary purpose is financial training.

If that’s the case, I’d give stocks, picking a company the child is familiar with – McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nike, Apple … I’d let the child choose.

With a widely traded, well-known stock, there are plenty of news stories explaining what’s going on. And I’ve discovered that children as young as 10 eagerly will follow their own stocks.

Check out Sharebuilder.com, an online brokerage with commissions as low as $4 a trade. Most important: There’s no account minimum, so you can buy just one share if you want.

Although the long-term buy-and-hold strategy may be best for adults, I’d let your young protege dabble with active trading. It will keep the game exciting but in the end demonstrate that too much in-and-out trading is self-destructive.

Also, you don’t want the child to stumble on a winner and conclude he’s an investing genius if he’s not. Taking a few financial hits will be good for him.

For a minor, you need to set up a custodial account run by an adult. Alternatively, you could just set up an account in your own name.

What if your goal is serious investing for a child’s college education?

Simple: Go for a Section 529 college savings plan. This year you can give up to $60,000 to each of an unlimited number of recipients without triggering gift tax. For information on these plans, go to www.savingforcollege.com. Take a look at the plans run by Utah and Nevada, as they have very low fees.