Read Ebook: Toy-Making in School and Home by Polkinghorne M I R Mabel Irene Rutherford Polkinghorne R K Ruby Kathleen

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Earnestly commending every one of you to God, and to his mercy, which endureth forever, I remain your affectionate husband and father, JOHN BROWN.

Wooden skewers are useful for axles of all kinds.

Another useful boring tool is the metal pin stopper supplied with tubes of seccotine. This bores a hole in cardboard or paper that is the right size for a match. When boring holes in cardboard the children will find a cotton reel useful to bore upon; their meat skewer or seccotine pin stopper can then pass through the cardboard into the hole in the reel.

If Fig. 1 is made of cardboard, flange A must have the surface of the cardboard pared away, otherwise the joining will be clumsy. The dotted lines represent bends only in the case of paper, but half cuts in the case of cardboard.

With regard to the size of the flange, this will depend upon the strength of the adhesive used and the stiffness of the material. Generally speaking, the larger the flange the better, for a narrow flange tends to turn up and must be held down longer than a wide one.

A good general rule to remember when joining two pieces of material is this--that it is always the thinner of the two that is to be pasted or glued. This must be borne in mind when using the second method of joining cardboard or paper edges.

The sides, bottom, and roof of the Noah's Ark are joined together by paper hinges .

This is the method used for fastening on paper funnels, the bottom of the paper mug , etc.

The wheels can be rigidly fixed to the axle--that is, a match end is pushed tight into the cardboard wheel and the axle is free to turn in loose bearings, as in Fig. 4, fixed under the cart or other vehicle or to the sides. These bearings can be cut from cardboard or cartridge paper.

In Fig. 4 the paper is bent at a right angle along the dotted line, and the rectangular portion is gummed under the cart. If the rectangular portion is gummed to the side of the cart no bend is needed. The parts of the match sticks that pass through the holes must be rounded with sand-paper so that they will turn easily in the holes.

These wheels will revolve if the match stick has been rounded with sand-paper.

With regard to the arrangement of the toys in this book, roughly they are described in order of difficulty, but for convenience sometimes this order has been departed from. For example, match-box toys have been grouped together, cork animals, etc. The teacher must select her own models from different parts of the book and use them in accordance with her children's ability and her own taste.

Another important principle to follow is this. The teacher should give as few directions as possible, be as silent as it is possible for a teacher to be. The child has an excellent opportunity in these classes of learning from his own mistakes. This opportunity must not be taken from him; he must be given the chance of finding out his own mistakes. Moreover, every difficulty should not be anticipated for the child; nor should too many warnings be given. Let the children set to work as soon as possible and use their tools without too many instructions about them. Let them ask, let them have the pleasure of discovering; every child wants to learn, but not every child wants to be taught.

All models should be made as large as is reasonably possible; this should be insisted on from the beginning. Lastly, great accuracy must not be expected from the child; careful work must be insisted on, but one must learn to recognise the careful work of a child and not heedlessly blame him or her for not reaching perfection.

Accuracy is so often the outcome of 'lack of vision.' The child so often has that 'vision,' that imaginative outlook on life that floods the mind with ideas, but lacks accurate power of expression, while the grown-up person has the accurate power of expression, but has lost the fresh imagination of youth and all its ideals. We must see to it that we do not dim our children's vision.

PAPER WORK FOR INFANTS

PAPER TOYS FROM THE SQUARE

As soon as possible the child should be shown how to make a large brown paper envelope to keep his work in.

Children delight in chalking the blinds of their carriages in various colours and labelling them 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Class. The top of the carriage should be darkened with pencil or chalk, or a piece of black paper pasted over it.

The basket should be coloured with yellow chalk to represent straw; the handle is fastened on with paper-fasteners.

Paper fruit, apples and oranges, can be cut out to go in the basket.

The children can cut a shovel out of paper to slip in a little paper band at the back . The coal scuttle should be coloured black, with yellow to represent brass.

Fig. 40 shows a drawing of a real "A" tent spread out flat upon the ground. It is made of strips of canvas, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 sewn together. Children can imitate this in paper.

MORE PAPER TOYS

The children can make a very pretty scene from this. Trees can be coloured and cut out of paper and gummed upright by means of a little flap of paper left at the end of the trunk of the tree. The house can be cut out of a piece of folded paper so that it will stand; animals can be cut in a similar way . Boats are made of plasticine, with paper sails stuck in it. Children can add other animals and think of other additions to the scene.

The punt should be made from a square of cartridge paper, eleven inches each side. It will be found to float well on water.

To make the socket, fold the oblong into four parts, leaving a piece, E, over; gum E to A.

The bucket is made from a small oblong. Fold and cut off the shaded parts as in Fig. 56. When the bucket is fastened together stand on a piece of paper and draw round it to get the measurement for a circular disc for the bottom. Cut this out and gum it to the bent edges 1, 2, 3, 4. A handle can be made of string or paper.

Canoe, quiver and cradle look effective cut out of brown paper and chalked with yellow or red chalks.

A simpler way of fastening the tower together is to gum O to J, M L and N K standing upright as in Fig. 72.

MATCH-BOX TOYS

Many simple and effective toys can be made from match-boxes. The great advantage of these toys is that the children can readily supply the materials themselves. In every case the toys explained here have been made by young children, whose ages vary from four to seven. The materials used are match-boxes, matches, paper of different kinds, white, brown, coloured, and cardboard, while in some toys corks and silver paper have been introduced. For sticking paper on to the boxes, gloy or vegetable glue is suitable, but when matches have to be fastened into or on to the boxes it is best to use liquid glue or seccotine. Some of the toys can be made more effective by colouring them with crayons.

Wheels for all match-box toys are made from stiff paper or cardboard, the circle being drawn from a farthing, or, where larger wheels are necessary, from a halfpenny. The spokes are drawn on the wheels. These can either be gummed to the sides of the match-box, or, if holes are made in the wheels, they can be fastened to each end of a match, which is then glued to the bottom of the box.

Side A is then gummed to B, and C D is fastened to E F by means of a piece of folded paper covering the whole of the roof. This paper is double the size of C D H G , is coloured grey or blue to represent slates, and folded along the middle.

Fig. 90 shows the shape of these shafts. The shaded portion is bent at right angles to the shaft and glued under the box. The small wheel can be gummed between these shafts, or, if the shafts are fastened on with a space between them, and holes made in each end, a piece of match stick, on which the small wheel is mounted, can be passed through the holes. A match is glued across the back of the box to form the bar by means of which the cart is pushed along.

B is a piece of cardboard or stiff paper shaped as in diagram: the shaded portion is gummed underneath A.

In order to make a long carriage like a real train a child suggested gumming two match-boxes together, end to end.

When a long train was complete the children at once wanted to make a station .

For this purpose two or three match-box covers can be fastened together by covering them with white paper and gumming them to a piece of cardboard, A B C D. The paper must be left long enough at each end to be gummed to the cardboard and form the slopes of the platform. The waiting-room or shelter is a match-box gummed to platform as in diagram, with a triangular piece of paper pasted behind to form a roof. A seat can be pasted inside. The name of the station, signals, and a signal-box can be added.

Next cut a piece of cardboard the width of the match-box and long enough to leave a suitable distance between the two ends of the bridge to allow the match-box train to pass through, or two trains to pass each other. Gum this to the top of A and B .

Next cut a piece of paper F G H J to fit across both parts of the bridge and to project to form railings or a wall, cut out the archway, colour to represent stones or bricks, and gum to bridge; cut and colour a similar piece for the other side .

MORE COMPLICATED MATCH-BOX AND CORK TOYS

The wheels are strips of paper held together by a paper-fastener, the paper being bent sideways. The paper-fastener clips the wheel to the side of the box. A piece of cotton-wool can be put into the funnel for smoke.

K is a box turned upside down and gummed to G, H. L and M are covers forming a passage from drawbridge. The castle can be enlarged by adding more boxes.

E F is cut from a piece of paper as long as A B and about the width of a match-box. This paper is doubled along E F and marked and cut out as in diagram ; then unfolded and pasted on the bottom of a match-box , to which four small cardboard wheels are pasted. A B C D is then gummed along the back of the box G at right angles to E F.

Animals are cut out of paper and coloured. If these animals are cut from a folded piece of paper they will stand.

On the sides windows are marked, and a round paper chimney is gummed to the top.

The two corks are gummed together and a strip of paper E is bent round them, gummed to their flat ends, and also to the sides of the match-box as at F. K and H are pieces of cardboard shaped as in diagram and marked to imitate the iron legs of a mangle. These pieces are gummed to the inner sides of the match-box to form the legs. G is a circle of cardboard fastened as shown in diagram; to this a cardboard or match handle, L, is attached.

Older children can make this submarine so that it will float. The corks A, B, C must be fastened together by pieces of wire passing through them. The deck is made by filing the corks flat along the top, E F, and pins are inserted around it. Cork G is fastened to B by a pin. A narrow strip of lead is cut and pointed at each end, these ends are bent at right angles and are inserted into slits in A and B.

This submarine will float well, and makes a very effective little toy.

It could be painted with grey enamel.

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