Mother Nature's Toy-Shop - free ebook by Adelia B. (Adelia Belle) Beard

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Mother Nature's Toy-Shop

Adelia B. (Adelia Belle) Beard

101 chapters

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101 chapters

PRESENTATION

PRESENTATION

Mother Nature is every bit as fond of the little folks in her human family as of the grown-ups, and while she prepares untold joys for lovers of the outdoors among men and women and larger boys and girls, she never forgets the little ones. For their benefit she keeps an open toy-shop full of marvellous playthings, all free to any child who wants them, and instead of the children paying her for what they take she pays them for coming to her by giving them rosier cheeks, brighter eyes, and stronge

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What You Can Do with Them

What You Can Do with Them

Wild flowers, like children, are up early. They don't want to lie abed after their long winter's sleep; they want to be awake and see what is going on in the world. While you think it is still winter there is a stirring going on under the blankets of brown earth, and sometimes before the snow is off the ground you may find the little things working up through the stiff soil and opening their eyes to the gentle spring sunshine. It is remarkable the way the soft, tender sprouts force their way thr

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Daisy Crown

Daisy Crown

Gather a whole lot of daisies with rather long stems. They will stay fresh longer if you put them into a pail of cool water and let them drink a little before using them; and if they have wilted while you carried them, the water will bring them up again as fresh as—why, as fresh as a daisy to be sure. This is the way to make the crown. It is a new way and a good way. Take one daisy in your left hand and hold it, not upright but in what is called a horizontal position like the one marked A in Fig

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CHAPTER II JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT

CHAPTER II JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT

One of the earliest wild flowers to show its head above ground is Jack-in-the-pulpit. It is an odd plant and what we call the flower is not the blossom at all, but a protecting leaf called a spathe which surrounds the tiny flowers growing on the club-shaped spike (or spadix) standing upright inside. That is a good thing to know and remember, but what concerns us now is that there is a pulpit with its curved sounding-board—or perhaps it is a striped awning—overhead, and that in the pulpit is Jack

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Clover Wreath

Clover Wreath

Select some long-stemmed blossoms and leaves, bunch them and bind their stems together their full length with strong grass or string. Wind the grass around and around the stems, tucking the ends securely in under the last wind. You may need several long blades of grass for binding one bunch. In the same way make a second bunch and fit the flowers up close against the first bunch of blossoms, with their stems lying along the side of the first stems. Do not lap the flowers of one bunch over the fl

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Clover Earrings

Clover Earrings

Take one of these clovers and fit it in tight between your cheek and the lobe of your ear ( Fig. 12 ). Be careful not to break the long stem, for you must bring it up snugly just back of your ear along the line where the ear joins your head, and when this is done, bend the end of the stem down gently over the top of your ear. The stem will hold your earring in place. Make the other earring in the same way. The two clover-blossoms used for the earrings should be as much alike as possible both in

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A Necklace of Clover

A Necklace of Clover

Now you are ready, with the addition of a long, straight twig, at the top of which you have fastened a bouquet of clover, to play that you are queen of all the clover fairies, and that your clover-tipped twig is your magic wand....

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Other Things of Clover

Other Things of Clover

The running, vinelike clovers are fine to use for climbing-roses on outdoor doll-houses. They can also be trained over the doll garden-frames and arches....

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CHAPTER IV CLOVER DESIGNS

CHAPTER IV CLOVER DESIGNS

Have you ever admired the pretty patterns on wallpaper of flowers and green leaves? Have you ever embroidered dainty designs in colors on white linen, and do you love it all? If you do, you will like to make some designs yourself in a new way, and with real flowers and real leaves. You don't have to know how to draw or to paint in this designing, for the flowers are there ready for you to use, more exquisitely drawn and colored than the greatest artist could do them. Your part is to group and ar

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Daisy Fleabane Design

Daisy Fleabane Design

Isn't the design Fig. 23 what grown-ups call Japanesque? Doesn't it look as if it had been copied from a printed pattern on a piece of Japanese cotton cloth? Well, it was not. It is from a design made especially for you of real wild flowers, freshly gathered. The name of the flower is the daisy fleabane which grows in almost all open grassy fields where daisies and buttercups and clovers are found. The illustration Fig. 24 shows how the daisy fleabane looks when first gathered. Sometimes the blo

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Wild Mustard Design

Wild Mustard Design

The small, yellow blossoms of the wild mustard and its compound leaves make very dainty designs. Fig. 25 is one of them. From the drawing of the wild mustard ( Fig. 26 ) you will see that the flowers do not grow close to the leaves as they are placed in this design, but on tall stems which lift them far above the scattered leaf-sprays. The design Fig. 25 was made by cutting off a number of flower-clusters and leaves, and grouping first one flower-cluster and one leaf-spray together, with the end

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Buttercups—a Design

Buttercups—a Design

Buttercups are so beautifully golden, so glossy and bright, you would think they could be made into many nice things, a gold necklace for instance. And so they could if they only would not wilt almost as soon as they are gathered. To be sure, they will revive and freshen up when put in water if they are not too much wilted, but we cannot make them into jewelry while their stems are in water. Still there is something buttercups can be used for, and that is designs. Fig. 28 is a drawing from the s

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Pussy-Willow Rabbits

Pussy-Willow Rabbits

Take a small branch of the very largest pussies you can find, have ready some scraps of smooth, fresh writing-paper, a piece of cardboard, pair of scissors, and some good paste. It only requires long ears to change the pussy-willows into bunnies. Cut the ears from your writing-paper like the pattern Fig. 30 . Put paste on the strip between the letters G and H, then take a pussy from the branch and stick the paste-covered strip just above the small end of the pussy, which will be the bunny's head

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A Pussy-Willow Squirrel

A Pussy-Willow Squirrel

This little gray squirrel ( Fig. 32 ), sitting up in such a lifelike pose, must be made of a slightly bent, rather long, slender pussy. Pull forward some of the fur near the small end so that it will look like the front legs of the squirrel when he holds a nut in his hand-like front paws, and push up two tufts on the head for ears. The pussy from which Fig. 32 was made already had these tufts for legs and ears, and it looked so much like a squirrel one simply had to add the tail and let it be a

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Pussy-Willow Bumblebee

Pussy-Willow Bumblebee

Mr. Bumblebee ( Fig. 34 ) needs one whole pussy for his body, one-half of a pussy for his big, round throat, and a small piece of the pussy for his head ( Fig. 35 ). On the piece of cardboard which is to hold the bee, draw his legs like Fig. 36 , then paste the three parts—body, throat, and head—on top of the legs. Fig. 37 shows how it would look underneath if you could see through the paper, so you will know exactly where to paste first the throat, then the head, and lastly the body. The edges

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Pussy-Willow Mouse

Pussy-Willow Mouse

Then there is the pussy-willow mouse ( Fig. 41 ). He is a nice little gray mouse with a long tail. Choose a large pussy-willow for this mouse, ruffle the fur up on top of the head and it will look like ears. The head is at the small end of the pussy. Paste one end of a piece of cotton string under the large end of the mouse, and that will be his tail. The string should be white. Finish by pasting the mouse to a round or square piece of pasteboard....

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Jumping Pussy-Willows—a Game

Jumping Pussy-Willows—a Game

This is a good game and it will make you laugh to see the pussies leap up in the air, sail along a short distance, and land on a numbered square of the game-board. The board ( Fig. 42 ) should be ten or twelve inches square. Cut it from a flat, even box lid or any other pasteboard you happen to have. Draw straight lines from top to bottom about one inch apart, then more straight lines from side to side one inch apart. This will divide the board into squares like a checker-board. Each of these sq

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Pussy-Willow Bouquet

Pussy-Willow Bouquet

A nice, big bunch of pussy-willows makes an attractive bouquet, and a very welcome one early in the spring. "The pussies are out!" we hear some one say, and then the boys and girls vie with one another in their effort to be the first to find and bring home branches of the little catkins as proof that spring has come and they were the first to see her. The arrangement of flowers is interesting and means a great deal. It means that this chapter will tell you what wild flowers look prettiest on the

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The Wild Morning-Glory

The Wild Morning-Glory

In your walks through the fields and along the country roadsides have you ever noticed the wild morning-glory? Of course, you have seen it and, perhaps, gathered some blossoms, only to find them in a short time wilted in your hand or turned into little, long bags, puckered at the top as if drawn up with a string. When I say noticed, I mean have you thought about the flowers while you looked at them? Have you noticed their shape and beautiful color, and have you seen the great difference between

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Wild Clematis

Wild Clematis

The wild clematis is another beautiful vine, and you will find it clambering over fences and bushes along the country road. Its masses of white flowers fill the air with a sweet, spicy perfume that delights you. You can gather the clematis when it is in blossom, and keep it fresh in water for some time if you put it in root ends down. This vine does not wilt as you carry it. Later in the season, when the white flowers have turned into balls of silvery fringe, the vine is lovely in a different wa

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Bittersweet

Bittersweet

Then there is bittersweet, another wild vine that we gather in the fall. It covers fences and bushes as the clematis does, but instead of turning into fringe balls its small, creamy white flowers become bunches of berries. The berries are yellow at first; when ripe they split open and curl back to show the brilliant red seeds inside that look like coral beads. Gather the bittersweet while the berries are yellow, strip off the green leaves, and hang the vine up dry or put it in a large vase witho

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Snapdragon and Wild Carrot

Snapdragon and Wild Carrot

Both of these are pretty flowers and worth gathering. The snapdragon (perhaps you call it butter-and-eggs) does not mind at all where it grows. Field, roadside, or even the village streets may be its home, but wherever it lives, it makes the spot shine joyously with its stalks of yellow blossoms. Snapdragons combine well with the wild carrot, whose other name is Queen Anne's lace, and together they make a delicate and beautiful bouquet. If you have a large glass fish-globe fill it with fresh wat

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Wild Roses

Wild Roses

Do not put any other kind of flowers in the bowl; the roses won't like it; neither will you when you see how much better they look by themselves....

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The Wild Flag, or Iris

The Wild Flag, or Iris

There is the yellow iris, the white and the purple, and they are very beautiful when combined but not crowded. Always put some of the long-spiked leaves in with the flowers....

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Clover Bouquets

Clover Bouquets

Clover bouquets make delightful centrepieces for the table. Arranged loosely with its own green foliage, the rose-colored clover is especially beautiful in a clear, green glass bowl of water. The sprays should be brought over the edges of the bowl, and allowed to droop down, resting partly on the table. Yellow clover and its foliage mingled with white clover makes a charming combination as a bouquet for almost any occasion. The name of the yellow clover is hop-clover. It is not as common as the

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Green Bouquets

Green Bouquets

When there are no flowers to be had you can have bouquets and centrepieces of green leaves, ferns, and vines, and you will be surprised to find what pretty ones can be arranged and how much they will be admired. Ferns will wither soon unless taken up with the roots and the soil surrounding them; but if they have the roots and soil they will last a long while, provided you put them in a bowl or jar and keep them always wet . That does not mean to water them as you would any other growing plant, b

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CHAPTER VIII FAIRY-TREES MADE OF GRASSES

CHAPTER VIII FAIRY-TREES MADE OF GRASSES

Some of our grasses appear like very large trees to the little grass fairies who, we like to pretend, hide in their midst; while other grasses, with their jointed, bamboo-like stems, seem to these tiny people to be tall forests of real bamboo. Why not play that you are a little fairy and live among the grasses? But to see the grasses as the fairies see them you must lie down and bring your eyes very near the ground; so stretch yourself out flat, face down, with your head lower than the grass top

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The Floor

The Floor

Find two straight, round sticks, not quite as large round as a lead-pencil. The sticks must be cut six and a half inches long, then two sticks of the same kind five inches long; after that there must be six more sticks five inches long. Split these last six sticks in half lengthwise. The Philippine people do not use nails, or screws, or glue, and not even wooden pegs, in building their houses; they bind and tie the parts together with rattan, and as we are going to build just as they do we, too,

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The Walls

The Walls

Make the framework for the walls by binding and tying onto the stilts near the top two sticks, each six and a half inches long, one stick on each side. Across these sticks, from stilt to stilt, at each end, bind a five-inch-length stick ( Fig. 58 )....

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The Roof

The Roof

To support the roof there must be two upright sticks, each seven inches long, and these sticks must be bound and tied to the middle of the end sticks of the floor and the end sticks of the wall. They are lettered L and L in Fig. 59 Fig. 60 shows the framework of the house without the bindings, so that you may see exactly how the sticks are put together. There is a ridge-pole which forms the top ridge of the roof. This must be a stick about seven inches long, and it is to be tied to the uprights

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The Porch

The Porch

Like many other people, the Filipino wants a porch to his house. Perhaps he sits there to smoke his curious little pipe, which is not much larger than the one you make of an acorn. I have never seen him on his porch, but I have seen him smoke and afterward tuck his pipe away in his long, fuzzy hair, where it remained in safety even while he leaped and pranced about in the wild dance he loves so much. But we must not forget the porch. If the Filipino has one to his house, we must have a porch to

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Thatching

Thatching

Now we come to the real grass part of the house, for we have had to use small sticks for the framework instead of bamboo, and where the Filipino uses palm-leaves we will use grass. Gather some long, coarse, fresh blades of grass for thatching both the roof and walls, and begin with the walls. Bunch the grass evenly, the stem ends all together, bend the bunch at the centre, then spread it out at its centre, and hang it thickly over one side-wall beam, which is the upper stick ( Fig. 61 ). Have th

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The Ladder

The Ladder

The spry little Filipinos use ladders instead of stairs to reach their living-room, so we must make a rustic ladder for our house. Cut two slender sticks about six and one-half inches long for the sides; then cut seven or eight short sticks for the crosspieces or rungs. The rungs should be one and three-quarter inches long. Bind and tie the ends of the rungs to the side sticks ( Fig. 66 ), placing them about three-quarters of an inch apart. The ends of the rungs must cross the side sticks and ex

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A Doll Filipino Woman

A Doll Filipino Woman

To make the little house seem more real, dress a doll in genuine Philippine costume and stand her near the ladder with arms extended as if in welcome. The dress must be a white waist with flowing sleeves, a light-colored skirt, a large gay handkerchief, called a pañuelo , folded around the doll's neck, and an overskirt made of a square of dark cloth drawn tightly around her body from waist to knees. No stockings are needed, but you can give her heelless slippers with only a narrow strip over the

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Grass Head-Dress

Grass Head-Dress

The grass head-dress to be worn with the wood-nymph skirt is quite as wild-looking, but is simply a band of grasses, with bunches of the bristle-spiked cyperus grass ( Fig. 71 ) hanging downward on each end. The band goes across over the top of the head, and the grass side ornaments fall over the ears. Wear the grass costume and carry a light branch of green leaves in each hand when you give your next outdoor fancy dance, or take part in outdoor tableaux where you could represent either a wood-n

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PART III GREEN LEAVES

PART III GREEN LEAVES

To dress up and pretend is something every little girl, and boy too, for that matter, likes to do, and there is no better place for having this kind of fun and no greater storehouse for dress-up material than the wide, sunny fields and green, shady forest on a summer's day. If you want to be a wood-nymph, a fairy, or a pioneer; if you would be a fashionable lady decked in jewels rare, or a rollicking cowboy, or Robinson Crusoe, it is all the same to Mother Nature's department store. Fields, Wood

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Robinson Crusoe Hat

Robinson Crusoe Hat

The photograph given here shows one little girl who likes immensely to wear her Crusoe hat, and Fig. 72 shows just how the hat looks when not on her head. It won't take more than five minutes to make the hat, but first you must gather the leaves. Ordinary oak-leaves are too small to use; it is on the scrub-oak that you will find them large enough. The scrub-oak grows low, like a bush, and the leaves will be quite within your reach. Like a good shopkeeper, this kind of oak shows his customers lea

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Oak-Leaf Mask

Oak-Leaf Mask

Among other frolics in the woods you can have a masquerade—a real one, where you wear a mask, and that mask made of one of the largest leaves of the scrub-oak. Not even a pair of scissors will be needed to make this mask, and it is a funny one too ( Fig. 74 ). See the turned-up eyelids and the wide nose tilted at the end. When you have found a leaf large enough (the one in the drawing was nine inches long and seven inches wide) use your thumb-nail to cut out the eyes and nose. The outlines at th

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The Little Oak-Leaf Dog

The Little Oak-Leaf Dog

He has the funny expression of a real dog when he is making up his mind what to do next, even if he is only an oak-leaf. It was an ordinary leaf four inches long which was, by tearing a little here and bending a little there, transformed into his absurd dogship ( Fig. 75 ). Fig. 76 is the tracing of the leaf actually used for the dog. Fig. 77 shows the same leaf with its stem nipped off and the other end torn up, not very evenly, where the dotted lines are in Fig. 76 . This makes the little dog'

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CHAPTER XII GRAPE-LEAF DRINKING-CUP

CHAPTER XII GRAPE-LEAF DRINKING-CUP

A wild-grape leaf will do quite as well as a cultivated one for a drinking-cup if it is large enough. You want a large leaf, because a small one will hold only a sip of water, and when one is really thirsty that is certainly not enough. Whether wild or cultivated, the grape-leaf should be washed in clean water to take off dust and any possible insects that may be on it. Where there is water to drink there is water for washing the leaf, so there can be no difficulty about that, and the large gree

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Beech-Leaves

Beech-Leaves

Remarkably pretty designs can be made entirely of green leaves; also with leaves and their seed-pods, their nuts and berries. You can press a design of leaves alone, but one having seed-pods, berries, or nuts cannot be pressed. It is fun to make it, even if it cannot be preserved by pressing, and you will like to do it. Fig. 81 is the drawing of a charming design made of two twigs broken off a beech-tree. On one twig were two beechnuts in their pretty green, spiky outer shells; on the other was

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Violet-Leaves

Violet-Leaves

There is one thing about the green leaves of the violet which makes it a joy to use them in a design, and that is, the stems are so pliable, so easily bent and curved, you can do almost anything with them. See how the stems add to the beauty of the violet-leaf design Fig. 82 . The curve of the stem of Fig. 83 is a natural one for it to take, and you can probably find a leaf with its stem curved very much like it, but it is another thing to come across one of the same size which has a stem curved

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Ground-Pine

Ground-Pine

Deep in the shadowy woods, often where pine-trees are growing, you will find the ground-pine. Clinging close to the ground, curling in feathery, green clusters on its vine-like root, it runs for yards over the surface, while its root, lying along the top, sends down slender rootlets into the earth. Push away the dry leaves or pine-needles that usually cover the root, and you can pull up long strips and soon gather enough to make the prettiest kind of festive decorations. Festoons of the ground-p

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Phlox Tower and Phlox Design

Phlox Tower and Phlox Design

In a great bunch of garden-flowers given me by a friend I found some pink-and-white phlox ( Fig. 87 ), and from it I made first a...

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Phlox Tower

Phlox Tower

As you know, the blossom is trumpet-shaped and flares at the open end into five petals. The tube part is long and narrows to a point, so it is easy to push one flower into another. That is what you do in building the phlox tower. You pull the blossom off its stem and out of the little green calyx which holds it, then you push the end of the tube part into the round red eye in the centre of another flower as far down as it will go. Then you push another blossom into that one and build up until yo

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Phlox Design

Phlox Design

The design Fig. 89 was made by first putting three blossoms together, sticking one inside the other as for the tower, to form the long side sprays, and afterward arranging three blossoms below the side sprays and one above with their stems meeting at the middle, as they are in Fig. 89 . On each side of the upper flower was placed a sprig of buds; then the tube part of a blossom was cut off and the petal part fitted in the centre of the design to cover the ends of the other flowers where they met

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The Tiger-Lily Leopard

The Tiger-Lily Leopard

From the brilliant-orange tiger-lily, with its dark-brown or black spots, we are going to make a—tiger? No, a leopard. Tiger-lilies may have spots, but tigers, you know, are striped. It is really wonderful how much this little animal, made of parts of a beautiful flower and broom-straws, looks like the stealthy, prowling, wild creature which lives in Africa and Asia. The yellow coat of the live leopard is covered with black spots, and so is that of our flower leopard. The fierce living animal ha

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Fairy-Caps

Fairy-Caps

Do you know the cultivated foxglove with its tall spikes of thimble-shaped flowers, prettily spotted inside? ( Fig. 94 .) And do you know that these flowers will fit on the ends of your fingers like tall caps on the heads of little fairies? Perhaps there are foxgloves growing in your garden now. If there are, pick five blossoms off the stalk, selecting a large one for your thumb and a small one for your little finger; the others should be of a size in between these two. Turn these blossoms upsid

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Sweet Pea—the Peacock

Sweet Pea—the Peacock

You use a little pretended magic when you turn a sweet-pea blossom into a peacock, and that makes it seem more mysterious and more interesting. It doesn't take a second but while you are doing it you must repeat this transformation rhyme:...

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Snapdragon—Lady's Head and Lion's Head

Snapdragon—Lady's Head and Lion's Head

The magic that turns a blossom of the large, cultivated snapdragon into a little lady's head, upon which rests a dainty, ruffled sunbonnet, or into a ferocious-looking lion's head, is the magic of pen and ink, not of rhyme. The blossoms of the cultivated snapdragon are very much larger than those of its wild cousin, called by some people butter-and-eggs, but the cultivated flowers grow on a stalk in the same way as the wild ones. You would hardly recognize the cultivated flowers as snapdragons b

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A Tea-Table

A Tea-Table

Make the tea-table of the hollyhock's round cake of unripe seeds which most children call a cheese. This is covered with a green case which is easily taken off and then you have a round, white disk like a little table-top turned up at the edge. Select the largest one you can find and push the ends of three toothpicks or broom-straws into the under-side for the table legs ( Fig. 104 ). Now the tea-table must have a...

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Teapot and Cups

Teapot and Cups

Find a green bud for a teapot shaped like Z ( Fig. 105 ). Push two short straws into the bud in the places shown by the arrows in Z ( Fig. 105 ), one for the spout and one for the handle. Cut the tops off smaller buds to make them into teacups (A and B, Fig. 105 ). A drop of paste at the bottom of the teapot and the cups will keep them in place on the table....

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Dancing Flowers and Whirligigs

Dancing Flowers and Whirligigs

Daffodils , yellow as sunshine, always come with the beautiful springtime. The blossoms of the single daffodils, with their tall, golden cups resting in the saucers of lighter-colored petals, are the daintiest, though both single and double are so like a song of cheerfulness it is a joy to have them near. They look as if they wanted to dance for sheer happiness and, wonder of wonders, you can actually make them dance. Gather a few of the single daffies, leaving on them the very short stems which

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Daffodil Dancers

Daffodil Dancers

To make a flower stand alone and give it feet to dance on, push three wooden toothpicks firmly up under the little yellow skirt into the centre of the blossom. It doesn't matter if a flower has three feet; like an insect, it may have more than two and it won't stand on two. Spread the bottom ends of the toothpicks out a trifle like a tripod to make the flower stand steady ( Fig. 106 ). When you have made several dancers, stand them on a tin tray, and they will be a group of "daffy-down-dillies j

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A Daffodil Animal

A Daffodil Animal

Queer little animals that come only from Daffy land can be made of the single daffodil-blossoms. Take one of the flowers and carefully cut away the outstanding petals, leaving the perfect, long cup. Hold the cup in your left hand with the short, green stem hanging down; the stem is the animal's head; then break off about half an inch from the blunt ends of four wooden toothpicks and use the longest parts for legs. Push the pointed ends of the tooth pick legs up into the under-side of the long, s

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The Whirligig

The Whirligig

You can have some fun with the daffodil stalk, too, after taking off the flowers. Fig. 108 is a daffodil stalk; look at it closely, then look at Fig. 109 . They are really the very same though they appear to be so different. One seems to have a blossom at the top, and you know that the other has not. If you want to do the trick and make a stalk blossom, select a stalk like Fig. 108 , hold the stem closely between your open hands and roll it rapidly by first sliding your right hand forward while

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PART V SEED-VESSELS

PART V SEED-VESSELS

When the flowers have gone then come the seed-vessels, equally as good for playthings but very different. Of course, you know the rose-haws, the little red and yellow and green apples that you find on the rose-bushes in the fall. They are the seed-vessels of the rose, and every rose which is allowed to remain on the bush until it fades and falls apart leaves a seed-vessel to take its place....

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The Doll's Fruit Piece

The Doll's Fruit Piece

The rose-haws look very much like little apples. Rosy-cheeked Baldwins, yellow harvest-apples, and greenings, and they will make a fine fruit-piece for the centre of your doll's table. Pile them up on one of the toy dishes and put the smallest of green rose-leaves around the edge ( Fig. 110 )....

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Rose-Haw Necklace

Rose-Haw Necklace

But the rose-haws can be used for something besides toy apples; you can pretend they are jewels and string them for a real necklace. One necklace can be entirely of the haws and another like Fig. 111 , which is made of bronze-green haws ( Fig. 112 ), and the long, green seed-pods of the plantain ( Fig. 113 ). The blossoms of the plantain are pale purple or lavender, and hang from the stalk as the seed-pods do. They are bell-shaped and about an inch long. The leaf is like a lily-leaf. As you see,

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Seed-Pod Earrings

Seed-Pod Earrings

To match the necklace, make long, green earrings of the plantain seed-pods. Fig. 114 shows a seed-pod earring. You see it is strung on a thread and the ends of the thread are then tied to form a loop. The loop must be just large enough to fit comfortably over your ear, and when you wear the earring, the green jewel will hang down and dangle delightfully. The upper end of the seed-pod should almost touch your ear....

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Necklace of Barberries and Plantain-Stalk

Necklace of Barberries and Plantain-Stalk

Plantain is very useful in making jewelry because you can use the stalk as well as the seed-pods. Fig. 115 is a necklace made of the plantain-stalk cut in short pieces, all the same length, and the coral-red berries of the barberry-bush. The crooked branches of the barberry-bush grow very close together and are covered with thorns which stand out straight and sharp like pins. That is why it is so often used for hedges; nothing can get through it without being terribly scratched. From the branche

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Plantain-Stalk and Barberry Earrings

Plantain-Stalk and Barberry Earrings

How to make the earrings to complete this set of jewelry is shown in Fig. 117 . First you string a piece of the plantain-stalk, then a barberry; then you put your needle back through the stalk and tie the thread at the top. After that you make the loop to put over your ear as you did in making the seed-pod earring....

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Birds of Maple-Tree Seed-Vessels

Birds of Maple-Tree Seed-Vessels

You see it is not only the seed-vessels of flowers that can be turned into playthings. The trees also furnish abundant material for toys. Gather the winged seed-vessels that fall from the maple-trees, Fig. 118 is a maple seed-vessel, and let us sit on the dry, sun-warmed grass and turn them into odd little birds like Fig. 119 . These birds are very near the size of our ruby-throated humming-birds, a trifle larger perhaps, but they do not in the least resemble the beautiful, jewel-colored, long-b

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The Buckeye Horse

The Buckeye Horse

When you make a horse let the light-colored part of the buckeye be his face. This part usually has a dark spot on it which looks like an eye. You will see it in Fig. 121 . He will have only one eye unless you put in another with lead-pencil or pen and ink, but very frequently horses are blind in one eye, so it will not matter whether he has two eyes or one. Stick two short pieces of twigs in the head for ears and a longer twig for the neck. You will have to sharpen the ends of the twigs to a poi

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The Buckeye Man

The Buckeye Man

For the body of the man who sits astride the horse, choose a buckeye which is rather flat on one side. A round buckeye will roll off. Find a small buckeye for the man's head and give him a twig neck ( Fig. 122 ). Do not make his twig arms stand out straight at his sides; push them in slantingly so that he will hold them out in front. Put his twig legs in far apart and slant them a little forward. Now place the man on the horse, and if he does not fit, change the position of his legs until he sit

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Pine-Cones. Pine-Cone Forest

Pine-Cones. Pine-Cone Forest

Of course you like to gather the rich-brown pine-cones that lie scattered on the ground under the pine-trees; we all do. Collect a number of those which have loosened and opened out their little leaf-like scales, then stand them up like trees in an open space on the ground. They look so much like toy trees we immediately want to play we are foresters, way off in the wild western lands, planting forest-trees for Uncle Sam. We can make our forest as large as we want it and plant trees every day if

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A Fruit-and-Vegetable Market

A Fruit-and-Vegetable Market

If you find small, short cones, not fully opened out, notice how much they look like little pineapples; you must save these for our fruit-and-vegetable market, where we sell fat, short acorns as hazelnuts, the long acorns as pecans, and the buckeyes, or horse-chestnuts, all shiny, dark, and smooth, as eggplants, and rose-haws as apples. There are other things in our store, too. String-beans, which are really locust-pods, and heads of white cauliflower made of bunches of the wild carrot or Queen

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Cone Card-Rack

Cone Card-Rack

Save one of your fine, large-sized, wide-open cones and make a card-rack of it like the one shown in the photograph Fig. 123 . You must have a small, round or square wooden box for the base and glue the flat bottom of the cone on the lid. The box can be filled with small brass clips for holding sheets of paper together, or with pins, and it will then make a fine birthday or Christmas present for some one. The cone card-rack is very useful on a writing-desk. If you make a number of these cone-rac

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Christmas-Tree Ornaments

Christmas-Tree Ornaments

Perhaps you would like to keep some of your cones for Christmas-tree ornaments; they make very pretty ones. Gild several until they shine like gold, then silver others, and they will look as if covered with white frost. If you have collected any of the prickly sweet-gum balls that look as if they were carved in little starry patterns, gild and silver these, too, and let them dangle from the tree on long gilt or silver cords. These natural, outdoor ornaments are not easily broken, and may be kept

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The Little House of Burrs

The Little House of Burrs

Now let us build a little woodsy house of burrs ( Fig. 124 ) and put it in a little garden. Gather two heaping handfuls of large-sized burdock-burrs, small ones are not strong enough, and begin building. These burrs grow on a bush; they are about the size of a marble, are almost round, are prickly, and are pinkish at the top. Make the roof first ( Fig. 125 ). Stick ten or twelve burrs together in a row with pink heads all pointing in the same direction. Place this row on a flat, smooth surface,

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Pond, with Water-Lilies, in the Garden

Pond, with Water-Lilies, in the Garden

Would you like to have a little pond near the house, with white water-lilies floating on its surface and wee cattails growing here and there in and near the water's edge? You can easily make such a pond. Sink a shallow pan in the ground, a hole must be dug to fit it, you know, and fill the pan with water. Cover the edges with moss or earth and plant short-stemmed heads of timothy-grass ( Fig. 131 ) and slender, stiff grass-blades in scattered groups near the water. It is timothy-grass that looks

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A Pea-Pod Canoe

A Pea-Pod Canoe

You might add a pea-pod canoe ( Fig. 135 ), with a tiny American flag standing proudly erect at the bow. When you make the canoe, open the pod where you see the dotted line in Fig. 136 . To keep the pod open make little braces of broom-straws, and put them in crosswise with one end against each side of the canoe. There are four braces in the canoe ( Fig. 135 ), but you may not need that many....

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The Trees

The Trees

In the picture given here the tree on the left of the little house of burrs is just two stalks of the common grass called meadow muhlenbergia, which are held up as if really growing, by several green burrs left from building the house. The burrs are squeezed up tight to the grass-stems and then pressed down tight to the ground. You can find the grass for these trees almost any place; it is very social and loves to make its home with other grasses. The graceful, drooping tree on the right of the

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Burdock-Burr Game

Burdock-Burr Game

Besides making things of burdock-burrs, you can play a game with them. The game is something like archery, only, instead of shooting arrows at a target, you throw burrs at it. Get a good-sized piece of woollen cloth or some kind of material with a rough surface to which the burrs will cling. Tack this up on the fence or on a board; then, with a large piece of chalk that will make a wide mark, draw four circles, one inside the other like Fig. 137 . It doesn't matter if your circles are not perfec

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To Open an English Walnut

To Open an English Walnut

The easiest way to open an English walnut so that the shell will be in two perfect halves is to push the tip of a penknife-blade into the groove at the large end of the nut, and then slowly and carefully turn the knife to pry the halves apart. When opened this way the shell is never broken ( Fig. 139 ). After you have opened several nuts and taken out the kernels, use the knife to cut away the thin, papery divisions inside the shells. You will then be ready to make...

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The Professor's Robe

The Professor's Robe

As a rule professors wear black robes when they wear any, but our nutshell professor wears white because it is more becoming to his dark complexion, and because it is more effective and draws attention to him. To make the robe, fold an oblong piece of white paper into a square, which makes the square double. The edges should measure about four inches. If you have a large white envelope cut off one end to make it square and use that. Fold the square diagonally across from point to point, as is sh

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English-Walnut Shell Mouse

English-Walnut Shell Mouse

It is a far cry from a lecturer to a little mouse, yet one English-walnut shell will make both, half a shell for each. This is a nice, cosey-looking little mouse who crouches down comfortably and does not show his legs ( Fig. 142 ). The point of the shell is the nose of the mouse; above it make two round, black eyes and then paste on two brown-paper ears. Cut the ears like Fig. 143 , bend back the little stems at the bottom, put a touch of paste on each stem and stick the ears to the mouse's hea

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English-Walnut Shell Thimble-Box

English-Walnut Shell Thimble-Box

A pretty way to give a small present at Christmas or on a birthday is to put it into an English-walnut shell box. A thimble fits in the box beautifully (see Fig. 144 ). Open the shell of an English walnut in the way described ( Fig. 139 ). Cut away the inside partitions and, with jeweller's cotton, make a soft little bed in one-half of the shell. Press down the cotton in the middle to make a hollow, and in this hollow fit the new thimble. Put a layer of cotton over the top of the thimble and tuc

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PART VI VEGETABLES

PART VI VEGETABLES

Vegetables are good to eat, certainly, and you know what they are like when cooked and on the dinner-table; but many are also good to play with. You can make fine toys of them, toys that are entirely different from any you have ever seen. Here is the...

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Swimming Fish Made of a Lima-Bean Pod

Swimming Fish Made of a Lima-Bean Pod

A fish that really swims, not on top of the water but in it, is the little fish ( Fig. 146 ). You won't find that in a shop or anywhere else, for I have only just discovered how to make it myself. A paper tail and two paper fins must be added, but that won't take five minutes when you know how to do it. The tail and fins make it wonderfully lifelike, for when the fish swims around in a big basin or dish-pan, the tail sways this way and that, the fins move back and forth exactly as they do on a l

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Lima-Bean Man

Lima-Bean Man

Three beans and several strong, straight broom-straws you will need for making this comical little fellow, who, upright and independent, stands squarely on his own feet. That is a good thing for any one to do, let alone a little bean man ( Fig. 150 ). The beans should be of different sizes. A large one for the body, next in size for the feet and a smaller one for the head. Some beans have a little point that stands out on one edge and looks like a tiny nose, while below it there is a round hollo

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A Lima-Bean Pig

A Lima-Bean Pig

Look over all your bean-pods that still have beans in them, and select the one shaped most like Fig. 153 . Do not take the beans out of the pod; they make the pig fat and solid. The stem end forms the snout and the head. Cut four broom-straws about one and a half inches long for the legs. Sharpen each of these straws at one end and push the pointed end into the lower part of the body, two on each side, in the places shown by small rings on Fig. 153 . From part of another bean-pod cut two ears li

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What to Make of a Radish

What to Make of a Radish

A crisp, fresh, clean radish is very tempting, but don't eat it this time; turn it into something else by the magic your ten fingers can work....

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The Radish Imp

The Radish Imp

Fig. 160 shows a round white radish which, with its long, slender root and leaves still on it, has been changed into a queer little radish imp by using strong broom-straws to stiffen his leaf arms, his leaf legs, and his leaf body. His eyes are bits of broom-straw, his mouth is a slit with a broom-straw tongue, and his absurd, stand-out ears are also pieces of stout broom-straw. The root growing out of the top of his head is like a Chinaman's queue standing on end with little, crinkly separate h

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A White Mouse

A White Mouse

You can make a most amusing little white mouse of a white radish; not a round one like that used for the imp, but egg-shaped, like Fig. 162 . The long root is the tail of the mouse and the other end of the radish is his head. Cut two paper ears like H, Fig. 163 . Make two slits in the head and slip the pointed ends of the ears into the slits. For whiskers (all mice have whiskers) find two sprays of fine branching broom-straws (I, Fig. 163 ), cut them the proper length, and push a spray into the

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The Greeny Girl

The Greeny Girl

The little green-pea greenies, cousins of the brownies, shown in the illustration are funny, aren't they? But the drawing is not as funny as the real greenies, and you can make them in all sorts of absurd positions. Two little men and a widely smiling greeny girl are given here ( Fig. 164 ). The large green peas that come late in the season are used to make these little people. In fact, it is only the large peas that can be used for any of the things described. Fig. 165 shows how the greeny girl

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The Greeny Men

The Greeny Men

The illustration ( Fig. 164 ) shows how the greeny men are put together. The little dancing fellow must have two supports because one foot is lifted. The tiny ridiculous cap on the head of the other man is the little cap that holds the pea to the pod and sometimes clings to the pea after it is shelled....

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Pea-Pod Tents

Pea-Pod Tents

The greenies' little tents are made of pea-pods and it takes three pods for each tent. After you have taken out the peas split the pods up along the back edge, but leave the two halves fastened together at the stem. Stand up two pods by pushing the stem end of one pod between the two halves at the top of the other, as they are shown in Fig. 166 . Then separate the halves of the third and longest pod and place it astride the first two ( Fig. 167 ). This will make quite a strong tent, and, if you

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The Green-Pea House

The Green-Pea House

The greenies need not always live in tents. Like other people, they can have houses as well. It is best to use the wooden toothpicks in making the house. They are stronger than broom-straws and all the same length. Begin by putting the front of the house together. Make the peak first. Choose a large pea, push the end of a toothpick into it, then not far from that push in the end of another toothpick slantingly so that the lower ends will be separated as you see them in Fig. 168 . On each of thes

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The Fence

The Fence

You can make a fence to put around the house in this way: Push a large pea on each end of a whole toothpick like Fig. 177 , then break a toothpick exactly in half, stick one end of each half into the lower parts of the peas to form uprights, and push the lower end of each of these uprights into another pea as shown in Fig. 178 . For the slanting crosspiece stick one end of another toothpick into the upper pea at the left-hand side, and the other end into the lower pea at the right-hand side ( Fi

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The Tropical Plant

The Tropical Plant

You will notice that in the illustration there is a plant growing at the side of the house which looks something like a cactus and adds to the tropical, or hot-country look of the little greeny people's home. Seven half pea-pods are used to make this plant, four to stand up and three to lie down flat. Wrap and tie the stem ends of the four half pods together with a bit of string. Push a toothpick for a flower-stem through the middle of the bunch. Cut away the stem of a pea-pod, then cut off the

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A Pretty Design of Green Peas

A Pretty Design of Green Peas

This is not a toy, but you will like to make it just the same, and afterward, perhaps, you will want to try another design all by yourself. If you can draw at all, with a soft pencil make some curves on a piece of white paper like Fig. 181 , only ever so much larger, then a straight line up from the centre. The distance between the two largest curves at their widest part should be about eight inches. If you cannot draw these curves, ask some older person to do it for you. Lay your paper with the

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How to Make American History Seem Real—Our First Thanksgiving

How to Make American History Seem Real—Our First Thanksgiving

Let us play that we are really celebrating America's first Thanksgiving! You can see one of our long, rude puncheon tables spread out in the mild, sweet air of Indian summer, laden with delectable dishes of clam chowder, oysters, fish, turkey, duck, goose, venison pasties, turnips, dumplings of barley flour, corn bread, wheat cakes, pumpkin pies, grapes, plums, great flagons of cider, and "all manner of tasty eats." William Bradford, our good governor, with his old flintlock in hand, is just ret

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PART VII FRUIT

PART VII FRUIT

You will hardly believe it is only an ordinary, everyday orange when you have made it into the head that I am going to tell you about. Select a small, firm, perfect orange and with a pencil mark features on it, first the eyes like Fig. 199 . Carefully cut out the little spaces of skin between the lines, then mark the nose ( Fig. 200 ); cut this and mark the mouth ( Fig. 201 ); cut this and at each side of the head draw the ears like Fig. 202 . You will see that the line of the ear does not conti

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Things You Can Make of Orange-Skins

Things You Can Make of Orange-Skins

The soft, golden orange-skin, lined with silvery white, is fine material for moulding and making into different kinds of things to play with. Bring your orange and we will begin by making a toy stool for your doll-house ( Fig. 208 ). It will look very much like the real stools which the Japanese make for real people to sit on, though nothing is used for it but the orange-skin. First cut the orange across from side to side, making two halves, and after you have taken out the pieces of juicy fruit

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Other Things Made of Orange-Skins

Other Things Made of Orange-Skins

Cunning little toy summer-houses may be made from an orange-skin in a moment's time ( Fig. 211 ). Take half of an orange-skin and stick the sharp ends of four wooden toothpicks into the edge of its rim. Place the toothpicks upright, at equal distances apart, and they will form the pillars to support the golden, dome-shaped roof. Stand the little summer-house on the table, and you will think it charming. By slicing an orange you can have a number of little, yellow hoops for your dolls, made of th

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Apple-Blossom in Apple

Apple-Blossom in Apple

Cut the apple into thin slices from side to side through the core. Take one of the slices from near the middle of the apple and hold it up to the light, so that the light will shine through it, then look carefully and you will see in the centre a perfect pattern of the apple-blossom you gathered from the tree ( Fig. 212 ). Apple-seeds form the centre of the flower. The petals, five in number, are of the flesh of the fruit. They are of the same shape and size as the real blossom. Isn't it wonderf

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Apple Candle in its Candlestick

Apple Candle in its Candlestick

When I was a little girl I used to make apple candles that stood up in their own candlesticks. I always ate the fresh, juicy slices as I cut them off. Fig. 216 shows how the candles look when finished. The stem is the wick, and as it is usually dark at the end, it is a very good imitation of a candlewick that is partially burnt. The dotted lines on Fig. 217 show how to cut away the apple to leave the candle and its holder. First cut off a slice at the blossom end, so that the candle-stick will s

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A Roasted Apple

A Roasted Apple

Another thing I used to love to do with my apple when I was a little girl was to tie a long string to the stem and hang it before an open fire to roast. I think you will enjoy it too. Tie one end of the string securely to the stem of your apple, and don't break the stem off in doing it ( Fig. 218 ); then tie the other end to something heavy on the mantel-shelf that will hold it securely. The apple should hang in front of a grate of glowing coals, or near the red-hot coals of a wood-fire. As soon

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The Spice Apple

The Spice Apple

In New England, many years ago, there was always to be found in every household at least one spice apple. It sounds good to eat, doesn't it? But they were not made for eating, they were used for sweet-smelling ornaments, and for keeping away moths and other troublesome insects. Perhaps you will like to make a spice apple to give away; it will be a pretty and very sweet gift and will last for years. Choose a small, perfectly sound apple and have ready a lot of cloves. Stick the cloves into the ap

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Other Things to Make of an Apple

Other Things to Make of an Apple

When an apple is cut across into round slices, you can make a doll's table of the largest slice by using four wooden toothpicks for legs, pushing them into the apple at equal distances apart. Half of a slice, with halves of toothpicks for legs, makes a very suitable seat for this remarkable table. If you cut a thick flat slice from a small apple you can make it into a top that will spin by pushing a toothpick through the centre, leaving a long end on one side and a shorter end on the other. The

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