For children older, cut and plane wooden blocks the size of bricks,
24 CHILDREN.
any number you choose, and they will build with them houses, ships
and hundreds of other things your imagination never would conjure.
Those who live near the sea shore, or are accessible to the lake sand)
or nice building sand, might fill a flat dry-goods box with this sand,
bring it into the kitchen and provide the boys and girls with sticks ; you
will be surprised at the variety of animals they will draw in it. They
might even use their fingers without fear of soiling them, for it is clean
and easily brushed off.
Another : Paste some pretty colored picture on pasteboard, then cut
with a sharp penknife in various shapes, and give to the children to put
together in the right way so as to form the picture.
Another amusement is for the children to establish a post-box in their
nursery or play-room. Any good-sized cardboard box will do for this
purpose ; the lid should be fastened to it, so that when it is stood up it
will open like a cupboard door ; it must be closed by means of a button
and a loop of elastic. In the top of the box, as it stands up, or in the
upper end of the door, a slit must be cut out about an inch wide and
from five to six inches long, so as to allow of the postage of small par-
cels, but yet not large enough to admit a child's hand ; while on the
door of the postoffice should be written the times of the post. Most
children are fond of writing letters to one another, and this will, of
course, give rise to a grand manufacture of note paper, envelopes and
postal cards, and they will call forth all their ingenuity in designing and
coloring monograms and crests for their note paper and envelopes. An
envelope must be taken carefully to pieces to form a flat pattern ; then
those cut from it have to be folded, gummed together, and a touch of
gum put on the tip of the flap ; a monogram to correspond with the
note paper drawn on it, and, finally, they must be done up in neat pack-
ets, say a half dozen in each. It is wonderful what occupation this
post-box will afford where there is a large party of children ; of course
a postman must be chosen, and a bag must be made for the letters, and
so on.
Another occupation is to make a museum, and this will set all to
gathering and storing up a collection of curiosities. This will be a cure
for dullness and give them an object to devote themselves to. The best
receptacle for these collections is a cupboard, with plenty of shelves in
it, if possible. One shelf must be devoted to boxes of minerals, another
to trays of coins, another to insects, and if there are one or two draw-
ers to hold dried plants, so much the better. One of the elder children
should make a numbered catalogue of the collection, the numbers in the
list corresponding with numbers that must bet neatly gummed to the
specimens. Perhaps, if space is an object, it would be better to have a
collection of only one class of things, say of food products, or of seeds
and seed vessels, from which much useful information may be obtained.
DOLLS OF E VER V DESCRIP TION. 25
DOLLS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION,
Page 27
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
For children older, cut and plane wooden blocks the size of bricks,
24 CHILDREN.
any number you choose, and they will build with them houses, ships and hundreds of other things your imagination never would conjure.
Those who live near the sea shore, or are accessible to the lake sand) or nice building sand, might fill a flat dry-goods box with this sand, bring it into the kitchen and provide the boys and girls with sticks ; you will be surprised at the variety of animals they will draw in it. They might even use their fingers without fear of soiling them, for it is clean and easily brushed off.
Another : Paste some pretty colored picture on pasteboard, then cut with a sharp penknife in various shapes, and give to the children to put together in the right way so as to form the picture.
Another amusement is for the children to establish a post-box in their nursery or play-room. Any good-sized cardboard box will do for this purpose ; the lid should be fastened to it, so that when it is stood up it will open like a cupboard door ; it must be closed by means of a button and a loop of elastic. In the top of the box, as it stands up, or in the upper end of the door, a slit must be cut out about an inch wide and from five to six inches long, so as to allow of the postage of small parcels, but yet not large enough to admit a child's hand ; while on the door of the postoffice should be written the times of the post. Most children are fond of writing letters to one another, and this will, of course, give rise to a grand manufacture of note paper, envelopes and postal cards, and they will call forth all their ingenuity in designing and coloring monograms and crests for their note paper and envelopes. An envelope must be taken carefully to pieces to form a flat pattern ; then those cut from it have to be folded, gummed together, and a touch of gum put on the tip of the flap ; a monogram to correspond with the note paper drawn on it, and, finally, they must be done up in neat packets, say a half dozen in each. It is wonderful what occupation this post-box will afford where there is a large party of children ; of course a postman must be chosen, and a bag must be made for the letters, and so on.
Another occupation is to make a museum, and this will set all to gathering and storing up a collection of curiosities. This will be a cure for dullness and give them an object to devote themselves to. The best receptacle for these collections is a cupboard, with plenty of shelves in it, if possible. One shelf must be devoted to boxes of minerals, another to trays of coins, another to insects, and if there are one or two drawers to hold dried plants, so much the better. One of the elder children should make a numbered catalogue of the collection, the numbers in the list corresponding with numbers that must be neatly gummed to the specimens. Perhaps, if space is an object, it would be better to have a collection of only one class of things, say of food products, or of seeds and seed vessels, from which much useful information may be obtained.
DOLLS OF E VER V DESCRIP TION. 25
DOLLS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION,