A CANOE

Fig. 93.

This is made of dry reeds or any other light straight sticks—bamboo is good. It may be made of any size and may even be made large enough to carry one or more persons, if the size and strength of the branches and lashings is duly proportioned, but for a toy reeds will do nicely. Lay down first the crossbar beneath the raft and then space out the raft itself to fit it, leaving a little space between each reed. Take a strong thin string and fasten it with a tight loop over the end of the first reed, turn it down and round the lower cross-spar, and then up and around the upperone, and lay in the next reed, and so on. When the first row of lashings is done lay on the second pair of crossbars, and if there is any difficulty about lashing the string a large darning-needle may help you, but if the lashing is done in the right direction this is not needful. If a mast is wanted, a reel, or a cork with a hole in it, may be lashed down to the raft as in the diagram, and the mast can be set firmly into this.

Materials Required:—

Some cheap cloth or shelving, some "basketry cane," soft string or fine tape, scissors, penknife, a large strong needle.

Fig. 94.

The best material for this is thin shelving cloth and it must be made at least twelve inches long. Double your shelving cloth, and outline on it the pattern of theside of the canoe, which should be cut in brown paper; this must be quite straight at the upper sides, not curving as it appears in the drawing. Lay the paper pattern with the line of the bottom of the canoe at the fold of the oilcloth. Now take two long pieces of cane, such as is used for basket-work, and with a large needle, and very thick thread, lash each length of cane along the outsides of the boat from end to end, keeping the shiny side of the cloth outwards. A short thick tapestry needle is best, and the lashing must be steady and even, but if it is difficult to stitch through the cloth an awl or pricker can be used to make the holes before beginning to stitch. Now take another piece of cane and bend about one inch at one end and lash this bent portion to the side of the boat about one-third of the way along the "gunwale" where it is already lashed, and lash it over firmly to this on the inside of the boat. Bend the cane now across to the opposite side of the canoe and meantime tie tightly together the ends of the cane that is lashed from end to end of the boat, and set in thiscrosspiece so that it keeps the two sides of the boat apart at the right angle. Fix in the second crosspiece likewise, and then lash the open ends of the boat firmly together. The canoe should be rather wide and shallow, or it will be inclined to lie on its side unless ballast is added by weighting it at the bottom. If weight is needed the best thing for this sort of boat is one or two of the heavy lead buttons to be had at a tailor's for weighting garments; they can be lashed on with strong thread through the holes. Quite large canoes can be made in this way, and if a tight "decking" of thin waterproof material be stretched across at both ends from the crosspiece it makes a vessel almost identical with the Eskimo "kayak" which used to be used round the coasts not so very long ago.

Materials Required:—

A block of soft wood ten or twelve inches long, about three inches wide and two inches deep, nine post cards, three skewers or old wooden knitting-pins, a cork, a piece of heavy wire, dressmakers' eyelets, some small staples, fine string, a gimlet, a sharp penknife, small tacks, scissors, mucilage.

Fig. 95.

This is the simplest sort of a ship to model in wood; all wooden boats require carefulness in their modelling and balance. This can be made from six to twelve inches long, and in soft wood. Let your block of wood be about four times its width, roughly speaking. Rule a line up to center of your block to mark the keel and cut away from this with a very sharp knife to the curving outlines of the deck which must be drawn on the top side of the block. It would be impossible, in the space allowed for diagrams, to give details for modelling the body of the boat, but any boy can shape it if he is careful and observes, from pictures or actual boats or models, how to do it. When the body of the vessel is shaped and smoothed down with a file and sandpaper,take a piece of heavy thick wire, and bend it at either end and sharpen the ends into points with a file and hammer it into the keel; or, if preferred, a deep groove may be cut with a gouge and a strip of lead inserted. The rudder suggested here can be made either of wood, or of a double piece of tin with a piece of thick wire hammered in at the fold and left with one end projecting, so that it fits through a hole in the stem and forms a tiller. The rudder must have a hole pierced at the lower corner, and into this fix a small staple whichmust work loosely in its hole, and after the rudder is fixed in position this staple must be hammered into the stern of the boat. Figure 95 A shows the stern end with rudder fixed into place. Next cut a bowsprit of wood and with two staples fix it firmly on to the deck. Take three pieces of cork or three half reels, and glue or nail them to the deck—this will make a good hold for the masts. Then along each side of the boat at intervals fasten on a strong dressmaker's "eye" (for a hook) with its two small loops bent so that they overlap; the nail can be set through this. These eyelets are meant to hold the "stays" which keep the masts steady. Now take nine postcards, and about half an inch from the edge in the middle of each long side cut neatly a hole big enough to slip your masts through, with a strong needle, a piece of strong thin string or stout linen thread, knotting it with a large knot at the end. Lay the post cards flat so that they just touch and set the mast through the holes—a long wooden knitting-pin makes a capital mast—and the knob can be left on to finish it at the top.About one inch or more above the top sails make a slight groove round the mast, and round this bind tightly the threads laced through the cards, tightened so that each card bends a little; carry down these threads or stays now to the eyelets and fasten them firmly. Take another stay to the bowsprit and lash it down and carry it on to meet the front of the keel, and fasten it in with a tiny tack or a pin. Gum on small paper flags to the masts. This makes quite a good little sailing ship and it is not difficult to make.

Materials Required:—

A slip of thin wood, a small strip of tin, strong round elastic, strong tin cutters, a penknife or fret saw, an awl.

Fig. 96.

This is a little propeller which with certain alterations can be fixed to any boat.

Take a piece of tin, as in Figure A, and pierce it with two holes and file them quite smooth, and slightly bend either end left and right from the holes. Now take a piece of thin wood cut as in the diagram, with a long wide slot, so that it forms a sort of fork, and with screws or tacks hammer this on to the stern of your vessel at the two holes, so that it projects with the whole fork clear of the vessel. Now thread strong elastic through the holes in the tin blades of the propeller with the ends knotted firmly, making a double loop, each end looping over the respective forks. Twistthis tightly round on the same principle as in the making of the wishbone clapper, and when the twist is released it will propel your boat a considerable distance either backwards or forwards according to the direction the thread is twisted.

Materials Required:—

An old knitted stocking or pair of cotton gloves, two shoe-buttons, strong thread, some brown or black mending yarn, tissue paper, wadding, scissors, darning-needle.

Fig. 97.

This doll is made of old stockings or old knitted or woven gloves. If only black stockings can be got it can be a nigger doll, or it can have its face alone made of light-colored glove. The stuffing must be of tissue paper roughly shaped to the right size and wrapped round with some yarn to keep it shapely, or this may be again wrapped round with a layer of cotton wadding. Shape the arms and legs separately, and fasten over the knitted covering very neatly with big, but firm, stitches. Stitch a line right through at the wrists and flattenout the hands, and make lines of stitching to mark the fingers and the line of the toes: make a sort of "dart" where the leg bends at the ankle.

For the head—put an extra wad of soft padding under the face portion so that it isvery soft and bulgy, and stitch firmly into this two shoe-buttons for eyes. Take a large darning-needle and take your stitches right through the head to the back; use very strong doubled linen thread. The knitted covering used for the head may be all gathered into the back and simply flattened roughly into place with big stitches, as you will cover it with "hair" later on. Now take your needle through again and make the two tiny stitches for the nostrils, and pull these stitches back very tight also. Two more stitches form the mouth with a wee one below to make a hollow below the lips. Now firmly stitch the head into place, and with brown or black knitting or mending yarn carefully make large stitches radiating from the crown of the head to the forehead: do not pull these tight, and use double wool if you like. Make long loose loops of wool all round the back of the head and above them stitch as before into the crown. This makes a really very good doll if it is carefully made, and not too hurriedly done.

Materials Required:—

A pair of old kid or leather gloves, tissue paper, flat milliner's wire, strong thread of the color of the gloves, stamp-paper, ink or water color paint, scissors, strong needle.

Fig. 98.

This is a very jolly little fellow, and he is made of old kid gloves. His head and body are stuffed with tissue paper. The head is just wrapped with a square piece cut from the wrist of the glove neatly gathered in at each side and tightly tied. The loose ends must then have each one corner trimmed off in a sloping line towards the neck; this forms his flappy pointed ears. Now get two tiny rounds of gummed stamp-paper and ink on each an eyeball, only partially covering the paper, and gum these on for the eyes, and with pen or paintbrush put in his mouth and nose. You can give him a very woeful expression if you make his mouth turn down. Cover his body with the back of the gloves, so that the three "points" or rows of stitching make a trimming for his jacket. The legs and arms are made of slips of the kid stitched carefullyover the flat wire used by milliners. The ends of the strips are left free and cut to a pointed flap to form feet and hands. Stitch limbs and head very firmly into place and bend at elbows and knees. ThisBrownie can be made to sit down and take many different positions; he is a very lifelike little doll. You can also make him a wee nightcap out of a knitted glove and put a feather in it, and dress him with a little cloak.

Materials Required:—

Thin straight sticks of canes, strong paper or thin cotton material, strong thin string, strong paste, large-eyed needle.

Figs. 99 to 101.

These are several of the commoner and easier kites to make. They are usually made of paper pasted over the frame, but it is in all cases better if children will take the trouble to make their kites of thin cotton material and tack or baste it into place with large neat stitches; this really takes very little more time than pasting. The frames in every case should be of the lightest and straightest sticks possible to find. You can sometimes get very good ones which are used in strengthening cardboard boxes, or if you do not mind spending a few cents the narrow slips of wood used in making picture-frames are the very thingand any picture-framer can supply them.

Perhaps the most usual kite is that shown in Figure 99. The two cross-sticks are first firmly lashed in position and the ends notched and tightly fixed in place with tight "stays" of string. Now cut your paper or cloth at least two inches wider all round than the outline of your framework, cutting away the angles at the corners, so that you have a neat flap to turn over all round. Never use gum or mucilage for a kite, good strong paste is best, if it is to be made of paper. Now at the three points where your "balances" are to be attached to the kite, paste on a little square patch of cloth so that the string or "balance" as it is called does not tear the fabric or paper, and fasten the ends of your two strings through the two upper patches and knot it firmly round your wooden framework. The loose ends of your balances must now be run through the third patch and fastened to the vertical spar of the frame. The string of the kite is fastened round these balances by a slipknot. Next add the tail, which needs careful adjustment to the weight of thekite; it can be weighted with rolls of paper at intervals, or little bundles of fresh grass. Scottish boys often weight it at the end with a "divot" which is a little piece of actual turf, both grass and root, all together.

Figures 100 and 104 are another form of kite most commonly used in Scotland. This needs only one straight spar of wood, andthe curved "bow" at the top can be made of light cane, such as is used for basket-making; or what is very good, if enough can be got, is a length of flat steel such as is used in lady's corsets. Fasten the "bow" to the spar by lashing it into a notch or groove at the top and bend it evenly and fasten it firmly by stays of string as in Figure 104, both across and to the end of the spar. Now lay on to your paper or cotton material and cut it out as before in Figure 100, with a good turnover to paste or stitch down, and add the patches where the balances are attached. These kites look very gay if a tassel of colored paper or wool is added at each end of the bow.

Figure 101 is a very good kite to make if a really large one is wanted. The two long cross-spars of wood must be notched to fit each other about one-third of their length from the top of the kite, and stays of string must be so arranged that they spread about twice as wide at the bottom as they do at the top. This kite must have four patches to insert its balances through and the slipknot of the kite-string is fixed around both.Another "balance" should be fixed from the lower corners of the kite from which the tail is hung. This is a very steady kite.

Figure 102—a box kite.

This is a comparatively modern form of kite and looks very complicated. It is really less so than it looks. Take two long narrow strips of thin cotton material about eight inches wide and four and a half feet long (this is for a kite about thirty inches long). Have four straight thin spars of wood about thirty inches long, and after joining the two ends of your strips of cloth together make at intervals a narrow "casing" into which insert the ends of your spars. You can either place the casings at equal distances on your material, or you can arrange it so that the open ends of your kite form oblongs. Now have four flat spars of thin wood measured to make diagonals at each "box" end of your kite, and bore a tiny hole in the middle of each to insert a pin when the kite is stretched. At the ends of these diagonals cut a rectangular notch to hold the spars apart, tie the kite-string considerably nearer one endof the kite than the other, or you can attach a balance and fix on the kite-string by a slipknot. This kite needs no tail, and can be folded and rolled away by slipping out the diagonal spars.

Figure 103—a round box kite.

Figs. 102 and 103.

This can be made of very strong brown paper pasted so as to form a wide tube, like a large paper bag with the bottom cut out. Only two spars are needed. Inside the paper tubes arrange near each edge a circle of cane, as is used in basket-work or for stretching out the crown of a cap. Set this into place and lace through the paper a strong string and lash the cane through to the spar. This should hold quite steady ifit is well done, but it can, of course, have a third straight spar if necessary. Attachthe string as in the other box kite.

Figs. 104 to 107.

Figures 105, 106, 107—a plane kite.

This is a most beautiful and graceful kite and combines the box kite and the older varieties. The box portion is made with casings run into the cotton material at equal intervals so as to form a three-sided box. Fix in your three spars, all equal in size, and along each side fix a plane, or wing, of thin cotton material; it can be of another color and looks very gay if this is done. Make a little bag or pocket at the outer corner of each wing, and into this insert the ends of the fourth spar, so that the latter may be slipped out and the kite folded up. The string should be attached near the "nose" of the kite. It needs no tail.

Materials Required:—

Some thin three-ply wood, two long knitting-pins, two small reels, a piece of hat wire, some small staples, pliers, an awl, a fret saw, water color paints and brushes, mending wool.

Fig. 108.

Draw your monkey carefully on the three-ply wood, the body and limbs all separate,and a thin stump on to which the tail must be fastened. With the awl pierce tiny holes through arms, body, and legs, where they are attached, and insert a piece of wire, and with the pliers turn a small close knot in it on each side to prevent it coming out. Small wire paper clips will do instead if they can be got. Now saw off the rims of your two reels—they must be the samesize—and into one of your reels fasten two staples over the pin and into the reel, so that they hold the pin very tightly, catching the pin just at one end. With another staple through each hand fasten the arms of your monkey to this reel, and slip the other reel round the same knitting-pin and extend your monkey to its fullest length, and now fix the other knitting-pin to the second reel so that its point projects a little way through the first reel. Keeping the monkey stretched to its fullest length fasten his feet with staples to the second reel, and be sure that the limbs work quite loosely in these staples. Now with mending yarn make a tassel and fasten it to the end of your hat wire, and wrap the wire all the way up with it almost to the end. Then proceed to lash the wire to the stump of the tail and bend the tail in a nice curve; this will vibrate when your monkey is worked up and down.

Materials Required:—

Strong heavy white cardboard or thin wood, sharp knife or fret saw, crinkled paper, water color paints, a tiny portion of a quill, a tiny roll of tin or lead foil, small fine pins or wire, a small piece of narrow ribbon, a little writing paper, mucilage, string, scissors, pliers.

Fig. 109.

This dainty little figure can be made to dance along a double string and can be very pretty. Cut out the body and legs and arms all separately; they may be drawnon white paper, or cut out and pasted on to the cardboard. If you find it difficult to make a pretty face, a suitable one may be cut from some picture post card and pasted on. The arms and legs must be fastened on to the body with a little wire which should be run through a tiny bead and twisted so that it does not come out. Roll the lead foil into a little long weight and stitch one down to the lower portion of the body both at the back and front. The crinkled paper skirt must be gathered on a draw-thread with a needle and tied evenly and tightly round the waist and fastened neatly with a little ribbon sash. Through the stomach of the little figure insert a tiny length of the quill of a feather and glue it into place; let it project towards the back more than the front. Through this quill run your string doubled so that there is a long loop both back and front and be sure that the string works easily through the quill. A portion of a tiny reel will do instead of a quill if it is glued on to the back. The object of the quill or reel is to form a tube, so that the figure will slipalong this when the string is slackened, but that it will hold firm whenever the string is tightened. The weights must be heavy enough to make the figure balance and run downwards as the string is sloped. A pair of butterfly wings can be cut out of writing paper and painted and fastened to the back. A little garland of everlasting flowers or moss or beads can be fastened to the hands if you wish to do so.

Materials Required:—

Soft white wood, laundry pins, thin cardboard, a tiny piece of mica, mucilage.

Fig. 110.

This model was made by a boy of eleven and is most beautifully proportioned and put together. The body and wings and floats and little boats are all made of the white wood, well smoothed with sandpaper; the steering-gear is of cardboard. The propeller is made of mahogany and the tiny wind-screens of semicircles of mica. All is put together with "laundry" pins. The ailerons on the upper planes are held by strips of narrow tape.

Such toys as this can only be suggested very briefly, but children with any common sense and imagination can make most elaborate and delightful collections.

Fig. 111.

The box used for the byre or stable is only one of many more elaborate buildings that can be made. The dwelling house of larger boxes, the barns, the haystacks, the pigsty, the chicken coop, troughs, and such things can all be made of larger or smaller boxes. Buildings can be thatched with straw, rushes, hay; or corrugated paper may be put on the roof. The palings hereare made of matches set into posts of wooden pegs, much like those used by gardeners to label plants. Trees and flowering plants can be made by getting small bushy bare twigs and wrapping their branches with moss, or fastening on everlasting flowers of gay dyed colors. Old sponges may be dyed green and cut up and fixed in the branches. A reel sawed in two makes a good plant pot for these.

The sheep illustrated here is made of a cork, with legs of matches. Its head is a tiny bean fixed to the cork with a pin, both neck and body are wrapped in cotton wool, and it is neatly fastened on with white mending yarn. The lamb is made of a large bean and a small one, with legs of pins; the beans must be soaked before setting in the pins. Noah's ark animals can be used to increase the live stock of the farm. Fields can be made of green crinkled paper, and a piece of glass or a tiny mirror can be used to make a pond. Carts, barrows, and farm implements can be made of all sorts of things, and clever children can really make wonderful farms. Windmillsand other simple machines can be introduced also.

These can be made of bandboxes or orange-boxes and can be either very simple or as elaborate as you please. If cardboard boxes are used, Figure 113 shows how it can most easily be arranged to give the pitch of the roof. One story may be piled on another so that the house can be enlarged at will. Doors and windows are easily cut in the cardboard boxes. The windows can also be glazed if you get a few rolls of cinematograph film and fit and paste it on, but children must be warned that this is very inflammable and it is dangerous to bring it near the fire or gas. The inside of the rooms may be papered, and on the walls little pictures may be pasted. The illustrated catalogues from furniture shops can often be cut up, and the diagrams of doors, etc., cut out and pasted on the doors of your house. Figure 112 shows a sitting-room and a little shop or kitchen. In thelatter the counter and dresser are made of matchboxes. The shelves are of strips of cardboard with uprights of cane, wire, or knitting-needles. The fireplace in the sitting-room can be made of a lid of a cardboard box stitched to the wall, and in it another box (a matchbox, for instance) can be set to make the grate. A good table can be made as in Figure 114, which is made by using a lid of a small box, and to the inside of its corners glueing the legs,and then the larger top of thick cardboard can be fixed on with mucilage. The little shields for the corks of bottles, made of pleated lead foil, make very pretty pots and kitchen vessels in such little houses. Rugs can be woven of wool and string, and cushions, etc., to furnish the place. But there is no end to the things a child can make for a doll's house if imagination is encouraged to work the hands.

Figs. 112 to 114.

Other "Community Toys" can be made—railway stations, signals, and signal-boxes are very popular; a market place with its little tented stalls is charming. The houses we see in pictures of foreign lands give great interest, and many are so easy to make that it is quite possible to illustrate the history of home building by means of a series of toy houses. The darker side of life has even invaded our nurseries, and they too have shown the games of the trench and the guns: and it will be good to plan in our playwork now for the rebuilding of the world in the ways of peace, for it is these children of ours who must lead the world back or forward, for better or forworse. All the world is in their hands, though the hands may not yet be strong for more than the making of toys. We older children do but play other games with more serious intent, yet all the same the difference between the game and the business is but a difference of degree.