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------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE JOLLY BOOK OF BOXCRAFT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: Boxville.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JOLLY BOOK OF
BOXCRAFT
BY
PATTEN BEARD
With Sixty-eight Photographic Illustrations By G. S. North from
Models Made and Arranged by the Author and with
Twenty-three Diagrams by E. D. Pattee
[++ Illustration: Publisher’s Logo]
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
All rights reserved
[++ Illustration: FAS Co September, 1914]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED TO
ALL LITTLE CHILDREN
AND TO
“NIMBLEFINGERS,” “HAPPY THOUGHT”
AND “PLAY”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHOR’S NOTE
“The Jolly Book of Boxcraft” has been enlarged and rewritten from work
started in May, 1909. This work was purchased by _St. Nicholas_, _Little
Folks_, _Good Housekeeping_, _The Congregationalist and Christian
World_, _The Designer_, _Holland’s Magazine_, _The Housekeeper_, _The
Ladies’ Home Journal_, _The New York Herald_, and _The New York
Tribune_. Thanks are due to them for the courtesy of using material
which was included in their articles.
The author feels that it is only right to acknowledge her indebtedness
to the children themselves who have lent their toys and helped in many
little ways of their own toward the making of this book. Special thanks
are due to Elizabeth Hendricks, Raymon Guthrie, Henry Jarrett, Stanley
Hoyt, and Wesley Meehan, playfellows.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION (VERSE) XV
BOXCRAFT 1
THE LITTLE WHITE COTTAGE OF BOXVILLE 9
THE BOXVILLE STORE 16
THE DISTRICT SCHOOL OF BOXVILLE 19
THE LITTLE CHURCH OF BOXVILLE 27
THE BOXVILLE RAILWAY STATION 34
B. R. R. FREIGHT STATION AND SHOE-BOX 40
TUNNEL
HOTEL BANDBOX AND HOW TO FURNISH IT 43
THE SHOE-BOX APARTMENT HOUSE 50
A BOXVILLE RESIDENCE 53
THE BOXVILLE GARAGE OR STABLE 58
MAKING A BOXVILLE GARDEN 60
BOXVILLE BOAT-HOUSE OR YACHT CLUB 65
THE HOUSEBOAT “BOX CRAFT” 68
CAMP BOX ON MIRROR LAKE 70
THE GIPSY CART OF BOXVILLE HIGHWAY 73
THE SHEPHERD’S HUT AND THE SHEEPFOLD 77
BUILDING A BOX BRIDGE 81
BUILDING A TOY WINDMILL 83
BOXVILLE BARN AND FARMYARD 86
BOX BROTHERS’ ANIMAL SHOW 89
CIRCUS TENT AND CIRCUS GROUNDS 92
BOXTOWN ZOO GARDEN 96
BOXTOWN HOSE HOUSE 98
HOW TO MAKE A WIGWAM 100
FORT BOX 102
HOW TO BUILD A TOY CASTLE AND A 105
FAIRYLAND HOUSE
BOXES USED AS BLOCKS 110
MAKING A NOAH’S ARK FOR CRACKER ANIMALS 114
BOX SAVINGS-BANK FOR PENNIES 117
HOW TO MAKE A TOY WAGON AND SLED OR 119
SLEIGH
THE CHINA DOLL’S CRIB, GO-CART, AND MAY 122
BASKET
THE TOY DOG KENNEL FOR A TOY DOG 127
HOW TO MAKE A TEDDY BEAR’S WHEELBARROW 129
OFFICE FURNITURE FOR LITTLE DOLLS 131
HOW TO MAKE A DOLLS’ HAMMOCK 134
HOW TO MAKE A THEATER OR PUNCH SHOW 136
HOW TO MAKE A TOY MERRY-GO-ROUND 140
MAKING A BOXCRAFT AUTOMOBILE 143
HOW TO FURNISH A DOLL-HOUSE 147
HOW TO MAKE THE BOXCRAFT GAME, 154
“RINGFLING”
THE GAME OF “SHOOT THE CHUTES” 157
THE BOXCRAFT GAME “ONE-TWO-I-CATCH-YOU” 159
THE FUNNY GAME OF “MISTER BOX” 161
HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC BOX 163
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE
In view of the large number of illustrations in this volume and of the
necessity for grouping them, it is necessary for an occasional
illustration to appear at the end of its chapter, or at the end of the
preceding chapter. It is desirable therefore that the list of
illustrations be consulted frequently.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
BOXVILLE, A TOY TOWN MADE WITH SHOE-BOXES Frontispiece
BOXVILLE COTTAGE (Outside View)—BOXVILLE COTTAGE 4
(Inside View)
BOXCRAFT MATERIALS—AN UNFINISHED BOXCRAFT TOY 5
THE VILLAGE STORE (Outside View)—THE VILLAGE STORE 18
(Inside View)
THE DISTRICT SCHOOL (Outside View)—THE DISTRICT 19
SCHOOL (Inside View)
BOXVILLE CHURCH (Outside View)—BOXVILLE CHURCH 32
(Inside View)
BOXVILLE RAILWAY STATION (Outside View)—BOXVILLE 33
RAILWAY STATION (Inside View)
B.R.R. FREIGHT STATION—SHOE-BOX TUNNEL 42
BANDBOX HOTEL (Outside View)—BANDBOX HOTEL (Inside 43
View)
BOXVILLE APARTMENT HOUSE—BOX FURNITURE FOR THE 52
APARTMENT HOUSE
A BOXVILLE RESIDENCE:—THE GARAGE FOR BOXVILLE 53
RESIDENCE
THE GREENHOUSE FOR BOXVILLE GARDEN—THE PERGOLA FOR 64
THE GARDEN
THE BOAT-HOUSE OR YACHT CLUB—THE HOUSEBOAT, 65
“BOXCRAFT”
CAMP BOX ON MIRROR LAKE—THE BOXVILLE GIPSY CART 70
SHEPHERD’S HUT AND SHEEPFOLD—THE BOX BRIDGE 78
THE TOY WINDMILL—BOXVILLE BARN AND FARMYARD 84
THE BOXCRAFT ANIMAL SHOW 90
BOX BROTHERS’ CIRCUS TENT—CIRCUS CAGES AND BOOTH 91
BOXTOWN ZOO—BOXTOWN’S HOSE HOUSE 96
INDIAN WIGWAM—FORT BOX 100
THE FAIRYLAND CASTLE—THE FAIRY HOUSE 108
BOX BUILDING WITH BOX BLOCKS—A BOX ANIMAL AND BOX 109
MAN
A TOY TRAIN BUILT OF BOXES—BOXES AS STANDARDS FOR 112
CUT-OUTS
A NOAH’S ARK WITH CRACKER ANIMALS—A PENNY 113
SAVINGS-BANK
WAGON AND SLED—SLEIGH 120
CRIB, GO-CART, MAY BASKET—EXPRESS WAGON AND DOLL’S 121
SLED
TOY DOG KENNEL—TOY WHEELBARROW 128
OFFICE FURNITURE FOR DOLLS—A DOLL’S COUCH HAMMOCK 132
DOLLS’ THEATER—THE TOY MERRY-GO-ROUND 138
BOXCRAFT TOY AUTOMOBILE (With Top)—BOXCRAFT 144
AUTOMOBILE Without Top)
DOLL-HOUSE FURNITURE: BEDROOM—TABLES AND CHAIRS 148
DOLL-HOUSE FURNITURE: MANTEL AND SETTLE—PIANO AND 149
CLOCK
DOLL-HOUSE FURNITURE: DINING-ROOM—KITCHEN 152
THE GAME, “RINGFLING”—THE GAME, “SHOOT THE CHUTES” 154
THE GAME, “MR. BOX”—THE GAME, 160
“ONE-TWO-I-CATCH-YOU”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DIAGRAMS
DIAGRAM PAGE
ONE How to Make Windows 166
TWO How to Make Doors 167
THREE, A How to Make Side Walls Supports for a Sloping 168
Roof. How to Cut a Hole for a Chimney
THREE, B How to Make a Gable Roof out of Two Box Covers 169
THREE, C, CC How to Make a Gable Roof out of Cardboard and a 170
Building to Fit
THREE, D, E How to Make an Indian Wigwam or a Round-Pointed 171
Roof. How to Make a Tent-shaped Roof
THREE, F, G How to Make Ramparts for a Castle or Fort. How 172
to Make a Roof for a Porch
FOUR How to Make a Bridge and a R. R. Tunnel 173
FIVE How to Make a Pattern for a Windmill Sail 174
SIX, A, AA How to Make a Bench Form and a Bed 175
SIX, B How to Make a High-backed Bench 176
SIX, C How to Make a Chair 177
SIX, D, DD How to Make Tables 178
SIX, E, F How to Make a School Desk and a Piano 179
SIX, G How to Make a Fireplace and a Mantel 180
SEVEN How to Make a Pergola 181
EIGHT How to Make a Zoo or Circus Cage 182
NINE How to Make a Dolls’ Theater or Punch Show 183
TEN How to Make a Sleigh or a Sled 184
ELEVEN How to Make the Boxcraft Game, “Ringfling” 185
TWELVE How to Make the Boxcraft Game, 186
“One-Two-I-Catch-You”
THIRTEEN How to Make a Magic Box 187
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[++ Illustration: To Boxville]
INTRODUCTION
THE BOXCRAFT ROAD
Near Jollyplay in Boxland, on Boxcraft Road to Fun,
There lies a children’s village—a very happy one.
Its buildings are all boxes—the hotel and the store,
The school-house and the station, and many others more!
The name of it is Boxville. Its villagers are toys,
And those who build in Boxville are merry girls and boys.
You, too, may go to Boxland to make a house for play—
Look! Here, you’ll see the guide-post! Before you lies the way.
Take cardboard boxes with you—maybe, some paste or glue,
A pencil, and a paint-box,—and take your scissors too.
I’ll tell you all about it. We’ll start—the turning’s here—
It was a fairy told me about this village, dear!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE JOLLY BOOK OF BOXCRAFT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Jolly Book of Boxcraft
BOXCRAFT
=Material Required to Make Boxcraft=: cardboard boxes, paste, scissors,
crayons or water-color paints; perhaps a ruler, and pencil will help.
Do you believe in fairies? I do. I know three of them, and they are
quite as wonderful as Cinderella’s fairy godmother. She could make a
coach and pair out of nothing at all but a pumpkin and some mice, but
the fairies that I know can do even better than that! They can make a
whole toy shop full of toys from nothing at all but some cardboard
boxes.
The fairies that I know are called Happy Thought, Nimblefingers, and
Play. They have so much magic that they can transform even dull days and
make them jolly ones. All three of them came to see me one very rainy
day, and each of them sat upon a cardboard box while they all told me in
chorus about the fairy art of boxcraft.
“Have you ever noticed how much an ordinary shoe-box looks like a little
building with a flat roof?” Happy Thought inquired.
“All you have to do to make it a house,” Nimblefingers put in, “is to
cut doors and windows in its sides.”
“And then, when you have made the house, you have all kinds of fun with
it,” laughed Play.
“Boxes will make chimneys for your house,” Happy Thought pursued. “Boxes
will make furniture—beds, tables, chairs, mantels, pianos,
benches—everything!”
“You need only to cut the box rims to make them,” Nimblefingers
interrupted.
“And when they are made—oh, _think_ of the things you can use them for!”
chuckled Play.
“A whole village can be made—cottages, school, store, church, railway
station, bridges, tunnels—everything,” Happy Thought went on.
“And _all_ that you need to do it will be a pair of scissors, a pencil,
some paints, and maybe some paste. I’ll show you how,” Nimblefingers
volunteered.
“When the village is made, all your toys can play in it! Haven’t you
some roly-poly tumble toys, and some penny dolls, and toy animals?” Play
demanded. “I know you must have.”
“And the village is not _all_ that you can make from nothing at all but
some cardboard boxes. You may make almost any kind of a toy: a theater
for dolls, a merry-go-round, an Indian wigwam, and games, and games, and
GAMES!”
So, the fairies, Happy Thought, Nimblefingers, and Play, told me how to
make all these magic toys from nothing at all but cardboard boxes, and
they asked me to tell the children about it, so that they might know how
to change dull days into bright and happy ones when they had learned of
the magic.
Cardboard boxes are to be found everywhere. They are in your home and in
everybody’s home. Butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, milliners,
druggists, jewelers, stationers, grocers, drygoods firms, shoe stores,
book stores, toy stores, all keep them. Everywhere, everywhere there are
cardboard boxes—big boxes, little boxes, middling-sized boxes; wide
boxes, narrow boxes, deep boxes, shallow boxes; round boxes, oblong
boxes, square boxes! Boxes, boxes, BOXES everywhere! All you need to do
is to ask for them.
People at home are throwing them away. The butchers, the bakers, the
candlestick makers, the milliners, the druggists, the jewelers, the
stationers, the grocers, and the dry goods firms, as well as all the
others, are constantly sending boxes to your home. The shoe stores, and
the book stores, and the toy stores, and ever so many others, are
throwing boxes away just because nobody seems to realize what magic
there lies in them for the children.
When Happy Thought, Nimblefingers, and Play first told me about
boxcraft, I did not find any trouble in securing the kind of box that I
needed for the toy-making. I found that the merchants were very glad to
give me boxes when I asked for them. They smiled when I asked. They did
not know that a toy circus tent could be made from a round hat-box. They
did not know that a whole village might be erected out of six
shoe-boxes!
[Illustration: Boxville Cottage is made from a shoe-box.]
[Illustration: Boxville Cottage is furnished with Boxcraft Materials.]
[Illustration: Boxcraft Materials.]
[Illustration: An unfinished Boxcraft Toy.]
Among the boxes given me were three very large ones. One was deep and
wide. It came from the milliner’s. It was not a bandbox, but a box used
to pack hats away in. In it I kept all the boxes that came to me. The
small ones I packed inside the large ones. It was a simple matter, after
that, to find what I needed when I wished to make a table, or a chair,
or a punch show, or a school-house.
Another box that was given me was wide and flat. Into it I put all
pretty papers that came my way—lace-paper, pinwheel paper, sheets of
waxed sandwich paper and glacine book covers, crape paper, spools,
cotton, pencils. Everything that could lie flat went into this wide,
flat box, to be stored till needed. This box packed into the first box
easily.
The third box was broad, and square, and deep. Into it I packed the
playthings I had made after I had finished playing with them. It fitted
into the side of the first box above the wide and flat one. All these
could be put out of sight in my play-closet when night came and it was
time to pick up.
These boxes I called my treasure boxes. I hope you will find three like
them and keep your boxcraft materials as I kept mine, for Happy Thought,
Nimblefingers, and Play told me about the plan, and I think it is a
splendid one.
If you have some pretty samples of wall-paper, you can easily cover your
treasure boxes with them. There _might_ be some wall-paper like that in
your play-room. If so, this would be the very thing. Then, the boxes may
be placed anywhere you choose in your room.
These treasure boxes are not meant to hold large toys. It is the little
toys that you will like best to use in boxcraft play. The toy figures
and the animals will pack into very small space. The corrugated
cardboard for roofs, the green crape paper for grass, the pretty shells,
pebbles, and artificial flowers for garden building, take but small
space.
The tools for your boxcraft, scissors, and paste, and paint-box, may go
into the large, deep treasure box too.
Here in this book you will find the toys that the fairies have shown me
how to make. There are many, many more. You can try the magic craft of
the fairies for yourself in your own way. If your boxes are not always
exactly like mine, make them answer by adapting the general plan of the
toy to the box which you have. Learn to make much out of little. That is
the motto of boxcraft play. THAT is what Cinderella’s fairy godmother
did when she changed a pumpkin into a golden coach. That is what fairies
_always_ do! They find magic in _little things_—so suppose you try it
too!
Sing a song of boxes and busy fingers too,
Some scissors, and a paint-box, and just a bit of glue!
Sing a song of playtime for happy girls and boys,
A-snipping with their scissors, a-making boxcraft toys!
LIST OF MATERIALS WHICH MAY BE USED IN BOXCRAFT
Cardboard boxes. (To make buildings and toys.)
Corrugated cardboard. (To make roofs and fences.)
Plain cardboard. (To use in cutting side walls, roofs, wheels for
carriages.)
Glacine paper book-covers. (To use in making window-glass for
buildings.)
Colored pinwheel papers and tissue papers. (To use in decorating
houses.)
Spools. (To make standards for trees and bushes in landscape building,
to make flower-stands, cannon, stools, tables, legs for dolls’ beds,
men for playing boxcraft games.)
Round-headed paper-fasteners of brass. (To make door-knobs and
door-latches for buildings. To fasten handles to baskets. To fasten
wheels to vehicles.)
Pencils. (To use for pillars for buildings. To use for making
game-boards.)
TOOLS USED IN BOXCRAFT PLAY
Just a pair of scissors, some paste, and a box of crayons or water-color
paints.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE LITTLE WHITE COTTAGE OF BOXVILLE
=Material Required for Making a Little Cottage=: one shoe-box with its
cover, a twelve-inch square of cardboard, three small boxes, and a bit
of glacine paper to make window-glass.
Here is the little Cottage of Boxville. I think _The Old Woman Who Lived
in a Shoe_ might better have chosen to live in a shoe-box like this than
to have made her home in an old boot! The cottage certainly seems cozy,
and far more comfortable than a shoe would be. I know that her children
would have preferred a dwelling like this. I am sure you like it better
yourself, so I am going to tell you how you may build one just like it.
Find a shoe-box and take its cover off. Set the box upon its side with
the bottom of the box facing you. This is to be the front of the
cottage.
Upon the front you will need to draw two windows and a door. Take your
ruler and a pencil. Measure a window space two inches from either end of
the box. Make each window space two inches wide and two inches high.
Half-way between these, draw a door space with its base at the base of
the box. Make the door space two inches wide and three inches and a half
tall.
Down the center of each window space from top to base of the square,
draw a line which divides it into half. This forms the window-blinds,
which you will need to cut open. (To make window with blinds, see
Diagram One, _B_, page 166.) Cut top line. Cut down the center line and
cut across the base of the square. Fold the sections of cardboard
outward against the sides of your box, and you will have made a window
with blinds.
Half-way between windows is the door space. (To cut door, see Diagram
Two, _A_, page 167.) Cut across the top line of your square, down one
side and across the base. Fold the cardboard outward, and you will have
made a door that you can open and close at will.
If you happen to have a round-headed paper-fastener that has two pointed
prongs that are meant to press through papers to keep them together,
take it and press its prongs through the little door where a door-knob
should be. Bend the prongs together to one side and you will have a
door-latch. By turning the round knob, you may fasten the door or open
it, as you like.
The roof of the cottage is supported upon two pieces of cardboard cut to
fit each end of the box. (See Diagram Three, _A_, page 168.) To make
these, take your cardboard and cut a piece the width of one end of your
box and four inches higher. Make a second piece of cardboard like it to
fit the other end of your box. Glue both on the box, one on each end.
Then, with scissors, cut each piece off diagonally downward from the top
at the rear of the box to the front of the box. This cuts off a corner
and makes a sloping rest for each end of the cottage. Upon these the
cover of the shoe-box is slipped to make half of a sloping roof. (See
Diagram Three, _AA_, page 168, showing box cover placed upon side-wall
pieces.)
Slip your box cover over the two points, when both are thoroughly dry.
See, it makes the best kind of a roof for your cottage!
If you wish to add a chimney, any long, narrow box that is small enough
to form the right proportion to the roof may be used. Measure its base
upon the cottage roof near the top. Cut the cardboard of the roof so
that the box end may be slipped through it and stand erect, and you have
a chimney. If you use a box which has a sliding cover like a drawer, its
outside will be like a real little chimney. You may mark off bricks upon
it with a pencil, and color it bright red. A wad of cotton will form the
smoke for a chimney.
I painted blinds and door of the cottage that you see in the picture.
Blinds were green and the door was brown. You may use almost any kind of
paint to do this. The colors from your water-color painting-box will
answer. You may use crayons too, if you like. Other paint takes somewhat
longer to dry. It is not so well adapted to the building.
In front of my cottage, I made a garden with some artificial flowers
that had once been on my summer hat in a wreath. You may easily make a
garden for your cottage, or you may have tubs of flowers like the one in
the picture. It is the lower half of a pill-box filled with
forget-me-nots.
The cottage is furnished with furniture cut from small boxes. These may
be three inches long or smaller. My furniture is all painted, but you
need not paint yours unless you care to do so.
The bed is made from a box and its cover. To make it, first take the
lower half of your box and turn it over so that its rims are below
instead of on top. At each corner cut a leg for the bed, and remove
cardboard from between these cuttings, so that it leaves at each corner
of the rim a two-sided leg. (To cut bench form, see Diagram Six, _A_,
page 175.) When you have cut this lower half of the bed, take the cover
of your box and turn it so that its rims come upward instead of
downward. Remove the rims from each long side, and you will have left
the head and footboard of the bed. Glue this piece to the lower half you
first cut, and the bed will be finished. Sheets and pillow may be cut
from tissue or lace-paper.
A chair is made from the lower half of any small box. Beginning at the
center of one long rim of the box, cut the rim off half-way around. The
part with rim removed will be the back of the chair. The other will be
the seat and legs. Legs are cut to right and left of each forward
corner. Cardboard is evenly removed from between them. Rear legs are cut
in each rim at the side of the box in the same way, except that these
rear legs have but one cut needed. They are not cornered as the front
legs are. (For cutting a chair, see Diagram Six, _C_, page 177.)
A table for the cottage is made from a spool by standing the spool on
end. Over its top is placed the half of a small round box. (A square box
cover may answer quite as well.) The table may be made from an ordinary
spool, or two twist spools glued end to end. (For table, see Diagram
Six, _DD_, page 178.)
A mantel with fireplace for the cottage may be cut from a small box
three inches high. Stand the box on end and cut from its rear, near the
base, an opening like that of a fireplace. (For cutting a mantel with
fireplace, see Diagram Six, _G_, page 180.) Use the back of the box, as
it has no printing upon it. If your box is painted, it will not matter
whether or not you make your cutting in the front, as the print will not
show when cleverly painted over.
In my cottage there lived a tumble toy lady. Her name was Polly Ann. You
can see her in the picture with her china dog. You may use roly-poly
tumble toys or penny dolls to play with in the cottage. Figures cut from
magazine pictures are fun to use, too. Color them with your paints or
crayons.
Besides tumble toys, Noah’s Ark figures, and picture people cut from
magazines, villagers for Boxville cottages may be found at any penny
store where children trade. These are small dressed dolls, one cent
apiece!
In candy shops where party favors are sold, all manner of small figures
may be bought. These are odd little men or women—just the very ones to
use in playing Boxville plays. At every holiday season, new ones appear!
You can always find them.
I built a tiny cottage with two windows and a door,
I called it _Boxville Cottage_ and I placed it on the floor:
All ’round about my cottage, a cardboard village grew—
I’ll tell you how to make it, so that you can make one too!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOXVILLE STORE
=Material Required for Making a Boxville Store=: one shoe-box with two
shoe-box covers, two long pencils, two spools, waxed paper, and small
boxes.
The village store of Boxville is made from a shoe-box. One shoe-box
cover makes the porch it rests upon. Another forms the roof of the
store.
If you wish to make a village store, also, place a shoe-box upon its
side, and then the bottom of the box will become the front of your
store.
You will need to have a large shop window in front. Make this first. Two
inches from the right-hand end of the box, mark with your pencil a wide
oblong space five inches by three. Cut out this window space on all four
sides. (For cutting a window space, see Diagram One, _A_, page 166.)
Cut a piece of waxed paper a little larger than the size of your window.
Paste this inside the box building over the window space to make glass.
Cut strips of pinwheel paper and paste them around the window on the
outside of the box to make window-casings.
Now you are ready to make a door for your store. Draw a door space on
your box with your pencil. Make it two inches from the left-hand end of
the box. Make it four inches high and two inches wide. (To cut single
door, see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.) Cut across the top line, down the
side line that is next the window, and across the base. When you bend
the cardboard you have cut, you will have a door that will open and
close. Color the door, if you like. It may be painted brown.
After this, you are ready to place the roof on your store; but first,
lay one of the box covers upon its rims on your work-table and put the
little store upon it, well back, so there will be a porch in front.
Then, take your other shoe-box cover and fit it over the top of the box
building so that it projects over the porch in front. Two long pencils,
with ends run into the openings of two spools, make pillars to place at
either corner of the porch.
The step up to the porch is any small box you may have.
Inside the store, a long hat-pin box makes a counter. Flowers, leaves,
pretty pebbles, shells, and little toys such as you may find among your
own playthings may be displayed upon the counter.
A roly-poly tumble toy will make a clerk for the store, or, if you like,
you may find both clerk and customers in magazine pictures, and you can
mount them on thin cardboard and cut them out. There is no end to the
plays you can invent when your store is finished. Polly Ann of shoe-box
cottage, Boxville, has just come to the store to buy a loaf of bread.
There it is—that pretty brown pebble! Those green leaves are vegetables!
The beads in that box are apples! The shells are little cakes!
To Boxville! To Boxville! To have a lot of fun!
I’m going to the general store to buy a penny bun!
The bun is just a pebble on the counter of the store,
And the penny’s made of paper, so, perhaps, I’ll make some more!
[Illustration: The Village Store made of a shoe-box and two shoe-box
covers.]
[Illustration: Inside view of the Village Store. The counter is a
hat-pin box.]
[Illustration: The District School of Boxville. It is made from a
shoe-box.]
[Illustration: Inside view of the Boxville School. The desks are all cut
from small oblong boxes. The benches are boxes also; and the stove is a
spool with a pencil for a stovepipe.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DISTRICT SCHOOL OF BOXVILLE
=Material Required for Building a Toy School=: one shoe-box with its
cover, a half-sheet of cardboard, three small boxes about three inches
long, the cover of some narrow little box which has an inner drawer, a
pencil, a spool, and a box two inches long.
Did you ever before see a toy school-house? I don’t believe you have
ever seen anything like Boxville School, so I am going to tell you how
you may build one like it.
First, you will need a shoe-box to form the house itself. Its cover is
the roof. To this, at either end of the box, are glued two side walls
which hold the roof in place, slanting. The cover of some tiny narrow
box which is made with an inner drawer is the chimney. Inside, the desks
are made from the lower parts of three boxes about three inches long.
Their three covers make the benches. A teacher’s desk may be made from
any small box you have. Its cover is teacher’s chair. A spool forms the
stove, and a pencil is the stovepipe.
Begin by taking the cover from your shoe-box. Place the box upon the
table before you so that it stands upon one long side, with its bottom
part facing you, open at the back. The base of your box, which now faces
you, will be the part of the school which will need to have windows made
in it.
These two windows must have blinds. The window spaces must be located on
the face of the box, which fronts you. From these the blinds are cut.
Two inches from either end of your box, mark upon the part which faces
you two oblongs, each three inches high and two inches wide. Mark a
vertical line down the center of each window space. This forms the
blinds, which you will need to cut. (For cutting blinds, see Diagram
One, _B_, page 166.) Cut the top line, down the center line, and across
the base line. Press the two sections of cardboard outward against the
sides of the box building, and you will have made the window with
blinds. Color these blinds, if you choose. Use crayons or water-color
paints.
Next, you will need to make the cardboard side walls which support the
box-cover roof. Take your sheet of cardboard and measure with pencil
outline upon it the shape of one end of your box. Add to this four
inches at the top, and cut this piece from the cardboard with its added
height.
Make a second piece of cardboard identical with the first. Glue each to
one end of the box upright. Cut from each the front upper corner point.
(See Diagram Three, _A_, page 168, which shows the shape of the side
walls when cut.)
Cut a door in one of these side walls, near its central part, where you
see the door in the picture of Boxville School. To make this, first take
pencil and ruler and make an oblong four inches high and two inches
wide. (To cut door, see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.) Cut top line, down
one side line, and across the base line. Fold the door outward. The
cardboard under the door in the side wall may be cut out the shape of
the door space. If you do this, your door will bend open more easily.
If you happen to have a round-headed paper-fastener, press its pointed
prongs through the little door where a door-knob should go. The round
head of the paper-fastener will form a door-knob. Its prongs, bent to
one side, form the latch. It will catch the door securely when the
“door-knob” is turned.
Now that the lower part of the school building is finished, you may
begin upon the roof. This is the box cover. Place it upon the points of
the side walls so that it fits down upon them. You will readily see how
this is. (For placing a roof on a shoe-box building, see Diagram Three,
_AA_, page 168.)
When the roof is placed, you will be able to judge where the
chimney-hole should be cut in the box-cover roof. It should go near the
top at the end of the box that is opposite the door. The cover of some
narrow box which has a sliding inner drawer will make the chimney. It
will be just the right shape, square and hollow.
Mark off upon the sides of this box the bricks of the chimney. Color
them red, if you like. If you use a ruler, the work is easily and
quickly done. You do not need to mark the bricks unless you like. Your
box may be painted merely.
To place it on the roof, you will need to cut out of the school-house
roof a piece of cardboard the size of the end of your box. Decide where
the chimney should go. Mark the end of it with pencil upon the roof at
this point. Cut the cardboard out. (For cutting hole for chimney in a
box-cover roof, see Diagram Three, _AA_, page 168.) Press the end of the
chimney down through this hole. Press the chimney backward to make it
stand straight, and glue it. Some tiny bit of cotton stuffed into the
upper hole of the chimney box will form smoke.
Of course, you will be anxious to furnish your school-house inside. You
may make it like a real district school such as you see in the country.
It will have desks, benches, a stove, and a blackboard—to say nothing of
a teacher’s desk and chair!
The lower halves of the three small boxes form desks. It is really a
simple matter to make these. They are the kind that have a shelf beneath
the top. They are open.
Take the lower half of one of these boxes. Place it upon one of its long
rims. The upper rim will be the top of the desk. The ends of the box
will need to be cut the shape of the sides of a desk. (For cutting a
desk out of a small oblong cardboard box, see Diagram Six, _E_, page
179.)
Fit a bit of box rim beneath the top of the desk where the shelf should
go, and glue its ends to the box desk. The desk may be painted black, if
you choose. Make the two other desks like this one.
The benches are next cut from the box covers. To make a bench, make a
cut with scissors in each box rim at the center of each end of the box.
Cut each as far as the upper part of the cover. Half the box will be the
back of the bench. Half will be the seat and legs.
First, cut the legs. Then bend the other half of the box upward, cut off
the side piece at either end of the box, bend the long rim upward. This
will make a bench with high back. (For cutting the legs of bench and its
high back, see Diagram Six, _B_, page 176.) In following diagrams,
always cut where you see the heavy black line. Bend where you see a
dotted line. The bench may be painted to match the desks. Make other
benches like the first one.
The teacher’s desk is made from the lower half of another box—one about
two inches long. It is made like a table, except that no legs are cut in
its end rims. (For cutting a bench form for the teacher’s desk, see
Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.) The desk may be painted, if you like.
The chair for this desk is cut from the cover of the same box that made
the desk. Cut the cover’s rim half off the box, beginning at the center
on one long side. The part of the cover left without rim will be the
back of the chair. Cut legs at the corners of the other half of the
cover and at each side on the rim. Remove the surplus cardboard from
between them. (To cut chair, see Diagram Six, _C_, page 177.) Color the
chair to match desks and benches.
Your school is _almost_ done. The stove will need to be put up—I’m quite
sure that you never heard of a district school-house _without_ a stove!
It is as much a part of a district school as the dipper and the
waterpail used to be. The stove of this toy school is just a spool
painted black. Place it under the chimney, with the point of a long
pencil run into its upper hole to represent a stovepipe. There! That is
easy to do, I am sure!
The blackboard is a piece of black pinwheel paper cut oblong and pasted
between the windows. If you have some old time-table in your home,
perhaps you will find in it a small map that may be cut out and pasted
to the walls of the school.
You can make text-books by folding pieces of paper together. These can
be placed inside the desks.
Penny dolls make excellent scholars. A tumble toy figure may make a
schoolmistress or a schoolmaster.
In the picture of Boxville School, you can see three penny dolls and my
tumble toy schoolmistress. The dolls are at recess. Violet is trying to
do a sum at the board. Pansy is pretending to be “teacher.” Lily has
just finished her luncheon.
When does your school open? Now! The scholars will have to hurry or
they’ll be late!
I made a little Boxville School, and now in it each day
I’m educating penny dolls, and it is splendid play!
I teach them all my lessons every day when I am through—
They have finished with my reader, and can divide by two.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE LITTLE CHURCH OF BOXVILLE
=Material Required for Making a Boxville Church=: one shoe-box with its
cover, one narrow box about six or seven inches long, one oblong box
cover three or four inches long, three small box covers of about the
same size (three inches), a twelve-inch square of cardboard, and some
colored tissue-paper, with a spool.
Ding! Ding! Can you hear the bell in the steeple of the Boxville Church
ringing? It does not ring very loud, because it is such a small bell,
but it _does_ ring beautifully! You can try it yourself. Suppose that
you make a little church like this for your village!
Take a shoe-box. Remove its cover. Lay the shoe-box upon one long side
rim. The bottom of the box will become the side of the church. It will
need to have three long windows cut in it.
Draw these window spaces long and narrow, about one inch wide and three
inches high. Cut the two end windows equally distant from the ends of
the box, and draw the outline of the center window mid-way between these
two. Cut the cardboard at the top of the window spaces to a point. (For
cutting windows, see Diagram One, _A_, page 166.)
If you have some colored tissue-paper, you may cut three pieces the same
shape as the window spaces you have cut out. Let them be a little wider
and longer, however. Paste each inside the box right over the open
window spaces. This will make stained-glass windows. You can paint the
window-casings with black ink, or paint on the outside of the box around
the windows.
If you prefer, you can make the window-casings by pasting narrow strips
of pinwheel paper around the windows, instead of using the paint.
The Boxville Church, as you can see, has a sloping roof. This roof is
the cover of the shoe-box supported on two side walls, which are made of
cardboard and glued to each end of the box. You will need to cut these
side walls. (See Diagram Three, _A_, page 168.)
Measure the exact width and height of your box on the twelve-inch square
of cardboard. Measure one end only, and place the end of the box so that
it comes at the edge of your cardboard. At the top, add four inches to
the height, and cut out this oblong piece you have drawn. Make another
like it. Next, cut off the two front upper corners diagonally down to
the mark you first made, showing the height of your box building at the
front of your box.
Cut a church door in one of these sides. Make it rather high—about the
height of the church windows. Let the base of the door come at the lower
edge of the side wall. Cut up through the cardboard vertically for about
three inches. Then cut the arch of the door and bend as if it were on a
hinge. (See Diagram Two, _A_, page 167, for cutting door.)
Paste each side wall in place on the box building so that the points of
each come at the rear of the box. When the side walls are firmly dry,
cut out the cardboard that is under the door space of the side wall. The
roof is not quite ready to go on yet, however. You will first need to
arrange for the steeple or bell-tower.
Take the cover of your shoe-box and also the oblong box you intend to
use for a steeple. This may be either a long candy box, such as
chocolate peppermints are often sold in drug stores, or it may be a box
such as jewelers use for hat-pins. The tower of the church should come
over the door. Near the top corner of the shoe-box cover which is to be
the roof of the church, mark off the shape of one end of the oblong box
which is to be the tower. Cut out this square from the shoe-box roof,
and cut out about a quarter of an inch more at the bottom, otherwise
your steeple will not stand exactly straight.
Now, slip the roof over the points of the side walls. See! that is it!
And, next, slip the tower in place down through the opening which comes
in the roof over the door. (See Diagram Three, _AA_, page 168.)
If your tower is to have a bell, you can buy a bell at almost any toy
store. It will probably cost you a penny. You will need to cut openings
in the upper part of the bell-tower box. Cut one on each side, as you
see it in the picture of my Boxville Church. The belfry windows will be
cut like ordinary square windows, except for a point at the top. (For
cutting plain windows, see Diagram One, _A_, page 166.)
The bell is next tied like a locket to a double cord or bit of string.
One end of this string is used to fasten the bell to the top of the
tower. It is sewed, with the help of a large darning-needle, to the
cardboard top of the belfry. The other end of the cord will be the
bell-rope, and this goes down through the cardboard at the base of your
tower box and through the cardboard at the top of the shoe-box building.
It can be threaded to the darning-needle and pressed through the holes
made by the needle till its end hangs down into the church vestibule, as
you see it in the picture. When you let the sexton pull this bell-rope,
ding, ding goes the bell, and the noise that it makes is just the right
size for a Boxville Church!
Now you are ready to furnish the inside of your church. Begin with the
platform for the pulpit. This is the box cover you have—the one about
three or four inches long. Place it where the platform should go,
opposite the door. The spool will be the pulpit. Paste a little round
cardboard disk over the opening at one end of the spool, and this will
be the top of the pulpit. Paint the spool black.
Use a long, narrow box cover for the pulpit chair. (See Diagram Six,
_C_, page 177.) Cut the rim from box cover, beginning near the center on
one long side. Cut till you have reached the point opposite. The part of
the cover from which the rim has been removed will be the back of the
chair. Bend it forward.
The other half of the cover will be the seat of the chair. Legs are cut
in the front rim and in the side rims that remain. To make front legs,
keep the corners of the box, and cut up to the part which is the seat,
the upper part of the cover. Remove the cardboard from between these two
cuttings. Then, make the back legs of the chair in the box rims at side.
Place the little chair back of the pulpit, and color it, if you wish, to
match.
At least three pews will be needed for the church. They are to be made
from the three small box covers. (See Diagram Six, _B_, page 176, for
making high-backed benches.)
With a pencil or pin-point, mark the center of each short rim on these
box covers. Then, taking one cover, cut through the rim at the two
points till you have reached the top of the cover. Half of the division
made will be for the back of the bench and half for the seat and the
legs. Cut the legs in one half as you cut the legs for the pulpit chair.
Remove from the other half of the cover the remaining end rim. Bend the
rim that is left at the top upward, to make the high back of the bench,
and color the bench to match the pulpit and chair.
[Illustration: Boxville Church is made from a shoe-box. Its bell-tower
is an oblong box. It has stained-glass windows of red tissue-paper.]
[Illustration: Boxville Church has a pulpit, a reading desk, and pews
that are made in boxcraft style from boxes and a spool.]
[Illustration: Boxville Railway Station is built from a shoe-box and
four shoe-box covers. Pencils are used for pillars that hold the long
roof of the platform in place.]
[Illustration: Inside view of Boxville Railway Station. This shows the
ticket booth made from a shallow box about four inches square.]
Place the benches one behind the other inside the church. Let the sexton
ring the bell for Sunday-school to begin. What was the lesson you had
last Sunday? Do you remember about it? Perhaps you might not so easily
forget _next_ Sunday’s lesson, if you taught it yourself to a class of
penny dolls in a Boxville Church like this. Anyway, you can _try_!
Boxville dolls on Sunday go
To this Boxville Church, just so!
Two by two, as couples should,
Boxville dolls are _always_ good!
Little Boxville, as you see,
Is as good as it can be:
Little girls and little boys,
Learn this text from Boxville toys!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOXVILLE RAILWAY STATION
=Material Required for Making a Boxville Railway Station=: one shoe-box
and four shoe-box covers, one small box about four inches square and
without a cover, the shallow covers of two small boxes three inches
long, two long pencils, and a small square of waxed paper.
Boxville’s Railway Station is a real railway station. It is not a tin
thing such as you buy ready-made in a toy shop. Boxville Station has a
waiting-room with a real ticket booth and benches. You can make just the
same kind of little station as you see in this picture. It is easy to
make.
The building itself, you see, is the lower half of a shoe-box placed
upon its side. The platform is made of two shoe-box covers placed end to
end upon the floor, and the roof of the station is one shoe-box cover.
The other shoe-box cover is the roof of the platform, and this is
supported by two long lead-pencils.
Do you want to make a Boxville Station? To begin, you must make two
doors and a window on the part of your box that is the front of the
station.
About an inch and a half from either end of your box, mark a door space
four inches high and two inches wide. Use a pencil and ruler for the
work, so that it will be even. Half-way between the door spaces you have
drawn, mark off an oblong window space two inches high and three inches
wide. Now, you can take your scissors and cut the doors in the box. (To
cut doors, see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.) Cut the top line of each
door space. Cut the bottom line also. The doors must open toward each
other, so cut each door space down the side next to the window space.
Push each little door inward.
Next, cut out the window space. Cut it around on all four sides, and
keep to the line you have drawn with pencil. (To cut window, see Diagram
One, _A_, page 166.) When you have finished this, take a piece of the
waxed paper you have and paste it inside the station building over the
window space to make window-glass. The waxed paper should be cut a bit
longer and wider than the opening of the window. You can measure it by
the cardboard piece you cut from the box.
If you wish, you may color the doors of your station building green or
brown. Use whatever colors you have, but if you use your water-colors,
keep the work as dry as you can. If you do not, the doors will not be
straight. They will curl.
Place two shoe-box covers end to end upon the floor or table, for you
can put the building upon them now. See, it is placed far back, so that
there will be a platform in front. Place the building at the left of the
platform made of the shoe-box covers.
The third shoe-box cover is the roof of the station building, and you
must fit it down over the station. If you wish to have a roof over your
station platform, you will need the fourth shoe-box cover to make this.
To secure it in place, just cut two end corners on the box rim as far as
the top of the cover. Then, turn this end rim upward and slip it under
the right-hand rim of the cover which forms the roof of the station
building itself. You will need two pillars at the right-hand end of your
platform to keep the long roof up. These pillars are long lead-pencils.
Press the point of a pencil down through each right-hand top corner of
the long station platform’s top, and secure the points below by running
them into standards made of spools. The pencil point will be firm when
run into the upper hole of a standing spool, and when both pillars are
so fixed, the roof will be quite firm. (See Diagram Three, _G_, page
172.)
Next, make a signboard for your station, and glue it to the roof.
You will need to have a bench or two and a ticket office in your station
building. A little doll can be placed in the ticket office. If you look
at the picture of my Boxville Station, you will see a lady buying her
ticket of the ticket agent.
The ticket booth is the lower half of a box that is about four inches
wide and an inch or so deep. You will need to stand it on its rim and
cut a window in the part of the box that is the front of the ticket
office. You do this just as you cut the window for your station, only
you must make the ticket-booth window smaller. Draw the outline of the
window first with help of pencil and ruler. Then cut it out. To cut
window, see Diagram One, _A_, page 166.) When window is cut, paste some
waxed paper over the window opening on the inside of the box. Cut a
round opening in this, near the bottom. The ticket agent will need this,
you see. Now, the ticket booth is finished! Place it between the doors
where it should go.