smaller boxes of varied size. Try to pack as many boxes as you can into
the large box. Make them come as evenly as you can in packing. There
will be _some_ space at sides, but with care and thought you will be
surprised to see how small a space they may be packed into. Try them in
various forms, till you are sure you have reached the best way to
arrange them. Then, give the box puzzle to some friend to see if he can
do with one or two attempts what you have accomplished. When you give
some person this puzzle, mix your boxes well so there is no clue to
their proper arrangement inside the larger box.
Toys like trains may be built with little more than a long cracker box
for a coach and some oblong box for engine. The engine’s smoke-stack is
a round box. Its coal-car is a cover taken from a candy box. Its wheels
are buttons or button molds placed on the ends of wire hair-pins that
have been pressed through the sides of the cardboard boxes. A bit of wax
or plasticine will keep the wheels in place.
Paste boxes to the back of your cut-outs when you buy these sheets at
the penny store. The Indians, cowboys, soldiers, and animals will then
stand erect by themselves.
[Illustration: A Toy Train that is built from boxes. Its wheels are
button molds.]
[Illustration: Cut-out Pictures may be made to stand when glued to small
boxes.]
You will have an interesting time, I am sure, in finding new ways to use
your boxes in this kind of play. It is always new, for you may always
find different kinds of boxes to adapt to the building. And the nice
thing about it is that you can make almost anything you choose.
[Illustration: A Noah’s Ark with cracker animals.]
[Illustration: A Savings-bank made to hold pennies. The pennies are
dropped down its chimney.]
I never knew before—did you?—
How much a cardboard box could do!
I can make buildings, now and then
I make some animals and men!
Indeed, it’s wonderful to play
With little boxes in this way!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAKING A NOAH’S ARK FOR CRACKER ANIMALS
=Material Required for Making a Noah’s Ark=: a child’s shoe-box without
a cover, the cover of a large shoe-box, and some shallow box with cover
about ten inches by four.
Next time that you have cracker animals to play with, build them an ark!
It is splendid fun. I will tell you how to do it.
Find the materials needed to build with—a shoe-box cover, the lower half
of a child’s shoe-box, and the whole of some very shallow box about ten
inches long and at least four inches wide.
To make the base of the Noah’s ark, use the large shoe-box cover. Cut
its rims off. Cut each end pointed. The ark building is placed on this.
The ark building is made from the small shoe-box. Place it upon its rims
so that its bottom becomes top.
Cut a door in one end of the box on the edge of the box rim. To make
this, cut up from the edge of the rim two inches near the center of the
box end. Then cut horizontally across the box two inches more. (To cut
door, see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.) After cutting, bend the door as
if it were on a hinge. A round-headed paper-fastener will make a
door-knob and latch. Press the points of the fastener through the
cardboard door and bend the prongs, or points, to one side together. In
this way, animals may be securely locked into the ark.
Cut two triangular supports for the roof of the ark. They should be cut
in heavy cardboard and made equal-sided. The width of one end of your
box will give you the dimensions to make these. (See Diagram Three,
_BB_, page 169.) Paste one of these cardboard pieces to each end of the
ark building near the top part of the box. Let both dry well before
attempting to put a roof upon them.
The roof is made of the two parts of the shallow box. Lap the long rim
of one part over the long rim of the other. Glue the two rims together,
one over the other. (For making a gable roof from two box covers or from
the halves of a shallow box, see Diagram Three, page 169.) When the glue
is dry, slip the roof over the gabled points of the ark building.
Now, when the rains descend and floods come and there is a RAINY DAY
ahead of you, just summon the cracker animals from the pantry. Arrange
them in pairs. Find a doll for Mr. Noah and a piece of paper to make the
dove. A footstool will be Mount Ararat, and the ark may voyage all the
whole day upon the play-room floor. When the sun comes out, you will
have been so busy all day that you will have quite forgotten about the
rain.
Two by two! Two by two!
Elephant and kangaroo!
Box and box covers to-day
Make a Noah’s Ark for play.
Maybe, later, you may feast
On an unpaired cracker beast!
Two by two! Two by two!
Elephant and kangaroo!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BOX SAVINGS-BANK FOR PENNIES
=Material Required to Make a Savings-bank=: a box in which
correspondence cards have been packed, a small box with a sliding cover,
and another similar to it.
When I began to make boxcraft toys, I used to save my pennies to buy
pinwheel paper, cotton animals, and little figures to use in Boxville.
Then, when I found that I should need crape paper or silver paper, or a
mirror for a pool, I had money to buy it.
Perhaps you would like to know how to make a Savings-bank for pennies
too?
You will need some small box like that in which correspondence cards
come packed at stationery stores. It has a double cover.
Turn the box over so that the printing on its top is hidden. Make the
top of your box the bottom by turning it over.
Draw two windows and a door on one side of the box. Paint them, if you
like.
Paste over the door a porch roof made from half of one small box. The
floor Of the porch is pasted under it.
Remove the drawer from the little box with sliding cover. The outside of
the box, as you may have noticed, is like a tall chimney.
Take this and stand it on end at the top of your box. Draw its outline
with pencil on the cardboard. Then remove the box and cut out the
outline just inside the lines you made.
When this is done, you must glue the chimney over the open hole. Glue it
tight and let it dry well. The pennies, dimes, and nickels may be
dropped down this chimney into the bank.
There is one rule which governs this savings account in my bank—five
cents must _always_ stay in the bank to be “a nest egg.” I made this
rule myself.
I made a little penny bank,
I’m saving pennies now!
It takes a lot of patience,
But I’m doing it, somehow!
My bank has a tall chimney,
The pennies drop down through:
It’s really fun to drop them
And hear them jingle, too!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO MAKE A TOY WAGON AND SLED OR SLEIGH
=Material Required to Make a Toy Wagon=: the half of any oblong
cardboard box. A few square inches of cardboard will be required, from
which to cut cardboard disks for the wheels of the cart.
=Material Required to Make a Sleigh=: one oblong cardboard box with its
cover. A sled may be made from the cover or lower half of any long box.
If you wish to make a toy wagon, find the half of some cardboard box.
Turn this upward if it is the cover. Keep the lower half, if you use
that, as it is, upright, open at the top. This is the body of the wagon.
Take your compass and with it draw on some cardboard four circles of the
same size. These are the four wagon wheels. Cut each out.
Find two small sticks in the garden. They must each be a trifle longer
than the width of your box. Press each through the end of the box where
wheels should come—press clear through both opposite rims of your box.
Then press a wheel upon each end of a stick, and put a bit of wax or
some glue where the linchpin should come. Let the glue dry thoroughly
before you attempt to play with your toy.
A strip of cardboard cut to fit the width of the cart and glued across
its upper forward rims will make the driver’s seat.
The shafts are two strips of cardboard pasted to the forward sides of
the cart. Cut each about half the length of your box.
Whoa there! Back up—back! There is your toy horse in the shafts. He is
waiting for you to tie his string harness. He will be ready then to go
on a trot round the floor.
If you wish to make a sled, take the lower half of a box and turn it
over. Its long side rims will become the runners of the sled. Cut the
end rims off the box. Then, cut off each corner of the side rims of the
box, slanting your corner cuttings in the same direction. There you have
the runners of your sled! (See Diagram Ten, _A_, page 184.)
[Illustration: Toy Wagon made from half of an oblong box. A Sled cut
from the lower half of a box; the runners are made from the box rims.]
[Illustration: A Sleigh made from the cover and the lower half of a box.
It has been painted.]
[Illustration: Doll’s Crib made from the lower half of a box, with
pill-box legs. The Go-cart is cut from half of an oblong box. The Basket
is half a box.]
[Illustration: The Express Wagon is the cover of a candy box. Its handle
and its wheels are cut from cardboard. The Little Doll may have a sled
cut from a candy box.]
To make the sleigh, you will need to use the cover of your box. Turn it
so that it opens at top. Cut the side rims the shape of the upper
portion of a sleigh, and glue the cover to the runners. A small box will
make two seats for the sleigh. Fit the cover into the back of the sleigh
and the lower half into the forward part. (See Diagram Ten, page 184,
for making sleigh. _A_, runners; _B_, top.)
When it is winter in Boxville, cotton-batting makes snow, and my horse,
harnessed to the sleigh, with a sleigh-bell on his neck, goes jingling
through Main Street. The boy dolls catch their sleds to the back of the
sleigh.
My Teddy Bear, he likes to play
With little toys I make this way:
The cover of a box may be
A wagon like the one you see.
Or, maybe, I may make a sled
For little Teddy Bear, instead!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CHINA DOLL’S CRIB, GO-CART, AND MAY BASKET
=Material Required to Make a China Doll’s Crib=: the lower half of some
oblong box, and four small oblong pill-boxes of equal size to make the
legs of the bed.
=Material Required to Make a Doll’s Go-cart=: the lower half of an
oblong box about seven inches in length, and some cardboard to make
wheels. Wheels may also be made from top and base of a small round box
three inches in diameter.
=Material Required to Make a Doll’s May Basket=: the cover or top of any
small box you may have; also a small strip of cardboard and two
round-headed paper-fasteners.
See, here is a china doll’s crib in the picture. You can see how easy it
is to make it. I hardly need to tell you. Just take the cover or the
lower half of the box you wish to use, and cut off a part of each long
rim—there is the top of the crib with its head and foot.
To each corner below its base glue the end of a small oblong pill-box.
There! Isn’t that an easy and quick way to make a toy crib for a doll?
If you wish to make a cradle, cut the box in the same way, and cut a
circle once again as wide as the width of your box. Cut this circle into
half, and each half will be a rocker for the cradle. Glue one to each
end of the box. That is all!
To make a doll’s go-cart like the one in the picture, take the cover or
the lower half of any oblong box similar to a candy box, one-pound size.
Cut the rim from it half-way around, beginning in the center of one long
side. Next, cut from the part that is without rim the handle of the
cart, as you see the box cut in the picture.
Next, cut two circles from cardboard to make the wheels of the go-cart.
Each circle must be of equal size. Make each about three inches in
diameter, unless your box is more than eight inches long. In this case
out your cardboard circles to correspond, larger.
Run a stick or a long pencil through one circle, and press the point of
the stick through a lower corner of the box through to the other side,
where you put on the other cardboard circle for the other wheel. Your
stick or pencil must be one inch longer than the width of your box.
Place a blob of glue over each end of the axle and let it dry well, to
keep the wheels on. When you have fitted the end of a little box into
the lower half of the go-cart to make a seat, all is done. You may use a
piece of folded cardboard to make the seat, if you prefer. I painted the
handle of my go-cart, but it is not at all necessary to do this. The
go-cart is great fun to use when you play house and go out marketing.
Then you can take your doll baby with you in the go-cart. You can tie
the doll baby into the cart with a piece of string.
The basket that you see in the picture is very easy to construct. You
can use it for many different things, and as long as you have small
boxes—or even large ones—you may make baskets out of them. You will need
some round-headed paper-fasteners or glue to help make them. (The
paper-fasteners are stronger and better than the glue.)
Take the lower half of a box, or the upper half, as you like, and cut a
strip of cardboard twice again as long as the width of your box. This is
the basket’s handle. Glue it inside the inner rim on either side of the
box, or, better still, run the prongs of a paper-fastener through the
side of your box and through the end of the cardboard strip on both
sides of the box. There is the handle—just see what a cunning basket you
have made!
In spring, May baskets can be made this way. Filled with wild flowers,
they are very cunning—just the thing for a May Day gift.
If you have some pretty shells that you have picked up at the shore,
they may go into a little box basket and be given to some little sick
child, who will love to handle them and keep them in their basket by his
bedside.
At Easter, fill box baskets with moss or green raffia cut to represent
grass. Glue the raffia to the box. Then ask cook if she will give you
some white beans like those that are baked with pork in a pot. Place
three or four of these in the moss or raffia cuttings, and you will have
made a cute little basket of eggs to give as an Easter gift. When your
water-color paint-brush is moistened with blue or brown paint, make tiny
specks on the beans and they will look like wee little birds’ eggs.
The box baskets make good Christmas-tree decorations, too. They may be
suspended from branches by colored paper chains, or be tied on with
raffia or tinsel. Each basket may be filled with candies or with pretty
berries you have found out-of-doors, holly or bright wintergreen.
They may be used as place favors for a Valentine party when filled with
red paper hearts.
Little cardboard boxes
Are useful every day.
They make ’most any kind of toy
That you can use in play.
I made a little go-cart,
A basket, and a bed,
And there are many other toys
I might have made, instead!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A TOY DOG KENNEL FOR A TOY DOG
=Material Required to Construct a Toy Kennel=: a small box without its
cover, the cover of some larger box that is square, and cardboard.
Here is a picture of Fido, my little dog. I made him a kennel so that he
could stay near the doll-house at night and be a watch-dog. Perhaps your
dog would like one, if he is a play dog.
If you do want to make one, I will tell you how.
Take the lower half of your box. This is to be the building. Turn it
over and stand it on end upon the piece of cardboard you have. Draw the
shape of this end. Add to it about four inches in height. Cut this piece
out and cut another like it. Glue one to each end of your box. Be sure
your box is inverted before you begin. It should rest upon its rim.
Next, cut each end piece glued to the box to a point at the top. This
makes the point of each gable side under the roof. These are the points
that come under the roof to support it.
Cut an opening under one of these at one end of the box. It should be
shaped like the door of a dog kennel.
Where is a large flat box cover? It is to be the roof. It ought to be
about four inches wider than the width of your first box. (For making
the kennel roof, see Diagram Three, _E_, page 171.)
Fold this cover downward in equal halves to make a slanting roof, and
place it over the points of the dog kennel that come front and back of
the little building. There is the kennel all finished! Whistle to Fido!
Come here, Fido, to see the nice kennel made for you. Don’t you think
that it would be fun some day to make a smaller one for the little china
dog?
Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone!
Oh, he hasn’t gone far, for you see
I built him a kennel from out of a box,
And now he stays home here with me!
[Illustration: Toy Dog Kennel with cardboard end pieces glued to it to
hold a bent box-cover roof in place.]
[Illustration: Wheelbarrow cut from the lower half of an oblong box.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO MAKE A TEDDY BEAR’S WHEELBARROW
=Material Required for Making a Toy Wheelbarrow=: the lower half of a
candy box or a similar shaped box, one round pill-box for the barrow’s
wheel.
The Teddy Bear’s wheelbarrow that you see in the picture was made from
half of a candy box; some strips of cardboard made the legs and wheel
supports, and a round pill-box made the wheel.
Do you wish to make a wheelbarrow to play with? Perhaps your Teddy would
like one. I will tell you how to make it, shall I?
First, take the lower half of your box and take one end rim off. Then,
from the upper part of the rim next to this side, cut out the handles of
the barrow. _Next_, cut out the cardboard half-way around the lower part
of the box between the handles. This is the frame of the wheelbarrow.
Cut two short cardboard strips each a half-inch wide and each three
inches high. These are the rear legs. Glue them to the toy at either
side at the back.
After this, cut two strips of cardboard a half-inch wide and five inches
long. Glue these to the forward part of the wheelbarrow’s frame.
When all are well dry, press the point of a pin through one of these
wheel supports, through the cover of a round pill-box, on through its
other side, through the other strip of cardboard in front. Then, if you
like, you may put a toothpick in place of the pin, with a small blob of
glue at either end, after you have cut the hub of the wheelbarrow off to
make it a correct size. Let the glue dry well, and then Teddy may have
his toy to play with.
My Teddy and I play at gardening with artificial flowers on the floor.
Sometimes, I make flowers from tissue-paper to use. Can’t you make them,
too?
One day I cut for Teddy Bear
A wheelbarrow with greatest care.
It is a box, as you can see:
It made a ’barrow splendidly!
Some artificial flowers made
A little garden that we laid;
It was a very happy day
The time we made this garden play.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICE FURNITURE FOR DOLLS
=Material Required to Make the Office Furniture=: the end of the lower
half of a shoe-box makes the desk, a spool with a round box cover makes
the desk-stool, a high round box four inches high makes a flower-stand,
the cover of a box nine inches long makes a chair.
My dolls thought it would be fun to have an office. I had a little favor
that was made like a tiny typewriter, and a telephone that came as a
favor, too. You can buy these at any caterer’s or at a candy store.
One of my dolls was a stenographer. You can see her in the picture. Her
name is Dosia—Miss Dosia. The other doll is the bell boy or errand boy.
To make a desk for the office, take the half of your shoe-box. Cut legs
in its forward rim, leaving each corner. From the side rims cut the two
rear legs. (To cut table or flat office desk, see Diagram Six, _D_, page
178.) Paint the desk with India ink and it will look like the one in the
picture. If you prefer, use paint, but be careful not to use the paint
too moist.
The spool makes the desk-stool. Paint it to match the desk, and stand it
on end. Over the top, glue a round pill-box. Paint this also. It makes a
very cunning stool for a doll eight inches in height.
The stand is easy to make. The plant on it was a favor, too. The stand
is just a box about five inches high. It is put on end and painted.
The chair takes no time at all to cut. Just find the cover of a box
about eight or nine inches long. Cut the rim off from it half-way
around, starting at the center of one long side. Bend the part that has
no rim left on it upward to make the back of the chair, and cut the legs
from the lower rim of the rest of the cover as you cut legs for the
desk. (To cut a chair, see Diagram Six, _C_, page 177.) It is fun to
have a doll’s office. With it you can play at business. What is your
business going to be? Are you going to be a lawyer, or the principal of
a little doll’s school? Maybe yours will be a real estate office for
Boxville!
[Illustration: Office Furniture for Dolls. This is made from boxes, box
covers, a spool and a wooden box.]
[Illustration: The Doll’s Couch Hammock. It is cut from the cover of a
hardware box.]
You can see my office boy in the picture. His hat _ought_ to be taken
off his head, but it was glued on, so he had to be impolite—though I
made him say, “Excuse me!” for doing it. I hope when you engage an
office boy, you will get the kind whose hat _will_ come off! But mine is
really quite a nice boy, and his name is Bobbie. (He’d rather be called
Bob.) I wish that his hat _would_ come off!
I make believe, when I’m at play,
There is an office far away,
And Mister China Doll goes there
And sits and dictates in his chair.
I made the office by the door,
It’s right upon my play-room floor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO MAKE A DOLLS’ HAMMOCK
=Material Required to Make a Dolls’ Couch Hammock=: the lower half of
any oblong box that is deep. One seven or eight inches long will make a
hammock for a doll the same length. Larger boxes may also be used. Some
string is needed to make ropes.
The dolls’ couch hammock in the picture is easily made. Your large dolls
as well as the very small ones may have hammocks. Shall I tell you how
to make one?
Take the lower half—that is usually the deeper half of a box—and turn it
so that it opens at top. From the front rim, cut out a long lengthwise
section of the rim.
At each end of the box, run a string through a corner. Knot the two end
strings that come on the ends of the box. Knot them together or tie
them, so that the hammock may be suspended wherever you wish to place
it.
You may make a mattress for the couch by folding tissue-paper over brown
paper cut to fit the shape of your box. Better still, you may make a
real little mattress from some canvas or cloth. Cut the cloth a little
larger than twice the size of your box. Fold it and sew it. Then stuff
the mattress with bits of paper torn to shreds. Pillows for the hammock
may be made in the same way, using smaller dimensions.
You can hang the hammock under the railing on the porch, or fasten it to
the rungs of a chair when you play indoors with it. I am sure your dolls
will be delighted to have you make this for them. If you are a boy, you
can make one for your sister. Boys ought to know how to use needle and
thread as well as girls. Soldiers and sailors know how to sew. (I know a
man who can do embroidery, but, of course, that is going pretty far.) A
boy ought to be able to sew a mattress, _anyhow_. It is as easy as
making a marble-bag.
I made a dollie’s hammock,
It’s an easy thing to do:
Just find an oblong cardboard box
And you can make one, too!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO MAKE A THEATER OR PUNCH SHOW
=Material Required to Make a Theater or Punch Show=: a deep, square
letter-paper box and its cover, and some postal cards with colored
views.
Would you like to make a toy theater or Punch Show to play with? Shall I
tell you how to make one out of some deep, square box about eight inches
square and eight inches high?
First, take the cover off your box and lay it aside.
Next, turn your box over so that it rests upon its four rims and the
bottom of the box is made the top.
Upon the upper part of the box, near the top, outline an oblong about
two inches from each corner of the box. Measure it with your ruler. Its
top should be two inches from the top rim of the box. The whole should
be about five inches wide and three inches tall. (To guide you in
drawing this, refer to Diagram Nine, _A_, page 183.)
Cut this oblong you have drawn at both sides and along its top line.
Bend the cardboard inward toward the center of the box. This will make
the “stage.” (See Diagram Nine, _A_, page 183.)
Just over the stage, in the upper rim of the box, cut a two-inch wide
opening the same length as you cut for the length of the stage below.
Cut this out entirely, so that the little dolls you intend to use for
actors may be dropped on black strings through the opening and made to
walk and dance on the stage. (See Diagram Nine, _B_, page 183.)