enough to slip through a fancy postal card. Slip some pretty colored
view through it, and there will be the scenery for your stage. You may
have pictures of interiors as well as views of out-of-doors and houses.
(See Diagram Nine, _C_, page 183.)
Now, cut a piece of cardboard the right size for a sign for your
theater, and print its name on the cardboard. Glue the sign over the
stage as you see it in the picture. It will serve to hide the little
dolls’ entrance to the stage on their strings.
Last of all, place the cover of your letter-paper box, face down, on its
rim on the table or floor, and put the theater or Punch Show well back
upon it so that there is place for an audience of little dolls in front.
(See Diagram Nine, _D_, page 183.)
Benches for the audience of little dolls may be cut from covers of boxes
two and three inches long. (For cutting benches, see Diagram Six, _A_,
page 175.)
Your actors may be penny dolls, or any jointed wooden dolls such as you
will find in toy row-boats at the ten-cent store.
I used to collect fancy postal-card views of all kinds of interesting
places and give lectures on them at my theater. It was most fun of all,
I think. I had performing Noah’s Ark animals in vaudeville there, too.
There is no end to the games you can play with the theater.
I made a lovely theater for little dolls to-day.
If you would like, I’ll tell you how. You make it in this way:
Right on the bottom of a box—a pasteboard box, you know—
You draw a square with space each side; that’s where the stage should
go.
Now cut the square right at the top, and cut it down each side.
Upon the base, you bend it in. It cannot be denied
This makes a “really truly” stage! For scenery you use
Some pretty colored postal cards of houses, and some views.
To put these in, you cut a slit upon the box’s top,
And through a wider one, in front, the dolls on threads you drop.
[Illustration: The Punch and Judy or Little Dolls’ Theater is made from
a deep letter-paper box and its cover. The scenery is a fancy postal
card and the actor is a doll.]
[Illustration: The Merry-go-Round is made from the covers of two round
bandboxes, a cardboard roll and penny cut-outs purchased at the
children’s “penny store.”]
This must be just above the stage, and wide and long, you see,
The actor dolls, held in the wings, can enter easily.
You move the thread and walk them round. Mine act all kinds of things:
The fairy stories that I know; my sailor doll, here, sings.
And you can use the theater for fun in lots of ways:
Give lectures on the postal views as well as acting plays.
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HOW TO MAKE A TOY MERRY-GO-ROUND
=Material Required to Make a Toy Merry-go-round=: two round bandbox
covers, or the two halves of some large round box, a sheet of penny
cut-out pictures of horses or animals, and a cardboard mailing-tube or a
hoop-stick.
Everyone may own a merry-go-round. It is made from two large round
bandbox covers and a mailing-tube. You will also need some pictures of
animals or horses to use on the merry-go-round. Four or five animals are
enough to use. A small box will require less.
Cut-out pictures of Indians or cowboys may be used on the
merry-go-round. If you cannot have these, horses cut from cardboard will
answer. To do this, find a clear outline of a horse in some magazine
picture and trace it upon your cardboard. Then, when it is cut out, you
will have a pattern to help you make the other horses by drawing around
its edge.
In the picture, the horses were each a penny cut-out. They came as
race-horses. They exactly fitted the bandbox merry-go-round that I made.
If your cut-outs are upon thin paper, paste them upon thin cardboard
before you start the work of making the toy itself. Let them dry while
you are making the merry-go-round.
To construct this, first take the cardboard mailing-tube that you have
(or the hoop-stick), and run it down through the center of one bandbox
cover as the bandbox cover stands on its rims like a platform.
Cut a small hole in the center of your other bandbox cover, and press
this down over the cardboard mailing-tube, a third of the way down its
length, just as you see it in the picture.
Now, take your animals mounted on thin cardboard and cut each out.
Cut narrow half-inch strips of cardboard for the poles of the animals.
Glue them at equal intervals around the rim of the upper bandbox cover,
inside. To their bases, glue the animals.
When you turn the top of the mailing-tube, the merry-go-round will
twirl.
Paper figures cut from colored magazine pictures may ride on the
merry-go-round. When it is made in a smaller size, china dolls may ride
on it, and wooden Noah’s Ark animals may be glued to the cardboard
strips to make very lifelike chargers.
With just two bandbox covers,
I built a carousel;
I cut some picture horses out—
For chargers they did well!
I gave some paper dolls a ride—
I tell you, it is fun!
I make believe a pleasure park
Is right here in the sun!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAKING A BOXCRAFT AUTOMOBILE
=Material Required to Build a Box Automobile=: a one-pound candy box
with cover, a sample candy box (oblong ten-cent size), one round box
three inches in diameter, about ten inches of cardboard from which to
cut wheels, four round-headed paper-clips for wheel-hubs, a toothpick
and a round cardboard key-tag for steering gear, two metal buttons for
lamps.
It is not difficult to make a box automobile, for nobody needs knowledge
of mechanics to do it. Paste, scissors, boxes—and a pair of hands to do
the work, these are all that you will need.
The lower half of the large oblong box forms the body of the car. Take
the cover of the box off. This will be used later for the hood, if you
care to put one on.
Cut off each long inner side rim of the box except for a corner at each
end. Leave the inner rim of both ends on the box untouched. This forms
the windguard in front and the back of the rear seat.
Paste the cover tight on your small sample candy box, and paste the box
end to one end of the body of the car you are building. This completes
the shape of the automobile.
Next, take your round box. Remove its cover. Cut the cover in half. This
forms the wheel-guards for rear wheels. Paste each where the rear guards
should go.
Cut the lower half of the box in half also. These halves are
wheel-guards for front wheels. Paste them to the forward part of the
automobile.
Cut four circles from your cardboard. Use your compass to outline them
in pencil first. Make each with a diameter of two inches.
When these are cut, run the points of a round-headed paper-fastener
through the center of each, and fasten the pointed prongs of the
paper-fastener to the cardboard of the wheel-guards. This secures the
wheels. If you prefer, you may glue the wheels to the guards. They
should be painted with spokes and tires.
[Illustration: Boxcraft Automobile with hood made of a box cover.]
[Illustration: Boxcraft Automobile made without hood.]
A narrow box rim is glued between the wheel-guards to make the
running-board.
Two metal buttons are fastened to the front of the automobile to form
the lamps.
A toothpick is pressed into the front of the box to make the rod of the
wheel for steering. The wheel itself is a round cardboard key-tag fitted
upon the other end of the toothpick.
The front seat of the automobile is the end corner of some small box
that is fitted crosswise into the body of the car and glued in place.
The rear seat is an end of a small box fitted in the same manner into
the body of the car behind.
Boxcraft automobiles are the best there are. They do not cost you a
single penny! Repairs are always very easy to make, too.
If you care to add a hood to the automobile, it may be made from the
cover of your large box. Cut the front rim of the box cover down, and
slant the long sides of the cover down to the uncut end.
Paste an upright piece of cardboard about four inches high behind your
rear seat. To its top, glue the higher end of the box cover.
Two small strips of cardboard may be fitted under the hood above the
front seat to hold the hood up in front.
I painted the automobile that you see in the picture with India ink. You
could scarcely tell that it was made out of a box when it was finished.
Three cardboard boxes—little else—
Have made a car for me:
It is a boxcraft model,
And it’s jolly as can be!
The little Boxville people
Can go touring in this car;
They have splendid picnic parties
Where the groves of clothes-pins are!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO FURNISH A DOLL-HOUSE
=Material Required to Make Furniture for a Doll-house=: cardboard boxes
of all kinds, especially flat letter-paper boxes, jeweler’s boxes,
correspondence-card boxes. Pencils and spools may be of help in making
some of the furniture.
When you look at the pictures of my boxcraft doll-house, you will see
how well it was furnished. All the chairs and tables, and the bed—all
the things that are in the pictures—are cut from cardboard boxes. You
have just such boxes as I used, I am sure. Every home has them.
Shall I tell you how the furniture is made? First, I will tell you how I
made the bedroom, shall I?
The old-fashioned canopy bedstead is made from a candy box and its
cover. The four posts are long pencils. One pencil is run through each
corner of the lower half of the box and glued tight. Then the cover is
placed upon the upper ends of the pencils to make a canopy. Lace-paper
is pasted around the rims of the cover. I made tissue-paper sheets and a
lace-paper pillow. You can do that, too.
I made a tall bureau from eight empty match-boxes. The match-boxes were
safety match-boxes with tiny drawers that are made to slide in and out.
I saved till I had eight boxes. Then, I glued four, one on top of the
other, and four others I glued in the same way. When these were dry, I
pasted my two sets together. This made the upper part of the bureau. To
make legs, I cut a low bench from a small box cover and pasted the boxes
to its top. (For bench, see Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.) I sewed
shoe-buttons to each drawer to make a handle. The mirror is a piece of
cardboard cut oblong and pasted at the back of the bureau so that it is
upright. I painted a frame around the sides of the cardboard to make it
look like a mirror. The bureau cover is a strip of lace-paper. The
candle and candlestick came off a birthday cake.
The wash-stand is cut from the lower half of a box about five inches
long. It is cut almost as if it were a bench, only that its legs are
shorter. The “splasher” is a piece of cardboard pasted upright at the
back of the box.
[Illustration: Boxcraft Bedroom furniture.]
[Illustration: Boxcraft Table and Chairs.]
[Illustration: Mantel and Settle made from cardboard boxes.]
[Illustration: Piano and Grandfather’s Clock made from boxes.]
Almost all chairs I made were cut from narrow box covers and jewelers’
hat-pin boxes. One hat-pin box will make two chairs. Each half makes
one. (For chair, see Diagram Six, _C_, page 177.) Hat-pin boxes will
make high-backed chairs. Other box covers make other kinds. When you cut
an ordinary chair with a low back, begin to cut the rim from the side of
your box near the center on one long side. When you make a chair from a
hat-pin box, cut the rim off your box two thirds of the way around,
leaving one end only with the rim on. The part without rim is the back
of the chair. Press that upward, and cut the legs of the chair from the
end that has a rim left upon it.
I made a grandfather’s clock by standing a hat-pin box on end. I glued
to its upper front part the face of a penny watch. You do not need to
spend a penny. Just mark the face of a clock in pencil and glue it to
the front of your clock.
Really, I am very proud of the piano. It is not every doll-house that
can have a piano—but you can make one, for it is easy. You will need a
shallow letter-paper box and a narrow box such as fountain pens come in
from the store where they are bought. Paste one long side of the narrow
box across the front or back of the letter-paper box after you have
stood the letter-paper box upright. The narrow box should be placed
about where you think the keyboard belongs. (See Diagram Six, _F_, page
179, for making a piano from two boxes.) The music-rest is a bit of
folded box rim glued to the central part of the piano above the
keyboard. The keyboard is marked off with ink upon a strip of white
paper and pasted upon the top of the narrow box. You can easily draw the
first part of some music that you know, and place it on a tiny sheet of
white paper to make a “piece” for the piano’s music-rest.
A mantel for the living-room may be made from a flat letter-paper box.
Stand the box upon one long rim and place its printed side to the back.
Cut from the front a mantel opening like the opening for a fireplace.
(See Diagram Six, _G_, page 180.)
The Morris chair is made like any other chair. (See Diagram Six, _C_,
page 177, for cutting a chair from a box.) It has two bent box rims
glued to each side to make the arm rests, and the cardboard is cut
rounding from the front rim of the box in cutting its legs.
I made a very cute little cupboard for my doll-house dining-room. It was
easily made. You can make one out of any shallow box that is like a
spool box, by cutting out all of its front rim excepting a narrow margin
left all the way around its front cover. I cut some strips of cardboard
and fitted them across the inside of this box and glued them to make
shelves. Lace-paper made the shelf-paper. Metal corks from bottles and
cold-cream tubes made mugs and silver-ware. Plates for the dining-room
were circles cut from cardboard.
A sideboard may be made from half of a letter-paper box, cutting this in
half lengthwise. Then cut this half the box as if you were making a high
bench. Do not cut far up in the box rim to make the legs. Cut them
curving at the front. Outline a drawer and cupboard doors upon the
front, and paste a plate-rack at back. It is the cover of a narrow box
glued behind the buffet.
Of all my doll-house furniture, I like the kitchen best. It looks so
homelike. If I were a little doll, I know I should love to go into that
kitchen and make candy on the stove. It would be such fun!
The stove is made from an oblong candy box cut like a bench. At two
sides of its front, I cut oven doors and put round-headed
paper-fasteners through them to make knobs. The prongs of each
paper-fastener, bent, make latch for oven doors. At the back of each
oven door, right inside the box, I pasted a small box and made a real
little oven. I could put dishes in it!
The boiler in the kitchen is the kind of round tin they use to pack
blue-print paper in. I stood mine on a spool after I washed the printed
paper off from it. You can use an old baking-powder tin, if you have no
blue-print paper box.
You can see how the kitchen sink is made—merely a box cover placed over
the end of a deeper box. At the back of the box paste an upright piece
of cardboard. The faucets are made from the two ends of a kid
hair-curler pressed through the cardboard downward.
The kitchen table is the lower half of a correspondence-card box. It is
cut as if it were a bench with long legs. (For cutting the bench, see
Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.)
[Illustration: Boxcraft Doll-house Furniture. The Dining-room.]
[Illustration: Boxcraft Kitchen Furniture for dolls. Stove, table, and
sink are all boxes. The boiler is a tin box upon a spool.]
You will have a very good time playing in your doll-house, if you make
one. You can make a four-roomed house from four large bandboxes placed
on their sides. Put two upon the floor and glue the other two to their
tops. Of course, you will not need to use the covers of the boxes. Each
bandbox will make a room.
You can use strips of wall-paper for carpets and rugs. You can cut
windows in the bandboxes. When you have furnished the doll-house, it
will be quite like a real little home.
I painted my furniture with ink. If you paint yours, be careful to put
newspapers down under your work, and be very, very careful to use your
brush as dry as you can. In this way your work will be evenly colored.
Let the furniture dry thoroughly before you attempt to play with it. If
you like, you may paint it with water-color paints.
Little boxes make such fun!
I can use _each_ tiny one!
I have made a dollies’ bed,
And a mantel, painted red!
Bureaus, chairs,—a table, too!
Oh, I have some work to do!
Oh, I think that it is gay,
Making furniture this way!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO MAKE THE BOXCRAFT GAME, “RINGFLING”
=Material Required to Make “Ringfling”=: the deep lower half of a box
over seven inches square, four long pencils, and about twelve square
inches of cardboard.
Ringfling is a jolly game. I am sure you will enjoy playing it. As many
children as can play happily together may play the game. The first rule
of the game is, “The more, the merrier!”
It takes but a moment to collect materials with which to play the game.
The game itself may be made in about ten minutes—or less.
Take the deep lower half of some large square box and draw from corner
to corner across its top. (See figure in Diagram Eleven, _A_, page 185.)
Do this with heavy pencil lines.
Number each section of the board but one, using the numerals, 1, 2, 3
(one numeral each). Leave one section blank.
[Illustration: The Boxcraft Game of “Ringfling.” It is made with the
help of pencils and cardboard cut from box covers.]
[Illustration: The Boxcraft Game of “Shoot the Chutes.” It is played
with spools.]
Cut a ring from cardboard, using a compass or saucer to guide you in
drawing it first. Make it about three inches in diameter. (See Diagram
Eleven, _B_, page 185, for cutting ring.) Make a smaller ring just like
this larger one, and cut it in the very same way.
Take your pencils. Press the point of one into each section of the
game-board at its center near the numeral you have drawn. Press the
points of the pencils down first, and be careful to keep each hole
small, so that the pencil will not slip too far down in it. The tops of
all pencils should be of an even height, as you see them in the picture.
Here are the rules of the game:
Players play in turn.
Players count out to see who will begin the game and who will
follow.
Each play consists of a turn to throw the large ring and the small
ring.
The object of play is to have the ring tossed fall so that it
circles about a pencil.
When a ring circles a pencil, it gives the player the count of the
number that is upon that section. The small circle doubles the
count.
Twelve counts win the game. The first to obtain this wins. You may
make it eighteen—to make a longer game.
The game is played in rounds. To avoid dispute, it is best to keep
the score of all players with pencil and paper.
Each player must stand five ruler lengths from the game when he
flings the circles.
When I am playing little games,
I like to do what’s right;
And when I do not win the game,
I try to be polite!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE GAME OF “SHOOT THE CHUTES”
=Material Required to Make the Game of “Shoot the Chutes”=: a long box
and its cover, and one high box without a cover—some spools.
This little boxcraft game may be played by two players. It is an easy
game to make, as you can see by looking at the picture. It is made of
two parts of one long box, with the lower half of another that is
higher. It is played with spools.
To make the game, first cut the lower half of your long box as you see
it cut in the picture. Make two openings in its rim, each wide enough to
let a spool roll through it. Stand this part of the box upon the floor
as you see it placed in the picture.
Now, you are ready to make the chutes. Cut the cover’s rim—the rim of
the long box—at each corner, and press the cardboard out at each end.
Rest this part of the long box in a slanting position against your high
box.
Paint four spools. Make two red and two blue. Two of the same color
belong to each player.
The game is to try to get your two spools into the box. Every time you
get a spool in by rolling it down the chutes, it counts you one count.
Players play in turn, one spool at a time. The game is played in rounds.
The first player to reach the score of seven wins.
I made this little game myself,
All on a rainy day!
It made some jolly fun for me,
And passed the time away.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOXCRAFT GAME, “ONE-TWO-I-CATCH-YOU”
=Material Required to Make “One-Two-I-Catch-You”=: a square box cover
and two buttons, one dark and one light. The counter is a round
pill-box. (A square pill-box will do as well.)
This boxcraft game of “One-Two-I-Catch-You” is like a game of tag. It is
a tag game on a game-board. As it is not so noisy a game, you can play
it in the house.
To make the board to play on, take your pencil and your ruler. Rule a
line from corner to corner across the inside of the box cover. Then,
rule a line that will cross the center of the box, and another that
crosses the center from the other side. This makes the triangular
divisions of the board. Paint the triangles, alternating, black or blue.
Leave the ones between, white. (See Diagram Twelve, page 186.)
Find your buttons now. Two players are to play this game. You will need
a pill-box for a counter. Glue its cover on tight, and put a number
_one_ on its top and a number _two_ on its base.
Play in turn, and toss the counter to see how far you can move. When the
counter falls, take the number that is on its top and move as many
triangles in either direction as the counter indicates.
Each player takes a different colored button to begin the game. Each
button is placed in an opposite corner of the board. Each player must
try to catch the other player by getting onto his triangle. The first to
catch the other player three times is winner.
Throw the counter,
Happily,
Who is winner,
Let us see!
Button here
And button there,
I will catch you!
Just take care!
[Illustration: “Funny Mr. Box,” a Boxcraft Game, played with spools.]
[Illustration: “One-Two-I-Catch-You,” a Boxcraft Game of Tag.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FUNNY GAME OF “MISTER BOX”
=Material Required to Make the Funny Game of “Mister Box”=: one large
box with a cover—one similar to a shoe-box—two or three spools.
Allow me to introduce to you my friend Mister Box. He is funny and he is
jolly. He likes to catch spools in his mouth, if you will be so kind as
to throw them in.
Mister Box is a game. You can make a game like him. I will tell you how.
You will need an empty box about the size of a shoe-box. It should have
a cover.
Two or three players may play the game. Each will need an empty spool to
play the game with. Each player may color his spool a different color.
One may be blue; one may be red; and the third, if there are three
players, may be green.
Now, to make Mister Box. Place your box on end and glue the cover tight.
Next, take your pencil and draw a big face on the back of the box. Make
the mouth large and round. Cut out the cardboard inside the mouth to
make a big round hole about four inches wide. You can color Mister Box
with your crayons, if you like. His hair should be brown, and his eyes
too.
Now, to play the game, every player must stand, in turn, in the same
place on the carpet or floor rug, four feet from the box. Measure four
ruler lengths to get this. Each must try to get his spool into Mister
Box. Toss the spool. No player may touch his spool till all have
finished playing the round. The first one to get his spool into Mister
Box six times wins.
When I win a game at play,
This is what I always say:
“You will win another day!”
If I do not win to-day,
This is what I hope I’ll say:
“I have had a splendid play!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC BOX
=Material Required to Make a Magic Box=: two small oblong boxes with
covers that slide over an inner drawer. Both boxes must be about an inch
and a half long. Both must be duplicates of each other. About two yards
of light twine are needed.
The magic box is truly a wonderful one. It will obey every command you
give it—yes, it will! There is a secret that you will have to learn, but
when you know this secret the little box will _have_ to do just as you
bid it.