+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Note: |
| |
| Tags that surround words =Materials Required:= indicate |
| bold. Tags that surround the words _A Hurdle Race_ indicate |
| italics. |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
The Child's Rainy Day Book
_Other Books by Mary White_
HOW TO MAKE POTTERY
HOW TO DO BEADWORK
HOW TO MAKE BASKETS
MORE BASKETS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM
[Illustration: Building a piece of pottery with coils of clay--as the
Indians do]
THE CHILD'S
RAINY DAY BOOK
BY
MARY WHITE
ILLUSTRATED BY
THE AUTHOR
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1905
Copyright, 1905, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
Published, October, 1905
_All rights reserved,
including that of translation into foreign languages
including the Scandinavian._
TO MY SISTER
Anna White Sherman
AND HER CHILDREN
Roger, Herbert, Elizabeth, Rosamond and Anna
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A FOREWORD TO MOTHERS 1
II. SIMPLE HOME-MADE TOYS AND GAMES 5
III. BASKET WEAVING 35
IV. KNOTS WITH RAFFIA AND CORD 53
V. WHAT A CHILD CAN DO WITH BEADS 73
VI. CLAY WORKING 103
VII. INDOOR GARDENING 125
VIII. GIFTS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM 143
IX. PAPER FLOWERS AND TOYS 173
X. GAMES FOR TWO OR THREE TO PLAY 201
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Building a Piece of Pottery with Coils of Clay--as
the Indians do _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
Playing the Bean Bag Game 8
Planning a Book House 12
Basket Weaving 42
Knots with Raffia and Cord:
1. The beginning of a ping pong net. 2. A Turk's-head
knot. 3. Raffia work bag. 4. Doll's hammock.
5. A rattan napkin ring 68
A Little Garden for a Little Girl 136
Making a Chrysanthemum 198
A Ball-and-Fan Race 208
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
1 9
Rattan Ring 9
2 14
3 15
4 17
5 19
6 20
7 21
8 22
9 23
10 24
11 26
12 A 29
12 B 29
12 C 30
13 30
14 31
15 38
16 39
17 40
18 41
19 43
20 49
21 55
22 56
23 58
24 59
25 60
26 6l
27 62
28 62
29 63
30 63
31 64
32 65
33 66
34 67
35 67
36 68
37 70
38 70
38 A 79
39 80
40 81
41 82
42 84
43 87
44 90
45 91
46 91
47 92
48 92
49 94
50 94
51 95
52 96
53 97
54 97
55 99
56 100
57 107
58 108
59 109
60 110
61 110
62 111
63 112
64 116
65 117
66 119
67 132
68 135
69 138
70 148
71 148
72 149
73 151
74 151
75 156
76 158
77 160
78 162
79 163
Leather Tag Case 166
80 169
81 171
82 171
83 175
84 176
85 180
86 181
87 182
88 183
89 184
90 185
91 187
92 188
93 188
94 189
95 191
96 192
97 193
98 193
99 194
100 195
101 195
102 198
103 206
104 213
A Foreword to Mothers
CHILD'S RAINY DAY BOOK
CHAPTER I
A FOREWORD TO MOTHERS
How shall we answer the ever recurring rainy day question, "What shall I
do?" We hear it wherever children are kept indoors--from whatever cause.
All of us are concerned with the answer--mothers, fathers, teachers, big
brothers and sisters--even maiden aunts. We all know what is coming when
Jack turns from the rain-splashed window with a listless face and
Dorothy, none too gently, thrusts her favourite doll into the corner
with its face to the wall.
One might suppose that, with the hosts of mechanical toys, of costly
French dolls, each with a wardrobe as much in keeping with fashion as
that of a society woman, the small sons and daughters would be content
for a year of rainy days. But that proves how little one knows about it.
Such toys are too perfect, too complete, and very soon they are pushed
into the background.
The boy's real treasures are the willow whistle that Uncle Tom taught
him to make last summer, the boat that he is building and the game he
invented--a favourite one with all the children. Bedtime and getting-up
time for the French doll may come and go, while she lies forgotten in
the corner, for is there not a dress to be made for the clothespin doll?
We need only to look back about twenty years to realise how natural all
this is. What do we remember? Not the toys that were brought us when
father and mother went on a journey. They are very hazy--these visions
of a doll in silk and lace, and a donkey with real hair and a nodding
head. What became of them afterward? We forget. But the games we "made
up," the paper dolls we cut from fashion papers, the target we laboured
to make of coiled straw--these are as fresh in our memories as if we had
played with them yesterday.
Shall we not answer the question by giving the children something to do,
not by entertaining them but by helping them to entertain themselves.
Simple Home Made Toys and
Games