Part 2 (2/2)

=b.a.l.l.s= (_Corn_, _popper_, _sugar_, _mola.s.ses or water_)

Make a thin syrup by boiling together equal quant.i.ties of sugar and water or two cupfuls sugar, one of mola.s.ses or syrup, one teaspoonful vinegar, and b.u.t.ter size of an egg. Cook until it hardens when dropped in water, then pour it over 8 quarts of popped corn as quickly as possible and mold into b.a.l.l.s, making about twenty. If made with strawberry syrup the color will be a beautiful red.

=Festoons= (_Popped corn_, _needle_, _coa.r.s.e thread_)

Thread the kernels to adorn walls or picture frames or Christmas tree.

NUTS

=Boat= (_Walnut sh.e.l.l_, _pan of water_, _toothpicks_, _candle-wax_)

When busy with her baking the mother can give the three-year-old in his high chair a half walnut sh.e.l.l for a boat. An older child can elaborate into a sail-boat by cutting a triangular piece of paper for a sail, glueing it to a toothpick for mast, and then melting a drop of wax from a candle and inserting the mast while the wax is still warm. A burnt match can be shaped into a mast also.

Such a fleet of tiny vessels would prettily set a table for a farewell dinner to one going abroad.

=Surprise Walnuts= (_English walnuts_, _baby-ribbon_, _tiny dolls or animals_, _glue_)

Open a number of walnuts carefully so as not to break the sh.e.l.l. Remove the meats and fasten the two sides together with a tiny strip of ribbon, which serves as a hinge, glueing the ends of the ribbon to the inside of the half sh.e.l.ls. Ribbon need be only an inch long or less. Put a tiny doll or a wee china rabbit or kitten inside the sh.e.l.l and tie around with ribbon. Little china animals come in sets of five or six.

A little verse of greeting or a conundrum can be written and put inside if the toys are not available.

A group of little children could be kept busy and happy for an afternoon making some of these little souvenirs for a home dinner or for a fair.

=Nut-Animals= (_Peanuts_, _toothpicks_)

The imagination of most children will quickly perceive resemblances to all kinds of creatures in the queer shapes of peanuts. Take such a peanut and stick into it four bits of toothpicks for legs and two tiny ones for ears. If the toothpicks are not sharp or strong enough to penetrate of themselves, make incisions with a sharp pin.

One common shape suggests a cat, seated. Two vertical pieces would make the front legs and two horizontal pieces the back legs resting on the ground. Eyes and mouth can be inked in. Another shape hints at an owl with sharp, curved beak. Another will make a hen. Once started on this line of experiment, the child will discover likenesses for himself.

These creatures can be used in the toy farm.

=Peanut party= (_See page 103_)

APPLES

=Candlestick= (_Apple_, _candle_)

Cut in the top of a rosy apple a hole of right size to hold a candle.

Appropriate for Thanksgiving.

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