Part 31 (1/2)

Let mother or older brother draw on cardboard a simple strong outline.

Provide a strong steel pin (hat-pin or mourning-pin will do) and a piece of folded cloth for a cus.h.i.+on. Follow the outline by p.r.i.c.king in it a succession of holes. The rough side is the right side of the decorated card. The card may be hung up as a transparency, or may be made up into blotter or calendar; or, if the outline be that of a vegetable or a fruit, it will make up into a Thanksgiving place card.

Very beautiful effects are produced by p.r.i.c.king the surface as well as the outline, a form of embossing, but this is a great strain on the nerves. Let the child work for only a few moments at a time, and be sure that the light is good and the drawing is distinct.

=Sewing= (_Cardboard_, _worsted_, _silk or chenille_, _needle_, _punch_)

It is a disputed question now whether or not the cardboard sewing of the kindergarten, once considered so essential, should be used at all. Some condemn it entirely; others use it sparingly. Many replace it with sewing on cloth and other materials soft and flexible, which lend themselves to the kind of st.i.tching required later in everyday sewing.

We cannot now enter into the discussion, but common-sense rules here as elsewhere.

Cards with designs already drawn and perforated may be bought, but the mother need not feel that she must depend upon these. Old visiting and invitation cards may be used for the purpose. We give a few examples of objects pretty and useful which may be made of this material. These will suggest others to the active-minded child. Get punch at kindergarten supply store; from 50 cents up.

1. Gift Card. Cut a square of cardboard 5 5 inches. With a needleful of red worsted let the child sew upon this card three straight candles in st.i.tches one inch long. You may first punch in the bottom of the card three holes as guides. Put them in a row equidistant from each other.

Make parallel to these a row of three dots in pencil. The child will push the needle through one hole _from below_ and put it through the dot above, making his own hole. So proceed till finished. A flame may be drawn with yellow chalk at the upper end of each candle, to make it more realistic. This card may be used to stand a candlestick upon, or to send as a birthday card.

A similar card with the red st.i.tches lying horizontally will picture firecrackers ready to be set off. Use as a mat for a match safe.

2. Cover for Medicine Gla.s.s. Draw a circle five inches in diameter. Cut this out. Parallel to the edge draw a circle four inches in diameter.

Make dots about 1/2 inch apart along this second circle. Punch holes through these dots. With worsted, ravelings or chenille let the child sew once around this circle. Then go around the other way to fill up all the gaps left the first time. Use as cover for gla.s.s of medicine. Line the bottom with clean, white paper.

Vary by overcasting, or from a central hole take long radiating st.i.tches to the holes in the circ.u.mference like the spokes of a wheel.

3. Toy Umbrella. The above circle with spokes may be made into a toy umbrella if a slender stick be run through for a handle. Stick a pin about an inch from the top to keep the umbrella part from slipping down.

4. Bookmark. Cut an oblong card 2 6 inches. Draw upon this a row of parallel oblique lines about one inch apart and one inch long. Punch holes through the ends of the lines at the bottom, sew one slanting line to show the child, and let him finish the row. A similar oblong will make a napkin ring if the ends be brought together and tied with the ends of the worsted.

Squares, oblongs, crosses, etc., may thus be punched and sewed.

If no punch is obtainable, make the holes with a coa.r.s.e needle or strong pin.

=Paper Tearing= (See page 54)

=Paper Cutting=

This is another Froebelian occupation. Some suggestions have been given elsewhere. (See page 54.) We will speak here of a more definite series of progressive steps.

Take a square of white paper. Fold once to make an oblong. Keep folded and fold once more, which gives a small square. From the corners of this square cut pieces, large or small. Keep these. Open the paper and lay it down. Then arrange around it the cut-off corners to make a design. They may be arranged in a variety of ways. The pieces cut off the corners may be of various shapes.

Vary another square by cutting into it, after it has been folded, triangles or other figures. Open and arrange around it these cut-off pieces. When a satisfactory design has thus been made, it may be pasted on a pleasing background of paper.

In kindergarten training, checked paper is provided and the cuttings are made from lines drawn upon this according to a progressive system.

=Parquetry= (_Colored papers_, _paste_, _kindergarten slat or match for paste-stick_)

This occupation has its parallel in the tablets. The designs made temporarily with the circles, squares, etc., of wood may be put into more permanent form with the parquetry papers. These are circles, squares, triangles, etc., of colored papers, the unit of size being the inch. There are 1,000 in a package, embracing the six colors--red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, with two shades and two tints of each, besides neutral tones, and black and white.

1. Easter Card. Give the child an oblong piece of gray cardboard, six inches long, and some yellow circles. Let him paste a row of circles for dandelion heads and then chalk in the green stems. Give to father for an Easter card.