Mr. Big Toe

Mr. Big Toe

Mr. Big Toe

is a rogue, do you know

He tries to poke through

The tip of Ted's shoe?

And always, it's shocking,

He's half through

his stocking!

The Hobby Horse

       The hobby horse or stick horse is a toy made from a long stick, approximately three feet in length, that has a three dimensional head of a horse mounted on it's upper end. This horse head is approximately 1/4th the size of an actual horse's head. The head may be stuffed fake fur with a mane, ears, and reins for holding onto. Although, in years past, the horse head was more commonly made from papier-mâché.

       The stick part of the horse is either painted or covered with fabric. The modern versions of the hobby horse do not usually include wheels at the opposite end of the stick. 

      Modern hobby horses often include a battery operated part sewn into the ear-piece of the stuffed head that when pulled, will imitate the sound of a whinnying horse.

       Hobby horse toys are considered "open-ended" toys because the child playing with them must be using his or her imagination to be arriving at, coming from or developing some more elaborate drama that includes a bit of "horse play" in order to engage with the toy.

       You can store hobby horses upright in an umbrella stand. I keep a small corral for these stuffed friends in the basement playroom at our house. If you do the same, make sure there are enough for a whole herd of children to play with!

  These hobby horses are sold at HearthSong. Their versions

 are made from corduroy and have mop yarn manes.

 Return to the Doll Guide Index Page 

Playing House Isn't Just For Girls?

       Nearly all children have at some time or other played house. At the age of four I was given an umbrella, which I set up on my bed. I found a shawl and some pins and draped the shawl over the umbrella so as to make a little house to sit in. I said to myself, "This is my house." The feeling associated with that statement can never be explained to a person who has not had it. I had the same feeling‚ very comfortable and deep‚ when, after being married, we moved into two small rooms in a boarding-house in New York; that was our house.

       My own experience as a boy is often brought to mind when on traveling through the woods I see the little shelters that boys build, a tree house, a cave, a wigwam of green stems or small trees. These habitations are often made by boys who have good homes, who are not in need of seeking shelter; these dwellings are made for no reason which the boys themselves can give. Frequently a part of the floor is dug up, and stores of chestnuts are collected underneath. In none of the playhouses I ever had could we stand up straight. There was a little raised platform in the middle on which we made a fire, and we sat in very uncomfortable positions. We were too hot in front and too cold in the back. The smoke filled our eyes. Meanwhile we were eating partly baked potatoes or half-burned chestnuts or doughnuts taken from mother's pantry; and we had feelings of comfort,of being at home, such as we never experienced in school or in our parents' dwellings. We recognize these feelings later in life when we come to establish our own homes, and have our own kitchens and tables and hearth-fires. These states of mind are not dependent on reason; they are made up of profound instinct feelings. The feelings which centered in one of these shanties were sufficiently strong to tie a group of boys together. We would fight with a neighboring group and steal their stores if we could. We were protecting our own home, our own people.

Children of the regency period play house in their nursery, 1795-1830.

       These feelings are common to most children, and are experienced by girls and boys alike, although the girl's shelter feelings seem to differ somewhat from those of boys. Many of my friends have furnished incidents from their own experiences.

       "In our nursery stood an old-fashioned three-quarter bed," says one, "with sides to keep the little ones from falling out. The four legs continued up into posts which supported a mosquito bar. This bed made a house with two stories, one under the bed, the other within the railed enclosure with a shawl to serve as a protecting roof. It is useless to try to describe our feeling of protection when enclosed in this comfortable dwelling. A chair served as steps to the upper story, and one child lived down-stairs while the others occupied the floor above. We made constant visitations up and down.

       A corner of the dining-room screened by high clothes-bars covered with shawls served as the first "house" for another friend. Still another records a large variety of houses. A great oak- tree formed one of these. Tents made of bed-sheets with an umbrella for centre-pole were used for evening and morning play. "We also made houses by sweeping up sand into little walls three inches high. Higher mounds of sand were used for seats, and a pile of bricks formed the stove. These houses were many-roomed, and it was forbidden to cross over the sand walls, except at certain spots where we had made doors. At times, however, we preferred smaller houses which we could occupy entirely alone, screened even from the sight of passers-by."

       Small indoor houses seem to belong especially to the experience of younger children, and the house plays increase in complexity as children grow older.

       Another friend used to make a tent out of the bedposts and sheets. A strong sheet was stretched from post to post and tied, and the sides of the "house" were draped with bedding, to keep out the enemy, in some cases imaginary, in other cases the smaller sisters. This form of house play continued for a long time, and had many variations and additions. At first the tent was used as a home, and the interior was separated into rooms by rows of pillows. Sometimes the space below the bed was a cellar or a cave filled with wild animals. Later the children made use of a heavy down comforter with which they built a cave. The party then divided into cave-dwellers and cliff-dwellers, sometimes visiting each other, sometimes waging war for the possession of each other's dwellings.

       The same friend who writes of these experiences moved at the age of eleven to a house surrounded by many acres of land. A large apple-tree, with low-hanging branches, was adapted to the needs of a playhouse. Boards were nailed from limb to limb, and the house was divided into many rooms. This much more complicated arrangement suited the demands of older children.

       Sometimes, in wanderings from the home-tree, the children played at being lost in the orchard, and as imaginary night came on, they found it necessary to hunt a suitable place for shelter from storm and wild animals. On the top of a hill, behind the house, was a group of pines, dark and cool, and "different' from the rest of the orchard. Under these pines they always made a temporary shelter, protected from the terrors of the dark by a packing-box and a fire. Foraging parties went out for food, cautiously entering the cellar and stealing potatoes from the bin. And out in that box, on a sweltering day, the children crouched before a hot fire, eating smoky, half-raw potatoes (they could never be prevailed upon to eat potatoes at the table), and were supremely happy. They had been lost, but had made a shelter for themselves. They felt protected and at home.

       Another friend's playhouse experience always took the form of a wigwam, usually inhabited with some companion. They built wigwams of clothes and quilts, and later of willow sticks tied together. These formed a defense which other boys tried to tear down. A great feeling of mystery was always connected with these structures. They had to be concealed. In a copse twenty-five or thirty feet above the traveled road the boys sat with a shawl and plaited the branches together to make the place more hidden. It was a great joy to make a horrible noise to terrify the countrymen going by, but the boys felt as terrified as those who passed.

       Even the crowded conditions under which city children live have not deprived them of this desire to find a place of their own, where they can feel at home, protected, sheltered. One of the common things for children to do in a city back yard is to get chunks of coal, or blocks of wood, or even a nail, and mark divisions in the earth. One sees these markings, also, on the asphalt pavement of the sidewalks. "This is my house. This is your house. And it feels different when they are in "my' house from what it does when they are in 'your' house. As far as I observed, the feelings of the house play are stronger with girls than with boys.

       Boys are especially interested in the construction of houses. A gang of boys in a district school in central New York built a house in a fence corner. All the boys of the neighborhood were invited to join in the enterprise, but as soon as the work actually began the group became a closed corporation. This is a most significant fact in its bearing on the connection of the shelter feeling to group life. No boy who had refused to assist was afterward allowed to come into the house. The walls were built of flat stones, piled as high as the top of the fence. Short rails served as rafters, and the whole was well covered with brush. One of the boys was chosen leader; his word thereafter became absolute law. That organization was the beginning of a "gang.''  The boys hurried from school in the afternoon and used every available minute for the completion of the house. Then cooking experiments were tried over a fire that never cooked anything, but burned and scorched and blackened, filling the house with smoke that refused to go up the hole prepared for it.

       The friend who tells of this stone house adds: "My feeling of intense personal ownership was never duplicated until about four years ago, when my wife and I purchased a house and established a home for the first time. Two years ago I happened to pass the spot where the old rail fence once stood. Not a trace of the playhouse remained, but upon gazing at the site the same thrill came over me that I used to feel as I squeezed through the narrow door and sat on those torturous seats, with a sharp stone or a jagged rail digging a hole in my back. I have never found an upholstered chair that could compare with those seats for comfort, and that could give in equal measure the sense of being at home.

       There is great need for encouraging this feeling for shelter and home through the plays of children. It may also be encouraged in other ways. My own children went back every summer to the locality where we had lived for sixteen years. They knew the people and the people knew us. The children knew where crabs were to be found, where clams abounded, and where they could fish for trout. They had associations with various places. There was the spot where one of them fell, there the place where we first raised the flag. That means continuity. During the winter they lived in Springfield, in New York, in Boston, and went to different schools. New ties were constantly made and constantly broken. This easy change makes for superficiality of character, unless it is balanced by some sort of continuity. One of the things which we must give our children is opportunity to develop their feelings for shelter and home by attachment to some locality, and by the various activities which come under the head of "playing house."

       This is true, also, with regard to the other play so frequently connected with playing house - the preparation and eating of food. One of the interesting things that small children do is to make mud pies. Sometimes mud pies have really been tasted, in an attempt to carry the play to an extreme conclusion. When the children grow older, they frequently progress to real cookery of a more or less primitive type, often carried on in connection with the plays of shelter. Boys are as much interested in their way in the mimic preparation of food as girls are. I have already mentioned the doughnuts and half-baked potatoes eaten in the shanty which I had with some other boys in the woods.  It was a great joy to make little loaves of bread and cake, and to have stores where we sold food. In connection with a house that my children built, they had a complete set of cooking utensils. There was nothing cooked on the real stove in the real house that was not also cooked while pretending on the little stove in the playhouse.

       A very real sense of increased power conies to the individual who is efficient in these activities of the home. There are feelings of complacency, enlarged personality, independence. There is a great difference between our feeling toward food that we have prepared ourselves or that some one at home has prepared for us, and our feeling toward hotel food.

       Two great factors have always held the family together: shelter and food. The kitchen has been the social center of the family during all time. Eating and the preparation of food have been connected with the development of social life. The kitchen with the copper pots on the wall was the place to which the neighbors would come, and the fact that we now set apart a separate room for the reception of visitors is socially an abnormal procedure. When people know each other well, they go out into the kitchen together.

       When people eat together they have expressed a definite social relation. They feel differently about each other. Frequently, if a man wants to ask a favor of another, he invites him to dinner; in that way he establishes a new relation. This set of feelings is one against which many intellectual people rebel. When the effort is made to get them together and it is suggested that they have something to eat, they say that you want to put something into their stomachs. This statement is not wholly true. "Putting something into one's stomach" does not express it. The symbol of breaking bread and eating salt together is a truer one. The common meal is the sign of fellowship. The cooking of food tends to bring people together. It is a basal element in the evolution of the social life. The meal is the time when men are free to meet. Hence the social activities grow up naturally at a meal, and the social traditions are associated with the partaking of salt and the breaking of bread. The state of the body after eating is favorable to social life. There is quiet and rest rather than hostility. A fundamental desire has been gratified. Hence the establishment of friendly relations is easy.

       The cooking of food has in the past contributed to racial advance and survival. Cooking means a great increase in the quantity of the available food-supply. It enables men to dry and preserve meats. It provides foods which could not be eaten uncooked. It aids the digestion of food. For all these reasons it tends toward greater vigor, and hence toward survival.

       Therefore, the playing with food seems to be another of the important preparations for life, because it gives the child an opportunity to express and so develop the instinctive feelings in connection with which so much of our racial growth has come about. by Doctor Luther H. Gulick, 1920, edited by K. Grimm

Building a playhouse for your kids.

Vintage Plans for A Fire-Engine, Motor-Lorry & A Steam-Roller

The construction of my log-truck is very similar to the motor-lorry plans below.

 

        Sometimes, you just get lucky! I found a wonderful wooden log truck at my local resale shop this week for only a dollar; I felt quite excited about it. It didn't have any logs however. My husband was happy to oblige me in solving this little problem. He cut up a few tree branches that had fallen in a spring storm and finished the ceder truck's load within in minutes.
       Here I have included some old-fashioned plans for a toy fire-engine, motor-lorry and a steam-roller. The plans are made with cardboard, thin sheets of wood, corks and glue. These make great projects for ten to twelve year old children on a rainy days and their younger siblings are sure to get hours of play from their older siblings achievements, perfect or not.
       A Fire-engine (Fig. 216). For this toy two cardboard boxes are required, one about 6" X 2" x 2", A in Fig. 216, and the other, B, 8" x 2" x 2". The cardboard case that contains Le Page's glue is a suitable size for B. Make holes through both sides of A, about 1 inch from one end, for the axle of the large wheels, and holes  through B at K and j for the pieces of cane that support the ladders. Gum B to A and cover both with red paper. D is part of a round mantle-box, and the funnel, E, a roll of paper. Both are colored yellow. F is a piece of stripwood, J inch by J inch, cut the right length and glued to B and to two supports, H. A similar piece is fastened on the other side. These are for the firemen to stand on.

A very vintage fire-engine.

 

They may be left their natural color or colored grey. The seat, c, is a piece of strip wood, 1\2 inch by 1\2 inch, with a paper back, and L M are match sticks glued to the sides. G, the foot-rest, is made of cardboard and fastened to box, B, by two wedge-shaped pieces of wood. The ladders are made of strips of cardboard, with half matches as rungs. N is a piece of cardboard gummed underneath A and  projecting from it 1\2 inch for the fireman's stand. This stand, seat, foot-rest, ladders, etc., should be colored red. The small wheel is about 2 inches in diameter. The diameter of the large wheel can be measured when the smaller wheels are in position.

 

A vintage motor-lorry that looks similar to the log truck now
 added to my wooden truck collection.

 

       A Motor-lorry (Fig. 217). The foundation is a piece of stout cardboard or wood. A is an open box gummed to this, and covered with paper, suitably colored. B is part of a box cut as in figure and gummed to A. Inside B a wooden seat, D, is fixed, c is a smaller box, gummed upside down. The size of the lorry will depend upon the boxes procurable. It can also be made of wood, in which case the windows, D and E, and the curved portion of B can be cut out with a fret-saw (see Part II). Both this toy and the fire-engine look very effective made of wood.

A vintage steam-roller would make up quite nicely in wood if a
more experienced craftsman decided to interpret the pattern!

 

       A Steam-roller (Fig. 218). Fig. 219 shows the foundation of the steam-roller. A B, c D, etc., are pieces of stripwood, 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch. The front roller is made of a small mantle-box about 2 5/8 inches in length. The cover is glued on, holes are made at each end and a round, wooden axle passed through. The ends of the axle should be filed flat as in Fig. 220, so that A and C (Fig. 219) can be glued to them. The roller may be painted black. Cut a piece of cardboard, 6 1/2 inches by 4 1/4 inches. Bend this round so that it fits between A B and C D (Fig. 219); place the roller in position, mark with pencil the portions of cardboard that cover the roller and cut these off (see the shaded parts in Fig. 221).

Detailed measurements for the steam-roller.

 

       Fig. 222 shows the construction from cardboard of the part of the cab marked G in Fig. 218. Half cuts are made along the dotted lines; the axle of the side wheels passes through the openings X and Y.
       Fig. 223 shows the part of the cab marked H in Fig. 218.
       Next cut a strip of wood, 4 1/4" x 1/4" X 1/4", for an axle for the side wheels, and round the ends; the wheels are 8 inches in diameter. Fasten these to the axle. Now glue the ends of the axle for the front roller to A and C. While this is drying color the cardboard parts of the engine dark green. Bend J (Fig. 221) and glue this part to the inner sides of A B and C D. Cover the part marked K (Fig. 218) with paper; the part underneath K may remain uncovered. Glue the axle of the side wheels in position behind J, with just sufficient space for G to slip in between the engine and the axle. When the axle is secure glue G and H in position; G is glued to the inner sides of D C and B A, H is glued to the innersides of blocks E and F
       The supports, O and N (Fig. 218), are 4 1/2 1/4" X 1/4".
       M and L are 4 1/4" x 1/4" 1/4". These supports are 1/4" inch shorter, as they stand on the axle of the side wheels. The roof is of cardboard colored green. Q is a cardboard wheel glued to L, and joined to the dome by a strip of cardboard, T, bent as in Fig. 223. a is inserted into a slit in the cork, and b is gummed to the wheel. The steps, R, are made of stiff paper. The funnel and the dome are made of corks.

You can visit West Cork Woodworks at YouTube to

see more projects. Above is a little wooden log truck 

you can make if you've got the tools.

 

More Links to Old-Fashioned Wooden Transport:

• How to build a durable wooden helicopter and racing car
• Build a vintage delivery truck your children will love to play with!
• Over 100 Nostalgic Toy Ideas You Can Craft for Christmas gifts
  

A mechanical paper doll for the New Year...

       Assemble a Father Time mechanical paper doll from 1928! Just print, cut and follow the directions.

Directions:

1. Print and cut out the pieces.
2. Mount the page on stiff paper or cardboard.
3. Make the four pieces, following the heavy black outlines.
4. Run a pin through the spot (A) on the box and then through spot (A) under the lid.
5. Do the same with (B) on the lid and on the hand.
6. Now run a pin through spot (C) on elbow and upper arm.
7. Last, run a pin through spot (D) on body and spot (D) on legs.
8. Put little pieces of eraser on wads of paper over the points of the pins to keep the parts from slipping apart. 
9. Look at the small sketches to see if you have done everything correctly. Push the handle of the scythe gently up and down and Father Time will open the box to see his yearly present.
10. Note. - Alternatively, use tiny brass brads in place of the pins to do the same.

How to Construct A Play Castle

       The entrance to this castle is built like stage scenery. You have seen the same sort of make-believe structures in moving pictures, but you have not been aware of it because there have been enough walls and roofs to make them look complete. I have designed the play castle entrance this way so that you can build it easily and quickly. You can set it up in your play corner of the back yard, or close to the house. If you will build it in front of a basement window, as shown in Figure 1, you can use the basement for the castle stronghold, with a stepladder for a stairway, as shown in Figure 2.

       Build the framework of the entrance wall, as shown in Figure 3. A board to go across the bottom, another to go across the top and four strips to join them are necessary. If you cannot get boards 6 inches wide, another width will do. Cut the two boards 5 feet long, or longer if you want to, and the four uprights 5 feet, 3 inches long. Then place the uprights flat upon the ground, with the center pair 24 inches apart, and nail the boards across the ends. Nail a strip of l-by-2 across the center pair of uprights, 4 feet above the bottom board, to form the head of the entrance. There will be a narrow space between this strip and the top board, as shown in Figure 3. This is provided for the drawbridge cables to run through (Figures 4 and 5).

       Make the drawbridge, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. Cut the boards a trifle shorter than the height of the entrance, and fasten them together with two cross pieces, or battens, placed near the top and bottom. Lay the boards flat on the ground to nail the battens to them. Hinge the drawbridge with a pair of strap hinges placed as shown in Figure 5. Screw a pair of screw eyes into the under side of the drawbridge, and tie a rope to each for the raising cables (Figure 5). Then fasten two clothes-line pulleys to the inside of the top board of the framework, as shown in Figure 4, so that they will be in the right position for the ropes to run over them. Drive nails into the upright each side of the entrance, to hitch the ropes to when the drawbridge is raised.

Plans for a life-size, play castle build with wood scraps.

Cover the wall framework with water-proof building paper, or with cloth. Mother  may have some old sheets that you can  use, or, maybe, she will let you buy several yards of unbleached muslin. Use carpet  tacks for fastening the covering material,  and pull the material taut to make a neat job.
       The wall has a top with openings in it.  This is known as a battlement. The solid portions, called merlons, will require pieces of thin wood about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long. Nail these to the top of the wall with equal spacing.
       When you have completed the wall, set it in position where it is to stand, and brace it, as shown in Figure 4, with two strips of l-by-2 nailed to the end uprights and to stakes driven into the ground.
       Figure 6 shows the framework of one of the towers. The top is a fruit or vegetable hamper, the base may be a bushel basket or another hamper, the sides are made of laths. Because laths are only 4 feet long, it is necessary to splice a 12-inch piece to the end of each, as shown in Figure 7. Nail the lath ends to the inside of the hamper, and to the outside of the basket of the base. Cover the tower frameworks as you covered the wall. Then finish the tops with blocks of wood to form battlements.
       Place the towers at the ends of the wall, and fasten them to the framework with nails. It will help to anchor the bases if you will fill the bottom baskets with earth or sand.
       To complete the castle, paint the battlements and drawbridge white. Draw the windows on the wall and towers with crayons, and fill in the spaces with black paint.

• How to Build a Chic Cardboard Castle
• DIY Cardboard Castle Tutorial - Cost: $4.00
• Construct a Kid Size Cardboard Castle

DIY A Cave And A Rock Arch For Plastic Animals

Left is a cave with a smooth rock floor made from small, polished stones and black grout.
Right is a natural bridge or a rock arch shaped from heavier rocks, an old wire hanger and
crushed paper; it also has pebble mosaic floor.

       These two papier-mâché forms are just a bit more difficult to craft than the paper waterfall craft I published in an earlier post.  The primary differences are: the mosaic covered ground surfaces and the added rock weights included in the wrapping process of the natural bridge. Both land formations make fun additions to either indoor or outdoor playscapes! 

Supply List:

• clean newspaper, paper trash bags, old wrapping paper etc...
• masking tape
• white school glue
• papier-mâché  pulp (optional)
• brown, black, green and yellow papers or fabric
• Mod Podge
• paint brush
• black paint
• and old wire hanger
• pebbles or gravel
• black grout 
• clear acrylic varnish (water proof)
• heavier rocks
• old cardboard 

Step-by-Step Instructions For The Cave:

1. Wad a large amount of newsprint into the shape of a large boulder. (see photo below) This will be the shape of the inside of your cave.
2. Now wrap a layer of newsprint around the paper boulder shape. Tape a circular piece of cardboard to the bottom half of the cave. 
3. Crush more newsprint around the cave walls and mask the entire outside surface of your cave without getting any of the tape on the boulder shaped form.
4. Remove the boulder shape and toss it into the recycling bin.
5. Now crush and mask any additional cave formations/ boulders to the cave that you think would look awesome!
6. Cover both the inside and outside of your cave with masking tape. 
7. Now cover the surfaces with white glue and shredded brown paper bag completely to strengthen the cave shape. 
8. Then cut paper and fabric to decoupage the surface of your cave using the Mod Podge. Let the surfaces dry over night.
9. At this point, you may wish to mix up a batch of papier-mâché and smear it onto the surface of your cave to add texture, strength and interest to it's surface. I choose not to use it for this particular project myself. Let that added paper pulp dry completely before continuing.
10. Mix up the black grout according to the directions provided on the can and push your pebbles or gravel into it. Let the mosaic floor dry.
11. After all of the surfaces of the cave have dried thoroughly, apply a clear, waterproof acrylic sealer. 

Step-by-Step Instructions For The Natural Bridge:

1. Cut a abstract shape for the floor underneath your arch from cardboard.
2. Wrap some heavy rocks with newsprint and masking tape and tape these firmly on top of the cardboard on either end in order to weigh down the papier-mâché arch.
3. Take a large wire hanger and bend this into an arch shape.
4. Wrap it completely with newsprint and masking tape.
5. Tape the arch to the wrapped rocks and cardboard platform. 
6. Crush more newsprint and shape this around the entire arch and covered rocks. Cover the entire form with masking tape. 
7. Now cover the surfaces with white glue and shredded brown paper bag completely to strengthen the arch shape.  
8. Then cut paper and fabric to decoupage the surface of your arch formation using the Mod Podge. Let the surfaces dry over night. 
9. Mix up the black grout according to the directions provided on the can and push your pebbles or gravel into it. Let the mosaic floor dry.
10. After all of the surfaces of the cave have dried thoroughly, apply a clear, waterproof acrylic sealer.  

Left, I measured the height of my rock arch by putting one of the larger dinosaurs under it.
Right, I began to shape a cave by crushing a large rock shape and shaping paper around it.

See More Papier-Mâché Caves for Toys:

• Paper Mache Dinosaur Cave
• Hibernation Craft - using tin foil

Stacking Toys

Left, is a wooden donut stack, Center, a stackable penguin and Right, stackable block shapes.

 

       Stacking toys are generally given to babies or toddlers because the skills developed through the manipulating of them, are some of the most basic abilities humans need in order to survive. Once your baby can sit up without help, he or she will love to practice stacking, balancing, comparing, gripping and identifying with toys such as these.
       As you can see from my examples above, stacking toys come in a wide variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Pictured above from left to right are versions that are increasingly difficult for an infant to manipulate and each one challenges the baby in different ways.
       The first graduates donut shapes in size and each piece is a distinctly different color. The second configures the wooden blocks into the representation of a bird, (penguin) and the third challenges the baby to stack interlocking squares with both natural and painted surfaces according to size.

How can my child play with this toy in order to further develop his or her skills?

1. using the fingers to grip and place
2. stacking according to size
3. developing depth perception
4. balancing objects
5. comparing colors
6. identifying colors and shapes
7. balancing the body while doing an activity

A stacking toy that children can learn size, 

shape, color and balance with. Stacking 

toys like this one is far more challenging 

than others. This wooden toy train would 

be more age appropriate for a toddler. 

More About Stacking Toys:

• How stacking /nesting toys can develop early language and fine motor skills
• The Best Baby Stacking Toys That Help Cognitive Development
• 9 Ways the right toy helps development

 

Stackable wooden soldier doll/toy.

  Return to the Doll Guide Index Page 

What is an "Open-Ended" Toy?

Young children 100 years ago played at home and school with open-ended toys.
 Open-ended toys help children to develop their imaginations.

 

       Many child development experts prefer open-ended toys such as construction toys, blocks, dolls, etc. over digital/smart toys. For example, a cardboard box that the child turns into a pretend play house will be played with continuously by the child for many hours whereas an expensive smart toy can quickly exhaust the child's interest once its novelty has worn off.

       Widespread commercialization of smart or digital toys is mainly a 21st-century phenomenon. As they have gained acceptance in the marketplace, controversy has been brewing. One of the chief criticisms has been that despite often being technical marvels, many smart toys have only limited play value. In short, these toys neither involve the child in play activity nor do they stimulate his or her imagination. Consequently, regardless of store-shelf attractiveness, the child tires quickly of them after only one or two play sessions, and the parents' investment is largely wasted. Stevanne Auerbach, in her book Smart Play—Smart Toys introduces the notion of Play Quotient or simply PQ.

       Auerbach criticizes smart toys for often having low PQs. PQ is a rating system based upon a weighted average constructed from a comprehensive list of play value attributes. Playthings with higher PQs are desirable from the standpoint of stimulating the child's imagination, creativity, and inquisitiveness. Generally, children choose to play with these products over and over again. Those toys with low PQs are quickly set aside. The child finds them boring and uninteresting.

Things to keep in mind when purchasing or building open-ended toys:

1. They must be suggestive of play and made for play.
2. They should be selected in relation to each other.
3. They should be consistent with the environment of the child who is to use them.
4. They should be constructed simply so that they may serve as models for other toys to be constructed by the children.
5. They should suggest something besides domestic play so that the child's interest may be led to activities outside the home life.
6. They should be durable because they are the realities of a child's world and deserve the dignity of good workmanship.

More About Open-Ended Play:

• What is Open-Ended Play, and Why Is It So Important?
• The Value of Open-Ended Play
• How to Encourage Open Ended Play 

This Kewpie wants a hug!

Description of Coloring Page: mop cap, big bib, Kewpie doll with outstretched arms, baby doll

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Literature and "Purposeful Activities'

       The plea for a more unified curriculum, a more rational mode of approach, a more scientific method of procedure in organizing the school life of our little children is growing in intensity. It demands that the experiences and activities of the children be given fair play; that in order to enable their reactions to be the best possible, they be permitted to deal with real situations in school as they do elsewhere and to profit by their rich social inheritance. Much of this social inheritance is expressed in art form, in painting, sculpture, rhythm, song, poetry, story and drama. These are as much the privilege of every child as are the more obvious elements of his social inheritance, the economic and industrial. They should be equally taken for granted. This thought has been incidentally expressed before, but it is so far-reaching in its effects that it deserves to be given expression for its own sake. So long as art expression is considered a luxury rather than a necessity, the lives of children and mature people alike must be more meager and limited, less resourceful, convincing and rebounding than the promise of their original nature and the richness of their social inheritance warrant or justify.

       Literature deals with all phases of human experience; it is a source of inspiration; it lends zest and dignity to labor ; it expresses man's attempt to interpret the phenomena of nature; it clothes general truths in allegorical garb ; it shows human nature and nature in relation ; it enters into every activity of human life ; it conveys ethical standards of conduct in impersonal setting, thus constituting itself a force in the initiatory steps toward improvement of individual, personal conduct by furnishing objectives to be realized.

       Reading and literature are closely related in that reading, like oral language, is a vehicle by means of which literature is conveyed from generation to generation. Here- in lies the responsibility of using reading with small children as well as with older ones for the purposes of this transmission, rather than for the manipulation of value- less material required of them until recently.

       It is never too early to grow a taste for good literature. Is this not proven by the appreciation which even two- and three-year old children show for Mother Goose rhymes and simple, cumulative folk tales? Unless this stimulus is applied at an early age, a most valuable opportunity is neglected; it may never recur. A case illustrating this point Is that of an intelligent man above the age of thirty, who had never read poetry and who, realizing this fact, could not compel himself into a fondness for and an appreciation of this form of literature.

       It is in early childhood, not at a set time in an isolated period, but in close contact with all child experiences and activities, that the treasures of literature must be made accessible to the mind and heart, and by the process of absorption, as it were, be permitted to influence the life. The inheritance of literary treasures is so great, that only the best need be used. Even by the exercise of some elimination there is no danger of exhausting the supply, not though the life be one of four score years and ten.

       The esthetic value of literature must never be lost sight of. Literature must never become primarily a device for didactic teaching. However, the ethical value of literature is great, not merely because it holds up to the child high ideals and some of the best creations of man's brain. The love of literature may easily become an appetite merely, unless it becomes, as it were, part of the marrow of our bones. The opportunities for translating the ideals it presents into terms of human conduct are superior to the ordinary direct method because of the impersonal character of the appeal. To illustrate: A group of children is studying the King Arthur legends, reading Tennyson and other versions imbued with the atmosphere of the times. In the process of representing the story, characters are chosen not on the basis of who can render the best  'performance,' but on the basis of who will derive the greatest benefit from such an impersonation. 'Suppose a shy, loose-jointed, slouchy boy is selected for the part of King Arthur. Under the demand of the part, the boy begins to stand erect and to carry himself with a measure of the dignity required. If he does not, his companions remind him of his deficiency not in his private capacity, but as representative of the character chosen, bringing about the desired effect. Here is the teacher's opportunity in private to offer a fruitful suggestion: "You did splendidly. Do you realize how well you stood, spoke, looked? How you made the others play up to your part? How easy it would be to do this every day? How much it would help you in class, in getting a job, in business? etc., etc." Thus an ideal conceived by impersonation from literature may become fruitful by changing for the better many personal habits. In this manner does dramatization become educational. Illustrations of this type might be multiplied indefinitely.

       Here is another suggestion. Do not insist continually upon children's 'telling the story back' to you as a language exercise. This practice vitiates the main purpose of a good story. Let the children live the story, let them play it, creating their conversation as they go along or using that of the book. They will get all the language exercise necessary out of this and get it more sanely. Also, if you wish the story retold, have the child retell it as one character in the story, telling only what has come within the experience of that particular character. By thus representing one at a time the main characters, you will 'get back' the essentials. You will get a great deal more. Instead of a parrot-like repetition of the story, you will get from every child original thinking, a projection of himself into a new situation, a reconstruction of the story from a different angle and an exercise in discrimination and judgment worth immeasurably more than mere reproduction. Applied to the story of The Wolf and the Three Little Pigs, this would mean that the first two little pigs would tell their experience up to the time where the little house of straws and sticks tumbles in upon them, their conversation ending in a squeal as they are attacked by the wolf; the wolf would tell his tale up to the point possibly where he decides to climb down the chimney, ending with a howl as he falls into the water; the third little pig would tell his story from the meeting of the man with the bricks to the happy conclusion of the story. Such constructive story-telling has a distinct value in itself and paves the way for the telling by the children of wholly original stories.

       Tell or read the stories and the poems to the children at the proper time; love them and render them well. There is no excuse for poor or hurried presentation of literary gems. The children will love them because you do and because of their intrinsic appeal. They will without compulsion learn some gems; they will attempt to create some of their own; they will live the stories in play and understand the characters and situations by so doing. Their experience and their power of appreciation will grow. At the same time their knowledge of the meanings of words and their usage of language will improve beyond any goal attainable through formal, set language exercises.

       Language is a means of communication, a social achievement. It is as much a means of stimulating thought and action in others as it is an avenue for self-expression. Hence its function is primarily the transmission of thought. This interpretation of language should ever be in the mind of the teacher, because upon it depends her treatment of language in the schoolroom. In order most easily and adequately to produce thought and action in others, certain language forms have from time to time been accepted for universal usage; for this reason these correct and choice forms are taught in the school. To achieve this goal is always, however, merely a means to the larger end; it should be treated as of secondary importance.

       All of the children's interests, activities, and contacts find expression through oral and written language as well as through other forms of expression. The same principle underlies the learning of language, which is at the basis of all learning. Let us state it again.

       The children's activities, interests and contacts furnish the motive which prompts expression in oral and written language. Tinder the pressure of this vital impulse, language is more fluent, more spontaneous than under any external compulsion ; greater effort is made by the children to convey exactly their meaning and to bring about the desired conduct on the part of others. The need for proper expression is more keenly felt and a greater willingness to cope with and overcome errors results. The gain includes a minimum amount of drill necessary to overcome errors, a maximum amount of improvement in language, an increase in time available for the real live issues at hand. (Read J. Dewey, Interest and Effort in Education.) One of these live issues is the love and appreciation of beautiful literature. 

• Teaching Emergent Literacy: Getting Young Children Ready to Read
• Activities to Promote Emergent Literacy

Nature Experience and Purposeful Activities

       It is very evident that social experience and nature experience are blended so constantly and naturally in everyday life, that they cannot be arbitrarily separated. The need for a clear-cut presentation and the limitations of the printed page have made a division necessary; again there arises the question of the shifting of emphasis rather than an elimination of relevant topics. One does not and cannot exclude the other. Both emphasize largely the same principles and provide for the building up of the physical and mental health of the children.
       The mere getting acquainted with nature is one of the most vital impulses of the active child; the identification, enumeration, observation, appreciation of all phenomena that come within his reach. Especially is he concerned in every living thing, largely because of the elements of motion and change contained in it; hence animals and plants engross his attention, how they live and move and react. Inorganic nature is part of this moving, changing life, a sort of background for it; besides it has its own fascination, so it should not be neglected.
       The seasonal choice of topics for young children is the most natural, because of its direct appeal; the everyday occurrences in nature are of value for the same reason and should constitute the bulk of the material. Should an unusual event occur, a circus come to town, a rare specimen be brought in, it should, of course, be exploited to its full extent. However, to hunt for the exceptional and startling is neither necessary nor desirable, and largely defeats the aim of the work.
       Nature experience for little children must be first hand. Stuffed specimens and pictures are good in their place for identification, for illustration of story and geography material, but they can never hope to fulfill the function of nature study. They are dead; nature is alive. This brings us to the method of approach and to the method of dealing with nature experience.
       Children are constantly asking for the why? what? how? what for? when? where? of things. This should be the clue as to material handled, the data emphasized the functional side of life being the significant one, the structure being subordinate and touched upon only in so far as it helps to understand and illuminate expressions of nature activity. How a bird lives; what he eats; how he gets his food; where he finds it; where he has his home; how he makes it; how he looks after his babies, etc.; these are the problems to follow up. To illustrate: The number, size, position of teeth are immaterial so far as the child is concerned; the significant factor being the food of the squirrel for which it needs more resistant teeth than we have. By approaching nature from the side of her expression of herself, the children gradually come to know that the creatures all about them have problems similar to their own, that they are all in various ways dependent, that there are causes which produce the effects they observe, and that respect for all creation is one of the lessons necessary to learn. Also they gradually learn to think of themselves as only one in a vast universe of wonderful living and changing identities; this should be one of the elements developed by nature study and geography, leading on to the understanding which makes the whole world kin. The ethical and appreciative values of nature experience can hardly Toe overestimated; the economic value is of importance, though to a greater degree a little later, when the children are more mature and the love, sympathy, and appreciation necessary for the best attitude have begun to take root. The scientific value at this time lies largely in the habits of work and attitudes of mind established in nature experience as well as in other lines of work. The social value is emphasized in excursions, gardening, utilization for social purposes of the fruits of the work, and in other similar ways involving normal relations among children, and team-work.
       Pollination of pussy willows, fertilization by bees for older children, the life history of the chick, the egg as the treasure house of many animals, the tiny kittens, the care of animals for their offspring, the function and distribution of the seed in plants, all of these data form a valuable and indispensable background to the outlook upon life. Add to these, good habits of cleanliness of mind and body formed in little children, and the much-discussed problem of adolescence ought to be simplified. The child by means of his nature experience follows interests which are vital to him at the time, and at the same time lays the foundation for something which leads him on to a life project.
       It is most important that facts told by the teacher should come under the possible observation of the child. Care should be taken : 

1. To keep him in an open-minded, 'suspended judgment' attitude; to avoid forcing him into making generalizations for which he has not sufficient data, thus keeping his interest alive, as well as working for truthfulness and accuracy of attitude and statement. 
2. To avoid injudicious, indiscriminate telling by the teacher of facts, which take the zest from further original investigation. Wise and skillful is the teacher who can tell just enough and at the proper time to whet the appetite and stimulate to further research. The problem of the teacher consists in encouraging towards nature an open-minded much-varied, sympathetic appreciation and attitude, a habit of mind in dealing with phenomena by means of specific details under observation. To the little child the personal element is very close, permeating all his relations with his environment.

       The amount of material covered, the time devoted to it, the sequence followed, the adaptations made will depend in each case upon local conditions, individual preference, experiences and maturity of the children, administrative difficulties and so on. At best a scheme of work such as is given here can only indicate the point of approach, the attitude toward the problem and suggestions and data towards its solution. The individual teacher must assimilate and recreate according to the peculiar needs of her situation, otherwise the best plan becomes stereo-typed and artificial. In the higher grades, beginning with the third and fourth, more mature problems and greater detail may be worked out and the economic side of nature experience can be stressed to a greater extent.

       It is in the hope that these suggestions may prove helpful in themselves and lay the basis for future agricultural and geographic, social, and historic studies that this plan has been written. The general scheme has been to indicate the scope of the subject, to present in detail certain portions of it, and to point out the connections which exist between nature experience and other phases of experience in the child's life. These points of contact should be the starting point of any study or investigation made. In this way it will present itself to the child's mind as a problem to be solved and related to other problems. It is hoped by these means to avoid the ordinary fallacy of the primary program which consists in separating into 'compartments' the naturally unified life of the child.

       The divisions into animal life, plant life, weather and so on are necessarily arbitrary and overlap frequently. All that has been said about play, children's projects and problems, expression through oral language and the use of literature in connection with social experience bears equally upon the field of nature experience.

Escape, Explore, Experience!

Suggestive Studies/Outlines: 

• Birds: Habitats, Care Of, Pets
• Animal Life
• Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall
• Plant Life
• Gardening
• Weather As It Affects Our Life