Arts & Crafts, Carpentry, Crafts, Design, Toymaking

Mother Nature’s Toy Shop

Here’s another wonderful vintage book from Gutenberg.org by Lina and Adelia Beard. In it, the authors show how to make all sorts of toys, jewelry and ornaments with wildflowers, leaves, grasses, pods, seeds and other things found outdoors. Great hands-on, skill expanding projects, if you’re game to try your hand at some classic toys, which could easily be “modernized” for the 21st century kid. It only takes some imagination.

from the introduction:

Mother Nature is every bit as fond of the little folks in her human family as of the grown-ups, and while she prepares untold joys for lovers of the outdoors among men and women and larger boys and girls, she never forgets the little ones.

For their benefit she keeps an open toy-shop full of marvelous playthings, all free to any child who wants them, and instead of the children paying her for what they take she pays them for coming to her by giving them rosier cheeks, brighter eyes, and stronger bodies. She puts more glee into their laughter and greater happiness into their trustful little hearts.

As in the large department stores in big cities, the goods in Mother Nature’s shop are changed for each season of the year; so the little shoppers have constant variety and hail every new season with fresh delight. This book is written to call attention to the beautiful and wonderful things to be found in Mother Nature’s toy-shop and to tell what to do with them, for one must know how to use the amusing material that is furnished.

After really getting into this most enchanting of all toy-shops with eyes open to see its wonders, we found that the difficulty to be met was not how to write about them, but how to stop writing. The display was so varied and so inviting, it seemed that we must tell the children about everything we saw, but if we had gone on seeing more and telling more there is no saying what size this book would have been.

There are dozens of illustrations by the authors showing exactly how to make your creations. This is a genuine, old-fashioned and almost magical guide for children who love the outdoors and who are imaginative enough to play with their own toy creations.

This ebook is available in kindle and EPUB formats, and is also viewable online.

Click here to go to the page, then choose the format you wish to view/download.

Carpentry, Pratical Skills, Toymaking

Educational Toys Your Kids Can Make (IF you’ll let them)

Once upon a time, the value of practical construction skills was recognized by educators as an important part of a child’s education. Here’s a truly wonderful vintage toymaking guide from Project Gutenberg, this time for the workshop. With a few simple tools – what you see to the left – your child can make many classic wooden toys and puzzles found in this manual, including rocking animals, jumping jacks, buzzers and many more familiar old-fashioned childhood toys.Most parents these days have little inclination to let their kids use real tools and actually build things… but if you let them try, you’ll end up with a much more confident hands-on, skilled young person. Ask us how we know.

from the introduction:

Toy-making takes into account the child’s view-point, his proclivities and his emotions. It is a form of activity that appeals strongly to his fancy, has a direct relation to his environments, and is within the range of his mental grasp and constructive ability. His wonderful imagination endows the creatures of his handiwork with life, individuality and cunning. The toy problem is in harmony with the child’s resourcefulness, his powers and his interests.

The problems contained in this book have been selected from those worked out in the Normal Model School. They have been tested under ordinary class-room conditions. To survive the weeding-out process, a toy has had to meet the following requirements:

  1. It must be within the child’s power.
  2. It must excite and sustain interest.
  3. It must possess educational value.
  4. It must be adaptable to light-wood construction.
  5. It must conform in size and complexity to the limited space and equipment of class-room  conditions.

This heavily illustrated guide is wonderful for any parent wanting to encourage their children to use their imagination and learn how to use simple tools. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This ebook is available in kindle and EPUB formats, and is also viewable online.

Click here to go to the page, then choose the format you wish to view/download.