Chapter I: Preface

"LET _me_ do it. Let _me_ make it," is the cry when a child sees an older person putting together the different parts of an interesting piece of work; and it is this desire to do things himself, this impulse toward self-expression, that, when properly directed, forms so great a factor in his all-around development and education. Using the hands and brain together stimulates interest and quickens observation and intelligence, and, as the object takes form beneath the little fingers, the act of making, of creating, brings with it a delight and satisfaction which the mere possession of the same thing made by another can not give. "Look! See what _I_ have made," comes with a ring of triumph as the childish hands gleefully hold up the finished article for inspection.

In this book we have endeavored to open a new and large field of simple handicrafts for little folk, giving them an original line of toys and a new line of materials with which to make them. We hope in these pages to bring to children the joy of making creditable and instructive toys of such ordinary things as empty spools, sticks of kindling wood, wooden clothespins, natural twigs, old envelopes and newspapers, and in this way to encourage resourcefulness, originality, inventiveness, and the power to do with supplies at hand.

Everything described in the book has been actually made by the authors, and made by such practical and simple methods that a child's mind can grasp them, and a child's hands be easily trained to manufacture the articles. It is, therefore, our hope that the "Little Folks' Handy Book" will be found useful both in Kindergarten and Primary grades of the schools and in the home nursery; a helpful friend to teachers and to mothers.

LINA BEARD.
ADELIA B. BEARD.

FLUSHING, N. Y., _February 10, 1910._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. PAPER BUILDING CARDS 1

II. TOYS MADE OF COMMON WOODEN BERRY-BASKETS 5

III. STRAW AND PAPER FURNITURE 9

IV. A NEWSPAPER BOAT WHICH WILL SAIL ON REAL WATER 15

V. PAPER JEWELRY 19

VI. WHAT TO MAKE OF EMPTY SPOOLS 28

VII. OLD ENVELOPE TOYS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM 47

VIII. TOYS OF CLOTHESPINS 55

IX. SCRAP-BOOKS 64

X. TOYS MADE OF COMMON KINDLING WOOD 70

XI. LITTLE TWIG PEOPLE 79

XII. VISITING-CARD HOUSES 90

XIII. PLAYING INDIANS WITH COSTUMES MADE OF NEWSPAPERS 98

XIV. CHRISTMAS-TREE DECORATIONS 106

XV. A HOME-MADE SANTA CLAUS 124

XVI. NATURE STUDY WITH TISSUE-PAPER 130

LITTLE FOLKS' HANDY BOOK