Chapter III: Part 3

First of all, I collected animals. At a small candy shop, I found a polar bear, a rhinoceros, a fox, and a pig. Each came with a loose head, because the animals were supposed to be filled with candy, but I glued the heads on tight. I bought these animals because they were so cheap.

They could stand upon spools to make acts for the circus ring. I painted each spool red, and pasted over its hole a disk of colored cardboard.

From round box covers I made pyramids, and from square ones I cut benches. (To cut bench for animal show, see Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.) Cut a leg at each corner of the box-cover’s rim. Remove the cardboard from between cuttings.

Swartzenheimer and Mulligan were my animal trainers. Each came to me as a dinner favor. They were both little figures of toy men that stood upon a cake of sweet chocolate. You can easily see what a splendid clown Mulligan made.

The animals performed all kinds of tricks. They could stand upon each other’s backs. I had two or three tumble toys, besides. They performed splendidly.

I am sure you will have a good time making a circus. It is ever and ever so much fun, I think. You can use any animals that you happen to have among your playthings.

At some toy shops, you will find celluloid animals. At Japanese shops, you will find cotton animals. In your own Noah’s Ark there will be wooden animals and your Boxville people—tumble toys, jointed dolls, Halloween figures, and favors will form the trainers and performers for the “Show.”

Wild animals and domestic animals may be bought at candy stores as favors. They also come in boxes at the shops where toys are found. These animals should be small—never over four or five inches in length.

My animals are very good:
They do their tricks just as they should!
When I have trained them all, you’ll see
What a fine show this one will be!
I’m making benches for it now,
And, if you like, I’ll tell you how.

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CIRCUS TENT AND CIRCUS GROUNDS

=Material Required to Make a Circus Tent=: a round bandbox and a sheet of cardboard.

=Material Required to Make Circus Cages=: three or four hardware boxes from three to five inches long. A booth may be made from half of a flat letter-paper box. Some cotton mosquito-netting will be the cage bars.

A circus tent is a very easy thing to make. It needs nothing but a sheet of cardboard and the lower half of a round bandbox to make it. The lower half of the bandbox must be turned over to stand upon its rims. This forms the sides of the circus tent. The roof is cut from a large circle of cardboard.

First, arrange the box to make sides for the tent. Then, cut the roof.

In the edge of the bandbox rim, cut out a piece of cardboard the shape of tent canvas looped back to make an entrance. Draw some folds upon this with blue pencil. If you prefer, use your water-color paints instead.

When this is done, glue across the top of your bandbox some strips of string to form tent ropes. The roof of the tent, round and pointed, may next be made.

Take a large sheet of cardboard and draw upon it a circle that is half again as large around as the base of your bandbox. Cut this out. Cut from the circle a quarter piece like the slice of a pie. (See Diagram Three, _D_, page 171.) Lap the cut sides of this three-quarter circle, and glue together to make a pointed roof like that of a circus tent. When the roof is dry, slip it upon the top of the hat-box, and your circus tent is done.

If you find some corrugated cardboard, it may be slightly curled and pressed so that it will stand on its rim, to make a board fence for the circus enclosure. _Of course_, you must have a fence! Of course!

Hardware boxes that come with covers double and close telescope fashion make very good circus cages. To make these cages, you will need to cut top and bottom from the boxes, leaving rims only. You may, if you wish, keep a very narrow margin of rim around the top and bottom cutting of your box. Paste strips of coarse netting, like cotton mosquito netting, over each opening of the box. It should be glued inside the box from side to side. This makes bars for the cages. (For cutting a box to make a cage, see Diagram Eight, page 182.)

Wheels may be added to the cages, so that the animals may go out on parade. The wheels are small circles cut from cardboard. There should be four for each cage, of course. When they are cut out from the cardboard, fasten each through its center to the base of a cage by a round-headed paper-fastener. The prongs of the paper-fastener should be bent to right and left inside the covers of the box. This holds wheels firm. If you have no paper-fasteners, sew the wheels to your box with raffia, or glue them to your box.

A booth for the circus grounds may be made from a box about three or four inches in size. Stand the box on its long side. Cut in its back an awning. The awning is made first by drawing an oblong space upon the back of the box, cutting this outline down at each side line and across its base. The cardboard is then pressed outward and upward to make the awning. (See Diagram One, _C_, page 166, for cutting awning.) Color the awning with red stripes.

Side-show tents for circus grounds are made like the tents of Camp Box. (See Diagram Three, _E_, page 171, for cutting the rim of a shallow box and bending it to make a tent.)

All toy figures that you can muster—tumble toys, wooden dolls, penny dolls, Noah’s Ark ladies, shepherds and shepherdesses, should go to Box Brothers’ Circus on the play-room floor. If you look among your toys, you will find animals for the circus, I know. They may even be animals cut from old magazine pictures.

One day I made a circus
(A bandbox was the tent),
I advertised in Boxville,
But it didn’t cost a cent!

The penny dolls of Boxville
Turned out on Circus Day!
I made pretend sell peanuts,
And I tell you, it was gay!

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BOXTOWN ZOO GARDEN

=Material Required to Make a Boxtown Zoo=: some shoe-boxes, their covers, strips of cardboard or toothpicks to make bars for cages.

A zoo is really a splendid thing to make. You can cage all your wild animals—Noah’s Ark animals, or whatever other ones you may happen to have. The cotton animals that are bought in Japanese stores, “three for five,” are just right for zoo animals. You can buy chenille monkeys, one for a penny, at the toy shops.

When you start to build your zoo, the cages will be made from boxes. Cut out a large square from each side of the rim. Toothpicks make bars for cages. They will need to be pressed down: through the top of the box over openings you cut in the box rims. If you have no toothpicks, you may make bars for the cages by pasting very narrow strips of paper or cardboard inside the box cages over the openings in the box rims. (For cutting a zoo cage, see Diagram Eight, page 182.)

Dens for animals are boxes that have their covers taken off. These boxes must be turned over to stand on their upper rims. Doors are cut in the edge of box rims, as you see them in the picture.

Rims cut from box covers make fences for enclosures.

Little box covers make feeding-troughs.

“Do not worry the animals!” This is the rule of all zoos.

I have a lion, and a bear,
I have a tiger, too!
A monkey, and a “nelephant,”
And so I made a zoo!

I put a tiger in a cage,
An’, if you’re good to-day,
I’ll show you how I made it,
For it’s lots of fun to play.

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BOXTOWN HOSE HOUSE

=Material Required for Making a Hose House=: a box deep and square, about six or seven inches long, and the shallow square cover of some larger box.

If you own a toy fire-engine or a hook and ladder, there is every reason why it should have a home. The engine-house that you see in the picture is made from a deep, square box. It is quickly made by cutting a square doorway in one side of the box rim and by adding a flat roof.

Turn your box over so that it rests inverted upon its rims. Outline a three- or four-inch square on one end of your box. Its base must come at the edge of your cardboard box rim.

Draw a line down the center of this square, vertically. Cut with scissors up this line and across the top line. This gives two doors, that should be pressed outward against the sides of your box. (See Diagram Two, _B_, page 167, for making the double doorway.)

Place over the top of the box the cover of a larger box, and the hose house will be finished. Why, it took you no time at all to do that, did it? Let’s see how the toy engine looks inside its new building!

I have a little engine,
And it clangs across the floor
Right into Boxville Hose House,
Where they’ve opened wide its door.

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HOW TO MAKE A WIGWAM

=Material Required to Make the Wigwam=: half a round bandbox cover and a few small sticks or pencils.

Why, of course, you may make an Indian wigwam! It will take about two minutes to make one like this one in the picture. With it, you may play all kinds of Indian plays. It will be ever such fun! You will need half an old bandbox cover to help make the wigwam. The cover must be a round one.

One bandbox cover will make two wigwams. Cut the cover into halves. Take one of these and lap its edges to form a cone. Glue or sew these edges together.

Cut off the point of the cone. This makes the opening at top of the wigwam.

In the rim of the bent bandbox cone, cut a flap, and bend this back against the outer side of the tent. Stand the tent up upon its broad base, and there will be its entrance. Small sticks or thin pencils may be thrust through the top to make tent sticks. Indian symbols may be painted on the sides of the tent.

I had an Indian doll, Big Chief Ten-Cent Store. He came in a canoe made of wood. I made a green woods for him out of crape paper, and he lived near a silver paper spring upon my play-room floor in his home.

All the toy animals that I have played in the woods and Big Chief Ten-Cent Store hunted them. There was a deer that came off our Christmas tree, and a whole family of china bunnies, and—and you just ought to see him on the trail of Noah’s Ark animals! And—and you ought to see the lovely mats that are inside the Indian’s tent. I made them at Kindergarten myself.

By the shores of Abigmirror,
By the shining of its water,
Stood the wigwam of Big Box Chief,
Builded from a half a bandbox.
Dark behind it rose a mountain
Made of paper-covered boxes:
There were pebble rocks upon it,
Caverns where Big Box Chief hunted.

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FORT BOX

=Material Required to Make a Box Fort=: a deep, square box with its cover. A round hair-pin box and a spool will make a cannon for the fort.

Would you like to make a fort for your leaden soldiers? Shall I tell you how to do it? If your soldiers are small, a box three inches deep may answer for the building. Its cover forms ramparts of the fort.

To start the building of your fort, turn your box over upon its rims so that its base becomes the top of the building. Take the box cover off and lay it aside.

Find a pencil and mark the openings for guns. They are made like windows upon the box front. Draw each about a half-inch square, and use your ruler to make each opening even. Cut these squares out, if you wish. They may also be painted black, should you prefer not to cut them out.

To add ramparts to the building, take the cover of your box and make a pencil mark upon its rim every half-inch all the way around. Cut sections from the rim, as marked, every other half-inch. Turn the box with its rim upward and glue it to the top of your box. (For making ramparts, see Diagram Three, page 172.)

At the back of the fort, you may easily devise a sallyport by cutting the cardboard door shaped. (For cutting a door, see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.)

A toy cannon may be made with a small round hair-pint box by pasting it upon the side of a spool between the wheels of the spool. A thumb-tack pressed beneath one wheel of the cannon will keep it upright and prevent rolling. I painted my guns black. If you like, you may easily do this with water-color paints.

An encampment of tents may be made from small white box covers cut through each long side rim up to the top of the cover and bent, to each side of the center downward. (See Diagram Three, _E_, page 171, for making a tent.)

If you happen to have a penny flag, it will be just the very thing to wave over Fort Box.

You can arrange your fort upon a sheet of crape paper and make streams and woods all about it. The streams will be strips of silver paper pasted onto the green crape paper. The woods will be bits of twigs pressed into the holes of spools so that the trees stand upright. Bushes are just bits of twigs that may be laid down flat. Rocks and mountains may be made from stones.

I had a leaden soldier,
His name was Tommie Tin!
Oh, he was brave in battle,
And always fought to win!

I made him into general,
And he is in command
Of all my Boxville Army
At Box Fort in Boxland.

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HOW TO BUILD A TOY CASTLE AND A FAIRYLAND HOUSE

=Material Required to Make a Castle=: any box, either round or square—one at least six or seven inches deep is best.

=Material Required to Make a Fairyland House=: an oblong box deep enough for door and windows to be cut in its sides, a few little crackers or “goodies”—possibly some gilt or silver paper in place of these.

Have you ever played in fairyland? Well, if you have not been there, you can very well make a fairyland upon the play-room floor, and in it you may gather together all the people of your Red, and Blue, and Green, and Yellow Fairy Books. These people will be Knights, and Princesses, Witches, Goblins, Fairies. All are toys, and it is an easy matter to get them together—quite as easy as it is to make a fairyland castle.

I will tell you how. First, you may like to build the castle, for that is all-important. There never yet was a fairyland without _that_!

Find some deep box with its cover. It really matters little whether the box is round or square-sided. A round box will make a high tower-like castle similar to the one in the picture. A square one will make one more like a fortress. It scarcely matters which you choose. Take the cover from your box. This is to form the castle ramparts later. High up in the box rim cut one or two long tower windows. Cut a door at the base of the rim. Next cut the ramparts in the box cover. (For cutting ramparts, see Diagram Three, _F_, page 172.) Glue these to the top of your castle box—and the castle is made!

The Princess who lives in the Castle is a penny doll dressed in a silver robe (made of tinfoil). My Princess has golden hair. It is long and beautiful. You can see it in the picture.

The Knight is a leaden soldier. His spear is a bit of wire. His shield is a brass button, polished and shining.

You can easily find the proper kind of dragon at a little Japanese shop. Mine was made of crockery and cost ten cents, but you will surely find among the cotton animals that are sold three for five cents something far better than my crockery dragon. There are the most dragon-like of cotton animals at the Japanese stores where I buy penny toys. Sometimes they are spidery and sometimes they are like crocodiles—only they aren’t crocodiles but DRAGONS. When you go to a Japanese shop and look for penny animals you will know exactly what I mean. They are all queer, and will work into any fanciful fairy tale that you wish to play with your castle.

Don’t forget to make the dragon a lair, when you have bought him. It may be just a box with a hole in it for the mouth of a den, but if you have some pretty stones and pebbles, you can build a _real_ lair on the play-room floor with these.

Almost any fairy tale may be acted out with the Knight and the Princess. Little toys which you have among your playthings may help out. I know you will have a good time playing at fairyland. I did.

I built me a Hansel and Gretel house, too. This was to help with my fairyland play.

Hansel and Gretel were two tumble toys—a boy and a girl. Their home was in a Boxville Cottage. When they went to the woods and found the Witch’s House, I made that. It was in a forest of clothes-pins like the trees made for Camp Box.

I made the fairyland house of the Witch from a deep oblong box. I cut two windows in one rim and a door between them, as you see it in the picture of the fairyland house.

To the sides of the house, I pasted some little crackers and goodies. The roof of the house was of crackers. It was very fairy.

I used some pretzels for a fence around it.

There were some small celluloid dolls among my playthings, and I made fairies of them. You can see one that is a Daisy. Her dress is an artificial flower off my old hat. I took the center out of the daisy and made a skirt of the petals. The fairy’s wings were cut from white tissue-paper. They were glued to the back of her body.

All kinds of Halloween figures that are little favors will answer splendidly for this fairy boxcraft play. You can easily find dwarfs, gnomes, goblins, witches, elves. Oh, it will be fun, I know!

In summer you can go out into the garden and gather hollyhocks. The flowers make real little flower ladies—just _like_ fairies dressed up in red, and pink, and white dresses to go to a party. The buds of the hollyhocks make the heads for the ladies, and you just stick a pin through these and press it down at the base of the full blown flower to make the fairy lady. Acorns make fairy dishes too—did you ever happen to know _that_!

Once there lived a dolly princess, with soft, flaxen, curly hair,
By a cruel spell imprisoned near a Chinese dragon’s lair.
Day and night her pasteboard tower, dragon-guarded, you’ll agree,
Offered ill to those in Toyland who would set the Princess free.
Many little dolls essayed it—in a truly frightful way
They were gobbled by the dragon one and all, I hate to say!
But there came a leaden soldier, all in tinfoil armor dressed;
Bravely on his steed he bore him, valiant, in his chosen quest.
At his blow, the green tin dragon toppled over, vanquished quite,
And the rescued dolly princess was set free, then, by her Knight.
King and Queen, they reign in Playtown even to this very day,
And they live forever happy, as the fairy stories say!

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BOXES USED AS BLOCKS

=Material Required for Block Building=: an assortment of boxes varied in size and shape.

Building with blocks is always fun, as you know. You have tried it with cubes, and with dominoes, and with cards—but did you ever try to build with boxes in the same way?

The boxes do not need to be glued. Their covers may or may not be used. Small boxes make walls, and box covers form roofs. You will see a tall block building in the picture. It was made from small drug-store boxes. There is really no end to the ways in which you may build with these.

From boxes of uneven size, men and animals may be made. Round boxes or small oblong boxes form heads. Larger boxes make bodies. Legs and arms are boxes of equal size.

The faces are drawn with pencil upon the back of boxes where there is no print. A wire hair-pin will keep the arms in place. It will need to be pressed through the box sides and bent so that the arm boxes may be slipped upon it. Men of all sorts may be made. There is great variety, as forms vary with the shape and size of boxes that you use.

If you are playing with some other child, you will find that it is amusing to divide your store of boxes, each choosing one at a time till the supply is exhausted. Then, you may each see how many different things you can build. It will be a game, and the winner will be the one who can make the most with his store.

It is entertaining to play with box animals and box men when you have to spend a day in bed. They may be placed upon a table near the bedside. They are light to handle, and they require no cutting or pasting to muss you up. If you decide to have measles or mumps, the little boxes may be disposed of easily after you have played with them. You can always find new ones to take their place when you are well again.

You may make a puzzle for yourself out of a large box and a number of smaller boxes of varied size. Try to pack as many boxes as you can into the large box. Make them come as evenly as you can in packing. There will be _some_ space at sides, but with care and thought you will be surprised to see how small a space they may be packed into. Try them in various forms, till you are sure you have reached the best way to arrange them. Then, give the box puzzle to some friend to see if he can do with one or two attempts what you have accomplished. When you give some person this puzzle, mix your boxes well so there is no clue to their proper arrangement inside the larger box.

Toys like trains may be built with little more than a long cracker box for a coach and some oblong box for engine. The engine’s smoke-stack is a round box. Its coal-car is a cover taken from a candy box. Its wheels are buttons or button molds placed on the ends of wire hair-pins that have been pressed through the sides of the cardboard boxes. A bit of wax or plasticine will keep the wheels in place.

Paste boxes to the back of your cut-outs when you buy these sheets at the penny store. The Indians, cowboys, soldiers, and animals will then stand erect by themselves.

You will have an interesting time, I am sure, in finding new ways to use your boxes in this kind of play. It is always new, for you may always find different kinds of boxes to adapt to the building. And the nice thing about it is that you can make almost anything you choose.

I never knew before—did you?—
How much a cardboard box could do!
I can make buildings, now and then
I make some animals and men!
Indeed, it’s wonderful to play
With little boxes in this way!

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MAKING A NOAH’S ARK FOR CRACKER ANIMALS

=Material Required for Making a Noah’s Ark=: a child’s shoe-box without a cover, the cover of a large shoe-box, and some shallow box with cover about ten inches by four.

Next time that you have cracker animals to play with, build them an ark! It is splendid fun. I will tell you how to do it.

Find the materials needed to build with—a shoe-box cover, the lower half of a child’s shoe-box, and the whole of some very shallow box about ten inches long and at least four inches wide.

To make the base of the Noah’s ark, use the large shoe-box cover. Cut its rims off. Cut each end pointed. The ark building is placed on this.

The ark building is made from the small shoe-box. Place it upon its rims so that its bottom becomes top.

Cut a door in one end of the box on the edge of the box rim. To make this, cut up from the edge of the rim two inches near the center of the box end. Then cut horizontally across the box two inches more. (To cut door, see Diagram Two, _A_, page 167.) After cutting, bend the door as if it were on a hinge. A round-headed paper-fastener will make a door-knob and latch. Press the points of the fastener through the cardboard door and bend the prongs, or points, to one side together. In this way, animals may be securely locked into the ark.

Cut two triangular supports for the roof of the ark. They should be cut in heavy cardboard and made equal-sided. The width of one end of your box will give you the dimensions to make these. (See Diagram Three, _BB_, page 169.) Paste one of these cardboard pieces to each end of the ark building near the top part of the box. Let both dry well before attempting to put a roof upon them.

The roof is made of the two parts of the shallow box. Lap the long rim of one part over the long rim of the other. Glue the two rims together, one over the other. (For making a gable roof from two box covers or from the halves of a shallow box, see Diagram Three, page 169.) When the glue is dry, slip the roof over the gabled points of the ark building.

Now, when the rains descend and floods come and there is a RAINY DAY ahead of you, just summon the cracker animals from the pantry. Arrange them in pairs. Find a doll for Mr. Noah and a piece of paper to make the dove. A footstool will be Mount Ararat, and the ark may voyage all the whole day upon the play-room floor. When the sun comes out, you will have been so busy all day that you will have quite forgotten about the rain.

Two by two! Two by two!
Elephant and kangaroo!
Box and box covers to-day
Make a Noah’s Ark for play.
Maybe, later, you may feast
On an unpaired cracker beast!
Two by two! Two by two!
Elephant and kangaroo!

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A BOX SAVINGS-BANK FOR PENNIES

=Material Required to Make a Savings-bank=: a box in which correspondence cards have been packed, a small box with a sliding cover, and another similar to it.

When I began to make boxcraft toys, I used to save my pennies to buy pinwheel paper, cotton animals, and little figures to use in Boxville. Then, when I found that I should need crape paper or silver paper, or a mirror for a pool, I had money to buy it.

Perhaps you would like to know how to make a Savings-bank for pennies too?

You will need some small box like that in which correspondence cards come packed at stationery stores. It has a double cover.

Turn the box over so that the printing on its top is hidden. Make the top of your box the bottom by turning it over.

Draw two windows and a door on one side of the box. Paint them, if you like.

Paste over the door a porch roof made from half of one small box. The floor Of the porch is pasted under it.

Remove the drawer from the little box with sliding cover. The outside of the box, as you may have noticed, is like a tall chimney.

Take this and stand it on end at the top of your box. Draw its outline with pencil on the cardboard. Then remove the box and cut out the outline just inside the lines you made.

When this is done, you must glue the chimney over the open hole. Glue it tight and let it dry well. The pennies, dimes, and nickels may be dropped down this chimney into the bank.

There is one rule which governs this savings account in my bank—five cents must _always_ stay in the bank to be “a nest egg.” I made this rule myself.

I made a little penny bank,
I’m saving pennies now!
It takes a lot of patience,
But I’m doing it, somehow!

My bank has a tall chimney,
The pennies drop down through:
It’s really fun to drop them
And hear them jingle, too!

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HOW TO MAKE A TOY WAGON AND SLED OR SLEIGH

=Material Required to Make a Toy Wagon=: the half of any oblong cardboard box. A few square inches of cardboard will be required, from which to cut cardboard disks for the wheels of the cart.

=Material Required to Make a Sleigh=: one oblong cardboard box with its cover. A sled may be made from the cover or lower half of any long box.

If you wish to make a toy wagon, find the half of some cardboard box. Turn this upward if it is the cover. Keep the lower half, if you use that, as it is, upright, open at the top. This is the body of the wagon.

Take your compass and with it draw on some cardboard four circles of the same size. These are the four wagon wheels. Cut each out.

Find two small sticks in the garden. They must each be a trifle longer than the width of your box. Press each through the end of the box where wheels should come—press clear through both opposite rims of your box. Then press a wheel upon each end of a stick, and put a bit of wax or some glue where the linchpin should come. Let the glue dry thoroughly before you attempt to play with your toy.

A strip of cardboard cut to fit the width of the cart and glued across its upper forward rims will make the driver’s seat.

The shafts are two strips of cardboard pasted to the forward sides of the cart. Cut each about half the length of your box.

Whoa there! Back up—back! There is your toy horse in the shafts. He is waiting for you to tie his string harness. He will be ready then to go on a trot round the floor.

If you wish to make a sled, take the lower half of a box and turn it over. Its long side rims will become the runners of the sled. Cut the end rims off the box. Then, cut off each corner of the side rims of the box, slanting your corner cuttings in the same direction. There you have the runners of your sled! (See Diagram Ten, _A_, page 184.)

To make the sleigh, you will need to use the cover of your box. Turn it so that it opens at top. Cut the side rims the shape of the upper portion of a sleigh, and glue the cover to the runners. A small box will make two seats for the sleigh. Fit the cover into the back of the sleigh and the lower half into the forward part. (See Diagram Ten, page 184, for making sleigh. _A_, runners; _B_, top.)

When it is winter in Boxville, cotton-batting makes snow, and my horse, harnessed to the sleigh, with a sleigh-bell on his neck, goes jingling through Main Street. The boy dolls catch their sleds to the back of the sleigh.

My Teddy Bear, he likes to play
With little toys I make this way:
The cover of a box may be
A wagon like the one you see.
Or, maybe, I may make a sled
For little Teddy Bear, instead!

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THE CHINA DOLL’S CRIB, GO-CART, AND MAY BASKET

=Material Required to Make a China Doll’s Crib=: the lower half of some oblong box, and four small oblong pill-boxes of equal size to make the legs of the bed.

=Material Required to Make a Doll’s Go-cart=: the lower half of an oblong box about seven inches in length, and some cardboard to make wheels. Wheels may also be made from top and base of a small round box three inches in diameter.

=Material Required to Make a Doll’s May Basket=: the cover or top of any small box you may have; also a small strip of cardboard and two round-headed paper-fasteners.

See, here is a china doll’s crib in the picture. You can see how easy it is to make it. I hardly need to tell you. Just take the cover or the lower half of the box you wish to use, and cut off a part of each long rim—there is the top of the crib with its head and foot.

To each corner below its base glue the end of a small oblong pill-box. There! Isn’t that an easy and quick way to make a toy crib for a doll?

If you wish to make a cradle, cut the box in the same way, and cut a circle once again as wide as the width of your box. Cut this circle into half, and each half will be a rocker for the cradle. Glue one to each end of the box. That is all!

To make a doll’s go-cart like the one in the picture, take the cover or the lower half of any oblong box similar to a candy box, one-pound size. Cut the rim from it half-way around, beginning in the center of one long side. Next, cut from the part that is without rim the handle of the cart, as you see the box cut in the picture.

Next, cut two circles from cardboard to make the wheels of the go-cart. Each circle must be of equal size. Make each about three inches in diameter, unless your box is more than eight inches long. In this case out your cardboard circles to correspond, larger.

Run a stick or a long pencil through one circle, and press the point of the stick through a lower corner of the box through to the other side, where you put on the other cardboard circle for the other wheel. Your stick or pencil must be one inch longer than the width of your box. Place a blob of glue over each end of the axle and let it dry well, to keep the wheels on. When you have fitted the end of a little box into the lower half of the go-cart to make a seat, all is done. You may use a piece of folded cardboard to make the seat, if you prefer. I painted the handle of my go-cart, but it is not at all necessary to do this. The go-cart is great fun to use when you play house and go out marketing. Then you can take your doll baby with you in the go-cart. You can tie the doll baby into the cart with a piece of string.

The basket that you see in the picture is very easy to construct. You can use it for many different things, and as long as you have small boxes—or even large ones—you may make baskets out of them. You will need some round-headed paper-fasteners or glue to help make them. (The paper-fasteners are stronger and better than the glue.)

Take the lower half of a box, or the upper half, as you like, and cut a strip of cardboard twice again as long as the width of your box. This is the basket’s handle. Glue it inside the inner rim on either side of the box, or, better still, run the prongs of a paper-fastener through the side of your box and through the end of the cardboard strip on both sides of the box. There is the handle—just see what a cunning basket you have made!

In spring, May baskets can be made this way. Filled with wild flowers, they are very cunning—just the thing for a May Day gift.

If you have some pretty shells that you have picked up at the shore, they may go into a little box basket and be given to some little sick child, who will love to handle them and keep them in their basket by his bedside.

At Easter, fill box baskets with moss or green raffia cut to represent grass. Glue the raffia to the box. Then ask cook if she will give you some white beans like those that are baked with pork in a pot. Place three or four of these in the moss or raffia cuttings, and you will have made a cute little basket of eggs to give as an Easter gift. When your water-color paint-brush is moistened with blue or brown paint, make tiny specks on the beans and they will look like wee little birds’ eggs.

The box baskets make good Christmas-tree decorations, too. They may be suspended from branches by colored paper chains, or be tied on with raffia or tinsel. Each basket may be filled with candies or with pretty berries you have found out-of-doors, holly or bright wintergreen.

They may be used as place favors for a Valentine party when filled with red paper hearts.

Little cardboard boxes
Are useful every day.
They make ’most any kind of toy
That you can use in play.

I made a little go-cart,
A basket, and a bed,
And there are many other toys
I might have made, instead!

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A TOY DOG KENNEL FOR A TOY DOG

=Material Required to Construct a Toy Kennel=: a small box without its cover, the cover of some larger box that is square, and cardboard.

Here is a picture of Fido, my little dog. I made him a kennel so that he could stay near the doll-house at night and be a watch-dog. Perhaps your dog would like one, if he is a play dog.

If you do want to make one, I will tell you how.

Take the lower half of your box. This is to be the building. Turn it over and stand it on end upon the piece of cardboard you have. Draw the shape of this end. Add to it about four inches in height. Cut this piece out and cut another like it. Glue one to each end of your box. Be sure your box is inverted before you begin. It should rest upon its rim.

Next, cut each end piece glued to the box to a point at the top. This makes the point of each gable side under the roof. These are the points that come under the roof to support it.

Cut an opening under one of these at one end of the box. It should be shaped like the door of a dog kennel.

Where is a large flat box cover? It is to be the roof. It ought to be about four inches wider than the width of your first box. (For making the kennel roof, see Diagram Three, _E_, page 171.)

Fold this cover downward in equal halves to make a slanting roof, and place it over the points of the dog kennel that come front and back of the little building. There is the kennel all finished! Whistle to Fido! Come here, Fido, to see the nice kennel made for you. Don’t you think that it would be fun some day to make a smaller one for the little china dog?

Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone!
Oh, he hasn’t gone far, for you see
I built him a kennel from out of a box,
And now he stays home here with me!

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HOW TO MAKE A TEDDY BEAR’S WHEELBARROW

=Material Required for Making a Toy Wheelbarrow=: the lower half of a candy box or a similar shaped box, one round pill-box for the barrow’s wheel.

The Teddy Bear’s wheelbarrow that you see in the picture was made from half of a candy box; some strips of cardboard made the legs and wheel supports, and a round pill-box made the wheel.

Do you wish to make a wheelbarrow to play with? Perhaps your Teddy would like one. I will tell you how to make it, shall I?

First, take the lower half of your box and take one end rim off. Then, from the upper part of the rim next to this side, cut out the handles of the barrow. _Next_, cut out the cardboard half-way around the lower part of the box between the handles. This is the frame of the wheelbarrow.

Cut two short cardboard strips each a half-inch wide and each three inches high. These are the rear legs. Glue them to the toy at either side at the back.

After this, cut two strips of cardboard a half-inch wide and five inches long. Glue these to the forward part of the wheelbarrow’s frame.

When all are well dry, press the point of a pin through one of these wheel supports, through the cover of a round pill-box, on through its other side, through the other strip of cardboard in front. Then, if you like, you may put a toothpick in place of the pin, with a small blob of glue at either end, after you have cut the hub of the wheelbarrow off to make it a correct size. Let the glue dry well, and then Teddy may have his toy to play with.

My Teddy and I play at gardening with artificial flowers on the floor. Sometimes, I make flowers from tissue-paper to use. Can’t you make them, too?

One day I cut for Teddy Bear
A wheelbarrow with greatest care.
It is a box, as you can see:
It made a ’barrow splendidly!
Some artificial flowers made
A little garden that we laid;
It was a very happy day
The time we made this garden play.

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OFFICE FURNITURE FOR DOLLS

=Material Required to Make the Office Furniture=: the end of the lower half of a shoe-box makes the desk, a spool with a round box cover makes the desk-stool, a high round box four inches high makes a flower-stand, the cover of a box nine inches long makes a chair.

My dolls thought it would be fun to have an office. I had a little favor that was made like a tiny typewriter, and a telephone that came as a favor, too. You can buy these at any caterer’s or at a candy store.

One of my dolls was a stenographer. You can see her in the picture. Her name is Dosia—Miss Dosia. The other doll is the bell boy or errand boy.

To make a desk for the office, take the half of your shoe-box. Cut legs in its forward rim, leaving each corner. From the side rims cut the two rear legs. (To cut table or flat office desk, see Diagram Six, _D_, page 178.) Paint the desk with India ink and it will look like the one in the picture. If you prefer, use paint, but be careful not to use the paint too moist.

The spool makes the desk-stool. Paint it to match the desk, and stand it on end. Over the top, glue a round pill-box. Paint this also. It makes a very cunning stool for a doll eight inches in height.

The stand is easy to make. The plant on it was a favor, too. The stand is just a box about five inches high. It is put on end and painted.

The chair takes no time at all to cut. Just find the cover of a box about eight or nine inches long. Cut the rim off from it half-way around, starting at the center of one long side. Bend the part that has no rim left on it upward to make the back of the chair, and cut the legs from the lower rim of the rest of the cover as you cut legs for the desk. (To cut a chair, see Diagram Six, _C_, page 177.) It is fun to have a doll’s office. With it you can play at business. What is your business going to be? Are you going to be a lawyer, or the principal of a little doll’s school? Maybe yours will be a real estate office for Boxville!

You can see my office boy in the picture. His hat _ought_ to be taken off his head, but it was glued on, so he had to be impolite—though I made him say, “Excuse me!” for doing it. I hope when you engage an office boy, you will get the kind whose hat _will_ come off! But mine is really quite a nice boy, and his name is Bobbie. (He’d rather be called Bob.) I wish that his hat _would_ come off!

I make believe, when I’m at play,
There is an office far away,
And Mister China Doll goes there
And sits and dictates in his chair.
I made the office by the door,
It’s right upon my play-room floor.

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HOW TO MAKE A DOLLS’ HAMMOCK

=Material Required to Make a Dolls’ Couch Hammock=: the lower half of any oblong box that is deep. One seven or eight inches long will make a hammock for a doll the same length. Larger boxes may also be used. Some string is needed to make ropes.

The dolls’ couch hammock in the picture is easily made. Your large dolls as well as the very small ones may have hammocks. Shall I tell you how to make one?

Take the lower half—that is usually the deeper half of a box—and turn it so that it opens at top. From the front rim, cut out a long lengthwise section of the rim.

At each end of the box, run a string through a corner. Knot the two end strings that come on the ends of the box. Knot them together or tie them, so that the hammock may be suspended wherever you wish to place it.

You may make a mattress for the couch by folding tissue-paper over brown paper cut to fit the shape of your box. Better still, you may make a real little mattress from some canvas or cloth. Cut the cloth a little larger than twice the size of your box. Fold it and sew it. Then stuff the mattress with bits of paper torn to shreds. Pillows for the hammock may be made in the same way, using smaller dimensions.

You can hang the hammock under the railing on the porch, or fasten it to the rungs of a chair when you play indoors with it. I am sure your dolls will be delighted to have you make this for them. If you are a boy, you can make one for your sister. Boys ought to know how to use needle and thread as well as girls. Soldiers and sailors know how to sew. (I know a man who can do embroidery, but, of course, that is going pretty far.) A boy ought to be able to sew a mattress, _anyhow_. It is as easy as making a marble-bag.

I made a dollie’s hammock,
It’s an easy thing to do:
Just find an oblong cardboard box
And you can make one, too!

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HOW TO MAKE A THEATER OR PUNCH SHOW

=Material Required to Make a Theater or Punch Show=: a deep, square letter-paper box and its cover, and some postal cards with colored views.

Would you like to make a toy theater or Punch Show to play with? Shall I tell you how to make one out of some deep, square box about eight inches square and eight inches high?

First, take the cover off your box and lay it aside.

Next, turn your box over so that it rests upon its four rims and the bottom of the box is made the top.

Upon the upper part of the box, near the top, outline an oblong about two inches from each corner of the box. Measure it with your ruler. Its top should be two inches from the top rim of the box. The whole should be about five inches wide and three inches tall. (To guide you in drawing this, refer to Diagram Nine, _A_, page 183.)

Cut this oblong you have drawn at both sides and along its top line. Bend the cardboard inward toward the center of the box. This will make the “stage.” (See Diagram Nine, _A_, page 183.)

Just over the stage, in the upper rim of the box, cut a two-inch wide opening the same length as you cut for the length of the stage below. Cut this out entirely, so that the little dolls you intend to use for actors may be dropped on black strings through the opening and made to walk and dance on the stage. (See Diagram Nine, _B_, page 183.)

Behind the opening over the stage, cut a slit in the rim of the box long enough to slip through a fancy postal card. Slip some pretty colored view through it, and there will be the scenery for your stage. You may have pictures of interiors as well as views of out-of-doors and houses. (See Diagram Nine, _C_, page 183.)

Now, cut a piece of cardboard the right size for a sign for your theater, and print its name on the cardboard. Glue the sign over the stage as you see it in the picture. It will serve to hide the little dolls’ entrance to the stage on their strings.

Last of all, place the cover of your letter-paper box, face down, on its rim on the table or floor, and put the theater or Punch Show well back upon it so that there is place for an audience of little dolls in front. (See Diagram Nine, _D_, page 183.)

Benches for the audience of little dolls may be cut from covers of boxes two and three inches long. (For cutting benches, see Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.)

Your actors may be penny dolls, or any jointed wooden dolls such as you will find in toy row-boats at the ten-cent store.

I used to collect fancy postal-card views of all kinds of interesting places and give lectures on them at my theater. It was most fun of all, I think. I had performing Noah’s Ark animals in vaudeville there, too. There is no end to the games you can play with the theater.

I made a lovely theater for little dolls to-day. If you would like, I’ll tell you how. You make it in this way: Right on the bottom of a box—a pasteboard box, you know— You draw a square with space each side; that’s where the stage should go. Now cut the square right at the top, and cut it down each side. Upon the base, you bend it in. It cannot be denied This makes a “really truly” stage! For scenery you use Some pretty colored postal cards of houses, and some views. To put these in, you cut a slit upon the box’s top, And through a wider one, in front, the dolls on threads you drop.

This must be just above the stage, and wide and long, you see, The actor dolls, held in the wings, can enter easily. You move the thread and walk them round. Mine act all kinds of things: The fairy stories that I know; my sailor doll, here, sings. And you can use the theater for fun in lots of ways: Give lectures on the postal views as well as acting plays.

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HOW TO MAKE A TOY MERRY-GO-ROUND

=Material Required to Make a Toy Merry-go-round=: two round bandbox covers, or the two halves of some large round box, a sheet of penny cut-out pictures of horses or animals, and a cardboard mailing-tube or a hoop-stick.

Everyone may own a merry-go-round. It is made from two large round bandbox covers and a mailing-tube. You will also need some pictures of animals or horses to use on the merry-go-round. Four or five animals are enough to use. A small box will require less.