The Child's Rainy Day Book

Colour the heart on both sides with vermilion watercolour paint and it will then be ready for the silk top. Cut from scarlet China silk a strip five inches wide by half a yard long. Sew the ends together, hem the top and make a casing for the ribbon drawstring, as described in the directions for the beaded silk bag in chapter V. The lower edge is gathered to fit the inside of the top of the heart and pasted into it on a straight line, running just below the openings, around both sides of the heart. If the paste is not very sticky you may need to take a tiny stitch here and there with scarlet sewing silk, tacking the silk top more securely to the heart. It will then be ready to line with a lace paper doily or some waxed paper, and fill with bonbons.

A Frog Jumping Jack

There is a funny frog jumping jack that you can make if you like some cheerless, rainy day. He brings smiles wherever he goes.

Take a sheet of heavy four-ply bristol board and draw upon it the pieces shown in Figs. 95, 96, 97 and 98—the frog's head and body, legs and one arm. Make them as large as you can. The head and body together should measure eight inches high by seven wide, from the right side to the end of the mandolin on the left. The legs should be about six and a half inches long and the right arm should of course be the size of the left, which is drawn on the same piece as the body. Colour the body, throat and legs pale yellow with watercolour paint; the upper part of the head, the arms and the outer edges of the body and legs are first painted light green and then marked with irregular spots and dashes of medium and dark bluish green. A red ribbon with a Maltese cross of the same colour is painted around his neck, and the mandolin he holds is white above and black underneath. The eyes should be dark green with very large whites, and the smiling mouth red, of course. The strings of the mandolin are drawn with pen and ink, as are the outlines of the whites of the eyes, the hands and feet. Now Mr. Frog must be put together. Tie a knot in a piece of fine white string and thread the other end through a large worsted needle. Run the needle through the frog's body at the lower right side (where you see the dot on Fig. 95), leaving the knot in front, pass it through the right leg about half an inch from the top and fasten it with a knot at the back. The other leg is attached in the same way, and the right arm is placed in position and fastened to the body as the legs were. A knot is then made in a piece of white cord and the end is brought through the right arm (leaving the knot in front) about three-quarters of an inch below where it is fastened to the body, and near the outer edge of the arm. The end of the string is brought down at the back of the frog, quite loosely, to the upper part of the right leg, where it passes through and is tied to the part of the string that comes from the arm (see Fig. 99). It is then brought across to the top of the left leg, where it is tied. A separate string fifteen inches long is attached to the centre of the piece, which passes from one leg to the other (this is the one that is pulled to make him jump), and a short loop of string is fastened at the top of his head by which to hold him. When the long string is pulled Mr. Frog will dance and play the mandolin.

Paper Flowers

Have you ever made paper flowers? If not, you have probably seen them made by the cardboard patterns which dealers in tissue paper sell. How about making the patterns yourself—for the poppies, daisies and tulips and all the other flowers. It will be an interesting thing to do and not difficult. Catch one of the poppy petals as it floats off from the flower, blown by a summer breeze. Notice that there are only four petals (if it is a single poppy), the two smaller ones setting across the larger pair below. Poppies are charming and much simpler than other flowers to copy in paper. You may have noticed that the petals of the real ones look almost exactly like silky, crinkled paper. Draw an outline of the petal a little larger than life on heavy brown paper. Fold the paper back at the base of the petal and cut it out in the two thicknesses so that it will look like Fig. 100. The two lower petals will be cut in the same way but larger. You now have a pattern for as many poppies as you choose. They can be made in various colours—white, red, pink, pink and white and yellow. You can buy poppy centres ready to use, or if you prefer you can make them yourself in this way: For a poppy four and a half inches across, cut a circle of yellow paper an inch and a quarter in diameter. Fringe the edge about half an inch. Next take a wire stem, bend the end into a small circle, cover it with a tiny ball of cotton batting and over this a piece of olive-green tissue paper, forming it to look as much as possible like the real poppy centre (see Fig. 101). Wind the edges of the paper close around the wire stem. Now run the other end of the stem down through the yellow circle, brushing it with paste to attach it to the green part of the centre. Slip the smaller pair of petals on the stem, then the larger pair (with a little paste between), so that the smaller pair will set directly across the larger. This completes the poppy. The stem is wound with strips of olive-green tissue paper, and the leaves are cut from the same paper by a pattern which you can easily make by laying a poppy leaf on a sheet of cardboard and drawing around it with a sharp-pointed pencil.

Ox-Eyed Daisies

Ox-eyed daisies are easily fashioned and look so like the real ones that they are as satisfactory as any paper flowers you can make. Take four thicknesses of deep-yellow tissue paper. Bend the corner over diagonally and cut a square four by four inches. Next fold the paper in the same way as for the petals described in the Daisy Game in this chapter. Mark on the top of the last fold a petal, as shown in Fig. 83, and cut it out through all the thicknesses. After it is unfolded you may have to cut some of the petals up nearer to the centre. Wind some brown worsted around your thumb about twenty times, take it off and run through it the end of a wire stem which has been bent into a tiny crook. Tie the worsted centre just above the wire with a short piece of worsted, or bind it with fine wire, and cut the loops at the top. Now run the other end of the stem down through the centre of the petals. Make a green calyx like the one for the white daisy but much smaller, not over an inch across. Wind the stem with strips of olive-green tissue paper, laying in every now and then a daisy leaf cut from the same dark-green paper. Other single flowers can be as easily made as this, and you will find that the patterns will not be difficult to make if you take the natural flowers for your models.

A Curled Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemums are among the most natural of paper flowers, and fascinating to make. White ones are pretty, and those that are made of shades of pink or yellow are even more attractive. Cut the pattern shown in Fig. 102 from cardboard and lay it on three thicknesses of medium yellow tissue paper, seven and a half inches square, which have been folded diagonally three times. Hold the pattern firmly upon it and cut it out carefully. Then in the same way cut two thicknesses of light-yellow paper into petals. A piece of olive-green tissue paper is folded into a smaller square and cut in the same way, to make a calyx. To curl the petals, put a small sofa cushion on your knee, lay a petal upon it, and, taking a common hatpin with a smooth, round head, press it upon the end of each petal up to the centre. This will curl it as if by magic. Do another and another till the whole piece is finished. Then curl a second piece and a third in the same way. When they are all done bend a long wire stem at one end and run the other end through the centre of the petal-edged pieces, which should be laid one above the other, the darker ones on top. Put a touch of paste between them, slip on the green calyx, wind the stem with strips of green tissue paper, laying in a chrysanthemum leaf from time to time, and the flower is complete.

Games for Two or Three to Play

CHAPTER X
GAMES FOR TWO OR THREE TO PLAY

On stormy days the children of a family are likely to be alone—unless they are so fortunate as to have a little visitor in the house, or a friend who lives near wraps up and comes to play with them. A child who is alone can read, or find in the other chapters of this book some absorbing occupation; for a party of children there are always plenty of games, but it is sometimes difficult to think of a game that two or three will enjoy. The following are a few suggestions for such an emergency:

Picture Puzzles

There is such a fascination about cutting and pasting that a game like this is one of the best you can choose for a dull day. Each child has an old magazine, a piece of cardboard and a pair of scissors, while tubes of paste lie conveniently near. When the children are seated around a table the game begins. It is played in this way: Each player cuts from his magazine a picture (which must be smaller than his card), pastes it upon his piece of cardboard, and when it is dry and firm cuts it in pieces with six straight cuts of the scissors, so as to make a puzzle. He then mixes the pieces and passes them to his neighbour on the right. At a given signal each child tries to put the puzzle which he has received together as quickly as possible. The one who finishes first calls out that he is through, and he is of course the winner.

As a sequel the children will enjoy colouring the puzzles. If they are pretty and neatly made they may be given to a child's hospital, to amuse some other little children in the long days of convalescence.

How to Play the Daisy Game

This is a good guessing game for two or more children to play, and if you will follow the directions given in chapter IX. you will find that it can be made quite easily. None of the players should have seen the key, or answers to the conundrum, but if you find that they have seen it, you can write on the slips of paper, instead of the conundrums, the names of flowers with the letters mixed for example, sapyn, for pansy. Each child in turn pulls a petal from the daisy and tries to guess the name of the flower, which is the answer to the conundrum written on the under side of the petal. Five minutes is the time allowed, and if the player has not guessed the flower in that time he must pass the petal to the child on his left, who also has five minutes in which to guess it. If he guesses correctly the petal belongs to him, and at the end of the game the player having the most petals has won.

Horses in the Stable

Although this game is played with marbles, girls as well as boys will enjoy it, and it is so easily prepared that it can be played at short notice. Take a long pasteboard box—a shoe box is about the right size. Remove the cover and turn it upside down. Now, starting at the lower edge, draw five doorways, like those shown in Fig. 103. The one in the centre should be an inch across and an inch and a half high, the two on each side of it an inch and a half wide and two inches high, and the outer ones each two inches wide and two and a half inches high. Cut out these doorways with a sharp, strong pair of scissors and mark over the middle one in pen and ink the number 25. The two on either side of it have marked above them 10, and the other two each have 5. Stand the box, or stable, thus prepared, against the wall and place a mark four feet from it. Each player has three marbles, and in turn tries to roll or shoot them from the mark through the little doors into the box. If he succeeds in putting one through the smallest door he makes twenty-five; if through either of the other doors his score is increased by the number marked above it. There should be a time limit for the game—half an hour, for example. The score of each player, which is kept on a sheet of paper, is added at the end of that time and the one having the most points has won the game.

Plants and Flowers

Although a number of children can play this game, two or three will enjoy it quite as well. Any boy or girl can make it. You will need first of all a number of seed catalogues. Cut from these eighteen or twenty pictures of flowers and plants, taking care not to leave the names on them. Write in pencil, on the back of each, a number (any one from 1 to 18) and the name—this is for your own guidance later on. Now make a list of the flowers and plants, each with its number before it. This is the key, to be put away till after the game is played. Take a large sheet of cardboard, about twenty by twenty-four inches, and paste upon it the flowers and plants in the order of their numbers, marking the number of each clearly in pen and ink underneath it. If you like you can colour the pictures—this will make the game more attractive, of course, and as you can use it many times it is worth while. A loop of string, by which to hang it, should be run through the top of the card at the centre. When you are ready to play the game hang the cardboard sheet where all can see it; give each player a pencil and a piece of paper, on the left side of which numbers from 1 to 18 have been marked. Each child tries in the time allowed—about twenty minutes—to guess the names of the flowers and plants on the sheet or cardboard, and write each opposite its number on his piece of paper. The correct names are then read from the key and the players check off their guesses. The one who has guessed the greatest number correctly is of course the winner.

A Ball-and-Fan Race

Two children will find this race an interesting one for a rainy day. The best place in which to play it is a large room with very little furniture in it—a playroom for example. Each player stands at a corner of the room diagonally opposite the other, three feet out from the corner, and each has a Japanese paper ball in front of him and a large fan in his hand. They must face different ways and both count together "One, two, three, and away!" As they finish counting, the children begin to fan their balls around the room, close to the wall. There will be some lively skirmishing when they meet, as they are likely to do when half way around the room. Then each tries to send his opponent's ball back and his own forward. When each finally gets his ball back to the corner where he started, he must try to send it as quickly as possible to the middle of the room, where a chair is placed. The ball must be fanned through the legs of this chair and to the goal of his opponent. The player who first accomplishes this is the winner.

Fun with Popcorn

If the open fire burns brightly in your playroom, no matter how gray and bleak the day may be outside, you and your brothers and sisters can keep warm and cheerful over this delightful game. You may provide a prize for the winner, if you like, but the only things that are absolutely necessary are the fire, some popcorn and a popper. When the players are seated in a semicircle around the fire they may all help in shelling the corn. After this is done, divide the popcorn evenly between them, so that each shall have a small quantity. The player on the left side of the fireplace now takes the corn popper and pops his corn. When it is done, the kernels that are fully popped are counted, also the unpopped ones, and a record is made of each. The next player pops his corn and counts the result, and so on until all have finished. The child having the largest number of fully popped kernels is the winner, and may receive a prize. Afterward the winner and the defeated players will equally enjoy eating the fluffy popcorn, or if the cook is particularly amiable they may be allowed to flock to the kitchen and make popcorn balls.

Express

This is a lively game that needs little preparation. All you will have to provide is a number of articles, toys, pieces of china (not valuable ones), a glass of water, some very small things and one or more large ones, something heavy like a dumb-bell or flatiron and something light—a palmleaf fan, for example. When you have them all collected, on a table or stand on one side of the room where the game is to be played, place another table or stand across the room. Then you must have a clock or a watch, and that is all—except the players. Each child in turn takes one thing at a time, from the stand where the various articles are piled, and carries it to the table at the opposite side of the room. It is done as quickly as possible, for the object is to move everything from one place to the other in the least possible time. Each player is timed and his record kept on a piece of paper. If a player drops anything he must carry it back to the starting point and make another trip with it. The next player begins at the table to which the first one took the baggage and carries it, in the same way, back to the first table. So it goes on until everyone has played expressman. The player who succeeds in transferring the baggage in the shortest time is, of course, the winner.

A Hurdle Race

The next time you are kept indoors by the weather, you and a brother or sister may enjoy a hurdle race. It is played with tiddledywink chips and pasteboard hurdles on a large table or on the floor. You can make the hurdles yourself. They should be cut from cardboard, eight inches wide and four inches high. Paint some of them with wooden bars and others green—like high hedges. In making the hurdles, cut the cardboard so that a strip two inches deep by an inch across will extend below each lower corner (see Fig. 104). One of these is bent sharply forward at the place marked by the dotted lines, the other is turned back, forming stands to keep the hurdles upright.

The racecourse will have to be laid out on a covered table or carpeted floor, as the tiddledywinks can only be used on a soft, cushiony surface. You can make the boundaries with white string, held in place here and there with pins. An oval course, though more difficult to mark is rather more exciting than a straight one, but either will do. Have the course eight inches wide and as long as you please. The hurdles may be placed where-ever you choose, but be sure to have plenty of them.

When you are ready to begin, each player takes a large tiddledywink chip and a small one of the same colour—but different from his opponent's—and at a signal given by a third person, who acts as umpire, the race begins. Snap the tiddledywink chip just as you do in playing the game, only taking great care not to send it out of the course, for if it goes outside the lines you must set it back three inches. The umpire follows the race, of course, and settles all disputed questions.

Pictures from Fairy Tales

Two or three children who know and love the old fairy tales can spend a delightful hour playing this game. Each one should have several old magazines and a sheet of cardboard, as well as scissors and a tube of paste. The leader, who may be one of the children or an older person, explains the game as follows: Each child is expected to make a picture on his sheet of cardboard to illustrate some fairy tale. It is not necessary to draw it; he can cut from the magazines people and properties and scenery and paste them upon the card. He must be sure not to tell anyone the story he has chosen. At the end of half an hour the pictures should be finished. A bell is rung for everyone to stop work and the pictures are placed where all can see them. The leader now holds one up before the children and asks them what story they suppose it illustrates, and what particular part of the story. The child who answers first wins the picture. The other pictures are held up, one at a time, and the children try to see who can guess them first. If they are ready for another round of the game after this one is finished, they may find it amusing to vary it by making pictures from "Mother Goose."