Playtime Plans for Girls and Boys

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 3, 4 January 1941, Page 3 (Supplement)

Playtime Plans for Girls and Boys

CLAY DOLLS, You can make many kinds of dolls with clay and, because pipecleaners are used, their legs and arm* will bend into all sorts of funny positions. Figure*.:—Bend two pipe cleaners as ehown. Now fold another one, making it double. Put this between the first two, letting the top form the doll's neck, and bind With thread. Head.—Make a ball of clay and push it upon the pipe-cleaner neck. Arms and Legs.—Lengthe of day, or small balls, are pushed upon the pipe-cleaner arms and lcge and then shaped with fingers. Bodies.—Wrap day round the centre of bodies and shape into shirts or jackets. Feet. —Lumps of clay to form the shoes. Make them large if you want the doll to stand alone. Perch little day hats upon the dolls' heads. Paint features, buttons, or designs with water colOure. Designs may be made in clothes by mixing coloured clays together. You make the bird by putting two balls of clay together with a tooth pick. Beak, legs and tail are pieces of matches covered with day and pressed into shape with the fingers. For the cowboy's chaps fat lengths of clay are pushed upon the pipe -cleaner lege, flattened and pressed into shape. six Magic tops. When you have an evening to spare and cannot go out to play in the open, here is a capital way of passing an interesting hour or so. some pieces of cardboard—unstamped postcards will serve admirably —and cut out half a dozen circular discs, about 3in in diameter. Take two or three wooden meat ekewers* cheap pehholders, or other piecee of \vood of similnr shape, and cut them into 3in lengths, sharpening; one end of each to a rather blunt

point. Push one of these piecee through the centre of each disc, so that fin remains above the dkc,iand 2Jih stands below. You now/have a number of tope which can easily be epun by twirling the upper part of the yeg between the thumb and index finger. Before you fit the wooden peg paint the'dieoe as follows:—* (1) Divide one disc into seven equal parte and paint them in this order: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. When the top is spun rapidly the colours will disappear and the resulting effect will be a dull grey. (2) Draw an eight-rayed star on another disc and paint it red. When spun the disc will appear %o be red in the centre, and then the colour will gradually fade away until the edge of the circle will lie white. (3) Again draw an eignt-rayed star, but this time leave the etar white and paint the remaining parte red. In this case the disc, when spun, will be white in the centre and dark red at the circumference. (4) Draw a diameter, arid colour one half the dh»c green nhd one half yellow. The disc, when revolved quickly, will show up green. (a) Draw about eight radii ott the fifth disc and put short cross lines on the radii. The spinning tl>c wilt appear to be ornamented with- a num'oer of concentric rings. ((!) We leave this disc for n design of your own planning. What curious pattern can you -uggest? HANDY TABLE MATS.. Buy some thin sheet dork. Cut (itit some ovals or circles of thin wood with your freteaw, the pieces with the cork, sticking it on with thin glue. Then paint a half-inch border all round the edge, with one of the dyes ueed for colouring straw hat*.

A SMART BLOTTER. Fold eight eheete of blottinj paper, eo that each ie double thi size of a piece of typewritinj paper. Procure a piece of thii cardboard the same size. Cove this with pretty wallpaper, an< stick down on the inside. Bin< the blotting paper into the cove by threading silk ribbon throucl the fold. A "HOT-COLD" CONTRIVANCE Your mother will find a hundret uses for this little cotitrivatici Get a fair-siised wooden box witl a lid, and then buy a quantity o wadding and flock. Pack the Hod 2in deep all over the bottom o the box and on this lay a shee of the wadding. Kext arrange i etaaller box inside the larger one no that about 2in are left fre between them. Wrap waddin round the inner box and wed<> the eidee with eome more of tli flock. When you have reached t the top level of the inner box cut a piece of thin wood into i frame which will effectively hid all the flock, but leave the centr box exposed. There should b at least 2in now between the to level of the inner box and th toj) of the outside box, but inor will not matter. Take two pieces of board, no quite the size.of the big box, paclj some flock tightly between them, and make them up into a sort oi pillow, covered with flannel. Thi< article should be so contrived that it will rest on t,he frame o wood and' fill the big box exactly Now put a catch on the lid, t< enaiblt it to ehut down tightly Thie container will keep ho things hot in winter and col< things cold in eummer. Of course you may introduce many refine merits in the construction if yoi wish, euch as fitting asbesto sheeting to the sides of the inne box.