For the Children

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16734, 16 May 1922, Page 3

For the Children

PING-PONG. Gerald came downstairs three st-eps at a time. “ Mabl Mab!” he shouted “How many are there? ’’ How many parcels, he meant, for it was his birthday, and it was the postman’s knock that had brought him down in such a scurry. “Five!” cried, his little Bister, as their mother brought them in. “Oh Gerald, do hurry up and open them ! I wonder what can be in that long box ? ” It was a ping-pong set—the very thing they had been longing for. “ We’ll have a game directly after breakfast,” said Gerald ; and they were so excited that they* could hardly wait till breakfast was over and. Nanny had cleared the table. And even then they could not start, for unfortunately it was the day for ‘ turning out ” the dining room, and that meant they could not get back there for quite an hour. It was very provoking. “ Come on! ” cried Gerald impatiently j “ There’s the drawing-room ; let’s go and play in there.” But Mab hung back. “ Suppose we break something? ” she said. “No fear!” replied. Gerald. “The balls are not hard enough to do any harm.” So off they went, and soon the little white ball was flying to and fro across the table, and the children were having a splendid time. But the ball didn’t always go in a straight line, and in leaning over sideways to catch it when it flew at an awkward angle, Gerald’s bat suddenly came with a crack against something lying on the china cabinet. Tt was a parcel, and it fell with a hang on the floor. “Oh dear! ” cried Mab, looking horrified. “ I wonder what it is.” “ My birthday present to Gerald.” said a. voice; and in came Tlncle Dick. “ Tf it's broken, my boy, you mustn’t blame me.” I/iickily it was not; hut it taught the children a. lesson, and they never played games in the drawing-room again.

PICTURE BOOKS FROM ADVERTISEMENTS. Amusing and delightfully strong picture books may be made from materials which find their way to the waste paper basket in most households. Collect all cardboard boxes, and cut out the top and bottom of each one, to make scrapbook pagesCut them to, a uniform size, and make a “ cover ” from two similarly sized sheets, covered neatly with brown paper. Pierce holes in “ covers ” and inside “ pages ” an inch and a half from the top and bottom and two inches from the left-hand side. When the pages have been decorated they can be tied together to form a picture book byi a string passed through the upper slots, down the hack of the cover, and up through the bottom slots, the ends being tied in a bow in front. A brown bootlace answers as a tiestring. The pages to be filled may be scattered amongst the members of the family to adorn, a pile of advertisements, sale catalogues. Christmas cards, and illustrated papers being provided from

they may require to carry out their schemes. FEEDING THE SPARROWS. When Betty’s mother opened the kitchen door one morning and saw the great blanket of freshly fallen snow everywhere, her first thought was of the little birds. Although they did not hear or see any sign of the sparrows which were usually flying about, they decided to place some food where it could be easily, seen. So Betty’s mother placed a dish, of the meal and a pan of water on top of the snow, and then watched at the window to see what would happen. In a few minutes a little sparrow flew down to the dish, hopped all around it, and flew away. In a moment he came back with another sparrow-. The two liopped about as the first had done, but touched neither food nor water. Then they flew away and soon came back with two m-ore birds. The four hopped about, talking noisily to each other, and Betty wondered if they were never going to eat. But they must have thought it "would be impolite to begin their feast before all of the guests had arrived, for all four flew away, bringinsr back with them a host of sparrows. The dish wag too small to permit of all feeding at the same time, so some would bop up to the dish, eat a little of the meal, and hop away, making room for others. The next morning mother and Betty were standing near the window when they heard a bird chirping so loudly and so close to them that they looked up in astonislynent. A sparrow was standing on the stone window ledge, and as Betty drew nearer the wondow, the bird came closer, chirping loudly as he came. He acted as though he were trying to tell her something. Then he looked straight at Betty, gave a chirp, flew down to the very spot where the food had been placed on the previous day, and came back to the wondow, chirping noisily' all the time. And Betty understood him just as well as if he had said- “ Good morning. Where is my breakfast?” After that the birds always received their breakfast without asking for it.

THE FLOWERS IN A DAISY. Have you ever counted the flowers contained in 0 common field- daisy? Well, the next time you see one just look carefully at its dear little head and you will find that the yellow centre is made up of hundreds and hundreds of tiny yellow flowers. Perhaps you will try to count them. I wonder how many you will find?