CHAPTER XIV

MERRY-GO-ROUND, SWINGING BOATS, AND GREAT WHEEL

A toy children delight to make is the =Merry-go-round= (Plate V). It has been made successfully by children from six to twelve. A square piece of stout cardboard (10-inch side) forms the bottom; this can be covered with brown paper or coloured paper. A reel is glued in the middle. Into this reel a stick (about 11 inches long) is fastened securely. Another piece of cardboard is cut round (diameter, 10 inches), and has a reel glued in the middle; this reel fits on the top of the stick and must turn freely. If the stick is square the top must be rounded to fit the reel. A handle for turning the top can be made from a reel, a piece of cork filed round or a piece of wood. Cork horses, six or eight in number, are made as described in Chapter VII. Paper bands of various colours are gummed round the middle of each horse. These horses are fastened to the top disc by pieces of cane, which may be gummed into the top disc, or simply passed through the holes and bent over.

Paper boys and girls can be cut out to ride on the horses. They will sit on quite steadily if cut out as in Fig. 199. A piece of paper is folded in two along A B, and a little sailor boy drawn; the figure is cut out, the two halves remaining joined along C D. Both sides should be suitably coloured. The figure will be found to have four hands; one raised one on one side, and one lower one on the other, should be cut away. The heads are then gummed together. When placed on horseback the sailor may have his arms folded round the cane. Little girls in sun-bonnets can be cut out in the same way.

Fig. 198 shows a very simple merry-go-round made by a large class, and more suited to the work of a large form than the first one described. Two square pieces of cardboard (3-1/2-inch sides) form the top and bottom. Small reels are glued on as in the first merry-go-round. Four pieces of stout cane are pushed into holes in the top piece of cardboard, and the bottom of each piece of cane is split so that it holds a horse cut out of paper.

The children themselves will think of various ways of altering and improving this toy. Fig. 200 shows how match-boxes may be hung round for cars; match-boxes and horses may also be hung alternately. The children delight in decorating the top of their merry-go-round and the stick with coloured paper.

Older children (nine to twelve) like to make the bottom and top of wood; in this case the top may be octagonal in shape. The central pillar, instead of being supported by a reel, can then be fastened as in Fig. 201, by four triangular supports (of which only two are shown).

=Swinging Boats= (Plate VI). This is another simple and effective toy that little ones can make and play with. The wooden stand can only be made by children of eight and older; a simpler stand can have a cardboard bottom, the supports being reels, the posts stripwood (1/4" × 1/4"), sand-papered to fit reels, and the cross-beam a strip of cardboard with holes in it.

The boats are match-boxes. Four strips of thick paper, all equal in length (a little longer than the match-box), are cut out and gummed inside the box, as A B, C D, etc., in Fig. 202. A match stick, H, passes through these strips of paper where they cross and projects on each side. Pieces of thread are tied to each end of the projecting ends. These threads fasten the car to the cross-beam.

Paper seats should be put in the box; it can be covered with coloured paper, and the strips A B, E F, etc., either chalked or covered with coloured paper. The children delight in making and decorating these swinging boats, and then swinging little dolls.

=A Great Wheel= (Plate VI). Two circular pieces of cardboard are glued to a large reel; four match sticks are fastened into holes opposite each other, and to these match-boxes are attached, as explained in the previous toy. A round rod or wooden skewer passes through the reel and through two holes drilled in the wooden supports of the stand. A slight touch will set the wheel spinning. Before putting the wheel together, the sides may be painted.

Fig. 203 shows another possible shape for the top of the supports. This hollow can be quite easily filed out with a round file. Older children might like to make a pulley, as shown in Fig. 204, by means of which the wheel can be turned. The pulley wheels, A and B, are each made of three cardboard circles gummed together, the inner one, in both cases, being of smaller diameter. A is glued to axle F G.

A smaller axle, J H, is fixed into a hole in the support lower down. A hole is made in the wheel, B, into which a match is glued for a handle. B must turn freely on the axle, J H, and is prevented from slipping off by a nail driven through the axle. A small elastic band connects the two wheels.