CHAPTER XVIII

SOME OLD-FASHIONED TOYS--A MONKEY-UP-A-STICK, A JACK-IN-THE-BOX

A Monkey-up-a-stick is a very easy toy to make. First cut out a cardboard or wooden monkey as in Fig. 420. See that the legs and arms turn freely on paper-fasteners, A and B. Paint the monkey grey or brown. With a pin make holes, C and D, in the feet and hands. Next saw two lengths of stripwood, one 1´ × 1/4" × 1/4", the other almost twice as long. Drill a hole near one end of each of these sticks. Pass a pin or piece of wire through the holes in the monkey's feet and the hole in the shorter stick; bend down the pin on each side to keep the feet from slipping off. (The point of the pin should be cut off with pliers.) In the same way fasten the monkey's hands to the longer stick. See that the limbs (note that they come one on each side of the stick) revolve freely on the pins or wire. The two sticks may be kept together by pieces of elastic; this however rather prevents the one stick from moving freely up and down the other. It is better first to file the sticks (or one of the sticks) round or to use dowel rods. These round rods can then be kept together by cardboard or wooden discs. The disc must have a hole in the middle large enough for the rod to move freely up and down in it. The thicker the piece of wood or cardboard the better. The hole must be made in the wood with a brace and bit (a bradawl will make the hole in cardboard, and it can be filed to the right size with a round file). The longer rod, A, Fig. 421, goes through the hole; the bottom of the shorter rod, B, is glued and nailed to the disc.

By moving the disc C up and down the monkey performs its usual antics at the top of the stick.

The monkey, or a clown if preferred, looks very effective cut out of three-ply wood and riveted together.

For a small model wooden meat skewers may be used as sticks. Other suggestions for C in Fig. 421 are: a reel (though rod B when glued to a reel tends to break off); half a cork.

More interesting than the "monkey-up-a-stick" is the monkey that climbs a rope, though this little animal has sometimes an irritating manner of swinging about on the rope, and going no higher. If he is carefully made according to the following directions he ought to climb. The monkey is cut out of cardboard in the same way as the first monkey, except that his two arms are gummed firmly on in the position shown in Fig. 422, his legs only being free to move. Pins or pieces of wire are passed through the holes at A, B, C, D. In the case of pins, the point is cut off with cutting pliers and the rest doubled back to prevent its coming out on one side, the head of the pin prevents it coming out on the other. Tie a piece of thin elastic round the pins, A and B, so that it is only just on the stretch when the legs are drawn up parallel with the arms, as in the figure. A piece of wire is passed through at E and is bent over out-wards, drawing the hands fairly tightly together. A piece of thread is passed through the eye so formed, down and under the pin, C, then over the pin, D By alternately slackening and tightening the line the monkey will climb up the thread in a very life-like manner.

Care must be taken to nip the wire well together at the hands to get enough friction to hold the thread firmly while the elastic pulls the legs up, on the other hand the thread must be just loose enough to pass through E.

=A Jack-in-the-box.= The simplest way of making a Jack-in-the-box is the following. Get some ordinary wire (quite thin wire will do) about 4 feet long or longer if a bigger jump is required. Wind this tightly round a broom handle, keeping the rings of wire close together. Slip it off. Take a cork, cut it so that it is about 1-1/4 inches high. File it round in the shape of a head as in Fig. 423. Mark the eyes and nose in ink, the mouth with red paint; or two beads can be glued in for the eyes. To make the hair, cut several short pieces of black wool, tie them in the middle at B, and glue or pin them to the middle of the head; tie back the side ends with yellow or red wool as in the figure. Fasten one end of the wire spring in the centre of bottom of cork, as at A. A piece of muslin is then gummed round the cork to hide the spring, so that it is loose and folds easily.

Next make a box, 2-3/4 inches high, or take the cardboard box that contains a bottle of Le Page's liquid glue, and cut off about one-third. Cut off the cover and glue it on to one side (C in the figure). Make loop of wire at D, and insert a paper-fastener at E to catch the wire loop. Fasten the end of the spring to the bottom of the box, by passing it through the hole in one bottom flap, bending it over and gluing over it the other flaps that form the bottom. Coloured paper or scraps may be gummed to the sides and top of the box. This is a suitable toy to be hung on a small Christmas tree.

A larger and stronger Jack-in-the-box can be made from a wooden box about 5-1/2 inches square. For this a piece of No. 12 gauge wire about 10 feet long is required; it is wound around a rolling-pin. This spring is then nailed by means of staples to a piece of wood made to fit the inside of the box. Fasten a round piece of cardboard to the top of the spring, and either sew on to it a small doll's head, or make a doll's head of part of a stocking stuffed with wool and having eyes, mouth, etc., sewn on. A cap (a fool's cap looks best) is made to fit the head, and a loose jacket is sewn on to hide the spiral body.