SOME DOLL-HOUSES
1. Cigar-Box House (Small cigar-box, paste, scissors, pictures, etc.)
A cigar-box, small as it is, will give great delight to a child who is aided in furnishing a little room. Stand the box up on the long side. Paper with wall paper of a small design. Then furnish with things made by the child himself; pictures cut from catalogues, and other accessories as described below.
2. Pasteboard-Box House (Four pasteboard boxes, glue, paint)
Select four strong pasteboard boxes of uniform size. Boxes such as the "Martha Washington Candles" are packed in will do. They measure 7 × 11 inches. Lay aside the covers and remove any paper which may be attached to the inside of the box. Spread a thick paste of Spaulding's glue or furniture glue over the surface of one side of a box. Fit one side of a second to this glued surface and put aside to dry. The third and fourth boxes are treated in the same manner. When securely glued in pairs place the boxes with open sides facing you. Cover upper outside surface of one pair of boxes with a thick coating of glue and set the second pair on top of these in the same position.
Now, one has a pasteboard house of four rooms—two upstairs and two downstairs. When securely fastened together cut in the partition separating the two upper rooms a door four inches high and three wide. Two windows measuring 3 × 4 inches, two inches from floor, may be cut in the back of the house. The same treatment may be given the rooms downstairs. One may arrange a kitchen and dining-room downstairs and a parlor and bedroom upstairs.
Oil paints, such as are used in painting furniture, which come already mixed in small cans, may be used for painting the exterior of the house.
In using this paint it is well to remember always to put sufficient paint on the brush to cover the entire surface of the wall of the house, from edge to edge, without lifting the brush. A strict observance of this rule insures a neatly painted surface. If desired, one may use yellow, green, or any light color for the interior.
Remnants of cartridge paper or paper decorated in small designs can often be obtained of paper-hangers for a small sum. It may be fastened to the floor to serve as a large rug.
3. Soap-Box House (Three wooden soap-boxes, nails, saw, paint)
Take three soap-boxes, wooden. Remove the covers from two and place one upon the other to make a two-story house. Put in partitions thus: Take a thin piece of board (from a smaller box), saw to needed height and depth and nail it in place by driving nails from above, below or the side, as the case may require. A stiff piece of cardboard (taken from a large box) may be made to serve as partition. If cut to the right size the pressure from top and bottom will hold in place.
By taking two small boxes for the upper floor instead of one large one the space which would be naturally left between can be made into a hallway. Stairs may then be made of stiff cardboard, folded into steps, with a strip of obliquely-cut paper pasted along the edges of the steps to keep them in place.
If windows and doorways are desired they must be cut or sawed in after being drawn where desired in pencil.
The third box is for the gable roof. It is to be placed on top of the upper floor so that its sides slant for the roof. Put in place and then mark off all that needs to be sawed away. When ready to be fixed permanently put in place and nail through.
The furnishing of the little house gives much scope for ingenuity and invention as well as for the exercise of good sense and good taste.
The exterior of the house can be painted with house paint, and this gives occasion for the broad use of the larger muscles, and physiologists tell us that the little child should exercise the larger muscles and nerves while the finer ones are still undeveloped.
Tiling (Corrugated packing cardboard, tacks, hammer)
The roof may be given a tiled effect by covering with corrugated packing cardboard saved from packages. Tack this on.
Papering
1. Paper with wall-paper. Scraps of it may be saved when the home is being papered.
2. Oil-cloth effects may be obtained by pasting on floors or walls designs made with the kindergarten parquetry papers. (See [page 168].)
3. Friezes may be made in the same way by using circles and squares in rows, alternately or successively.