SPOOLS
Toy Furniture (See [page 15])
Toy Tree Boxes (Spools, green paint, matches, green paper, scissors, paste)
Let the child paint an empty spool green, to be used as a tree box. Insert a burnt match to which has been pasted some green paper, previously fringed, to represent foliage. The child can make a row of such trees as a little boulevard up which he can draw an empty match box for a carriage.
Spool Tower Target (A number of spools, ball)
Pile a number of spools one on top of another and let the child try to knock them down with his ball.
Toy Road Roller (Spool, cord, toy horse)
Tie a cord through a spool and hitch it as a road roller to the Noah's Ark horse.
Pulley Elevator (Narrow cardboard box, such as a corset box or shorter one, spool, cord, another small box, either saved or made, narrow enough to fit inside the larger one, skewer)
Stand the large box on its narrow end and near the top punch a hole on each side so that the holes are opposite to each other. Take a spool and run through it an axle made of a slender piece of wood like a skewer. Then put the ends of the axle in the holes in the box. This makes the pulley. Use the smaller box as an elevator. Tie a string to this little box in such a way that you can hold it up evenly. To do this you must punch a hole in each of the opposite sides. Then tie one end of a longer string to the middle of the first named, and put the other end over the pulley. Revolve the spool by pulling one end of the string and the box will be raised.
Matching Colors (Spools of silk or cotton of various colors, silk and cotton fabrics of different colors)
Have a color game, asking the child to try to match the colors on the spools with those in the fabrics.