Take a berry-box and dye with Diamond dyes. Line it with crinkled paper or dainty flowered wallpaper or silk. To do this, fold the paper or silk one inch over on itself from the top, for hem. Gather or pleat the silk near the top with silk of same color and glue to the inner side of the basket near the top, leaving a little projecting edge for ruffle. Leave the lower ends free. The silk should be two inches wider than the depth of the basket and one and one-third times as long as the four sides of the basket. Now take a square of cardboard the size of the bottom of the basket and cover it smoothly with a square of silk, folding the silk neatly over the sides and catching it across so as to be smooth on the right side. Put this silk square down in the bottom of the basket and it will hold the sides of the lining firm. A basket may be lined with paper in the same way, using glue to hold it in place. As paper can not very well be gathered, the top may be glued down smoothly or the paper may be pleated.
Hanging-Basket (Lead from tea-box, ribbon or wire, earth, seeds)
Line a berry box with the lead, fill with good earth and plant vines or flower-seeds. Suspend by ribbon or wire.
Dolls' Furniture (Spools, scissors, glue)
1. Table.—Make a table by cutting a slat from a basket into an oblong 2 × 3 inches and glue to spool for dining-table.
2. Bed.—Soak a few moments and when flexible cut an oblong 2 × 6 inches and bend one end up 1½ inches to form head of bed. Bend the other end up ½ inch to form the foot. Glue two spools to the bottom of this for legs, one at each end.
3. Chair.—Make chairs for the same set by cutting a piece of the box to measure 1 × 2 inches. Bend across the middle so that a right angle is formed and glue one side to a spool. The other half forms the back of the chair. Such furniture may be colored with dyes or Ivory paints.
PEAS
Shelling Peas (Tin pans)
Let the child help Mother to shell the peas for dinner. Children enjoy work of this kind when coöperating with the mother or father. They like to do what Mother is doing when she is doing it too. This will be an excellent time to tell Hans Andersen's story of the "Five Peas that Dwelt in a Pod". As a reward let the child plant a few peas in a box or out-of-doors.