Fig. [112].—Elephant's ear.
In making these little creatures do not forget that you must do some modelling, bending and shaping them with your fingers, squeezing up the paper where it stands out too far, and gently pulling it out in places where it flattens too much. The heads can be turned to suit the fancy, the bodies inclined this or that way, or they may stand stiff and erect. You might model a number of chickens, of different-colored paper, some yellow, some white, and others black, like real chickens; or make several turkeys and two or three elephants, some of the latter with tusks and others without. The toys when finished will cause exclamations of delight and approval. They are simple and easy to put together, something which will not cost much and yet be worth many times the amount expended for the necessary material to manufacture. The little animals are attractive, substantial toys, entirely different from the common ones which any girl or boy with sufficient pocket money may purchase.
CHAPTER X
NATURE STUDY WITH TISSUE-PAPER
A natural flower, some tissue-paper, a pair of scissors, a spool of thread, and nimble fingers are all you need.
There are no patterns, only circles and squares and strips of paper which you gather here, spread out there, wrap and tie some place else and, with deft fingers, model into almost exact reproductions of the natural flower before you.
With its unfamiliar terms to be committed to memory and the many parts of the flower to be distinguished, botany is apt to prove dry and tiresome to the little child, but to study nature by copying the flowers in this marvellously adaptable material is only a beautiful game which every child, and indeed many grown people, will delight in. The form of the flower, its name and color, may, by this means, be indelibly stamped upon the memory, and a good foundation laid for further study.