“Have you ever noticed how much an ordinary shoe-box looks like a little building with a flat roof?” Happy Thought inquired.
“All you have to do to make it a house,” Nimblefingers put in, “is to cut doors and windows in its sides.”
“And then, when you have made the house, you have all kinds of fun with it,” laughed Play.
“Boxes will make chimneys for your house,” Happy Thought pursued. “Boxes will make furniture—beds, tables, chairs, mantels, pianos, benches—everything!”
“You need only to cut the box rims to make them,” Nimblefingers interrupted.
“And when they are made—oh, think of the things you can use them for!” chuckled Play.
“A whole village can be made—cottages, school, store, church, railway station, bridges, tunnels—everything,” Happy Thought went on.
“And all that you need to do it will be a pair of scissors, a pencil, some paints, and maybe some paste. I’ll show you how,” Nimblefingers volunteered.
“When the village is made, all your toys can play in it! Haven’t you some roly-poly tumble toys, and some penny dolls, and toy animals?” Play demanded. “I know you must have.”
“And the village is not all that you can make from nothing at all but some cardboard boxes. You may make almost any kind of a toy: a theater for dolls, a merry-go-round, an Indian wigwam, and games, and games, and GAMES!”