M. I. R. Polkinghorne

“ It is hard to estimate the value of handwork in education, for [Pg 11] one cannot separate the influence of one subject in the curriculum, but one is tempted to say that it has a beneficial effect upon the child's attitude toward work in general; she looks into the why and wherefore of an object in order to see how it is made; unconsciously she adopts the same attitude toward things abstract. She learns to appreciate accuracy and to detect error, but how far she applies this to subjects other than handwork it is hard to say. ”

“ The mere acquisition of knowledge forms the least important part of school work. A large number of facts in connexion with history, geography, French, etc., have rightly to be learnt by heart and are useful to the child in after life, but they do not bring with them necessarily wisdom, nor does the learning of them play such an important part in the child's development as the activity of the child in the handwork class does. ”

“ I enjoy this so much that I hope to buy some tools and wood and do some work at home. My three brothers tease me terribly and call me the 'left-handed carpenter,' because I always work with my left hand. I am not satisfied with the handwork I have done at present, but hope greatly to improve. I enjoy making useful things because they make very useful presents at all times. I should like to teach handwork to others, as I think it so interesting. I have discovered that handwork needs patience and neatness in every way. ”

“ One need scarcely fear for the future of the child, however dull and mechanical her daily work as a grown-up person may be, if she has abundant interests in life—if she can use and love to use in leisure moments hammer, saw, and file, or if she has some other healthy hobby. Still, for those who like the pleasant noise and pleasant mess caused by tools, it is hard to find a happier occupation than toy-making. A toy-maker becomes at once a collector of useful odds and ends, and a collector (that is, one who collects willingly the things he likes) is always a happy person ”

“ Certainly the girl who has had a course in handwork does take a more intelligent interest in things around her, and does find out a way of 'setting about' a piece of work by herself. She has something pleasant and profitable to think about; she becomes more businesslike; in the lesson itself she resents interruption (this was the case when the photographer came for illustrations for this book) ; more strangely still, she plays no tricks with glue-pot or tools, although she has innumerable opportunities for mischief. The joy over the finished article is greater than the spirit of mischief. ”

“ She realises how short the time is when there is work to be done, and looks out for devices for saving time, putting tools in handy places, saving pieces of wood of useful sizes to avoid sawing, and so on.
There is a spirit of earnest endeavour abroad in the handwork class which prevents a girl from throwing aside in a pet something she has done badly; she does not give up in disgust; she finds out the cause of the failure and tries again and again until she gets better results. ”

“ Our knowledge of history and geography often fails to impress our children; they probably think we are a little foolish to burden our heads with so many facts that seem to have no bearing on to-day; but when we can use our hands and make a toy they see us with other eyes, we are really clever people worth cultivating. ”

“ Accuracy is so often the outcome of 'lack of vision.' The child so often has that 'vision,' that imaginative outlook on life that floods the mind with ideas, but lacks accurate power of expression, while the grown-up person has the accurate power of expression, but has lost the fresh imagination of youth and all its ideals. ”

“ Children as young as seven can begin woodwork, but the little strength they possess for sawing makes it necessary to give them prepared wood, called stripwood. There is no need, however, to begin woodwork in too great a hurry, so many are the toys which the children can make with match-boxes, corks, paper and files, and the more familiar the child gets with his ruler and with simple measurements, the better able he is to saw to advantage. ”

“ In toy-making in schools it is very necessary to design toys that can be made from materials which are easily obtained. The Board of Education in a report on handwork in the London elementary schools says: "The range of materials used is limited, as a rule, to paper, cardboard, clay, and 'prepared wood' or 'stripwood.' It is perhaps unfortunate that these are almost entirely 'school materials,' in other words materials which are not likely to be much used outside the school, either in the child's home or in after life." ”

“ If toy-making be taken as a form of handwork in school, one enlists at once the interest of the parent—especially of the father—the mother sometimes, not often, objects to the mess. This interest of the parents is a great gain; the father delights in doing a bit of the work—sticking on the difficult funnel, sawing the hard piece of wood ”

“ Moreover, every teacher of handwork knows how little ease the busy children in her classes get—in these classes they are never passive listeners or passive learners by heart. They see the need [Pg 24] of accuracy, the labour necessary to produce it, they suffer for every mistake they make, they realise some of the joy and pain of creating, and, best of all perhaps, they realise the joy of work—active, muscular work as distinguished from their ordinary scholarly work. ”

“ When I grow up handwork will be useful to me, for if anything breaks I shall know how to mend it, and if I had children I could make things to amuse them. Often I do handwork at home. I like using the saw better than any other tool. I have made a good many things, but I think the best was a little toy motor-car. Handwork is my favourite lesson; when I grow up I shall never leave off doing handwork. My little sister helps me sometimes. I think she will like it. My mother has asked me to make a little thing to put match-boxes in. ”

“ The legitimate purpose of the bradawl is to bore holes in wood so as to ensure the passage of a nail or screw in the right direction, and to facilitate its entrance into the wood.
Three words of advice might be remembered by teachers beginning woodwork:
(1) Don't begin it too soon; don't begin woodwork with children of seven and eight because others do; wait until they are really ready, until they have the necessary strength. There is plenty for them to do in measuring and cutting out paper toys and toys of thin cardboard; they will enjoy the woodwork the more when it comes. ”

“ Indeed, in many cases it is easier to train children to become future clerks and teachers than to train them how to use their leisure. Now handwork classes suggest leisure occupations. The children who begin to make their own toys in the lower forms for themselves, when older will want to make them for other little children, when older, too, they will begin to ask how to make useful articles—writing-cases, medicine-chests, knife-boxes, soap-boxes—articles very frequently suggested by their parents and much valued by them when made. ”

“ TOY-MAKING IN SCHOOL AND HOME CHAPTER I
TOY-MAKING AND ITS EDUCATIONAL POSSIBILITIES
One's main object in teaching children how to make toys should be "to teach them how to make toys." Through their efforts to make a beautiful toy they may become more patient, more accurate, more observant, and more nimble with their fingers, but these virtues will come more naturally and readily if the teacher has but one object in view; singleness of purpose is the secret of success. ”

“ Many girls preferred games, but others chose Art or First Aid or Cookery or Handwork or Needlework. They had to work at least a term at the chosen occupation. We felt that the girls gained great benefit from the hobbies, not only in the additional happiness of working at what they enjoyed, but in an increase of freshness of mind for other work. This year we have gone still farther and have given each girl one period of voluntary work in addition to a whole afternoon for games or gardening; moreover, the four lowest forms have each one period of class work in toy-making ”

“ Through classes in toy-making rightly conducted the children become more resourceful, more quick at finding the right thing for the right place, happier in some cases—that is to say, the so-called dull child, the child that has no gift for mathematics, no memory for languages, can often find in the handwork class the happiness of doing something well, of producing a praiseworthy and pleasure-giving piece of work. ”

“ A more difficult but more satisfactory way of putting on the arms is this: pass a very short piece of cane through the hole in the body, where the arms are to be fastened; see that it turns very easily in the hole; next seccotine the pieces of cane that project at each side into holes in the arms; see that one arm is up, the other down. To make the arms balance well, it may be necessary to fasten a small piece of lead to one hand.
This toy is most amusing if carefully made. ”

“ I prefer to saw wood and stick pieces of wood together to hammering nails in the wood, because the nails are sometimes difficult to get in, for they very often go in crookedly. When we get older and understand handwork more thoroughly we may be able to make things for the home, such as knife-boxes and paper-racks; the things we make now are mostly pleasure toys that we will amuse our younger brothers and sisters with. ”

“ There are many effective ways of making a toy theatre, and the planning and designing of one is a pleasant piece of work. This chapter gives a few suggestions to future theatre builders, who must adopt those that appeal most to them. A large stage is the most necessary part, so that there is plenty of room to set up the scenes and room for the actors. ”

“ In making one's first glider one cannot do better than copy a bird. On a piece of paper draw a circle, fold it in half, draw a bird on one half, as in Fig. 476, cut it out, when the paper is opened it will appear as in the figure. If this bird is thrown head first toward the ground, it will probably fall. If two little bits of cardboard are gummed on each side of his head, he will make a better flight and land on the ground after making a gentle curve. A still better bird may be cut from cardboard, a half cut is then made along a b to bend it, and the head is weighted with sealing-wax. ”

“ Any series of toys made from the same material—say a series of toys made from match stales or from 'stripwood'—has very limited educational advantages. Toys made from a combination of waste materials are the best—match-boxes, cardboard and wooden boxes of all sizes, mantle-boxes, reels, corks, broom-handles, silver paper, etc., can all play a part in producing an effective, even a beautiful toy. ”

“ A reel will be found very useful as an anvil when driving the nails through the bottom of the boat to hold the masts. The child should hold his piece of wood—through which he is driving a nail—in such a position that when the point comes through the wood, the nail makes its passage down the hole in the middle of the reel. As soon as the point has been driven through to a certain distance, the child can lift up his wood and examine—and if need be correct—the direction of the nail before fixing on the mast. ”

“ The happiest days of youth are generally the busiest, days when one had something one really wanted to be busy about for its own sake, not for the sake of marks or for the sake of outstripping one's fellow-pupils, or for the sake of one's future. ”

“ Let the children set to work as soon as possible and use their tools without too many instructions about them. Let them ask, let them have the pleasure of discovering; every child wants to learn, but not every child wants to be taught. ”

“ Fig. 475
When once the kite is up, it does not keep stationary like an English kite, but is always darting about; a skilful flyer can make a kite dart down and almost touch the roof of a house at a great distance off, and then dart up again almost overhead.
It is not an easy kite to manage, but when once the art of flying it is mastered it is never forgotten.
Gliders. The earliest type of toy flying-machine consisted of a two-bladed tin propeller spun on a frame by unwinding string, as with a top, and suddenly let go. ”

“ With regard to infant school work, squares of white paper—cartridge paper or ordinary exercise paper—which the children can colour themselves are better than a too slavish use of the coloured gummed squares supplied to schools. Further directions with regard to materials will be given in connexion with the various toys. It is advisable to use as few tools as possible, both because the fewer tools the less expense and because the fewer tools the more thought and ingenuity required. To have a perfect instrument at hand for every need paralyses work, thought, and happiness. ”

“ To avoid expense one should begin at once to collect useful boxes; this adds to the enjoyment of toy-making. A tobacconist will often give away his cigar-boxes, the wood of which is a pretty brown colour and very useful. Unfortunately, it is sometimes so thin that it is very liable to split. It is difficult, too, to get the paper off some boxes, and the children who resort to washing, scrubbing, and sometimes boiling (!) the wood do not improve it. However, all waste wood has to be prepared in some way; generally the file and sand-paper will make it ready for use. ”

“ A toy children delight to make is the Merry-go-round (Plate V) . It has been made successfully by children from six to twelve. A square piece of stout cardboard (10-inch side) forms the bottom; this can be covered with brown paper or coloured paper. A reel is glued in the middle. Into this reel a stick (about 11 inches long) is fastened securely. Another piece of cardboard is cut round (diameter, 10 inches) , and has a reel glued in the middle; this reel fits on the top of the stick and must turn freely. If the stick is square the top must be rounded to fit the reel. ”

“ I like making toys, so then if you make them nicely you can take them home for your little sisters and brothers to play with. Handwork gives you ideas about things. We can make very useful things such as letter-racks and pipe-racks. I like making furniture for dolls' houses—chairs, tables, and sofas. I like making swings. Some of us make animals. ”