CHILDREN'S TOYS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Stu,—Will you allow me, in reference to your interesting article on "Children's Toys," to suggest a very simple means for the amusement of children which can be easily and cheaply supplied, and which, from experience, I know gives immense pleasure ? My children, who have never been without an abundance of beautiful and interesting toys, have nevertheless never spent happier hours than in playing with a large collection of old bob- bins of every possible size, shape, and colour. I never quite understood their games, which were entirely of their own in- vention, but I know one was forming them into armies and pro- cessions, the larger bobbins being the officers and more important persons, with distinct names ; special bobbins came to special honours, and the way in which they were known and singled out from among hundreds of others seemed almost as marvellous to me as the way in which every little lamb knows its own mother. A .far less interesting use to which they were put by younger children was as blocks for building. The bobbins were also made to run races. A few strung together is a delightful toy for infants, and one which I hardly need suggest. One more, and a very interesting use to which they are put by boys who are allowed the use of a knife, is as the raw material for splendid teetotums. By cutting them in half across the bobbin, and shaping them, and putting a small pointed round piece of wood through
the hole, to act as handle and foot, a perfect teetotum is manu- factured, which can be ornamented, by the use of a little water- colour paint, with a number of concentric circles of brilliant colours. If every tradesman—tailors, dressmakers, and others who keep a large staff of sewers—would ask them to save all their bobbins, I think they would, at no cost to themselves and at very slight trouble, afford great amusement to immense num- bers of poor children. And there is this special advantage in bobbins as playthings, that they are not coloured, and that they can be washed, or being so very valueless in a money point of view, can be thrown away or burnt after an infectious illness.—
Previous page
