European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Make it yourself playthings by Patricia Mccormack United press International c Hildren have been making their own toy since the first toddler foraged in the Kitchen cupboard and pulled out two pot lids Tobang together. Such homemade percussion instruments head a Parade of inexpensive and fascinating playthings that can be made by do it yours Elfer parents and kids. As kids grow and with a Little help from parents they learn that with a dash of ingenuity and some patience they can make lots of playthings Many of which Are educational. If you re All thumbs at this sort of thing you can pick up pointers from mister Rogers playback $7.95, Berkley family living written by Barry head and Fred Rogers the creator and Host of the award winning to program mister Rogers neighbourhood. Between the covers Are instructions for display games collages doll House and furniture puppets and puppet stages pretend games cooking constructing a play neighbourhood teaching concepts such As weights and measures and More. In his introduction to the Book Rogers says there s great value Tor children in learning to identify things and their uses but that value goes beyond simply learning the right answers. Each time a child learns How something works or what it can do he or she is gaining a Little More understanding and Mastery. More tools to create with. We can be proud when our children learn to say Glove and to put gloves on their hands or to say shoe and put shoes on their feet. But we can be proud too when they turn gloves into puppets and shoes into dump trucks Rogers believes that one of a child s strongest urges is to be a part of what the grown ups Are doing. So he advises parents to put kids on the maintenance Crew around the House or appoint them helpers when engaged in a do it yourself project children May enthusiastically participate in such activities As mopping sponging polishing kneading stirring or laundry sorting Rogers says in the Book. These May seem like chores to us but children Are Likely to see them quite differently As a Chance to suggests that one of the Best ways for us to engage our children in play is to play ourselves he adds. For example he says if a Parent begins putting together a milk Carton House chances Are that a four year old will become fascinated and offer to help. Here Are some of mister Rogers directions for make it yourself playthings roads use pieces of masking tape to create roadways on any open space such As a porch or floor if you picture How the sidewalks at an intersection come together in Corners you la see the shape we have in mind two pieces of tape to make each Corner with the roads running in Rivers the simplest River. Is a Long strip of Blue cloth. You May have something old and Blue lying around but if you Don to you can always take something old and White and Dye it with vegetable Bridges you can make Good Bridges out of cardboard cylinders by cutting them in half length ways and then cutting off the amount of Bridge you need. Little Bridges can come out of the tubes found in toilet tissue or paper Towel tunnels what works As a Bridge can also work As a Tunnel. If one Road goes through while another goes Over then a single cardboard Arch can be both Bridge and Tunnel at the same houses almost any empty Container can become a building of some kind. We particularly like the waxed cardboard Cartons that milk often comes in. The half gallon and quart sizes make Good skyscrapers. Lying on its Side the quart size can also be a House if you glue construction paper to the waxy outsides of the Carton you can draw doors windows and signs spools simple sturdy and color Lul. Spools come in different sizes and can be made into a family of play people. All you need is a pipe cleaner head with a neck you can stick into the Hole in the Rogers says. The Book also contains directions for making paper bag puppets mobiles out of hangers crazy hats silly slippers zoo cages out of shoe boxes zoo animals out of paper tubes and other things found around the House. There even Are directions for making an Admiral s hat out of the Sheet of newspaper Here s How take a piece 12-by-18 inches. Fold in half to make 12-by-nine-inches. Place the Sheet so that the crease is away from you children enjoy do it yourself projects too. Jaton Ellis 4, of Kalser Lautem helps with Bike Tiro repair. And fold the upper Corners inward so they meet at the Center. You should now have two flaps at the Bottom fold the top Flap up turn the hat Over and do the same with the other Flap. You la probably need to tape these haps in place As Well As taping the pointed front and Back of the hat. Ii you decide you want to paint these kinds of hats Spray paint is the easiest kind to use. And two or three Light Coats is better than one heavy one each coat should be Given time to dry before you apply the next. Trimming that hat with Gold braid or yarn can give it an added official some projects May require More skills than you have. In that ease Call the experts. Knowing when to Back off by Jack Warner United press International w hat separates the successful Home Handyman from the walking disaster i neither tools nor Talent but knowing when to Back away and Call for All this amounts to is a Little forethought and the common sense to recognize the limits of your capacity. Has the Light switch in the Kitchen failed All you need to fix it is a new switch a screwdriver and maybe a pair of Needle nose pliers if the going gets rough. But you also need the Good sense to go to the service Box and shut off the Power to that switch or you re in for a rude Surprise. Try the same thing with a 220-Volt Wall outlet and the Surprise May be your last. And if you get that broken switch out and find the wires leading to it Are so old they Are Brittle with the insulation crumbling off of them it May be time to Check your Bank balance and Call an electrician or raise your fire insurance. Are you tired of your old Kitchen faucet you see the connections everything looks perfectly simple nothing More needed than an adjustable wrench or maybe a pair of Channel locks. Before you tear into it think for a minute. Certainly you re Bright enough to have the new faucet on hand. Did you Check to see if the spacing Between the hot and cold pipes is the same if your House is an old one it May not be and that turns a potentially simple Job into a task for a qualified plumber. And if your House is pretty old say 50 years or so and that s the original faucet you could get into a Heap of trouble anyway. Old plumbing has a Way of welding itself together at the joints even a professional plumber won t guarantee you he can get that faucet off without breaking a pipe. So before you begin Bear in mind that plumbers tend to charge a lot More for emergency Calls. Got a broken window pane simple to replace what you need can depend on whether the window is wooden or Metal. The hardware store will Cut the Glass for you. But they la need the dimensions. What Are you going to measure it with Don t use a fabric tape measure out of the sewing kit its acquaintance with accuracy is Remote at Best. There Are countless Pitfalls like these in the path of the do it yours Elfer. The Best Way to avoid them is to have tools adequate to your purpose and to undertake Only that work which you have thought out carefully and still feel confident about. Tuesday september 16, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17
