Easy-to-Make
Old-Fashioned Toys
flip-book,
jumping jack, periscope, pinwheel, marble maze, tumbling acrobat and over 30 other
favourite playthings
by Eugene E Provenzo Jr. and Asterue Baker Provenzo
Softcover
135 x 215mm
270pp
Published by Dover Publications, Mineola, NY USA
R.R.P.$17.90
ISBN 0-486-25958-7
Extract from back cover of book:
Phantascopes, periscopes, and pinwheels - all intriguing novelties that captured the imagination of children in America and Europe several generations ago. Now with this well-illustrated how-to book, young and old alike can easily make any one of these and 35 other popular playthings that date back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries or earlier.
In addition to fascinating background information on each toy, historians Eugene and Asterie Provenzo provide easy-to-follow directions and nearly 300 illustrations. Some objects are simple enough for a six-year-old to make. Others will challenge older children and adults.
You'll be able to turn ordinary soda straws into Pandean Pipes - an ancient musical toy. Perhaps you'll want to construct one of the earliest-known flying toys, the Helicopter-Parachute. With a flashlight, shoebox, and magnifying glass, you can build the fascinating Magic Lantern used by showmen in an earlier era to conjure up ghosts. Or recreate any of these time-honored educational and entertaining playthings:
Toys can be made with inexpensive materials found in most homes and schools: cardboard, string, tape, straws, scissors, hammer, pins, flashlight, etc. Handy and affordable, this volume is a marvelous book of fun projects and a delight for anyone interested in toys from the past.
Photos and Illustrations: Black & White
Units of Measurement: Imperial
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Tools and Supplies
Thaumatrope
Kite-Ferry
Phantascope
Tumbling Acrobat
Marble Maze
Taleidoscope & Kaliedoscope
Boomerang
Pea-Shooter
Three-Way Picture
Chromatrope Toys
Jumping Jack
Floating Ball
Flip-Book
Buzz Saw
Pandean Pipes
Balancing Man
Skyhook
Zoetrope
Magic Lantern
Moving Slides
Revolving Serpent
Tumbler
Microscope
Helicopter
Helicopter-Parachute
Paper-Wrestlers
Peepshow
Parachute
Cup and Ball
Bullroarer
Aeolian Top
Jacobs Ladder
Changeable Portraits
Panorama
Pinwheel
Periscope
Bubble Blowers
Historical
Illustrations (Sources)
Index