Toys are important to a child but too many of them can be a handicap. A child who has a chest full of ready-made playthings often becomes indifferent to them. Eventually none amuse or please and the toy-owner becomes restless, dissatisfied, and frequently difficult to live with. Such a child urgently needs a wholesome release from his ready-made toys and an opportunity to make some of his own.

It is natural for every child to want to make things, to experiment, to explore. He should be permitted to try to create with his hands that which he sees in his mind’s eye. No child ever should be denied this freedom of expression.

The quote above is from Things to Make and Do By Esther M. Bjoland, published in 1962 by Standard Education Society, Inc., Chicago.

I picked up the book at the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California. It caught my eye from within a pile of used books. My husband thinks he saw this book in elementary school. I recognize the typesetting and the graphics from an earlier era. It gave me goosebumps, remembering how my sister and I used to make things out of useless materials that no one deliberately collected, packaged, and sold as craft materials. Good times.

Haven’t you always wanted to make one of these?