Some more strips of paper may be pasted together to form a barnyard fence. The barn may stand on the nursery table with the fence all around it, or an old suit box of mother’s will make a very fine barnyard indeed. The sides of the box should be ruled with a pencil to look like the bars in a real barnyard fence. Then you can cut the bars with a jack-knife, or some sharp pointed scissors. When you have finished the suit-box barnyard, the barn may stand in one corner of it.
Now you are ready to cut some animals to live in the barn.
The pictures in your animal picture books will make splendid patterns for the barnyard animals. Trace the animals with some tissue paper and then transfer these patterns to some stiff paper. When you have cut carefully on the traced outline, you may paste the animal’s feet to cardboard standards to make them stand up. There may be cows, and horses, and a donkey, and a whole flock of barnyard fowls. Then you may color the barn creatures with your water color paints or with colored pencils.
You can make a fine, large farm wagon, also, to stand beside the barn. To make the wagon, you should fold a small square of paper as you folded the large one for the barn. Instead of using the whole square, though, as you did for the barn, you must cut off a strip of four squares. Then make the short cuts as you did for the barn in the ends of the oblong piece of paper. Lay the three square laps which you have made by the cutting together, and paste them--one on top of the other. Cut out some wheels and fasten them to the cart. Glue on some cardboard or sticks for shafts, and the farm wagon is done.
[Illustration: CART, BARN AND BARROW, MADE OF CARDBOARD BOXES]
If you want a wheelbarrow in the barnyard, you may cut one of mother’s old spool boxes in half. The edges where you made the cut should be curved. A wheel made of an empty spool, or a cardboard disk may be fastened to one end with a pin, and some cardboard legs may be glued to the wheelbarrow.
When the paper farm is complete, you must harness the donkey to the wagon, and set him to work. Cut out some of the gay pictures of fruit and vegetables that fill the seed catalogues, and load the wagon.
Fill the wheelbarrow, too. Cut out some paper overall boys to visit the farm and spend the summer. There is no end to the plays that the paper farm will suggest to you.