Frank cut out some men in wood. We painted these and glued
on their kilts. Coralie then helped us to put string through their arms
and hang them up. When we pulled the strings the little Scotsmen climbed
up.
Frank's Notes
These toys are very easy to make from scraps of wood. I
used odd bits of 4" x 1" planed pine that I already had but most wood
yards sell off cuts very cheaply.
I
then used a template to draw a rough outline on the wood. The template
shown in the picture can be modified depending on the climbing character you are
making, for example the head could be made pointed for a "Norman
Soldier" or the tummy rounded for a "Father Christmas".
(Click on the thumbnail to open up a full size drawing.)
Using
a jig saw I cut around the outline I had drawn earlier, the picture shows a
"Father Christmas" character! I didn't try to be too accurate as
I claimed that any wobbles etc. added charm to the figure!! Once all the
figures had been cut out I drilled holes at roughly 45º in the arms, as shown
on the template. These holes must be large enough for the string to pass
through freely and for the Rainbows to be able to thread the string themselves.
I
next cut pieces of wood approximately 4" x 1" and drilled three holes
in this. Again these holes had to be large enough to thread the string
through with ease. One piece of wood is required for each figure.
Having cut and drilled, all the pieces were sanded to avoided any
splinters. At this stage my work was done!
Coralie's
Notes
After
Frank had prepared all the figures I decided to decorate an example for the
Rainbows to copy, (or not). As the theme of the next meeting was going to
be "Scotland" I made my character into a little Scotsman! I
painted the body using ordinary poster paints and wrapped a small piece of
tartan around the waist to make a kilt.
I
then threaded the string through the holes in the arms and tied them to the
outside hole in the small piece of wood Frank had cut out. I put knots in
the other ends of the strings to stop them coming through the arm holes.
Finally I tied a small piece of string through the centre hole of the small
piece of wood to form a loop which could be used to hang up the
"Scotsman"
Now
I could test the climbing ability of my "Scotsman". I hung him
up and by pulling first on one string then on the other the "Scotsman
climbed to the top - by letting go of the strings he slid back down to the
bottom, ready to climb again!
It was at this stage I
decided to cut all the strings ready for the meeting. For each figure I
cut two lengths of about 36" and one of about 6". I tied all the
loops for the Rainbows to save time at the meeting. As you can see from
the pictures above the Rainbows really enjoyed making these toys and many have
said they have still got them and play with them.
Since
making the first batch, Frank has been roped into making figures for not only
our Rainbows but also the Horley Rainbows and even the Guides!!
