If you can make one between six and eight feet long and four to five feet high, so much the better. It must be at least four feet high in order to make it worth the crosspieces that make the ladder that provide the climb.

A jungle gym next to a fence is a good place to see what's going on next door.

Leave one end open, cover with a big blanket, and it becomes a tent.

It is big enough for chairs and tables. Add a few pots and pans and children will set up housekeeping.

A train.

A zoo.

Indians surrounding the white men.

Walking Board

A 1" x 12" board is flexible and springy and good for jumping on.

A 2" x 12" board is sturdier, but stiffer and heavy to move around.

The length of the board can be from 6 to 12 feet

Crosspieces nailed on one side of the board at intervals give a ladder effect and make it stronger.

Children adjust the walking board to any level of the jungle gym they feel up to.

The walking board and the jungle gym make a good bridge for the troll to hide under when children play "Three Billy Goats Gruff."

Seesaw Board

A board 4' long, 8" wide, and 1" thick, with cleats on one side, is chiefly for the teeter-totter board used with small sawhorses (see below). However, your child will find many uses for this board.

Small Sawhorses

See-Saw Margery Daw with a small sawhorse (12" high) and the seesaw board.

Two sawhorses (12" high) and the seesaw board for a low bridge.

Two sawhorses (20" high) and a suitable length of wood, such as a door, make an excellent table.

Ladders

If you don't want to build a ladder, one from an old bunk bed is ideal for small children.

A jungle gym under a tree is a good ladder for climbing into the tree.

Tree House

Mostly fathers build tree houses. And fathers who build tree houses don't need instructions. Good additions to a tree house are: a pulley, a suitcase, or a basket that lowers on a rope.

It's a good idea to plant a tree. It grows even while you are sleeping.

Something To Lie On

Any frame with spring and mattress. With casters, it is even better.

A chaise longue A cot

A hammock Just a mattress

Other Things To Put In Your Back Yard Could Be

An old car with wheels and doors off

An old rowboat (excellent sandbox)

A surplus navy life raft (for sand, water, or mud)

A tent

Good Combinations Of Play Equipment

A giant sawhorse with one end open, walking boards, smaller sawhorses, and a wooden ladder. A large packing box.

Swing set One pump swing, one canvas swing, a wooden ladder on the end, a knotted rope of large diameter. A supporting structure is necessary, of course.

Playhouses And Playhouse Equipment

A draped card table (or any table the child can get under).

These children got two sheets to call their own, and cut windows and doors.

A packing box-the bigger the better. Cut windows and doors.

It can be simple or fancy. The corner of a 6' fence is two sides of a playhouse.

Fathers can build playhouses. And children can help them build, which is half the fun.

A playhouse is a good place to keep toys and bikes out of the rain. Children, too.

Design the playhouse after your own home. Or one you wish you had.

Mothers can make this playhouse: Sew two sheets together, hang over a clothesline and weight with bricks.

Or this one: Drape a wooden clothes dryer with a sheet

Large packing crates (which are partly made of cardboard) are good temporary playhouses.

Playhouse equipment from your kitchen: Egg beater, strainer, measuring cups and spoons, spatulas, pancake turner, pie pans, muffin tins, coffee cans, cocoa cans, frozen orange-juice cans, bouillon tins, sifters, a dustpan and brush, empty egg cartons, and empty cereal boxes.

Real sinks and stoves (secondhand) are inexpensive, and help make a playhouse a home. But orange-crate equipment is good, too.

Orange-crate Stove-Coffee-can lids painted black for burners. Spools for knobs. Oven doors are top and bottom knocked out of another crate, either hinged or secured with strips of inner tubing.

Cupboard-Imported wine or Scotch boxes sometimes have wooden dividers. Hang with two screen hooks and eyes.

Orange-Crate Sink

Place an enameled pan between two orange crates. Nail the side of the crates to the playhouse or fence, but leave the pan free for dumping.

Boxes. Transportation with Boxes

Airplane: Insert wings through slots cut in box. A smaller box is the body and tailpiece. Cut smaller slots in this box.

Boat: Fortunately for you, a preschool child's imagination allows him to believe that a boat does not need to rock. A wooden box with one or two seats in it is a good boat Hang wooden ping-pong paddles on the side.

Car: An old steering wheel is attached to the box. Two coffee-can lids are on the front for headlights. Cars need casters.

Filling station: Attach three or four feet of garden hose to a heavy box which has been set into the ground, or on a wooden platform.

Train: The engine should be larger than the rest of the cars. Put a two-pound coffee can on top for the smokestack, and two one-pound cans on the front for headlights. A cowcatcher could be built on the front, and a bell attached for the engineer to ring. The coal car is an empty car. The cattle car is a slatted box.

If the cars are on casters they can be pulled easily. They make wonderful storage boxes for blocks and small toys.

Uses For Wooden Wine Or Scotch Boxes

(Available at liquor stores where imported liquor is sold-and they're usually free. Their advantage is sturdiness and durability. If they start to look shabby, give them another coat of paint)

Circus wagon: Insert dowels through holes which have been bored all the way through the top, and only part way through the bottom. Bore two more holes in the top of the box for a handle made from clothesline rope.

Circus wagons carry very tame domestic animals for a short time and very tame stuffed animals for a long time.

Cupboard: If you get the kind of wine or Scotch box which has the wooden dividers that slide out, then you have a ready-made cupboard.

Stool: Just right for seating three-year-olds at low tables.

If it weren't for many colors of paint, this equipment wouldn't add to your back yard.

A stand is necessary.

With both ends taken out, they are fun to crawl through.

A good hide-out when only one end is open.

Add a saddle, have a horse (most children will ride bareback).

A good entrance into a playhouse.

NAIL KEGS

Indian drum

To keep toys and blocks in

A chair

Base for table

ORANGE CRATES. (plus nail and hammer and saw)

Love seat

Sink and cupboard

Store or carnival

Library

Dressing table

Dollhouse

Room dividers

Half-inch molding helps make orange crates look less like orange crates.

A Table

A smooth door put on a frame so it is reversible is a good plan.

One side could be painted with blackboard paint The other could be covered with oilcloth or linoleum, or painted with a bright enamel.

If enamel is used, design the table with landing fields for airplanes, and rivers or lakes for boats.

The alphabet or numbers could border the table.

A piece of plywood over two small sawhorses also makes a good table.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY!

But if it just goes on raining . . .

This chapter is about activities the child especially likes whether he is two years old or four years old. The activities which employ items everyone has around the house come first in this section.

In many of the activities, the mother needs to help the child get started (such as measuring the flour, salt, and water for the dough).

In others, she needs to show the child how the results are accomplished (as in spatter painting or paint blobs).

In others (such as clay), the mother can add the finishing touches by having the piece glazed and fired.

It's enough to do these things, whether or not you end up with a finished product The fun is in the doing, as you will see.