Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures
Milton Bradley Co. [Kindergarten Material, Froebel Gifts]

Fun with Scissors or Paper Pictures


First Edition. Springfield, MA: Milton Bradley Co., 1906.

Paper-covered box with lid, with 5 compartments, 13 x 10.5 x 1.75 inches; 5 interior compartments. Box in Good condition: one corner of box and lid functionally restored with gummed kraft tape, graphic lettering still intact. Rubbing and mild chipping in areas, but stable and secure. With original 8pp instruction booklet with 4 pages of illustrations, in good condition with some insect nibbling and archival tape repair to a persistent 2.5" closed tear at the foredge.

CONTENTS: 10 woven paper mats, most completed in yellow/gray and black/green schemes, folded to fit the compartments; 7 pattern sheets with paper cuttings, traced from the back, 4.5 x 7.5 inches (6 called for, this copy has 2 of one design); 9 unused 4x4 squares of Bradley's colored paper; an assortment of small paper cuttings, card forms, and scrap material.

Milton Bradley began manufacturing materials for Froebel's gifts after becoming acquainted with Elizabeth Peabody, education advocate and founder of the first English language kindergarten, in the 1860s. Over the decades, Bradley's economic incentive broadened his enterprise to a range of arts and crafts supplies that became increasingly removed from the 20 original Froebel Gifts and Occupations. "Fun with Scissors" is a good example of the company repackaging "Bradley's Kindergarten Materials," the educational craft supplies sold to schools, into a recreational novelty for home play. Based on Froebel Gift 13, paper cutting, the accompanying booklet reads, "The child seems to be possessed naturally with an irresistible desire to use scissors and to cut something... doubtless paper cutting has its mission as a means of development, otherwise it would not have been assigned a place among the kindergarten occupations. While no one can bring out the real value of it in the home, as is done in the kindergarten, it may nevertheless be made fascinating and instructive."