FOR LITTLE TODDLERS.

yellow one at the top, to give it a gay appearance as it is waved through the air.

"This is the way the ladies ride," is always popular with little ones about a year old; but only one, or at most two, at a time, can be entertained in that way.

Most of our nursery rhymes are of great antiquity, and many of them were brought to England and Scotland by the Danes and Saxons; and the Danes and Germans still amuse their children with similar legends and jingles of words.

I subjoin a few familiar rhymes, which, simple as they are, or, as wise people would say, stupid, are ever welcome in the nursery.

BROW-BRINKY.

Eyes, nose, etc., are to be touched when this is said; and it will be found an excellent soother for a child commencing

to cry.

Brow-brinky, eye-winky, chin-choppy, nose-noppy, cheekcherry, mouth-merry.

Somewhat similar to this is "THE LORD MAYOR."

Here sits the Lord Mayor (touch the forehead); here sit his two men (touch the eyes); here sits the cock (touch the right cheek); and here sits the hen (touch the left cheek). Here sit the little chicks (touch the nose); here they run in (touch the mouth); chin-chopper, chin-chopper, chin-chopper, chin (pinching the chin).

THE COBBLER.

A good verse to say if the child cries when its shoes are put on :

BABY GAMES

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe,
Give it a stitch, and that will do.
Here's a nail, and there's a prod,

And now my foot is nicely shod.

HUSH!

A good verse to sing to a child beginning to cry.
Hush! hush! hush! hush!

I dance mine own child,

I dance mine own child;

Hush! hush! hush! hush!

THE MERCHANTS OF LONDON.

The merchants of London were mysteriously grand in days when the streets were paved with gold, and actually wore such a dress as is imputed to them here, so that the rhyme has a certain historical value.

Dickory, dockory, popperty pet,

The merchants of London they wear scarlet;
Gold on the collar and silk on the hem,

Merrily march the merchant men.

THE MOUSE AND THE CLOCK.

Dickory, dockory, dock,

The mouse ran up the clock;

The clock struck one-the mouse ran down,

Dickory, dockory, dock.

LITTLE SHON.

Little Shon a-Morgan,
Gentleman of Wales,

FOR LITTLE TODDLERS.

Came riding on a nanny-goat

Selling of pigs' tails.

Then let Shon gallop a trot, trot, trot.

These little rhymes will not only amply suffice to amuse children till they are two years old, but even much longer. At two, however, other methods may be employed which will convey instruction, still retaining the nursery songs for occasional use.

A number of children of two or three years of age may be very well diverted with the well-known toys-" Dean's Selfwinding Colour and the Dancing Sailor tops," or the celebrated Donkeys, that have been advertised as creating "roars of laughter." If the child or children are in cradles, a string may be tied from one leg to another of the table, and a figure or toy of this sort suspended from it. The string across is not to be quite tight, and by attaching another string long enough to reach where she is sitting, the mother or nurse may, from time to time, renew the vibration by a dexterous pull.

BABY GAMES

Here is another way of amusing a child, or a whole room full of them, by a performance sure to have "a long run" in Babydom. All that is wanted is a sheet of paper, four large highly coloured figures, and four small hand-bells. A common green cardboard lamp shade will be better than the sheet of paper. Pin the four figures round the shade over a bottle or roasting jack, which must be suspended from the ceiling by a rope, and have a weight attached, such as the kitchen scales will afford, or an old flat-iron, to cause it to turn round. Below the weight set the bells at equal distances with string. As the jack turns and shows the figures alternately, the bells will knock against one another and produce an amusing sound.

A moving diorama may be constructed by the help of two roasting jacks enclosed by cardboard cylinders, and fixed at opposite sides of the room. For durability, the panorama had better consist of paper pasted on calico. On this paste all the large and effective coloured pictures you can get-figures, birds, flowers, fruit, etc.—after having neatly cut them out. An end is to be fixed to either of the jacks. Wind them up; when the panorama is unfolded, hang the weight on the other jack, and it will roll back again :—when it is desired to stop the performance, the weight must be removed. For a charitable institution, no doubt friends would be willing to contribute the necessary materials.

A simple way to amuse young children is by cutting rows of figures out of white paper, old letters, etc. The paper is folded as many times as the scissors will cut through, and a whole row of young ladies, or milkmaids with their pails,

FOR LITTLE toddleRS.

will be brought into existence by a single cut of the scissors. The two ends of the paper should be held, and the young ladies or milkmaids caused to dance on the table.

Children of from two to five years old can be taught to amuse themselves for hours by pricking pictures. Draw an outline of any object they can understand—a man, a woman, a house, a bird, a cat, a fireplace, etc., and fix the corners by four pins to a pincushion. Then show the child how to pierce all round the outline with a pin, stabbed at regular intervals. When finished, the pin-picture is held up to the light, which comes like rows of little stars through the pin-holes. Printed outlines for pricking, can be bought at a small cost at the fancy shops, and are called "light" pictures.

The Kinder Garten is eminently suited for amusing, training, and teaching very little children, especially when brought together in numbers. The little amusements with sticks and peas are readily entered into by children from three to four years and it is wonderful the ingenuity some of them display. Of more value, whether at school, or in the nursery at home, are various play games, such as "Here we go round the mulberry-bush," which promote healthy exercise and mirth.

of age,

GEORGIANA C. CLARK.

C