The Playwork Book

A strip of cardboard, a length of string and some leftover wool: Ann Macbeth turns them into a child’s first woollen ball—and a lesson in making something by hand.

In this early twentieth-century guide to children’s creative play, the simplest materials become toys, decorations and useful little things. Macbeth offers careful instructions for winding wool, twisting a skipping rope and making flowers, while making a larger case for letting children discover what their own hands can do. Her projects ask for patience and ingenuity, not a cupboard full of ready-made toys. What might a child invent when the materials are ordinary, and the possibilities are their own?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

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