Finger on the Shutter

By: Jill Finger

Jun 29 2015

Category: Uncategorized

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My parents gave me a Make It Book when I was a little girl.  I read and re-read it and did a lot of the crafts as a child.  I don’t know what happened to my copy ( it was probably worn out), but a very long time ago, when my kids were little, I found this copy in an antique store in Margaretville.  I remember not having much money with me, but it was still enough to purchase the book.  I also remember how I enjoyed reading it again that night and how the words and  pictures were instantly familiar.  What I can’t recall is if my kids ever read or used the book.

On Friday, Andrew was practicing cutting paper. ( He’s getting very good at it)  I picked up one the strips he had cut and made a paper airplane.  It flew very well, so we made a few more.  Then, I remembered there was an helicopter pattern in the Make It Book.  I traced the pattern and we made a helicopter.  It was great fun throwing the planes and the helicopter off the deck.  While Andrew and I were doing that, Natasha was looking at the book.  She found a parachute pattern made with a handkerchief and a clothespin.  I had two bandanas in my drawer, so we made two parachutes and threw them off the deck.  They worked really well and the kids were excited to take the parachutes home with them.

Yesterday, Wes and I stopped at their house and Natasha was holding the bandana.  She told me the strings had come off (she insisted on tying them herself, so they probably weren’t tight enough) and that she had lost the clothespin somewhere in her backyard grass.  We have plans, for when they come on Thursday, to remake the parachute with tightly tied strings and to tie and glue  the clothespin so it won’t get lost.  I may buy a couple brightly colored bandanas before then, so we will have a whole fleet of parachutes.  I love the fact that a book published in 1953 still has appeal to children (and me.)