Publisher: Random House

Year: 1975

Pages: 80

Type: Softcover

ISBN: 0-394-83165-9

“Even three red pencils make a collection.”

This is a really fun book! Going all the way back to 1975 we are treated to old-timey arts and crafts from the days when children did things instead of played things. I mean digital things. Yes, there was a time when children actually played together, in person, and created their own fun! Who knew?

If you’re one of those children all grown up, and now have children of your own who need to learn how to experience the world around them, then this book is for you!

This book is ostensibly about collecting, but predominantly adds an element of hands-on arts and crafts to the mix. So it makes a great tool for teaching your children about the world around them and how to interact with it. It should also build confidence and dexterity as they complete each project.

There are fifteen things that can be collected and that are featured in this book. Let’s have a look at the first six:

It’s appropriate that Charlie Brown has taken up the collecting of Rocks as he generally gets lots of them in his treat bag on Halloween! Dolls and Puppets are perhaps one of most common things to collect. You can click the link to see some of my Dolls, which I call ‘Female Action Figures’. Just go with me on that. Buttons, Flowers, Bottles, and Bottle Caps can also be fun to collect. I have a vintage Donald Duck bottle from the 1950s that you can see by clicking the link.

Collecting Stamps was all the rage back in the day. Every kid was on the hunt for that rare, cancelled, stamp from the weird country they’d never heard of! I too have an extensive Disney stamp collection which you can see part of by clicking the link. To see more, simply type ‘Stamps’ into the ‘Search’ box at the top of this Blog.

Seven down and six more to see:

Shells, Place Mats & Menus, Leaves, and Fingerprints (is that even legal?) are also recommended in this book. I do collect Maps in a way by keeping my Disney Guide Maps after I visit a Disney Park. Most Disney fans will have collected Pressed Pennies at some point, and I am no exception! I think that would count as collecting Coins?

And now we are on to our last two collectibles:

Do you like your Postcards to have writing on them or to be blank? That is a major discussion between collectors of these pieces of ephemera. I have dozens of Disney Postcards, and I do prefer mine to be blank, although I do enjoy ‘snooping’ into someone’s vacation by reading the messages you can sometimes find on the backs! I’m a hopeless collector, if this Blog wasn’t a dead giveaway (LOL), so it should come as no surprise that I also collect Hats. Check our my partial collection of Disney-themed Baseball Caps by clicking the link.

The book ends by listing resource materials that parents can use to further engage their children in the wonderful world of collecting and the arts and crafts movement.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 Stars. Whether you decide to work on the craft projects with your child or not, just reading the book for the pure nostalgia is well worth it! But if you can involve your children and get them engaged with something other than their Xbox, I think you will have earned a Gold Star on your fridge!