Giant Picture Printer. An Arnold Arnold Toy.

Greenwich, Conn.: The Chaspec Manufacturing Company, [n.d., ca. 1950s] [ Together with:] Arnold, Arnold. How to Play with Your Child. New York: Ballantine Books, [1955]. 4 x 7 in. [6], 185 pp. Diagrams and chapter heading vignettes. Color-printed paperback covers. Some creasing to front cover. Contemporary ink mark to fore-edge. Uniform toning due to paper quality. A very good copy. First edition of this handbook for parents on how to lead children in educational play. . Publisher's paper-covered box lid printed in color and black. 21 x 13 x 1 in. . Complete with all twenty-four rubber stamps and the four ink pads (red, blue, yellow, black) in metal tins. Also, with a booklet of paper (some blank, some used). Some general wear to box lid. Ink offsetting from stamps to inside of lid and some ink smudges to bottom of box. Ink has dried out and there is some rust to the ink pad tins. A very good copy and a remarkable survival of a rare educational toy. This educational printmaking kit encourages children to "print, invent, and create thousands of pictures and designs" using techniques like overprinting ("make any color by overprinting") and using the basic geometric stamps to make more complex scenes. How to Play with Your Child specifically addresses the topic of educational play and providing children with creative supplies: "A child of twelve who is given a saw, shown how to use it, and is steered to develop projects for himself, has a more educational and creative toy than one who is given a prefabricated assembly kit…A toy is creative if it permits the child to use many of his creative faculties; it is educational if it arouses in him the desire for experience" (p. 54). The book also includes advice on how to manage a child's independent playtime, decorate a child's room and play spaces (with a list of art reproductions to choose as décor), and select enriching books for children (with a reading list).