You will hardly believe it is only an ordinary, everyday orange when you have made it into the head that I am going to tell you about.

Select a small, firm, perfect orange and with a pencil mark features on it, first the eyes like Fig. 199. Carefully cut out the little spaces of skin between the lines, then mark the nose (Fig. 200); cut this and mark the mouth (Fig. 201); cut this and at each side of the head draw the ears like Fig. 202. You will see that the line of the ear does not continue all the way around; that means that you are simply to run your knife along the line, cutting through the skin so that the ears may be lifted up and peeled forward to stand out from the head; the front part remains attached (Fig. 203).

Make the neck of a slender, strong, round stick sharpened to a point at one end. Push the point up into the under part of the orange, where the neck should be, by twisting the stick around as it goes in (Fig. 204).

The orange is the head, but your hand and fingers are to be the body and arms to go with it. Look at Fig. 204. That will show you how to hold the stick firmly and at the same time leave your first finger and thumb free to use as arms.

Pin a handkerchief, or other soft cloth, around Mr. Orange's neck, bring it around to cover your hand and then pretend he is talking while you move his arms and say as many funny things as you can think of. By moving the stick while you hold it in your hand, you can make the orange head turn in various ways (Figs. 205 and 206), and a little paper hat fitted on it will make it still funnier (Fig. 207).

The orange need not always be a man. You can play it is a little girl and make a cunning little wreath of flowers for her small head; or pretend it is a baby and have it wear a baby's cap made of paper. If you want to turn it into a young lady, pierce the ears and fit in earrings made of violets. You do this simply by threading the flower-stems through the holes you have pierced, and drawing the blossoms up close to them. Then, you can make believe the orange is an old man and put a pipe in his mouth. Make the pipe of an acorn with a twig for the stem. If you want the baby to cry, squeeze the orange a little and tears of orange-juice will roll from its eyes and stream down its face. Little holes must first be punctured in the eyes to let the tears run out.

Things You Can Make of Orange-Skins

A TOY JAPANESE STOOL

The soft, golden orange-skin, lined with silvery white, is fine material for moulding and making into different kinds of things to play with. Bring your orange and we will begin by making a toy stool for your doll-house (Fig. 208). It will look very much like the real stools which the Japanese make for real people to sit on, though nothing is used for it but the orange-skin.

First cut the orange across from side to side, making two halves, and after you have taken out the pieces of juicy fruit and enjoyed eating them, examine the two pretty yellow orange-skin bowls that are left. See how soft and pliable they are. Now take one of the bowls and pinch the edges of two opposite sides toward each other; hold them steady while, with your other hand, you pinch the other two sides toward each other. Hold all four sides bent inward for a moment, then let go of them and the sides will stay bent while you wind string across, first one way then the other, between the curved stool legs you have just made by bending the sides of the bowl inward.

Set the stool away to dry and stiffen into shape; then, when it has become hard, take off the string and you will have a little Japanese stool quite as strong as if made of wood.

A CANDY-BOX

A candy-box can be made in the same way of the other half of the orange-skin, but you must curve the sides in only a little for this; not nearly as much as for the stool. Stand the candy-box, with open part up, ready to be filled with candy.

A BASKET

An orange-skin basket is a substantial little affair when finished, and will hold almost anything you want to put in it. It looks like Fig. 209. For this you will again need half of an orange-skin. Bend in two opposite sides after first cutting a short slit in each side near the edge. Make the handle of strong paper, cutting it like Fig. 210, with a tongue at each end. Bend over the two side points of each tongue, and slide one tongue through the slit in one side of the basket, the other tongue through the slit in the other side, then open out the points again and they will make secure fastenings for the handle. You will see from the illustration that the tongues are put through the basket from the inside and show on the outside.

Before setting away to dry, tie a string around the bent-in sides of the basket, and stuff the open part with crushed paper to keep it in shape.

ORANGE-SKIN BOWLS

When you have another orange save the two halves of the skin, pack each full of crumpled, clean, blank paper, flatten the bottom of the bowls so that they will stand firmly, then set them away to dry.

If you do all this carefully the bowls will harden in good shape and you can use them to eat and to drink from.

Other Things Made of Orange-Skins

Cunning little toy summer-houses may be made from an orange-skin in a moment's time (Fig. 211). Take half of an orange-skin and stick the sharp ends of four wooden toothpicks into the edge of its rim. Place the toothpicks upright, at equal distances apart, and they will form the pillars to support the golden, dome-shaped roof. Stand the little summer-house on the table, and you will think it charming.

By slicing an orange you can have a number of little, yellow hoops for your dolls, made of the rind around each slice. When the hoops are carefully dried in perfect circles, you can roll them on top of a table or on the floor, and play the dolls are having great fun racing with their orange-skin hoops.