ALL-GREEN NURSERIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 620, 23 March 1929, Page 19

ALL-GREEN NURSERIES

MOULDING CHILD MIND WHM COLOURS latest London methods 1 “The first seven years in a child's j life are to receive more specialised attention in 1929 than ever before. I hear in London mothers discussj ing “colour" and “modernism in the : nursery," and the "value of geomet- > rically patterned fabrics," writes the j special woman correspondent of the S Melbourne “Herald." i Nurseries nowadays are very hygi- | enic and modern indeed. To counter- ; act the effects of London log, some I London nurseries have special arti- ; ficial sunlight plants installed, while ! one mother of my acquaintance (her purse unable to run to such luxuries) had a large window fixed in the nursery, and lighted from the back with electric light bulbs. The effect was a stream of make-believe sunlight across the room on very dull days. Another thing is the importance attached to green by experts who have studied its effect on growing children. One advocates the complete scrapping of the old-fashioned all-white or cream nursery, and the substitution of green for its main colour scheme. Cupboards, chairs, tables, dresser and all the woodwork to be stained green, including the rails of the playground. With this ail-green furniture, the walls are distempered primrose yellow or daffodil, and left perfectly plain, having no printed figures or coloured ' frieze. Ronnd the whole room, where there is sufficient space left on the walls after the furniture has been fixed, should be green wooden shelves.-so arranged that the smallest member of the family can reach them. Wooden Sculpture Wooden sculpture is to play an important part in moulding character and sense of form in the child mind. So the expert advises that the shelf be filled with gaily painted wooden sculpture of the Tinker, Tailor. Soldier. Sailor variety. More colour may be supplied by extra tvooden or woolly toys.

The child mind thrives on variety, so this display must be changed from time to time —even if some of the toys have to repose in a box, out of sight.

until their turn comes round again to be on view on the shelves. Geometrical patterns are slowly creeping into nursery decorations of late, and most of the new pottery—which is brightly coloured —is of quaint, unusual shape. This is to be set out on tablecloths of check design—green and white or yellow and white. Harmony of colours is essential if children are to grow up with good taste. Every modern nursery has, of course, its own tiny furniture. Hitherto, furniture for children has consisted of a cot. with later a crib and a high chair. Now all that is changed—and one does not need to indulge in an “all-green" nursery to achieve this effect. Furniture stores in Loudon stock ordinarily small tables and chairs of cane and wood, but a clever man of the house can easily cut down a light deal table to the size required, and the discarded legs, with a piece of wood fixed across, can be turned into a tiny form. Another useful piece of child’s furniture is the chair shaped like an animal. Nearly all children love animals, and the beauty of these chairs is that the seat forms a toy-box. Every mother knows the difficulty of teaching her children to be tidy.