Deck the Halls with Cardboard Santas! Quiz

Answer: It was not made with arsenic

Green dye has a sad and toxic history, going back possibly as far as the Romans. Paris Green, used as a pigment in textile and paper manufacturing during the 1800s and into the twentieth century, was also used as an insecticide and rodenticide.

The 1895 J.L. Hammett Co. catalogue of kindergarten supplies made it clear that their green paper did not contain arsenic. Nice to know.

One distinction that construction paper had was that it was dyed in the pulp, that is, quite early in the manufacturing process. Therefore, unlike other coloured papers at the time which were surface dyed, the colour went right through the paper, so it could be folded with no loss of vibrancy in the centre.

Answer: Plants

Anyone who has ever cooked okra, or broken open a leaf of aloe, has seen plant mucilage. It's also the substance used by carnivorous plants to trap insects.

In Canada and parts of the US, the ubiquitous classroom brand of mucilage was LePage's, in the bell shaped bottle with the red rubber tip. It was a lovely clear amber liquid. You cut a slit in the rubber tip to get it out, and then used the flexible tip to spread and smear it. And, of course, it would dry and cake around that tip, so picking dried glue off of your mucilage bottle was an essential part of any craft project.

Answer: Yes, they will last many years if dried and coated properly

Salt dough is one of the easiest-to-make modeling clays out there - the most basic recipes just call for salt, flour, and water. If thoroughly dried, and then coated with some kind of varnish or polyurethane, or sometimes just a good thick coat of paint, they can last a long time. My oldest child turned thirty this year, and his kindergarten ornament still goes on the Christmas tree every year.

Keep them away from the dog, though - the level of salt in there can be harmful if eaten. Hmmmm.... maybe keep them away from the baby, too.

Answer: Heathered

Heathered (or tweed) yarn is made by interweaving different colours, and sometimes different types, of yarn to give a flecked appearance. It's usually used with muted colours, browns and greys, but doesn't have to be.

One very simple form of yarn work suitable for kids that seems to have gone right out of fashion is spool knitting. You pound a few nails into the top of a wooden spool, and loop the yarn over them, and if you do it right, a cord of knitted fabric starts to come out the hole at the other end. Now that I try to remember the last time I saw a wooden spool, I think the mystery of why this craft is disappearing has been solved.

Answer: False

Modern glitter is usually made of plastics, but humans have been using reflective materials on art, and themselves, for almost as long as there have been humans. Flakes of mica have been found added to prehistoric cave paintings, and we know the ancient Egyptians used glitter in their cosmetics. Fish scales, insect wings and bodies, minerals - they've all been used to make things sparkly.

An interesting modern use of glitter is in criminal forensics. Apparently no two types are exactly alike, so it can be used to prove that a suspect was at the scene of a crime. Because you know - if there was glitter there, some of it stuck.

Answer: Popsicle sticks

Popsicle is the trademarked brand name for frozen juice on a stick, the kind of thing known as an ice lolly or ice pop in other places. It was possibly the first, and certainly the biggest, manufacturer of this treat in North America, holding the lion's share of the market since the 1930s.

It's one of those brand names that became the generic term for the item, and "Popsicle stick" is the term used by almost everyone for the kind of stick that's used, even when it comes clean and fresh from the factory and has never even been near a freezer.

Answer: Late 1800s

Several sources cite the Scott Paper Company as the first purveyors of this useful item, and of paper towel on a roll, also, with the dates of earliest appearance ranging from about 1880 to about 1890.

One benefit of the empty paper roll in the classroom is the price - they're usually free, donated by students' families. After all, they'd probably otherwise just be thrown away or recycled.

Answer: Oil paint

A smelly, expensive paint that is not water washable is not a good choice for small children, who tend to use vast quantities of paint, and to apply it liberally to any surfaces adjacent to the one they are supposed to be painting - or even not-so-adjacent!

When I was in school back in the 60s, we were mostly given big blocks of watercolour to paint with, but watercolours have now partly been replaced by non-egg tempera paint, known as poster paint. Finger paint is usually a tempera paint that is even a bit more washable than poster paint or watercolour, and slightly thicker, to inhibit splash and drip.

Answer: Crayola

Crayola developed their famous crayon in the very early 1900s, and they started selling their eight-pack in the yellow box in 1905.

The idea of colouring with pigmented wax is old. Pliny the Elder described a form of encaustic painting - painting with hot wax - back in Roman times. Some form of tool that we would recognize as a crayon or pastel has been around since the Renaissance.

Answer: Flour and water paste

Papier-mâché - paper strips or pieces wet with an adhesive, and moulded or shaped, often around some type of armature - is another craft material with a long history. It's been used since ancient times in much of the world, and came to Europe in the early sixteenth century. It's an excellent lightweight material for ornamentation, and takes to paint or varnish well.

An interesting use of papier-mâché in 19th century America was the paper canoe. The manufacturing process sounds quite similar to how we now make a fiberglass canoe - strips of paper laid over a frame, reinforced where necessary with something stronger, and waterproofed. I imagine it made a nice fast light boat, though not, probably, a very sturdy one.