Pastime for Little Fingers: The Christmas Tree (Boston, Mass., Pastime Publishing Co.) is a delightful 19th-century cut-and-paste craft sheet designed for children—an early precursor to modern paper dolls and activity books. Published in the late 1880s, it belongs to a series of “pastimes” made to keep small hands busy during the winter holidays.
These sheets were interactive prints: children would cut out the tiny figures, toys, candles, candies, and decorations illustrated around the border, then paste them into the main scene to “complete” the Christmas tableau. The central image shows a Victorian family gathered around a towering candle-lit tree with figures printed as white silhouettes so the finished, pasted-on pieces could bring the scene to life. The idea was as simple as it was enchanting, transform a printed page into a personalized Christmas picture through careful cutting, arranging, and gluing.
Today, the sheet has all the appeal of antique holiday ephemera: playful, slightly eccentric, and beautifully printed in the soft color palette of 19th-century chromolithography. Cleaned up and restored, it makes a perfect addition to any Christmas craft collection—especially as a puzzle, print, or kit that revives a long-forgotten Victorian pastime.
• Printed on 18" x 24" sized paper
• Paper is sourced from Japan
Pastime for Little Fingers: The Christmas Tree (Boston, Mass., Pastime Publishing Co.) is a delightful 19th-century cut-and-paste craft sheet designed for children—an early precursor to modern paper dolls and activity books. Published in the late 1880s, it belongs to a series of “pastimes” made to keep small hands busy during the winter holidays.
These sheets were interactive prints: children would cut out the tiny figures, toys, candles, candies, and decorations illustrated around the border, then paste them into the main scene to “complete” the Christmas tableau. The central image shows a Victorian family gathered around a towering candle-lit tree with figures printed as white silhouettes so the finished, pasted-on pieces could bring the scene to life. The idea was as simple as it was enchanting, transform a printed page into a personalized Christmas picture through careful cutting, arranging, and gluing.
Today, the sheet has all the appeal of antique holiday ephemera: playful, slightly eccentric, and beautifully printed in the soft color palette of 19th-century chromolithography. Cleaned up and restored, it makes a perfect addition to any Christmas craft collection—especially as a puzzle, print, or kit that revives a long-forgotten Victorian pastime.
• Printed on 18" x 24" sized paper
• Paper is sourced from Japan
