M. I. R. Polkinghorne

M. I. R. Polkinghorne was the publishing form used by Mabel Irene Rutherford Polkinghorne, an educator who collaborated with her sister Ruby Kathleen Polkinghorne. Toy-Making in School and Home presents practical handwork for children and teachers, moving from paper, cardboard, and simple household materials to wooden toys that require measuring and elementary tool use. George G. Harrap issued the illustrated manual in 1916. Its projects connect design with arithmetic, geometry, drawing, and patient construction, reflecting an educational movement that treated making as part of classroom learning. Instructions are organized around objects children could recognize and use, including animals, carts, furniture, and mechanical forms. Ruby Kathleen and Mabel Irene share the documented authorship, making the manual a joint work rather than the production of one sister alone. Their approach makes the workshop a place where observation becomes a physical object and where accuracy develops through purposeful play.