^- ^^ ^ s^ .V-- . • ,\ "^oi^' '\^^ %/ :^ : ^^ : -I -f ,•"» ,^ ,-; -' -f' A v> a\ '%^' %'f '^Z ^. ^.0^- ,y - . - -c., , ^^' v'iN' v^^ -bo'* ,V .r. ^^ •^.. \^- ,0 0^ .^■^ ^^., '. ,0 c. ,0^ ■N^^ V.y> A-*- -V ,0 o. o 0' % .. •V. ,^^' .-y" <=-. ,-0' \'?- s -n^. ■^c ■"^y. V^ O' ,. •> ' " r 'V. c'i ' ^^ ^^'' : ■-oo'^ . -' s^"^ '''*., " •% ^^ •A --' .$^ -5-. c'i<>. ■X^^' % ■t ^-.'''-. ^*^ -^^^ .a'S' .#• ^0 .0^ V •J- .\- THE THREE PATHS c^ Copyright, 1921 THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INC. JUN -7 iy2i 5CU617263 THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL General Editor: William Byron Forbusii, Ph.D., Litt.D. Author of "The Manual of Play" and "The Boy Problem in the Home" Associate Editor: MRS. MINNETTA SAMMIS LEONARD, Formerly Director of the Model Kindergarten, State Normal School, Milwaukee ; Mother Music Editor: WiNTON James Baltzell, A.B., Mus.Bac. Secretary of the National Academy of Music, Associate Editor: MRS. BERTHA PAYNE NEWELL, Recently Head of the Department of Kindergarten Education, University of Chicago ; Mother Assistant Office Editor: Mary V. Worstell Author, Editor, and Lecturer New York Office Editor: Jennie Ellis Burdick Editor of "The Children's Own Library" CONTRIBUTING EDITORS MRS. ELIZABETH HUBBARD BONSALL, Formerly of Wellesley College; Mother GRACE L. BROWN, Teacher of Kindergarten Education, Teachers Col- lege, Columbia University JOSEPHINE BROWNSON, Of the University of Detroit; Author of "To the Heart of a Child" MRS. EUNICE BARSTOW BUCK, Mother MRS. RHEA SMITH COLEMAN, Formerly of Western Reserve University ; Mother EDNA E. HARRIS, Primary Teacher in Public School Number 60, Brooklyn MRS. ELSIE L.<\VERNE HILL, Formerly of Oberlin College ; Mother JESSIE SCOTT HIMES, Teacher of Nature Study, Oneonta State Normal School MRS. MADELINE DARRAGH HORN, Of the State University of Iowa: Mother WILLIAM A. McKEEVER, LL.D., Head of Department of Child Welfare, University of Kansas M. V. O'SHEA, Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin LUELLA A. PALMER, Assistant Supervisor of Kindergartens, New York City MARY E. PENNELL, Director of the City Normal School, Richmond, Va. MARY E. RANKIN, Superintendent of the Kindergarten, Union School of Religion, New York City MRS. ALICE CORBIN SIES, Recently Associate Professor of Childhood Educa- tion, University of Pittsburgh ; Mother MRS. ROSE BARLOW WEINMAN, Mother PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS REPRESENTED IN THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL BY SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS JULIA \V. ABBOTT, Kindergarten Specialist, United States Bureau of Education MARY ADAIR, Teacher in the Philadelphia Normal School FATHER ALEXANDER, O.F.M.. Author of "The Catholic Home" CAROLYN SHERWTN BAILEY, Author of "Montessori Children" and "For the Children's Hour" HENRY TURNER BAILEY, Director of the Cleveland School of Art and John Huntington Polytechnic Institute, Cleveland WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY, D.D., Editorial Secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Church A. B. BARNARD, Author of "The Home Training of Children" FREDERICA BEARD, Author of "The Beginners' Worker and Work" KATHERINE BEEBE, Author of "The Home Kindergarten" MRS. THEODORE W. BIRNEY, Founder of the National Congress of Mothers SUSAN E. BLOW, Author of "Letters to a Mother on the Philosophy of Froebel" PRUDENCE BRADISH, Author of "Mother-Love in Action" MAUD BURNHAM, Author of "Rhymes for Little Hands" MRS. CAROLINE BENEDICT BURRELL, Editor of "The Mother's Book" CALVIN B. CADY, Director of the Music Education Association MRS. HELEN Y. CAMPBELL, Author of "Practical Motherhood" SUSAN CHENERY, Author of "As the Twig is Bent" KATE S. CHITTENDEN, President of the Metropolitan College of Music, New York City PERCIVAL CHUBB, Leader of the Ethical Society, St. Louis ; author of "Teaching of English in Elementary and Secondary Schools" HON. PHILANDER P. CLAXTON, Litt.D., LL.D., United States Commissioner of Education HENRY F. COPE, D.D. Secretary of the Religious Education Association ; Author of "Religious Education in the Family" LUCILE C. DEMING, Bureau of Educational Experiments, New York City JOHN DEWEY, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University ELLA VICTORIA DOBBS, Professor in the University of Wisconsin MRS. DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER, Author of "The Montessori Mother" ARNOLD L. and BEATRICE C. GESELL, Author of "The Normal Child and Primary Education" MABEL R. GOODLANDER, Teacher in tlie Ethical Culture School, New York City KENNETH GRAHAME, Author of "Dream Days" and "The Golden Age" RABBI LOUIS GROSSMAN, D.D., Professor of Ethics, Theology and Pedagogics, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati MRS. SIDONIE MATZNER GRUENBERG, Author of "Sons and Daughters" LEONARD GEORGE GUTHRIE, M.D., F.R.C.P., Author of "Functional Nervous Diseases in Childhood" G. STANLEY HALL, Ph.D., LL.D., President of Clark University ELIZABETH HARRISON, President of the National Kindergarten College, Chicago MRS. HARRIET HICKOX HELLER, President of the Portland (Ore.) Kindergarten Council PATTY SMITH HILL, Head of the Department of Kindergarten Education. Teachers College, Columbia University MRS. BERTHA HOFNER-HEGNER, Head of the Pestalozzi-Froebel Training School, Chicago CAROLINE LOUISA HUNT, Author of "Home Problems from a New Standpoint" PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS REPRESENTED— Continued CLARA WHITEHILL HUNT, Author of "What Shall We Read to the Children?" JEAN LEE HUNT, Secretary, Department of Information, Bureau of Educational Experiments, New York City BERTHA JOHNSTON, Editor of tlie Kindergarten-Primary Magazine WILLIAM HEARD KILPATRICK, Ph.D., Author of "Froebel's Kindergarten Principles Critically Examined" ALICE M. KRACKOWIZER, Author of "Projects in the Primary Grades" JOSEPH LEE, Author of "Play in Education" MRS. DELLA THOMPSON LUTES, Editor of "To-day's Housewife" WILLIAM McANDREW, Ph.D., Assistant Superintendent of Schools, New York City FRANK MORTON McMURRY, Ph.D., Professor of Elementary Education, Teachers College, Columbia University DAVID R. MAJOR, Ph.D., Author of "First Steps in Atental Growth" JENNY B. MERRILL, Pd.D., Formerly Supervisor of Kindergartens, New York City MRS. ALICE MEYNELL, Author of "The Children" COLUMBUS NORMAN MILLARD, Author of "A Parent's Job" IRVING ELGAR MILLER, Head of the Department of Education and Psychol- ogy, State Normal School, Bellingham, Wash. GRACE E. MIX, Head of Kindergarten Department, State Norma! School, Farmville, Va. MARIA MONTESSORI, M.D., Prominent Educator and Founder of the Montessori Houses of Childliood ANNIE E. MOORE, Primary Teacher, Teachers College, Columbia University ERNEST CARROLL MOORE, Ph.D., Author of "W'hat is Education?" MARGARET W. MORLEY, Author of "The Renewal of Life" CARRIE S. NEWMAN, Author of "The Kindergarten in the Home" MRS. ANNA G. NOYES, Author of "How I Kept My Baby Well" EMILIE POULSSON, Author of "Love and Law in Child Training" CAROLINE PRATT, Director of the City and Country School, New York City MARY L. READ, Author of "The Mothercraft Manual" WALTER SARGENT, Professor of Art Education in the University of Chicago CHARLES B. SCOTT, Author of "Nature Study and the Child" ELEANOR SMITH, Author of "Songs for Little Children" NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH, Author of "The Home-Made Kindergarten" FRANK N. SPINDLER, Ph.D., Author of "The Sense of Sight" JAMES SULLY, LL.D., Author of "Studies of Childhood" ALICE TEMPLE, Director Kindergarten- Primary Department, University of Chicago EDWARD LEE THORNDIKE, Ph.D.. Professor of Educational Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University NINA CATHARINE VANDEWALKER Author of "The Kindergarten in American Education" HATTIE A. WALKER, Teacher in the Francis W. Parker School, Chicago ADDIE GRACE WARDLE, Ph.D., Author of "Handwork in Religious Education" ZELIA M. WATERS, Author of "First Lessons in Child Training" H. G. WELLS, Novelist; Author of "Joan and Peter," "God the Invisible King," etc. MRS. MAX WEST, Author of "Pre-natal Care" LUCY WHEELOCK, Head of the Wheelock Kindergarten Training School, Boston KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN, Co-Author of "Kindergarten Principles and Practice," "Froebel's Gifts," "Froebel's Occupations," etc. WOODROW WILSON, Twenty-eighth President of the United States MRS. FLORENCE HULL WINTERBURN, Author of "The Mother in Education" MRS. MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M.D., Author of "Making the Best of Our Children" REAL MOTHERS WHOSE EXPERIENCE WE ARE USING TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY MRS. MADELINE DARRAGH HORN MRS. HELEN Y. CAMPBELL MRS. ANNA G. NOYES FRO.M THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY MRS. MADELINE DARRAGH HORN MRS. ANNA G. NOYES MRS. RHEA SMITH COLEMAN MRS. HARRIET HICKOX HELLER MRS. MINNETTA SAMMIS LEONARD MRS. HARRIET AYERS SEYMOUR MRS. EUNICE BARSTOW BUCK MRS. MAX WEST FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY MRS. ALICE CORBIN SIES MRS. JEAN N. BARRETT MRS. ELSIE LaVERNE HILL MRS. RHEA SMITH COLEMAN MRS. PRESTON F. GASS MRS. CAROLINE BENEDICT BURRELL FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY MRS. BERTHA PAYNE NEWELL MRS. MINNETTA SAMMIS LEONARD MRS. BERTHA BELLOWS STREETER MRS. ROSE BARLOW WEINMAN MRS. ELIZABETH HUBBARD BONSALL MRS. HARRIET HICKOX HELLER MRS. EUNICE BARSTOW BUCK MRS. LOUISE H. PECK MRS. MARGARET W. MORLEY MRS. DORA LADD KEYES MRS. BERTHA LEWIS FROM THE SIXTH TO THE EIGHTH BIRTHDAY MRS. SIDONIE MATZNER GRUENBERG MRS. BERTHA P.\YNE NEWELL MRS. DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER MRS. FLORENCE HULL WINTERBURN vi CONTENTS TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY PRELIMINARY PAPERS PACK Educating the Baby Before It is Born The Editors ^ How I Learned to Take Care of My Baby .... Mrs. Madeline Darragh Horn . . c THE COURSE OF TRAINING Looking Forward Through the Year William Byron Forbush . My First Year with John Mrs. Madeline Darragh Horn 13 17 Charts 25, 26, 27 29 37 WHAT TO EXPECT THE FIRST YEAR The First Year in a Baby's Life William Byron Forbush . . . The First Three Months Mrs. Alice Corbin Sies . . . My Baby Month by Month Mrs. Anna G. Noyes 3's Landmarks in a Baby's Progress Mrs. Helen Y. Campbell .... 39 WHAT TO DO THE FIRST YEAR Some Beginnings The Editors 41 Play and Games for the First Year Luella A. Palmer 45 Finger-Plays and Other Action-Plays The Editors 46 SUMMARY AND FORECAST Getting Acquainted with Tom and Sarah .... Williain Byron Forbush .... 49 INDEX TO SUBJECTS Facing 54 INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS Facing 54 FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY THE COURSE OF TRAINING Looking Forward Through the Year William Byron Forbush .... c.y John's Development and Training the Second Year . Mrs. Madeline Darragh Horn . . 59 Charts 70, 72, 73 WHAT TO EXPECT THE SECOND YEAR My Little Boy Month By Month Mrs. Anna G. Noyes ...... 75 How the Senses Develop The Editors ^ . 75 vij CONTENTS WHAT TO DO THE SECOND YEAR Playthings for the Second Year Playthings, Homemade Some Nursery Arts and Crafts Sense-Play with Margaret Plays, and Games for the Second Year . A Child's First Interest in Pictures .... Music for the Babies Traditional Finger-Plays and Imitative Plays . Preparations for Handwork Differences Between Infant and Adult Memory Habit-Training of Little Children .... "Baby-Talk" and Speech Defects .... The Gift of Tongues The Use 'of Mother Goose Reasoning in Early Childhood How a Spoiled Child Begins Teaching Self-Control Mary L. Read Mrs. Dorothy Canficld Fisher Mrs. Harriet Hickox Heller Mrs. Rhea Smith Coleman . Liiella A. Palmer .... The Editors I^Irs. Harriet Ayer Sevmour 77 78 79 81 84 85 87 I[Irs. Minnctta Sammis Leonard. . 89 David R. Major, Ph.D 91 Mi's. Eunice Barstoiv Buck ... 93 M. V. O'Shea 98 Mary Adair 100 The Editors 102 John Dewey, LL.D 105 Katherine Beehe 106 Mrs. Mar.y Wood-Allen, M.D. . . 107 SUMMARY AND FORECAST The Second Year with Tom and Sarah INDEX TO SUBJECTS •INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS William Byron Forbnsh .... 109 Facing 114 Facing 114 FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY THE COURSE OF TRAINING Looking Forward Through the Year A Child's Development and Training the Third Year . Charts What an Average Child May Be Able to Do By the End of This Year William Byron Forhush Mrs. Alice Corbin Sics 138, 139. WHAT TO DO THE THIRD YEAR Plays and Games for the Third Year The Baby Yard Self-Expression During the Third Year . Big Tools for Small Hands .... Playthings Which the Father Can Make Memory-Work with Margaret 'Pictures, a Fairyland Stories to Tell This Year Music During the Third Year Companionship : How to Furnish It . Getting Obedience Through Understanding Jessie's Beginnings in Helpfulness Orderliness and Tidiness Three-Year-Old Virtues Luclla A. Palmer .... Mrs. Dorothy Canficld Fisher Mary L. Read M. V. O'Shea William A. McKcevcr, LL.D. Mrs. Rhea Smith Coleman . Mrs. Rhea Smith Coleman . The Editors Mrs. Jean N. Barrett . Mrs. Preston F. Gass Mrs. Delia Thompson Lutes Mrs. Elsie LaV erne Hill . . Mrs. Caroline Benedict Burrell Mary L. Read .... 117 119 140 141 143 144 146 148 149 151 152 153 15s 157 159 161 165 166 CONTENTS ix SUMMARY AND FORECAST ,^„ The Third Year with Tom and Sarah William Byron Forbush .... 169 INDEX TO SUBJECTS Facing 172 INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS Facing 172 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY "The Kindergarten Period" THE COURSE OF TRAINING Looking Forward Through This Period William Byron Forbush .... 177 A Child's Development and Training the Fourth, Fifth. and Sixth Years Mrs. Bertha Payne Newell . . . 183 Charts . . . 256, 258, 259 What an Average Child May Be Able to Do By the End of this Period 260 A 'Round-the-Year Program The Committee on Curriculum of the International Kindergarten Union 260 WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY Richard's Day The Fifth Year \\'hat a Child is Like the Sixth Year Frederica Beard 267 . Mar.y L. Read 268 Mary L. Read 271 The Dawn of Independence Alma S. Sheridan 274 WHAT TO DO FROIM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY Our Home Gymnasium Gymnastic Plays for this Period . Lively Imitative Plays Plays and Games for the Fourth Year . Aims and Methods in Constructive Play Beginnings in Handivork The Importance of Setf-Help Collecting Nature Materials Bead- Stringing "The Holy Gift of Color" Suggestions for Color-Play The Music Needs of the Kindergarten .... Music for the Early Years Some Play-Devices in Beginning Music How to Tell Stories The Selection of Stories for Kindergarten Children Fifty Best Kindergarten and Primary Stories . Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard Bonsall . 277 'Mrs. Harriet Hickox Heller. . . 282 The Editors 284 Luclla A. Palm-er 285 The Committee on Curricidum of the International Kindergarten Union 287 Mrs. Minnetta Sammis Leonard . 288 Maria Montessori, M.D. . . . 294 Katherine Beebe 295 Mrs. Carrie S. Newman .... 298 Elizabeth Harrison 300 The Editofis 302 Calvin B. Cady 305 Mary E. Pennell 308 Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard Bonsall . 319 Mary L. Read 326 Annie E. Moore 326 328 CONTENTS The Poetry Habit Answering Questions About Sex .... The Religious Nurture of a Little Child The Religious Education of a Catholic Child The Religious Education of a Jewish Child Plays and Games for the Fifth Year . Self-Making Constructive Play Things to Make Out of Newspapers The Beginnings of Art for Little Children How the Child May Express Himself Through Pictures for the Home Learning to Use Language Art Mother, Father, and Child — Partners Three The Home Play- Yard Playthings Which the Father Can Make Plays and Games for the Sixth Year Play with Dolls An Litroduction to Nature Study Betty's Nature Friends . . . . Play with Neglected Senses Clara UliitchUl Hunt . . Margaret IV. Morlcy ll'illiain Byron Forhtisli . Josephine Brozvnson . Mrs. Rose Barloiv JVcinman Lnella A. Palmer .... .Susan B. Blow .... Grace L. Brown .... Mrs. Louise H. Peck Walter Sargent .... The Committee on Curriculum of tlie International Kindergarten Union Julia Wade Abbott Tlic Committee on Curriculum- of the International Kindergarten Union Maud Burnham Mrs. Dora Ladd Keyes .... Il'illiam A. McKeez'er. LL.D.. and Jean Lee Hunt Lnella A. Palmer The Editors Jessie Scott Himcs Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard Bonsall . The Editors 329 331 332 338 341 349 354 355 364 365 366 369 371 373 374 375 2,77 382 384 391 401 William Bvron Forbush SUMMARY AND FORECAST Tom and Sarah During the Kindergarten Years What Should a Child Know When He Enters the First Grade? H. G. irdls .... At the School Door Elizabeth J. Woodward . 405 409 412 SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLES Home Correctives for the Kindergarten The Kindergarten Years Freedom of Experiment in the Kindergarten The Trend of the Kindergarten To-day The Kindergarten at Horace Mann School. Teachers College Froebel and the Kindergarten To-day What Has the American Kindergarten to Learn from Montessori ? Making the Original Nature of the Child Into Some- thing Else W'hat is the Value of Play? Experiment, Imitation, Repetition, and Purpose . Ten Useful Purposes in Kindergarten Training Maximilia)! E. P. Groszmann. Pd.D. 417 Irving E. Miller. Ph.D 419 Frank M. McMurry. Ph.D. . 422 Patty Smith Hill 425 ./()/;;/ Walker Harrington G. Stanley Hall. LL.D. . . . William Heard Kilpatrick. Ph.D. Edward L. Thorndike. Ph.D. . Luclla A. Palmer Luella A. Palmer Luclla A. Palmer 427 429 432 434 435 436 437 INDEX TO SUBJECTS Facing 440 INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS Facing 440 CONTENTS XI FROM THE SIXTH TO THE EIGHTH BIRTHDAY THE COURSE OF TRAINING p^ce A Look Forward Through This Period William Byron Forhush .... 445 A Child's Development and Training the Seventh and Mrs. Bertha Payne Newell, Edna E. Eighth Years Harris, and Others .... 450 Charts 500, 502, 503 What an Average Child May Be Able to Do by the End of This Period 504 A 'Round-the-Year Program Hattic A. Walker 504 WHAT TO DO FROM THE SIXTH TO THE EIGHTH BIRTHDAY Ella Victoria Dobbs 509 The Editors 511 'The Editors 512 Ella Victoria Dobbs 513 The Editors 516 Florence Hull Wintcrburn . . . 518 Tlie Editors 521 523 Home Opportunities in English The Editors 530 Methods in Beginning Reading Arnold L. Gesell, Ph.D 534 Reading Journeys for Primary Children .... The Editors 537 How Barbara Began Writing Wilson Follett 538 Home Opportunities in Number The Editors 541 How I Taught John Number and Reading .... Mrs. Bertha Bellows Strceter . . 542 Early Music-Teaching in School Eleanor Smith 544 Plays and Games for the Seventh Year Luella A. Palm-cr 545 Plays and Games for the Eighth Year Luella A. Palmer 549 The Transformed Primary School Materials Used in the New Primary School Home Opportunities in Practical Science . Primary Handwork Stories of Geography, Primitive Life, and History. Cultivating Observation Walks and Talks in Hometown A Study of a Rabbit Charles B. Scott, Ph.D Plays for Sharpening the Wits Mrs. Elisabeth Hubbard Bonsall SUMMARY AND FORECAST Tom and Sarah the Seventh Year and Beyond SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLES The First Day of School Bridging Over from the Kindergarten to- Schooldays . The City and Country School, New York . . . . The Experimental Primary Class in the Ethical Cul- ture School Teachers College Playground The First Three Grades in School The Three Kinds of Modern Schools At What Age Should the Child Learn to Read? . . On Teaching History to Children How to Help the Memory First Experiences with French Early Training in Thrift The Child's First Collections Education in Clan Spirit William B\ Forbush . 55 = Helen Campbell 571 Nina C. Vandezualker. .... 572 Caroline Pratt 574 Mabel R. Goodlander .... 577 Lucile C. Deming 579 Columbus N. Millard .... 582 Ernest Carroll Moore, Ph.D. . . 591 Ed. Claparede 593 Eva March Tap pan, Ph.D. . . . 594 The Editors 595 Mrs. Eliaabeth Hubbard Bonsall . 595 The Editors 598 The Editors 599 The Editors 600 INDEX TO SUBJECTS INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS Facing 600 Facing 600 CONTENTS MESSAGES OF INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION FOR THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MESSAGES FROM THE MASTERS Some Hopes and Fears for tlie Kindergarten of the Future Patty Smith Hill .... Real Activities and the Kindergarten Bertha Hofner-Hcgncr . . Books for Children Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin . Why Kindergartens? Philander P. Claxton, LL.D. What's in a Name ? Luck Wheelock .... Froebel Had the American Spirit Jenny B. Merrill, Pd.D. . . What We May Learn from John Dewey .... William Byron Forbiish . . 603 607 608 610 611 612 612 GOOD CHEER FOR THE MOTHER-TEACHER The Advantages of the Mother-Teacher .... The Mother as Artist The Joy of Teaching How a Mother Can Get More Out of Life . . . The Mother's Harvest Dad What We Do Not Understand We Do Not Possess The Editors 615 Mrs. Ella Lyman Ca bot . 618 William McAndr^iv, Ph.D. 621 Caroline L. Hunt . 622 Susan Chenery 625 Henry Turner Bail -y . 626 Frank Crane, D.D. 626 REMEMBERED CHILDHOODS The Olympians Kenneth Grahamc The Playing Child in the Garden of Verses . . . . iniliam- Byron Forbush Fellow-Travelers with a Bird l^lrs. Alice Meynell . The Child in the House Jl'alter Pater . . . Why I Wanted to Learn to Read George Borrozv . "Una Mary" William Byron Forbush "Emmy Lou" WiUiam Byron Forbush The Children in Kensington Gardens lames Douglas The Dark Joan Ardcn . . . Memoirs of a Child: People Annie Steger. Winston Recreative Readings for Mothers about Remembered Childhoods The Editors 629 630 632 ^34 637 639 640 641 642 644 646 DIVERS TYPES OF CHILDREN The Nervous Child .... The Contrary Child .... The Unstable Child .... The Obstinate Child .... The Passionate Child .... The "Cross" Child . . '. . The Fearful Child The Forgetful Child .... The Impudent Child .... The Lazy Child Imaginative Child .... Precocious Child .... The The The Motor Child and the Bookish Child Leonard Guthrie, M.D., F.R.S.C.P. 647 M. V. O'Shea 652 Cyril Burt 653 Ellen Chine Buttemveiser, Ph.D. . 664 Angeline W. Wrav 670 M.'V. O'Shea . '. 673 ^frs. Theodore W. Birnev ■ . . 674 M. V. O'Shea . . . .' . . .676 Ji'illiam Byron Forbush .... 677 .Sidonie Mafcner Grucnberg . . . 678 Harriet Frances Carpenter . . . 679 Leonard Guthrie, M.D 681 M. V. O'Shea 685 CONTENTS Xlll PLAY AND PLAYTHINGS The Early Impulses How Children Play at Each Age Education for Play A Graded Guide to Toys for Children Suggested Play Outfit for the Home . How to Make and Use Gesso A List of Games .... rAGE The Editors 68g Liiella A. Palmer 690 Percival Chubb 694 Mary L. Read 697 Mrs. Newell, Mrs. Sies, Mrs. Horn, Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. Coleman, Miss Brown, and Professor Patty Smith Hill, in Conference with Dr. Forbnsh 699 John T. Lemos 704 The Editors 707 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION The Beginnings of Religious Training Mary E. Rankin 711 How to Interest Children in the Bible Jidia Brown 719 The Catholic Mother and Her Child Father Alexander, O.F.M. ... 721 The Kindergarten in the Religious School Rabbi Louis Grossman, D.D. . . 725 Lessons for Beginners in Sunday-School Wade Crawford Barclay, D.D. . . 728 Teaching the Bible by Handwork Addie Grace Wardle 729 Learning to Serve Henry F. Cope. D.D 731 The Program of Service of a Religious School .... 734 The New Era and the Child 735 Obedience Mrs. Elisabeth Hubbard Bonsall . 727 Right Ways to Punish Rita S. Hale 738 Golden Texts of Child Discipline Mrs. Gertrude H. Campbell . . . 739 Habits A. B. Barnard 740 Tantrums Prudence Bradish 741 Truthfulness Mrs. Zelie M. Water.s .... 743 Training the Will Carolyn Sherwin Bailey . . . 747 Character Through Personal Example U'oodrow Wilson 749 A Small Library of Moral and Religious Education . . 752 APPENDIX Self-directed Work and Play Jennie Ellis Bendick, Bonnie E. Siiozv, Mary Lena Wilson. Dawti Powell Gousha, and others . . 755 GENERAL INDEX "All powers be yours. He saith, Over my little ones; The power of life and death; The power of cloud and suns; The power of weal and harm Be yours to have and hold. "Lord of the skies and lands. Take pity on Thy dust; Strengthen our mortal hands Lest we betray Thy trust." — Katherine Tynan. THE PLAN 'TpHIS handbook is planned to be simple enough and adequate enough for the education of a child by his own mother from his birth until he is well along in his schooldays. Because of its simplicity, thoroughness, and practicalness it will also be of the greatest usefulness to teachers who are training children of these ages. The best possible way to guide a mother effectually is to take up each ad- vancing year in turn. While children differ somewhat in the rapidity of their development, they pass along very much the same roadway of progress; and it is wise to put down things in order. The plan for each year is the same. It is based upon the main principle of the book, which is this: The Way to Educate Is to Build on the Interests and Capabilities OF the Child, and Not Upon What We Think He Ought to Learn. This Manual centers in the Child rather than in a Curriculum. So the discussion for each year is in this order: First. What is the child attempting this year? Second. What is he trying to express by his endeavors? Third. What will help him most? Each year we try to study our child, and then, according to our best vmderstand- ing of him, help him to help himself. As for the authorship, it was determined early that each year's work should be written by a mother who has children of the age in question and who has also had the training and successful experience of a teacher. So we have here the actual methods of real mothers who are competent, both by technical knowledge and practiced service, to give us guidance. They are not women of wealth; some of them do their own housework; all of them represent what we may regard as the average domestic condition, with this exception, that they are trained for their task. Other fathers and mothers have supplemented these papers, until the experience of more than forty parents has been here assembled. Important supplemental articles have also been especially prepared or reprinted by special permission of some of the leading educators of America. The writers of the leading articles were chosen at the suggestion of Profes- sor Patty Smith Hill, Director of the Department of Kindergarten Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and many of the practical devices sug- gested have been either suggested or approved by several of the teachers in the well-known kindergarten of the Horace Mann School at Teachers College, co- workers with Miss Hill. The entire manuscript has been carefully read and revised by Mrs. Bertha Payne Newell, formerly head of the Department of Kindergarten Education at the University of Chicago, and by Mrs. Minnetta Sammis Leonard, formerly Director of the Model Kindergarten at the State Normal School, Milwaukee, both of whom are mothers. Many of the manuscripts when completed have been copied and sent to other mothers, to criticise and to try out the suggestions to see if they were practicable. Nothing has been neglected to make The Home Kindergarten Manual serviceable to the utmost for the average mother and in the ordinary home. MATERIALS REQUIRED The majority of the materials desirable for a little child's play and action are to be found in the home equipment. The old formal kindergarten "gifts" and "occupations" have of late been receding into the background in education, since they do not represent the most important play-interests of the average small American. The Montessori apparatus finds its equally useful counterparts in many of the things that are in daily use about the house. Mechanical toys have little place in a child's life. How much more sensible that the child should, in companionship with his mother, make or adapt his playthings than that he should be furnished with an artificial and needlessly costly imported environ- ment ! A few articles, because of their accurate measurements, or because they are useful for design or color, or because they have peculiar educational value, are recommended to be purchased, a few at a time, perhaps at Christmas, to supplement the home stock. Much more important than the materials for handwork are the stories, the pictures, the songs and other rhythms, and the games and occupations for the intellectual and spiritual awakening of the child. With these helps many a home has not had the foresight or the opportunity to equip itself. The pub- lishers have made a collection of these treasures for the mother's use. From a multitude of sources a rich and carefully chosen compilation has been made, which not even the most fortunate home could expect, by any wisdom or ex- penditure, to provide for itself. This collection, called the Boys and Girls Bookshelf, is not only supplementary to The Home Kindergarten Manual but constitutes in itself a standard foundation library for children. All through xvi K.M.— 1 The Manual references are made to these resources as they are needed in the instruction and inspiration of children. The Manual, the pioneer in its field, is understandable and practical, and any mother who loves her children enough to study it will make it her constant and prized companion. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The thanks of the Publishers and Editors are hereby extended to all those who have cooperated with them to make The Manual a success. The Editors, in preparing the manuscript for these volumes, have endeav- ored, in all cases where material has been used which has previously appeared in print, to give credit to author, publisher, and book, and to any other to whom such acknowledgment was due. If they have failed to do so in any particular case, it has been an oversight for which the Publishers are not responsible, as their instructions on this point were definite, and for which the Editors express their regrets. Future editions will offer an opportunity for the correction, which will be gladly made. KM- "Play is the symbol and interpreter of liberty. . . . God has purposely set the beginning of the natural life in a mood that foreshadows the last and highest chapter of immortal character." — Horace Bushnell, A WORD TO THE MOTHER "l^T'HIT.E the careful study of this Manual as a textbook from beginning to * ^ end will be most profitable, either for the mother, the normal school student, or the professional teacher, the best way for the mother to make it immediately useful will be to turn to the year represented by the age of her child and read the material for that year. The arrangement for each year is as follows : First comes an article, writ- ten by the General Editor, and entitled "A Look Forward Through the Year." This outlines the teaching-work for the year. It tells the mother what to ex- pect in her child and what to do. It interprets the main Course of Study for the year, prepared by the teacher-mother who wrote upon that year. It shows the relation of the shorter articles to the principal ones and how they supple- ment or confirm it. This "Look Forward" is the key to the whole year, and is to be read carefully, no matter what else may be omitted. Then follow the Course of Study and the other articles. It is a good idea to look over the whole of the material for the year rapidly within the first few days, making notes of what seems especially or immediately important, and then to read it all again gradually and slowly. For this more thorough reading a "Reading Journey" is suggested in each "Look Forward." At the end of each year's material are two indexes for the year. One is an Index to Occupations. Every occupation, play, or employment, named in the articles, is listed so that the mother may find it at a glance. The other is an Index of Subjects. Here the suggestions are classified under such impor- tant headings as Art, Music, Physical Training, Nature Study, Reading, Sto- ries, Moral Training, etc. These indexes are for the purpose of helping the mother to lay her hands at once upon the method of using or satisfying a ten- dency or impulse she has noticed in the child. In each year's course there are articles connecting the present year with the previous one and the one that follows, so that the mother may feel the continuity of her child's development, and if her child is slightly backward or precocious may have appropriate help. These connecting articles also call to the mother's attention devices and methods which, though classified in a particu- lar year, are good for a number of years. The material in the rest of The Manual, after the Courses of Study year by year, is referred to by cross-references in the yearly work. Many of these articles also will be looked up by the reader, in special needs, by turning to the General Index at the end of the set. "Mighty the Wizard Wlio found iiie at sunrise Sleeping, and woke me And learn'd me Magic! Great the Master, And sweet the Magic." — Tennyson A WORD TO THE TEACHER PJ^OR the multitude of Kindergarten and primary teachers, who beheve their task is that of making hves and not of merely teaching school, this Manual has a large message. First, it gives them a new and better Child Study. Instead of telling them about the child simply as he appears to-day, it goes back to the begin- ning and traces the wonderful way a child develops from his babyhood. The only way to understand the kindergarten child's impulses and responses is to know the seeds from which they grew. Second, it gives teachers the home background. We see children too much as affected by schoolroom discipline. We tend to forget that the largest and best part of their education is given them by their mothers. This Manual not only shows what the better homes may do and are doing to prepare their children for the kindergarten, but it enables the kindergartner to work better with the mothers as they try to supplement the kindergarten. It is safe to say that in any community where this Manual is possessed by any consid- erable number of young mothers, it is indispensable for all the elementary teachers. Third, it gives teachers the right principles by which to do their work. Whether or not she be fresh from the normal school, every teacher needs to be reminded constantly that there is a New Education that is sound, effective, and becoming triumphant. It insists, as almost every page of this Manual reminds us, that education is not memorizing, nor mere knowing, nor burnish- ing the mind, but learning to use the mind. It is not something formal and bookish, but it is "organizing experience in terms of vital need." Contact with the delightful, sensible, informal methods used in The Manual will freshen the whole atmosphere of the teacher's daily work. It will get her away from "the grindstone method" of sharpening children's minds, and help her every day to realize that knowledge is a craft, that children learn by doing and not by merely being told. The Manual is based upon what is done to-day in the best kindergartens, and here are the latest and best ways of project-teaching. By the use of The Manual in the homes and kindergartens of any com- munity the little children of that community will live enriched and abundant and growing lives. "If we know we die not, but live on We should live worthier of Thy love. So, help Thy little ones to know and live That, 38 a shadow which goes reaching forth. Longer and longer as the sun goes down. The soul may stretch forth toward the great Unseen Until the solemn, sacred starlight comes, Gathering our individual shadows in its own." TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY CONTENTS Preliminary Papers ^^^^ Educating the Baby Before It is Born The Editors 3 How I Learned to Take Care of My Baby Mrs. Madeline Darrayh Horn 5 The Course of Training Looking Forward Through the Year William Byron Porbush 13 My First Year with John Mrs. Madeline Darrayh Horn 17 Charts 25, 26, 27 What to Expect the First Year The First Year in a Baby's Life William Byron Forbush 29 The First Three Months Mrs. Alice Corbin Sies 37 My Baby Month by Month A/ri. Anna G. Noyes 38 Landmarks in a Baby's Progress Mrs. Helen Y. Campbell 39 What to Do the First Year Some Beginnings The Editors Plays and Games for the First Year Luella A. Palmer Finger- Plays and Other Action-Plays The Editors 41 45 46 Summary and Forecast Getting Acquainted with Tom and Sarah William Byron Porbush 49 Index to Subjects facing 54 Index to Occupations ■. facing 54 PRELIMINARY PAPERS EDUCATING THE BABY BEFORE IT IS BORN BY TPIE EDITORS "Recurved and close lie the little feet and hands, close as in the attitude of sleep folds the head, the little lips arc hardly parted ; "The living mothcr-flcsh folds round in darkness, the mother's life is an unspoken prayer, her body a temple of the Holy One. _ "/ am amazed and troubled, my child — she zvhispers — at the thought of yon; I hardly dare to speak of it, you are so sacred. "I will keep my body pure, very pure: the sivcet air will I breathe and pure water drink; I will stay out in the open, hours together, for vour sake; "Holy thoughts will I think; I zuill brood in the thought of motherAove. I will fill myself with beauty; trees and running brooks shall be my companions; "And I ivill pray that I may become transparent — that the sun may shine and the moon, my beloi'cd, upon you, "Even before you are born." — Edward Carpenter : Towards Democracy. That a mother may shape her child-that-is-to-be for good or evil while he is yet in her body has been many a woman's hope or apprehension. Let us at once remove the dread that gathers about the now discredited theory of "maternal im- pressions." The old idea was that if the mother is injured or observes a deformed person or an object of horror, the impression made upon her will cause a corresponding defect in the child. The truth is that there is no connection between the mother and the child in the womb by which nervous impressions can be conveyed. The moth- er's blood even does not enter the child. It seems as if Nature had erected a barrier specifically providing for the protection of the unborn against such impressions. Most mothers have had dis- turbing experiences during their pregnancy, and most babies would be born "marked" if this theory be true. Many women do not realize until the sixth or eighth week that they are pregnant, and as the form of the child is established at the beginning of the third month, disturbing events have little time in which to effect impressions. This is not to say that the mother cannot harm the coming baby. If a woman neglects the plain rules of health, or goes through her pregnancy repining and lamenting, she may rob her child of the nutrition he needs for his best development. The puny, wailing baby is, however, usually not "marked" even by "nervousness"; the nervous- ness is due to lack of nourishment when the baby was beginning its growth. Mother Cannot Will Good Gifts upon her Baby On the other hand, we may be equally positive in declaring that no endowment — physical, mental, or moral — can be transmitted by will-power. The brown-eyed mother cannot "will" blue eyes for her baby. The mother of olden times who "filled her house with choice flowers and beautiful im- ages of color and marble, listened often to the discoursing of sweet music, and walked often in the gardens, seeking from Nature and from books inspiration and lofty thought," did not thereby confer taste or talent upon her unborn child. The calm truth of science, stated by Guyer, is that "in spite of all our painstaking efforts toward self-improvement, we cannot add one jot or tittle to the native ability of our children." And if that seem discouraging and fatalistic, we may gain some cheer by the complementary truth that "while we are denied advancement through the efforts of the flesh, we are also largely protected THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL from our misfortunes and follies," since mutila- tions and personally acquired bad habits are not inheritable by our offspring. What then is the use of a mother's efforts at self-culture during the pre-natal months? In what sense, if any, may we justify our title, "Educa- ting the Baby Before it is Born?" She May Prepare Laid-up Treasures There are a number of answers. They all center in this fact, that while we can not com- municate with the child himself, everything that we do may indeed benefit him. To educate the child yet to be born we educate the mother who is to bear him. We have spoken of the expectant mother's physical life. Her attention to food and diges- tion, to exercise out of doors, to pleasant dis- tractions that induce a happy view and take the pressure off the overworked nerves, will directly assist a successful bringing to birth. Her at- titude is everything. If she will remember that pregnancy is not a malady, that old wives' stories are mostly fables, and that abnormal experiences are unusual, if in short she will keep her mind from ingrowing, she will greet her baby on the day of his birth with the courage and poise and triumph that will actually assist his digestion, quiet his nerves, and make his entrance into life an agreeable event. Developing character her- self, she will from the start develop his. The fond mother who thought her caressing strokes over the surface of the birth-chamber awoke an affectionate thrill within may have been mis- taken, for the womb is a chamber of peace, but there is no doubt her anticipating love had its answer on that day when the first blast of outer air, the first contact with the noisy world, the first rude touches of assisting hands, awoke the protesting voice and stimulated the ill-directed rigors of his tiny wrath. Love and tenderness and even a sense of humor do good to a baby from the day of his arrival. The expectant mother who, as Nietzsche said, "suppress an angry word as though it might dis- till a drop of evil into the life-chalice of the be- loved unknown" are wise, for how can they fill the chalice with sweetness unless they have won self-control by practice? Truly, every expectant mother lives, as another has said, "under God's spotlight." Effectual Methods of Making the Future And what of the mothers who hang up fine pic- tures in their rooms, and live with good music, and read much in the masters during their days of waiting? Are they foolish or misguided? Not at all. These shall be the mothers of princes. "One must give up much when one becomes a mother." This is true. It too often means that the young woman gives up her music, her art, her pretty clothes, and the care of her person, when it should mean only that she gives up her foolish leisure, her petty vices, her wasteful reading. The day of the baby's birth is not too early to begin his moral training. Before he is half a year old, wonders may be wrought in his educa- tion. It is not too much to say that the voca- tional guidance of a man ought to be commenced before he comes to birth. Music played softly in the room where rests an unborn child will not "mark" him to become a Mendelssohn or a MacDowell, but a baby is sensi- tive to rhythms before he is seven weeks old, and how shall he have this advantage if his mother has "given up her music?" Sculpture and art gazed upon by expectant mothers will not produce an impression of aesthetics upon the embryo, but the baby who learns to love form before he is six months old, and who perceives color soon after he is a yearling, will not be in the atmosphere of beauty unless his mother has prepared beauty for him in her heart and in his home in advance. And while the fond mother must be slow to ce- ment even the growing youth into his niche for life, yet the quiet days before he comes are not too early to catch a vision of the great tasks of life and to begin to plan that his shall be no nar- row, unready, or ignoble lot. An expectant mother's dreams are holy, and they are effectual. "Not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory" come "from God who is our home" babies who are conceived in desire and borne in longing and preparation. Even before birth the mother may consecrate herself to be- come not only the first, but the best teacher her child shall ever know. She may recognize herself as the transmitter to him, not only of a sweet, untainted body, but of the wisdom and beauty of all times. She must understand that by surround- ing herself with the best life has to give — and life's best is not wholly bought with gold — she may bring wise men to his cradle and lift him up under the benison of the Star. USEFUL BOOKS FOR EXPECTANT MOTHERS SlEmons, J. Morris, M.D. The Prospective Mother. D. Appleton and Company, New York. ScHARLiEB, M.'\ry. The Welfare of the Expec- tant Mother. Funk and Wagnalls, New York. HOW 1 LEARNED TO TAKE CARE OF MY BABY MRS. MADELINE DARRAGH HORN Katharine had just dropped in for one of the occasional chats we squeezed in between our numerous home duties. When I tell you that she was the mother of charming Clo, aged eight months, and I of Bobby and John, aged six months and two and one-half years respectively, you will guess why our conversations never lagged. We compared notes on the "gooing" of Clo and Bobby ; Katharine told of Clo's new- found sport of crawling backward and I described John's large amount of vitality, with its disregard of furniture and shoes. "Do you remember," asked Katharine, "how yellow John was when he was a week old?" ''Indeed I do. How worried I was I When I told my fears to the doctor, she said, 'Just wait.' Sure enough, in a few weeks the yellow color was gone, and in its place appeared the lovely pink and white complexion all stories about babies had led me to believe belonged to them. When Bobby arrived with the same color-scheme, I did not waste a minute in worry. The doctor did ask me to notify her if the jaundice remained too long." "Clo escaped having the jaundice," said Kath- arine, "but she was red, as red as a beet. How- ever, this soon disappeared, and in its place came a beautiful shell pink that filled me with delight every time I looked at her." Katharine continued: "Did I ever tell you what Clo's father said when he first saw her?" "No, you didn't." "He said, 'Did we go to all this trouble for such a homely little bundle ? Even her head is crooked !' But like the unattractive complexions, the misshapen head soon disappeared." Then I confessed. "Do you know, I imagined a new-born baby was like a child at least six months old. I thought my first baby was abnormal because there seemed so little he could do. He didn't seem to hear; his eyes often wandered in different direc- tions; he had no muscular control. His chief stock in trade were instincts he had brought with him into this world. He could cry — I should say he could cry ! He could sneeze, cough, grasp ob- jects, form his mouth for food, feel warmth and cold, but cry best of all. Not until I learned that the human baby, unlike the animal baby, has a long period of infancy in which fathers and mothers must care for it, so it can develop to a high degree, was I satisfied that John was normal." Plans for the Future Katharine's visit took me back to the days of John's youth — his youngest youth — when he was but an hour old. His presence had inspired me to pledge again the future his father and I had planned for him: — All the health should be his that loving care and expert medical attention could give. We guaranteed life's essentials — food, clothing, shelter, with as much music and art as we could afford. We promised an education with special super- vision of his reading and experiences. Yes, we had chosen his college ! Twofold companionship should be his — the companionship of adults and children. Of course, I was the most eagerly sought companion among the grown-ups. I had already forsaken crochet- ing and embroidering for the reading of good books, that I might prove worthy of such com- panionship. We promised him a home where teamwork prompted by love should be the constant ex- ample. My Education Begins: John's Bath As you see, like most inexperienced fathers and mothers, we had thought of John in terms of an adult who more or less approximated our own experiences, forgetting, or, rather, not knowing, those tiny but essential steps that bring a child safely through babyhood. I did not remain in ignorance long. My education began in the hos- pital when I watched my nurse give John his first bath. My nurse said: "Giving this daily bath looks difficult and tiresome, but it helps a great deal in guaranteeing baby's future health. It keeps the pores of his skin open by removing waste ; it keeps the skin in condition, especially where parts of the body touch; it makes him comfortable, hence good-natured ; it begins the habit of a daily bath ; and it gives you a daily opportunity to look THE HOME- KINDERGARTEN MANUAL him over carefully to see that there are no signs of a coming illness." The nurse wore her usual spic-and-span and "good-looking" uniform. Her look of cleanliness and competence in her regulation suit inspired me to model my house-dresses on a similar plan. I was not surprised when she said: "Wear wash-dresses when caring for your baby. They can be kept clean." She also said that if I had a cold. I should pre- vent my baby's getting it by wearing a cheese- cloth mask over the lower part of my face. She took care of John's eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and washed his face, hands, and head, and cut his finger and toe nails before undressing him. A summary of what she told me about caring for the eyes is as follows : Cleanse a baby's eyes, when they are slightly in- flamed or sore, with a solution of boric acid. Dis- solve one teaspoonful of boric acid powder in a cup of lukewarm water to make the solution. The boric acid can easily be put into the eye with an eye-dropper. Never irritate the eyes by rubbing them. Flush them so the discharge runs to the outer corner of the eye, where it can be caught with absorbent cotton. This cleansing should be done often. Always burn the bits of cotton used and cleanse the hands. If the discharge is only in one eye, let the child lie on that side. Take every precaution to prevent the infection spread- ing to the well eye. If the discharge is profuse, a physician must be called to care for it. This sort of thing is very contagious, so the child should be kept away from other people and chil- dren, and the mother must be fastidious in the care of her hands and clothes. She carefully made cotton swabs by entirely covering the blunt end of a toothpick with ab- sorbent cotton. She dipped these in vaseline (liquid alboline would do, she said) and gently cleansed the nostrils. Fresh swabs were used for each nostril to prevent carrying germs from one to the other. There seemed to be bits of yellow wax just inside the ear canal. She said that if this were left there was apt to be irritation. She used cot- ton swabs moistened with water for cleansing the ears. She turned these swabs gently in the outer part of the ear. never pushing them into the ear canal or pulling the external ear. She cared for the mouth by washing the space between the gums and cheeks with a large swab moistened with boiled water. She said that when John's teeth came to wash his mouth twice a day with a soft brush or cotton swabs and a solution of bicarbonate of soda (one teaspoonful to a cup of water). She washed the head very gently to avoid any injury to the soft spot on top which she called the fontanel. She examined his toe and finger nails carefully. She said that if they were allowed to become too long they were likely to grow back into the flesh ; and that finger nails scratched the baby's skin before he learned how to keep his hands from his face. She cut the nails straight across instead of following the curve of the finger or toe. Danger Signals She then told me how to treat heat-rash. She said: "In the Summer watch for it carefully. If rash does appear // ivill probably menu Joint is dressed too warm. Cover the skin with a soft linen slip between it and his shirt. Bathe him with a solution of bicarbonate of soda (one tea- spoonful to eight ounces of water) or pat his skin with a paste made of it. Be sure he gets plenty of boiled water to drink." "What other danger signals should I watch for?" I asked. "A sore buttock should always be cared for immediately. It may be caused by a number of things : wet diapers left on too long when the urine is too concentrated; irritating stools; harsh material in diapers; diapers not carefully rinsed, after being washed with strong soap; or any con- dition that causes redness elsewhere." "How do I care for such a condition?" I asked. "Wash baby with oil instead of water. Place a piece of old linen covered with cold cream or vaseline between the diaper and skin. Remove his diapers as soon as they are wet. Give plenty of boiled water between feedings. If your treat- ment does not effect a cure, you should consult your physician." Equipment for a Baby's Bath She bathed John on an ordinary table which had been padded until soft. A six-inch rail sur- rounded the table to prevent any falls. The nurse said that she could bathe the baby so much faster and with much more assurance for baby's safety than when he was tumbling and squirm- ing on her lap. Her list of articles for the bath seemed so com- plete and helpful that before going home I jotted them down on paper. I shall pass the list on to you : 1. The table. 2. Two sets of wash cloths. One set was made of surgeon's lint, eight inches square; another of two thicknesses of fine bleached cheesecloth. One set was used on the face ; the other on the buttocks. I think her rea- TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY son for using two materials was to prevent using the same wash-rag on the buttocks as on other parts of the body. She warned me to shun the harsh wash-cloths adults use. When I returned home and made my wash- cloths, I found I had no surgeon's lint. Since I did not want to buy any. I tore up an old cheese- cloth garment into eight-inch squares. To dis- tinguish my face-cloths from the others, I marked them with a pink mark in each corner. 3. Bath-thermometer. (A mother's elbow may be a fairly accurate substitute.) 4. Soft linen towels for face and body. She said old linen was excellent for this purpose. 5. Soft bath-towels. She said never to use a towel so rough that it would irritate the skin. 6. Soft blanket, one and one-half yards square. A lovely one can be purchased, or Viyella flan- nel of two thicknesses makes an excellent one. However, old materials about the house (an old blanket, for instance) are all right, and save buying while materials are expensive. 7. Absorbent cotton. She kept this clean in a container with a hole in the top. 8. Toothpicks. She kept these in a covered container. 9. Castile soap and a soap dish. She said any good white soap would do, but castile was preferable. 10. Safety pins. These were stuck on a pincushion nailed by a tape above the table. Since the hospital days, I have found it a time-saving device to keep safety pins in every room where the baby goes. 11. Talcum powder, unscented. 12. Flexible tube of yellow vaseline or cold cream. 13. A soft baby-brush and comb. 14. A tub. She said the rubber ones are excellent, but very expensive. A towel can cover the bottom and sides of a metal one so it will not touch the baby. 15. A small basin or bowl for the cold splash. 16. A small paper bag to hold waste cotton and toothpicks. 17. Two covered pails — one for soiled clothing and one for diapers. 18. A receptacle holding oil. 19. Blunt scissors to cut toe and finger nails. 20. Scales. She explained that weighing the baby regularly was the surest indicator the mother had of his condition. Be sure to use scales that indicate the weight accurately. She recommended a type that sits firmly on the table and that has a screw that can be turned backward from point zero, tlie weight of the basket (which holds the baby) and of the clothing, so the nude weight can be ob- tained even after the baby is dressed. Weighing the baby while dressed protects him from cold and drafts. As I watched the nurse, I was sure her efficiency grew out of much practice and having everything ready before she began. My Own Bath-Table When I returned home from the hospital, I worked out a bath-table similar to the nurse's with material I could find about the house. Here is a description of the result : I owned and used one of those old-fashioned washstands which have a lowered top to hold the bowl and pitcher. This provided my railing. By removing the top and supporting it at the side with brackets, I made the shelf to hold my tub of water. The two-inch board around the lid prevented any sliding about of the tub of water. The narrow shelf above held vaseline, cold cream, boric-acid solution, toothpicks, receptacle for hold- ing cotton, etc. The rack for the baby's clothes was placed high to avoid splashings. A pincush- ion was well filled with pins of various sizes. The scissors were hung to one side so that there was no danger of their falling on the baby. I put a shelf in the middle of the lower part of the vvashstand to make room to hold John's clothes, his wash-cloths, and towels. An oilcloth under the top protected the floor and padding from water. The weight-chart was close at hand. Although I spent hours getting this ready, I soon saved several times that amount of time. The Bath Itself How skillfully the nurse held the baby! She soaped John from head to foot before putting him in the tub. She held him in a sitting position in the tub by slipping her left arm and hand under his armpits from the right side. In this way she could hold him securely and have the right hand free. Any accident must be prevented, as that would establish a fear of the daily bath. She washed him gently, going from the neck downward. She kept him in the water only a minute or two. After the cleansing bath, she wrung out a wash- cloth in cold water and gave John a cold splash over his chest, back, and under his arms. She then lifted him to the padded portion of the table and patted him dry with a soft towel. She was very careful to get him entirely dry, especially in folds of the skin. Then followed the oil-bath. I have found since 8 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL that a continued use of this keeps the skin in ghe Begins to Establish John's Habits excellent condition. Vaseline may also be used. She carefully rubbed the skin-surfaces which .^"^ ^^y- '°*'^'''' "'^ "'^ °^ "^^ hospital stay, I touch, to prevent irritation. She recommended said: the oil rather than powder, as the latter is likely '^""«' >'°" ^° '^e same thmg to John at the to form irritating rolls.* s^'"'^ '™^ ^^'^h day." She gently pushed back the foreskin and re- "^_es,mdeed," she said, "and you will thank moved any deposit of white material which might "*! i,""" ". "l^"^ ^""^^- , become irritating. She applied a little vaseline, /Does it help a great deal? and brought the prepuce back into position. If J"^' imagine your not being sure you could the prepuce seemed tight, she said to notify a «"^* ^'^en your meal-time came ! Imagine never physician being sure you would get your night's sleep or a To bathe a girl, she said, separate the labia, "^P ' '^'°"'' stomach would rebel, you would wash gently with cotton balls and tepid water, henpeck your husband, and no doubt you might and use a downward motion. Never rub. If ^^'^^ ^^ tempted to spank poor, helpless little there is a tendency toward redness, use a small -^°hn here, when all that was needed was a little amount of vaseline between the labia, but never regularity m your household." powder. She continued: "After caring for many babies Nieht Sponee ^ ^"^ convinced no one thing, besides proper food, guarantees the health of a normal baby to the Just before sleepy time at night she sponged extent of regularity of habit." him off with as little handling as possible. She also cleansed his nostrils again. I have kept this The Nurse's Three-Hour Schedulef up, because I found that dirt always collected in the nostrils during the day. This cleansing ^^'^ '°''^ '"'^ '''^'' '""^ ^'^e first three months or seemed to insure better breathing at night and ^°' •^^'"'^ °^ '^e physical habits was about all that hence better rest for him ^^^* needed. At this time babies sleep hours each So much equipment and so many little things ^^^^ ^"'^ *'^^" ^'^^'^'^ '""^' he kept quiet— not to watch discouraged me. played with— except for the mother's patting and "I can never do it without hurting him," I londling. told the nurse. Here is her schedule for the first three months: She was most comforting. "Every mother feels 3-OOA. m., early morning feeding, that way," she said, "and every mother is mis- o.ooa. m., feeding, tress of the art by the end of the first month." ^-3° a. m.. morning bath followed by the This is really true 9.00 a.m. feeding and drink of water — luke- warm. Excellent Advice my Nurse Gave Me 9oo a. m. to 12.00 m., morning nap. i,r, T 1^, • • , . 12.00 noon, feeding. When I was able to sit up in bed once more. 3.00 p. m., feeding - nap between. Drink of my nurse kept my mind busy by giving me the water benefit of her experience with many babies 6.00 p. m., feeding-nap between. Put to bed Would you like to share her wisdom too? f^j. jjj„]^(. "What," I asked my nurse, "is my safest guide 9.00 pm. feeding in determining the state of John's health?" "The weight-chart," she replied, without a bit Changes Made by End of the Sixth Month r, •,,.,' T 1 J .1 . .1 ■ -I . . While I was still in the hospital, my nurse had Right there I resolved that this weight-chart ^j.i.i. t -wt, .. r , -1 u ij u r . J t u suggested that later on I might change to a four- and pencil should be fastened securely above my , t, j 1 t i-j -.i .1. r ft ,,, ^,, J ,, ,,, ^1. 1 hour schedule. I did, with the following as a bath-table so I would not be tempted to neglect , . "^ recording John's weight. , ' ... . ^ .. rr, -^ °, J , J , ^, . , ^ 0.00 A. M. came his earlv morning feeding. ihe nurse suggested I could record the weight . ,, ,■• t i j 1 • j ' j- j • . • ,, • f , • ° ° After this, I changed his damp diaper and night- in this fashion: '^ . . , ^ ,^ , . " gown, put on a pair of hose, and a kimono or ^"''' Weight sacque, if the room were chilly. I also washed ^/1^/17 (Birth) 7 lbs. 4 oz. i,is face and hands. 9/13/17 7 lbs. 8 oz. a c^ t i, r ^ ui j j t ^ i.- 9/17/17 .. 7 lbs 12 oz After John was comfortably dressed, I set him 9/24/17 .'.' ." .' .' .' .' .' '. '. '. '. '. '. '. '. .8 lbs.' 3 oz! . . • t It may be that your baby will need to be fed at first on Cecilia I'arwell, in Volume I., page 207, of "The Child a two-hour schedule; kt your physician advise you on this Welfare Manual," tells exactly how to give this oil-bath. point. — .'. E. B. TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY up in his crib for his early morning play. Before he could sit alone I propped him up with pillows. I kept a box of playthings especially for this time. From time to time I varied the contents of the box. Such things as a red harness ring, a small box, some spools and blocks at this time were typical contents. A crocheted red ball hung from his crib; later, I hung a blue ball. a yellow one, and so on. John soon learned to look forward to this time with much pleasure. His little arms would stretch out eagerly as soon as the box came in sight. This playtime gave me an opportunity to prepare breakfast. If John fell asleep, which he usually did, I was careful to cover him immediately to prevent his taking cold. We happened to have a small wicker chair in the household and it proved invaluable. It had a soft cushion seat, and, by adding pads to the sides, we made it comfortable throughout. To prevent his falling' out, we slipped ordinary sleigh-bell reins across the front. These bells were a source of much noise to us and much merriment to John. He soon learned that he could make the chair rock by rocking his body back and forth. Until he learned to crawl, this rock was his favorite means of getting exercise. From about 8.30 to 9.30 A. M. John would sit in this chair, intermit- tently rocking, shaking his rattle, or watching me move about the room. 9.30 — morning bath. 10.00 — came the second morning feeding. 10.00 to i.oo p. M. — he took his nap outdoors, unless the weather was below zero, or rainy. Under such conditions, he slept in a room with the windows wide open. This sleep lasted for three hours or more.* This long nap gave me time to wash the dishes, get luncheon, and do the luncheon dishes. It also gave John's father and myself one meal during which we could chat undisturbed. Usually, I managed a wee nap, too. 2.00 p. M. — came his first afternoon feeding, followed by activity of some sort after his long nap. At this time, I massaged his limbs and played with him for about thirty minutes. I often called this his "kicking" time. My play was not of a strenuous sort. I would allow him to kick his feet against my hands ; I would pat-a-cake his hands; talk to him; say "Mother Goose Rhymes," and so on. 5.30 — came his evening sponge-bath and the putting on of night clothes. 6.00 P. M. — came a feeding and his going to bed. I did not rock him, but put him immediately * Cecilia Farwell, in Volume I., page 187. of "The Child Welfare Manual," tells how necessary this sleep is. in his crib. All lights were put out. H^p went to sleep willingly, leaving a quiet evening for his father and mother. During the day 1 was care- ful that he had plenty of boiled water to drink. Play with his Father I found it difficult to find a place in John's schedule for play with his father, as his father was away during John's waking hours. It took very little discussion as to whether John should remain up after his six o'clock feeding to play with his father, to decide that such a procedure would be entirely selfish. Consequently, until John was quite a bit older, his father had to play wath him on Sundays, holidays, and those rare occasions when he happened to be home during John's waking hours. John Puts On his "Finery" I was quite disappointed to learn that night- gowns were the only necessary outside clothing for the first month. I had looked forward to the moment when John's first appearance in real dress-up clothes should make the nurses exclaim, "How cute he is !" The nurse was quite as proud of John as I, so one day she dressed him in his best bib and tucker and put him on display — at a time when John was always awake, of course. How the Nurse Dressed John Easily She had many little tricks she used in dress- ing John so he would not get weary in the proc- ess. She eliminated the putting on of one gar- ment by slipping the petticoat inside the dress, then putting them on together. She warned me against the strain of putting on clothes which had plackets that were too short. Ten inches is a good length. She explained the advantage of the buttoned shoulder of the Gertrude petticoat. If the petti- coat becomes soiled, it can be removed by un- buttoning at the shoulders and slipping off over the feet without removing the dress. In the same way, a clean petticoat can be put on. She said that removing clothing over the feet did away with that troublesome moment when the baby loudly objects to having his head wrapped in clothing. "Keep safety pins," she said, "in every room. Tack a pincushion full of them over your bath- table, so the baby will not be left exposed while you chase around hunting pins." She showed me two wire frames — one for dry- ing shirts and one for drying hose — which 10 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL avoided that shrinkage that often makes the put- ting on of the woolen garments troublesome. Amount of Clothing Needed I asked my nurse to check over my layette to see if I had missed any clothing John would need or if I had included superfluous articles. The following is a liberal allowance for a baby the first year, according to her report: 1. Three shirts. One the baby is wearing, an- other kept clean for emergencies, and one drying on the shirt rack. Wool, wool and cotton, or wool and silk are suitable materials. She said to buy size two, as size one was soon outgrown. Use long sleeves and high neck for winter wear, and cotton shirts for summer. Medium weight shirts can be purchased with a tab on the front, to which the diaper can be pinned. 2. Three pairs of stockings — also of wool, wool and silk, or wool and cotton. Use cotton hose or none at all for hot days in Summer. She sug- gested that I sew a loop at the top of the hose to run the safety pin through, to hold the stockings in place without tearing. 3. Flannel bands. Buy a yard of flannel for this purpose and leave them for your nurse to * Many medical authorities state that it is desirable to substitute a hand with shoulder straps for the straight band as soon as the navel has healed. This may be made to slip over the head, or it may be open in the back; ill the latter case each side of the back should be extended with a grad- ually narrowing width until it will reach around the body tear, as she needs them, into bands five or six inches wide. These bands are wrapped about a baby until the umbilical cord falls off. They are needed only a few weeks. For this reason, my nurse said that the old prac- tice of buying knitted bands was a needless expense.* 4. Knitted bootees for win- ter wear, preferably those which are long, and fit the curve of the knee. Short bootees, with a string about the ankle to hold them on, are likely to be tied too tightly and thus retard the blood circulation. If a moth- er has short bootees, she can fasten them on with small safety pins. 5. Three flannel skirts. The Gertrude pattern, six months' size, is a good one. Tapes or buttons are used at the back and shoulders. Several thicknesses of material at the shoulders where fastened prevents early tearing of the material. Length, twenty-two inches. of the bottom edge of the front; this is used for pinning the diaper in i>lace. There are three important things to remember about a baby's band: (1) It must never hind, as the abdominal muscles of a healthy infant need little sup- port, except possibly in the first few weeks of life, but rather they need free play in order that they may be A GERTRUDE PETTICO.\T THE OPEN-B.'\CK B.\Nn BEFORE SEWING THE SHOULDER SEAMS PROMT to* the center of the front — the bottom edge straight and the upper cut on the slant. There should be a slit cut just back of the armhole on the right hand side, so that when the band is put on, the left hack can be drawn smoothly through it, and thus make a crossing without wrinkles. Little linen tapes should be sewed to the ends of the back and tied in the front. A tab should he made and sewed at the center strengthened in the natural way by the slight exercise the baby can give them. (2) It must never wrinkle, or the haby will be unconifortai)le. (3) The width from top to bottom must neither l)e loo much nor too little; if too much the movement of the legs will force it to wrinkle, and if too little the lower edge will cut into the abdomen. —7. E. B. TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY II 6. Three Gertrude petticoats of a white ma- terial. I used these only for dress-up occasions. If a mother wanted to use them daily, she would need at least half a dozen. These should be twenty-two inches in length also. 7. Six outing-flannel nightgowns. These are twenty-seven inches in length, to give warmth to bare feet at night. Avoid nightgowns with draw-strings at the feet, as they may restrict the baby's movements and make him uncomfortable. Describing a baby's nightgown as being warm, reminds me of my friend without babies who asked : "Why don't you make the nightgowns of soft, lovely nainsook instead of that coarse heavy outing flannel ?" 8. Two kimonos. 9. Several warm sacques — flannel or knitted. These help to keep a baby at an even tempera- ture when one lives in a drafty old house that is always too warm or too cold. 10. Six white dresses. Size, six months. A baby so soon outgrows the very tiny baby clothes that it seems a waste of time, money, and energy to make a small set and then a larger one in six months. Tucks can be taken at the shoulder of the six-months' dresses until the baby grows into them. These dresses should be twenty-two inches long. The warmth a baljy is supposed to get from very long clothes is not needed with warm stockings and bootees. Long clothes restrict the movement of the legs. Make the wristbands of the dresses six inches wide, and the neckbands twelve. A dress with kimono sleeves has the advantage of being easily ironed. However, after John was eight months old, I found his lively getting about soon tore these sleeves, while the set-in sleeves remained intact. Buttons and tapes should be used to fasten the slips, but never pins. Can you imagine how cross you would be if a well-meaning but all-powerful person made you lie on a pin just because you couldn't move or tell her what was the matter? 11. Two sleeping bags.* These bags insure a protected baby at night and during out-of-door naps, no matter how strenuously he kicks or how cold the weather. Eiderdown is a lovely material for them. I felt that I could not afford to buy new material for these bags, so I made one by sewing my two baby blankets together, and another by cutting an old eiderdown cape into shape. Two bags are necessary to insure freshness if the baby wears them at night. * Cecilia Farwell, in Volume I., page 187. of "The Child Welfare Manual," tells how to make these bags. K.N.— 3 Such a bag, with sleeves and flaps to cover the hands, a hood attached, and a flap that buttons over the feet, makes an excellent coat. 12. Out-of-door garments consist of long draw- ers of cotton or wool, or leggings, sweater, cap, mittens, or the bag just mentioned. 13. Winter and summer clothing. A typical winter outfit for indoors consists of a wool shirt, wool hose, flannel petticoat, cotton dress, long bootees, cotton diaper. The kimono or sacque furnishes extra warmth when needed. 14. Diapers. Three dozen 18 by 36 inches; and two dozen 22 by 44 inches. Bulky materials should be avoided for diapers. Large bunches of cloth constantly between the legs tend to deform them. Cotton birdseye is a good material. The old way of folding the diaper leaves an uncomfortable lump between the legs, keeps the legs bent out and pulls at the front. A better way is to fold the diaper and lap over the cor- ners like a pair of drawers, pinning the upper edges to each other and the vest and the lower together and to the stockings. In this way the diapers may conveniently be let down at the back at tlie stool. 15. Summer clothing will vary with the section of the country in which one happens to live. In the warm southern States much less clothing will be needed throughout the Summer, while in our northern States there may be only a few very warm days. When these very warm days come, a diaper and cotton dress are usually enough. Sometimes a cotton shirt is needed. If there is evidence of stomach trouble, the flannel band should be used until the baby is well. In choosing the baby's clothing, mothers must use that good old standby, common sense, and never follow a rule blindly. If the baby's hands and feet are warm, his stools normal, if he looks bright and happy, you can be pretty sure he has on about the correct amount of clothing. The question of clothing is tied up with the child's physical development. He must have clothes that are attractive but do not bind him. When John was a year old, I made him a half dozen pairs of dark blue chambray overalls, com- ing just below the knee, that could be put on as needed. I often wonder if the custom of dressing chil- dren up in the afternoon, and insisting that they keep clean, is a wise one. It seems so foreign to the natural tendencies of a child to remain quiet enough to keep as clean as mothers would like. Why not bathe them, and put on a clean pair of overalls, and let them go on with the same 12 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL play activities? Dressing children up and ask- ing them to keep clean every afternoon always seemed to me the imposition of an adult attitude on the poor child. There are times when he can be dressed up and be expected to keep clean. Such times are at Sunday school, parties, and the like. If you have nothing around your house with which a child can get dirty, your equipment is lacking. Where is your sand pile, water to play with, and grass to roll on? Shall I Have My Baby Circumcised? When John was two days old, my nurse asked: "Will you have John circumcised while you are still in the hospital?" I confessed I had not thought of it at all. "Should I ?" While a baby is small the operation is very easy. If you have it done while your nurse is still with you, the penis will heal before she leaves. "Do you think it necessary?" I asked. "It might be that your baby could get along without circumcision. On the other hand, your baby might be one of the number who fret for months before anyone discovers that a tight fore- skin is making all the trouble. The custom is growing among the doctors to circumcise while the child is still in the hospital, and thus obliter- ate all possibility of future uncomfortable days." Defects Noticed During the First Year We all know the appearance of a bow-legged child. Often this can be prevented by not allow- ing the child to walk until his legs are strong enough. If the initiative is left to a normal child, there is no danger ; but we often get restless and try to make a child walk before he is ready to do so. If there are indications of pains in the joints, a mother should see a doctor immediately, to avoid lameness of any kind. Swinging a child by hands or feet is unforgiv- able. Their little legs and arms can not stand the strain. A child showing signs of having a club foot should be taken to the physician im- mediately. It seems that such things are more easily corrected when the child is small. Falls, of course, must be guarded against. Usually a child falls more easily than an adult, but once in a while falls are fatal, and therefore we do not want to take chances on any falls. I put gates to my porch and at the bottom and top of my stairs. Then, when John was two years old, having no fence around the yard, I had a large space fenced in for his play-yard. It seems that, in these days of the automobile and other modern inventions, we mothers must be very care- ful in keeping our children away from danger. "His flesh is angels' flesh, all alive. All day, hetween his three or four sleeps, he coos like a pigeon-house, sputters and spurs and puts on his faces of importance; and when he fasts, the little Pharisee fails not to sound his trumpet before him. By lamplight he delights in shadows on the wall; by daylight, in yellow and scarlet. Carry liim outdoors — he is overpowered by the light and by the extent of natural objects, and is silent. Then presently begins the use of his fingers, and he studies power, the lesson of his race." — Ralph Waldo Emerson. THE COURSE OF TRAINING LOOKING FORWARD THROUGH THE YEAR I To All Child-Lovers: The keynote of The Home Kindergarten Manual is in this sentence from WilHam Herbert Perry Faunce, president of Brown University : "There are some ways in which we can play on an instrument and some ways in which we can not. Instead of planning the instrument, we had better learn the stops.'' I believe that statement to be so important that I have put it on the title-page of two books that I have written, and if I did not expect to repeat it to you more than once I would put it on the title-page of this one. You, or any mother, can learn to play on the beautiful instrument of a little child's life, and evoke lovely music, if you understand the instrument on which you are trying to play. It is your child you need to study, not some elaborate work on pedagogy. To me, the most wonderful fact in education is that you can trust the child's own impulses and responses. These teach you what to teach him. And what is this mysterious Child Study? Simply this. All there is to a child's life is a series of situations and a series of responses to those situations. If you will carefully notice how your child responds to each situation, from these responses you will discover what are the best situations that you can arrange for him. In other words, your principal work is to select your child's sitnations. or experiences. This year, and every year, you must give him the most wisely selected experiences, and he will largely educate himself. You don't have to educate him. You don't even have to furnish him motive-power. Your task is not to give his boat an engine, but to clear away the barnacles. This simple preface suggests the first thing I would like to have you do, namely: First, get yourself a note-book. A diary or a small blank-book of any kind is enough. You will notice that this is the first thing Mrs. Horn, our teacher for this year, recommends. Mrs. Sies, too, who will take us at the third year, makes the same suggestion, and part of her own first-year record is reprinted in this year's studies. 13 14 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL What you put down this year may lie short and it may not seem important, but it will do three things at least: It will enable you to compare your baby with Mrs. Horn's baby; it will probably suggest some condition or action some day that will be very useful, and — best of all — it will start this most necessary habit, of trying to understand your child before you teach him. Second, if you are an expectant mother, I suggest that you read first "Educating the Baby Before it is Born." Third. I would ask every mother to read Mrs. Horn's preliminary article, "How I Learned to Take Care of My Baby." While she was at work upon her main article, she prepared, from her own experience, this paper. It is not a treatise on children's diseases nor an account of how to meet emergencies, but just a straightforward story of what a mother needs to remember in order to keep her baby happy and well. Fourth, I suggest that you read next Mrs. Horn's "My First Year with John." What you will like about Mrs. Horn's article is that, just as soon as she has made a point, she follows it up with a "Practical Suggestion," show- ing how she used that observation in training her baby. At the close of her article is a "Chart of Child Study and Child Training for the First Year," based on what she has been saying, which brings out, item by item, in tabulated form, the point I made at the beginning: that every response a baby makes by mood or motion suggests how you can arrange some experience that will enable him to educate himself. As you read the article just mentioned I would mark in the margins of the pages whatever strikes your attention as good for further thought. And I would do some of that further thinking right now. With her suggestions in your mind, you may begin at once to be a good practicing mother. You are, I hope, going to use Mrs. Horn's suggestions and the accom- panying Chart every day. But you are now ready for more thorough reading and study. Fifth. I would read the rest of the material for this year — the three sec- tions : "What to Expect This Year," "What to Do This Year," and "Summary and Forecast." Then prepare your notebook for keeping a record of your baby's progress. Now back to the Manual; take up "The First Year of a Baby's Life," "The First Three Months," and "My Baby Month by Month" in sections, choos- ing from each that which corresponds to the age of your baby, and as he grows older study carefully the next divisions. Sixth, in the same manner study "My First Year with John," "Some Begin- nings," and their companion articles. To help you I have prepared: TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY IS A READING JOURNEY For Things to Do with the Babv 'My First Year zvitli John" "Some Beginnings" Companion Articles I. Physical Development II. Nerves III. Sense-Life IV. Curiosity V. Sociability VI. Imitation VII. Emotions VIII. Habits IX. Memory X. Speech XI. Reasoning XII. Discipline XIII. Summary II. Assisting Body-Control "How I Learned to Take Care of My Baby" I. Helping the Senses V. The Baby's Sociability III. The Emotional Life IV. Habit-Forming "Plays and Games" "Finger-Plays and Other Action-Plays" VI. The Baby's Outlook "Getting Acquainted with Tom and Sarah" Finally, I would, toward the close of the first year in your child's life, read again the article, "Getting Acquainted with Tom and Sarah." This is just an informal summary, in story-form, of what has been learned and done during the year, with a slight forecast to the second year. You will note, at the end of this year's material, two Indexes. These are for your convenience in helping you to find instantly any subject that has been treated or any occupation that has been recommended during the year. William Byron Forbush. "The teacher can not begin his work by educating the child, for the simple reason that he has no clue to the operation. He must begin by observing the child, and then, when he knows his material, he can with some hope of success go to work." — C. Hanford Henderson, MY FIRST YEAR WITH JOHN Or, Watching a Baby Grow BY MRS. MADELINE DARRAGH HORN Of all the interesting problems I have worked on, the most interesting one has been the watch- ing of John's development. It seemed that every day something new was evident. And I found that, after reading what had already been dis- covered about the way a child grows, the more interesting and intelligible my problem became to me. I saw that it saved much pain to know how other mothers had met similar problems before I had mine to meet with John. This was es- pecially true with the physical side of his life, because such problems were often perplexing. I found the records I attempted to keep of John's development helpful. These records con- sisted principally of the ordinary happenings set down with patience and accuracy. I tried to make a complete picture of John's development, but I think I attempted too much. It would be better to make a more careful study of one trait ; mem- ory, for instance, or imagination. There are a few records that all of us should keep. The weight-chart is one. This is necessary because it is the best check we have on the baby's health. An accurate record should be kept of all acci- dents and sicknesses. Such records may explain peculiar tendencies in later childhood that would otherwise remain unexplainable. One habit that helped me in keeping such records was to have pencil and paper always handy. While watching John grow I realized the truth in Fiske's "Meaning of Infancy." Fiske said, you remember, that the reason the animal is born so near to his perfection is because he has not far to go, and he can make most of the jour- ney himself. But the baby, who is born so much more helpless than the animals, has a great journey to take, and must have time for a long and slow development. I saw how much more essential is the place of a human mother than that of an animal mother. Having learned the many essentials for living, she must protect and teach the little life that he in his turn may know and enjoy all that she is now knowing and enjoying. I. His Physical Development It seemed that from the very beginning John tended to make movements of some sort. At first he moved his arms in a jerky way, so that he was quite likely to give his face a disagreeable "hitch." The third day he knocked the pan of water off the table where the nurse was bathing him. Of course, such movements as these had no conscious effort behind them. Such movements continued throughout both his first and second years.* He learned in time to turn from back to side, from side to back, and later to roll over on his stomach : he wiggled his head in all sorts of ways, he tried to lift his head up. and finally, when his back grew strong, he could lift himself to a sit- ting position. At first he had to be propped up when sitting alone and even then could not always keep his balance. But finally the pillow was re- moved and John could sit alone. He worked his fingers and toes with many fantastic movements, even accomplishing the feat of putting his toes in his mouth. When bright and interesting play- things appeared, he forgot his fingers and toes in the joys of new toys. His little fingers seemed to develop wonder- fully. He could pick up pins, bits of paper, and quite to my consternation, much enjoyed putting them in his mouth. It took some time for him to find the location of his mouth, but when this was accomplished, all sorts of objects found their way unerringly to that destination. After he learned to sit alone, he learned to bal- ance by physical feats that would be hard for me to accomplish. Sitting flat on the floor he would bend his head over until it touched his toes. He did not do this once but many times. He could * How different this is irom yourself! Your activities are for a purpose; the baby*s pleasure is in the activity itself. 17 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL balance himself with his hands and feet on the floor, bend his head down, and gaze backward between his legs. Practical Suggestions He liked to be "roughed." His father and I would roll him over and over, much to his delight. I tried to incite crawling later by making him lie on his stomach and holding my hands for a push-board for his feet. I had been told that this would help John to crawl. He ignored my teaching by sliding around on his buttocks. This t3'pe of crawling lasted a couple of months and then he began the usual way of crawling on his hands and feet. After he learned this he seemed to need no incentive to crawl, but was cross when his crawling was interfered with. It seemed that I had a twofold mission in this crawling. I had to see that he was dressed prop- erly and that he had a safe place in which to crawl, that is, that there were no pins on the floor. I found the kiddy-coop helpful. When I had not had time to go over the floor, I could put him in his kiddy-coop with its canvas bottom and feel that he was safe. By the end of the first year he could easily stand, holding to an object, and in the same way take a few steps. II. I am Careful of John's Nerves John's nervous system seemed very sensitive to extremes of any kind, be it a noise, a jerk, or anything unusual. By the end of his first year I had learned a number of things that I should never do if I wanted him to be a calm and happy baby. Luckily, I had been told that the hearty laugh that followed tickling a baby was not normal, so John escaped that agony. In fact, abnormal laughing for any reason is not good. Neither is the laughing spell which is too long. One day I tore a long strip of muslin which made John cry lustily. His cry came from the unusual strain on the nerves of the ear. I soon found out that John's sleeping time should not be disturbed, even to show him off to admiring friends, if I wished to keep him well. I found that too much handling, even in his waking hours, made him irritable. We have all seen parents throwing their children high in the air, or boisterously jumping them on their knees. This seems to be too strenuous for the baby only a year old. Practical Suggestion I found one general rule that seemed good to follow the first year. This is it: to let John lead as quiet a life as possible and only to give him what might seem excessive playtime when he took the initiative in wanting it himself. This rule remained excellent for the second year. He could do many more things during his second year and his initiative was also greater. By following his lead I did not overtax his nerves and I still provided a sufficient variety of play for his mental development. III. John's Sense-Life Develops The sense-development seemtd very important during the first and second years. What could John learn if he couldn't learn to see, or to hear, or to touch, or to smell, or to taste? It seemed that one of my chief purposes was to see that John was given the fullest opportunity to exercise his senses. It was clear from the beginning that no one sense developed alone. If John learned to know his red ball by sight, he also learned to know it by touch. If he learned to recognize the sound of the piano, he also learned to know the instrument when he saw it. At birth it was apparent that the organs of sight were imperfect, and that they would have to de- velop before John could see things accurately. At birth his eyes were very sensitive to light. In fact, I am still careful to protect them from strong sunlight. At first his eye-movements were poorly coordinated. One eye might look in while the other looked out. Sometimes a tendency this way persists until the second year. If it does, an eye-physician should be consulted. His range of vision was limited at first. After he could control the turning of his head his range of vision became much larger. At four months old he seemed searching for a rattle that had dropped out of sight beside him. I was sure that it was the rattle that he was searching for, because of the look of satisfaction when I restored it to him. This shows the help of the advent of memory in his sense-development. Practical Suggestion Development of the Sense of Sight. — During the early months, John had all he could do to learn to see the faces about him and the rooms in which he lived. Of course, he never learned to see them perfectly, but for that matter, who of us sees all that is in a room, even when we stand in the center with the conscious effort of seeing all? Toward the end of the first year I began to give him a few materials to see. He had balls of TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 19 different colors, a brass teapot, a copper teapot, etc. Development of the Sense of Touch. — The sense of touch seemed one of the senses John first used. Of course, the sense of touch aided him greatly in finding his food when he was just a few tla>s old. Throughout the first year, one of his chief joys was the handling of all sorts of ob- jects. It seemed to be a sure way he had of com- ing to know a new thing. As with many babies, every object John got hold of was put into his mouth. This has been explained, by saying that the sense of touch in the mouth and lips is higlily developed, and there- fore is more satisfying to a child than merely feeling the object with the hands. Playthings for the Sense of Touch. — The ma- terials I used at the end of the first year and during the second year did not vary much. Of course, I had to be careful always to avoid sharp objects, pointed ones, breakable ones, those painted, or those that were too heavy for him to handle. As a tiny baby he could handle only rattles, rings of various sorts, soft dolls or stuffed animals, balls, and the like. A trip to the toy-stores suggests that there are toys galore for children, but close inspection shows that there are reasons why most of them should be discarded. Often they are so cheap that a young baby soon breaks them. Sometimes they have small particles in them that might es- cape and be swallowed by a child. Examples of this type are : celluloid rattles filled with pebbles or bullets; glass eyes in dolls or animals; whistles in rubber dolls ; pins in toys. Others have sharp edges that hurt a baby ; still others are made with machinery that pinches. I remember a doll rid- ing on an automobile that was given to John that was always pinching his fingers. There are tops made with springs that get loose and catch in the baby's hands. Many toys are colored with paint that can be sucked off, and hard toys with which the baby can hit himself should be avoided. These are the commercial toys I found best suited to John during his first year : a rattle, of the right kind; soft stuffed animals with no loose parts (embroidered eyes can be used in place of beads) ; a soft "cuddly" doll; a soft ball (I found a tennis ball pleased John) ; a teddy bear; and a hard red ring that I bought at a harness shop. The toys that he liked best were the ordinary articles I found about the house. For instance, from the kitchen : spoons, the tea-strainer, pans, pot-lids, an old bell, muffin-pans and other home things, such as a white ivory powder-box, a bright hairpin-box witli something inside to rattle, and a large bolt. The following are the materials I gave him as lie grew older: a sand-pile, a box of stones (too large to be swallowed), a box of shells (also large ones), cloth of different textures, fur, velvet, silk, linen, cotton, wool ; wood to handle and pound ; large pieces of cloth to fold and put away; old garters to fasten and unfasten; something to button and unbutton ; shoes to lace. John's Hearing Develops. — Authorities disagree as to whether a baby can hear at birth or not. This is not especially important. We mothers know that we must avoid loud sounds throughout babyhood. The loud slamming of a door or the ripping of a piece of cloth would make John cry. As these unusual sounds did irritate him I avoided them as much as possible. I tried to let him hear sweet voices and much music. Some mothers have said that music quieted their babies. Although John loved the music very much, when he did cry it was for something like his bottle or a change of position, and no matter how lovely the melody, it would not suffice. At three months he would sway back and forth in time to the music. At a year old his brother Bobby would dance a funny little dance, hopping up and down in time to the music. They both loved to sing, even in the first year. Their sing- ing was the making of queer, funny noises with- out any tune or time, but which gave them much satisfaction.* IV. John is Curious About Many Things There seemed to be nothing that John saw that he was not curious about. He wanted to handle everything. He not only handled things with his hands, but also felt them with his lips and tongue. It was quite essential that John handled only clean objects. Curiosity has been defined as a tendency to find out the qualities of an object through its manipulation, either physically or mentally. I saw, of course, a baby's curiositv is entirely physical. Although this is a very aggravating tendency when, for instance, the magazines are dragged off the magazine-stand again and again, it is a most necessary tendency. It makes the baby de- sire to learn about everything. Where would any of us get if we were not first imbued with a desire to learn? Practical Suggestion The satisfying of this curiosity is one of the chief methods of play during the first year. Any * For a list of tbe songs and pieces used by Mrs. Horn, see page 62. 20 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL baby can spend many minutes exploring the pots I remember, with much chagrin, the times I have and pans or examining objects selected by mother yelled at John or handled him roughly, all because and collected in the tray of the high-chair. of my own nerves. V. John Likes People Mothers have claimed very early days for the first smile — a sign of pleasure with another's company. It seemed to me that John smiled by the second month. After the first smile any chirp- ing noise, wag of the head, in fact any pleasing movement, brought forth many smiles. By the third month John had laughed out loud. (It might be wise to note that the nervous laugh following tickling is not the contented laugh of sociability.) By the end of the first year there were many evidences that John liked company. He would crawl to the person in the room to be taken up. He seemed well satisfied when played with, and showed it by funny "gooing" sounds. He would begin to try to imitate sounds older people made, showing his desire to hold up his end of the con- versation. I seemed to be the first and most-sought-for of John's companions. This is easily explained. It was I who satisfied most of his primitive longings: I fed him, I kept him clean, I kept him warm, and I played with him. The people he liked to be with next were other members of the family. His liking for strangers was not evident in the first year. I have heard other mothers say that their babies went quite readily to strangers. All moth- ers seem to agree that the second year shows a change of attitude in the fact that their children like to run away to strange places. Practical Suggestions Satisfying this longing for company can be car- ried so far that it is detrimental to both mother and baby. The baby, if given too much atten- tion, decides that the mother's sole purpose in life is to play with him. And if she starts to wash the dishes, for instance, there immediately follows a yell. Consequently, for her own good, the mother must not permit herself to become a slave to the child's desire for companionship. Too much companionship hurts the baby because he does not get the opportunity to learn to find his own amusements and to enjoy himself. We all know people who are imhappy if left alone for a few hours. They seem to lack any means within themselves for entertainment. There are a few things to avoid in the home if one desires that the social atmosphere for the children be a good one. We mothers must avoid loud yelling of commands, and crude shovings. ■VI. John Begins to Imitate The ability to imitate is to all of us an impor- tant means of learning. For the baby it seems to be the chief way in which he learns. During the latter part of the first year John attempted to imi- tate sounds and movements that attracted his at- tention. Through imitation we taught him to wave "by-by," to throw kisses, to smell flowers, to brush his hair, to wash his face, to attempt to say words, etc. Even moods were imitated. If he fell and I was quick enough to laugh before he began to cry. although his face might be puckered ready for a weep, he would change it into a smile. While I saw a few instances in which he imitated a mood, most of his imitations were confined to the physical kind. It is quite evident that if we are going to en- courage imitation we should have good models. Practical Suggestions I found a few rules that seemed sensible even for the first year: (i) I found my model should always be the same, to avoid confusing John. In teaching him to smell a flower, I always went through the same motions. I had a flower at hand, said, "Smell," and then held it to John's nose. (2) If I was consciously trying to teach him to imitate some act, I let only a small interval of time elapse between periods of teaching him. When I wanted to teach him "Pat-a-cake," I did not teach him one day and then let a month elapse before trying again. His memory would not be strong enough to hold the image for so long a time. I taught him "Pat-a-cake" several times daily until he had learned it. The learning gave him such joy that he seemed proud to be able to respond with clapping his hands whenever I said "Pat-a-cake." (3) For an older child, I would add, do not tire him. As for the one-year-old, he simply stops when he gets tired and can not be induced to go on. This gives him means within himself of protection against his own strenuous activity. (4) I always rewarded his attempts to imitate, if only with a smile or word of approval. (5) When John began to imitate large movements like walking, I gave him plenty of space in which to move about. Suggestion aids imitation greatly. A mother can so influence a one-year-old that certain physi- cal positions in seeing certain objects will always evoke certain responses. For instance, being laid in his bed at night meant it was time for John TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 21 to go to asleep. Being put in his kiddy-coop meant that he was to play there by himself. Be- ing put on his chair meant that he was to have his stool. VII. John's Emotional Life Sounds of anger come very early. When John was three months old he was sick and conse- quently received a great deal of attention. When this attention was withdrawn upon his recovery he showed real signs of anger. Again, when he wanted his bottle and was given a plaything in- stead he threw his plaything on the floor and was as angry as he could be. During this first year and through his second year these fits of temper passed quickly and were of no harm to anyone but himself, but in the third year, when his anger took the form of pushing over his baby brother, it had to be curbed with a strong hand. Although John as a baby was funny to look at when he grew red with anger and threw some- thing with all his might, still I could think of no adult who would consciously incite such anger for the fun of seeing John get mad. Our negative emotions are hard enough to control without un- necessarily making them a customary thing. John SIiozvs Signs of Being Afraid. — There seem to be a few things of which every baby is afraid. P.sychologists have enumerated such things, as large dark moving objects, the feeling of fur, loud noises, etc. The two instances I had of John's showing signs of fear were these : one was when a thin smoke began to fill the sitting- room, coming from something which was burning in the kitchen. When John saw the smoke com- ing through the door he cried and ran to my arms. This fear came from no knowledge of a past ex- perience. As it seemed to be innate within the child I called it an instinctive fear. John's other sign of fear was when he felt that he was going to fall. Unlike the smoke-experience, fear did not arise the first time this occurred, but one fall off the bed was sufficient to arouse fear whenever that sensation seemed imminent. Bobby soon learned to be afraid of his older brother. His brother could not come near him without Bobby's yelling to some older person to come and protect him. This warning cry always reminded me of the funny noise the hen gives her chickens when there is a hawk nearby. I felt that fears of these kinds were quite necessary to the babies' welfare. It was their way of keeping them from being hurt. I tried to avoid exciting fear unnecessarily. It is an unpleasant emotion for adults. And how much worse must be its reaction on a little baby. VIII. Forming Habits the First Year Did you ever wonder how we would manage to go through an.y day and reach the evening smiling if we had to stop and think how to take each step? And did you ever consider what in our mental make-up relieves- us of consciously planning these details? Doubtless you have, and know before I say it, that it is habit. Habit, de- fined quite simply, is the ability, gained from past experiences, to perform an act without the aid of conscious effort. What toiling, cumbersome crea- tures we would be without it ! Habits' during the first year are mainly of the physical sort and are almost wholly dependent on the mother for their development. It is she who establishes them or prevents -them, and insists upon the regularity of the good ones. Practical Suggestions I found during the first year of John's life that his habits were chiefly tied up with four processes, namely : 1. Sleeping 2. Eating 3. Cleanliness 4. Habits of elimination. The following rules I laid down in regard to John's habits, and followed unless something beyond my control interfered. This seldom happened. I. His naps in the daytime, and his sleeping hours at night, were at the same time each day. If his afternoon nap were encroaching on his feed- ing time, I gently woke him up. By not allowing him to sleep longer than usual, he was ready for his bedtime at night. This procedure gave me a few hours I could count on as mine in which to have a time of relaxation from the baby. It would surprise, you to know how soon John be- came a regular clock. ■ 2. His food was given at the same time each day without a variance of fifteen minutes. John soon proved to be a clock in this respect too. When feeding time came, he began to show signs of restlessness. Discontentment with this rigid regularity will come only if the baby is not getting enough to eat. This, of course, is an immediate problem for your physician. Habits as to what to eat can be established in the first year. If a mother never begins the cus- tom of feeding a baby bits from the table, he will not expect it. It certainly is not good for any baby's diet. If sugar is used not at all or very scantily, a mother will never have to refuse the insistent demands of her child for more sugar. 22 THE ho:me kindergarten manual 3. I gave John a bath and put on clean cloth- ing daily. Once in a great while a day came when Jolm must miss his bath. It was always a rest- less day. I was glad it was, because it indicated that John was forming a habit of wishing to feel clean each day, and that was exactly what I wanted. 4. I put John on his stool the same time each day, for these reasons; This regularity helped prevent constipation; I saved myself much dis- agreeable labor through the use of his chair. Having a stated time to do this permitted no lapse of memory on my part, and I could not say at the end of a day, "I can't remember whether baby had a stool to-day or not." Tlutmb-Sucking. — The first year of a baby's life is the time to stop this very harmful habit. Watching my two babies has convinced me of this. \\'itli John I noticed that this habit was be- coming stronger instead of disappearing at the end of the first year. When at that time I began to break the habit, I found the mistake I had made. / had not rcaliced that to permit a habit to ronfiniie for several months, even when the habit luas not very noticeable, meant that that habit zvould be z'cry difficult to break. I put thumb- stalls on the guilty fingers, tried covering the hand with a whole mitten, put on adhesive tape, talked, threatened, and to this day — John is now two and a half — his fingers go to his mouth as he goes to sleep. I learned my lesson. When John's brother Bob, at the age of three months, showed a tendency to put his fingers in his mouth. I immediately put on thumb-stalls. It took three months to break him completely, but it was time well spent. A woman who had had five children asked why I worried over John's sucking his thumb. "All my children," said she, "sucked their thumbs until they were three ; then I broke them easily by talking to them." Don't let any mother of the past generation convince you of the wisdom or success of such a procedure. We, as mothers, wish to give our children the best possible physi- cal equipment. Who of us likes to see a big child running about with his thumb in his mouth? It intimates tliat somebody's mother was careless or ignorant. If this habit has already been established, NOW is the time to break it. It will mean a crying baby for a few days, and a worn-out mother, but it will pay in the end by giving added comfort to ' both. As for pacifiers — they are dirty, inelegant, un- necessary, and harmful. The continual use of them deforms the mouth; also teeth, nose, and throat may be affected. A baby does not even desire them unless the haliit is allowed to be formed. A child often sucks his thumb because he has nothing else to do. Therefore, it devolves on us mothers to see that we do not leave our babies after they need mental development without some- thing to satisfy that need. If I wished John to sit in his cab happily for a time, I gave him some- thing with which to play. If I wanted him to play in his kiddy-coop, I gave him things with which to play. A bright copper coffee-pot in- variably excited his senses of sight and touch, and even of hearing, when he hit it with his hand, and left no desire for thumb-sucking. Holding the Baby. — Another habit that I found should be avoided the first year, was holding John too much. Monday was always more or less a disappointment to John because mother could not hold him as much as the family had on Sunday. John liked to be where I was. But I found that John was more comfortable, and I could work better, by giving him playthings to play with on the floor. More physical development can be at- tained through movements on the floor than in the more or less cramped position on a mother's lap. Rocking a baby to sleep is the same type of habit. I never began this with John, so never had to break the habit. The time after supper or dinner, as you happen to call it in your house- hold, really belongs to the husband who has been away all day. The baby has had his share of the mother's company and at this time comes the father's turn. A mother's arms are not the most comfortable cradle. What could be a sweeter way to put baby to sleep than to make him all comfortable and clean and then lay him in a bed equally fresh and sweet. The second year brings its own problems, its own habit-formations. So let's establish the good habits the first year, that we may at least begin the second year with a good start. IX. Can John Remember During His First Year? During the first month John came to recognize the feel of the nipple of his bottle as it touched his lips. He soon knew my face and the way I held him ; and in a few months knew all the faces of our immediate household. He showed delight in going to his parents; this was replaced by reluctance when strangers wanted to take him. \\'hen taken to explore a new room, he evidenced unfamiliarity by staring about. When eight months old, he visited a strange home, and, of course, had a strange crib for his bed. He pro- tested against the crib, room, and people with loud shrieks. Only my holding him and reassuring TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 23 him with my voice until he fel! asleep comforted him. Psychologists seem to disagree as to just what memory is. But as I watched John during his first year, there was no doubt in my mind as to the kind of memory he possessed at that time. His memory consisted in being familiar with all sorts of objects that he had a chance to taste, feel, smell, hear, etc. I know we would all agree that . such a thought as this would never occur to him : "Oh, yes ! I remember seeing an apple yesterday for the first time !" However, by becoming fami- liar with all the homely objects about the house — faces, clocks, beds, dogs, chairs, cat, rattle— he was storing up memory-images that would be used constantly. By his third year, he could con- sciously remember a ferry-boat he had ridden on only once when twenty months old. When seeing a picture of a ferry-boat at the age of three he said, "Daddy and I rode on a boat like that once." I don't believe there is anything I could or should have done to help John's memory that first year. So many new and wonderful things just naturally forced themselves into his notice daily that he had quite all he could manage. X. We are Anxious for John to Begin to Talk At about eight months old John began an in- cessant babbling which seemed to prophesy that he would soon talk. We were very anxious to have him reach the stage where he could say a few words. We did not realize that we could really have helped John at this time to learn to talk. We just listened and soon, to our dismay, the babbling almost ceased and real talking did not come till John was almost two years old. Howeyer, the average baby begins to talk some time near the age of a year and a half. Practical Suggestions When the babbling stage of talking came to Bobby I outlined a few methods by which I could help him. First, I found that I could get the baby to as- sociate a few of his babbling sounds with real objects. There seem to be a few words that all babies say at the very first which have no mean- ing to them but which are really words to the adult. The two most common of these words are "dada" and "by-by." By saying "daddy" and pointing to Bobby's father each time he said "dada" his word "dada" soon had meaning for him and soon developed into a queer pronuncia- tion of "daddy." And by always using the word "by-by" in connection with the departure of a person and the waving of a hand, this word came to have meaning to him. Second, one of the best things a mother can do toward the end of a first year is to give the child meanings of words even though he c'an not pro- nounce them. I found I could do this with both John and Bobby by pointing to an object and clearly saying its name. It seems easier for a child to acquire nouns at first. Third, I found that the easiest words for John to acquire at first were very short words and words with a repetition of syllables, as "mamma," "daddy," "by-by." Fourth, I decided it was best to avoid trying to teach the word unless the object about which we were talking were near at hand. It seemed too much to expect John to recall the word by using his memory. XI. The Basis of Reasoning Begins with John The ability to reason, as we adults think of it. did not seem to exist in John's first year. The building up of concepts is essential to reasoning;* and many associations must be made before the concepts can be built up. A few words defining what we mean by "concept" will make sure that we are all talking about the same thing. We have a "concept" of anything when we can place it in its class, because we know the characteristics that define that special thing. The concept "man" to us adults means a certain shaped object with arms, legs, head, etc., while to the baby the con- cept "man" means only what his father looks like to him. As more men come within the baby's experience he gradually has the same concept for "man" that an adult has. It seemed to me that John was beginning to make the associations leading up to correct con- cepts during his first year. He was comparing my face with that of his grandmother, with that of the maid, and with those of the neighbors that he saw quite often. Such comparisons were the means of his forming a correct concept of the word "face." .\nother example is this : John must some day learn the concept "doll." "Doll" at first, to John, meant his rag-doll. It was soft, it was a nice size to hold in his arms, and it was something he liked to take to bed with him. The coming of his- rub- ber doll enlarged his experience. It looked some- • In other words, John did not come fitted out with a lot of pre-conceived or pre-experienced notions of his own. .All he has had have been a lot of vague experiences, and he is making his notions out of his experiences, building them together, as Mrs. Horn suggests, until they become sound, tested ideas of facts. 24 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL what like his rag-doll, it was soft, but it was not so big and it made a squeaking noise when squeezed. Later on, he acquired another doll that also had eyes and ears and nose, was a little bit soft, but woi-e clothes that could be taken off and put on. So John's concept for the word "doll" grew and grew over a period of years. Although the building up of the concept took a number of years, still we see that the 'beginning of his associations began as soon as he found out about his rag-doll. Practical Suggestion I found that I must be careful not to form as- sociations that I did not want to continue to exist. For instance, I found that it would not be fair to John to form the association of taking him up when he cried, and then expecting him not to cry when I could not take him up. XIL John Seems to Have a Mind of His Own One instance occurred after John had been sick a few days. Because of his illness he had been permitted to rest on my lap at times he was not ordinarily allowed to do so. When the time came again to use his crib, he voiced his objec- tions by loud and prolonged yelling. At another time, an irregularity in the house- hold permitted his staying up an hour later than usual. The next night, he insisted his bedtime to be at least this one hour later, and would not have objected to making it several hours later. His health demanded that he be put to bed at his usual hour. It was done, but with kicking and weeping. As I watched such instances with John, certain characteristics seemed obvious during this first year. They were as follows : 1. The things on which John set his heart to the extent of weeping were most often things that in- volved the companionship of someone, usually myself, who satisfied his small needs. 2. It seemed to me that he was easily diverted. His one crying spell, when he wanted to be held, seemed quite enough to convince him that it could not be, so thereafter he appeared quite happy to be put immediately in his crib. I tried to make one ruling for John and myself in regard to such manifestations. The dis- cipline was truly as much mine as John's. For instance, it would have been much easier for me to continue holding John that one hour he spent crying so hard than to ignore him. My rule- was this : To allow John to have the things he wanted unless they interfered with his own well-being or that of some one in the family. When a time came that he wanted what he should not have, I just let him "cry it out." I might say that I have found it helpful to think of our expression of "will power" as the ability to fix one's attention on a goal for a period of time. Considering it in this way, I always thought of a so-called "will power" as an asset to John, rather than something to be "broken" or dreaded — the attitude I have heard grandmothers take. It seemed to me that the first thing to remem- ber when John was a tiny baby was that, if I played my part of the game fair and square, there would be no need of discipline. That is, if I never rocked John to sleep, I would never have to punish him if he were put to bed unrocked. How- ever, when he began to crawl, and consequently began to meet situations that were new to him, I found that there was need of discipline of some sort. When he found the magazines under the library table, he wanted to pull them off and tear them to pieces. I tried saying, "No, no," but it seemed to mean nothing to John. I solved the problem by giving his hands a slight stinging tap and by also saying, "No, no." When the words "No, no" came to mean. "You must not touch it," to John, the saying of the words without the tap was sufficient to cause him to leave the thing alone, unless it held some striking attraction for him. Practical Suggestions I followed the principle of always making some- thing disagreeable follow the thing John should not do and something pleasant follow the doing of something of which I approved. I saw no time in the first year in which such a thing as a whipping could be justified. How could anyone expect a small baby to know enough to do anything so wrong that it would deserve a whip- ping? We can be sure that, when a baby is whipped, the one taking care of him either has an ungovernable temper, or knows nothing about the development of a baby. Xni. John's Stock-in-Trade at the End of the First Year The development of John from his first year into his second year was so gradual that only by marking the calendar could I definitely say that his first year had ended, and that lys second year had begun. However, I could look back to John's first month and see that he had made wonderful progress. At first, he seemed a little bundle of impulses, reflexes, and instincts. Very soon, sen- sations reached his brain and he began to perceive the life about him. With these first sensations and perceptions began his memory. At first, his TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 25 memory was only the mark left by these sensa- in all conceivable ways, making himself strong tions on his brain. Later, he began to form real for walking and handling new objects. He was memory-images. Having memory to use, greatly uttering queer babbling sounds in preparation for facilitated his mental development. Now he could his talking of the second year. I found this year compare his past and present experiences, of the time to form good physical habits. I found it course, very crudely. I saw him use imitation a time when he was forming many associations. a great deal as a means to learn. He was most I found him all ready and eager to begin the active. He moved his hands and legs and body second year. * * The main landmarks of an average baby's development are usually somewhat as follows: First three months Silence, sleep and semi-darkness, with reflexive movements when awake Third to fifth month Sense-play alone From the fifth month Susceptible to gentle play with others From the sixth month Active handling-period From the ninth month Combination of arm and leg-movements, imitation of others, gestures, understanding of a few words, endeavors to creep. Toward the twelfth month.. More varied play, creeping, climbing and perhaps walking, ability to pick out objects in pictures. — IV. B. F. A CHART OF CHILD STUDY AND CHILD TRAINING FOR THE FIRST YEAR BASED ON "MY FIRST YEAR WITH JOHN," BY MRS. MADELINE DARRAGH HORN THE BABY'S RESPONSES He is ever busy in apparently purposeless move- ments. He acts as if he wanted to move about. He begins to focus and direct his eyes. He grasps things and puts them in his mouth. He is sensitive to noises and rhythms. He not only handles things, but seems to like to search and find other things. He likes to be with people. He imitates. He is easily frightened. Whatever he has done a number of times he tends to repeat easily and constantly. He babbles as if he would like to talk. He likes to do some things that involve destruc- tiveness. WHAT THEY SUGGEST If we put various objects in his way his attention may be caught and he may gradually learn to grasp and handle them. If we push against his legs we may stimulate a creeping motion. Bright or glittering- objects placed close to him may help. If we select a variety of safe objects he will thus learn their shape, feeling, size, and weight. We may let him take articles that will make a noise if pounded together, and we may sing and play on the piano to hiin. We may put things in boxes and drawers and on trays for him, and place things just beyond his reach without moving. We should let him watch us at our work, and should talk to him. We should always do what he may safely imitate slowly and in the same way, so he may copy. We should be careful not to startle him. We must be careful never to let him do more than once what we do not desire him to do often. We should drill him in doing the right thing regularly. We may use the name of a person or thing over and over, until he at least understands it, and may try to say it. If we can use one of his own syllables that has a real meaning, so much the better. We may make him like what we wish by seeing that doing it always has an agreeable result, and vice versa. Tlu 'A CH4RT OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT FIRST YEAR (From Birth to the First Birthday) references suggest helpful expUiiuitory passages in "The Child Welfare Manual" PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT [I. 204-211] Movements: at birth, undirected; 2d month, hand to mouth, Hfting head: 3d month, supporting head, conscious grasping: 3d to 4th months, sitting efforts; Sth month, handHng objects; 6fh to 9th months, sitting unsupported; 6th to 7th months, standing efforts; 7th to Sth months, creeping; 9th to 10th months, stand- ing; 12th to 18th months, walking [I. 210], In general, motion centers first about the mouth, then the hands and feet, first to get things where he can observe them, and then to get to where they are. Proportions: at birtli, head great, chest small, abdomen prominent, arms and legs short, legs bowed [I. 204], Weight: at birth 5 to 10 pounds; average 7 to 7J4: boys heavier than girls; at 1 year, boys 1 pound heavier [I. 204], Height: at birth, 16 to 22 inches; at 1 year, aver- age 27 inches [I. 382]. Respiration: abdominal, 40 down to 30. Pulse, 150 down to 120, with variations [I. 283]. Temperature: 99 down to 98 [I. 204, 284]. Dentition: 1st teeth, Sth to 9th months; 2d group, Sth to 12th months; 3d, 12th to 18th months [I. 209], PHYSICAL SUGGESTIONS [I. 177-220] Sleep: to 3d month. 22 hours; to 6th month, 20 hours; to 12th month, 16 hours [I. 186-188, 203]. Hygienic protection: furnish cleanliness, fresh air, sunlight, warmth [I. 188-192, 194, 203]; keep regular records of temperature, weight, height, food, bowel movements, etc. [I. 204- 211]; shortened garments for creeping, 6tli month [I. 189, 190]. Food: mother's milk, if possible [I. 166-169], fol- lowed by prescriptions of mi.xed foods bv physician [I. 177-186]. Exercise: change position from 1st day; seat the child upright with support, 3d to 4th months; offer toys to encourage stretching, reaching, grasping, leg and trunk motions, and creep- ing [I. 190, 207], 4th month; give standing exercises from Sth month [I. 209] ; help walking, from 11th month [I. 210], Habits: all the above with regularity [II. 10]; avoid sucking habits, pacifiers, emotional tricks [I. 206, 209]. 26 MENTAL DEVELOPMENT [I. 169-171] Sense development: sense of contact and tem- perature soon after birth; touch soon grows out of first; sight, or light-consciousness, 1st to 3d days; directing and fixing eyes, about 6lh week; hearing, 1st to 4th days — signs indicating hearing often come in first hours; taste and smell last of senses to de- velop, time varies during 1st weeks; con- sciousness of rhythm, 2d montli; of musical tones, about 12th month; distinguishing color, 10th to 12th months [II. 33, 34]. Emotions: emotional crying, 3d or 4th months [I. 205, 206]; varied emotions, 10th to 11th months; crowing, 2d to 3d months; laughing, 3d to Sth months [IL 135-137, 169-171], Memory: recognition of mother, at 3d month; of others, 4th to Sth months; of experiences, 6th to 12th months. All memory transient and held for a few days only [II. 170]. Understanding: tones (in voice of mother), 3d to Sth months; signs, Sth to 9th months; words, about 9th month. Speech: cooing, 3d month; vowel sounds, 6th month; a few words, 12th to 15th months. Mental activities: trial and success, about 10th week; sense of place and direction, Sth to 7th months; development of active curiosity and interest in things and persons, 4th to Sth months. Imitation of acts of others, from 7th month; pleasure in showing off, 10th to 12th months [11.171]. Comparison of objects noticeable, during second half of year. Instincts: anger, 1st month [II. 137]; fear, 2d month; curiosity, Sth month; play, Sth to 6th months. MENTAL SUGGESTIONS [II. 33-37] Avoid jolting, loud noises and over-stimulation, from the first [II. 170]. Play: to stimulate curiosity, trial, and success, from Sth month; to encourage imitation and memory, from 7th month; to teach vowel sounds and meaning of words, Sth to 9th months; in general, self-amusement and self- directed play, from Sth month. Give few simple little toys; play with mother, from Sth to 6th months; with others, Sth month [I. 207], Sense training: use varied objects to exercise touch and sight, from 2d month; bright ob- jects, from 4th month; lullabies and soft music, from 2d month; colors, toward close of year [II. 34-37]. By frequent repetitions, help to understand simple words, from 4th month. Begin to try to get child to say a few words, end of year. A CHART OF CHILD DEVELOPiMENT FIRST YEAR (From Birth to the First Birthday) These references suggest helpful explanatory passages in "The Child Welfare Manual" SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Consciousness of touch of mother, 1st to 3d weeks; recognition of others, 3d to Stii months. Sociability (beginning of), Sth month. Affection, aversion, and imitation first shown, 3d to Sth months. Dependence and sympathy evident, 7th month and after. Realization of the approbation of others, 4th to Sth months. Individualist throughout the year; influenced by others, but self-centered, 9th to 10th months. In general the pre-social stage. SOCIAL SUGGESTIONS MORAL DEVELOPMENT No moral sense. Sense of comfort or discomfort [II. 9], leading to Pleasure and displeasure. Docility, with some tendency to oppose condi- tions rather than persons, toward end of period. Impressibility by the will of others. Trustfulness in others. Dependence. Desire to please, Sth to 6th months, forming basis of Obedience. MORAL SUGGESTIONS Give watchful companionship of mother from 1st month [II. 33, 34]. Carry baby to sunUght, about room, etc., from 2d month. Talk to the child from 3d to Sth months. Cooperative play from 7th month. Give example of calmness in speech, quietness in manner, cheerfulness, self-control, from tlie first. Avoid anger by absence of provoca- tion, by solitude and quiet [I. 207]. Make expressions of affection and sympathy, especially in second half of year. Play simple games after Sth month, with parents and children of family. Not with others. Games: "How Big Is the Baby?" "Pat a Cake," "This Little Pig Went to Market," etc. Teach to recognize kindred, by repeating their names, and later he will repeat them himself. K.X.— 4 27 Fix regular, simple habits as to eating, sleeping, dressing, plaving [II. 11]. No sucking habits or pacifiers [I. 203, 206, 209, 307]. Train for obedience through habits of regularity, submission and self-control. Drill to understand signs and simple commands and to obey them. Give room for free action whenever possible within limit set by parent and understood by child. Allow no emotional tricks by which the baby tries to "rule the roost." A dreary place would be this earth, Were there no little people in it; The song of life would lose its mirth Were there no people to begin it. No babe within our arms to sleep. No little feet toward slumber tending, No little knee in prayer to bend, Or lips the sweet words lending. The sterner souls would grow more stern. Unfeeling natures more inhuman. And man to stoic coldness turn, And woman would be less than woman. Life's song, indeed, would lose its charm Were there no babies to begin it; A doleful place this world would be, Were there no little people in it. —J. G. Whittier. WHAT TO EXPECT THE FIRST YEAR THE FIRST YEAR IN A BABY'S LIFE WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH "To unanointed eyes, zvhat is he? Just a Utile red. squirming thing, zvifh eyes shut for the most part, with tight-clenched fists, ivith a toothless, suching mouth, a hairless head, much too large for his body, — an impu- dent little thing n'ho makes the whole adult household stand around, and imposes his oivn laius upon every one, regardless of their preferences; a frail little thing, tcho has to he handled in ways so mysterious that the uninitiated flee from the attempt ; and only one of millions and millions of others, just like himself ! "This to the unanointed. To the mother zvhose eyes have received the chrism from mighty Nature, he is one of the immortals, laid in her all-unworthy arms. She knows herself a responsible human being, with one of Cod's children lent to her — a child for zvhose body, mind, and soul she is to render an account." — Marion Foster Washburne. The Baby at Birth A NEW-BORN baby has little beauty that anybody should desire him. A baby regarded as "hand- some" from the doctor's point of view can be recognized as such by a layman only through an acquired sense of beauty or a sense of humor. Proportions. — In comparison with the adult, the most immediately noticeable points are the exag- gerated head and abdomen, the shorter legs, the unfinished nose and the shortened neck. The new-born baby appears to be considerably un- finished. "Indeed," as Sully so truly says, "he resembles for all the world a public building which has to be opened by a given day, and is found, when the day arrives, to be in a humiliat- ing state of incompleteness." Helplessness. — The complete helplessness of a new-born child has been described as follows : "Unable to stand, much less to wander in search of food, nearly deaf, all but blind, well nigh in- discriminating as to the nature of what is pre- sented to its mouth, utterly unable to keep itself clean, yet highly susceptible to the effects of dirt, able to indicate its needs only by alternately turn- ing its head, open-mouthed, from side to side, and then crying; possessed of an almost lu- dicrously hypersensitive interior, unable to fast for more than two or three hours, yet having the most precise and complicated dietetic require- ment; needing the most carefully maintained warmth, easily injured by draughts, — where is to be found a more complete picture of helpless dependence ?" It is this helplessness which has been the im- memorial appeal to mother-love, to which the innate chivalry of the mother-heart has always responded. It is this response which carries the baby through the crisis of its first hours of life. The incompleteness and helplessness are, we know, not final. It is the very attention of the mother to them which first stimulates the un- folding of the marvelous development of the body, the senses, and the mind. The Baby's Movements The first thing that anybody notices about a new-born baby probably is its movements. All these movements are "set off by some outside action on the senses, as a gun is set off by a touch on the trigger," and not by any inner impulse. Crying. — The first of these movements is a cry. There is a difference of opinion as to the nature of a child's first cry. Kant considered that it was a cry of wrath, Schwartz a shout of joy, while Sully humorously hints that it is highly sug- gestive of a cynical contempt for its new sur- roundings. "It is," says Mrs. Meynell, "a hasty, huddled outcry, loud and brief, rather deep than shrill in tone. Man does not weep at beginning 29 30 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL this world. He simply lifts up his new voice." This first cry, unmistakably monotonous and dismal, is apparently a response to a certain measure of discomfort felt by this tiny "wrecked seaman" on reaching shore. This is probably occasioned by a number of causes : the first ex- perience of breathing, the first effect of light, the jar of vibrations, and the possible pain of the first contact of the skin with the air, the hands of the nurse, and the touch of clothing. None of his movements can be restrained by the infant himself. It is amusing to note that a new- born babe sneezes, coughs, and chokes, quite un- consciously to itself and without control and without discomfort. From the first the mother will notice many spontaneous and random movements of almost every part of the body. These movement-j are caused from internal conditions and changes, and consequent outflow of energy. They tend toward the pre-natal position. The Baby's Senses Touch. — The first of the senses which seems to awake is that of touch. This might be called the parent of all the other senses. It is partly passive, as when the lips feel the breast. It is partly active, as when the infant immediately clasps the filiger which is brought into the hollow of its tiny hand. These two acts of sucking and clasping already suggest what are to become the first two means of the infant's education, as the sensitive nerve- ends of the lips, the tongue, and the fingers bring the child into contact with its new world. Sight. — The new-born baby is practically blind, not because he has not the organs of eyesight, but because he can not as yet see things, in the proper sense of the word. The earliest sense of sight seems to be the recognition of the difference between light and darkness. Several report the turning of the head toward the light during the first week. Babies seem conscious very early of any large dark mass that interrupts the light. The eyes, however, at the beginning are attracted to nothing and fixed on nothing. They do not wink, there is no change of focus, and they do not always even move in unison. As Miss Shinn * says, "Some extraordinary and alarming contor- tions result." A baby very early shows discom- fort at too much light. Hearing. — A baby hears nothing within the first hours. The middle ear is stopped up with fluid. It seems that babies are more responsive to jars * Millicent W. Shinn, author of "The Biography of a Baby." than to noises, and they have been known to make startled movements at sudden jars, even upon the first day. Other Senses. — The senses of taste and smell are present from the beginning, but can be excited only by strong artificial stimuli. What we used to call "the sense of feeling," is now regarded, not as a single sense, but as a group, called "the skin senses." The baby from the first is aware when he is touched or patted, and is very sensi- tive to cold touches, but not to surface-pains. While the skin is not so sensitive as the lips, the nostrils, and the finger-tips, it responds to a gen- eral sense of comfort or discomfort. Another sense is that of equilibrium or motion. Babies have been known, even from the first, to make convulsive movements when held in a position which implied that they might be dropped. Hunger. — The senses of hunger and thirst are at the beginning practically one, and are apparent from the first. There is soon a marked differ- ence in tone between the cry caused by pain and that occasioned by hunger. The sense of thirst is very active. The baby's body is largely com- posed of water, and the evaporation from the loose texture of the skin is very great. Many of the distresses of a child, which seem to the parent to indicate colic or natural depravity, are satisfied by a spoonful of cold water. There are, no doubt, certain conditions which are composite of several senses. A baby some- times feels discomfort, caused by the pressure of clothes and the constraint in the muscles and circulation, because of being kept in a single posi- tion too long. Since a baby can not move a limb at will, it is necessary for relief that these changes of position be produced by another person. Summary of the New-Born Baby Miss Shinn sums up all that we have been say- ing, as follows : "Here is the conception I gathered of the dim life on which the little creature entered at birth. She took in with a dull comfort the gentle light that fell on her eyes, seeing without any sort of attention or comprehension the moving blurs of darkness that varied it. She felt motions and changes; she felt the action of her own muscles; and, after the first three or four days, disagree- able shocks of sound now and then broke through the silence or, perhaps, through an unnoticed jumble of faint noises. She felt touches on her body from time to time, but without the least sense of the place of the touch; and steady slight sensations of touch from her clothes, from arms that held her, from cushions on which she lay, poured in on her. TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 31 "From time to time sensations of hunger, thirst, and once or twice of pain, made themselves felt through all the others, and mounted till they be- came distressing; from time to time a feeling of heightened comfort flowed over her, as hunger and thirst were satisfied, or release from clothes, and the effect of the bath and rubbing on her circulation increased the net sense of well-being. She felt slight and unlocated discomforts from fatigue in one position, quickly relieved by the watchful nurse. For the rest, she lay empty- minded, neither consciously comfortable nor un- comfortable, yet on the whole pervaded with a dull sense of well-being. Of the people about her, of her mother's face, of her own existence, of desire or fear, she knew nothing. "Yet this dim dream was flecked all through with the beginnings of later comparison and choice. The light was varied with dark ; the feel- ings of passive motion, of muscular action, of touch, of sound, were all unlike each other ; the discomforts of hunger, of pain, of fatigue, were different discomforts. The baby began from the first moment to accumulate varied experience, which before long would waken attention, in- terest, discrimination, and vivid life." This little creature is unripe, it is true, but he is "all there." In the normal infant no senses or potentialities are lacking; and he is not a merely inert mass. He is responsive, and in that responsiveness exists our ability to communicate with him and his whole capability of education. The human presence of a mother, touching, hand- ling, caressing, protecting, stimulating, guiding, loving — this is the link between the helplessness of the baby and all his future. It is the divine task of mothers to earn con- tact between herself and the little mite who is so far unconscious of her very being. For the baby now, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning so won- derfully says : "Lifted up and separated on the hand of God he lies. In a sweetness beyond touching, held in cloistral sanctities." The First Month Sight. — After the first two weeks the eyes of a baby cease to wander altogether helplessly and begin to "stop and cling" to bright surfaces. Professor Sully thinks that the ability to do this indicates that the eyes hold this attitude under the stimulus of pleasure. It is certainly true that pleasure and attention increase the power of con- trolling the muscles, and help the child to seek the same paths it has used before. By the end of this month. Miss Shinn observed that a baby not only moved its eyes, but threw its head back to see better, and seemed to gaze with a sort of dim eagerness. Soon after, the child showed the ability to follow a moving object with the eyes. Up to this time the baby's world of vision was "probably still only patches of light and dark, with bits of glitter and motion." In connection with the ability to follow with the eyes came the desire to lift the head. Probably this was not done by any real effort, but the child soon learned that to lift its head helped in bet.ter seeing. Preyer thinks this is the first real act of will in a child's mind. Miss Shinn noticed toward the end of the first month that a baby seemed to at- tend to the new impression she was getting with an awakening look, apparently expressive of wonder or intelligence. Memory. — By the end of this month it has been noticed that a baby seems to be able to form some associations. A baby crying with hunger would hush as soon as she was taken in the arms in the position used in nursing. She could not have remembered nor expected anything as yet, but she was beginning to show a clear instance of the working of that great law of association which was later to develop into memory. This law seems to be that, when experiences have repeat- edly been had together, the occurrence of one of them tends to bring up the others. This power Miss Shinn calls "habit-memory." Hearing.- — The infant seems to be conscious of jars before it is of noises. By the last of the month a baby may be hushed by the sound of chords struck upon a piano, and soon after this it seems to be soothed by being talked or sung to. The mother, of course, looks early for the baby's first smile. The first real smile, as an ex- pression of pleasure, is no doubt caused by the touch of some adult's finger upon the lip. The lips are the first source of touch-sensations. Companionship. — A baby, even before it is a month old, recognizes the difference between be- ing alone and being in companionship. This can not be entirely caused by hearing, but is probably chiefly occasioned by a sense of comfort, pro- duced by being held in the lap and given the exercise of changes of position. Miss Shinn emphasizes the fact that the moth- er's face and presence are the ideal earliest means of education to a baby. The mother's face hover- ing over the child suggests variations of light and shadow, as it is touched by the sunshine or as it intervenes between the baby's eyes and the light. Singing and talking give comfort to the awaken- ing sense of hearing. The patting and cuddling delight the sense of touch in the lips, the fingers, and the skin. The loving fondling by the mother gives the little body the changes of position which 32 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL, furnish both rest and exercise. One important reason why orphanage babies die is because no- body "nestles" them. Touch. — "Touch," says Mrs. Washburne, "is especially the love-sense, and we who can not yet make the little children understand our words, can tell them, through our hands, how dear they are to us and how tenderly we care for them." The Second Month The baby's smile becomes more constant now, and it is usually at human faces. "It wiles the very heart out of one;" but as Miss Shinn says, "The baby means little enough by it." Sight. — Babies are now beginning to be car- ried out into the air. They like the sense of motion in a baby carriage, perhaps also the fresher air; but at first they are troubled by the dazzling light, and they must be protected care- fully from the glare. Babies can not have too much sunshine, but their eyes, just opening like those of other folk, must not face strong lights either indoors or out. They now insist upon be- ing held up so that they can see things, they turn their eyes especially toward persons, and they be- gin to focus them for different distances. Some- time during this month come the first tears. "Wide-open eyes," says Mrs. Washburne, "show a high degree of pleasurable feeling. This may be observed when the baby is brought near his mother's breast, or is put in the warm bath. It is as if, as one observer remarks, the eyes laughed." Fears. — The sense of hearing begins to sharpen now, and perhaps the first fear (most primitive of instincts) will come from some sudden sound. The fright of course is not because of anticipated danger, but it is shown by the pathetic grimace of crying and perhaps by a sharp cry. The in- fant may be soothed now, even when hungry, by chords on the piano. Tracy * thinks there are two chief sources of pleasure in music : the time and the tune. He thinks infants usually enjoy both during the first few weeks of life. He says that "from six or seven weeks onward, and especially in the latter half of the first year, the child's pleasure in music is often shown by a sort of ac- companying muscular movements, which he seems unable to repress. The mother's song of lullaby is keenly appreciated, and somewhat later is even given back by the child in a most charming infant warble." The baby's own sounds now begin to differ. Since the monotonous cry of birth there have * Frederick Tracy, author of "Psychology of Childhood." been fretting noises, now this cry of fright, later "cooing murmurs" and even a sudden crow. Muscles. — The infant begins to control his muscles. Not only does he make fewer random movements and turn his head and lift his neck, but he props himself with his knees and engages in various pulling and pushing motions, which are at first accidental, but soon become voluntary. Miss Shinn emphasizes the putting out and draw- ing back of the tip of the tongue between the pursed lips as evidence that the baby is trying to use two means of touch at once. The whole "plot of the story," in Miss Shinn's words, is going to turn mainly on the combination of muscle-sense with sight and of muscle-sense with touch. In other words, the baby is not going to stop with the passive feeling of having things passed over its lips or fingers, but is going to try active touch-e.xperiments of its own. Will. — "The order of development," says Mrs. Washburne, "seems to be this ; First, the baby tastes things; next, he sees them; later, he sees and desires to taste. Then he tastes, and again desires, more than before. Thereupon he sees, seizes, and tastes. You notice the increase in de- sire and the increase in the number of senses and faculties that work toward the gratification of this desire. This is will, taking greater and greater possession of the human body.'' Feelings. — The emotional life begins to awaken, as is shown by the fright, by a look of surprise at his own crowing, by unprecedented content when held nearly erect upon a pillow. Sully thinks anger shows itself even earlier than fear, and if the vexation of disappointment be re- garded as the germ of wrath, claims to have noted it as early as the third week. Still, the baby sleeps most of the time, in long naps of six or seven hours. It is noticeable that, after some new attainment, an unusually bright day or a prolonged waking period, the child sleeps soundly for a longer period than usual. Evidently he is easily wearied with any rush of impressions. Thus he draws to the close of what Sully calls "the vegetable period." The Third Month Grasping. — So far the tongue has been the active agent of touch. It is brought into active contact with the lips or with the cheeks of friends. Now the fingers become active. The finger-tips may be held together. The fingers, which had unconsciously found the mouth since the begin- ning, seem now to search for it. Thumb-sucking begins to be agreeable. The fingers also carry everything possible to the mouth. It is difficult to say whether this is to test them by the sense of TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 33 touch or that of taste, since, as Perez * says, "Pretty to look at and good to eat mean the same thing." Grasping now becomes more like conscious holding, and for the first time the thumb is opposed to the fingers. It is well to place safe objects, like spools, rings, etc.. within reach, even before the time for conscious holding comes. "To wait till he knows how to grasp before giving him things to practice on is," says Miss Shinn, "like keeping a boy out of water till he knows how to swim." During these vague endeavors to relate the two sources of touch-sensations by trying to carry something from the hand to the mouth, there is no knowledge yet that the eyes can help in the endeavor. Memory seems to appear. A face is recognized, probably simply by means of the high lights upon it, and often, as Sullyf says, chiefly as "a bearded plaything." Even an absent or departing presence is searched for with the eyes. A room is ex- amined object by object, and there is a restless- ness that can be satisfied by being taken into an- other room. The limit of vision now is probably about twenty-five feet. Miss Shinn thought that during this month her sister's baby smiled less often and more often looked with seriousness or wonder, as if her world were growing complex and required more study. Sitting up. — The most distinctly conscious act of will in this direction of self-education may be the effort to sit upright, either aided or alone. The Fourth Month Reaching. — Miss Shinn brightly describes the growing consciousness of self which the baby at- tains by this time, confined, however, chiefly to her own face, by saying that "Her feeling of herself must have been like that of a conventional cherub — all but her head dissolved away into one- ness with the outside world." It may not be till well on in this month that the baby comes to realize that what she sees is the same thing as what she feels. Now for the first time she may see an object, and then definitely and directly reach for it, as the result, with her hands. Even then she is likely to reach with her mouth before she does with her hands, sometimes bobbing the whole head forward in the attempt to do so. Sight. — Miss Shinn thinks that now a baby be- gins to notice alterations in the room, that she is first puzzled by the apparent changes of size in approaching and departing forms and by the alterations of appearance when persons and * Bernard Perez, author of "First Three Years of Child- hood.** t James Sully, author of "Children's Ways,'* "Outlines of Psychology," "Studies of Childhood," etc. things are turned around. Sully noted about this time that an effect of shock showed itself when something in the familiar scene was transmuted. His child was quite upset when his mother donned a red jacket in place of the usual flower-spotted dress. "He was just proceeding to take his breakfast when he noticed the change, at the discovery of which all thoughts of feasting de- serted him, his lips quivered and he only became reassured of his whereabouts after taking a good look at his mother's face." It was during this month, in Miss Shinn's observation, that her sis- ter's baby was first frightened when awaking in the dark. Fears. — There are, Tracy thinks, two kinds of fear in young children : Hereditary fears, that are independent of the memory of hurtful experi- ences, and fears that are produced by mental images of danger. Babies often cry when it thunders ; they shrink up at the sense of falling, before they have ever fallen ; they tremble at the sight of large and majestic objects like the ocean. Early, they seem more afraid of sounds than of sights. Eye-fears and touch-fears soon develop, and the objects that arouse fear are often un- accountable. These must all be classed as heredi- tary or instinctive fears, and some of them have been explained — such as the fear of falling, as a relic of the tree-stage of human existence ; the fear of fur, a reminiscence of primeval contact with wild beasts. There is really a third class of fears — those caused by suggestion. The fear of thunder, for instance, perhaps not so early as this, but at a very early stage, is often the imita- tion of the shrinking of the mother. Memory of faces seems to be getting clear, and an accidental splash in the water is followed the next day by a voluntary one. A pleasant or a striking occurrence tends to fix itself in the mind. The emotional life expresses itself in delight at tumbling and being tumbled about gently, in fre' quent smiles and vocal sounds, and in facial ex- pressions, not only of wonder, but of desire. The Fifth Month Touch. — Miss Shinn calls this "the era of han- dling things." As the eye had been busy the pre- vious month in learning how objects look from different sides, so now the child for the first time uses sight and touch and muscle feeling together, to discover the shapes of things. At first he is unable to do this by sight alone, and for a brief time will endeavor to pick pictures from a page or shadows from the floor. Meantime, the process goes on of watching people in motion, and a child will forget food and sleep in the eager following of the drama of a roomful of lively people. 34 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Miss Shinn noted how the baby whom she studied learned the difference between active and passive feeling by bumping the back of her head. Though she had been touched upon that spot by the pillow and by human hands, and though the bumping experience was not pleasant, she kept trying to reproduce the feeling, apparently in order to help realize that the back of her head belonged to herself. Playthings. — As the baby continued the proc- ess of learning to know the shape and qualities of objects brought within its grasp, Miss Shinn noted a preference for bright, hard, and rattling things, and so she advises that the earliest play- things should not be soft, but definite to the touch, varied in form, glittering rather than brightly colored, and made, for safety, of rubber, bone and, perhaps, aluminum. During tlijs month the child may become able to sit in a chair unsupported : he may roll over and squirm into a variety of positions, some of them prophetic of creeping. The child has now learned to discriminate be- tween faces and, probably, between voices. He reaches out his hands toward a friend, he varies his sounds to include a call for attention and even a pleading to be taken up, distinctly more sociable than the earlier solitary cry of hunger or pain. The Sixth Month Purpose. — Miss Shinn considers the sixth month to be the transition between two great development periods — that of learning the senses, which is passing, and that of learning to carry the body, which is to come. She finds this month significant as the one in which a baby notably begins to use means for ends. The special instance which Miss Shinn men- tions is that of putting the toe in the mouth, an act "that most people find it most impossible to regard with scientific seriousness." Miss Shinn, however, shows how deeply educative it is. In the first place, the child has to learn to conquer the refractoriness of the toe, which tries to fly off just as it is being grasped, first by using muscular force in his arms, and later by restraining the muscular activity of his own leg. Not only does this act help the little one to discover himself from head to toe, but it seems to encourage him to feel of his head and ears and the rest of his body and to annex them to himself as his own. Dr. R. W. Hastings * urges that the diapers be not allowed to hamper the action of the knees and legs, and ♦ Robert W. Hastings, author of "Health of the School Child." several have suggested that it is good as well as healthy to let a baby squirm about nude each day in a room that is properly heated and protected from currents of air. Curiosity. — The way a child seems to learn to do things is to execute them accidentally and then endeavor deliberately to repeat the process. In almost every instance the impelling force behind the accident that leads to experiment is surprise. So surprise leads on into curiosity, and the ex- ercise of curiosity is the chief industry of any baby as soon as he acquires any means of locomotion. Curiosity once excited, the child pursues its leading with extraordinary persistence and pa- tience, especially where it is possible to do so by any manual activity. Certain movements of limbs or vocal organs are produced over and over for several days, then a new one is practiced for a while. Various combinations of movements are made, and the muscles and the senses are thus exercised and associated in countless ways. Memory. — The ability to recognize an incident and to repeat an act appears earlier than most of us suppose. "The little child," says Tracy, "is capable of memories long.before he has learned to speak. A little boy, six months old, whose hand had been slightly burned by a hot vase, shrank back at the sight of this article a few days after." Miss Shinn found that associative memory was more strongly developed now than before. After beg- ging for a spoon, the child was unsatisfied until it was filled with milk, as it had been before. She knew what the baby carriage was for. She knew what kind of frolic to expect from each individual in the home. Speech. — There seemed to Miss Shinn to be a development of sign-language during this month. The baby indicated by a series of actions her desire to repeat the creeping experiment upon the table. She reached out of a baby carriage and called to her aunt. She had a special sound ("a sort of little bleating," Darwin called it) when coaxing for a frolic, and there were distinctly understood variations when she wished to be taken up into her mother's arms or in asking for an object out of reach. She now showed unexplainable signs of repulsion for certain strangers ; and on the other hand seemed, by soft caresses bestowed only upon her favorites, to indicate a dawning affection. She once searched in vain for her mother during a prolonged absence, then settled into a pitiful, steady crying, and for several days after seemed to watch her mother rather anxiously, as if she might again forsake her. TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 35 Sympathy. — Just how much we are to make of these first signs of a humane feeling will de- pend upon the feelings of the observer. Sully tells us how his child of a little over six months responded to the father's pretense of crying by bending his own head down and pawing his father's face. He did this again when the father's act was repeated. "A smile on the termination of the crying completed the curious little play. Who would venture to interpret that falling of the head and that caressing movement of the hand? The father saw here something of a divine tenderness." Do you question his inter- pretation? Miss Shinn sums up the story of the first half year as follows : "The breathing automaton had become an eager and joyous little being, seeing and hearing and feeling much as we do, know- ing her own body somewhat, and controlling it throughout to a certain extent, laughing and frolicking, enjoying the vision of the world with a delicious zest, clinging to us not so much for physical protection as for human companionship, beginning to show a glimmer of intelligence, and to cross over with sign and sound the abyss be- tween spirit and spirit." The Remainder of the First Year It has seemed well to go into considerable detail as to the first six months of the baby's life, so that the mother who reads this may know what to watch for and to enjoy in the rapidly unfold- ing little being ; but from this time, when the progress of babies differs, it will be better to trace the general steps of progress up to the end of the first year. Getting about. — The baby, whose chief delight has now become handling things, comes by this time to feel the need of getting to them when they are out of reach. He manages to do this in a number of ways. Perhaps a normal history of locomotion would consist of various hitching- along movements by the seventh month, followed by an apparently aimless rolling, which, however, will bring the various objects on the floor in the track of the explorer. There may be great joy in rolling, to the same end. Creeping, which often occurs in the ninth month, may start with moving backward, perhaps, because the arms are stronger than the legs, but it almost immediately becomes purposeful and effective in pursuing the objects of play. At once there seems to be an instinct to stand, and the child soon pulls himself up by low objects, totters feebly near his sup- port, sits down gently or forcefully and then tries again. Climbing, too, seems instinctive by the tenth month, and Miss Tanner * thinks the art is an inheritance and one to be encouraged, with proper cautions, much more than is the wont of mothers. At about this same time a baby will usually begin to edge along, while standing with the support of a chair, and will probably discover the delightful ability to push a chair across the room. By the end of the year the baby may take a step from one chair across a small gap to an- other, or walk from the wall a step to a waiting pair of hands. Sometimes these experiments satisfy, and the child makes no further progress in locomotion for several v.'eeks; or he may suddenly take a step or two alone, and in a day or two be vi'alking comfortably about. In the case of a healthy child there need be no anxiety if he does not establish an early walking record for the neighborhood. Muscles. — As to the exact progress which the baby has made in muscle control, Kirkpatrickf speaks as follows : "The muscles first brought under control are the larger ones of the whole arm, while the space in which control is first e.xercised is directly in front and near the level of the mouth. "Other movements than those of the hand come under voluntary control in a similar way; first the eyes and head in turning toward sights and sounds, then the body in sitting, then the hands in grasping, and finally, near the close of the first year, the legs in creeping, standing and walking, and the vocal organs in repeating sounds." Babies seem, from their comparative indiffer- ence to bumps and bruises, to have small skin- sensitiveness. They cry rather from nervous fright and from conscious need of sympathy. A baby, when he is hurt, rarely cries unless there is someone near to hear him. Sight. — After a baby learns to creep and walk he displays an increasing reluctance to be held, and his waking hours are entirely happy if spent upon the floor or upon the grass in summer, ex- ploring his world and rejoicing that it is "so full of a number of things. Especially now does out of doors, with its pleasant breezes, its moving sights and his own possibility of activity, engage the young child, who by this time has learned to lift up his voice in an abandon of ecstasy. Animal pets, that have earlier been feared, now become entrancing, with their soft fur, their lively actions and their elusive way of escaping when they have been imposed upon by baby's grasping fingers. • .Amy Eliza Tanner, author of "The Child: His Thinking, Feeling, and Doing." t Edward -Asbury Kirkpatrick, author of "Fundamentals of Child Study," "Individual in the Making," etc. 36 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL It has been estimated that the baby's world has now a radius of a hundred feet of vision, in which objects are possibly beginning to differentiate in color as they already have in size and distance. Imitation. — It seems to be generally agreed that imitation begins during the second half of the first year. Tracy cites a child who at seven months endeavored to copy the movements of the head and lips, laughing, and the like by adults ; at nine months he imitated crying; at ten months he copied movements and sounds of all sorts. A little girl of eleven months would reproduce with her doll some of her own experiences, such as giving it a bath, kissing it, and singing it to sleep. Understanding. — Now it becomes entrancing to watch the increase of the baby's power of under- standing. By the seventh month he connects names with persons, he learns by imitation to do such tricks as waving his hand at parting, he watches things fall that he has dropped. A little later he understands what is meant by "no" and responds to brief commands of which he seems to recognize either certain words or their ac- companying suggestive gestures. By the ninth month he may learn the joyous game of peekaboo, understand some additional com.mands and per- form a few more manual accomplishments. During the tenth month Miss Shinn noted that her niece learned how to point as well as to look in a given direction, and used this gesture con- stantly as an indication of wants and an answer to questions. In the eleventh month Miss Shinn found that the little one understood eighty-four different words, both alone and in combinations. She was convinced too that she used at least three sounds to express her own feelings: one a sign for pointing, dist^overing, exulting, another an expression of refusal or protest, and a third an indication of desire for attention. Emotions. — The larger scope and more varied expression of emotions that comes by this time is natural. As Perez says: "In my opinion, a child of ten months who does not weep or cry at least four or five times a day, who is not amused, and who is not irritated, like a savage or ' a young animal, by a mere trifle, is lacking in intelligence, and will, no doubt, be lacking in cliaracter." We can not yet claim for the baby a moral sense, or any capacity for penitence. As for sympathy, while he may make imitative move- ments that look like our own adult ways of ex- pressing pity, v/e must confess that he is so far so absorbed in his own personal needs, and has so little experience by which to interpret the ex- periences of others, that we can not count much on it. Memory. — The enlarged scope of the intelligent life is shown before the year closes by memories that last for several days and are expressed by repeated actions or expectancy of repeated ex- periences, by imitations of the ways of elders and by an increasing delight in learning and in re- citing his little lessons. Once more we are indebted to Miss Shinn as she sums up the achievements of the year: "And so the story of the swift, beautiful year is ended, and our wee, soft, helpless baby has become this darling thing, beginning to toddle, beginning to talk, full of a wide-awake baby intelligence, and rejoicing in her mind and body ; communicating with us in a vivid and sufficient dialect, and overflowing with the sweet selfish- ness of baby coaxings and baby gratitude. "We are eager, as the little one herself is, to push on to new unfoldings; it is the high spring- time of babyhood — perfect, satisfying, beautiful." Summary The First Month. — The baby moves his eyes and head and seems to follow bright objects. He makes the simplest associations, which constitute a sort of "habit memory." He is sensitive to jars rather than to noises. He smiles in response to touch. He knows the difference between company and solitude, but is most responsive to his mother's face. The Second Month. — He likes the sense of mo- tion. He opens his eyes wider when outdoors. He is frightened now by hearing all sorts of sounds and begins to appreciate rhythm. His cries grow more varied. He moves in order to peer about. He uses his lips and tongue together. He is subject to a greater variety of feelings. Still, he sleeps most of the time. The Third Month. — His fingers grow active and he is busy in grasping. He searches about with his eyes and tries to sit up so as to see better. The Fourth Month. — He reaches for things. He notices alterations in the room. He is frightened at the dark. The Fifth Month. — This is the era for handling things. He prefers bright objects and begins to distinguish faces. The Sixth Month. — Now comes the transition between learning to use his senses and learning to use his body. Now he uses means for ends. He brings his toes to his mouth. Accidents lead to planned actions. Surprise and curiosity stimulate him to practice. He indulges in sign language and shows evidences of humane feeling. The Remainder of the Year. — This is the era of increasing locomotion. He pulls himself up, he climbs, he creeps, finally he walks. Now he controls bis full body, loves to be out of doors, and his range of vision is wider. He begins to imitate. He under- stands many words and he plays his first games. He really begins to think and reason, he feels larger emotions, but not yet emotions of sympathy and penitence. TPIE FIRST THREE MONTHS BY MRS. ALICE CORBIN SIES Note. — Here is the transcript of an actual record kept of a little boy's first three months by his mother. Although given without comment, it will be found most instructive, both as suggesting what to look for and in comparing it with the other two records that follow. The First Month 1. Interesting things I noticed the first week: My first glimpse of baby What he accomplished the first day: breathing, crying, yawning, sneezing, etc. Usual position of arms and legs Expression of face Movement-plays : rolling of head, eyes, sucking, scratching. 2. Second Week : What I noticed as the child endeavored to con- trol nursing; face, muscles, etc. Effect on baby of jars, ticking of watch, etc. Eyes not sensitive to bright light Enjoys erect position Thumb-sucking Smiling, an instinctive response to getting food Holds head toward light and people, with cling- ing stare. 3. Third Week: What baby did in response to different sounds Baby's movements: turning of head, stiffening body, bracing feet Sight: eyes follow candle; open when nursing Hands : feel for breast and clasp with thumb or finger Cry more expressive ; new end sought. 4. Fourth Week: Smile more constant Head lifted when supported Recognized direction of sound Eyes follow candle, rest on faces, fires, windows Displeasure at bath. The Second Month 5. Fifth Week: Stopped incessant movement to listen to boat- whistles Crying from colic; what I did; how he cried next day to be held likewise Sensitiveness to sound when asleep Association of steps with attention (sense of comfort dimly felt). 6. Sixth Week: ■Response to name Turning head to meet my gaze Does not recognize breast and bottle by sight, but by touch Response to music when annoyed ; how I played different kinds. 7. Seventh Week : Staring at red ribbon, colored ball, mirror Shoving and pushing movements in bed; turn- ing head from wall to me How I let him kick Held head erect a few seconds First enjoyment of bath Passing of his glance from me to grandma Voice-play after full meal; how I responded: his sounds Noticed breast ; groped for it Tensing body almost to erect position when supported Laughed out loud Crying when hungry, he stopped when held in feeding position Attentive to sudden changes in scenery; turns head about when carried from room to room. 8. Eighth Week : Sound: Turning head toward piano; his re- sponse to music Sight : Stopped crying to look at electric light Muscular development : When back is sup- ported, he pulls himself erect on my lap; also holds head erect a few seconds without support Touch-plays : rubbing back, patting, etc. Lullabies Sleep and quiet : protection from hurry, stiinu- lating sights, sounds, colors, etc. Incessant movement of arms and legs in crib; keeps uncovered Seems to recognize father, mother and grand- mother Associates discomfort with lying d6wn, cries; comfort at being taken up. 27 38 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL The Third Month 9. Ninth Week : Attention to loud sounds, even when nursing Coordination of hand and arm; extends fingers when nursing Attempt to rise in bath by pushing Sensations of temperature in water First nap out of doors, two months old Head held erect in wobbly fashion a good deal ; rests after 30 seconds Grasped coverlet and pulled away to see my face ; eye and hand work together Finger-play: opens and shuts fingers rhythmi- cally while nursing. 10. Tenth Week: Sight: seemed to see his own image in mirror Stopped fretting to watch my movements in room ; cried when I passed out of sight Stops crying when music is played Nursing warm water from bottle is quieting and less stimulating than milk When crying at night for food he cries harder as soon as I approach; means of communi- cating Can direct fists to eyes; rubs eyes when sleepy Holds fist up and turns it around ; looking pleased Eye-play: his eye followed me from living room to third step (thirteen feet) Sound-plays and what they denote. 11. Eleventh Week: Active touch-e.xploration Grasps my dress while nursing Extends hands and shuts them on bottle, feeling about it Preference for erect position grows Shows no surprise to be tossed in father's arms. (Danger of overstimulation in such play) Amount of sleep: all night (except when nurs- ing) and one and one-half hours after each feeding, except from 7 to 10 a. m. Showed signs of noticing new environment when taken into grandma's room for first time in month Muscular development : when laid on stomach raised body to creeping position on hands Continues to smile in engaging way Color of eyes changing from blue to brown Nursing-time : hands are released from clasp to fingers extended Taste : likes sugar Ability to hold images; before when bottle was removed to stop rapid feeding he cried ; gradually learning that bottle will return Voice-play : talks to me when first awake in morning. When a visitor sang to him he answered back similar tones Grasping: held rattle placed in hands two minutes. 12. Twelfth Week: Response to color: gazed at red, orange, violet, and blue bows of crepe paper hung one by one over bed. Even stopped nursing Sample of voice-play with father : reward for new sounds Waking accompanied by gurgles and stretching when not hungry Hunger-cry Enjoys observing sights in sitting position Gazed at violet bow five feet away; I changed it to red and he appeared equally pleased Turning of head from wall to light opposite (a difficult muscular feat) and stared at red bow Shows pleasure in having legs rubbed (gurgles) Distinctly grasped my dress with fingers of right hand when nursing Enjoyment of being wheeled. MY BABY MONTH BY MONTH MRS. ANNA G. NOYES Thk following is the order in which, and the dates when, the activities were mastered : First Month: Lying on the stomach, he held up his head. Second Month : Held up head more steadily. Third Month: Smiled Laughed aloud. Fourth Month: Sat up alone for about two minutes Found his hands, after several days' trial * From "How I Kept My Bahy Well," by Anna G. Noyes, inililished hy Warwick & York, Baltimore. Ust-d liy permis- sion of Dr. Guy M. Whipple.'editor. TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 39 I held him up by his feet Reached out and caught hold of scales Held him suspended by his arms. Fifth Month: Laughed heartily when his toes were put into his mouth I held him up by his hands and he put his feet on my chest Rode cock-horse Greeted us with a smile and gurglings Tried to raise himself up by propping himself on one elbow. Later tried to pull himself up by pulling on the horizontal bar in his basket Again, lying on the bed, he grasped his father's fingers and after three attempts pulled him- self up to a sitting position Kicked hard against the bar (broom-handle) in his basket. Laughed heartily when I pinched and slapped. Holding, slapped. Holding on to a stick which I held out to him he raised himself up several times from a lying to a sitting position. Sixth Month : Sat alone for from three to five minutes First ride out of doors in carriage. Sat up straight for an hour. Pulled himself up whenever he could get hold of my fingers Kicked and splashed in his tub. Seventh Month: Lying on his back, he kicked a tin pan almost steadily for an hour Stood alone by his basket Seized every opportunity to try to pull himself up on his feet Pulled himself up alone to a standing position Moved, by rolling on the floor, a distance of three feet. Eighth Month: Took steps when supported Walked, by grasping moving things With the assistance of a chair, pulled himself up from a sitting position to a standing position. Ninth Month: Got up on his feet at every opportunity Managed his baby-tender very well Held his own weight, hanging from a stick or clothes line. Tenth Month: At home on his feet, but had to grasp something to keep his balance. Eleventh Month : Took three steps alone twice Took about fifty steps, holding my hand Took five steps, holding my apron Walked behind his carriage, pushing it Walked from one person to another a few feet away. Took several long walks while I held his jacket and he balanced himself with his clenched fists Walked to me (five feet away) when I was not expecting him to come. Twelfth Month: Walked all about, assisting himself by people or furniture, growing more and more ven- turesome, and having many hard tumbles Finally, while walking from another person to me, and being chased, in his haste he gave up his support and ran into my arms. After this, he walked other distances alone As he walks up to things, instead of grabbing hold tight for support, he only touches them lightly and walks on. LANDMARKS IN A BABY'S PROGRESS* BY MRS. HELEN Y. CAMPBELL It is well for the mother, at each weighing of the baby, to review in her mind the various factors which sum up the life of a healthy infant, and the several points in his progress. 1. Is he gaining at least four ounces a week in weight ? 2. Is his skin soft, pink, elastic, and fragrant ; * From "Practical Motherhood," by Helen Y. Campbell. Ushers, New York. and are his lips rosy, and cheeks a healthy pink color? 3. Are his limbs, especially the thighs, plump and rounded? 4. Are his movements vigorous, and does he use each of his limbs well ; and are his joints and back supple and freely and easily moved? Used by permission of Longmans, Green & Company, pub- 40 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL 5. Is he satisfied after he feeds? 6. Does he retain all his feedings, except per- haps two or three mouthfuls, returned immedi- ately afterward? 7. Does he cry seldom except when he is hun- gry ; and is he comfortable and free from con- stant wind or colic? 8. Does he pass two or three very soft and smooth yellow stools in the twenty- four hours? 9. Are his feet and hands always warm? 10. Is his head dry, as a general rule? 11. How much does he sleep by day and by night ? 12. Is he good-natured and happy? Again: The order of the average healthy baby's achievements is usually something like the following, but some babies advance more quickly and others more slowly : During the first few weeks: The baby sleeps for a considerable part of the time more or less curled up. He stretches a good deal, and "strikes attitudes" with his head, limbs, and back, when awake and undressed. He shows most in- telligence and pleasure in association with his feedings. Second to Third Month: He makes the first attempts to hold up his head. He begins to kick freely and to wave his arms. He recognizes his mother's face and voice, and smiles. He follows a bright light or brilliant color or moving object with his eyes. Fourth to Fifth Month : He makes attempts to raise himself into a sitting position. He tries to grasp things. He turns his head around and tries to localize a sound. He often begins to recognize strangers and to distrust them. Sixth Month: He cuts his first tooth. He uses all his muscles and his voice very actively; dances up and down on his mother's lap, and sprawls and turns himself over on the bed. He laughs and crows loudly when he is pleased, and screams with rage and impatience when he is displeased. Seventh Month : He sits up alone. Eighth Month : He feels his feet, and may be- gin to creep. Twelfth Month: He imitates such actions as waving and kissing the hand, shaking the head, and pointing the finger. Fifteenth Month : He takes his first unaided steps. He expresses his wishes pretty clearly by gestures, and short sounds which are generally intended to represent words. Eighteenth Month : The soft spot on the top of his head (or fontanel) has quite disappeared. He uses little words. HOW TO FORECAST A CHILD'S FUTURE "Suppose that when he leaves school we wish to forecast a lafPs future. What shall we try to find out about him? No doubt we shall ask what he knows, but this would not be by any means the main thing. His skill would interest us, and so would the state of his health. But what we should ask, first and foremost, is this: Whom does he love? Whom does he admire and imitate? What does he care about? It is only when answers to these questions are satisfactory that we can think hopefully of his future; and it is only in so far as the school has tended to make the answers satisfactory that it deserves our approval." — R. H. Quick. SOME BEGINNINGS BY THE EDITORS During the first three months, the two important things a baby has to do are to eat and sleep. Dr. Griffith says that "up to the age of five or si.x months the baby should not be played with at all, and even later all playing before the hour for sleep must be avoided." The earliest habit to be formed by a baby is the sleep-habit. The ab- sence of stimulus when sleep is due is as neces- sary as its presence when the child is awake. Not only must the sleepy baby be protected from jars and sudden noises, but we must be careful that violent play does not interfere with his sleep and digestion. When we remember that the full limit of consecutive attention possible to a baby a year old is less than five minutes, we see how easy it is to overtire a young child. When a baby cries after he has been played with, it is a good sign that be has been overstrained. "The baby," says iVIrs. Washburne. "ought to be treated almost like a sprouting plant, and kept at first in darkness, warmth, and silence." I. Helping the Senses During the first five months a baby is chiefly learning to use his senses. It is Gesell * who teaches us that the sense of touch, the oldest of human experiences save pos- sibly hunger, is the first one in importance to de- velop. He quotes Helen Keller's poem, in which she says : "This daylight in ray heart. Thou blind, loving, all-prying touch. Thou openest the book of life to me." The first method of the mother in thus opening tlie book of life through touch is when she offers * Arnold Lucius Gesell and Beatrice Chandler Gesell, joint authors of "Normal Child and Primary Education." her baby the breast, touches lightly its cheeks, puts her fingers in its tiny grasp, cuddles its whole body, dresses and undresses it, gives it the bath, carries it from room to room on a pillow or in her arms. Thus she makes active those sense-tips that exist in lips and tongue and fingers and in the sensitive skin of the whole body. Next come the varied touch-sensations that are e.xperienced from objects — soft, hard, smooth, rough, light, heavy, warm, cold. Among the things for this purpose are smooth stones, sticks, spools, keys, spoons, tin dishes. Next comes the sense of sight. Mothers who are wise protect the eyes of their babies from glare and from bright lights, particularly at night, from the very beginning. While it is probably true that the baby has little sense of color before he is a year old, he is evidently well pleased with objects that glitter. II. Sense-Training Nothing educates the baby as does the human presence. "Here Nature herself has provided the best education. The mother, bending over the child with constant care, with instinctive prattle and gentle touch, is bringing the senses into in- telligent cooperation more swiftly and surely than any possible system of forms and motions dis- played before his uncomprehensive eye could do. It is a matter of easy observation that the baby who is left lying on the bed alone a great deal, no matter how well cared for physically, does not develop so brightly, and learn to use his senses so happily, as soon as the baby that is cooed over and played with." Soon special means are used. A bright object is hung above the cradle to induce reaching, a bell is sewed to the stocking to induce pulling, paper 41 42 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL is suspended above the feet to induce kicking. Paper is put within reach to he mussed or torn, and in tlie latter half of the year the old games of "This Little Pig Went to Market," "Creep Mouse" and "Pat a Cake," help develop the con- sciousness of the whole body, the sensations of touch and sight, and the general joyfulness of life. The early sensitiveness of a baby to musical sounds and to harsh noises suggests that we may do something to educate the sense of hearing and even that of rhythm and melody during the first year. Even babies a month old are soothed by soft chords upon the piano and by lullabies ; they respond by lively muscular actions before they are two months old, and it is probable that the preference for music to noise may begin through the proper environment in this period. In the meantime, things that rattle and ring and squeak, like a bunch of keys, a bell, a baby's rattle, and a rubber doll, but nothing that makes a violent con- cussion, are enjoyed in turn. The child himself soon likes to beat with his spoon on his tin plate or to drop metal things for the sake of hearing them strike the floor. The senses are educated not separately but to- gether. As the parts of the brain become con- nected and the different sense-perceptions be- come associated, we have the task of helping the baby to use eyes, ears, and hands together. Aside from putting a variety of objects within the baby's reach, our duty here is very much that of letting him alone. As Kirkpatrick * tells us : "As soon as he can move his hands he should not be amused wholly by what others do, but rather by what he can do, to objects and with them. Others may do things that lead the child to discover new possibilities in objects, but they should not long at a time manipulate objects for his amusement. By so doing they interfere with his own educative play-activity and hinder his finding out the real qualities of objects and his own powers in relation to them. The principle of novelty should be made much of at this time. None of the child's playthings should be with him all of the time, but those not in use should be placed out of his sight for awhile, as soon as he loses interest in them, then restored to him again when they will arouse his interest anew." Some of the articles which Johnson names as very helpful in learning the ways to use means for ends in the exercise of a baby's sense-powers are a celluloid bail, rubber animals, boxes, bottles, blocks. Says Mrs. Washburne: "The right toys are those that the baby digs out for himself, from such of the household ^ See footnote on page 35. utensils and belongings as can be spared for his use. A bit of chain, some old dominoes, a pair of scissors stuck in an empty spool, a lot more spools, some cards, an old magazine that he can tear, a biscuit-cutter, some little tin dishes, an old clean purse tasting of leather, a small wooden box with a cover that slides in and out — such are the things that he picks out for himself and that a wise mother will preserve for him. If she provides a table or bureau drawer in which they can be kept, and then lets him pull out the drawer and rum- mage to his heart's content, she will find him pretty well satisfied with his toys. "Out of doors, nothing is so good as a sand- pile with a pail and shovel. The baby who can only sit up when he is propped will love to sit in the warm sand, in a little nest, and fill and empty his pail, and ply his little spade with wabbly fin- gers, daily growing stronger with exercise." III. Assisting Body-Control The latter half of the year is largely spent in getting control of the body and its members. Adults may be of much judicious help here. When the baby begins to indicate by pushing and pull- ing and the attempt to lift his head, the first im- pulse toward bodily control, the mother must sup- port the head and the back, offer her fingers to the baby's grasp as handles and her lap as lever- age for the tiny feet and knees. Especially is kicking to be encouraged. Creeping is encouraged by seeing that the diapers do not bind the knees, and all the motions toward bodily control are facilitated if the baby is allowed a little time daily, in a warm space free from draughts, to scramble naked. The climb- ing instinct is believed to be important and is to be encouraged, of course with watchful backing. There is no hurry to make a baby walk, and he should seldom support his body upon his little legs until he learns to do so himself. Says Miss Shinn : "None of these movements should be urged and hastened. The baby should not be al- lowed to bear his own weight, in sitting, standing, or walking, till he is unmistakably able to; nor is it desirable to urge a feat of balancing upon a timid child, even when he is plainly capable of it, lest he get fixed associations of fear with it, and be actually held back in progress. But where a child has become discouraged, or has been held back a long time by timidity, a little cautious coax- ing past the sticking-point may be the wisest thing." Some of the other appropriate activities are splashing in the water, tearing, pulling, pushing, rocking, "playing" the piano, lifting lightly, and TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 43 toward the close of the year nodding and making simple gestures. IV. The Emotional Life During the first year the emotional life of the baby develops with his senses, but in such a primitive fashion that it is hard from our adult standpoint always to interpret it clearly. The baby's feelings seem to be of about three sorts. There are pleasant feelings, when he is comfort- able, has what he wants, or is enjoying himself experimenting. There are unpleasant feelings, when he is uncomfortable, has not what he wants, or receives a shock of fright. There are also times when he is suddenly acted upon by a number of stimuli at once, to which his response is that of paralyzed astonishment. The way the baby tries to tell us how he feels is by his instinctive acts and his cries. The mother soon learns to dis- criminate the cry of fright, of pain, of disappoint- ment, of loneliness, and she finds out, through her reading and experience, how to localize bodily distresses. In general, the mother endeavors to adjust cir- cumstances so that the 'child will in the main have pleasant feelings, but she can not always do so. There will be enough internal disturbances and mental disappointments so that every baby will do every day the amount of hearty crying which is requisite to expand the lungs. V. Habit-Forming At this point comes in the necessity of establish- ing, by discipline, habits that shall be healthful both to the body and the future morals of the child. Says Kirkpatrick : "The mother, like the trainer of animals, should do things in the same way every time, that there may be the same signs as a condition or signal, when the child is being fed, dressed, or put to sleep, and thus he will readily form habits of having things done to him, and of doing the right thing at the right time without any fuss. "More complex habits that are really elemen- tary acts of politeness, such as waiting quietly for food or to be taken up, may also be formed if care is used. If the expression 'in a minute' is employed, and is at first followed very quickly by food or attention, a beginning is made and the time of waiting may gradually be prolonged. If, however, the interval is too long at first, crying may ensue and the expression become a signal that starts the child to crying for food or attention, instead of waiting quietly for it. The child may also be taught to give up things quietly and to allow himself to be taken where one wishes, or he may learn to make a scene in all such cases. He is not consciously either good or bad during this period, any more than are animals, but he is forming habits that will have important effects upon the conscious self that develops during the next period, and that will be likely to have some influence upon his ultimate character." If we were asked what is the one virtue for a year-old baby, we should answer. The forming of right habits. A word ought to be said here about the matter of sleep-habits in particular. The question arises as to the relation of sleep and waking from sleep to the whole emotional life of the child. There is often a marked resistance on the part of babies to embark on the voyage to dreamland. This is no doubt partly due to the irresistible desire of father, upon his return at night, to frolic with his child. It seems to be partly explained by the fact that the baby's nervous system often responds to fatigue with fretfulness rather than drowsiness. Not until late in the first year is there often any terror of the dark, but many babies are made rest- less by the nearness of too much light and noise. In general, it seems best for the general welfare of the child that the day should close with a diminishing of excitement and play, cadencing with quieting employments or attitudes that lead to the gates of slumber. Most babies during their first year, however, require an individual method of being put to sleep. Doctors are relenting somewhat from their dictum as to "no rocking," but they are as stern as ever as to "no churning" of the infant body. "Froebel," says Mrs. Washburne, "makes a strong plea for the right of the child to have his own mother put him to sleep. He says that the child's last impression on falling to sleep, and his first on awaking, should be of a loving voice and face. Thus will the tender emotions be developed in him, and his power of affectionate response be increased. This accords well with the modern understanding of the law of suggestion, which has made us aware that the brain, on going to sleep, is in a relaxed and impressionable condi- tion, and that impressions received then, work into the very centers of being and later produce their inevitable effect. On waking, too, the brain is similarly impressionable, only in this state its im- pressions tend to bear fruit in conscious acts. If we wish, then, to have our children loving and sympathetic, their last impressions on going to •sleep must be of love and sympathy. If we wish them to be peaceful and contented, they must fall asleep in quiet bliss. The instinct which leads a mother to pray over her sleeping child, and to kiss him as he sleeps, is a true instinct, implanted K.N.— 5 44 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL in her heart by the Father who sees that His little ones receive what they need." Miss Shinn believes that the manner of waking from sleep is more important and neglected than the manner of going to sleep. As soon as the fourth month, evidences of panic upon arousing have been noted ; by the tenth month these have been interpreted as the evidence of a struggle to get back to self-consciousness, and many believe that some vague sort of dream occasionally haunts even the infant's mind. Here, evidently, a sooth- ing and interpreting presence is indicated, and Miss Shinn thinks the mother does more to win her baby's love 'by being always at hand when he awakes than by any other single act. VI. The Baby's Sociability Although a baby does not seem to care whether we approve of his own conduct or not, he is cer- tainly sensitive to ours. A mother's irritated dis- position will reflect itself within a few moments in the behavior of her child. Babies are usually better off if they are not played with too much, but most babies suffer from not being talked to enough. It is not necessary that they should be able to understand what we say to them, but they seem to be pleasantly stimulated if we talk while we play with them. As the old nurses used to say, "They want to be noticed." The sociability of a baby has a definite educa- tional purpose. It helps him to learn by imitating. It seems a fair generalization to say that during the first half of the year the baby learns chiefly by trial-and-success and during the second half by trial-and-success coupled with imitation. It is a moot question whether affection is an emotion that appears during the first year. Scien- tists may say, no; but mothers will persist in say- ing, yes. The .tenderness of a baby no doubt arises in selfishness, as the result of being cared for, and it demands innumerable hostages of proof. But who can doubt that love is always contagious, and that mother-love soon finds its reward in clinging hands that express a heart, little but overflowing? VII. The Baby's Outlook at the End of his First Year The studies that have been made of individual babies show that by the time a child is a year old, his world consists of a space with a radius of about a hundred feet from his eyes, within which he has " examined the shape and size of all the objects • within reach, to which he has brought himself in contact by creeping, walking, or climbing; that he has learned to distinguish himself from other people ; that he knows a few people by name, and ■ can understand simple commands and can com- municate by simple calls of his own ; that he has considerable memory and the elements of imagina- tion. He has, if he has been trained to regular habits and to response to command, a pleasant docility, while his will is manifest in his growing persistence of action and in an occasional resist- ance of adult authority, sometimes the expression of physical discomfort, sometimes of self -assertion. It will be safe to quote Miss Shinn's advice that "The secret of happy and wholesome develop- ment in the early years seems to be mainly in giv- ing the largest possibility of free action" if we remember the qualification that she gives: "The remarkable hatred of restraint, the intense joy in free activity, the busy energy with which, when left to himself, the child would pursue his own education — all show Nature, up to a certain point, doing better with the development of senses, muscle, and mind than any outsider could do. . . . To secure to a child the largest freedom of activity possible is a different thing from sim- ply letting him run, uncared for ; it sometimes involves more trouble than restricting him nar- rowly; he must be companioned, cooperated with, 'lived with,' incessantly. But the results are worth it." VIII. Summary What a Baby Should Learn the First Half Year. — The baby chiefly learns during the first year to use his senses. The first and most important is that of touch. The next in importance is that of sight. Helping the Senses. — He must learn to use his senses not only separately, but together. In order to do this we must help him, especially by stimulating him to see what he can do rather than to allow him to be completely passive. Assisting Body-Control. — The baby learns to handle his members successively. In this process he must be unhindered so long as he does not hurt him- self. He must not be hastened, because if he is nor- mal, he will get control as soon as he is strong enough. Parents must devise helpful activities to exercise the various parts of the body. The Emotional Life. — Most of the baby's feelings are pleasant, and, naturally, parents wish them all to be so, but sometimes the little child must learn, for his own protection, to do or suffer things which are not immediately pleasant. Habit-Forming. — In order to help the baby form good habits we must regularly do the same things every time in the same way. He must even form the habit of learning to wait. Regularity in sleep and waking is of the greatest importance. The Baby's Outlook. — By the end of the first year the baby sees a radius of one hundred feet from himself, within which he examines all objects he can reach ; he learns to know other people, to understand simple commands and to communicate in a simple way. He has considerable memory and the elements of imagination. He is pleasantly docile, but his growing will is manifest. The great thought in his education at this time is that of free action. This does not mean that he is to be uncared for. but that he is to be wisely guided in every safe self-activity. PLAYS AND GAMES FOR THE FIRST YEAR* LUELLA A. PALMER Note. — The little plays and games of childhood seem very trivial, yet it is through these that a child learns many things about his world and gains control over his own body. Mother-love is con- stantly devising ways to make baby laugh and grow strong. The plays and games here outlined for different years (other articles by Miss Palmer follow) suggest ways in which the mother's instinct- ive responses that give 4ier child joy may change as he grows and help him to develop. Sense-Plays Baby sense-plays are very simple. They con- sist of the mere activities of seeing, hearing, touching; yet they are very important, because it is at this period that the most rapid progress is made in sense-train-ing. Fumbling hands should be supplied with articles smooth and pleasantly rough, soft, and even hard though light, like a celluloid ball. (Care must be taken with celluloid toys, as they are very in- flammable.) These may be fastened by cords to the edge of the baby basket or top of the carriage, or to the edge of the stocking, so that they will be within easy reach to be grasped and pulled. Although direct sunlight or bright light of any kind should be kept out of the child's eyes, as soon as he seems to notice a candle it may be moved a few times from side to side to induce him to follow it with his eyes. A shiny object such as a watch may be held within reach until the little one becomes proficient in grasping it; then it can be slowly swung. This is training in marksmanship as much as the later shooting at a target ; it requires coordination of eye and hand, and also perseverance. Different pleasing sounds with bell or piano can be made and repeated when a child begins to show a tendency to pay attention to them. Adults must devise a patent muffler for their ears, as a baby should be allowed to pound with a spoon or other object upon wood, tin, or some resounding substance. Opportunities might be given to notice contrasts. Occasionally, when baby is striking the floor with his rattle, push a pie-plate within range and watch the sudden attention. Movement-Plays A little baby should pull and push, scratch and tear, or catch a swinging object. Many rhythmic movements, of the limbs or whole body, delight baby and help in strengthening his muscles and mind. "The child's first practice in the direction of future walking is found in kicking, which is so essential to muscular de- velopment." -j- Froebel's "Play with the Limbs" X is well known. In the picture which accompanies it is seen a mother bracing her hands against the kicking feet of the laughing baby. The mother's response makes baby feel her sympathy; the tones of her voice convey it too as she sings or chants : "So this way and that, With a pat-a-pat-pat. And one, two, three, For each little knee ;" § or the well-known one : "Shoe the horse and shoe the mare, Let the little colt go bare. Tread the grass and tread the ground, Soon he'll scamper round and round." Kicking against a newspaper gives a double pleasure from the exercise of the legs and the re- sulting sound. For exercising the arms, chant : "Pump, pump, pump, Water, water, come. Here a rush, there a gush, Done, done, done." For turning the whole arm round : "Pinwheel twirl around so fast. Twirl, twirl, twirl." Let the whole body sway down and up: # Down — Up Repeat many times and finish with: i -4fi ^ or Down * Rearranged and revised by Miss Palmer for this book from her "Play Life in the First Eight Years," by special permission of the publishers, Ginn & Company, Boston. t Groos, "The Play of Man," page 79. t Susan E. Blow, ".Songs and Games of Froebel's Mother Play," page 3. § Emily Huntington Miller. 45 46 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Ball-Plays * Baby's earliest plaything is the ball. It can easily be grasped with both hands, fits the shape of the hands, and presents no hurtful corners. These first balls should be of rubber, as they should be soft, easily sterilized, and not harmful when carried to the mouth. Harder balls, wooden or celluloid, might be provided when an older per- son is near to protect the baby from the result of the spasmodic motions of hand and arm. The play of grasping strengthens the muscles and gains added interest if the object resists. A bright-colored ball, swung slowly at the end of a string, incites a baby to follow the rhythmic motion with his eyes, and this aids him to gain control over them. Care must be taken not to strain the eyes by either too rapid or too pro- longed exercise. Attach a white celluloid ball by a string to a soft-toned bell and place it within baby's reach. The child by accident may grasp the ball and will instinctively pull it toward his mouth. This action will ring the bell. After a few repetitions baby listens for the results. When this little play is well learned, two strings may be provided, with white and red balls, only one of which rings the bell. The child will be surprised when no sound follows pulling the string. After a few trials he will learn to select the right ball. FINGER-PLAYS AND OTHER ACTION-PLAYS BY THE EDITORS A GOOD deal has been said in kindergarten litera- ture about finger-plays. By finger-plays is meant, not plays which involve the handling of things with the fingers, but plays by means of which the child learns to control his fingers and to imitate human activhies.t In other words, they are * Long before baby could talk she knew the little play for the fingers, "Here's a Ball for Baby.'* "Here's a ball for Baby, Big and soft and round! Here is Baby's hammer — O, how he can pound* Here is Baby's music — Clapping, clapping so! Here are Baby's soldiers. Standing in a row! "Here's Baby's trumpet, Toot-too-too. Too-too! Here's the way that Baby Plays at 'Peep-a-boo!' Here's a big umbrella — Keep the Baby dry! Here's the Baby's cradle — Rock-a-baby by!" — Emilie Poulssott. The ball is made with the two hands rounded together; the hammer, by doubling up the hands and pounding, one on top of the other. Baby's soldiers are made by holding all the fingers up straight. The hands are clapped together for the music, and doubled up, one in front of the other, for a trumpet. For pecp-a-boo the fingers are spread in front of the eyes so that baby can see between them. The umbrella is made by placing the palm of one hand on the index finger of the other, and the cradle by putting the two hands together, insides of the palms touching and outer sides open. As I said the words of this little play and made the motions, baby would try to make the motions, too. She also knew "Five Little Squirrels." "Good Mother Hen." and "Little Squirrel Living Here." Of course, she could not play them perfectly, but she loved them and wanted me to play them for her over and over. — Mrs. Isabel S. Wallace. t To illustrate how Froebel's philosophy helps the mother to train her child, let us consider the pat-a-cake play. You plays for mental awakening. For example, when a mother takes hold of the separate fingers of the child's hand and repeats the familiar rhyme which begins, "This is the mother, good and dear/' al- most any child will spontaneously, after its repeti- tion, hold up the other hand. The child seems to smile and say, "Why, all mothers play pat-a-cake with their babies; that is nothing new." Yes, mothers have played pat-a-cake for ages and ages, but if they want to know why they play it, let them turn to Froebel, who points out that the reason the little game is so widely known is because "Simple mother-wit never fails to link the initial activities of the child with the every-day life about him." He also says: "The bread or, butter still, the little cake which the child likes so well, he receives from his mother; the mother in turn receives it from the baker. So far, so good. We have found two links in the great chain of life and service. Let us beware, however, of making the child feel that these links complete the chain. The baker can bake no cake if the miller grinds no meal; the miller can grind no meal if the farmer brings him no grain; the farmer can bring no grain if his field yields no crop; the field can yield no crop if the forces of nature fail to work together to produce it; the forces of nature could not conspire together were it not for the all-wise and beneficent Power who incites them to their predetermined ends." It is because we mothers have felt perhaps dimly and un- consciously the lesson which the pat-a-cake play teaches of dependence on one another, and the gratitude each owes to all, that we have played this little game from ancient times. I start to play pat-a-cake with my baby when he is six months old. It aflfords him great satisfaction to exercise his arms and to direct his movements so that both little dimpled hands meet together. When he is about eighteen months or two years old I begin to show him the picture of pat-a- cake found in Froebel's "Mother-Play." Through this means I gradually and easily lead him to see that "for his bread he owes thanks not only to his mother, to the baker, the miller, the farmer, but also and most of all to the Heavenly Father, who, through the instrumentality of dew and rain, sunshine and darkness. Winter and Summer, causes the earth to bring forth the grain." It is only after having studied the picture thoroughly and read the chapter on pat-a-cake in the "Mottoes and Commentaries" and committed to memory the verses and tune in the "Songs and Music" of Froebel's "Mother-Play," that I am ready to teach pat-a-cake to my baby; and, as I have shown, I do not teach it all at once, but refer to it TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 47 crave the repetition of these sensations in all his fingers and to desire to identify each finger from his brain center. Again, wlien the mother repeats the rhyme, "This pig went to market," and touches the toes, the child not only desires this exercise for both feet, but also bends over and grasps his own toes, thus connecting the sense of touch in the hands with that of the feet. Many finger-plays are given in Volume I of the Bookshelf. There are also several among the exercises for the second year in this Manual. There are simple nursery plays, given herewith, in which especially fathers may e.xercise their little ones. Each of these plays develops not only the child's muscles, as the father plays more vigorously than the mother, but also has its own special influence upon the emotions and will. In tossing-plays, for example, "the baby is scarcely out of the father's hands before he is caught and held in them again ; but in that one instant's sepa- ration, that one instant's aloneness, the baby feels the strong shock of surprise, if not of fear, and the father must be careful always to follow this shock immediately with the comforting clasp of the baby in his strong arms so as to reassure him. If he does this, not only will the baby's joy in the play be increased, but a feeling of trust in his father's strength be aroused, and peace in his father's enfolding love will be fostered in the baby's heart." In jumping-plays the father puts the baby on some relatively high place, and stand- ing at a suitable distance with open arms, invites the child to jump into them. Such jumping-plays foster, as do the tossing-plays, the germs of faith and trust in just the small degree that is effica- cious in babyhood. Picka-back plays encourage bodily activity, furnish repeated mental impres- sions, appeal to the latent power of attention, and give opportunities, as the child throws his arms about the father's neck, for expressions of love. Romping on the floor gives opportunity for startled surprise, which yields immediately to laughter and trustful love. A few "Riding Songs for Father's Knee" are given herewith. Additional ones, together with again and again, perhaps when we are out working in the garden on a sunny day, or in the house watching the rain. When my child is old enough to be interested in such things, we go into a bakery shop, and to the astonishment of the baker ask if we may see his ovens. We often pass a mill, and I tell my child that this is the place where the farmer brings his grain. Thus the lesson of pat-a-cake goes on for a long time before it is first played in babyhood. It teaches us to be ever thankful, and baby learns to say "Thank you, dear mamma," "Thank you, dear baker," "Thank you, dear God." There are many other songs and games in Froebel's "Mother-Play" which I give to my children long before the kindergarten age. In all of these they take the greatest delight. I begin early to sing the songs and play the finger- games which nourish the instinct of love for the members of the family and affection for animals. — Mrs. Princess B. Trowbridge, many finger-plays and other action-plays and ac- tion-songs, will be found in the Boys and Girls Bookshelf, Volume I, pages 1-22, and Volume VI. pages 15-32. Riding Songs for Father's Knee To Market Ride the Gentlemen To market ride the gentlemen, So do we, so do we ; Then comes the country clown, Hobbledy gee, Hobbledy gee : First go the ladies, nim, nim, nim : Xext come the gentlemen, trim, trim, trim : Then come the country clowns, gallop-a-trot. Ride a Cock-Horse Ride a cock-horse to Charing Cross, To see a young lady jump on a white horse. With rings on her fingers, and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes. Here Goes My Lord Here goes my lord — A trot ! a trot ! a trot ! a trot ! Here goes my lady — A canter ! a canter ! a canter ! a canter ! Here goes my young master — Jockey-hitch ! jockey-hitch ! jockey-hitch ! jockey-hitch ! Here goes my young miss — An amble ! an amble ! an amble ! an amble ! The footman lags behind. And goes gallop, a gallop, a gallop, to make up his time. How They Ride This is the way the ladies ride — Saddle-a-side, saddle-a-side ! This is the way the gentlemen ride — Sitting astride, sitting astride ! This is the way the grandmothers ride — Bundled and tied, bundled and tied ! This is the way the babykins ride — Snuggled inside, snuggled inside ! This is the way, when they are late — They all fly over a five-barred gate ! rWilliam Canton. w 48 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL A Farmer Went Trotting A farmer went trotting upon his gray mare; Bumpety, bimipety. bump ! With his daughter behind him, so rosy and fair; Lumpety, lumpety, lump ! A raven cried croak ! and they all tumbled down ; Bumpety, bumpety, bump ! The mare broke her knees, and the farmer his crown ; Lumpety, lumpety, lump ! The mischievous raven flew laughing away; Bumpety, bumpety, bump ! And vowed he would serve them the same the next day ; Lumpety, lumpety, lump ! Here We Go Here we go up, up, up ! Here we go down, down, down ! Here we go backwards and forwards And here we go round and round ! To Market, To Market To market, to market, To buy a plum bun ; Home again, home again. My journey is done. Ride Away, Ride Away Ride away, ride away, Johnny shall ride, And he shall have pussy-cat Tied to one side ; And he shall have little dog Tied to the other. And Johnny shall ride To see his grandmother. Up To THE Ceiling Lip to the ceiling, down to the ground. Backward and forward, round and round ; Dance, little baby, and mother will sing. With the merry chorus, ding, ding, ding ! A Good Child H you are a good child. As I suppose you be. You'll never laugh nor never smile When tickled on the knee. See-Saw Sacradown See-saw sacradown. Which is the way to London town? One foot up and the other down, And that is the way to London town. Nothing is surer than that a certain gayety of heart and mind constitute the most wholesome climate for young chil- dren. "The baby whose mother has not charmed him in his cradle with rhyme and song has no enchanting dreams; he is not gay and he will never be a great musician," so rims the old Swiss saying. — Kate Douglas Wiggin. sil K Sgjgi^^BgF SUMMARY AND FORECAST GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH TOM AND SARAH WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH "What are you going- to name the baby?" Frank Howard's father-in-law asked him, soon after he learned of the expected arrival. "Tom, if it's a boy," Howard responded promptly; "Sarah, if it's a girl. Tom for you, sir, and Sarah for my mother." "Thank you both for the compliment," said Mr. Spencer, with a pleased smile. "As a grand- father, I must try to live up to it." Mr. Spencer was out of town when the good news came. "It's a boy!" was the happy word that he got by long distance telephone. "Good !" he exclaimed. "Wait !" cried the voice of his son-in-law. "Better yet — it's a girl, too. Tom and Sarah, if you please." "Hurrah for twins!" called the excited grand- father, as he ran downstairs to tell his wife. "The more the merrier." Of course Frank Howard was proud, very proud. At the bank, in the hotel corridor, on the street, he received a good many congratula- tions. "It's only reflected glory," he confessed, as he looked fondly at his wife, so girlish, so happy, among the pillows, with the tiny mites, one beribboned with blue and one with pink, asleep side by side in the adjoining crib. "Hereafter I expect to be known merely as 'Tom and Sarah Howard's father.' By the way, they're not so little, after all. The nurse tells me that seven pounds apiece isn't at all bad for twins, and how tall do you think they are, Mary?" "Why, they're not tall, at all, at all, are they, Frank?" asked Mary, who has a bit of the endear- ing Irish. "Twenty inches, madam, if you please, apiece," said Frank, with pride, "or forty for the pair." "How in the world did you find out?" Mary inquired. "Well, it was a bit bothersome to get them out straight — they seem curled up so, but that's what they answered to the tapeline. And I found out another thing, too." "What is it?" "They're all out of proportion." "Oh, Frank! Is it anything serious?" "No, dear ; the nurse says we're all born so, but it was a new one to me. You remember in col- lege I used to do the measuring in the gym. You know, a man's head is about one-seventh of his whole length. But I noticed right off that these youngsters of ours, undressed, looked quite different. Why, their heads are a quarter the length of their bodies. Some 'big head,' all right. And they're really funny altogether. No necks — unfinished noses^ — legs like fins and " "I thuik my babies are just beautiful !" Mary exclaimed, almost with a sob. Frank put up his tape-measure, seated himself on the bed and put his arm gently around her. "So do I — ^honest. But I confess, they look to me a bit unfinished." Is There a Father-Instinct? Frank was really mightily interested. Maybe the instinct of fatherhood is not so prompt and potent as that of motherhood, which waits with outstretched arms the coming to harbor of these little ships of life. But pride does something, and curiosity does something more. And one Sunday when Frank was sitting by the window, with the afternoon sunlight sifting across, with a baby snuggled against each arm, he felt a thrill run- ning through his whole being that he had never 49 50 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAI, known before, and tears were running down his cheeks, — tears that he could not wipe away. "I thought my arm was asleep," he said, when his wife found him so, "but I guess it was — something else." Still, like all fathers, Frank felt a bit left out. He did not seem to be as much needed as before. The babies depended wholly upon Her — they did not really need him at all. And all those tender and delicate operations in the way of care, he knew how clumsily he performed them. And as for understanding what was in those little minds "I can weigh and measure them and buy the little shoes and teething-rings," he said one day, jealously. "In fact, the mathematics of babies is about all I'm good for. How in the world do you know what to do for them? You seem to understand just what they want whenever they cry, but all their cries sound about alike to me. Is it mother-instinct?" "Partly, maybe," said Mary, thoughtfully. "The nurse has told me a lot, and both our mothers are so helpful. But these little ones of ours are too precious to be brought up by impulse and hearsay. I determined as soon as we were married that if my profession was going to be that of a wife and mother I would have the tools for it, just as you have for the law. You used to laugh at my 'library,' Frank, but I tell you it has saved my life and that of our babies already. I am not as wise as you are" — (Did Mary really mean it?) — "but I know enough not to bring up my children by guess-work." Mary's Library They moved together over to the little case of books that stood beside the bassinet. Frank took down one of the dignified volumes, noted the pencil-marks in the margin, and then turned re- spectfully to the index. "Not so very exciting reading," he commented, "but it looks to be all there, and where you can find it." "You spoke about crying," Mary continued. "Do you know there are at least eleven reasons why a baby cries?" "Eleven at once, do you mean?" Frank asked, with a grin. "I can well believe it." "Look here," Mary commanded. She took up a notebook and opened to one of its pages. "I found this article so helpful that I have made from it for myself a 'Crying Chart,' and I turn to it a dozen times a day." "What is this book, anyhow? I never saw it before, did I ? , "No, and if you dare to laugh at it, you're never going to see it again. It is my Baby Record." After Frank had read every word carefully, he said, with conviction: "Mary, I'll have to hand it to you; if I prepared all my cases as carefully as you have these two, I'd win them all. Why, this is superb ! You've got it all down. Whose idea was this — yours?" "No, I got that out of my 'library,' too. I don't think it is very scientific, but I did want to know just how they were coming along. I thought I would better understand what was coming if I had set something down to go by." "You're just right, my dear! How interesting it all is ! It must have been a lot of work. Do you write something down every day?" "Not every day, but when I get time I try to write it up for the days I missed. You see, it is a sort of diary, but it is more than that — it is a study, too. Every little while I take some one fact that I am interested in, go over my record, and make a summary that will try to show just how the children are coming along in that par- ticular field." "I don't believe I understand," said Frank. How Mary Made Her Records "Let me read you something. Our five senses are important, aren't they?" "I should think they are!" "Here is my little study of the way our young- sters are- developing in this one respect: " 'The first of our babies' senses that I noticed was the sense of touch. It seems combined with a mus- cle-sense. Each of the babies the day it was born would clasp my finger when I put it into the hollow of a tiny hand. The other way I noticed the use of the sense of touch was in sucking, which the chil- dren knew how to do from the beginning. "'The babies. were born practically blind '" "What I" asked Frank. "Is that so?" " ' — not because they did not have eyesight, but because they can not see things in our sense of the word. The first use of sight seems to be in discern- ing the difference between light and darkness. Dur- ing the first week I thought Sarah turned her head toward the light, and Tom did soon after. I was surprised to discover that little babies do not wink. " 'I am sure the babies did not hear anything at first. I noticed that they seemed to be more sensitive to jars than to noises, and I was surprised that they made convulsive movements when they were held in a position which implied that they might be dropped. As they never have been dropped, I wonder if this is a special sense.' " As Mary read on, Frank grew more and more absorbed. TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 51 "How old are they now ?" "Eighteen weeks, yesterday." "What you say about color — is that true? Why, I supposed we were all born with a sense for color, and yet you say here that no child begins to discern any colors before he is many months old. Do we have to teach it, like letters and numbers?" Why Babies Should be Kept Quiet "We certainly do. And here's another thing. You complain sometimes that I keep the babies away from you, and do not let you toss them about. Don't you see why, now? You begin to realize how sensitive and how helpless they are; how easy it is to upset their nervous systems, and how important it is that they be played with only for a few moments at a time." "When do I begin to come in?" Frank asked, with a grieved expression. "By the time they are five months old you can commence to teach them, so you might as well be putting in your time now learning to be their tutor. Do you know what you are to teach first?" "Why — er, Mary, I suppose — most anything — rattles, and marbles, and baseball, " "Baseball, the first year? When they can't walk yet?" "You tell mc," Frank replied, humbly. "Now, Frank, don't think for a minute that I pose as a doctor. Of course there were certain regular food and sleep habits that nobody but a mother could control. I am trying to teach them to wait quietly until it is really time to be fed, to go to sleep regularly without being rocked or trotted or walked, and to keep from sucking their thumbs. I guess that's about all, so far. The story of a baby's first year, as I understand it, is in two chapters. During the first half of the year he is specially busy learning the parts of his body and how to use them ; during the second half, in locomotion, scrambling, creeping, and perhaps learning to walk. Another thing: during the first half they learn everything by trial and success — they don't care what we think of them, and they don't imitate what we do. But during the second half they imitate. So then is when fathers 'come in.' " "Thank you. This is just as new to me as the North Pole, or the geography of heaven. But it sounds real and it looks reasonable. This al! ap- peals to me, because it means System. You have )'our work cut out for you in advance, and you know just what to do in the nick of time." " 'Nick of time' is good, Frank. I have been reading that there are many things that it is good to begin to teach a baby, even before he seems old enough to appreciate them. For instance, chil- dren seldom recognize a tune before they are two years old, but they are sensitive to rhythm much earlier. That is why I began to play softly and regularly on the piano when they were a few weeks old. and why I sing them lullabies already. Even if they can not know color yet, they seem to like things that glitter, and I am going to hang red balls and ribbons to-morrow, so that these will be ready for them as soon as they begin to know red from gray." The upshot of this talk was that Frank agreed that, whatever else happened, the twins were to be kept quiet and not exhibited so often or for so long a time to admiring visitors. "We won't have them thrown or churned around, or given any more sudden shocks, or let Sam Browne try any of his monkey-shines with them," Frank said. "And if what you say about early training is so important, and I believe it is, let's go to it. Of course I'm not home much when they are awake, except Sundays, but I'm with you on all this, too. We want our youngsters to be as smart and wide- awake as the next ones, and I can see that we've both got to make a business of it." "I am glad to hear you say this, Frank," Mary sighed, with contentment. "I appreciate that, while the children are little at least, they are mostly 'up to me,' and I do want to be a good mother. Whether it is on account of my banker- father or not, I believe in System, and when I read in my books on child-training that there is such a thing as 'a Plan' for bringing up children, I want to know about it. It seems to me that if there are definite facts known about how children develop each year of their lives, there ought to be work that we can lay out ahead each year to help this development. I believe my note-books are going to help me to understand when these new phases come on, and, with the help of the best information I can get, I propose to 'fight it out along this line.' " "Bravo!" cried Frank. Father Begins to Play with the Twins Mary Howard was as good as her word. When the twins were half a year old she "let her hus- band in," as he had craved, on their training. "I have been studying a little more about the babies' senses," she told her husband, "and es- pecially about this muscle-sense and the way the little babies come to use their muscles. It seems that they get active with their fingers about theili mouths first, then with their hands in feeling and grasping, then with their feet, and finally with all of them together." "Yes, I noticed that Sarah had one of her toes 52 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL in her mouth this morning. That was 'all to- gether,' wasn't it? Well, what does 'this fable teach,' for instance?" "Did you ever hear of finger-plays, Frank?" "On the piano?" "No. of course not. I don't suppose you can remember when your mother used to count things off on your fingers and thumbs and say rhymes as she did so?" "Oh, you mean, 'Thumbkin says "I'll dance",' and 'This is the father, kind and dear'?" "Why, you do remember, don't you?" "Well, hardly, because this was when I was ten months old. But our friend, Mrs. Corbin, was doing it the other night in the firelight when I dropped in to execute a mortgage for Jim. Where do we get these charming exercises and poems?" "I have some here in my 'library' — enough to give us a good start. And I am sure we can make up some more, if we need any." It was a fascinating sight, the next few even- ings, to watch Frank Howard, with a twin poised on each knee, first doing a finger-play out of a book, and then, after he had entered into the spirit of the play, making up motions and rhymes as he went along. His wife thought they were quite as clever as any that had been written by Froebel and the kindergartners. From these it was but a step to "Peep a Boo" and "Creep Mouse" and other old-fashioned plays that exercised the whole bodies of these lithe and laughing youngsters, and had to be interrupted only so that they should not get too excited for the twins ever to get to sleep. Father by this time was having as much fun as the youngsters. One- Year-Old Baseball "Now for the baseball," he announced one even- ing. Knowing his afliinity for the national game, Mary Howard was somewhat alarmed until she saw him draw from his pocket a soft kinder- garten ball and blow it up. He circled it about the table, he bounced it up and down, and rolled it to the babies in turn ; and while they were some- what aimless in their responses, he could find no fault with their enthusiasm. "We evidently haven't any Ty Cobbs in the family, but I can see that they are going to be good sports." By this time Frank was getting self-confidence. "What they need is more fun for their fingers," he said one evening. "I have been reading about the Montessori system in one of your books. They won't be ready for that for a year or two, but there is no reason why they shouldn't be get- ting a chance to fumble around a bit and see what they can do. I believe there are enough things about the house to keep them busy." Mary was tactful enough not to suggest that Frank was un- consciously echoing another article that he had read about home-made kindergarten materials, but when he produced in turn a bottleful of beans, a bunch of keys, a nest of boxes, and a tiny cabinet of drawers that had been used by a deceased great-aunt for a jewel-box, she properly commended his ingenuity. And the twins liked it all. True, they were not very skillful yet, and they soon got tired. But they were developing one trait that was very use- ful to a busy mother-of-two, self-amusement; and by varying the playthings from day to day, they were always happily busy. They Take a Baby Inventory "Let's just see where we are now," Frank said on the evening of the twin's first birthday. He had out his tapeline, and he carried Tom and Sarah gently to the bathroom door and held each one, wriggling, while he took their stature. "Won't it be fun to watch the two little ladders of height go climbing up the marks on the door !" mother said. "Which is the taller to-night?" "Tom. of course," replied father; "by a mere hair, though. Twenty-seven inches and a frac- tion. And as for weight, Mary, they've trebled in a )-ear. If they keep on at this rate, we'll be feed- ing two white elephants. But height and weight aren't much. Think of where they were a year ago to-night." By this time both the babes were in their cribs and Frank was seated in his Morris chair and Mary in her rocker by his side. "Let me get the Record, Mary. I'll warrant you have been making up your trial-balance already, you little bookkeeper, and you have got down all the chil- dren's assets and liabilities." "I did make a special entry to-day," acknowl- edged Mary. "Well, where are we now?" Frank repeated. "You remember we have talked a good deal about the way the children's senses develop? ^\'ould you care to hear what I have written down about this ?" "Certainly." "I went back through tlie notebook, and here is what I found: " 'Active looking about : Tom and Sarah. 4th week Active touch : Tom, 7th week, Sarah, 6th week Consciousness of rhythm : both, 2nd month Exploring with their eyes : both, 16th week- Voluntary sounds : Tom, 4th month, Sarah, 18th week Range of vision, now : both, about 100 feet Distinguishing color: Tom, now, 3 colors, Sarah, 4 •" "Yes, but what can they doF" Tom asked, a little impatiently. TO THE FIRST BIRTHDAY 53 "I have a record of that, too. equal in these items : They are about "'Lifting head: 2nd month Active grasping with fingers : 10th week Sitting efforts: Sth month Sitting unsupported : 7tli month Standing efforts : 7th month Creeping : Sth month Standing: 9th month Walking alone; lltli month, Sarah '" "Yes, but Tom would be walking, too, by now if he wasn't so much heavier," Frank insisted, stoutly. "That's a pretty good record, I think. It sums up somewhat like this : that a year ago they were more helpless than any of the animals, their motions were wholly random, they could neither see, hear, smell, nor understand, they were so dependent upon you that they would have died in a day without your care. To-day they have made a growth greater than they will ever make again in their whole lives. They have learned the parts of their bodies and can get about. Their senses are acute, they understand most all that we say, and they know how to make us understand most of their wants. They are perfectly healthy. They know how to play hap- pily by themselves. They obey implicitly. They are good-natured and affectionate. In fact, they've already got the whole animal world beaten by a mile, and they know more already than half the folks I do business with." "Don't you exaggerate?" "Well, that's a lawyer's business, isn't it? But, honestly. Mary, I'm glad you kept that Record. It is going to be invaluable to us next year. You ask the average mother what she knows about her young child, and she just goes off into a scale of superlatives — all emotion and no information." Mary glowed at her husband's praise. "And it wasn't so much work, either. I did a little now and then at it. Of course I was guided as to what to put down and what to expect." "People may laugh at Child Study all they please," Frank continued, "but as for me, I'm mighty thankful that the twins have a book- taught mother. You mix your mother-love with brains, Mary." They stood side by side and looked down on the sleeping children. "Somehow," Mary hesitated. "I didn't get it all down in the Record-book, did I ?" "How could you?" boasted Frank. "They're the sweetest children in Hometown." The child should make knowledge, not receive it. "He is learning not to live in the world, but to live the world.'"— rjErreest Carroll Moore. MAXIMS FOR A MOTHER A few maxims to hang up over the kitchen sink and read over while the dishes are being washed: 1. Little children wish and need to be doing something with their bodies and hands every minute they are awake. 2. They need a frequent change of occupation. 3. If I provide them with interesting things to do, they will not have time to be fretful or to do naughty things. 4. When I see my children harmlessly occupied and using their hands or bodies, I may be sure that they are educating themselves even if I can not understand the pleasure they take in their occupation. 5. When a child has a great desire to do something incon- venient, let me ask myself, "Why does he want to do it?" and try to understand and meet the real need which is apt to underlie his unreasonable request. — Dorothy Canfield Fisher. INDEX TO SUBJECTS To the First Birthday Baby at birth, 29 Baby's bands. 10 Baby's bath, 5, 7 Baby's fears, 21 Baby's movements, 29 Baby's nerves, 18 Baby's proportions, 29 Baby's records, 17, 50 Baby's sleep, 18 Bath-table. 7 Books for expectant mothers, 4 Bowlegs, 12 Care of a baby, 5 Chart of child development, 26, 27 Chart of child study and child training, 25 Circumcision. 12 Cleanliness. 21 Clothing, 10 Companionship, 31 Crying, 29 Curiosity, 19, 34 Danger signals, 6 Defects of babies, 12 Dressing a baby, 9 Eating, 21 Elimination, 21 Emotional life, 21 Emotions. 36 Equipment for bath, 6 Fears, 32. 33 Feelings, 32 Fifth month, The, 33 First month. The, 31. 37 First year. The, 29 Fourth month. The, 33 Grasping, 32 Habits. 8, 21 Hearing. 30, 31 Heat-rash, 6 Helplessness of babies, 29 Holding the baby, 22 Hunger, 30 Imitation, 36 Imitation by babies, 20 Independence of babies, 24 Landmarl -n 1 J «» • shown because of the necessity of protecting IV. Johns Books and Music .. • i, . ^r t i . .• r .u •■ their beauty. You see, Johns conception of the Better muscular control now facilitated John's right treatment of books was very badly formed sight. He could walk, and hence do much in- as yet. The books that he could handle were vestigation of his own accord. He had better those linen books mothers all know, with bright control of his neck-muscles, so his head could be pictures. He also had a seed catalogue and a easily moved as his eye directed. The muscles catalogue from a mail-order house with which to of the eye itself could coordinate his eye-move- play at will. The books we showed him were ments to a better advantage. illustrated by such artists as Arthur Rackham, He was able to take longer trips, both in his Kate Greenaway and Jessie Willco.K Smith, buggy and the automobile, so his experience of The songs I sang to John were divided into two things to see increased. We helped him on these classes : I. Those I expected John to learn to sing: 1. I found two books of old folk-songs (English), very beautifully illustrated, that were always a joy to both of us. (a) "Our Old Nursery Rhymes," harmonized by H. Moffat; illustrated by H. Willebeek Le Mair, David McKay, Philadelphia. Some of our favorites in this book were : "Pussy cat, pussy cat"; "Three Little kittens"; "O,' where is my little dog gone?" "Little Miss Muffet"; "Oranges and lemons"; "Humpty, dumpty"; "Here we go round the mul- berry bush." (b) "Little Songs of Long Ago"; same illustrator and publisher. The favorites in this book were: "Young lambs to sell"; "Little Polly Flinders"; "The north wind"; "Little jumping Joan"; "There came to my window"; "Simple Simon"; "Four and twenty tailors"; "Little Tom Tucker"; "Sleep, baby, sleep." 2. The following book has songs for beginners: "The Progressive Music Series," Book 1; Silver Burdett & Co., New York, Boston, Chicago; 1914. This book has songs about subjects that interest little children, as the clover, circus, moon, raindrops, etc. 3. This book has a few songs little children like very much: "Small Songs for Small Singers," by W. H. Neidlinger ; illustrated by Walter Bobbett ; G. Schirmer, New York. The favorites are : "The kitten and the bow-wow"; "The bunny"; "The chicken"; "The snow man"; "Little Yellowhead"; "Tick-tock." 4. This book has some very short songs, only a line long, that children like. They always were very easy for John to learn, and some of them greatly appealed to his sense of humor. The book also contains some rhythms that can be used with the first dances. "Child-Land in Song and Rhythm" ; words by Harriet Blanche Jones ; music 'by Florence Newell Barbour ; The Arthur P. Schmidt Co., Boston, Leipzig, and New York. The favorites were : "The cow"; "Piggy-wig"; "The rooster"; "The hen"; "The farmyard." n. Those I sang to him and did not expect him to be able to learn for several years. 1. The following book is one I thought full of things beautiful to sing to John: "The Song Primer" ; Alys E. Bentley ; A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. Some favorites were : "Song of the seasons"; "The fiddle"; "Who has seen the wind"; "Jack Frost"; "The dream man." 2. Songs from "Ballads the Whole World Sings"; D. Appleton & Co., New York: "Cradle Song" ; Johannes Brahms. "The Dustman" ; J. L. Molloy. FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY ^Z 3. "Songs of Scotland" ; Jerome H. Remick & Co., New York and Detroit ; our favorite songs were : "The Campbells are comin'"; "O, Charlie is my darling"; "Hush ye, my bairnie"; "In win- ter when the rain rain'd cauld." 4. Standard Folk Songs; Ginn & Co., New York, Boston, Chicago. Contains the beautiful Welsh folk song: "All through the night." This is found in many collections. 5. "Negro Spirituals." John's father sang these to him. His father learned them from hearing the negroes sing them. Almost any collection of negro songs contains some a child likes. 6. "Grammar School Songs" ; Charles H. Farnsworth ; Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, Chicago, Boston. Some favorites were : "The tailor and the mouse"; "Baby's play song"; "Rainy days"; "Wee, wee"; "The tree in the wood"; "Churning song"; "The frog and the mouse"; "Swing low, sweet chariot." V. John Is More Sociable If for any reason John is held during a meal, he wishes to be held every meal thereafter. He would like to be all the time exactly where the family are, and, to be more accurate, on his mother's or father's lap. He seems to like strang- ers, even. Many babies do not seem to like people they do not know. His liking for pets has increased. He pets the cat, the dog, and tries to catch the bunny in his play-yard. He has a shelf outside the kitchen win- dow to hold crumbs for the birds. He likes to watch them eat here and to watch them splash in their concrete bath in the yard. Our yard is full of squirrels that give him much pleasure as they hop about among the trees. His growing desire to play games shows his increasing sociability. At first these games are very simple and played only by mother and John. But later he can play a game like "Ring-around- the-rosy" with the whole family. One type of game he loves is the "Finger-plays." A number of these are found on page 88 of this Manual. Here is a list of the "Finger-plays" that John liked : "This little pig went to market," "Here is a bee-hive," "Thumbkin says, I'll dance," "This is the mother, so kind and dear," "O where are the merry, merry little men?" "Dance to your daddy." John's chief desire seemed to be to be able to fit into the adult scheme of things. He would laugh when we laughed, although he saw no joke. He tried to sing when we sang. He also jabbered when we talked. He was quite willing to include the neighbors in his sociability by running away. This ten- dency seemed a natural one that must be satisfied. I could not allow him to play truant, as there are too many dangers in these days of modern im- provements. I had to punish him for running away, but made it up to him l)y giving him a broader experience in taking him visiting myself, inviting children to our house, and taking him on trips downtown and into the country. VI. John Is an Imitator For the mother who has a genuine interest in the development of her child, the keeping of baby- records is of much interest to her personally. And for the mother who does not have this special interest, the keeping of such records might seem worth while, if she would realize that by doing so she might really aid in collecting a mass of data that psychologists could assemble and from which they could deduce laws that would be of much value to every mother. Take the imitativeness of little children. The following are some of the points a mother might note : 1. When did you see the first attempt to imitate? 2. Describe in detail this attempt. 3. Keep a record of all other instances of imita- tion during the first and second years. 4. When did your child first imitate a mood? 5. Keep a record of your process in teaching your child to imitate one definite act, bearing in mind these points : (a) Age of child when you began to teach this act. (&) Correct description of the model held before the child. (c) Did you keep the model constant? (rf) Amount of time required until the child began to attempt imitation of the act, and the amount of time necessary for him to perfect it. Such a record could be kept as to the imitation of a physical act and of a mood. John's imitation in the second year continued to be chiefly physical. His most noticeable model of imitation was of speech. A correct model in 64 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL enunciating words helped very much at this time. Such models meant that although his imitation of a word might be poor, it was not because he was given an incorrect model, but that his vocal chords were still too undeveloped to say the word properly. It meant that as soon as he gained proper control of his vocal chords and had a cor- rect speaking-image of the word, he would speak it correctly. It seemed to me that .the imitation of attitudes could be _ cultivated further in the second year. By suggesting smiles instead of cries, his crying became limited. It also seemed to me that I could begin a consistently cheerful attitude in him toward everything by being cheerful with John myself as different situations arose. Practical Suggestions I found that suggesting a definite thing to do rather than saying "Don't" was the best way to manage John. I must confess that my ability to do this became strained as John grew older. He is now in his third year, doing innumerable things that immediately call for a "Don't." I have to keep myself in excellent training to have new interests to suggest, instead of calling out the objectionable "Don't." Dr. Tanner* says that imitation is dependent on three things: (i) The absence of conflicting ideas, which in turn is dependent on {2) atten- tion and (3) the number of associations one already has with the idea. Reasoning from this, it would seem that our best way of getting a child to imitate quickly and well would be, first to gain his undivided attention, and second to choose something that we want him to imitate that he already knows something about. For instance, if I want to teach John to roll a ball to me, I get all other playthings out of sight, so that his attention is not distracted by a string of spools, a green wagon, or a red harness. And then in the second place, let him play with the ball by handling it. In this way he builds up a number of ideas about that particular ball and hence about balls in general. He learns that his ball is round, is soft, and that it will roll as it slips from his hand. VII. John's '"Work" There was a time when mothers and fathers believed that it was not good for a child to spend too much time in play. Now, if anything, the pendulum has swung the other way, and all people believe that a child becomes educated through play, and some people even seem to believe that * .\my Eliza Tanner, author of "The Child: His Thinking, Feeling, and Doing." a child should not be made to do anything that he does not wish to do. With John I have found that his play was educative, but that it helped him to have a few duties labeled "Work." I found that if he never did anything he did not want to, he came to suppose that life was built up around John. I felt that it was not fair to him to permit him to grow up with such an idea when it would be so far from the truth. Practical Suggestions Of course John had no work to do the first year. It took all his powers to help himself grow. By the end of the second year there were a few tilings I could insist upon. I taught him to pick up his own playthin.gs; to hang his bib on the back of the chair when through eating; to hang up his wraps after play out of doors; to hang up his towel and wash-rag, etc. I wanted him to learn that every one in the household must con- tribute to its smooth running. He was interested in imitating household ac- tivities in a very crude way. I permitted him to dust the furniture, to help me make the beds, to make a little pie when I baked, to sweep with his broom, and to iron with a sn->all iron. These are only a few of the activities in which he participated. VIII. John's Emotions Jealousy did not seem to be a part of John's make-up during the first year. But toward the end of the second year, when his brother Bobby arrived, there were many signs of jealousy. The attention that had been devoted to John now had to be divided between the boys. John resented this very much, and showed it by being very hateful to Bobby, and by trying all sorts of means for keeping our attention on himself. One day I became aware of the fact that I was unfairly centering my display of affection on the baby. I had just said to Bobby, "You're such a sweet boy," when John said, "I'm a sweet boy too. Mamma." I learned my lesson. Thereafter when I had both children with me I was careful to praise them both and to give them both the same amount of aft'ection. In this way I avoided situations that incited jealousy. There are things which I had to teach John to be afraid of in his second year. He must not play around the stove, he must not play aiout the fender of the automobile, he must not handle sharp objects. I had tried to teach John to leave such things alone by saying "no, no," and, if necessary, giving his hand a sharp pat. Of course, I never invented any unnecessary fears, as fear of the dark, and of the "bogey- FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 65 man." It is cruel to impose such baseless fears on little children. Under "Memory" I have stated a few facts re- garding the harmful effects of childhood-fears that are long remembered.* IX. John's Good and Bad Habits I tried to keep up the regular habits as to eating and sleeping that I began with John in his first year. I found it just as easy as I did when he was a small iboy. I found that the second year began to offer a small-opportunity to begin habits of good man- ners. Although I could not teach John at once to have the best of manners himself, I was care- ful that he should see good models. He learned to say "Please," and when prompted would say "Thank you." Practical Suggestiotis So far as I know these* are the means mothers usually use for breaking the thumb-sucking habit : 1. Thumb-stalls. I think that these are effective only with very young children. I tried break- ing John with thumb-stalls after he was a year old, but he would pull them off as fast as I could put them on. However, I used them with Bobby at three months old and they were quite effective. 2. Adhesive tape. This is all right when the habit is not very well formed, but otherwise the child sucks the tape, finger, and all. 3. Home-made mittens. These might have been satisfactory with John had they been sewed into a waist of some sort, but pinned to the sleeves they were too destructive of clothing. 4. Aluminum mitts. These have been found to break the habit in the ordinary child. Of course, their use must not be in a haphazard fashion, but continued until the habit is broken. ♦ So few mothers stop to realize that older people may be the cause of transmitting the fear of thunder-storms and wind to children. Whether these fears come to the child without suggestion or not. they do cause so much suffering that grown people who understand all this should see to it that no expression of fear by an adult ever reaches a child. These fears are of no use and are of great harm. The least expression of fear on the part of a child may be turned to wonder, if the adult only controls his own feelings, while commenting upon the wonder and beauty of the storm. At least, the mother can ignore it and turn away the child's attention by some absorbing work or story. The mother and older sister of a child of five, usually very sensible, behaved foolishly during a thunder-storm. The little child, by imita- tion, became almost wild whenever a storm approached. The writer, while visiting at their house during a fearful storm, took little Margaret with her to another room, talked about the storm as an ordinary affair, and finally suggested that they watch out of the window to see the lightning. The child's fear soon disappeared and she became absorbed in finding out various familiar objects outside that they could see only by the lightning's flash. — M. S. L. 5. A continual reminder with a slight shock. (By a shock I mean calling to him in an unusual tone of voice to "Stop it!") The trouble with this method is that most mothers are too busy to be with the child every minute to remind him to take his finger out of his mouth. One must be careful how such a method is used with a nervous child. 6. Unpleasant Consequences. When the habit has continued until the child is three, four, and five years old, extreme measures are per- missible. Then an unpleasant consequence should always follow the act. Personally, I believe slapping on the hands is legitimate under such circumstances. A mother must be careful to be consistent. The child must not be allowed to suck his thumb unnoticed one minute, and be slapped for it the next. There are all kinds of cries, and a mother must learn to distinguish between them. When the particular cry is heard that may safely be ignored, the mother should not notice it. If the mother does take the baby up every time he gives this cry, there will be absolutely no peace in the family. She will be rocking him when he should be in bed asleep; she will be holding him at the table when she should be eating in peace ; she will be trying to sew with a baby crying and squirming at her feet. All this can be avoided by having special play-times, and at other times letting the baby amuse himself. If, by chance, you have allowed this habit to become established, the breaking of it may cause an awful scene. The baby will yell and kick for a half hour at least, if his cries are not answered. But if he is a healthy baby, the crying will not hurt him. I remember well letting John have his first long weep when he wanted to be taken up at an impossible time. However, the one experience was all that was needed to make him understand that crying did not get him what he wanted. X. John's Better Memory It seemed to me that during this second year John not only became familiar with surround- ings, but at times was conscious of having seen things before. John was so slow in learning to talk that never during his second year did he say. "I remember that lady." I imagine that mothers who have children who talk well in their second year find that toward the end of that time their children begin to "'member" things in words. We must not confuse, however, the ability to talk with the ability to remember, as the layer with 66 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL many children comes much earlier than the former. Mr. Colvin* says there are two I_)asal elements in memory: impression and association. Impres- sion "is to be thought of as that capacity in the nervous system for receiving and retaining e.x;- periences." Association "relates to the manner in which the elements in memory are linked together, so that they may be subsequently re- called." The former activity can not be changed, but mothers can do a great deal to help their children form accurate and lasting associations. Practical Suggestions I followed a few simple rules during this second year: 1. I let John experience an object in every pos- sible way. The first piece of fur he saw, I let him look at, feel, stroke, smell, lift. I could have let him merely look at it : then associations would have been formed through sight only. By stroking it against his cheek, he formed associations of touch, possibly of weight, and certainly of warmth. Smell- ing it formed the association of smell. This takes time, of course, but makes life much more intelligible to a two-year-old. 2. I brought new objects to him to experience. I decided this could not be overdone, as a child quickly casts aside anything he is weary of. By bringing things to him I helped him to become familiar with many objects early, so that his memory would have many materials to work with. Memory for speech is necessary, as speech develops during this year. I tried to help John in this particular, by making the associations be- tween the object and its name, clearly and often. For example, each day as he was dressed for an out-door airing, I said "cap" and pointed to it. In a very short time he knew what the word "cap" meant, and very soon he was saying it. I found I had to be careful always to call an object by the right and same name. Memory as a general faculty, we are told, does not exist. We simply have memories for specific groups of things. This has been a very encourag- ing thought to me. I can start a fund of memory- images for John — one about birds, another of stories, another of beautiful songs, and so on. These groups of images that I start will gather more similar images to themselves, sometimes con- * Stephen Sheldon Colvin, Professor of Educational Psy- chology, Brown University, sciously, sometimes unconsciously, throughout his life. In short, he will never be poor in beautiful things. XI. John Begins to Talk Usually by the end of the second year a baby has a vocabulary big enough to use for demanding his most common needs, and as far as under- standing is concerned, without being able to pronounce the words, he has a very large vocab- ulary. John and I used to play a game by which he could get drill in catching meanings to words and pronouncing these words. At the table, I would say, "Where is the knife?" and so on around the list of table-furnishings, and in answer John would point to the object I asked about. I would also say, "What is this ?" pointing to some object, and John would answer by giving the name of the object. If his pronunciation were incorrect I enunciated the word very clearly after him, but did not insist on drill that would be tiring. I avoided "baby-talk" entirely. I do not mind hearing a baby talking this way, but it is disgust- ing to hear a child four or five years old still mispronouncing his words. What a mother really does ■ when she permits "baby-talk" is to teach her child a list of inaccurate symbols of things at a time vi^hen it is easiest for him to learn the correct symbol. After having learned these symbols incorrectly, the child must again learn them all over. It is so unnecessary to burden a child with this extra work merely for the adult pleasure of hearing him talk "cutely" when a baby. His mental life seemed to grow active as he grew physically, and especially after he learned to talk. Then he began to ask many questions which showed that he was trying hard to under- stand the workings of the world about him. At first I tried to answer every question, but I found that he was coming to believe that his questions were the most important talking that could be done. As soon as he learned that adult conversa- tion must be respected, his questions assumed their proper place. I kept a record of John's vocabulary. I always had an alphabetic book and pencil handy, and as soon as John acquired a new word I immediately wrote it down. Mothers might ask what would be the value of such a record. I think the chief value to mothers would be the fun of comparing the vocabularies of the different children of the family. The chief value, however, is to the psychologist. It is possible that, with a sufficient number of FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 67 such records, psychologists might discover laws of learning with which we are now unfamiliar. XII. How John Reasons Reasoning, like all mental development, grows gradually from year to year. The associations begun in the first year only multiply and enlarge in the second year. It seemed to me that any reasoning done in the second year was still very simple. John knew that bringing his bottle meant something to eat very soon. He knew that being put to bed meant that he should go to sleep. He knew that the presence of his father meant a frolic of some sort. The acquiring of language facilitated his reasoning very much. It meant that he could classify things more quickly, could ask for in- formation, and that he would have tools with which to handle his thinking. The acquisition of language has been the means of the same rapid development to the child that it has been to the race. I found that laughing at John's queer associa- tions, even in his second year, confused and embarrassed him. We mothers should never be guilty of this. I also found that repeating in his hearing funny associations that John had made retarded his desire to try to build up concepts. Practical Suggestions 1 could help him best by helping him to classify objects. For instance, until he knew the birds, I would say: "This is the robin red-breast; this is a wren bird; this is a blue jay bird." Or I would say, "There goes a big yellow dog; there goes a little white dog," etc. I would gather together materials about the house which were different but belonged to the same class. I would give him big spoons and little spoons, bright spoons and dull spoons, spoons with long handles, spoons with short handles, wooden spoons, silver spoons, tin spoons, with which to become familiar. In short, I tried to get together all sorts of materials belonging to the same class that he might handle them, make noises with them, see them, and thus begin to form cor- rect concepts, and to clearly reason. John's smiles the first year, I think, were noth- ing more than signs of feeling good. But by the end of the second year a few things seemed to appeal to him as funny. Of course these repre- sented a crude sort of humor, but it seemed to me that such situations were worth cultivating. The dog's chasing his tail, funny shakes of my head, repeated noises, caused him to laugh. By the third year his sense of humor really took on some of the earmarks of adult humor. XIII. What Imagination Is and Does I can remember when I understood "imagina- tion" to be an ability to place myself in unusually pleasant and impossible situations. I would find riiyself doing miraculous things as queen of a delightful fairyland; I would take fanciful trips to all parts of the world; often I rubbed a charmed ruby, found myself dressed in fur, among Eskimos, living as they live. Other times I fancied myself hopping about the jimgle, enjoy- ing and understanding the chattering and noises of the monkeys and their friends. This kind of imagination afforded me many pleasant hours, and was not to be regretted. But the reading of articles by men who had gone deep into the subject gave me a correct conception of it, and a clearer idea of how to make it a working force in my life and in the lives of my children. I learned that there are two kinds: reproductive and productive. To-day I visited an old home I would like very much to own. As I write, I can see many details. It has a large porch on the front with pillars. Flagstones make an extension to the porch of about six feet, where they end in a low stone wall with stone steps leading down to a terrace. On each side of the steps are pines — the tallest I have ever seen. Another porch, also with pillars, faces the east. Beyond are lilies-of-the-valley, tulips, daf- fodils, a large hickory tree, and a damson plum tree. The porch at the west also has pillars. It faces the_ fruit orchard — cherries, apples, plums; and a garden of small fruits — gooseberries, rasp- berries, currants, etc. This ability to recall such definite and true images as that of the old house is called "repro- ductive" imagination. My old house offers many possibilities for im- provement. I can sit here, reconstruct my house, retaining many of its present features, and adding many new ones. Around the yard I build a white picket fence to insure privacy; over the porch I start a vining rose; I add to the flower garden on the east, hollyhocks, sweet williams, old- fashioned pinks, bachelor's-buttons, marigolds, etc. My interior I almost rebuild. I open the old fireplaces, fill with "smelly" pine on a chilly evening— and, yes, really I see us all popping corn over coals. I throw a dark, back parlor in- to a front living-room and have one large, light, livable room. I add baths. I put in steam heat; 68 THK HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL I lay hardwood floors. I even imagine a day when I shall add an upper story. I dream away an hour with my old house. Although the house may never be mine to rebuild, still I had experienced the real pleasure of rebuilding it in my mind. This kind of imagination is called "productive" imagination. In this instance, it is my ability to add to the real images of the house other images I have gathered here and there with a house I have never seen as the result, but one quite satis- fying and possible. This example of being able to recall the old house so clearly, illustrates the value of being able to make clear and accurate images. I can shut my eyes and see the working plan of the house before me although I am two miles away. My ability to reconstruct the place shows how valuable is "productive" imagination. With this ability, I am able to convert the old house into a livable and beautiful habitation. This example of "productive" imagination also shows that my original idea of imagination was a very limited one. We often hear it said of a person that he is successful because of the gift of imagination. The speaker refers to the "productive" imagina- tion. He means that a man can make clear images of his business or profession as it is, and add improvements that enhance it. To-day when I visited the old house, I also went to the machine shop to get my Ford. Other cars were being repaired — a Velie, Moline, Dodge, Oldsmobile. I have just tried to recall the appearance of these cars in the same amount of detail I did the old house, but I can not. Evidently something has happened in my make- up to make it possible clearly to image houses and not to image cars. I have found that the same qualities that help me form clear images of my old house are the qualities needed when I wish John to see some- thing clearly. No one has the same degree of imagination for all things. I began early to help John form clear images because when I was not at hand he would need them. Interest assures clearer images and more of them. I am interested in all sorts of old homes, but my interest in a car ends in its ability to get me where I want to go. Consequently, my repro- ductive images of old houses are excellent, while those of cars are very poor. I wanted John to know birds, so I began to call his attention to them. I had him listen to the early morning song of the cardinal. When we saw one, I pointed out the crest on its head. I called its color "red." I told him that it often stayed through our cold winters. I taught him the call of the pee-wee and showed him pictures of the bird; now we are hoping to see the bird near. We saw our first robin. We talked about the color of its breast, its song, etc. This interest I am starting in birds will create clear images of them. These images will be like rolling stones : they will add knowledge of the birds year by year, until, I hope, bird-life will always be a pleasure to John. I saw to it that this interest was sus- tained. We mothers often begin to instruct a child in some interesting field, and then permit him to forget it. By calling John's attention to these birds, I assure Iiim clearer images. Interest and attention go hand in hand. As John gives more attention to bird-life, his interest increases, and as his interest increases he notices their characteristics more and more. Practical Suggestions The question arises: Shall I help John see most through his eyes, or his ears, or his nose, etc.? Authorities seem to disagree as to which type should be cultivated. As a mother of one and two-year-old babies, I feel this problem can be ignored. It seems to me that any outstanding quality of a bird, for instance, should be empha- sized, and all thought as to how the image was received might be ignored. The problem of imaginary playmates troubles many a mother, but it seldom begins after the second year. I know one two-year-old who plays he is another child. Children I have known who had imaginary playmates, used them for a while and then forgot them. It always seemed to me that no interference, either by encouragement or discouragement, was the attitude for mothers to take. Children forget these imaginary playmates when something better takes their place. John, now in his third year, has no imaginary playmates, but he has an imaginary office that he shifts to suit his daily needs. Yesterday he taught children music at this office, and to-day he manu- factured shoes. I feel this office will soon be forgotten. I see no harm in permitting him to indulge this fancy. He knows he really has no office, and knows that we know it. The greatest difference I saw in the development of John's images the first and second year was in the number of things of which he formed images. The first year he had to formulate very clear images of very ordinary objects — mother, father, chair, bottle, dogs, cats, etc. The second year he increased his list greatly FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 69 and still remained within a scope that seems very obvious to aduhs. Practical Suggestion The coming of language in the second year was a help. Learning the name of an object called John's attention to it and gave it a "handle" whereby to make the object more familiar. XIV. The Disciplining of John Most of us prefer to avoid disagreeable situa- tions, and so I found in John's second year that it was easier for all of us to "manage" John than to discipline him. When I saw a situation was arising in which discipline would be necessary, I even removed the coveted object or substituted one of more interest to John. I found that I must be consistent in always punishing a forbidden act. This is often very hard to do, but we mothers must do it if we do not want to confuse the baby-mind. I made this motto, "Never punish when angry." I felt that I could not trust my judgment at such times. There was no time in John's second year that a whipping would have been justified. However, when, in his third year, he threw an iron at his baby brother, I felt that severe punishment was necessary. I did not find the handling of John's will so easy in the second year. Such evidences of "will power" occurred oftener with more attention fixed on the desired goal, and with greater disappoint- ment if the goal was not to be had — and often the goal seemed to be somewhat unexplainable. I remember John's taking, one day, with appar- ently no reason for it at all, a notion he did not want to be dressed. During this year I changed my method of handling such situations. John was still too young to reason with, so whenever possible I suggested as an alternative something else he liked and could have. In the case of not wanting his clothes put on, I said, "John, would you like to be dressed, then go with mother to the basement to build the fire?" "Basement" and "fire" were two magic words. He immediately acquiesced to having his clothes put on and went with me — a very happy boy — to watch me build the fire. In the second year the acquirement of meanings of words helped me to handle these situations. If he had not known the meanings of the words "fire" and "basement," my innocent device for getting on his clothes would not have worked. Practical Suggestions I found that John's father and I must agree on our procedure in discipline, because John realized very early when either parent was an avenue of escape from what he was wanted to do. His father and I decided that when one or the other handled the situation in a way the other did not approve, we would not criticise the method used before John, but wait and talk it over when John was absent. I found it useless to give many "whys" during the first and second years. John did not even understand when I gave them. I believe — but I am sure that many mothers will not agree with me — that it is more important that John learn to obey immediately than to understand the "whys and wherefores" of his obedience. I might add that, in the past, I have so often unnecessarily explained the "why" that John's tendency for prompt obedience has been hampered. I am try- ing to reform. From my experience, I found that too prolonged explanations gave John a dis- torted idea of his importance in our household. He was fast coming to believe that he should do nothing he did not want to do until convinced — or very often not convinced — by a long and elabo- rate explanation. How we all dislike the person who insists upon being the center of the stage all the time ! John was fast coming to believe that such was his place in life. I found that I need not expect noble qualities in John during his first and second years. I could not expect, if he were angry, to secure self- control. I could not expect him to share a coveted plaything with others voluntarily. This sort of thing seemed left for the years to come. John is now in his third year, with an increas- ing ability to hold his attention to a desired goal and a determination to "compromise" rather than to obey. So I find a new stimulus to this particu- lar problem ; I have found a few new solutions, and am searching for more and better ones. XV. John Begins to Consider Himself a Real Person As John was nearing his third year, he began to think of himself as a separate person with his own belongings, as mother and father were people with their belongings. I encouraged this feel- ing by giving him first rights over certain things and places. A corner of my study was his to play in when he wished ; he had a box all his own in which to keep his playthings; he had a chest for his clothing ; he had his own bed. I was glad to help him grow in this idea of self, hoping that 7° THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL the ideals he built up for himself, and any respect I could instil in regard to his personal property, would ripen properly as he matured. Only tales of children who have been unceas- ingly contrary when little and have grown to have beautiful dispositions later, give me any hope in regard to John. Now, in his third year, the usual thing is to wish to do just the opposite of what he ought to do. U I say, "John, won't you come upstairs?" more than likely he prefers to stay downstairs. The only way I can explain this is, that John is enjoying the ability to assert himself as a real person. I have decided that I have not ignored this sufficiently, but have chal- lenged him whenever he wished to do the opposite of what I asked him. I am going to try the method of ignoring his "contrariness" during the coming months and see how it works. I am also going to be careful not to give unnecessary commands. CHART OF CHILD STUDY AND CHILD TRAINING FOR THE SECOND YEAR BASED ON "JOHN'S DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING THE SECOND YEAR" BY MRS. MADELINE DARRAGH HORN THE BABY'S RESPONSES He is ever active, climbing, pulling, walking, and making use of the larger muscles of the arms and hands. He takes an increased pleasure in colors, odors, tastes, and touch-sensations. He enjoys musical tones and himself engages in tuneless chanting. He begins to understand and enjoy pictures. He likes to be with people and to do things with them. He tries to imitate the physical actions of others. Their ideas make slight appeal. He develops certain lively fears. WHAT THEY SUGGEST If we see that he has comfortable clothing and has large playthings and articles to handle, he may increase in muscular strength and control. If we offer him a variety of sense-impressions, particularly things of different sizes, weights, colors, feeling, and taste, for experiment, we not only enlarge his experiences, but if we name each article as he uses it we give him definite concepts and increase his vocabulary. If we select simple and beautiful songs and in- strumental selections, and sing and play them to him, we shall give him a good musical atmosphere, develop his taste and encourage him soon to sing and to wish that he himself might play. If we show him picture-books with clearly-drawn illustrations in black-and-white or strong color of subjects within his field of interest, we shall enlarge his experiences still more. If we plan action-plays, such as finger-plays, jumping-plays, running- and chasing-plays, we will give him wholesome exercise and encourage his sociability. If we give him good models and execute what we do slowly, he should soon learn many acts that will be useful to himself, and he may even begin to share in little tasks that will be helpful. If we ourselves are calm and reassuring at un- necessary terrors, we shall eliminate these from his mind. We would do well to let him continue to be careful of real perils. FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 71 THE BABY'S RESPONSES He tends to develop a few undesirable habits. He occasionally shows that he recalls a preced- ing experience. He tries very hard to talk, by imitating. He begins to associate things and acts when he sees them together often, and so does a little reasoning. He begins to show a little imagination in his play, by pretending that one thing is some- thing else. He shows a tendency to rebel against doing (or to stop doing) what he is told. He likes to feel that he owns his individual pos- sessions. WHAT THEY SUGGEST If we always cause undesirable acts to have un- pleasant consequences and vice versa, we build for good habits. Good examples also are now necessary. If we will let him have his experiences by a variety of sense-impressions, by touch, feel- ing, sight, etc., we shall tend to fi.x these impressions. If we link new experiences to old ones, we increase his number of associa- tions. If we enunciate slowly, and point to things by name, using good language and not "baby- talk," he will widen his knowledge and im- prove his mastery of speech. If we will bring together things of the same class, he will learn how to classify them. If we always associate certain actions of his with what he should do next, we establish desirable habits. Since imagination is built out of images, the more images, facts, words he possesses the more he has to build with. Most of such emergencies we can avoid by fore- sight and distraction. Often we may aiiford a pleasant alternative. Since the child can reason little, "whys and wherefores" are use- less. Gentle firmness is necessary. Corporal punishment is usually senseless. If we furnish a special play-place and something in which to keep his belongings, we foster this desirable sense of personality. One of the essential thoughts in childhood education to- day is that the child's own purposeful acts are the chief feature in his development. — Grace E. Mix. A CHART OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT SECOND YEAR (From the First to the Second Birthday) These references suggest helpful explanatory passages in "The Child Welfare Manual" PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Movements: climbing and pulling first of the year; walking, 12th to 14th months; running alone, 18th month; in play, larger muscular movements of arms and hands [L 210]. Activities: increasing dexterity and control of hands; experimentation with objects; mimic play- Weight: beginning of year, average 21 pounds, end of year, 27 pounds [I. 148, 382]. Height: beginning, average 27 inches, end, 31 ■ inches. Proportions becoming normal [I. 322]. Respiration, about 28. Pulse, 120, down to 110 [I. 283, 284]. Temperature, as of adults [I. 284, 288, 289]. Dentition: at ly^, 12 teeth, at 2, 16 [L 209]. PHYSICAL SUGGESTIONS Sleep: 12 hours at night and a 2 to 4 hours' nap. Hygienic protection, as before [I. 211]. Food: milk as the staple, broadening into an ex- tended dietary [I. 251]. Teach to feed him- self. Exercise: regular outdoor periods and sleeping; opportunities for climbing, pulling, walking, running, lifting, punching, manipulating, etc., especially for large muscles [I. 279, 280, 386]. Shoes: great care in selection of shoes (child is flat-footed) [I. 266]. Habits: regularity in sleep, exercise and play, the same things always done in the same way and at the same time [I. 349, 350]. . MENTAL DEVELOPMENT Senses: increasing mastery of colors, pleasure in colored pictures; sense of distance of near-by objects; sense of direction improving; sense of form, solidity, and roughness increasing during the year; pleasure in musical tones common by 18th month, tuneless chanting not unusual then; sensitiveness to pain and temperature and to taste and smell noticeable toward close of year. (It is not easy to state definite months as to when these mental powers begin to be manifest, as experience and natural gifts vary.) Speech: duritig 1st half of year, phrases; 2d half, sentences. Average number of words used by end of year, 200-250. Emotions: traces of personal temperament shown; moods, affected by teething; gen- erally increasing joy in life, if health is good; pleasure in physical sensations, color, and play noticeable [II. 139]. Memory strengthening but not continuous; vol- untary recollection not possible. Imitation of literal acts of adults. Reasoning develops through experience. Instincts: fears many and lively [II. 140-142]; anger explosive; curiosity as to causes [II. 95]; play in transition from learning by han- dling to learning by imitating [II. 132]. Mental activities: passion for hand-touch and ex- perimenting; imitative, not imaginative play; sense of self appears and with it self-asser- tion, self-will, better self-amusement, more will power. MENTAL SUGGESTIONS Sense training: give all sorts of touch-experiences and opportunities to "do like mother"; let the child listen always to low speaking-voices and gentle singing and playing; have excursions for seeing, hearing, and touching [II. 36, 37]. Teach correct speech by example — no "baby talk" [II. 83-86]. Guard from unnecessary terrors [I. 308], and do not show fear yourself; avoid seasons of tem- per bv good health and not allowing teasing [IL 143, 144]. Drill in memory by inviting child to recall experi- ences; use action-drills, jingles, and motion- songs. Give simple toys for child's own experimentation, and enlarge intelligence by picture-books [II. 36]. 72 A CHART OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT SECOND YEAR (From the First to the Second Birthday) SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Likes companionship of adults, but does not care for children of same age as playmates. Develops sense of self, so that he likes ownership of his own things [II. 248], and is capable of more self-amusement with them, but likes to watch adults and imitate them, talking, sing- ing, working. Spontaneous affection to kindred, but usually shyness with strangers. SOCIAL SUGGESTIONS Increase expressions of approbation and affection. Do more things with the child, but encourage reasonable persistence and concentration in his doing things alone [II. 236]. Do not encourage play with children except those of the home — this to be of non-stimulating nature and not too frequent. Insist that they carry out your own ideas of quietness, agree- ableness and cooperation [I. 387]. MORAL DEVELOPMENT What is approved by adults is right to the child. Tendency to selfishness and jealousy alternates with generous giving and affection, toward close of the year [I. 103-106]. MORAL SUGGESTIONS [L 91-93; II. 10-14] Habituate to a few simple requirements, without exceptions [I. 349-350, 355]. State clearly, first, what is required and be un- moved by entreaty, lament, or temper [II. 176-178]. Teach self-control by helping child to refrain from crying, teasing, willfulness, temper, and by giving him time to make up his mind to obey. Don't drag him to a duty. Teach: Gentleness, by soft-speaking, and calmness of manner [II. 2]. Politeness, by never-failing courtesy to child as well as to adults, and by showing him what courteous words and acts are [I. 91, 92-93, 104; II. 187]. Sympathy, by expressions of interest. Some- times encourage expression of pity, but be careful of too much emotional excitement in this [II. 139]. Unselfishness, by always accepting child's offer to "share" any special delicacy. Also by example. Emulation, by "showing how" [II. 139, 183]. Orderliness, by having corner, box, or drawer for child's tovs. and letting him put them away [I. 334; IL 10-11, 170, 173, 194]. Obedience, by gentle firmness, never by im- patient demand or catching up child and "putting him into place" [I. 355; II. 13, 42, 171]. Helpfulness, by sending him on little errands. 73 "Do you know how the naturahst learns all the secrets of the forest, of plants, of birds, of beasts, of reptiles, of fishes, of the rivers and the sea? When he goes into the woods, the birds fly before him and he finds none; when he goes to the river bank, the fish and the reptile swim away and leave him alone. His secret is patience; he sits down, and sits still; he is a statue; he is a log. These creatures have no value for their time, and he must put as low a rate on his. By dint of obstinate sitting still, reptile, fish, bird, and beast, which all wish to return to their haunts, begin to return. He sits still; if they approach, he remains passive as the stone he sits upon. They lose their fear, they have curiosity too about him. By and by the curiosity masters the fear, and they come swim- ming, creeping, and flying toward him; and as he is still uninovable, they not only resume their haunts and their ordinary labors and manners, show themselves to him in their workday trim, but also volunteer some degree of ad- vances toward fellowship and good understanding with a biped who behaves so civilly and well. Can you not baffle the impatience and passion of the child by your tranquillity? "Can you not wait for him, as Nature and Providence do? Can you not keep for his mind and ways, for his secret, the same curiosity you give to the squirrel, snake, rabbit, and the sheldrake and the deer? He has a secret; wonderful methods in him; he is, — every child, — a new style of man; give him time and opportunity." — Ralph Waldo Emerson. WHAT TO EXPECT THE SECOND YEAR MY LITTLE BOY MONTH BY MONTH* MRS. ANNA G. NOYES Thirteenth Month: Ran as well as walked. Climbed up and down stairs, holding my hand Climbed upstairs on his hands and knees alone. Fourteenth Month: Walked more, ran more, climbed more stairs On favorable days (February) walked in Riverside Park Dug up his first shovelful of dirt in Riverside Got up and down from a sitting or lying posi- tion to his feet without assistance of chair or person. Fifteenth and Sixteenth Months: Increased facility in all achievements. Seventeenth Month : Climbed onto dining table by means of a chair, without assistance or disaster. Eighteenth Month : Climbed everything climbable. Nineteenth Month : Climbed all about the park benches Hammered nails and hit them straight on the head most of the time Walked all the way up and down six flights of stairs, holding my hand and the banister Climbed to fourth step of a ladder alone Tried to jump while walking Twentieth Month: Ran and climbed, went up and down stairs with increasingly greater ease, fed himself and did not spill much. Twenty-first Month : Increased facility in all achievements. Twenty-second Month : More vigorous and sure in his activities. Twenty-third Month : Sprayed his own nose and throat while I „tood by to assist. Twenty-fourth Month : Blew his own nose Walked downstairs, holding to the banister, but pushing my hand away Helped mother about the house; carried dishes, manipulated broom and sweeper and carpet- beater, broke up maccaroni, and did several little errands for her Held absorbent cotton over his own eyes while mother dropped menthol in his nose. HOW THE SENSES DEVELOP BY THE EDITORS Seeing Before a child is a year old he begins to increase in his power of recognizing objects of very small size. By the twelfth month with some children, as much as a year later with others, printed letters * From "How I Kept My Baby Well,' mission of Dr. Guy M. Whipple, editor. KJJ.— 7 begin to be sought out and recognized, the letter "O," of course, being the most easily discovered. Differences of form in plane figures have been noticed as early as the eighteenth month. The understanding of pictures as being repre- Used by per- by Anna G. Noyes, published by Warwick & York, Baltimore, 75 •?(> THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL sentations of faces and of other objects lias been noted by different observers as early as the eighth or tenth month. The recognition of faces in photographs seems to come at about the fifteenth month. Details, such as the eyes and feet, have been recognized at about the same time. The in- terest in the story which may be connected with a picture has been marked at various periods from the middle of the second year to the begin- ning of the third. The recognition of distance does not come quite so early. By the second half of the second year, a child has been known to think that the moon floated just beyond the reach of her arm, and that a tall man a hundred feet away seemed to be a boy much nearer. It has been estimated that the space around a child to which he attributes ideas of distance and size is now perhaps a mile. The conception of real sisc comes between the sixteenth month and the end of the second year, that being the range of time in which children learn to know the difference between the words "big" and "little." It seems true to say that small children feel a complete indifference to size in identifying objects. Young children do not feel much interest in solidity. They feel surfaces over for their text- ure, they like to feel them move under their hands and to work some change upon them, but have no curiosity as to their form. They may be taught by the end of the second year the principal solid figures. Through play they learn, also, some of the fundamental laws of physics. Some objects will stand, others will fall, others roll, some may be crushed, others not. Some, such as liquids, run freely and cannot be grasped, while others are immovable. Children are much later in recognizing color than we usually suppose. No proof has yet been shown that they have any color discrimination before the last half of the second year. Some time between the fifteenth and the eighteenth months they learn to name the difference between dark and liglit objects. At about the middle of the second year they are apt to make a sudden color discrimination, red, yellow, green, lud blue probably being the colors first distinguisl d, while violet, pink, and brown are among the la . Pleas- ure in colors at this time seems to depen on their light-richness and their warmth. Hearing The child of two months was found to be sen- sitive to musical notes. By the middle of the second year he finds occasional delight in tune- playing. This pleasure probably does not become continuous until about the end of the third year. Children are capable of keeping time, some of them as early as the twelfth month, others not until they are nearly three years old. Rhythm seems to impress earlier than melody. Rhymes and jingles please by their rhythm. The earliest period of recognizing a tune seems to be from the twentieth to the twenty-fifth month. Young chil- dren differ very much as to their capacity for taking the correct pitch. Some have done so as early as the eighth month, others not until the fourth year. Nearly all young children, from about the middle of the second year throughout early childhood, amuse themselves with a sort of "tuneless chanting or crooning of syllables." Many of them through their happy hours sing constantly. This crooning begins with a mono- tone, but by the third year it grows more varied, rhythmic, and modulated, until, while without any tune, it has a pleasing and musical effect. Sounds coming in vertical directions are located with difficulty and those coming horizontally with ease, even when they are distant. The ear comes into an importance which is destined to outstrip that of the eye as soon as the child begins to associate a given vocal sound with an object. The second year is the great period for the acquisition of language through imitation. Feeling Sensibility to pain remains low during the second year, and though it increases during the third, seems less than in an adult. The transitori- ness of the distress is remarkable. It is possible to distract a child easily by mental interests from pain, and in the gratification of curiosity he will undergo pain-feelings which seem to us moder- ately severe. The sense of temperature, too, seems to develop slowly. Children are. of course, sensitive to even moderate heat and cold, but they do not seem to remark them as tested by the hand until toward the end of the second year. Tasting The sense of taste is not careful during the first two years. There seem to be no violent dislikes during this period. Children do not begin to be very particular until about the middle of the third year. Smelling The progress of the sense of smell is less rapid than is the case with the other senses. While from six months onward children evince a lively enjoyment of the scent of flowers, they often ap- pear totally unaffected by odors which are offen- sive to adults. WHAT TO DO THE SECOND YEAR feo£><«. °»^g Pj) ^g°° °°-i>°^ fi PLAYTHINGS FOR THE SECOND YEAR BY MARY L. READ The material for sense-training tlirough this second year should he very like that of the first year. It should include a wide range of objects that he can handle, of different shapes, sizes, hardness, softness, the simple spectrum of colors. There should be noise-making toys, as given for the first year, and as much music as the family can afford. There is a stage when he delights in crumpling and tearing paper. If possible, provide at this stage the largest- size sheets of colored paper, in the spectrum col- ors, that can be purchased at any kindergarten supply-house. When the days arrive that he delights to take out and put in, the wooden insets such as Montessori uses will be a useful toy; or the wooden nests of boxes sold at the toy counter. A large milk bottle and objects small enough to be dropped into it — but too large for him to swal- low or put up his nose — will be useful. Such ob- jects may well include some of the colored wooden beads — about one-inch size. At about eighteen months he will delight in spending hours filling a bottle with sand, using a large spoon. This is valuable training in motor coordination. During this year play with building blocks be- gins. It will require some care to provide blocks of the best educational value, and some searching to find them. They should preferably be plain cubes and brick-shapes, the cubes not less than two inches and the bricks not less than 1x2x2, some of them being 1x2x4. These utilize the hand and forearm muscles. A still larger size can be cut and planed smooth by the carpenter ; this will utilize the trunk, back, and upper arm muscles. These can be made as large as paving bricks. A set of blocks in graduated sizes are also useful during this and the succeeding year. Some of the blocks can be stained or painted in the spectrum tones, to cultivate the observation and enjoyment of color. The sense of rhythm can be cultivated by hold- ing baby's hands and clapping in time to music, or swaying his body gently backward and forward or to right or left while he sits on the edge of a table, or swinging his feet while he sits on a table or chair. Care must be taken to do this only a few minutes at a time, in order to avoid fatigue. The arm and leg exercise may be dispensed with now, and games or play and free space for his own activities may take their place. During this year the child who is wheeled about in a car- riage, instead of being allowed to creep, roll, walk, climb, is being greatly handicapped. When the ground is wet or cold, the porch or an open- air room, with ample sunlight, should be utilized. During this, and during the first year, the floor of the porch, room, or pen should be covered with a clean blanket to protect the child from dust and germs, and in cool weather from the cold surface and floor drafts. If wraps are needed, a sweater and knitted leggings give greater freedom than a coat. For the same rea- son rompers are preferable to dresses. Some time during this year the child begins to climb up and down stairs. If the steps are broad and not too high for him to manage easily, and if they are not laid with dusty coverings, he can be taught how to go down — backwards — and up without falling. To spend an hour a day for a week in teaching him how to do this, until he has gained facility and confidence, will be valuable physical and moral training. If the stairs are too narrow, steep, or long, then he must be denied this pleasure, for the sake of his neck, and the stairs protected from his invasion by a gate or other secure blockade. 77 78 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Apparatus for this year may advantageously include the following: A swing with a broad seat, having the corners rounded, placed low enough for him to climb in and out of it himself with ease. Until he has gained facility in climbing in and out. a rug should be placed beneath it to minimize bruises when he falls. A low stile or winding stair, having three to six steps about three inches deep and two inches high, adapted to the dimensions of little people. A low ladder, firmly nailed against a support, having two to five rungs at six-inch intervals. Even at the beginning of this year the child is able to play some very simple games, and this tendency should be cultivated, not only for the fun, but also because it means training of the will and of concentration, even for the five or ten minutes that his capacity now permits. He can roll the ball and catch it as it is rolled to him on the floor. When able to stand steadily he can throw the big football, which requires both arms. He can play at hiding, although it will be in his fourth or fifth year before he has sufficient con- trol to stay hidden until he is found. He can be taught obedience and courtesy by little games, handing over whatever is in his hand when requested to. "Give it to mother." or "Give it to father." He can be taught some of the sim- plest finger-plays, such as the old nursery classic, "Knock at the door." or the kindergarten delight, "Here's a ball for baby." Some toys are injurious for children. Espe- cially so are toys that are germ-carriers, such as whistles, woolly dogs, rag-dolls, or other un- painted toys not waterproof, unwashable toys, or those made in sweatshops and unsanitary fac- tories. Live cats and dogs carry germ diseases, especially in the city. Little carts or pushers that make constant clanging and musical toys with a harsh, metallic sound, are a strain on his nerves. Pictures that are rude and ugly and coarse like- wise distort his sense of truth and of beauty. Flimsy toys, soon broken, weaken his sense of property values. Give him simple, washable toys, such as dolls with good faces and animals of wood, celluloid, or natural rubber ; toys that he can do things with, as balls, plain blocks, sand molds, and large wooden beads. PLAYTHINGS. HOMEMADE BY MRS. DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER So MANY of our American farmhouses are situ- ated in very rigorous climates that a good many mothers will not think the out-of-doors a pos- sible playground in winter time. This is less true than they are apt to think. On almost any sunny day in Winter, little children, if warmly dressed, will benefit far more by a brisk, romping, active half-hour's running and jumping than city babies do in their swathed, motionless outing in a baby carriage. And when really bad weather drives them in, as it should do very seldom, the country mother has a great advantage in space over the city one. For there is about a farm nearly always some corner, a woodshed, a corner of the barn, an attic, or an unused room, where little folks may romp and play actively. If neces- sary the sacred spare room is better used for this purpose than kept in idle emptiness. And all the varieties of handwork are resources for rainy days. For, as the children advance beyond real baby- hood and the mere need for constant romping and climbing and running like little animals, their instinctive desire to use their hands increases, and this is an instinct which should be encouraged in every possible way. Just as the wise mother sees to it that they are provided when babies with ample chance to roll and kick and tumble, so when they are older she is never more pleased than when they are doing something with their hands; and she has all around her ample material for be- ginning this handwork. A pan of beans or shelled corn, with a wide-mouthed Ijottle and a spoon, will keep a two- or three-year-old happy and absorbed for a long time. A pack of cards to be shuffled or used to build houses is another "plaything" which does not need to be specially bought. A pan of bran and a handful of clothespins occupy even a baby of fourteen months, as he pushes the clothespins into the bran and pulls them out. I A big rag doll, the size of a small child, is easy to make and stuff with cotton. The most rudimentary scratches serve to indicate the eyes, | FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 79 nose, and month, and the lips and cheeks can be colored realistically with any red jelly. All chil- dren love a big doll of this sort, and delight to dress it and undress it in their own clothes. They learn in this way to handle buttons and but- tonholes, and to master the difficulties of shoes and belts and sleeves. A new corn-cob pipe and a small bowl of soapsuds mean harmless fun for the five-year-old, which is always watched yith rapture by the littler ones. And then there are blocks, perennial blocks, which need not at all be bought from a store. A father with a plane and a saw can plane a couple of two-by-four stocks and in about half an hour make as many square or oblong blocks (2x4x6 inches is a good size) as any child needs for his play. These large blocks not only cost practically nothing, but are much better for the little chil- dren to use than the smaller, expensive kinds that are sold; and the set will outlast a large family of strenuous children. A collection of empty spools of different sizes is a treasure for the child of three who will re- joice in stringing them on a cord passed through a bodkin. When he is a little older and has learned skill in this exercise he may graduate to stringing buttons with a real needle and thread. On baking day a small lump of dough (made less sticky by working more flour into it) which can be rolled and played with on a bit of smooth board is great fun for little folks; and let the mother constantly remember that any fun which is se- cured by using the hands not only makes the child happy, but is of educational value. On washing-day a basin of soapy water and some bits of cloth to be washed out will fill many happy minutes. The oilcloth apron is as in- dispensable for this play as for the outdoor water play and for clay modeling. This last is perhaps the most eternally interesting of the indoor oc- cupations for little children. If the clay is kept on a bit of oilcloth on a low table, it is not an untidy element in a kitchen. If dried peas are soaked for a few hours they are soft enough to be pierced by a needle and can be strung by four- and five-year-olds into neck- laces and bracelets, or they can be put together with wooden toothpicks into many fascinating shapes. Dried watermelon and sunflower seeds can be used in the same way. A box of dried corncobs can convert a free corner of the floor into a farm with log-cabin house, rail fences, and barns. Trees can be simulated by twigs stuck into bits of clay to hold them upright, and farm animals can be rudely fashioned out of clay, dusted over with domestic coloring material to make them realistic — flour for sheep, cocoa for brown horses and cows, charcoal for black ani- mals, and then baked in the kitchen oven to make them firm. A rag-bag into which the children may dive and delve is a resource for rainy hours, and if the mother is at hand to keep an eye on the proc- ess and tell what colors and materials are. to sug- gest matching those colors and stuffs which are identical and to make agreeable combinations with others, rag-bag hour is as educational as any exercise in a carefully run modern school. The country mother has here again a great advantage over many city mothers in that her work is always at home, and of a nature which allows her to supervise the children's play without giving up all her time to them. Provision should be made in the case of little children for their desire to handle all sorts of objects; the desire which makes them enjoy so greatly a tumbling over of mother's workbasket. There is no need to let them upset that when there are in every country house such a vast number of other articles which are not hurt by baby hands — spoons, tin pans, boxes, tongs, clothes baskets, and darning eggs. Furthermore, instead of being told "Don't touch!" they should be encouraged to learn how neatly and competently to perform such ordinary operations as opening and shutting drawers and doors and boxes and gates, screwing the tops on cans, hanging up clothes, and taking off rubbers. SOME NURSERY ARTS AND CRAFTS MRS. HARRIET HICKOX HELLER Before the baby is a year old, he will, of course, have grown quite active and be pleased with variations of "Hide-and-seek," of which "Peek- a-boo," being played by the mother from beiiind her hand, is perhaps the first to attract his at- tention. Later he will like to hide behind the handkerchief, still later his pillow, and then come into the ordinary forms of the game. "Pat a cake" is quite an achievement, and when the time comes that he can bring his hands together when 8o THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL mother says the words, he has made an important step in the correlation of mind and body. He can point to his head and his feet, and revels in "Chin-chopper." The folk games of "Shoe the old horse" and "Ride a cock-horse" have their place in his experience about this time. The Value of a Baby-Pen A "pen" is especially important to a child through the second year of his life, and to the very active child it is valuable somewhat earlier than this. In some particulars this second year is one that is especially trying. The sense of power is developing within the small citizen who has learned but little as to ways and means of ex- pressing himself. Of the effect of his own strength he is ignorant. He strikes like a pugi- list and annihilates ruthlessly. If he goes directly from his nursery-bed to his "own little pen," it is an extension of space, and he feels in it no re- striction, since he never has had the full range of the room or house. Here he is safe at the time when children begin to drag off table covers and bring upon themselves unforeseen catastro- phies. He soon learns to pull himself up by hold- ing on to the little fence, but no sooner than his natural inclination and strength make him ready for this achievement. He will teach himself to walk inside his railing and will gain much of the knowledge which it is necessary for him to learn with reference to material things by the experi- ments which he makes with the toys. His mother must help him to interpret life through a few blocks with which he can pound and hammer. He will, of course, hurt himself, but not seriously, and he must learn. A very strong little two-wheeled cart which is pulled by a string (not a tongue) will give him amusement.* The stuffed toys, teddy bears, dogs, and dolls help him to grow. A rubber ball too large to roll from under the enclosure would be worth while. Toys that a child of this age can possibly break should be used only on occasions when they can be guarded. A tin pan and a big spoon are some- * A card-board box with a string tied through one end makes a fine wagon. — 7. E. B, times very amusing. Later on in the year two pans, partially full of sawdust or bran, will some- times keep a child of this age busy for a long time. He will dip material from one pan to the other and then back. A sheet placed on the floor may be picked up by the four corners when the game is over, and thus all the muss may be carried away. You can always tell when the game is over, because, instead of putting ingredients from one pan into the other, he will begin to put it on the floor or throw it about aimlessly. Educational Experience It is a valuable experience for a child of this age to play in his bath water. He will spend some time in dipping the liquid from one recep- tacle to another. Bright colored objects, among them a prism, should be in sight of this little chap, and he should be able to handle them when he wants to do so. He should be allowed to touch everything that he sees and desires if it can pos- sibly be arranged without injury to him. Even the proverbial "looking-glass and hammer" may be inspected, separately, under proper supervision. Highly colored pictures can be placed, at first out of his reach, but low enough so that he can look at them. As his interest grows, he might have the pictures in hand to "look at." He will not tear books as long as he is interested in a picture. When his interest ceases, it might be again placed out of reach. A "little teeter" may be made as a part of the Dutch pen equipment by fastening to each end of a somewhat flexible board, cleats about three inches in height. He can stand on this, hold to his fence and get the benefit of the spring when he has reached the stage where he needs some- thing else to do. A little chair and table may be used and removed on occasions. Baby will be learning new games during this year. "Hide-and- seek" will grow a better game. If he talks early, he may perhaps have the first Mother Goose rhymes and will enjoy some romping plays. This second year is the Ijest time for the real finger- play which follows the familiar folk games men- tioned (on page 46) with the first year. SENSE-PLAY WITH MARGARET BY MRS. RHEA SMITH COLEMAN There is, in my opinion, no training so important as sense-training, and yet none so simple, inex- pensive and altogether pleasurable. Do you not know that the success of the man in his business or profession depends very largely upon the ready response of his senses to the things about him ? And yet we find that in nine cases out of ten, yes, ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the man whose senses are keen and alert is the one who in early childhood has been trained to make the best use of them. Touch-and-Learn The first sense to be developed in the baby is that of touch. You are familiar with the marvel- ous way in which Helen Keller's sense of touch was trained. It would scarcely be worth while for us to develop one sense to such a high point of efficiency when our boys and girls have ears and eyes with which they can gain knowledge. Yet I believe they would be more efficient in later life if we gave more time to the training of this particular sense. When Margaret was a little baby, I recited such verses to her as, "Creep-a-Mouse," "This Little Pig Went to Market," "Eye Winker, Tom Tinker," suiting the action to the word. These develop the sense of touch in the different parts of the body. Later on, when she began to reach for things, I put near her objects of different form and surface. After Margaret was a year old, I began to col- lect a box of articles of various sizes, shapes, quality, etc. There were pieces of celluloid, aluminum, mirrors, and stones, to teach smoothness of surface; sandpaper, rough stones, unplaned pieces of wood to teach roughness of surface; pieces of wood and steel for hardness; cotton flannel, wool, and fur for softness; and long and short pieces of wood, string, and cardboard; large and small clothespins, balls, and nuts; sharp and blunt pins and pencils ; straight and crooked pieces of wire; heavy and light weights; round, square, oblong, cubical, and cylindrical objects. It might be well to add that some of these ob- jects were for use at first only when an older person was present. Margaret has always en- joyed playing with these things. She put her hands into the box, drew out an object, felt it, and then told whether it was rough or smooth, hard or soft, long or short, round or square, etc. "Don't Touch" These words are seldom heard in our home. On the contrary, Margaret has been encouraged to handle things about her. Our home is first of all for her education, and, though the windows and doors may have finger-marks and the books and sofa-cushions become somewhat soiled, they are hers to handle and, by so doing, gain knowledge. This privilege has been a wonderful help in de- veloping her sense of touch. She has been taught that she must be very careful when she handles anything that does not belong to her, and that when in another's home she must not handle any- thing unless given permission to do so. For the sake of discipline, I purchased some plants which she was not allowed to touch. I explained to her that to touch them would blight them and make them less beautiful, but that she might help me water them and watch them grow. "He That Hath Ears to Hear Let Him Hear" The sense of hearing develops very early. My first efforts at training Margaret's sense of hear- ing began when she was but a few weeks old. I made it possible for her to hear much sweet, soft music, sang songs to her, and took her often where she could hear the sounds and songs of Mother Nature. When but a few months old, my baby would lie very quiet when she heard soft music, but when a loud, fast tune was played she would kick and wave her hands in an effort to keep time with the music. I seldom used the loud, fast pieces, because they had a tendency to overstimulate her, while the quiet music was soothing to her nervous system. At the age of eight months, Margaret would be so rejoiced at the sound of the Victrola that she would pat a cake with the music. When my little girl was three months old I secured some small bells of dift'erent tones (such as one can purcliase at the five-and-ten-cent store) and hung them over her bed. She would raise her hands and strike them. In this way she learned to recognize different tones. 8i 82 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL After Margaret was a year old I continued the use of the bells, having dressed them in red, yel- low, green, and blue skirts. She soon learned that the blue one sounded different from the red one, the yellow from the green, etc. Through the second year there were few days that I did not play the Victrola. I chose such records as "Mother Goose Songs," sung by Elizabeth Wheeler ; Riley's "There, Little Girl, Don't Cry," sung by Evan Williams ; "The Star-Spangled Banner,"' by Pryor's Band; "Rockin' Time," and "Dusk Baby," to the tune of Dvorak's "Hu- moresque," sung by Olive Kline. The tune and rhythm of these are simple, and the words Mar- garet quickly learned. The continued repetition of these melodies made them become a very part of her little life, so that I was not surprised to find her, before the age of two, swinging her dolly back and forth in her arms, as she said, "Putting baby doll to sleep" in perfect time with "Rockin' Time" as it was played on the Victrola. Margaret's Musical Activities Now that she had grasped the meaning of rhythm in music, I used every means to develop it. I would dance with her, helping her to keep step with the music. I would clap my hands in time with the music and she would pat a cake in imita- tion of me. Whenever I played a record, I would say, "This is march-music, one, two, three, four," or "Waltz time, one, two, three," or "A lullaby to put the baby to sleep."* At about two years of age, Margaret began to memorize little pieces and songs, and the first ones learned were those we had played so often. Now she sings several little songs with the Victrola and keeps not only the time but the tune as well. At the age of three she recognizes a number of selections as well as the voices of the singers: "Santa Lucia," sung by Hamlin; "Caro Nome," "Thou Brilliant Bird," and "Romeo and Juliet," sung by Galli-Curci ; "Listen to the Mocking Bird," sung by Alma Gluck, and others. A short time ago, after much coaxing on the part of Margaret, we taught her to operate the Victrola, and it has increased her interest many fold. She thinks she is a big girl because she can change the records, put on the needle and even wind the machine alone. This privilege with its added interest has sharpened her ear, so that in- variably she knows when the last bars of the music have been reached and will run toward the machine in order to be there when the record is finished. * Note the parallel suggestions in Mrs. Seymour's article on "Music for the Babies," page 87. Margaret's Mother Sings to Her Then again, I have always sung many songs to my little girl, and with the possible exception of story-telling, I think there has been no one thing that has drawn us so close together. She often says to me, "I love you. Mamma, because you sing to me." A song will so often remove the pout and bring the smile we all love to see. I have not had a piano, and, as I am not able to get the tune of a piece of music without hearing it, I have in many cases made up tunes of my own. A mother can often compose music which suits her boy's or girl's voice better than that written by more accomplished musicians. I sing to Margaret many of the "Mother Goose Songs," Einilie Pouls- son's "Finger-Plays," Stevenson's "Swing Song," "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," "Oh, Sun- shine," "Farmer in the Dell," "Did you Ever See a Lassie," and "The Star-Spangled Banner." I sing these songs when I am about my work and Margaret is playing around me, when we are on walks, or at any and all times. I have taught Margaret to hear and love the sounds and music of Nature. We were happily located on the edge of a suburb of Pittsburgh, so that we have had ready access to the country. Every day when the weather is at all favorable we take our walk to the woods or hills. I often say to Margaret, "Stop and listen." Then I ask her what she has heard. If there are sounds which she hasn't heard, I call her attention to them ; and now she talks to me of the rippling of the brook, the singing of the birds, the rustling of the leaves, and the "woo-woo" of the wind. She enjoys the rumble of the thunder and notes the contrast be- tween it and the soft patter of the rain on the window-pane. This music of Nature is each day teaching her the harmony of notes, the sweetness of tone, and the contrast of sounds, when Nature is at peace and when she is disturbed by storm, which no other training could give. "Eyes and No Eyes" You are, no doubt, familiar with this book, edited by O'Shea, in which he describes the wealth of pleasure and knowledge that was opened up to the boy William on a walk through the country, because he was ever alert to see and his mind open to understand ; while to Robert, whose sense- life seemed unawakened, it was uninteresting and meaningless. We contrast the attitude of the boys, and yet don't you agree with me that the difference was because one mother had trained her boy from the time he was a babe in her arms to use his eyes, while the other had neglected this all-important duty? FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 63 Before Margaret was a year old I began to teach her to distinguish objects and to select one particular object from a group. I used blocks, bells, papers, etc., of different colors, and when she played with a red bell, I called it a red bell; the same with the blue, yellow, and green, until she soon learned to select the color I would ask for and hand it to me. * The objects with which she was surrounded and played were never just "playthings" to her. They were individualized. I would name them as she played with them. Often I carried her about the room and pointed out different objects. A picture of Sir Galahad was Sir Galahad to her, and not just one of the pictures on the wall; a dog was a dog, not just an animal ; a bluebird was a bluebird, not just a bird; therefore, at the age of one year, Margaret would hand or point out to me any one of seventy-five or more objects. She distinguished between the pictures of six different birds, several animals, and knew the primary colors. We Take a Walk Together I will describe to you an afternoon walk through Eden Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the early part of Margaret's second year, which will give you an idea of how her sense of sight was de- veloped at this period. The top of her carriage was down, so that she could look about without changing her position. We were just started when Margaret said, "See baby. Mamma." She had spied a baby across the street. A little farther on she noticed a horse, a dog, then an automobile, * The child must not only learn to feel color differences, but also intellectually to perceive and recognize each color, and then learn the name and associate the color name with the color. This is all very difficult and requires much ex- perience. The colors that seem to be first distinguished are red and yellow. The child's eyes seem to be impressed by the heavy and powerful ether waves of the red and yellow lights, while the faster and lighter green and blue waves are probably seen by him as gray. The child, like the sav- age, is first attracted by the bright colors and broad contrasts, and only slowly learns to distinguisli the more delicate shades. The world to him must be one grand mosaic of colors until he learns that these different masses of color are different objects at different points in space. From the world of colors the child passes to the discrimi- nation of tlie world of form. He first must distinguish color, then different areas of color or surfaces. After differences of the areas of surfaces are discriminated, he begins to per- ceive different objects. He begins to get knowledge of the outer world. He begins to see a world in space and grad- ually to learn the names of objects and take attitudes toward them. The child should first be led to distinguish between differ- ent objects, forms, and colors. Contrasts should be presented together, discrimination developed — bright and striking color contrasts first, then fine shades; widely different objects, then those more alike. Drawing, clay modeling, building with blocks, all these help in learning form, and always there should be close observation and contact with the varied and irregular forms of nature. Before the child is introduced to books and book learning he should^ have a subprimary course to train his senses and develop his motor powers. He must learn to see the world before he can imagine it from books — first the seen objects, then the imagined world. — Frank W. Shindler, Ph.D., in "The Sense of Sight"; tised by permission of the publishers, Moffat, Yard &■ Company, New York. etc. Each time I stopped, allowed her to look at the object as long as she wished, and at the same time talked to her about it. We passed by a lawn where there were some beautiful flowers. She did not notice them, so I stopped, called her at- tention to them and spoke of their color. We went on and soon entered the park. The first thing of note was a beautiful concrete bridge, to which I called Margaret's attention; then to the pond with its water-lilies; to the river far below with its boats. Then, beneath the bridge, to the con- servatory of flowers, the reservoir, the Art Museum. Some of these things she noticed and others I called to her attention. Each day she noticed some new things and always something which I had pointed out to her on the last trip. One caution must be observed. Do not point out too many things on one trip. One or two is enough. How often we see the mother out with her baby who during the entire walk will not call his attention to a single thing or even appear •interested when he makes discoveries that mean so much to the development of his senses. It is nothing short of a crime against his babyhood. Such trips as these became much more valu- able and interesting after Margaret's second birthday, when the carriage was dispensed with, and we went walking together. She then, as well as I, was eager to push aside the bushes and find the nests of the birds and to see whether there were eggs or birdies in them. Then Margaret would look well at the mother-bird, who no doubt would be scolding because we were near her babies, and give to her her proper name. In this way my little girl learned where the different birds built their nests, the color and number of eggs they lay and many of their habits. With equal diligence and interest she sought the frogs and fishes in the brook ; pushed aside the grass to find the strawberries; and looked into the trees to discover the red, yellow, and green apples. Margaret and I enjoy looking at the sky. We talk together about the black rain-clouds and the fleecy white ones. We try to see who is first to find the moon as it rises, and how many colors we can distinguish in the summer sunset. The stars, too, are our friends, and very soon I am going to begin to teach Margaret their different arrange- ments in the constellations. While on shopping trips downtown, on visits to the Zoo, the Museum, or calls upon friends, we are ever watchful that nothing of interest may escape us. In our own home Margaret has grown familiar with the arrangements of pictures, fur- niture, etc., and if the position of anything is changed during her absence, she notices it im- mediately upon entering the room. I have also 84 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL taught her to observe people's dress, and she will invariably notice if her daddy comes down in the morning wearing a necktie she hasn't seen for several days. A very pleasurable play-hour that Margaret and I often pass, which has borne abundant fruit in developing for her an observing eye, is the game of Little Sharp-Eyes which we play in a number of ways. We take such pictures as those found in the "Most Popular Mother Goose Songs," with illustrations by Mabel Betsy Hill, or any picture in which there are a number of objects, but in which each object is distinct, and see who can find the most object.?. Then we count the things in store windows or along the road or street. Smell and taste, though less important senses, can be developed with no loss of time. I en- courage Margaret to smell flowers, perfumes, and spices, and compare their fragrance. I likewise help her to note the different taste of foods by telling her as she tastes them that sugar is sweet, lemon sour, aloes bitter. A good play for de- veloping these senses is to arrange a number of things of different odors and tastes. Allow a certain lengtli of time, and have a number of chil- dren try to see, by smelling and tasting, who can correctly name the greatest number. PLAYS AND GAMES FOR THE SECOND YEAR LUELLA A. PALMER During this year baby directs his greatest energy toward creeping and walking. He knows the best way to develop his body and mind is by the use of his arms and legs to find new toys and new scenes of action. Sense Games A child in his second year is interested in see- ing, hearing, feeling, and tasting, and all the ob- jects within reach become possible material for sense-training. Besides the furniture, spoons, and other familiar things which the child delights to use in his search for knowledge, he can be supplied with toys, such as a red and a blue ball, a wooden ball and a soft ball, a gong and a hammer, a bottle with flaked rice and, later, a box with stones. These two lat- ter articles will afford endless amusement if the children are allowed to empty and refill and shake them. A newspaper is a very good plaything if an adult is watching: a baby likes to hear and feel the tearing. Only a few toys are necessary, as sliding a bureau drawer in and out, dropping a toothpick through a cane-seated chair, or folding and unfolding a towel, will play-educate a child of this age. Movement Plays For the principal movement-play during tliis year, mother may supply steady chairs and a clean pair of stairs, also a protecting hand. Patience is about the most important adult help needed for exercise. Let the child pull himself up and walk as much as -he will without urging. Most chil- dren are so proud of their accomplishment and their muscles are pleading for so much exercise that the little ones will easily overtax themselves if persuasion is used. Lead a child to find out what he can do and then supply opportunities to do it, is a fairly safe rule, when applied with mother-sense. A child enjoys repeating the same plays over and over, but he also enjoys varying a familiar one. Father often trots the baby on his knee; this little play may gradually gain variety by changing it in the following way : The first play and chant may be : "Walking, walking, walking. Go. pony, go. Walking, walking, walking, Whoa, pony, whoa." When baby has become sure of his balance, father may increase the speed of the pony: "Trotting, trotting, trotting, Go. pony, go ; Trotting, trotting, trotting, Whoa, pony, whoa." Weeks later the child will be delighted to find that another change can be made by making the pony gallop. The completed play would be in five acts: 1. Walking. 2. Trotting. 3. Galloping. 4. Trotting. 5. Walking. FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 85 The arm-stretching can be accompanied with an interpretative rhyme : "So big is the darling baby, She seems like a giant tall, And now she's so very tiny. She's a little fairy small. "And now she's a shadow growing So big and so straight and slim, And now she's a darling girlie. For kisses to nestle in." The play of "Down, Up" used in the first year can become more vigorous and end with a toss: "There was an old woman Tossed up to the moon, She scattered the stars With her own little broom." Tossing and twirling can be combined, accom- panied with the Mother Goose rhyme : "Dance little baby, dance so high. Never mind, baby, mother is nigh. Crow and caper, caper and crow. There, little baby, up there you go. Up to the ceiling and down to the ground. Backward and forward, around and around. Dance, little baby, and mother will sing. With a sweet little song, ding, ding, ding." Children of this age like to "hustle tilings about" for the sake of proving their power. They like to roll over and over and to move in all the different ways that they can invent. When bathing is found tedious, small floating toys, such as boats, sticks, sponges, frogs, ducks, will help to pass the time away. (Older children can make these by pasting cut forms on button- molds.) Dramatic Play Mothers know many simple little actions that baby enjoys and that really are the beginning of dramatic play. She says, "Wash your face," "Go to sleep," "Comb your hair," "Put on your hat," and baby makes the appropriate motions. W^hen he is a little older she will say "Bow like a gentle- man," "Take off your hat to the lady," "Rock the baby to sleep." Ball Plays The child one year old delights in seeing the ball roll, and it excites him to see it roll in his direction. Toward the latter part of this year he can control his movements enough to attempt to return it, although his aim is very poor. Let the little one have a large ball to grasp with the arms, to carry about, and to roll. This will strengthen the arms as a small ball does the hands. Hang a soft ball at the end of a cord. This may be used to swing, to drag, to twirl, to pound. As the baby makes one of these motions the mother may sing as long as it is repeated: i ^K 3 ^ Swing, Bwmg, swing, swing ^^m^^m Twirl- ing, twirl - ing, twirl - ing, twirl - iog, twirl i ^1 Pound, poond When the child understands the rhythm and words, the mother may add to the play by singing one of these directions when she gives the ball to the baby, so that he for a moment follows the suggestion of the word. A CHILD'S FIRST INTEREST IN PICTURES BY THE EDITORS "He hasn't got him yet !" was the little boy's de- lighted daily report after looking in his nursery book and discovering that the crocodile in the pic- ture had not yet caught up with the pickaninny that he had been chasing. "Why don't they get to church?" was another youngster's inquiry after he had for several weeks turned to Boughton's "Pilgrinis Going to Church," and wondered why they did not arrive. A third child put his hand protectingly over the figure of a kid to protect it from an eagle, in a picture. A child of kindergarten age has been known to try to feed a pictured animal. At first. Dr. Amy Eliza Tanner* tells us, the baby acts like an animal with regard to represen- tations of objects. He thinks the reflection in the * .\niy Eliza Tanner, author of "Child: Feeling, and Doing." His Thinking, 86 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL glass is a real thing, as the animal does the well- painted picture, and as the savage thinks that his reflection in the water is his spirit-double. These remarks suggest the rather surprising fact that pictures to a small child are not symbols, but are a part of his living world. At the begin- ning he notes the similarity between the house- hold pet and the pictured cat more than the differ- ence, and it is a long time before he grasps the idea that the latter is only a symbol. Predominant Interest in Persons and Animals Children often develop very strong but, as a rule, transient preferences for pictures of differ- ent kinds — much as they do for toys and play- things. At first, a child will pass by all pictures except those of people. A year later, a picture of a cat may be the same child's favorite ; and still later, a picture of a large monkey wearing a gown, glasses, and a cap affords greatest delight. Miss Shinn* says that her niece's interest in pic- tures (middle of nineteenth month) "narrowed to an almost exclusive desire for pictures of birds, which was for some days a passion; and for weeks to 'see birdy in book' was a frequent ap- peal." Dr. David R. Major's record f contains many statements like that just quoted from Miss Shinn. "At first, pictures of human beings, es- pecially babies and children, were R.'s favorites. Later, pictures of animals — cats, dogs, cows, ele- phants, and elk with great horns — pictures of locomotives, and certain Mother Goose pictures — the cow jumping over the moon was one — each had their weeks or months when they were fre- quently called for, pored over, and 'talked' to with great pleasure by the half hour." Ninety-nine per cent of the first drawings of children are said to include the human face. Their affections for ready-made pictures soon become evident; they like living creatures, folks, and ani- mals and birds, and they like them best in action. They like only story-pictures. Little Attention to Details A number of observers have remarked that chil- dren are indifferent to the positions of the pic- tures they are handling or examining, that they do not mind whether a picture is right side up or wrong. Sullyt quotes from a friend, a psychol- ogist, "that his little girl, aged three and a half, does not mind whether she looks at a picture the right way up or the wrong; she points out what • Millicent W. Shinn, author of "The Biography of a Baby." t "First Steps in Mental Growth.'* t James Sully, author of "Children's Ways," "Outlines of Psychology," * Studies of Childhood," etc. you ask for — eyes, feet, hands, tail, and so forth — about equally well whichever way up the picture is, and never asks to have it put right that she may see it better." In general, they are not curious as to details. They will not notice that a figure is armless, and as we know so well, their own first drawings often have two eyes or ears on the same side of a face. Yet they do seem to single out the eye as an ob- ject of peculiar interest. Did you ever have your two-year-old try to stick his forefinger in your eye ? Little children often attempt the same with a pictured eye. One who had not attended to the matter would say oft'hand, very likely, that children would pre- fer colored pictures to uncolored ones. Obser- Tation shows, however, that, generally speaking, children under two and a half or three show no decided preference either way. At first, the child is interested in pictures merely as objects; then later, in the observed similarity between pictures and objects — persons, animals, machines — which they represent, and not in the color. Color is subordinate in point to subject. Later they ex- hibited an interest in bright, crude colors. No Esthetic Taste Yet Michael Vincent 0'Shea§ found that the chil- dren, as a rule, cared nothing for the reproductions of classics. Colored pictures, even the crudest chromos, and "cunning" pictures — little children and animals playing — were always chosen, except ■when Santa Claus or the Mother and Child were present. In many cases, when asked what pic- tures were in their schoolrooms, the children would be able to name only one or two out of a large number. The others, apparently, had made no impression upon them. They were over their heads figuratively as well as literally. If this is true of children generally, the problem of room- decoration is hardly as simple as many people think. We need not lower our standard of the esthetic, but simply change our subjects, accord- ing to the interests of the children. It is per- haps a bit disheartening to us adults, to whom pic- tures have opened a world of beauty, to realize that it is their usefulness and not their beauty that appears to children, up to at least six or seven years of age. They are to them simply something to play with. They like to have them little (as in the very cheap prints) so that they can handle them better. For any practical end they do not differ distinguishably from their dolls. § .Author of "First Steps in Child Training," "Linguistic Development and Education," etc. FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 87 What Pictures to Choose The educational lessons that we learn from these primitive tastes are plain. Since to a small child a picture is "the real thing" we should select his pictures, as we do his other toys, to be a part of his little world of ex- perience. They should represent the kind of people and pets that he should love, engaged in activities that he can understand. Little incidents, playful, cunning, jolly, and un- selfish, should be our choice, without reference to their esthetic purpose. While we need not strive to select great art, we may choose clear, strong color and simple, well- drawn action. Most of all, each picture should suggest a good story, and we should give the picture with the story. These four considerations have been strongly borne in mind in the selection of the illustrations for the volumes of the Boys and Girls Bookshelf. MUSIC FOR THE BABIES* BY MRS. HARRIET AYER SEYMOUR "No vmtter hoiv completely a zvoman has 'given up music,' she will some day find herself singing when she holds her baby in her amis. As she recites Mother Goose and the fairy and folk-tore tales, .ihe moves through the path of man's tipuvrd progress, led by a child, but with the life and understanding of adult years. As she tvalks with her child in the garden and in the fields, she is driven to a now interpretation of the world of nature." — Earl Barnes. Teach the children to listen to birds and to remember their calls. Sing "Come and be washed," instead of saying it. Here is a little tune spontaneously sung by a child of six: "Something ever, ever sings." The little child was right, but the trouble is most of us do not listen. Ask your question in song, Mother, and soon you will be answered by a cheerful singing re- ply. "Baby, where are you?" sung on a simple ascending scale wall soon bring a musical reply from a hidden child of "I am hiding here." Play softly, sing gently, and listen. During the day take some familiar tune and swing the rhythm with the arms. Let the chil- dren "step it," finding out where slow and quick steps come. Afterward, have them draw lines on the blackboard to show this duration, thus . Let them find in which direction the tune goes, up or down, and make pictures of it, either denoting the direction with a sweep of the hands or drawing a sweeping line on the blackboard. Singing, swinging, stepping, and making pitch and duration pictures, the children live in music as fish in water or birds in the air. If there are quarrels and tears, play something pretty and think the word liarmony. See how this calms the atmosphere. The mother I speak * This article should be read in connection with that portion of Mrs. Coleman's in which she tells just how she made a musical atmosphere for her little daughter (page 81). I KNOW a mother with four children who made up her mind that her home should be a very heaven. To her, music was God's special gift to mothers and children, and so she began singing regularly with each of her babies. There are many lovely songs which a mother can learn, and the best of all are the folk-songs of different countries. A gay song for baby as he eats his breakfast and a quiet one as he lies down to go to sleep — these will sink in deep and form a wonderful foundation for the music of his life. With the older babies have a regular singing time. Five o'clock is a good hour. The children of whom I speak had a "singing party" every day at five, and sometimes the neighbors came in and sang with them. Their mother grew to be such a strong influence in the community that many persons came to her for advice and refreshment. Nagging is often simply a lack of something better to do. A friend of this woman in speaking of her home life said, "She has substituted singing for nagging." Joy is the best tonic there is, and happiness creates health. The children's song-hour will af- fect the atmosphere of the whole house. Any mother who has had the regulation music lessons can play simple songs and can learn to guide her children into a singing life. THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL of controlled her children almost entirely through the power of constructive thougV. and music. They easily yielded to the word peace sung gently over and over. Mothers, if they only knew it, have the making of a new world of love, and music is a torch to light them on their way. To a mother who does not know any music, I say, if you can, get someone to come for an hour every day to sing with your children at twilight. See to it that the words of the songs are con- structive and beautiful and learn to sing a little yourself. Everyone can sing a little. Join the community chorus and if there isn't one, start one. "A singing army is a winning army." A sing- ing family is a spiritually growing family, and music the link that brintrs heaven to earth. TRADITIONAL FINGER-PLAYS AND IMITATIVE PLAYS* THE FINGERS This is little Tommy Thumb, Round and smooth as any plum. This is busy Peter-Pointer; Surely he's a double-jointer. This is mighty Toby-Tall; He's the biggest one of all. This is dainty Reuben Ring ; He's too fine for anything. And this little wee one, maybe, Is the pretty Finger-Baby. All the five we've counted now, Busy fingers in a row. Every finger knows the way. How to work and how to play; Yet together they work best. Each one helping all the rest. PUTTING THE FINGERS TO SLEEP By Harriet Hickok Hei.ler Go to sleep, my little Thunibkins, Go to sleep. Cuddle down, my Pointer Finger, Quiet keep. Come, my tallest Middle Finger, Where's the sun ? Slipping down behind the hill top — Day is done. Now, my timid Ring-man Finger, See the west ! Oh, you tiny Baby Finger, Rest is best ! BABY'S TOES This little pig went to market; This little pig stayed at home; This little pig had roast beef; This little pig had none; This little pig said, "Wee. wee ! I can't find my way home." * Other plays will be fuund in the Bovs and Girls Bookshelf, THE FIVE LITTLE FAIRIES By Maud Burn ham Said this little fairy, "I'm as thirsty as can be." Said this little fairy, "I'm hungry, too, dear me !" Said this little fairy, "Who'll tell us where to go?" Said this little fairy, "I'm sure that I don't know !" Said this little fairy, "Let's brew some Dew-drop Tea !" So they sipped it and ate honey Beneath the maple tree. 'JOHNNY SHALL HAVE BONNET" A NEW Johnny shall have a new bonnet. And Johnny shall go to the fair, And Johnny shall have a blue ribbon To tie up his bonny brown hair. And why may not I love Johnny. And why may not Johnny love me ? And why may not I love Johnny As well as another body? And here's a leg for a stocking, And here's a foot for a shoe ; And he has a kiss for his daddy And one for his mammy, I trow. And why may not I love Johnny, And why may not Johnny love me? And why may not I love Johnny, As well as another body ? 'ol. I., pages 1-22. FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 89 TO LEARN ABOUT ONE'S FACE Ring the bell, Knock at the door, Lift the latch, And walk in. {Chuck the chin) \Pidl the front locks) (Knock on forehead) (Lift the nose) (Mouth opens.) Brow bender, Eye peeper, Nose smeller, Mouth eater, Chin chopper ! Chippety, chippety, chippety, chin ! Here sits the Lord Mayor (forehead). Here sit his two men (eyes). Here sits the cock (right cheek), Here sits the hen (left cheek). Here sit the little chickens (tip of nose), Here they run in (mouth) ; Chinchopper, chinchopper, Chinchopper, chin! (chuck the chin). BOW, WOW, WOW Bow-wow-wow ! Whose dog art thou ? Little Tom Tinker's dog, Bow-wow-wow ! WHAT THEY SAY "Bow-wow," says the dog; "Mew-mew," says the cat; "Grunt-grunt," goes the hog; And "Squeak," goes the rat. "Too-hoo," says the owl ; "Caw-caw," says the crow ; "Quack-quack," says the duck; And "Moo," says the cow. PAT A CAKE Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man. So I do, master, as fast as I can. Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with T, And then it will serve for Tommy and me. PEASE PORRIDGE Pease porridge hot. Pease porridge cold, Pease porridge in the pot. Nine days old. Some like it hot, Some like it cold. Some like it in the pot, Nine days old. FOR THE HURT HAND Pat it, kiss it. Stroke it, bless it; Three days' sunshine, three days' rain. Little hand all well again. FOR COLD HANDS Warm, hands, warm, daddy's gone to plow ; If you want to warm hands, warm hands now. THE BARNYARD When the farmer's day is done, In the barnyard, ev'ry one. Beast and bird, politely say, "Thank you for my food to-day." The cow says, "Moo !" The pigeon, "Cool" The sheep says, "Baa !" The lamb says, "Maa !" The hen, "Cluck ! Cluck !" "Quack !" says the duck. PREPARATIONS FOR HANDWORK* MRS. MINNETTA SAMMIS LEONARD While children differ greatly in their develop- The first period shows almost nothing that ment, they are enough alike to make it safe to could be called handwork, but it is a most impor- divide the first four years into two periods; the tant time of getting ready. Then the baby gets first two years, preparation, and the years from control of his body, learns to use the large mus- two to four, beginnings. cles, to focus his eyes, and to exercise his newly • This is the first of a series by Mrs. Leonard on Handwork. -Another article on "Beginnings in Handwork" will be found in the Course for next year. 90 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL awakened senses. He must begin to know the world of things about him — how they look, how they act, and what he can do with them. Full and free opportunity to accomplish well the work of these first two years is essential, and the mother should begin early to watch and help. She should hang bright-colored objects for him to swing, handle, and throw. He needs objects con- trasting in size, shape, color, weight — things that move and things that stand still ; noisy, hard, soft, warm, cold, rough, smooth ; things round and things square. He needs toys to pound with, to pull and push, pour in and out of pans and spoons, and so on — anything to experiment with which can not hurt him. With the toys ought to be given real freedom to get all the "juice" from them. Mothers have an abnormal fear of a baby's getting a little hurt; and if we were perfectly honest with ourselves many of us would find, if our actions are the test of what we value, that we love the "cute, dainty baby-things" more than the baby itself. Sanitation May Go Too Far I used to pity a dear little girl we watched in the park, and my pity turned to indignation with her elders when I heard her, one day, humiliated and blamed for what was not her fault. Helen with her father stopped to admire a little twenty- months-old baby who ran, climbed, and rode her kiddie-car with rollicking glee. As they moved away I heard her father say, "For shame, Helen, that baby isn't nearly as old as you, and see how smart she is !" Poor Helen, not only robbed of her desires, but blamed for her result- ing backwardness ! For she took her daily airing securely strapped in a carriage, safe from "horrid germs, dirt, and falls," where she could watch the other youngster, dressed in a warm gray suit, getting all the health, joy, and exercise the parks could give. For though the parents of this other youngster too were not unaware of the danger from the dirt and germs of the city, they realized that, since this was the best playground they could give her, she had to get all the good it offered. These parents knew that development of strength and general body-control as well as self-confidence and judgment are the background of all later work. It was in this early freedom that she gained the caution and poise of body and mind conspic- uous in her actions and handwork to-day. With our own child not only did we give her a chance to experiment with things, but we encouraged her to get herself out of all difficulties and to do things herself, so that her earliest crow of delight was, "See, Baba do it self." And "do it self" became her name for the building-cans when she was about twenty-one months old. This pride in self-accomplishment is most essential in character-building. Companionship with Mother's Work Our baby, of course, liked to see me cook. She was never permitted to reach up to the table, but might always pull up a box or chair to stand on so that she could watch me. This not only prevented serious accidents, but brought develop- ment to her in handling big things and in plan- ning often how to make steps up to the top of a table or trunk. I had some convenient wooden boxes and a strong suitcase that she could always use. While watching and handling materials in the kitchen, she found cornmeal and flour lovely things to sift through the fingers and to pour. But as these couldn't be washed after her play and as I couldn't then get her sand, I substituted rice. Sitting on a clean sheet on the floor, she played a great deal with the rice, until in the Summer we went to the country where she could have a sand-box.* This turned out to be a real nurse-girl, for safe from danger, she played by the hour, pouring, sifting, and piling the sand. All I could get to hold the sand was a dry-goods box with high sides; but, after all, I found this box the best I could have had, because she dis- covered that, by fixing her chair outside and a small box inside, she could climb over into the sand. This gave her the great pleasure of climbing up and down, carrying masses of sand to put on her table for "dinner." The sand proved so valuable that I had a box installed on the porch when we returned to the city, and on rainy days even let her play with sand in the house, as she had formerly played with the rice. Blocks Are the First Handwork Tools Very early she enjoyed large blocks. I had to search through all the best toy-stores for even medium-sized, simple building-blocks, with no success other than a twenty-five cent set of A B C * A good size for the box is five by ten feet. First remove the sod from an area of those dimensions, and if the natural drainage is poor, replace the top layer of soil with gravel. Procure two boards fifteen feet long and eight inches wide, a few nails, and a joist, two by three inches and eight feet long. Saw the joist into pieces two feet long, sharpen the ends, and drive them into the ground sixteen inches at the points tliat are to be the corners of the box. From each board cut a piece five feet long for the ends of the box. Nail the boards to the corner posts so as to form the sides and ends and, if you wish, bevel the tops. The apparatus is complete when you have hauled in the load of sand, preferably of the grade known to dealers as "tine beach." Be sure it is free from earth. It should be changed at the first suggestion of foulness. To keep out stray cats and dogs, it is well to place a woven wire fence four feet high about the box. To make a sand table, construct one or more boxes, eight inches deep, of any desired size, preferably not over three by six feet. Build a strong table to support the boxes, about twelve inches above the ground. See note on page 60. PREPARATIONS FOR HANDWORK FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 91 blocks and some cheap oblongs with ludicrous circus pictures. I used these, but also had a carpenter make a set of oblong blocks from the hardest sort of soft wood. I wanted them large, because not only did she use the large muscles to handle them, but had to exercise her whole body. Besides, she found uses for these in making things for herself which she never thought of with the small ones. However, in this earliest period she did little "making" with them. She loved to arrange in rows whatever she happened to be playing with — blocks, dolls, spoons, clothespins — and then cover them over "to take a nap." She spent much time and effort trying to wrap up odd- shaped things. Dominoes to put in and out of the bo.x, a cart and wheelbarrow to load with dirt and stones, a little broom, a doll-cradle and car- riage, a tub of water out of doors, and a pan, — these were her chief playthings the Summer she was two years old, and she learned to use all of them fairly well. Most of the play at this time is just to get new experiences. To the adult it often looks like a passion for destroying things. But gradually the baby finds that he can make things which he names, and be begins to value them enough to repeat the attempt another time. He is now ready to enter a new period, and the mother may do much to encourage him and help him to turn destructive energy into constructive channels. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INFANT AND ADULT MEMORY* BY DAVID R. MAJOR, Pii.D. We may well consider the difference between the memory of the infant and that of the adult. First, we may speak of the lack of continuity, the so-called weakness of the infant's memory. When we speak of the adult's memory as being stronger and as having greater continuity than that of the infant, we mean that the mental im- pressions of the adult are retained for a longer period — for weeks, months, years, or to the end of his days; whereas, the baby remembers for only a moment or a few seconds. We say that the impressions on the infant's mind fade away almost the instant the stimulus ceases. The ex- l)lanation of the fleeting character of the infant's mental impressions is found in the fact that the associations which are formed are weak and un- substantial. The bonds of association are like ropes of sand: unless they are continually rebuilt they fall away. How early may we find associations which per- sist beyond the moment and which endure al- though they are not continually renewed? My own observations on this point, though far from being as thorough as one wishes, still will serve to indicate the directions in which one might look for answers in the case of an individual child. On R.'s 411th day (fourteenth month) he was playing with a ball, rolling it. crawling after it, and so on. After awhile the ball rolled under a couch out of easy reach and he went about other play. A half hour later, in order to see whether he would remember where he had last seen the ball, I said to him, "Get the ball, R." He at once crawled to the couch, got down on his stomach and struggled until he fished the ball out. This was the first time we noticed that he re- membered anything for more than a few seconds, though there must have been earlier instances not noted. Compayref quotes from Egger's:}: rec- ord a similar observation: "At that age (fifteen months) Emile seizes a toy that he has left or hidden under a chair; a quarter of an hour after- ward I asked him for it; he goes straight to the object and brings it to me." Two notes made in R.'s eighteenth month show that he remembered interesting plays for periods of twenty-four hours, or more. A note from the record for the nine- teenth month shows the child's ability to remem- ber places. The child's memory for names heard once was also increasing. On a certain evening in the latter part of the nineteenth month, I pointed out and named the moon for him. Three evenings after, he accidentally caught sight of the moon, reached toward it, and cried "moom." The name "moon" was remembered during the interval of three days. * From "First Steps in Mental Growth," by David R. Major, published by the Macmillan Company, New York. Used by permission of the publishers. t Tules Gabriel Compa-yre, author of "The Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child." j Emile Egger, a French scholar, author of "Observations et reflexions sur le developt'ement de I'intelligence €t du lan- gagc chez les e^fattts." K.X.— 8 92 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL In the cases of remembering just cited we may suppose that the associations had not been re- newed since they were first formed; that the child had reached the age when impressions and asso- ciations persisted for several days, even when they were not renewed in the interval. It is per- haps unnecessary to follow the record farther month by month. It shows that an increasing number of experiences were selected and remem- bered for longer and longer periods. Of course, it is not to be supposed that the child remembered all things' — names, actions, where playthings were left, where people lived, persons he had seen, whether food was good, and so forth ; in fact, the things he did not remember far outnumbered those which he did, and his failure to remember some things and persons was as striking as was his ability to remember others. Another characteristic of a little child's mem- ories is that, as a rule, they are not accurately localized in time and space as are probably most adult memories. As Compayre observes, "The picture is engraved on his memory, but the set- ting has vanished. He remembers distinctly the things he has seen, but he can not tell where or when he saw them." It must be remembered that the ideas of time and space are not equally difficult of acquirement : space-relations are noted and remembered much earlier than time-relations. The idea of time is clearly harder; it requires a wider sweep of imagination, a higher process of analysis and discrimination to master the ideas of "now," "to-morrow," "yesterday," "long ago," "next summer," than to understand "far" and "near," "on" and "under." "in front," "be- hind," "inside," "outside," and the like. Another difference between the memories of the baby and those of the adult is that the former are sense-excited ; they arise in consciousness immediately and directly at the suggestion of a sense-stimulus, while most of the memories of the developed mind appear in connection with other memories, images revived by other images. It may be said generally that during the first year the child's memory-images are revived by some sort of sense-impression. At any rate, this was true of R.'s first year. His memory-images were called up by sensory stimuli ; the name of an object was heard and the image of the object appeared in consciousness; a doll in the hand suggested squeezing it to hear it squeak. (From the fifteenth month on, Dr. Major's inter- esting studies show that his child began to have ideas "pop into" his mind that did not seem to be suggested by anything he saw, heard, or felt at the moment.) Another notable difference between the baby's mind and the adult's, a difference very closely related to that just considered, is the absence in the former of what are called "trains of imagery." In the developed mind, most of the images which flow into consciousness are called there in the train of other images. An idea appears in con- sciousness, the first calls up a second, the second a third, the second and third may revive new ideas, and we have what we call a train of imagery, often uninterrupted by outside stimuli. For example, one glances up from his work and notes a spring shower which suggests returning leaves on the trees, blossoms, flowers, Easter-day, church, a certain minister, missionaries, a certain friend in South America. The train of ideas from the sight of the spring shower to the South American friend flows on independently of out- side influences — in the head, as we say. Trains of imagery are unknown, probably, to the child under two. He hears the word "ball," or "clock," or "hat," the idea of the object comes to his mind and there the process ends, unless the child hap- pens to want the object named; while in the mature mind any one of these words is likely to start of train of images. "Ball" may suggest the shape of the earth or a game of ball, and these in turn may call up any one of a number of other ideas; so with the words "clock" and "hat." The child's memory-images do not call up others for the reason that the "others" are not in the mind to be called up, and because the habit which ideas get of going in pairs or in series has not been formed. During the first year and a half — probably during the first two years — the baby lacks what in popular speech is known as the power of "voluntary recollection." He makes no conscious efforts to recall past experiences, such as the adult makes when trying to recall a name which for the moment is forgotten. In infancy and early childhood, recollections and recognitions of former experiences are accidental, apparently ; that is, they occur without conscious effort on the child's part. In considering this fact, the question arose, at what age do children begin to make an "eflfort to recall" past experiences? How early do they try to recall, for example, where they leave favorite toys, or names which are well known, but which for the moment are forgotten ? My observations were begun when the child was in his eighteenth month, and continued until there was unmistakable evidence that the child did make efforts to recall forgotten things — until "trying to remember" some forgotten thing came to be a frequent occurrence. The first observed instance of "effort to recall" appeared in the early davs of the twentv-eighth month. HABIT-TRAINING OF LITTLE CHILDREN BY MRS. EUNICE BARSTOW BUCK It is ensy to find in books and articles on child- training directions for remedying faults, but the problems we mothers of very little people face first are tif prevention, rather than of cure. If we could only know just how, it would be so much easier to influence a child to be generous than to try to correct one that had become selfish; for there is some virtue to cultivate in place of every fault. We want, then, to mold good chil- dren, not to remodel naughty ones ; and even this seems a challenge to far distant action as a new- born baby is laid in our arms. When we read that the first two and a half years are those essentially of habit-formation, we are given a starting-point, however, and matters of discipline assume an important place in the household at once. Perhaps there is no one thing that helps so much during the first few months of a baby's life as complete cooperation between father and mother, and a very definite idea on the part of both as to what habits the child is to form. Before Sister came, her father and I read, studied, and discussed everything on child-training we could find, and when the wee lady arrived a whole new set of theories awaited her — theories gleaned from 'many sources, sifted, assorted, and sprinkled with the best common sense we could achieve. While a few have been changed or modified with constant nursery use, in the main they have worked wonderfully well with our little people — Sister, who is now just past six, and four- and-a-half-year-old Brother. Sleep and Quietness Habits formed regarding physical care have far more influence on the development of will power and self-control than at first thought seems possible. Regularity is the keynote here — regu- lar hours for bathing and exercise, eating and sleeping. One of the earliest of nursery laws is that healthy babies shall go to sleep alone at the appointed hours, and Sister put us through a course of vigorous training before she would accept the idea. If we had not been assured by both doctor and nurse that the wails were far more painful to us than to her we never could have stood it ! They said that she was spunky and strong-willed — that she was not uncom- fortable was proved by the fact that she always stopped crying when picked up and was content as long as held — but I think the real explanation lay in the fact that she had a very tense, high- strung mother. We did not handle or fuss over her, and since baby-days she has been a very calm, happy child. Brother dropped asleep quite happily from the first — a delightful disappoint- ment after nerving ourselves for another siege. The results of this habit have been most pleas- ing. The children have never had to be "put to sleep," and as they expect to stay in their beds when once tucked in. our evenings have been free. If a tooth or a bit of pain does wake them during the night, when we have attended to the physical need of the moment we can slip back to our own beds at once. Brother has had two or three short illnesses, serious enough to make a trained nurse a necessity for a few days. He proved an unusually easy patient to take care of, for he did not expect entertainment when lying in his little bed. Occasionally each of the children has wanted the light in the hall left on and the door ajar. This has always been at a time of nervous unrest, and we found it best to do as they desired, with- out comment, for two or three nights ; then when we were sure that they were feeling quite well and happy again, we shut the door as a matter of course. Trouble was not likely to follow, but if it did and we were sure that conditions were normal, "baby"' had to cry it out (not a lengthy process if going to bed in the dark has been a life-habit), and the child, who was old enough to understand, was helped only by happy sug- gestions as to the friendly dark and perhaps an extra drink of water. If mother downstairs can play and sing during such small crises, it helps both little people and big. Keeping quiet until getting-up time is another habit that may be acquired by a very small child, and we have proved most conclusively that it is not necessary for the whole household to be roused at an unearthly hour just because there is a baby in the family. Both children when tiny were always put back in their beds after their early morning feeding, and soon learned that they must stay there until mother was dressed and had had her breakfast. Sister was inclined to be restless, and toys were a necessity at this time, but Brother found his pink hands quite amusing enough. Now when we wake in tlie morning we hear them 93 94 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL, singing and talking to themselves, each in his own room, and they get up and begin to dress when the seven o'clock whistles blow, whether we are about or not. The Habit of Happiness The habit of happiness must be cultivated all the time, and we found non-interference on our part one of the secrets of success. A short time ago I called on a friend who has a dear little girl three months old. The baby, who was lying contentedly on the living-room couch when I arrived, was picked up to be introduced to me. Her mother held her and played with her for a few minutes and then laid her down, only to pick her up again when another caller arrived. That time the wee lady objected to being put back on the couch, and soon her wails had increased until conversation was quite impossible. The mother apologized as we were leaving by saying, "Poor baby has so much wind in her stomach." A few days later I chanced to be at the home of another friend whose little one was a few weeks older. Nothing was in sight .to indicate that there was a baby in the house, and when I inquired for him his mother responded radiantly, "He is doing just splendidly and is so good. Would you like to peek at -him?" We went quietly up- stairs and "peeked." The boy, who was lying in his crib stretching his wee legs and arms about and grunting and gurgling in the happiest fashion, greeted us with a smile of welcome, then his attention returned to the waving hands, and after watching in silent delight for a few minutes we slipped away again. You see, a good child is sometimes far more a matter of mother-training than of child-training! The rule, "Avoid minor problems of discipline by never disturbing unnecessarily a contented child," should be posted in every nursery. When the wee baby lies in his bed kicking and crowing we must let him alone; when the little creeper is busy investigating corners we must let him alone; when the small toddler stands gazing out into the blackness of an early winter evening we must let him alone. The true way to enjoy 4 little child is by watching with silent sympathy his natural development, and we find that the little one whose baby-thoughts are not interrupted will have a serene poise and a power of concen- tration which we grown-ups may well envy. Obedience Before one realizes it, the time for the forma- tion of the habit of obedience is at hand. We tried to make as few rules as possible and then insisted absolutely that those few should be kept. The very first in our family concerned Mother's glasses, and every time the little hands ventured near they were gently withdrawn with a quiet, "No, no," and attention called to something else. In a very short time the babies learned what that "No, no" meant in regard to Mother's glasses and later to other things, and it grew to be almost instinctive to withdraw the hand from any object at the words. When we were sure that there was no lack of understanding, wee fingers were snapped if the child did not heed. Slapping I dislike intensely — with a spirited child it altogether too often degenerates later into something like a free fight. By using the fingers as in the game of carroms, however, a quick, sharp sting results, which helps tiny memories in a remarkable way, and — it just can't be done in haste or anger. Of course, it is unpleasant to have to inflict pain of any sort or degree, but for the sake of the child's physical safety, as well as of his moral development, at times we must have instant obedience. Since we parents are not omnipresent, we must know that certain things will not be touched when we are not present, and a very little child must be reached through the senses rather than the intellect. If we are to be just to our children, two things must be remembered as to commands and re- quests. Commands must be few and really neces- sary ; and once given they must be carried out, no matter what the consequences. But unwilling- ness to accede to a mere request can not be called naughty. To be a successful commander requires real skill. We mothers often bewilder our children completely by the many and varied ways in which we word our orders. We cry, "No, no! Don't do that ! Put it down ! Drop it ! Haven't I told you not to touch that?" and then are puzzled and angry because Baby simply stands and stares. Men in the army know and obey only certain definitely worded commands. Surely we can not e.xpect more of children in the nursery. By think- ing things over carefully we mothers can make out a list for use with our children. This will begin with a simple "No, no!" — useful and necessary all through early childhood — meaning "The present action, no matter what it is, must be stopped at once." Perhaps the next will be "Come !" and then "Wait." Before the end of the third year these will be followed by the .more explicit. "Hands off" and "Put it back," "Come to Mother," "Run to ," "Stand still," "Come back," and a few military commands, "Halt," "Forward march," etc. These, being quite thrill- ing, will sometimes save the day when mutiny threatens. A CH.ALLENGE TO THE FUTURE FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 95 With some children it is a very great help, in making obedience to these commands habitual and almost instinctive, to use them in a merry game. When Brother was in his happiest mood I would hold out my arms and call firmly but smil- ingly "Come," and when he had almost reached me hold up one hand and say "Wait," then again "Come quickly," and he would throw himself into my arms for a big bear hug. Then "Go back," "Turn around," "Come," etc. In such a mood he was sure to obey. Why should not drill be as useful to children as to soldiers? Then when it is no game, but deadly earnest — as when he starts to cross the street in front of an auto- mobile — his response to a quick, firm, "Wait" (to get attention), "Come back quickly" is almost automatic. Since it is habit we are striving for, with a very little person if is often best to force good- ness, rather than precipitate a crisis which is trying to both nerves and morals. For instance, if a baby hesitates and turns as though to run away when the order "Come" is given, if some one can take his hand and start him in the right direction, with a merry word to drive contrary thoughts out of the little mind, the atmosphere remains unclouded, and next time it will be easier to turn about-face at once. Things that Mustn't Be Touched We have spoken of rules. There are certain objects in every house which, for the safety and comfort of everybody, must not be handled by the very small child. The instinct to touch is very strong in normal children and should not entirely be repressed. They must learn much through their senses, and that of touch is as im- portant as any. A nursery, where everything within reach belongs to the children and may be handled by them, we have found to be almost essential. If this is impossible, a pen in which Baby can play with his own toys away from temptation helps greatly. Sister began to get about the floor when only eight or nine months old. We tried to keep deli- cate articles out of reach as much as possible when she played in the living-rooms, but the waste-basket was not removed, and she had to learn not to touch that. Later everything on the tables was forbidden. Since this was an un- varying rule, its enforcement was not difficult, and Brother learned by example as well as by precept. Because we had no little meddlers about, much needless friction was avoided at home, and Brother and Sister have always been welcome guests at the homes of our friends. Unfortunate Habits There is one bad habit which many of us have to deal with — thumb-sucking. Sister had a slight case, but when she was fourteen months old we stopped it entirely by a thorough "course" of mittens. If she had been like a wee neighbor of ours, sucking day and night, we would have applied the treatment when she was a tiny baby, but she never used the comfort much until teeth began to bother, and then only when tired and unhappy. The habit grew slowly but surely, how- ever, and finally I made thumbless mittens of thin cotton cloth and kept them on her hands night and day for two weeks, and during that time she was not once allowed to get the little thumb to her mouth. The first two or three nights I stayed with her until she was asleep, and we tried to keep her happily occupied during all her waking hours. At the end of two weeks the mittens were re- moved during the day and her hands given a snap that really stung if they went to her mouth. This only happened a few times — the habit was broken. She wore mittens at night until she was three j-ears old. The secret of success with a method like this is to prevent a single lapse, and of course a joke should never be made of the matter. It is wiser to prevent a child's forming this habit at all than to break it at any period. Thumbless aluminum mitts may be bought for tiny babies, which they really enjoy watching wave about, and these can be used for a short time if symptoms appear. As they can be so easily kept clean they are per- haps more sanitary than cloth mittens. They would be a real hardship to an older child. I tliink, for toys could not be handled as is possible with the soft cloth, but they could be used at night. It is hard to keep mittens of any kind on a child of over a year and a half. If the habit has not been overcome by this time, surgeon's plaster wrapped about the offending member and soaked with something harmless but bitter may be helpful. At this age rewards may be used and soon pride may be appealed to. One child of my acquaintance stopped when told that it would make her mouth very ugly, and another was impressed only when her playmates mimicked her. It did look silly and babyish. Common Sense As the children begin really to think things out we can find more and more ways to make unpleasantness follow naturally in the wake of wrongdoing. The child w-ho is careless with books or in the use of pencil, scissors, or anything 96 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL else is e\idently too young to use them. We never have time to fuss with a child who hinders when being helped to dress, and, if he interferes in any way or is naughty, he must wait until our next task is completed, and we are again free to help him. Of course the smaller the per- son the less severe must be the penalties. Sister and Brother play generally together most hap- pily, but when the rare times of wrath do come, a temporary separation works like magic. Of course, if children can not play happily together they must play alone — it's just common sense. It is in little ways such as these that we can teach our boys and girls to look before they leap — or rather to think before they act — surely one of the most desirable habits that can be formed in childhood. Happy Companionship Where two children are "near of an age" there is always a more or less trying period when the younger first gets about. He can not yet handle all toys correctly and is pretty sure to interfere with their use by the older one. Mother-instinct began to grow in Sister's womanly little heart when she was only a baby herself, and she was always very patient and never seemed to resent Brother's interference, even when treasured pos- sessions were damaged. If she built a beautiful house and he knocked part of it down she'd smile ■ — and sigh — perhaps finish the destruction her- self and try another game. She adapted her ideas to his understanding in quite a remarkable way, and before he was two years old they were the happiest of chums. Things would not have gone quite so smoothly had he been the elder, for he had far less patience and self-control, and was a willful wee lad always. Helpful Play If a normal child is unduly mischievous, one of two things is the matter. He has no proper place to play where he can handle and experi- ment with interesting things — and this is abso- lutely necessary if he is to develop as he should — or he is suffering from lack of directed play. Mother forgets that if she has to say "Don't do that" she must always add "Do this." Indeed, if she can keep him supplied with "Do's" there will be no need of "Don'ts." Directed play is the solution of many a nursery problem. If we can keep a baby busy he is sure to be happy and good. We can find many things for tiny people to do and be, and with just a word here and there, it is easy to keep little imagi- nations working. Nursery dramatics are easily supervised, and Mother can go right on sewing while Jack jumps over the candle-stick or he and his sister Jill climb the fateful hill. Toys are much more interesting if Mother is near, and so many "really truly" grown-up things are delight- ful playthings. Before we know it we have real helpers who are happiest when running errands about the house, pushing the carpet-sweeper, wiping spots off the bath-room wall, beating eggs and stirring flour on baking-day, or polishing silver. All these things and many more can be done by the two-year-old. We've always been able just to see virtue grow behind the glowing faces when it has been possible to say to Daddy at the dinner- table, "We had such dear little helpers this morn- ing," and can add a list of accomplishments per- haps; "They tidied the nursery, washed their own socks (how children do love water!) and Sister wiped down the stairs while Brother dusted the chairs." Self-Control Temper-tantrums were among the things we decided not to have in our family. When Sister was almost sixteen months old she had a terrible one, for which I was entirely to blame. She had been playing quietly beside me for a long, long time, and when she finally became restless I should have suggested a new game or given her another toy. I was too "busy," however, and paid no at- tention to her when she began to wander aimlessly about the room. Soon she stumbled over a rug and fell. Without raising my eyes I said, "Up she comes," and she regained her feet and continued her journeying. A minute later she stepped on a bead and went down again, and I answered her wail by saying absently, "Oh, that didn't hurt. Hop up." Then the last straw came; she started for my lap for comfort and fell over my extended foot, and — her self-control was gone. She tlung her- self upon her face and screamed and kicked, and kicked and screamed, until I was really frightened and she was completely exhausted. For days after that, when things annoyed her, Sister's little hands and feet began to fly, and it was only by the greatest care on our part that a repetition of the experience was avoided. Since then we have tried never to be too busy to suggest a task for little fingers or really to sympathize with childish troubles. We have never allowed anyone to tease Sister — 'that would have been fatal — and we never laugh at her. Too many times I have seen people make a joke of the be- ginnings of temper, and before they realized it the tantrum-habit had been formed, and it is an extremely difficult one to break. [ FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 97 Brother, who is entirely different in disposition, has many a time flown into a baby rage, over in a few minutes, but acute while it lasted. We ignore it entirely, or, if it is directed against a person or thing, hold his hands quietly but firmly until it is past. These have never been frequent and have now ceased almost entirely. When nobody laughs and nobody cries and it seems to cause no excitement at all, it doesn't pay to relieve his feelings in such a strenuous fashion. Prevention is far better than cure, and with tact and patience and forethought on the part of us parents, occasions for outbursts of any kind are few and far between. When we know that the children are tired we try to make very few demands upon them and to be perhaps a bit blind to faults that might otherwise need correction. We mean always to give a few minutes' warning before time to put away a toy or game, and never to interrupt a busy child unless absolutely neces- sary. Unselfishness We read that a child is natural!}- a selfish little animal, but we have not found that to be true. From babyhood our two have been generous, and jealousy has always been an unknown iniquity. When Brother first began to talk, if we asked him if he wanted a walk or a toy or dinner he would always nod and say, "Teti (Sister) too," and at the prospect of any pleasure Sister would ask, "And can Brother do it?" If one was left out there was never any grieving, however. Sometimes when one baby received a caress the other would run up saying, "Love me, too !" and then we would have a big three-cornered bear- hug. No doubt this spirit is in some small part due to our happy home atmosphere ; but I am sure the roots must always be there, ready for cultivation. We have had no trouble about playthings. Toys for which personal affection is felt, such as dolls and animals, have been owned by the individual child, and each has a place of his own in which to keep things dear to him. Of course, we try to see that the families are of about the same size. Building material and things of that sort we find best owned by the children together ; for common ownership must foster a feeling of community interest and responsibility which is wholesome, wliile at the same time encouraging cooperative work and play. Manners Before the children were three years old they could feed themselves very nicely and were begin- ning to wash and dress themselves. They under- stood that hands and faces must be clean before meals, asked for and used a handkerchief, and were gradually learning to act on the principle, "A proper place for everything and everything in its place." (We're still learning, but patience and perseverance are going to win out in the end.) Such little habits as self-reliance and orderliness we hope will appear instinctive later, when the children realize their value, for their minds will be more free for efficient thinking if the details of right doing have been prearranged auto- matically. "Please" is quite naturally and properly one of the first spoken words, and when once learned it should accompany all requests. Sometimes it was — and is still — necessary to prompt our little people, but we find courtesy very catching, and as we are particular ourselves we have had sur- prisingly little difficulty. "Thank you" and "Excuse me," the latter preceded by "I'm sorry," and other courtesies came easily and naturally. If our sons and daughters are to rise when an older person enters the room, give the most com- fortable chair to another, return wandering property, and so forth, we must do these things ourselves. It is sometimes a bit hard to remem- ber to ask pardon when we inadvertently inter- fere with the activities of a tiny child and to apologize for a cough or sneeze when no one except the baby is near. It is by example rather than precept that such things must be taught, however, and we parents can not be too careful in the presence of the younger generation. We want our children to be polite to our friends, though this is sometimes a bit hard to manage. Brother never found it difficult to say, "How do!" quite cordially, but Sister has always been very shy and it often seems a real ordeal for her to speak to strangers. At such times we have not tried to insist on words, but have had her shake hands, if necessary giving invisible assistance to the halting right arm. We found, however, that if we knew guests were coming we could plan in a way that made events happy for all. If she was told that a certain friend of Mother's was coming and would want to see a block-house or a freshly dressed doll, she would forget herself in her busy preparation and later in the thought that she was really giving pleasure. Fortitude Of course, we have always encouraged the children to be brave in the face of failure, dis- appointment, or physical pain. They learned, "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again," as soon as they could talk, and "The world is so full of a number of things, I am sure we should all 98 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL be as happy as kings." even if plans have to be changed and pleasures postponed or rearranged. Of course there is always something just as nice to do if we can only find it. Slight bumps are kissed and forgotten, while with bigger ones, unless they are serious, diver- sion proves better than witch-hazel. Perhaps with a very tiny child we look to see if there is a hole in the floor before we look to see if there is broken skin, and you know there is always something funny about a tumble. Once a quick, "There goes Hunipty Dumpty," brought a laugh instead of tears, when a very small Brother fell from the steps onto the crushed-rock drive, and nonsense about the absence of the king's horses and men and what they would have thought had they been there, kept the little mind occupied during a rather painful cleansing and bandaging operation. Self-control in matters large and sincere means a disciplined will and a morally sturdy child — and surely that is what we all want. "BABY-TALK" AND SPEECH DEFECTS BY M. V. O'Shea "There is something very cheerful and courageous in the setting-out of a child on a journey of speech zvilh so small baggage and with so much confidence. He goes free, a simple adventurer." — Alice Meynell. The first sound a child utters may be indicated by the vowel a. In the beginning he can not utter any consonant sound: one can hear nothing but vowel sounds from him for several months. Why? Because the vowels are easily uttered. They require no coordination of the lips, teeth, tongue, and palate. The first articulate word is something like via-ina. The next is apt to be pa-pa and the next ha-ha. The consonants in these words are made in a simple way. The child is always uttering the a sound during his waking moments, and when he is feeding or indulging in voice play he un- consciously modifies the stream of a sound by the lips, which results in the ma-ma that infants re- peat over and over again in voice play. Then again as the child is playing vocally in his cradle he puff's and puffs and produces something like pa-pa by modifying the stream of a sound, by blowing against the opening lips. In the same way while he is indulging in vocal gymnastics he produces a sound that resembles ha-ha. In due course other consonants appear and they are joined with the original a sound; and in time other vowels are developed ; thus the range of sound combinations is continually enlarged. By the time any normal child is twelve months of age, he begins to imitate some of the words spoken by his father, mother, brothers, and sis- ters, but he never reproduces any word with complete accuracy. He mutilates every word more or less, because he avoids the more difl^cult sounds, either eliminating them altogether or sub- stituting other sounds for them. Very rarely. if ever, would a twelve-months-old child say "milk," giving the full and exact sound of the / and the k. Sometimes young children will omit all the consonant sounds, and "milk" will be sim- ply '"t." More often it is "mi" with the I and k omitted. Cause of Speech Defects A six-months-old child can not control the tips of his fingers in coordination with one another so that he can perform delicate tasks such as thread- ing a needle. Neither can he control the tip of his tongue in relation to the teeth and the palate so that he can produce difficult consonantal sounds. This is why he mutilates words. Most children of eighteen months and even older will omit the sound of g on the ends of all words ending in ing. They will substitute other sounds for th. fl. sp, and so on, or omit them altogether. Thus "that" will be "dat" ; "spot" will be "pot"; "flowers" will be "fowers"; "run" may be "glun" or simply "un" ; "drink" may be "ding" or "dink"; "Christmas" is likely to be "ismas" or "Kismas"; "hold" may be "ho"; "let" may be "'et"; "come" may be simply "cu" ; "through" is likely to be "f rough." The "th" in "either" will probably be changed to "v," and the word will be pronounced "eiver." A hard word like "scissors" will be likely to be simply "si." One might go on with these instances to any length. By the time the child has reached his third birthday all these mutilations should have dis- appeared, if he develops normally. If he still retains his "baby talk" it is an indication that he is not gaining mastery of speech in quite the FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 99 right way, and he should be given some special attention. The first thing to do is to avoid using "baby talk" in speaking to him. A parent should always prevent people from using mutilated words in talking to his child. The next thing to do is to look into the child's physical condition. Does he have adenoids? Is he tongue-tied? Does he have enlarged tonsils or enlarged glands? Is his palate properly formed? Are the nasal passages open, or are they obstructed by con- gested conditions or misplaced bony structures? In some cases the tongue is so thick that the child seems to be unable to use it to make the more difficult consonant sounds. The chances are that a child who is normal physically will grow through the period of speech- mutilation, and will reproduce correctly all the sounds in the language without special instruction. But occasionally a child is found who is normal physically and mentally, but who persists in using mutilated words. With such children special in- struction is desirable. These children must be taught how to place the vocal apparatus in making the sounds which give trouble. Take the th sound, for instance. A parent can help a normal three-year-old child by showing it how the vocal organs are placed in sounding th in "through." for example, or in "this" or "that." A one-year- old child can not imitate the position of the vocal apparatus in making particular sounds, but a typi- cal three-year-old child can do it. Precise Articulation The sounds that are made in the front of the mouth, so to speak, so that the child can see the position of the tongue, teeth, and lips, can be more easily imitated than sounds that are made in the back of the mouth; but even these latter sounds, as, for instance, g in "pudding," can be taught to a normal three-year-old child who habitually omits it, but can not be effectively taught simply by pronouncing it. The child must see the vocal organs in position and in action. If necessary, he must feel them with his fingers so that he will have something definite to imitate. A child can not imitate the mere sound of a word as readily as the movement of the vocal apparatus which he can see and feel. This principle is recognized to-day in teaching adults a foreign language. Every good teacher now gives phonic lessons at the beginning of the study of a foreign language. The student ac- quires the sounds of the language largely by observing the placement and imitating the move- ments of the vocal organs of his teacher. He may never get the more subtle sounds of the foreign language, as ich in German, if the teacher simply pronounces them and depends upon his pupil to imitate them through hearing alone. If the readers of these lines, who have not thought of these matters, will try themselves to imitate the speech of a foreigner whose language they do not speak, they will quickly realize that it is practically impossible to reproduce strange words that are heard merely. In the language of psychology, one can not get a clear auditory image of words with which he is unfamiliar. Not until he has had experience in speaking such words will the ear give clear auditory images of them. It is good training for all children between the ages of three and six or seven to have exercises in precise articulation. However, the majority of children will in time articulate correctly without special training, provided they hear language spoken correctly about them. But if they hear slovenly speech they may never learn to articulate precisely, which will prove a serious handicap in life. Clear, precise articulation will prove a valu- able asset to anyone. A particular cause of speech-defect remains to be mentioned. Observations have been made upon left-handed children who have been urged to use their right hand during the first two or three years, and they develop slowly in the mastery of speech ; but when permitted to use the left hand freely, they have progressed more rapidly. There have not been enough investiga- tions made to enable one to say that this is the rule, but it is undoubtedly true in a large propor- tion of cases. If, then, a parent has a left-handed child whom he is trying to make right-handed, and if the child is arrested in his speech develop- ment, it would seem wise to let the child follow nature's course and use his left hand if he chooses to do so. THE GIFT OF TONGUES BY MARY ADAIR It may seem unnecessary, in these days of in- tensive education, to stress tlie baby's babblings as of extreme importance to the race, or to give a word of warning to the eager world that "Art is long," and that it is the littlest child, who says nothing about it, who is the first victim of the high cost of superior education. The modern scientific mother feeds carefully her baby's body, then weighs and measures for re- sults; but strangely enough she attempts to weigh and measure his intellectual and spiritual gain, or in other words his human growth, without re- membering that the feeding must antedate the testing. The race-mother, perhaps because she was such a child herself, babbled her sing-song to the baby, and took, in Nature's own way, the path to soul- culture. The modern mother slights the original plan, apparently supposing that 'her child will be a new biological path-breaker and leap lightly through time, landing safely upon the First-Grade Reader and Hans Christian Andersen. So it hap- pens that we have a generation of young people who know not Joseph or Daniel, who might scoff at the "handwriting upon the wall," who sit in smothering swarms to see others play or sing, but have little art of play or song for them- selves. Sir J. A. Thompson, who is credited with the latest word in biology, says: "For various rea- sons biologists take a strange interest in the play of animals, and of children. . . . Play is no mere safety-valve for overflowing animal spirits, it is a rehearsal without responsibilities of some es- sential activities of adult life — but it is more, it affords both scope and stimulus for variation. The playing organisms are the most educable." For the first education of the baby through stories, three types are useful. These are The Croon, Body-Stories, and Egoistic Stories. For the beginnings of story and of story-telling, one had need to rub a lamp or question the Sphinx. So elemental is the first story that it seems only a voice, a deep calling unto deep ; as people who pass give the sign, and the countersign is given in return, so mother and child call to and answer each other. Brooding motherhood sings The Croon as the earliest story, the embryo of literature so to speak. It is the unutterable made vocal, the age- long story of love that slumbers not nor sleeps. To be sure, it happens that in the present over- sophisticated moment mothers do not croon to their babies, but happily the lapse is only for a moment; presently Nature will bestir herself and some dear old "bye bye" will come to life again. Mother Goose is a wise old bird ; she will know what's what, and when's when, for no doubt Nature senses the psychological moment better than we think. The Croon The croon of my babyhood was a weird one enough : "Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye — The Black Douglas will iiae get ye," but still across the span of time I hear it now as saying only, "My darling, my darling, you are a precious jewel in a golden casket within a fortified castle surrounded by a moat across which no evil may pass. So sleep, my little one." Wherever she learned it, the Southern Mammy is the star performer in this first "story hour." An ancient croon is illustrated in one of the pres- ent popular songs, "The .A.labama Lullaby"' : "Little Pickaninny, close yo' eyes an' go to sleep, Moon am swingin' low and spooky shadows gin to creep." Miss Emma Delancy, also Miss Lucine Finch, have, each in her own way. made the Southern croon famous. Body-Stories After the croon — what? The baby would say, "Oh, some story with movement and human touch, as well as sing-song." Therefore, Body-.Stories seem to be the logical form. These are played as they are rhymed, and may be grouped into whole-body plays, riding-plays, knee-plays, foot- plays, face-plays, ear-plays, nose-plays, hand-and- finger plays. "The first of the whole-body plays is the bur- rowing game, in which a gentle hand or maybe 100 FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY loi a head fumbles about in the pit of baby's stomach and a growly voice says "Boo-oo," or "See the little mousie creeping up the stair, Looking for a warm nest — there, oh, there !" In this game the climax occurs with the fum- bling in the hollow of baby's neck. These stories always demand an encore. Riding-Games The thrill enters at this stage. Well-known games are: "Ride a Cock-Horse," etc., from Mother Goose. "The baby goes riding away and away. Goes riding to hear what the dog has to say," etc. — From "Father and Baby Plays" — Emilic PouUson. "All the pretty little horses. Black and brown and gray and white and bay, All the pretty little horses You shall see some day, some day," "Gallop and gallop and gallop away. See how my baby can gallop to-day." Knee-Games "What do I see? Baby's knee — • Tickily, tickily, tic, tac, tee ; One for a penny, two for a pound, Tickily, tickily, round and round." "One, two, three, away goes she, Sliding down father's knee." Foot-Plays "Up, down — up, down. One foot up and one foot down. All the way to London town, Tra la la la la la." — Mother Goose. "Shoe the old horse and shoe the old mare, But let the little colt go bare. Rap-a-tap." — Mother Goose. "Blacksmith. Blacksmith, fellow fine. Can ye shoe this horse o' mine?" etc. — Mother Goose. "Pitty, Patty, Polt, Shoe the wild colt. Here a nail, there a nail — Pitty, Patty, Polt."— Mo//u'r Goose. "Kick about, kick about, farmer's man. Thresh the corn as fast as you can : Kick it and stick it and pick it with glee. And put in the barn for Tommy and me." — .-Idapted from "Pat a Cake." Ear-Game "What's here? Baby's ear. Click-clack. Put it back." Nose-Game "What's here? Baby's nose. Click, clack, on it goes." {Making believe to take off and hastily to put it on again.) Hand-and-Finger Stories These are so numerous, it is only necessary to suggest the types. Other contributors have dis- cussed these. "Pat a cake, Pat a cake," etc. — Mother Goose. "This little pig went to market." — Mother Goose. "Thumbkin, Pointer, Middleman big, Sillyman, Weeman, rig-a-jig-jig," "This is mother, this is father, this is brother tall. This is sister, gay and happy, this the baby small." "Here's my Father's knives and forks, Here's my Mother's table. Here's my Sister's looking-glass, And here's the baby's cradle." "Here is the church and here is the steeple, Open the door and see all the people." "Thicken man build the barn. Thinner man spool the yarn, Longen man stir the brew, Gowden man make a shoe, Littlen man all for you." — Old Norse Game. Face-Plays {Indicating the parts by a light touch) 1. "Knock at the door, peep in. Lift up the latch and walk in." 2. "Here sits the Lord Mayor," etc. • — Mother Goose. 3. "Forehead, eyes, nose, mouth. Dearest baby. North or South.' — Emilic Poulsson. These may be continued indefinitely as to sources, developing later into cat's-cradle play and object-stories. Egoistic Stories * There is a third group of baby stories of great educational importance. These are usually in • The mother, in the article on "The Second Year with Tom and Sarah," makes even more clear the value of these "egoistic'* stories. THE HOMI-: KIXDliRGARTEN MANUAL prose-form and frequently incidental, the chief educational value being the emphasis upon a child's interest in himself, his name, his posses- sions, his comings and goings, etc. A few formal illustrations from this popular group might include : Making Calls "Click-clack, click-clack, Off we go on horse's back. Ride and ride a mile or more Till we come to Grandma's door. Whoa ! now, Dobbin dear. Grandma, see who's here." — Einitic Pouiss In "Child-Stories and Rhymes" Miss Poulsson has stories of baby's spoon, baby's pillow, and other endless possessions. An adaptation from Tagore's "Crescent Moon" gives charming illustrations of egoistic tales. One represents the child talking — he says: "Mother, you are riding in your palanquin and I am riding beside you on my red horse (his toy-horse). You will not be afraid, Mother; I will take care of you," etc. These tales represent the germinal form of the biographical-autobiographical and personal-his- tory-tales of great persons in great literature; hence their importance and the responsibility of mothers to understand the significance of begin- nings. THE USE OF MOTHER GOOSE* BY THE EDITORS "No, no, my melodies will never die. While nurses sing or babies cry." Mother Goose was the first musical comedy. When you ask yourself why children in all ages and many lands have enjoyed these infantile rhymes, there seems to be no better reason than that given by Joseph Lee ;t "We like it because we are tuned to like it." But who is Mother Goose? Since the higher criticism has destroyed the legend of an English Mrs. Vergoose or a French Mere L'Oye or even a real Mother Goose who used to sing these rhymes to her grandchildren, we have to acknowl- edge that this nursery classic does not trace its origin to any individual author. What, then, is Mother Goose? A Mother Goose rhyme is a short verse with a rhythmical beat that almost, or quite, makes sense. The verses of William Blake do not belong to the Mother Goose category, because they are too sophisticated; neither do those of Robert Louis Stevenson, because they are too beautiful. They Satisfy the Instinct of Rhythm The strength of Mother Goose is that her rhymes are rhythmical. The baby's ga-a, ga-a is rhythmical and so is even his kicking. The sound is more important than the sense. Such rhymes as "Heigh diddle, diddle," "See-saw, Margery- Daw," and "Ding-dong bell," so Joseph Lee says, ' This article is an introduction to the Mother Goose songs SHELF. t Author of "Play in Education." "give the children the freedom of the world of rhythm, teach him the first paces of the mind, the varying gaits of thought and action — to understand, with Touchstone, who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, and who he gallops withal, and how it feels to have hiin do it." These rhythms are accompanied by action. "Pat a cake" combines rhythm — the rhythm of sound — and the action of patting together the baby hands: "Swing, swong. the days are long" is a melody to which little children are tossed up and down upon the parental knee. Through action-plays the child enjoys the imaginary ad- venture of being chased, of traveling, or of fall- ing. He feels as deeply as is possible all that these little melodramas enact. Rhythms Run Into Action There is almost no limit to the dramatic possi- bilities of Mother Goose: "Pitty, Patty, Polt, Shoe the wild colt. Here a nail, and there a nail — Pitty Patty Polt. is used while the baby is being dressed. "One, two, Buckle my shoe," and stories in the first volume of the Boys and Girls Book- FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 103 for the same occasion, is also serviceable to count by. "Here we go 'roimd the mulberry bush," is excellent for running, "Dance to your daddy, My little babby," is the earliest known encouragement to solo-danc- ing. "Pease Porridge Hot" and "Dance, Thumb- kin, Dance," are excellent finger-plays. "A farmer went trotting upon his gray mare, Bumpety, bumpety, bump," is an enticing combination of actioii and humor, while "Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John," is an excellent soporific. These action-plays pass insensibly into count- ing-out rhymes. * Probably the most famous and delightful of all counting-out rhymes is the one that dainty little maiden. Marjorie Fleming, taught to Sir Walter Scott before his open fire: "Wonery. twoery, tickery. seven; Alibi, crackaby. ten and eleven ; Pin, pan, Musky-Dan ; — " "He used to say," Dr. John Brown tells us, "that when he came to 'Alibi Crackaby,' he broke down, and "Pin, pan. Musky-Dan, Tweedle-um, Twoddle-um, made him roar with laughter. He said Musky-Dan especially was beyond endurance, bringing up an Irishman and his hat fresh from the Spice Islands and odoriferous Ind." Rhymes that Please the Senses Little children are very fond of stories that in- volve sense-impressions. They like tales about houses built of ginger-bread and rivers that run with milk. Mother Goose has such a lyric that appeals to the sense of taste — it is about Queen Pippin's hotel : "The walls were of sugar, as white as the snow, .\nd jujube windows were placed in a row; The columns were candy, and all very tall. And a roof of choice cakes was spread over all." Similarly the children enjoy rhymes that appeal to the sense of sound, particularly those that are imitative of the familiar animals, such as "Bow, wow, wow," and "The girl in the lane that can't speak plain, Cried. Gobble, gobble, gobble." * See the counting-out rhymes in the fourth volume of the Bnvs AND Girls Bookshelf. What the Baby's Sense of Humor is Like This leads us to say that a baby's sense of humor always has a physical quality. This may consisf merely of an amazing conglomeration of sounds, such as the familiar quotation : "With a rowley, powley. gammon and spinach, Heigho, says Anthony Rowley." Such humor may be expressed in vigorous rhyme, as the following : "As I was going up and down, I met a little dandy, He pulled my nose, and with two blows, I knocked him down right handy." Or, it may consist simply of such an incident as the following: "Said my mother to your mother. It's a chop-a-nose day," which is followed of course immediately by the appropriate action. A calmer kind of humor is expressed in the following pleasant adventure : "Little Tommy Grace had a pain in his face, So bad that he could not learn a letter ; When in came Dicky Long, singing such a funny song. Then Tommy laughed, and found his lace much better." The First Animal-Stories It is interesting to note that the adventure- stories in Mother Goose may be divided into two sorts. One kind has to do with the familiar animals, such as the tragi-comedy of the three little kittens who lost their mittens, while the other is drama, such as a little cock-sparrow and the boy who missed him: — • "Oh, no," said the sparrow, "I won't make a stew," And he flapped his wings and away he flew. Children like action-stories of animal-adventure long before they are old enough for Uncle Re- mus, such as "Dog ! dog ! bite pig ; Piggy won't go over the stile ; And I shan't get home to-night." Or, again, the fox who went out in a hungry plight, closing with the denouement so satisfac- tory to the children : "And the little ones picked the bones, O." 104 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Grandmother-Stories The other kind of adventure-story familiar to Mother Goose is, strange to say, concerned with old people. The predominance of old women in these stories can be explained only, I suppose, by the loving presence of so many grandmothers who assist in carrying down these nursery traditions from generation to generation. There is Old Mother Hubbard, the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, the Old Woman who was tossed up in a basket, the Old Woman who had her skirts cut of¥ up to her back, and Old King Cole. In fact, all the people in Mother Goose were either very old or very young. Aside from the elderly individuals whom you chance to remember, we have Little Miss MufTet, Little Polly Flinders, Little Boy Blue, Little Johnnie Green, Jack Horner, Little Tommy Tucker, and Simple Simon. These little folk are much more real to our nur- sery comrades than Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt, and are twice as familiar as Aloses, Solomon, David, and Paul. The Unmorality of Mother Goose I suppose one of the reasons why little chil- dren enjoy Mother Goose is because these are stories without a moral ; they are, as children themselves are said to be, unmoral, rather than immoral. Aside from the occasional savagery, the tone is usually that of pleasantness: "What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all that's nice !" "And why may not I love Johnny, And why may not Johnny love me? And why may not I love Johnny As well as another body?" " 'Coo !' said the little doves, 'Coo !' said she ; And they played together kindly In the dark pine tree." There is occasionally a moral situation, like the story of the kittens who "First began to quarrel, and then to fight" with the sequel : "They found it was better, that stormy night. To lie down to sleep than to quarrel and fight." The only rhyme that occurs to us with a direct moral lesson is : "Come when you're called. Do what you're bid; Shut the door after you, Never be chid." Just after the Revolution, an edition of Mother Goose was published in New England by a man named Thomas, who fitted out fifty-one of the Mother Goose rhymes with what was then thought appropriate "morals." For example : "Dickery, Dickery, Dock, The mouse ran up the clock" suggests the lesson: "Time stays for no man." "Hey diddle, diddle. The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laughed To see such craft, And the dish ran away with the spoon." This verse suggests the highly moral deduction that "It must have been a little dog that laughed, for a great dog would be ashamed to laugh at such nonsense." To the rhyme "Up, down — up, down, One foot up and one foot down All the way to London town, Tra la la la la la" the author appends : of the earth." "Or to any town on the face "Hush-a-bye, baby, in the tree-top" may serve, he thinks, "as a warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb so high that they generally fall at last." Fortunately, the edition is out of print — the children would have none of it. The Graded Use of Mother Goose The golden age for the use of Mother Goose rhymes is for the years from one to six. These rhymes are useful to babies because they indulge their sense of rhythm, give them exciting experi- ences at second-hand, and open to them the gates of story. They are useful to the older ones be- cause they may be employed in their singing games, their counting-out games, and their games of running and chasing. REASONING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD* BY JOHN DEWEY There is not any reasoning of early childhood which is different from the reasoning of later childhood, adolescence, or adults. There is rea- soning in little children, just as there may be in a grown-up man or woman, but there is not rea- soning of early childhood if you mean by that "of," something which as reasoning can be marked off definitely from reasoning somewhere else. The ends which a young child has are different from those of the grown-up ; and the materials, means, and habits which he is able to fall back upon are different, but the process — one involv- ing these three factors — is exactly the same. There is a difference which needs to be men- tioned because it is so important practically. Just because the child's ends are not so complex and not so remote in the future, the tendency to put every idea in immediate action is stronger with the child. His dramatic instinct or his play im- pulse is markedly more active, more urgent and intense. Adults use words and other symbols as the media for selection and arrangement, but words are not dramatic enough for the thinking of the child in a great many situations. He wants to reach his end with his whole body instead of doing it with the muscles of the throat and tongue alone. Adults carry on a constant physical activity of a suppressed kind; to get a remote and far- reaching end, they employ minute and invisible kinds of expression. A child wants to bring into play, in an active and overt way, his hands and arms and legs. How We Dissipate Reasoning Power While native rational power can hardly be im- proved to any great extent, if at all, it can easily be allowed to decrease. A child can be sur- rounded with conditions which cause the power to be dissipated and rendered ineffective. If a jChild is bright, the power can be drafted off in all kinds of futile and irrelevant ways which result in mind-wandering, inability to control the atten- tion or center the mind on a topic around which the selecting and arranging of materials are to be carried on. This dissipation may take place in three ways : 1. Plain frittering away of time. It is called frittering away of time or wasting time, but this is merely another phrase for fooling away in- tellectual energy. This comes from not having any purpose in view. "Amusing." in the w'orst sense of amusing, means that there is no recrea- tive element, but only dissipation of energy. It is not enough to catch a child's attention ; it must be used, and this implies an end. The mind should be carried on to something new. 2. Another thing which makes for retrogression is the amount of purely dictated work that the individual has to do. Undoubtedly the best way to train animals — horses and dogs — to do their stunts is to assign a specific thing to be done, dic- tate it, and give a reward w'hen that particular thing is accomplished — and something else when it is not done. Children are animals, too. It may be that physical habits are most readily formed by a process which is largely dictation; but it must be borne in mind that in the latter case, w-hile the physical habit will have intellectual meaning to us, to the child it will be senseless, and hence his mental capacity may be reduced. 3. The third thing which has a detrimental effect upon the child is presenting ready-made, finished formula: upon the basis of which he is to act. Since there should be reaching out for some- thing new, the process should be more or less a process of trying this or that to see how it will work, then retaining the things that carry toward the end and dropping the other things. Con- scientious teachers are prone perhaps to fail here more than at any other point. They want to fore- stall all failures. They want to dig the little plant up by the roots to see that the roots are growing — and growing in the right direction. It is quite safe to say that no two grown persons get the same result by the same method unless the situa- tion is an exceedingly simple one. Let Him Get His Own Results The orderly method is good, but it comes as a result and often comparatively late. What might seem to a grown-up person to be disorder might seem to a child's mind, order, in the way he se- * Stenographic report of a paper presented before the Department of Kindergarten Education, Teachers College Alumni Conference. Used by special permission of Patty Smith Hill, head of the Department. io6 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL lects and arranges things. The mere fact that a certain order of thinking does not fall into the teacher's schedule of thinking means that a child is one person and the teacher another. Yet we imagine that there is just one right way to think, and if another person does not get results in the same way that we do, we conclude that there is something wrong. Perhaps the most difficult thing to get is in- tellectual sj'mpathy and intellectual insight that will enable one to provide the conditions for an- other person's thinking and yet allow that other person to do his thinking in his own way and not according to some scheme which we have prepared in advance. Handwork and Fellowship There is one point which has not been touched — the question of the materials appropriate for the thinking of young children. This matter can not be easily anticipated or cleared up in advance of actual contact with actual children. But we may ask what ends occupy the attention of most chil- dren. They will be found to fall under two heads : I. The very small child has as his chief end the adjusting of one of his physical organs to another. He has to learn what the lower animals have to start with. He has to work out by practical ex- perimentation how to make his hand and eyes work together, his ears and eyes work together, how to manage and manipulate physical materials by means of his own organs. Here we have one of the great reasons, on the physiological side, for the success of the kindergarten movement. In various ways it has secured a large opportunity for direct muscular adjusting, and for manipula- tion of various kinds of objects. If the young child has an end which he wants to reach and has sufficient freedom in choice and arrangement of materials to work out for liimsdf the end he is after, there is sure to be a genuine keeping-going of the thinking process. 2. The "other great problem for a little child is to get along with other people. He has the definite occupation of adjusting his conduct, in a real give-and-take of intercourse to that of others. He needs to make other people realities to him- self, while he gets the power to make himself real to them. There is an adjustment of behavior which includes a good deal more than that of out- ward or muscular acts. The questions arising from the groupings of persons are the most perplexing problems of life even for grown-up people ; but for the children, the problem is es- pecially acute, owing to their dependence upon others and their inability to make their way physi- cally and industrially. Material selected then from situations of physi- cal control and social adaptation (especially from the two in connection with one another) is most appropriate in maintaining the mental acuteness, flexibility, and open-mindedness, the dominant in- terest in the new and in reaching ahead that are at once such marked traits of the life of child- hood and such essential factors of thinking. HOW A SPOILED CHILD BEGINS BY KATHERINE BEEBE When the new group comes to school in Septem- ber its members can at once be roughly classified into two divisions : the trained and the untrained. The former are the teacher's delight, the latter her problem. The former can be led onward and upward by means of a normal and joyous ac- tivity without friction or loss of time. The latter must be worked over, wept over, experi- mented with, disciplined, and led as far along the road as their unfortunate variety of handi- caps will permit. The child whose everyday education has been a matter of conscious and conscientious effort is, at five years old, wide awake mentally, interested, active, self -controlled, obedient, sometimes well mannered, and always reasonable and teachable. The untrained child is unawakened, often slow of perception, uninteresting, self-conscious, fool- ishly unreasonable and lacking in self-control and the spirit of cooperation. His mother usually as- scribes these characteristics to nervousness, and justly so, for the lack of training is apt to cause» this condition. Now what has happened at home to two such little creatures equally endowed at birth? What is the reason for this unhappy difiference? Tlie answer is in the fact that the mother of the one child, from the first intimation of his existence, has consciously and constantly reasoned with herself in some such way as this: "This little FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY 107 new life will come to me possessed with a growing body, an expanding mind, a developing soul. Dur- ing the first years his growth will be so rapid and so vigorous that what he learns will set the tendencies for his whole future. He will get in proportion more education in the first five years than in the twenty which follow, and this edu- cation will be an everyday education. During all his waking hours he will be learning, observ- ing, absorbing. Everything he sees, everything he hears, everything he does, will count. If I want him' to be strong, alert, wise, and good I must begin at the beginning and carry on ; I must learn from the best authorities how to care for his precious body ; I must take counsel with ex- perts in child-training for the sake of his open- ing mind; I must talk to him, walk with him, play with him, read to him ; I must provide for him a place in which to play as well as to eat and sleep; I must see that he has playmates ; I must teach him to play alone, to entertain himself; he must learn to love to work, first by helping me and later by having set tasks; I must know where he is and what he is doing all the time, and we two must be loving, sympathetic, intimate friends." And that other mother — what does she say to herself conscioitsly or subconsciously? Let us be honest and face the facts, for judging by her results it is something like this: "It is lovely to' have this darling baby, and I am just going to en- joy him in my own way; I don't believe that peo- ple who make such a fuss about training children get on any better than those of us who don't bother about alf this modern highbrow stuiT. A mother knows best what to do for her own child. Of course I will take good care of his body, for I want him to be well, but for the first few years I am going to let him be a happy little animal. I don't like to play with children anj'way, and read- ing to them is a bore. Besides, I am too busy. He can just play around as other children do and, when the time comes, go to kindergarten and to school and be taught there. While he is at home and while he is my baby, I am going to do just as I want to with him. Being my child, he will, of course, come out all right in the end." Now sometimes he does, but in spite of home influences rather than because of them. Thanks to his teachers, his companions, and the sharp lessons of experience, he often manages to grow up a fairly decent man. But, oh, what he has missed ! And alas for the powers of mind and soul which never unfolded, for the spiritual de- velopment unpossessed which might have been his! On the other hand, often he doesn't develop well, and in view of this fact, how does any mother dare to take chances ? For from the ranks of the so-called and well-called, "spoiled children" come the fretful, fractious, screaming, unhappy babies ; the shy, self-conscious, and uncontrolled kindergarten children; the irresponsible scatter- brains of the public school, whose school life is one long series of adjustments between parents and teachers; those high-school students who ar- rive in college with no powers of work or con- centration; the girl who is "boy crazy"; the boy who goes wrong. From this class are recruited those children whom every teacher knows ; who have perverted ideas of the facts of life and bad physical habits; those youths and maidens whose lives are blighted on the threshold; those cases of adolescents which furnish newspaper articles sometimes with large headlines. In the light of the fact that these things are all about us, how does any mother dare to neglect that all-important thing — her child's everyday education? TEACHING SELF-CONTROL* MRS. MARY WOOD-ALLEN, M.D. Mrs. Clayton is a young mother, inexperienced in the care of infants, but, having paid much at- tention to the study of psychology of childhood, she has some foundation principles upon which she intends to build the superstructure of her child's character. He is a strong, active little fellow, with a brain ever on the alert, and it will * From "Makine: the Best of Our Children,' publishers, Chicago. K.N,— 9 oy Mary W take much patience and skill for her to direct his developing energies in right channels. One of her especially strong points is her belief that the child must have an opportunity to get acquainted with himself, and this for many months will be his principal occupation: therefore she does not thrust her presence upon him continually. ood-AUen. Used by permission of A. C. McClurg & Company, io8 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL He is allowed to He upon the bed or on the floor, to study his little hands and to make the aimless movements which are acquainting him with his own powers. His feet are left free to kick, and so he is getting acquainted with himself and the world. He spends his infancy generally within sight and hearing of the mother, and sometimes in closer and dearer companionship, which, be- cause not constant, has for him all the delight of a visit. By this plan she is left free a greater part of the time to attend to her household duties. As he grows old enough to sit in his high-chair, he is sometimes placed at the table, that he may have the companionship of his parents: but he is not fed at this time, because he has his own regular meals of especially prepared foods at stated intervals. He thus early learns the lesson that his parents may eat things which are not per- mitted to him. At first Mrs. Clayton gave him a spoon with which to amuse himself while papa and mamma were eating. The first time he dropped the spoon upon the floor, she instinctively re- turned it to him ; he took it and at once threw it down upon the floor, watching it with apparent pleasure. "Ah," said Mrs. Clayton, ''he has made a dis- covery. He has learned that he can drop things. Now he must make another discovery — that things which he drops do not come back to him." So no attention was paid to his pleading that the spoon should be restored. A few such e.xperi- ences told him, better than slapped fingers and impatient words, that if he desired to retain an article as a plaything when he was up in the high- chair, he must not throw it upon the floor. When he grew old enough so that his dinner- time came at the same hour as that of his par- ents, Mrs. Clayton thought it a good thing that he should begin to learn table-manners in com- pany with other people. So he was permitted to take his dinner with them; but this did not mean that he was to eat of everything placed upon the table. There were certain articles of food which his parents might eat which were forbid- den to him. For example, he was not allowed potatoes, Mrs. Clayton having learned that these starchy foods are not the best for little children. When first he made request that potatoes should be given him, he was pleasantly told that "pota- toes were for papa and mamma and not for Freddy." As he was not accustomed to rebelling against the decisions of his parents, he accepted the statement as law and cheerfully abided by it. Sometimes when there were guests in the family a little spirit of mischief would seem to possess him, and he would ask for potatoes. When he would receive the usual reply, he would sing in apparently high glee, "Tatoes for papa and mam- ma, not for Freddy." "I do not see how you can refuse to give your child the food which you put before him on the table and which you yourself eat," guests would sometimes say. Mrs. Clayton would reply: "All through life he will be obliged to see many things which he can not appropriate to himself; the sooner and the more happily he learns this lesson, the better it will be for him. I deny him nothing that is not hurtful, and I am sure that he knows that, just as far as possible, I give him the things he wants." Certainly it would seem as if this were the case, for the little fellow seemed to find it no hard- ship to refuse candies, fruits, and cake when of- fered him by neighbors, with the simple words, "Why, I don't eat cake," or "My mamma doesn't • allow me to eat between meals," which to him seemed a sufficient reason for not accepting the proffered gifts. When he was a baby, Mrs. Clayton did not carry him constantly in her arms as she went about her work. He was accustomed to seeing her go in and out of the room without being con- sulted in the matter. As he grew older she used to say to him, if she knew she would be absent from the room for some time, "Now mamma is going upstairs to make the beds": or "Mamma is going down cellar after potatoes." Very fre- quently she would permit him to accompany her, but always as a favor to him. He might, for ex- ample, take his little tin pail and go with her to the cellar and bring up a couple of apples for himself, which were then put in a pan and baked for his dinner ; but if the mother was too busy to allow him this privilege, he learned that it was no use to tease. And so, while in the first place, her plan of management took rather more time than to have yielded to his wishes, in the end it secured for him more happiness, for her more leisure, and for the whole family far more peace. SUMMARY AND FORECAST ^r^^f^3^^\ff=^ QOD THE SECOND YEAR WITH TOM AND SARAH BY WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH Grandfather and Grandmother Spencer were abroad part of the twins' second year. As soon as they reached home they hurried over to see the babies. The first interview was a trifle disappointing. Before Grandpa went away he had sat for hours with one child on each arm, talking to them while they smiled at him, or holding them while they slept. But upon this occasion Sarah gave one wild yell as soon as she came in contact with his gray beard, while Tom struggled wildly to escape, and then surveyed the visitor suspiciously from a crouching position under the table. Mr. Spencer was evidently hurt. "Don't you think the kids have come on finely ?" their father asked with pride, when he entered the room. Grandma smiled, and Grandpa said noth- ing but, "I would not have known them." "What's the matter?" Frank insisted, seeing that there was a slight rift within the lute. "Cer- tainly, Mary hasn't spoiled them — yet?" "They don't seem so affectionate, somehow," Mr. Spencer confessed, "and I don't get used to this perpetual motion. Do they run all the time, and squirm every time you try to take them up?" "I guess they do. That's what they've been do- ing lately, isn't it, Mary? Don't your books say it's the normal thing to expect?" "They do. Mother, Frank is laughing at me again. The other day he picked out this sentence in my library: 'A baby sanctifies home, and gives the doctor a chance to look wise.' He sometimes tells me these child-study doctors would have to write their books over if they once spent a week- end with the twins. But he had to confess, as he went on, that one of them, at least, showed pretty good sense, after all. I think I must tell you what he said, Father, since you have become critical of my babies." Mr. Spencer held up a deprecatory hand. The Twins Prove that They Have Brains "Well," the mother continued, "it is like this: The twins can not always be babes- in arms ; we know that, and none of us would have them so. Now, what is the next step? My charts tell me that this second year is a great 'getting-about' year. The babies are so strong and agile that I have seen both of them, toward the end of a long day, when they had been on their feet most of the time, jump up and down, just out of excess of vitality. Of course they don't seem so affection- ate or cuddlesome, and they are much harder to take care of. But here is where one of those wise 'doctors' helped me. William James says they are beginning to "unlock their energies with ideas.' Isn't that a happy expression? If I thought they were banging about, simply to put my nerves on edge, as I did for a while. I couldn't stand it much longer; but when I realize that they really have brains and are getting ideas, I am quite jolly about it." "Well you may be," remarked Grandfather, with a more contented look. "But what makes you so sure that they are 'getting ideas,' as you say?" "By the way they play. Naturally, I try to supply them with playthings that 'go,' because they are on the go so much themselves. They both like to roll a ball, though they can neither guide nor catch it. They try to build up blocks, though they like to knock them down better. But these are not their favorites. You will laugh when I tell you what they like to play with most: lOQ THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL a little broom, some hooks and hangers, and — the coal-hod." Grandmother smiled reminiscently. "They don't seem to care for little toys at all," Mary said, turning in her direction. "I suppose because their finer muscles aren't developed yet." "But you. haven't told us yet how they play," Mr. Spencer insisted. "Oh, yes. I read one day, in an article on 'Self- Amusement,' this : " 'Children know how to enjoy life better than their parents, but their way is not our way, nor their thoughts as our thoughts. A little child is a creature of one idea.' "So I began to say to myself, 'What is the twins' one idea'? As I carefully watched them and then looked back in my little notebook that I keep I made up my mind that it is this: They are bound to learn by imitating. Last year they learned by handling. They grasped everything, they held it fast, they turned it over, looked at it, felt of it, put it in their mouths. They still do this with anything that is new. but that is not enough now. They are interested in action ; they want to do something with it; they want to know what it is for." Their Dogged Imitativeness "Tell Father how patient they are." "Yes, Frank is very proud of this. I said they were interested in action. They never seem to tire of trying anything that they have seen either of us do. One day I put Sarah's spoon in her hand, partly filled it with oatmeal, and carried the spoon and her hand up toward her mouth. This gave her a new idea, and instantly she dashed the spoon down into the dish again and lifted it to her mouth, empty of course. Will you believe it, that child has tried this movement three times a day ever since for five months, and it was not until last week that she really got a good spoon- ful into her mouth." "Here's another thing," Frank broke in again, "both Sarah and Tom imitate me much more readily than they do Mary." Frank sat back and beamed with satisfaction. "It's the novelty, of course," Mary explained. "They don't see Frank as much as they do me, and the things he does are more unusual. Still, day in and day out, there is nothing that they re- spond to more joyfully than the suggestion to 'do like mamma,' and I am looking forward to its meaning that they will very soon really be quite helpful. Already they 'sweep' with their little brooms; they never tire of hanging up father's hat and coat, and I'm sure they would 'carry coal' all day if I could afford to wash their rompers every night. I think I see in this the opportunity for the beginning of orderliness and tidiness. If I accustom them to pick up their playthings now when they are through with them, and if I have the hooks and shelves and boxes where they can reach them, I do not see why they should ever know that disorderliness is possible." "Remember that one of them is a boy," was Grandma's reminder. How Much Do Two-Year-Olds Remember? "Do they have any memory yet?" inquired Mr. Spencer. "In spots," was the rejoinder. "Here is an illustration to show how they are coming on : A year ago every time one of them squeezed a rub- ber doll and it squeaked, it was a fresh surprise. Now each of them will hunt up the doll in order to squeeze it. You haven't heard them talk yet, but the other day Tom pointed to the kitchen floor and said, 'Ya, ya. Mamma, IMamma, fa', fa',' quite excitedly. He evidently remembered that the morning before I had slipped at that spot on a potato peel, and he was trying to tell the story of the adventure. Of course they don't carry what we call 'a train of memory' yet." "No," said Frank, "their cars are not all coupled. Can anything be done about it ?" "What do you think?" Mary appealed to her mother. "Why, you still sing to them, don't you, and repeat little rhymes, as you did before we went away?" "Yes, and Frank and I both teach them finger- plays and little action-games, and I have even begun stories — that is, I call them stories; I try to tell in very simple language something that has happened to themselves very recently. Once or twice they have tried to tell it back to me." The Grandparents Approve the New Notions "Mary has a good head," was her father's comment, as he walked home with his wife that evening. "Yes, I am very much pleased with the thought- fulness she shows about the children. It is so dif- ferent from what it was in our day. In the old times we believed what we called 'mother-instinct' would work miracles. And yet I was only a half-mature girl just out of finishing school when Mary was born. Of course I loved her and I FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY bought a 'doctor's book' that was good for its day. I kept her well and knew enough not to feed her soothing-syrups, but nobody then thought a child needed anything but bodily care. 'Let it grow up a healthy animal,' was the notion, and it would come out all right. I do remember that the second year was a difficult year, but why it was difficult and what to do about it was beyond us. We just stuck it through, using the best sense we had. The difference is just this : I used to find out what to do when it ^was almost too late, but Mary, with her reading and studying, knows in advance what is likely to happen, and is all ready for it. And how much more im- portant it is to know what to do for their little minds and souls than for their bodies !" "You are quite right," Mr. Spencer said, with conviction. "Frank and I used to make fun of Mary's 'charts.' 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and so does a child, and no two of them are alike,' I used to tell her. But I declare, there do seem to be certain main-traveled roads that they all follow, and even if they don't all pass the stations on time, I guess they do pass them after a while and in pretty much the same order." Why the Youngsters Were So Shy "Do you think Father and Mother were sat- isfied ?" Mary Howard asked Frank after her parents were gone. "With you, but evidently not with the children." "Yes; what was the matter with them to-night? Both of them acted frightened to death, and they didn't either of them really get reconciled during the whole evening." "What do the books say?" "Let's look this up and find out." "One of my 'weather prophets,' as you call my Charts, says : 'Fears many and lively,' and the other says, 'Protect from fears and teasing,' so evidently this phase is not unusual. I remember now realizing that, since babies of this age haven't any imagination yet, they are frightened princi- pally by sudden things and by shocks. I guess just as soon as they get used to Grandpa again they won't be afraid of him, but I don't believe he will ever be able again to hold them still, unless he learns to tell them stories." "I'll warrant the old gentleman will be a good one at that." "There is one good thing about these fears of theirs — it teaches them Trust. They do believe in us implicitly, Frank. They think you are so strong and I am so wise. It makes me tremble to feel how much they expect. I do pray that they may never lose this confidence, and some- how I hope that it may be through this that we may, when it is possible, lead them to trust in God." "I hope so," Frank said, soberly. Even a Baby Is Reasonable "There was one thing I forgot to tell Father," Mary remarked suddenly. "What is that?" "About the reasonableness of the children." Frank laughed out loud. "I believe almost everything you say, Mary, but that is beyond my grasp. Of all the irrational, unreasoning objects in this world, if it is not babies " "Listen, Frank. Who is the best-known edu- cator in America to-day?" "John Dewey, I should say." "Perhaps you will listen to him," Mary re- sponded quietly, taking a volume down from her shelf. "'There is not any reasoning of early childhood which is different from the reasoning of later child- hood, adolescence, or adults. I have come to believe that reasoning itself, the capacity or ability to reason, is not capable of being improved.' " Mary looked up triumphantly. "John Dewey says so. Now prove it," said Frank. "Of course the twins do not know so much or understand so much as we do. They think about different things than we do and " "I should think they did!" "But they follow the same sort of line of thought from cause to efifect. You ask me to prove it. How do the twins prove things? If I tell them that fire burns, that is not enough for them. They must reason it out, and they do it in just the same order we would, if this truth were a new idea to us : namely. Flame, touch, burn„ pain, 'Don't !' " "All right. Tell that to Father." "What I wanted to tell Father was that 'this noisy, restless activity' of theirs, which tires him so, is mostly the exercise of curiosity." "The animated 'why,' as it were." "Yes. All day long they are experimenting, proving anew what are to us the old facts and truths ; in other words, using their reason." "Is this use of their reason what we might call 'moral reasonableness'? Take it in obeying, for example. Are the children reasonable about that?" "Of course, obedience is to them so far mostly THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL the habit of submission, of coming when they are called and of doing what they are told. But surely whenever they carry out a new command they have to use some reason and reasonableness, too, about it. 1 am the one who has to try hardest to be reasonaljle, so far." Why Little William Couldn't Talk Just before the children were two years old Helen Walker, Mary Howard's old schoolmate, dropped in one day, on her way back to her dis- tant home, to renew old associations. Of course the babies were the chief center of interest, especially because Mrs. Walker had a little one of her own, a boy a month older than the twins. "The most wonderful thing to me about your children," exclaimed her friend, "is the way they talk ! Why, they put whole phrases and sen- tences together, but my young William hardly says a word." "No doubt he puts up a lot of thinking, though," kindly suggested Frank, for they were all at the supper-table. "I certainly hope so, Mr. Howard. But. Mary, you don't think he is incurably backward, do you?" "Not at all, Helen. Many children do not be- gin to talk until they are three years old. Of course, ours are twins and no doubt they inspire each other, but perhaps you can help, too. How does little William spend the day?" "Mostly in a big clothes-basket that I keep in his little nursery and bedroom. I pile him and his playthings into it and he stays there alone nearly all the time. Sidney, my husband, you know, is quite ingenious, and when he found the baby was trying to learn to stand up by leaning against the sides, he weighted it some way with iron bars on the bottom, so he can't topple over." "Does he walk very much?" "Not nearly so well as your twins do. There isn't much room in the basket to get about. But when he was little my doctor told me to keep him quiet and away from company, so his nerves would have a chance to get strong." "But, Helen Walker, he didn't tell you to keep William there all his life, did he? What he said about the baby's nerves was very important — for the first six or eight months, and you are quite right not to expose him often to strangers. But I do believe that the reason little William Walker is dumb is because he doesn't get enough con- versation." "What do you mean ? What is the use of talk- ing to him when be doesn't understand?" "This is the way to make him understand : When the twins were but a few months old I made it a rule never to hand them anything with- out giving its name out loud. Often I would put it in the form of a question : 'Do you want your bottle? Do you want your rubber doll?' and I would always wait until they responded in some way, even if no more than by reaching for it, to be sure they were attentive and understood. After a while I would say gently: 'Now, say "bottle," say "doll,",' and even though they did not seem to try at once, after a while they caught the idea, and I am sure this helped them forward. Later I would withhold the thing they wanted until they tried to say the name of it." No Need for Baby-Talk "Isn't this interesting? What were the words they spoke first?" "Papa, of course," Frank interrupted. "Fathers always make that claim, don't they? Really, I think the first thing he said was 'da,' which they always did when they were pointing, and which I suppose later grew to be our excla- mation, 'There.' Perhaps after repeating it when one of us was present it grew to mean 'Mamma' or 'Papa.' I don't know. At any rate, I know this: nouns were the first words they used, such as 'Papa,' 'milk,' 'doll.' and so on; then they added 'da,' meaning 'there' 3.nd 'don,' meaning 'gone,' and 'no. no.' Now they have a few adjectives, like 'hot,' 'nice,' and 'good' — and I guess that's pretty nearly their whole stock in trade." "But I notice that they don't use any baby- talk. Didn't they ever make up any?" "Of course they did, and such funny words, too. Sarah called her dress a 'desh' and a biscuit a 'bittitch' and butter 'bup.' I put all these down in my diary, but I didn't ever use them, for what is the good of letting them have so many things to unlearn, when the kids have a whole hard language to learn anyhow? Frank did try to spoil them by teaching them some impossible words, just to see what they would make of them." "Oh, do tell me." "I just taught them a few trifles, like 'hippo- potamus,' 'Mesopotamia,' and 'kangaroo'," Frank replied quietly. "And what happened?" "The little beggars tried every one " "So patiently," Mary added. " 'Hippopotamus' came out as 'ippepotany,' 'kangaroo' was 'kooglegfoo' and 'Mesopotamia' FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND BIRTHDAY "3 was just — a 'mes.' But I thought it was fine practice for them.'' "Perhaps it was," their mother granted. "Well," said Helen Walker on departing, "I am going right home and teach William the English language. He shall go hungry until he speaks up for his breakfast, hereafter." "The better way," suggested Mary Howard pleasantly, "to get him to talk will be to make life interesting to him." Milestones of the Second Year When Mr. and Mrs. Howard sat down together to make their review of the second year, they were quite impressed with the results. "I would never have believed," exclaimed Frank, "that a baby's year could tell such a defi- nite story. With us who are older, one year is about like another, but this second year stands out just as distinctly from last year as an angle on a chart or a compartment in a cabinet." "I wouldn't go so far as that," his wife re- sponded cautiously. "It seems to me more like a winding road with mile-stones, or a stream with special points of interest on the bank. I mean that it is not something still and stiff like a box, but more like a river — it flows. What we see this year comes out of last year, and I suppose it will pour on into next year." "I believe you are right." the father acknowl- edged. "But what I meant to emphasize is that what we can learn from your records is so defi- nite that it is most helpful in understanding the children and knowing how to meet their problems. I don't see how mothers can get along without making some such careful study as yours." "I don't think they can — very well." "Here it is in a nutshell," Frank added, picking up the notes they had jotted down together that very evening. "This year has been a 'getting about' year. They have learned to walk, to run, to exercise, and to explore, constantly. The next thing I notice is the way their senses have de- veloped. They are much more quick to notice rhythm when you play the piano, and they both enjoy musical sounds." "And they try to make them, too." "With the tin pan ! And they like bright colors now, and they enjoy pictures, and they can pick out a 'dog' and a 'cat' and a 'motor' and so on, and they understand stories when told with the pictures. They know the difference between rough and smooth, solid and light, round and square. They recognize half a dozen of the let- ters, and they can count " ''Up to two," Mary added, laughing. "But of course the big thing is that they have begim to talk; they understand almost every- thing we say. This means that from now on we can really teach them, so that next year ought to be a splendid one for all of us." "I think so. There's one more thing to be added : they have learned to help Mother, and I do believe that is going to mean more, not only in keeping them good and kind, but in educating them, than anything else. For if they are with me about my work, then my teaching won't be formal, like a classroom, but every moment will be useful to learn in." "There are persons from whom we always expect fairy- tokens. Let us not cease to expect them." — Ralph Waldo Emerson, CHILD AND MOTHER Mother-My-Love, if you'll give me your hand, And go where I ask you to wander, 1 will lead you away to a beautiful land— ^ The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder. We'll walk in the sweet posie garden out there. Where moonlight and starlight are streaming. And the flowers and the birds are filling the air With the fragrance and music of dreaming. There'll be no little tired-out boy to undress. No questions or cares to perplex you; There'll be no little bruises or bumjjs to caress. Nor patching of stockings to vex you. For I'll rock you away on a silver-dew stream. And sing you to sleep when you're weary; And no one shall know of our beautiful dream But you and your own little dearie. And when I am tired I'll nestle my head In the bosom that's soothed me so often ; And the wide-awake stars shall sing in my stead A song which our dreaming shall soften. So, Mother-My-Lovc, let me take your dear hand. And away through the starlight we'll wander, Away through the mist to the beautiful land — The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder. • — Author Unknown, INDEX TO SUBJECTS From the First to the Second Birthday Affectionateness, 109 Animal stories, 103 Articulation, 99 Associations, 66, 67 Baby carriages, 59 Baby talk, 66. 98, 112 Bed wetting, 98 Bird songs, 61, 68 Charts, 70, IZ Clothing, 59 Color, 68, 76, 83 Companionship, 106 Conduct, 69 Crying, 65 Curiosity, 111 Details, Attention to, 86 Discipline, 69, 94 Distance, 76 "Do," not "don't," 64 Dressing, 69 Emotional development, 64 Esthetic taste. 86 Experience, 66, 80 Father, 69 Fears, 64 Feeling, 76 Feet, Care of. 59 Form, 76 Fortitude, 97 Getting about year, 109, 113 Habit of happiness, 94 Habit training, 65, 93, 9.'* Habits, 65 Hearing, 76, 81 Helpfulness, 64, 113 High chairs, 59 Humor, 67 Imagination. 67 Imitation, 63, 110 Impression, 66 Interest, 68 Jealousy, 64 Manners, 97, 108 Memory, 65, 66, 91, 110 Mother Goose, 102 Mother's songs, 82 Nature, 82 Obedience, 94 Pens. 77, 80 Personality, 69 Physical development, 58 Picture books, 62 Pictures. 76 Punishment, 69 Quiet, 93 Reasoning, 67, 105, 111 Records, 63 Regularity, 93 Sanitation, 90 Seeing, 82 Self-control, 96, 107 Self-reliance. 105 Sense development, 78, 113 Shyness. Ill Sight, 75 Sleep, 93 Smell, 61, Id, 84 Sociability. 63 Solidity. 76 Speech. 66, 67, 100, 112 Speech defects, 98 Spoiled child, 106 Stories, 100, 101, 111 Taste, 76. 84 Temper. 96 Thumb-sucking, 65, 95 Touch, 81, 95 Trips, 83 Unselfishness, 97 Vocabulary of second year, 66 '"Whys," 69 Will, The, 69 INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS Ball plays, 78, 85 Bells, 82 Blocks. 60. 77. 79. 80, 90 Books for second year, 62 Bottles. 77, 78 Classifying objects, 67 Clay, 60 Climbing, 75, 77 Clothes-pins, 60 Crooning, 76, 100 Directed play, 96 Dolls. 78 Dramatic play. 85 From the First to the Second Birthday Movement plays. 85 Music for second year, 62, 76, 82, 87 Odds and ends, 60 Pictures, 60, 80, 86 Plasticine, 60 Playmates, Plays of the senses, 85 Playthings for second year, 59, 11, 78, 84, 110 Rag-bag, 79 Rhymes, 103 Rhvthm, 76, 77, 102 Ribbons, 60 Riding games, 101 Exercises, 77 Finger plays for second year, 63, 88, 101 Games for second year, 79 Handiwork, 89, 106 Handling things, 61, 79 Imaginary playmates, 68 Imaginative play, 66, 69 Imitative plays, 63, 64, 88 Kitchen playthings, 61, 67, 79 Laces, 60 Matching samples, 61 Montessori apparatus, 60, 11 Sand-pile, 60, 90 Sense games, 89 Sight-seeing, 83 Songs, 82 Sounds, 61 Speech plays, 66 Sports, 79 Stairs, 78 Swings, 60, 178 Talking, Teeters, 80 Toys, see Playthings Walking, 75, 83 ■V\^ater, 79 "What is that" game, 61 Work for second year, 64 J FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY CONTENTS The Course of Training page Looking Forward Through the Year William Byron Forbush 117 A Child's Development and Training the Third Year. ... Mrs. Alice Corbin Sics 119 Charts 138, 139, 140 What an Average Child May Be Able to Do By the End of This Year Mrs. Elsie LaVcrne Hill 141 What to Do the Third Year Plays and Games for the Third Year Luella A. Palmer 143 The Baby Yard Mrs. Dorothy Canficld Fisher 144 Self-Expression During the Third Year Mary L. Read 146 Big Tools for Small Hands M. V. O'Shca 148 Playthings Which the Father Can Make H'iUiam A. McKeever, LL.D 149 Memory-Work with Margaret .1/;-^. Rhea Smith Coleman 151 Pictures, a Fairyland Mrs. Rhea Smith Coleman 152 Stories to Tell This Year The Editors 153 Music During the Third Year Mrs. Jean N. Barrett. 155 Companionship : How to Furnish It Mrs. Preston F. Gass 157 Getting Obedience Through Understanding hfrs. Delia Thompson Lutes 159 Jessie's Beginnings in Helpfulness .Mrs. Elsie LaVcrne Hill 161 Orderliness and Tidiness Mrs. Caroline Benedict Burrell 165 Three-Year-Old Virtues Mary L. Read 166 Summary and Forecast The Third Year with Tom and Sarah William Byron Forbush 169 Index to Subjects Facing 172 Index to Occupations Facing 172 ii6 THE COURSE OF TRAINING LOOKING FORWARD THROUGH THE YEAR Dear Mother: "Playmates and fellow teachers," a phrase out of Mrs. Sies's first article. is the keynote of this year. She believes that the way to know one's child is to be his playmate, and that he is to teach her as much as she is to teach him. Mrs. Sies was, before her marriage, a professor of Childhood Education. The same careful, precise methods' that she used to employ in the laboratory she uses in trying to understand her child. Do^ not try merely to skim through her studies, but read them slowly, over arid over, take up each one, as indicated, and become this year — this year when the child is becoming more- active, intelligent, and imaginative — his playmate and fellow-teacher. The other readings, both in child study and on method, are arranged, as before, to be companions of, and to supplement, the .main course of training. Read and try out Mrs. Sies's suggestion, and then take the article mentioned in the second column and carry the suggestion a little farther. "A Child's Development and Training the Third Companion Articles Year" Mother and Child as Playmates and Fellow-Teachers "Plays and Games for the Third Year." "The Baby Yard." I. Physical Records and Physical Care "Self-Expression During the Third >'ear." II. Physical Activities and Instruction "Big Tools for Small Hands." III. Equipment and Material for Home Play "Playthings which the Father Can Make." IV. Records of Mental Development "Memory-Work with Margaret." V. Methods of Childish Experiment VI. Education through walks VII. Pictures, Stories, and Poems i!!^''^*"''"- V^n "■^u-'^'C - ^"Stones to Tell This Year. VIII. Speech and Language IX. Rhythm "Music During the Third Year." X. Dramatic Plays XI. Records of Social Development "Companionship: How to Furnish It." XII. Training ill Obedience "Getting Obedience through Understanding." XIII. Training in Sympathy XIV. Training in Affections XV. Training in Unselfishness "Jessie's Beginnings in Helpfulness." XVI. Training in Orderliness "Orderliness and Tidiness." XVII. The Development of Conscience "Three- Year-Old Virtues." 117 ii8 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL In last year's "Look Forward" we made a condensed statement of the attainments for the second year in a normal child's life, which we may compare with a similar forecast for the present (third) year. ATTAINMENTS OF THE SECOND YEAR ATTAINMENTS OF THE THIRD YEAR Increased body-control Greater control and much use of trunk-muscles Better grasping and handling Better manipulation of toys and tools More trial-and-success Trial now not blind, but to find out how things act More literal imitation Imitation now not only of literal acts but of pur- poses Use of all the senses Keener susceptibility of the senses Speech; broken phrases Speech; sentence-forming Occasional memory Voluntary memory, but not continuous Primitive reasoning Actions based on more thorough reasoning Self-assertion beginning Self-assertion develops into contrariness Curiosity constant, expressed by incessant questions Play more resourceful and self-directed Imagination now constructive and fanciful Noticeable affection and sympathy. Perhaps the two most noticeable developments of this year are likely to be, the distinct sense of Self and a snddcn "breaking-into" imaginativeness. (Com- pare the "New Things in Tom and Sarah" in the last article of this year's Course. ) This year we can foresee that, without any formal lessons as yet, we at least shall be more conscious that we are really teaching and that the child is learn- ing; when we give him playthings he will not only handle them better, but his plav will be more self-propelling and independent; he will get more ovit of his toys, and will have distinct purposes in their use and in his imitation of our activities ; he will also be ready for the simplest sort of stories and for little home responsibilities. May I quote from my "Guide-Book to Childhood" seven main needs which nobody but you can supply your child this year: 1. Food for the hungry senses. 5. Large opportunity for communication and 2. Means for the legitimate exercise of his expression. muscles. 6. Large opportunity for the wliolesome develop- 3. Right environment and right models for imi- ment of imagination. tation. 7. Right beginnings in "habit-formation, 4. Large opportunity for free experimentation with many objects. WiLLIAM ByRON ForbUSII. Oh, Mirth and Innocence! Oh, Milk and Water! Ye happy mixtures of more happy days. — Lord Byron. A CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING THE THIRD YEAR BY MRS. ALICE CORBIN SIES MOTHER AND CHILD AS PLAYMATES AND FELLOW-TEACHERS One day a mother sat by a window mending, her sewing-table piled high with clothes which must be repaired that afternoon. A child nearly three years old pressed constantly against her knee, unconsciously seeking, in her companion- ship, a human playmate who would respond, in loving understanding and in miraculous ways, to his questions, requests, and endearments. While the mother watched her child's happy play, her imagination swept back to her own childhood. As in a kaleidoscope she saw shifting scenes of happy playtimes with her own busy mother. She was awakened from her reveries by the child touching her arm, saying, "Do you need a cake of ice?" She smiled back into his eager eyes, and replied, "Yes, darling! I do need a cake of ice. Here is ten cents for it." Happily the little boy yielded the block of ice to her keeping, extending his hand eagerly for the pretended coin. "Now. my motor truck is going to the Mississippi River !" he exclaimed. Sliding along* the floor on one knee and the tip of the opposite toe, he soon reached a corner of the room where blocks lay scattered about in confusion. Filling his motor truck full of blocks of ice, he made a tour of the room, calling from one chair to another, "Ice ! Ice !" The mother silently looked on, seeing in her child's play the human link con- necting the achievements of one generation with the succeeding one. Soon the play lagged. Again .the child pulled at his mother's knee. "I want to get up," he said, attempting to climb upon her lap. The mother glanced hurriedly at her mending, then suggested, "Bring your Mother Goose and sit here on the stool beside me." The boy seated himself beside her and turned the pages slowly, his eyes resting upon the bright patches of color just long enough to wrest from each picture its meaning. "Bye Baby Bunting" was gently sung by the mother, while together they repeated some of the other rhymes. "Hot Cross Buns" was the boy's achievement alone. Many of the bright- colored pictures suggested action stories to the boy. "Here's a little girl talking to her doll ! This girl is going to the cupboard right here." By the time the book had been thoroughly gone over, the sun had come out after a rain and the mother bundled her boy up for a play on the in- closed porch. From where she sat she could watch the boy's slow muscular achievements, as he struggled to pull an elephant on wheels around corners. As the mother observed his movements, ideas for new play-materials suited to her child's needs occurred to her. She remembered some iron wheels in the cellar. Yes, these wheels could be fastened on a soap-box by means of iron rods which could be purchased at a foundry. The boy would then have a street-car to operate. Some low boxes would make a fine elevated track and would suggest both constructive and dramatic play. Playmates and fellow-teachers. she said to herself as she folded the clothes away and put on her hat and coat for a romp with the boy on the porch. "You get in my street-car!" said the boy as he made room for her on his low coaster — "Ding! dong!" and away they sped to Play-Land, where mothers are children and children are teachers and all journey onward together. I. PHYSICAL RECORDS AND PHYSICAL CARE We muthers become so used to the peculiarities in the structure of our children's bodies during infancy — the long trunk, short neck, and small leg — that we sometimes fail to notice the gradual change toward adult proportions. How queer an adult would look built upon these same lines ! The human figure would be scarcely recogniz- able. I noticed that by the end of the third year our boy's trunk was not quite so long in pro- portion to his legs. Most authorities place the 119 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL length of the trunk at three years as 62 per cent, of the body as compared with 65 per cent, at birth. Advantages of a Large Trunk The trunk is the center of growth during the first three years of life. In the following years the legs and arms develop most rapidly. The large, heavy trunk in infancy and childhood pro- vides plenty of room for the internal organs and muscles to undergo a period of pure growth. The lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, etc., have a big work to do, and they have an advan- tage during these early years because of their size and area. Your child must not only grow more rapidly than you ; he must produce more heat and energy because his body has about twice the radiating surface that yours has. The in- ternal organs are the great machines which re- ceive food and air, converting them into body- tissue, heat, and energy. The food must be nourishing, the air pure, in order to get the best results. Your child breathes rapidly. I noticed our little boy took from thirty-five to forty breaths a minute as compared with eighteen of mine taken in the same time. The lungs have an im- portant work to perform. The heart, too, although small in proportion to the arteries, is busy keep- ing up a rapid circulation of the blood. Another advantage your child reaps from the large trunk is seen in the development of the muscular system. The muscles form a large part of a child's weight during infancy and childhood. I once kept a list of the movements our boy made in the course of an hour during the third year. A large part of his movements called into play the heavy muscles of his trunk, shoulders, and legs. They were big, heavy movements involv- ing reaching, pulling, and walking. I early discovered that loose clothing, and shoes providing the toes room for growth, aided free movements; while tight shirts or drawers, a tight waist or collar-band, restricted movement. Changes in Height and Weight I noticed, of course, a change in height and weight during the year. The average child weighs about 25 pounds at two years, and gains about 5 pounds during the year. The increase in weight is less than the preceding year. The tremendous growth in weight during these first three years is seen when we find the weight has increased nearly five-fold. The increase in height is also marked: from 2oJ.4 inches at birth to 35 inches at three years. The importance of allowing the child proper rest, food, and clothing, on which this tremendous growth depends, can scarcely be overestimated. Children who are undernourished and shut out from air and sunshine ma}' regain their losses later, but very infrequently do so. The Food-Problem as Related to Growth It seems to me one of the first preparations for motherhood should be a year's course in cooking, followed by food-study. It is a well-known fact that the child's stomach is not completely adapted to adult food until the tenth year. Even with some knowledge of food-study, many mothers have children whose food-requirements differ so greatly from normal that expert advice is needed. Until our boy was three years old I called in a baby-specialist about every three months and followed his plan of diet carefully, preparing all the foods myself. I found I could not trust even the preparation of cereals to a maid. The wis- dom of this was apparent when I saw that two departures from the regular diet brought on in- digestion and a couple of days of poor health, the only days during these three years when the boy was not well and strong. How children may differ in food-requirements is illustrated by the following story related to me by a prominent physician. He was called to a home where an infant lay white and ill on the bed. He found by examination that acute indi- gestion was the cause of the illness. Noticing a bowl of bread and milk on the table, he left instructions for an altered diet. Upon his return the next day he found the child dead. Pointing to another cup of bread and milk on the table near by, he said to the foster-mother, "You are the murderer of that child !" The woman broke down and protested, saying she had brought up nine healthy children on bread and milk. It is a well-known fact that growth is the chief business of childhood and that carefully chosen food, well digested and assimilated, is one of the prime necessities of growth. Proper feeding not only supplies the child's present requirements, but fortifies him against nervous instability in later life. Yet, just as food and good digestion are necessary to produce good blood, so are health- ful interests and occupations an aid in digestion. A child who is not pleasantly occupied often works himself into a nervous state which affects both his appetite and his digestion. Sleep as Related to Growth During the third year I noticed that our boy was just as dependent upon regular hours of FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 121 undisturbed sleep as in early infancy. Twelve hours, from seven at night until seven in the morning, he lay in his crib in restful quiet, even though he did not sleep the full time. In the afternoon our boy took a nap of two hours. Most authorities agree that about an hour after the hearty noon-dinner is the best time for a child's afternoon nap. The blood is at this time rich in nutritive material for building up brain and the body-tissue. I often stole in to watch our boy as he slegt. When his sleep was perfect I noticed almost entire absence of move- ment. If he tossed about I bent down to see if he was too warm, or too cold, or I looked to see if the circulation of the air in the room was good. Children are more, sensitive to dampness and to impure air than are adults. Finding the matter of heat, cold, and fresh air satisfactory, I next turned my thoughts to his night-feeding. Since it was fairly regular and uniform in amount and variety, there was seldom restlessness because of indigestion. Absence of movement during sleep means brain rest ; during the hours spent in sleep the blood is circulating freely in the brain, nourishing it throughout. After one of his usual restful nights of sleep our boy would awake sing- ing, move actively about, and be full of play. Likewise I noticed the adverse efifect of too little sleep in a poorly ventilated room. One night we were traveling in a Pullman where the room was particularly hot and stufTy. In the morning the boy was sleepy, did not move about actively while I was dressing him. and sat quietly eating his breakfast with little or no chatter. Personally I learned by experience that to awaken a child quickly or to hurry his dressing generally brought on a nervous condition attended by irritability. Both mornings and afternoons I found it best to enter our boy's room quietly, draw up the curtain, then busy myself about the room until he gradually came to his senses. Some physicians claim the brain needs a few minutes for recovering its full activity, and for the cir- culation to return to normal. Regularity in Establishing Physical Habits It seems wise to have a regular time in which to bathe a child and to cleanse his teeth properly. Milk teeth dentition is complete at the third year, and the importance of the care of the mouth and teeth can not be overestimated. Our boy early delighted in having his teeth brushed, because after I had cleansed them properly he was allowed to finish all by himself. The regular time for sitting on the nursery- chair may be made pleasurable. I found our boy resisted this experience until I planned some defi- nite occupation. Sometimes I gave him a tray containing a small pitcher of water and his set of dishes. He enjoyed pouring the water into the different utensils and emptying the water back again into the pitcher. Other times I gave him crayons and blunt scissors and paper, or picture books. Exercise in the Open Air On warm sunny days as soon as the child has breakfasted, and has had his teeth and toilet at- tended to, he should play out of doors. He soon grows accustomed to this play-period and looks forward to it, if he has an abundance of things to do. During the third year it is still necessary to keep an active lookout from the window on all of his activities. A busy mother can do her kitchen work or mend by the window while watch- ing this outdoor play. If a mother wishes to have some time_ absolutely free for reading, study- ing, marketing, and the like, this seems about the best time to leave her child in the care of a reliable helper. He needs more mechanical attention and less discipline and guidance during this hour or two than at any other during the day. He is fresh and resourceful in his play. This was the time I felt most free to leave my boy in the care of a reliable maid. He would run in frequently after toys and playthings as the need arose, and would call her or me out to see what he was playing. On cold days it seems best to place a shorter outdoor play-period just before the noon-meal. On the very coldest days I accompanied our boy in his outdoor play. We would run actively about, shovel and sweep snow, or go sled-riding. In this way I saw that the boy kept actively exercised and did not stand or sit in the cold. In the after- noon a child should play out of doors again, after he has awakened from his nap. It seems a good time for even a busy mother to accompany her child on walks. I noticed that our boy would come in from these walks in high spirits and that he showed an improved physical condition. His activities in the fresh air had improved his heart action and increased the circulation of blood. Irritability, Fatigue, and Fidgetiness Even a healthy child becomes fidgety when hungry and tired, or if he is confined too long in poorly ventilated rooms. This is especially 122 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL true of bright, active children having a nervous temperament. Some children are naturally quick and nervous. They make a larger number of spontaneous movements than slow children and become nervously exhausted more quickly. I made a good many mistakes in disciplining our boy just before the noon-meal before I dis- covered my error. He would start a large num- ber of plays, get out all of his toys, run about aimlessly, and become cross and peevish if left to his own devices, or become positively ill- tempered if disciplined for his mistakes. Gradu- ally I learned to read the signs of irritability and fatigue some time after his mid-morning lunch and to avoid situations involving irritability and discipline. I usually found it best to speak quietly and firmly and to provide some interesting occu- pation which called into play the large, funda- mental muscles, such as scrubbing the floor with water and a brush, painting the kitchen furniture with water and a large brush, or assisting me in some housework. After such play his body would relax and he would come to his noon-meal pleas- ant and with a good appetite. A Daily Time-Table Summing up, then, the fundamental needs of a two-to-three-year-old child's play, we get a plan somewhat like the following: 6 :3a- 7 :30 Dressing and breakfast. 7 :30- 8 :00 Toilet preparations. 8:00- 9:00 or 8 :30 flay in house while mother works. 9:00-10:30 Outdoor play. 10:30-10:45 Lunch. 10:45-12:30 Play out of doors or with mother in- doors. 12:30- 1:00 Dinner. 1 :00- 2 :00 Stories, pictures, or play about house. 2 :0O- 4 :00 Afternoon nap. 4 :00- 5 :00 Outdoor walk. 5 :0O- 5 :30 Play with mother; pictures and songs and stories. 5 :30- 6 :30 Supper and bedtime stories. 6:30 Bed. n. PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES AND INSTRUCTION Quiet children often give little trouble, while active ones disturb the peace and order of the home, until their spontaneous actions are brought under control. Yet as soon as this is accom- plished the active child very often proves superior to the stolid, less active one. We mothers learn to fear those quiet or ner- vously active periods which accompany fatigue or illness. It is natural for a child to move about actively when refreshed, finding pleasure in move- ment ; and as natural to be annoyed when we place restrictions on his spontaneous movements. Whenever we see children running about freely, hopping, skipping, and jumping, we hear childish laughter and see evidences of health and spirits. After a child has passed through an illness or a period of prolonged fatigue, we notice a lack of spontaneous movements, a loss of balance in walking, and less vigorous play. Like other normal children, our boy was in constant motion during his waking hours. While I dressed or undressed him he would move about a good deal, reaching out for playthings, kicking his legs aimlessly about, or bobbing up and down in irrepressible motion. I early learned the futil- ity of telling him to keep quiet. At the begin- ning of the second year I learned, as most moth- ers doubtless do, to put on clothes during these activities; to cleanse the teeth while he was dab- bling in water; and to brush his hair in the midst of frolicsome movements. Soon I noticed that he was gradually gaining the power to control these movements when his thoughts were cen- tered upon a pleasing rhyme or story. By the end of the third year he would sit or stand quietly listening to stories while I dressed or undressed him. This indicated a new control of the brain centers having to do with movement. Spontaneous Movements At the beginning of the third year I noticed that the movements our boy used most frequently were those which involved reaching, pulling, haul- ing, lifting,, throwing, crawling, climbing, walking, and running. He liked to run rapidly from one end of the house to another, shouting gayly as he reached the end of his course. Climbing and jumping was a daily pastime. He would climb from one step to another or jump from low boxes as far as he dared, laughing loudly when he descended in a sitting position. On cold, snowy days he liked to sweep or to shovel snow. In the fall he derived great pleasure from sweeping leaves into a pile with his tiny broom. On warm days he would play in his sand-pile. I noticed he would reach far over his sand-pile with a spoon and deposit the sand outside. Piling up stones and arranging them in rows was another activity in which I noticed good bending and reaching movements. Pulling toys on wheels SELF-HELP FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 123 over smooth cement walks and throwing stones at a target were favorite outdoor pastimes. In- doors he would crawl over the floor on all fours, push engines along tracks, and carefully steer animals on wheels. At the seashore he greatly enjoyed throwing stones into the water, improv- ing during the Summer in the force and accuracy of his throw as well as his aim. Here he enjoyed jumping from rocks to the soft sand below, wad- ing and splashing in the shallow water, and push- ing a board or a boat about in the water. He seemed never to tire of these free, active plays in sand and water. His muscles toughened and strengthened, his breathing improved; I noticed a better coordination of muscles and an almost perfect poise accompanied by a new bodily grace. Nursery Instruction At the close of the third year most children have accomplished with little training the move- ments necessary for gross control of the body. We know little about the order of development of the muscles of the trunk, arms, and legs, but most authorities claim the trunk is the most ad- vanced at birth and up to the third year; that the arms are in advance of the legs, although the legs grow more rapidly during childhood. At four we see a shifting of growth from the trunk to the legs; while the muscles of the trunk and the trunk movements continue to be of prime importance, the legs gain considerably. Fond parents often imagine that they teach their children to walk approximately between the first and second years. What the parent really accomplishes is to aid the child to exercise an inborn tendency to walk. That most of the bodily movements so essential in childhood and adult life, such movements as sitting, standing, walking, running, stooping, jumping up, lying down, rolling, climbing, etc., are accomplished in childhood by trial and success, through some imitation of elders, seem probable to most psy- chologists. I had the feeling that there was little for me to do at first. Our physician instructed me not to try to teach or to encourage our boy to walk early, because of a slight tendency to bowlegedness, and I knew that I did not have it within my power to teach the other gross body-movements. I soon discovered, however, that I was kept very busy in providing the right environment in which the boy could exercise his God-given capacities — plenty of space and air to move about in, an abundance of crude toys to handle, wagons and blocks and boards, to lift and manipulate. Above all I was kept busy in watching the daily growth. We do not need to wait until our chil- dren speak to know whether they are playing profitably. We learn through watching and read- ing how to interpret through the face, gestures, movements, and poise of body, whether they are building up the necessary movements for genuine health and vigor in later childhood. III. EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL FOR HOME PLAY It seems especially important during the third year to keep the child's environment rich in op- portunities for free, unrestricted movement. The city no longer afifords the child unlimited space in which to roam, to climb fences, and to slide down cellar doors. Some place must be found to give the child space for development and growth. Our boy was quick to find substitutes. Play Apparatus A smooth table-leaf placed against a window- seat made an excellent slide for R. Before he was two years old he would beg to be lifted upon the board and would slide down with evident enjoyment. Soon he learned to climb up himself and then slide down unassisted. Before he was three years old he would slide down a ten-foot grassy embankment in our backyard, and would fearlessly coast down a still higher stone balus- trade on the front of the terrace. Because these natural slides are so hard on clothes, we mothers soon learn it is best to provide a smooth, hard- wood plank, mounted on a low stepladder with firm, spreading base. Climbing a strong step- ladder was especially enjoyed by our boy during the last half of his third year. For jumping, I provided boxes of different heights. On rainy days we brought those boxes into the house for indoor play. All during the third year our boy enjoyed walking on curbings or along the lowest boards of rail-fences. In the city playgrounds, six-inch-wide planks, raised three inches from the ground, are often provided. Children from two to three years old enjoy walk- ing along these planks, and from this practice gain poise and balance in walking. After the mechanics of walking have been per- K.N.— 10 124 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL fected, the child's energ-y seeks another outlet. He delights to pull or push toys on wheels. Coast- ing is also enjoyed. Before our boy was two and a half years old he could coast down a hill a block long, controlling the speed of his wagon by occasionally touching his feet to the ground, and steering exceptionally well by the use of the handle-bars. This achievement came after a week's use of a low-wheeled coaster, but was probably prepared for by several months' use of the kiddie-car. Some mothers question the advisability of a kiddie-car at this age. To me it seems to be one of the cheapest and most valuable toys for locomotion during the third year. Sitting on the seat the child exercises the muscles of his legs, while at the same time the weight of his heavy trunk is largely supported by the seat. Such exercise ought to afford a relief from the exertion of bearing the trunk about on legs small in proportion to their burden. Other Toys and Play-Materials A list of other play-materials which I found especially useful during this year is here given. Those mentioned in the first list are especially good for developing the large fundamental muscles of the trunk, arms, and legs. Those in the second list appeal more to the manipulating tendency, involving muscles concerned with finer muscular adjustments as well as those concerned in bending and reaching.* 1. For swinging and climbing. A rope knotted at intervals and suspended from the ceiling by a closed iron hook. 2. For climbing and sliding. A nine-foot maple slide, either constructed at home or pur- chased ready-made. 3. A wide-seated chair-swing, suspended by ropes from a wooden standard. 4. For pushing and pulling and coasting. A wagon or a box mounted on wheels ; or a coaster or pushraobile made as directed in the Bovs AND Girls Bookshelf, Vol. IV, pages 246 and 264. 5. For building, reaching, and lifting. Soap and starch-boxes, also long and short boards for building. A set of Schoenhut-Hill blocks may be used to supplement this building material. 6. For locomotion. A kiddie-car, doll-carriage, and toys on wheels. 7. For walking-experimentation. A walking board or joist. 8. For throwing and kicking. A No. J4 Spalding football, rubber balls, and a large box with circular hole into which beanbags can be thrown. 9. For pounding and sawing. A dull toy saw, a tiny hammer, large nails, and soft boards into which nails can be pounded. 10. For digging. A shovel, rake, and broom. 1. For manipulation. A nest of blocks, also a collection of paper boxes of cylindrical shape, and tin cans and boxes of varying size and shape. 2. A collection of stones, pebbles, shells, buttons, ntits, etc. 3. A Noah's ark set. 4. Embroidery hoops for rolling and twirling. 5. One-inch-size wooden beads and shoestrings for stringing. To be purchased at a kinder- garten supply-house. 6. Some bath-room tiles in colors. 7. Spoons, dishes, a toy stove, and a laundry set. 8. Dolls and a few clothes, also a few pieces of simple furniture. IV. RECORDS OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT A MOTHER once said to me : "I feel sure my child is developing well physically. I can weigh and measure his growth. But I don't know how to look for signs of mental development." I re- plied that although we can not observe the brain, we can see it working in our children's busy chatter and in the number and variety of move- ments they make. A feeble-minded child does not have the poise of body and the power to make con- trolled movements that a normal child possesses. * See Dr. McKeever's directions for making these play- things, page 149. Someone has said that all mental action is expressed in movement. The significance of at least some movements children make is easily in- terpreted by mothers. When our boy was in his third year I noticed he was very active, both physically and mentally. I felt this was a sure sign of healthy mental growth. He gained con- siderably in poise of body and in muscular de- velopment during the two months we spent at the seashore in the Summer. This was to be expected, since growth in Summer invariably exceeds growth in the Winter, if conditions are FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 125 favorable, and the brain grows with the body, responding favorably to good physical conditions. During the Summer I noticed our boy developed a more vigorous walk, a free, open stride, broken frequently by a forward leap. I observed also that he jumped actively about on the rocks, threw stones into the water with a strong arm-movement and a sure aim; and poured water steadily from his little pail into the sand-wells he so liked to dig. The brain has a tremendous amount of work to do before the end of the third year. By this time the greater part of its growth must be completed, for at four years in normal childhood nine-tenths of the brain-growth has been accomplished. Be- cause of this, the importance of physical health and of freedom from strain can scarcely be over- estimated. Not only does the brain have to grow ; it has to perfect new functions or uses. The child must see, hear, taste, smell, and touch ade- quately, in order to become used to the objects and people in the world about him. The develop- ment of the senses and of the muscles is most important during the third year. One writer has compared the mature parts of the brain to islands. Physical cables must be laid to connect these islands before any real thinking can be done. The brain-cells must bud and branch out like the leaves of a tree. This means a period of pure growth followed by a period of exercise for the parts matured. To neglect your child's sensory or motor-development when it needs the most attention in order to train his intellect along lines which are easier to train later, is poor economy. Your child's thinking depends upon laying the cables firm and strong for a good sensory and motor development. The Danger of Strain Anything that brings a strain upon our children at this tender age, when their minds and bodies are undergoing the wear and tear of rapid growth, is bound to lead to a one-sided development. It is not wise for us mothers to be too ambitious and stimulate our children constantly or force them to think along lines of our own choosing. It is, of course, possible to teach a child to read a little to impart some knowledge about a good many school-subjects during his third yeai". So far as this teaching grows out of our children's natural interest in connection with play about the home, there is little danger. In my own ex- perience I found no desire on the part of our boy during his third year to learn any of the things fond parents sometimes recount as childish achievements. Yet I discovered boundless oppor- tunities to suggest new things in connection with plays, with blocks, animals, engines, sand, water, etc., and to develop new ideas about favorite books, rhymes, poems, and music. Isn't it safer and more wholesome to teach fundamental habits in connection with the simple, homely life and with toys, than to strain after an intellectual knowledge the child's brain is not fitted to grasp? We mothers can more safely dress up a child in a man's clothing and expect him to be physically comfortable than force him to participate in uitellectual experiences beyond his years and grow strong in so doing. Emotional strain, too, is especially to be avoided. This is brought on by injudicious disciplining, by keep- ing a child up late at night, or by submitting him constantly to stimulating sights and sounds in the street or at public entertainments. Development in Attention Beginning with the end of the second year I noticed that our boy's power of attention to pic- tures, people, or toys had developed considerably. He would listen to Mother Goose songs or stories for a half hour, with an occasional break in at- tention. By the end of the third year he would look at pictures for perhaps an hour, provided I sat near to interpret the pictures and supply oc- casionally rhymes and stories. At two-and-a-half years he would play in water and sand or with an engrossing toy, such as a wagon or engine, for an hour at a time. When he was three years old, play with a toy engine engrossed most of his attention. It was, however, varied play; he would push his iron engine actively about, or make a long train of cars, build bridges for the train to pass under, and switch it back and forth on lines on the carpet. Before the third year his atten- tion had flitted rapidly from one play or toy to another; so much so that a house guest once suggested I ought to teach him concentration. I did not follow the advice, for I felt the brain had to grow at its own pace and that concentration could not be imposed from without. Memory One thing of interest to me during the third year was our boy's growth in power to recall objects, impressions, and scenes, and to use the knowledge at some later time. Very often I would see him dramatize an event that had occurred some time before. He showed ability to observe, with some degree of accuracy, the things, people, and events about him. One day I saw him go to the kitchen drawer for a hammer and insert the forked end between the boards of a crate. 126 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Again, I noticed he applied the kitchen can-opener, point down, on the circular groove of a can. At two and a half years, after a ten weeks' absence from home, he remembered where the various objects in the house were kept. At the close of the third year I returned from an or- chestral concert and told him I had heard a band play. He replied, "I heard a band in Iowa." Upon questioning him I discovered that he remembered where he had seen the band and who took him there. So far as my knowledge goes, this fact was remembered three months without being re- called before. At the beginning of the year I had thought it interesting that the sight of new kid gloves reminded him of taking lunch down- town with me two weeks earlier. Now I saw the ability to store up ideas several months and to use them again. Imagination Imagination also grows apace. It was through watching our boy's dramatic plays that I dis- covered the common, everyday stuff with which imagination works. We sometimes remark upon children's vivid imaginations, forgetful of the fact that their minds are only working in normal ways with the materials they pick up in everyday life. A mother has a wonderful opportunity to see this, for she is constantly with her child and knows what his mental pictures are. One day when we were out walking our boy exclaimed, "See the moon !" at the same time pointing to a crescent- shaped piece of metal in the cement sidewalk. I recalled that he had several times seen the moon as a bright crescent in the sky above. So what seemed a far-fetched comparison to me was but the normal exercise of imagination to him. Reason and Judgment Adults often say a child has no power to reason or to form judgments. We sometimes think this because of the incongruous ideas children get. During the influenza epidemic I was out walk- ing with our boy when he attempted to em- brace a strange child. Quickly I pulled him away saying, "Oh, no; the baby has a cold." The boy replied, "He not cold; he warm!" And then I realized that while we were both reasoning and forming judgments, my judgments were abstract ones, and the boy's dealt with facts as he saw them through the senses. Perhaps the following illustration shows still better what an everyday fact judgment is. One day when our boy was two and a half years old he wished to look out of a window just beyond his reach. I placed a book under his feet. After standing a few minutes to get a good view out of the window, he turned to me and said, "I need a big book. Muz." Had he not considered facts of sense in such a way that he had arrived at a conclusion in which the significance of big and little books had a direct bearing on the problem of e.xtending his height to get a good view from the window? We hear sometimes that a child possesses little foresight of consequences and makes "snap judg- ments." Here again we are likely to misjudge the child's reasoning ability by refusing to recog- nize judgments related to sense-objects and things. The following example will perhaps illustrate my meaning: One time when we were living at the seashore I was tucking the boy in bed when he exclaimed, "Write, Muz ! Sew !" I realized that his mind had conceived the pleasant state of going to sleep with me near. His busy brain had devised a means to accomplish his end. This mental act partakes almost of the nature of strategy in adult life, as does the following: I had often forbidden R. to walk out on the pier at the shore, exclaiming, "Captain D. says you must not go out there ; it is dangerous for little boys." One day as we were approaching the shore R. exclaimed, "Captain D. says to go out on the pier, Muz !" Realizing some authority higher than mine concerning the possibility of walking on the pier, he had applied this knowledge to further his own personal ends. The Question of Method in Mental Development We have spoken of the danger of becoming too ambitious in training a child along lines of our own choosing. This does not mean that we mothers should leave our children unguided in their play. We must learn the natural method of education. To do this we must start with our children as we find them, as Nature leaves them in our midst. Mothers of large families often say, "Every one of my children is different from the others ! What I do for one is out of place with another." Even a mother of one child recognizes this if she supervises the play of her own child with other children. I learned most about our boy during the third year from direct observation of his actions when alone with me and when playing with other chil- dren. I soon discovered how his nature differed from that of other children of his age, and learned some of the ways in which he needed the most help by imitation and suggestion. LEARNING BY EXPERIMENTATION FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 127 V. METHODS OF CHILDISH EXPERIMENT I EARLY learned to start with the boy's interests. For example, if I wished to interpret to him the life of birds, ducks, or chickens, I told stories con- nected with something he had known about them in actual experience : how a dog barked to get into the house; how the duck hunted water to swim in; how the birds flew from the tree to the ground in search of food, etc. I started always with some- thing the boy was interested in; I finished some- times with a dog or bird or duck story that had no immediate relation to what he knew, yet which was of vital human interest. Often a poem was useful in putting some of these experiences into a form which was to be a permanent possession. For example, one morning the boy looked out of the window on a white world. He noticed the falling snow and remarked that the wind was blowing it about. He asked to catch a snowflake, so we went outdoors and caught some on our hands and coats and felt them on our faces. When we came in we stood by the window and the boy told me everything the snow had covered. After that he was delighted to hear the little poem, "Snow, snow, everywhere," and would correct me if I forgot to mention "roofs or window panes." Starting with something the child himself con- tributes is an absolute necessity to the mother or teacher who would assist children in mental de- velopment. And now comes the question of mctltod. Shall the mother leave the child to experimenta- tion and let him profit by the trial-and-error method? Shall she use imitation and suggestion a good deal? Shall she aim to make her child independent enough to form "free ideas," by which we mean applying past experiences in new and novel ways ? It seems to me most of us mothers learn quite unconsciously to use all three methods. In my own experience I obtained best results when play- ing directly with our boy. rather than in sitting aloof and making suggestions. Any mother has a few odd minutes each day in which she can play with her child. Our boy would urge "Come, play with me on the floor !" Since he had two engines I would run mine about, doing pretty nearly what he did. After he tired of running the engine under a bridge, I would make my engine do something different — run around a circular track or over an elevated bridge. Often I would say, "Let's make our engines do what those engines did the other day." Then we would switch them back and forth, unload the cars, coal up the engines, etc. R. once said, "The whistle is going to blov:' ! Hear the bell ring !" Then with a quick change of thought and no feeling of in- consistency, he said, "The colored porter says for all to get off and they (meaning people) are going to eat now on the train." The colored porter and eating on a train were experiences three months off, while the whistle and bell of an engine were heard frequently on our daily walks. In another minute he himself would be the en- gine and steam off with a "Ding, dong," and a "Chu, chu." The play described above involves all three methods. We sometimes fail to notice the important re- sults of this developing method. First it involves a recognition on the mother's part that her child contributes something of importance. His natural powers of observation and his interests are taken into account. The mother selects something he is interested in and lets him take his first mental steps alone. He explores, observes, and tells her his results either through actions or words. She goes on his journeys of learning with him and adds a little either by actions or words. She takes him a little farther than he could go alone in his wanderings. She supplies things he hungers and thirsts to get but can not quite reach unaided. The gratitude a child shows when a mother meets his needs in this way is quite wonderful to behold. His whole being expands with delight and pleasure as a new world opens up before him, and he feels united, melted almost into one being with the person who shares these experiences with him. Surely these moments are among the priceless possessions of parents and teachers. uS THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL VI. EDUCATION THROUGH WALKS* From the time our ^boy was able to toddle alone he delighted in being taken on walks, if only to the corner and back. When he was two years old he had learned the different roads leading to points of interest — to a neighbor's hennery, to the street-car tracks, and to a hill down which he sometimes coasted on his kiddie-car. I found it best to walk slowly, to stop with him when he wished to pick flowers, gather stones, or watch birds and passing vehicles. In the winter months we waded through snow, slid on icy walks, made snowballs and ran about, chasing each other. Sometimes, comine home at dusk, we would notice the street lights and R. would point to the moon overhead. In summer we climbed the grassy slopes of a hill nearby, picked dandelions and daisies and watched birds. Occasionally we would go to a large park, where we saw engines, airplanes, fish, rabbits, etc. Upon arriving home R. would relate to us what he had seen and I would make up simple fact-stories concerning the objects that had interested him — how the rabbits jumped about in the grass, how the little squirrels ran up and down the trees, how people rode on trains, and how fish swam through the water.f VII. PICTURES, STORIES, AND POEMS During the third year, pictures are stories in themselves. Gradually words describing them arise spontaneously. Our boy enjoyed especially the colored pictures in "The Real Mother Goose," illustrated so beautifully by Blanche Fisher Wright; he was also fond of "The Most Popular Mother Goose Songs," illustrated by Mabel B. Hill. As I turned the pages he would exclaim, "Baby get bathed!" "See the man with a cane!" He had a way, too, of pointing to pictures, silently begging for stories describing them; and would make disapproving gestures if I turned the pages without giving simple fact-stories concerning the * Read again Mrs. Coleman's description of her walks with Margaret in the Course for the second year. t I he following outlines, taken by permission from Helen Y. Campbell's ''Complete Motherhood," may be useful to the mother in preparing these fact-stories. Be sure, however, that such stories do not precede the child's own observations and questions. If they do, they will be likely to deaden rather than quicken interest. .\fter telling a story, get the child to retell it to you, and then follow it up by further observation. For instance, after telling about bread, visit a bakery with the child, and then a pastry -shop. After seeing honey on the table, visit a hive. After finding a horseshoe, go to a blacksmith's shop. A Piece of Bread. — Plowing the fields, sowing the seed, watching the yellow fields, reaping the grain, threshing the wheat-grains away from the straw, winnowing the husks or chaff away from the grain, the miller and the windmill, crushing the grains in the mill, and sifting the white flour away from the bran, the baker and his oven, the baker's shop, and the pastry-cook's, A Horseshoe. — The horse, his hoof and mane, the black- !imilh and his forge, the horse's harness, his food, and his house, his intelligence and uses, his breaking-in, his paces, wild horses, lassoing, the cart-horse, the cab-horse, the race horse, the circus-horse and his feats, the long-legged colts, the farm pony, the shaggy Shetland pony. A Piece of Coal, or the Fire Burning in the Grate. — Tell the child the ori(j:in of coal from the plants of the marshy, buried forests of long ago. How these plants, which we often see pictures of on the coal, had no pretty flowers, and were chiefly giant mosses and ferns, etc., though the sun pictures he pointed to. I described the actions of people or animals and related simple facts about objects in a few telling words, thus giving him verbal word-pictures to form a nucleus for a good vocabulary. Colored pictures consisting of bright splashes of red, green, blue, and yellow made the strongest appeal. I noticed R. did not recognize some of the finely drawn figures in black and white, although he liked big poster- effects in black and white. I had often read that children never tired of Mother Goose rhymes and songs. Our boy would plainly show his dislike if they were too often shone on them. How these plants worked to store up some- thing, with the help of the sunbeams playing over them, and kept it to be useful to the world long after they were dead. Tell the child about the coal-mines underground, the miner, his lamp, his pick and shovel; how the coal burns in the nursery grate, and yields the gas to light the room, to cook our food, and to drive our engines. A Spoonful of Honey. — The bees' nest or hive; the Queen Bee and the fat lazy drones, her guard of honor. The active little working bees, who build the comb with wax from their "wax pockets," clean the hive, and mend it with gum from the plants, then cool it by fanning with their wings. Why they fly forth to the flowers and return laden with honey in their "honey bags," and pollen in the "pollen baskets" on their little hind-legs; why they have stings to secure them from interference with their important work and enable them to drive away enemies and robbers from the hive. The nurse-bees, who hollow out the waxy cell-cradles for the bee-babies, and feed them with honey and pollen- dust, and then use up the pollen left over to make the dark "bee bread" and store it for the Winter. The babies (laid by the Queen as little white eggs in the cell-cradles) who turn into grubs, and when they have grown fat on the nice food prepared by the nurses, put on silk robes and go to sleep, while the nurses cover their cradles with wax. and when they wake, eat a hole In their cradles and crawl out with a striped brown velvet dress, and wings like the grown-up bees; the swarming away to form a new colony of the <_)iieen Bee and her drones, and many of the workers, on a bright day. when a princess is born, whom the nurses feed on a special sweet jelly; the use of bees to the flowers in helping them to make their seeds. FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 129 repeated. Some songs he had especially enjoyed at first, finally became distasteful, although later his liking seemed partly to return. It seemed to me that from the time R. was two and a half years old, I told stories on every occasion. When dressing and undressing him, while preparing his food, and at odd times during the day, would come the request "Tell me about this!" I showed him pictures selected to meet his interests (a large number of which I gathered from old magazines and pasted into scrapbooks). As soon as R. became thoroughly familiar with the pictures and their meaning, he would sit alone, turning the pages and repeating the things he knew about each picture. I hunted up rhymes as well as stories related to a child's interests. A few of Christina Ros- setti"s poems, one or two of Stevenson's, and a large number of rhymes and songs from such kindergarten song-books as the following, I sung or recited frequently to him : PouLssoN, Emilie. Finger Plays. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston. Riley. Alice Cushing. and Gaynor, Jessie L. Songs of the Child's World, Nos. 1 and 2. The John Church Co., Cincinnati, O. Bentley, Alys E. The Song Primer. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. Walker. Gertrude E., and Jenks, Harriet S. Songs and Games for Little Ones. Oliver Ditson Co., Boston. VIII. SPEECH AND LANGUAGE My own records of our boy's language-develop- ment show that he acquired a large part of his vocabulary during the third year through imitat- ing our own speech. At two years he had acquired the habit of saying simple words and phrases after us just as soon as he heard them. "See that?" "Baby ride," are examples of what I mean. I realized the importance of speaking slowly and plainly and of being careful in the selection of words. I did not greatly simplify my speech, however. I used words and sentences which would have a permanent place in his vocabulary. R. had a habit of pointing to an object when he wanted it. By paying no atten- tion to these inaudible requests I forced him to ask for it verbally. At twenty-seven months R. could make fairly good, sentences, such as "Daddy, please put bath- tub away." At that age he invariably accom- panied his actions with words, "Go downstairs with me !" "Sweep floor !" "Wash face !" being samples of what I mean. Later he did not so describe his actions. During the last half of the third year language was acquired very rapidly. On walks I found much to talk about with R., and his vocabulary grew apace through the natural widening of his ex- periences. Stories and pictures gave him a permanent vocabulary. The stories he wished repeated again and again, and the words became permanent in his memory. I encouraged him to relate to me after- wards what he had seen upon walks and to retell familiar stories. In relating these stories, the words would be almost exactly what I had used in telling stories to him.* IX. RHYTHM I FOUND that rhythmic movements developed quite naturally and spontaneously in unexpected ways. WHien running, R. would give an occa- sional leaping movement which fell quite naturally into schottish rhythm. Once I saw him experi- ment in walking by taking little mincing steps about the house. I sat down at the piano and played "Tiptoe" music, but found the music inter- fered with the rhythm of his movements. It was not until our boy was in his fourth year that * A recent authority, tabulating the common mistakes of children, lists only about twenty-five as being very frequent. This is an encouraging fact. It suggests that if we isolate these few for special treatment, conceutrating our attention upon them, we may eliminate them one by one. In doing this it is important to name the incorrect expression as seldom as possible, lest the very effort at correction only serve to fi.x the wrong form. I would suggest that you take up these imperfect expressions one by one and offer some small reward each time the right phrase is used. haven't no seen, had saw ain't done, for did got, haven't got I and my brother kin, jist, git, etc. ain't, for haven't Fred and me is, for are them, for those learn, for teach can, for may my mother she that there it was me went, for gone come, for came drawed, throwed, etc. lay for lie all two readin', writin*, singin*, et, for ate set, for sit 130 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL music enhanced his pleasure in free rhythmic movement. Walking sideways rhythmically was acquired in the third year through playing ring- around-the-rosy with me. Galloping movements, with one foot leading, occurred during running plays. After I noticed this, we would take hold of hands and gallop together when out on walks. Two books possessing a variety of rhythmic activ- ities suited to a child's development a little later than the third year are: Volume H of "Music for the Child's World," by Hofer; "Folk Dances and Games," by Crawford. X. DRAMATIC PLAYS SoMEONi: has said that a child builds up his personality, under certain limitations, by copying the actions, temper, and emotions of those who are his companions. We mothers often see our- dispositions as well as our actions reflected in the children playing about us. If rude and uncultured servants are employed in the home, it is easy to detect their habits and actions in the play of the children. I once observed a child who had been for a week continuously associated with a servant. This child had taken on certain rude actions copied from the servant. He indulged in such expressions as "Get out of my way!" "I'm in a hurry !" "Don't bother me !" when but a week earlier, "Excuse me !" and "Please let me pass !" had been commonplace remarks. What the Child Imitates During the third year we see children imitating almost any action or event which appeals to their interest. The most familiar experiences are not always the ones first acted out, although this is likely to be the case if the commonplace ex- periences appeal to the active life the child leads. Before our boy entered upon his third year I saw him struggle to envelop a baby doll in a diaper. He then placed the doll on a couch and covered it up, sticking safety pins about in the bedclothes with an idea of somehow fastening the doll in. He often made a trip to the bathroom to secure a washcloth with which to wash his doll. This kind of play seemed simple, but it involved a defi- nite plan of action and was a step in advance of such simple dramatic plays as scrubbing the floor with a brush he happened to find, or dusting the furniture when someone else was dusting. When a two-year-old child plays at dusting, sweeping, or cleaning, he is learning something about each act he imitates. If we observe care- lessly, the play may seem on about the same level for several months, but if we look more care- fully, we will see how the acts change. For example, as our boy continued the play of putting his doll to bed he observed more closely the pnt- ting-to-hcd act and learned to adjust the bed- clothes and pins more nearly as I did. The Capacity for Make-Believe or Illusion One day when R. was twenty-six months old he placed a paper plate on his head, a market- basket on his arm, and with a cane in his hand strutted about the house, chanting in a tuneless fashion at the top of his voice. He was arrayed to look like me when I start to market, with the addition of a cane, which symbolized Daddy's festive walking occasions. In some way he achieved a sense of importance by the addition of hat, cane, and basket. He did not deceive himself into believing that he was really going to market or out for a walk. This sense of illusion or pretense seems to give children a great deal of pleasure even as early as the third year. About this time R. derived considerable pleasure in eating imaginary meals from a spoon and empty dish, knowing quite well he was not partaking of food, but enjoying the pretense, nevertheless. This enjoyment of pre- tense extends so far as to make even disagree- able acts pleasurable. One of R.'s favorite plays during this third year was pretending to go to bed, while really going to bed was rather a matter to be endured. When being put to bed he would sometimes say, "But I don't want to sleep so much," but playing bedtime was a different mat- ter. It was a self-planned activity, hence it could be terminated at will. The Development of Dramatic Plays During the last part of the third year children dramatize pretty nearly everything that strikes their fancy. Shaving like father, running like horses, hopping like frogs, flying like birds, cravi'ling to represent mice, cats, etc., barking to represent dogs, are part and parcel of the day's play. When using blocks or toys, these inanimate objects are made to perform events seen or heard of in stories. Ideas suggested through pictures are also incorporated in dramatic play. One day while R. was playing I saw a train run under a bridge and a sailor boy stand on top of the bridge, looking down upon the swift-moving train. Pretty FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 131 soon a man appeared on top of one of the cars. I remembered just where R. had seen these things. But soon the play became unlike his own actual observation. A motor truck passed over the bridge with a lady doll on the seat. Suddenly a story was remembered. "I want a cat to jump on her lap," I heard R. exclaim. A wooden block became a cat and jumped into the lady's lap. Then a dog (another block) appeared and chased the cat up a tree. And so several jumbled-up facts from different stories were remembered and in- corporated into a play which had started as a dramatization of a real experience. Just after the close of the third year I noticed that the plots of dramatic plays became more true. At that time Santa Claus was the en- grossing subject. The plot changed from day to day, yet nevef exceeded the bounds of stories and pictures connected with Santa Claus. Some- times Santa "propelled" himself over the floor in a large pan. Again, he strutted about with a pack over his back and insisted upon my closing ray eyes while he deposited toys at my feet. At another time a chair became the tiny reindeer, and, perched upon an improvised seat in a clothes- basket, R. slapped his reins and speeded on his journey o'er the snow. One day I attempted to use the chair which had a short time before played the part of "the tiny reindeer." R. resisted with a vigorous pro- test, "Oh, don't ! It's my reindeer !" This Santa Claus play almost dominated the boy's person- ality for several months. "I'm Santa Claus!" he would exclaim before he had even partaken of breakfast, and all during the day, off and on, the Santa personality dominated his actions. When people asked him his name he invariably and quite seriously replied, with no thought of being amused, "Santa Claus !" The Educational Significance of Dramatic Plays Considering the facts brought out in the dis- cussion of dramatic plays, it is a commonplace to attempt to point out the educational signifi- cance of such plays. They are the very stuff of life itself. We can control the kind of play only by controlling the conditions of life. If our lives with our children abound in rich experiences which set good copies, we need have no fear of what the child will dramatize. Within certain limits parents can enrich the significance of dra- matic games b}' playing with their children, being careful, of course, not to usurp leadership or to suggest a content to the play which is quite foreign to the child's genuine interpretation. Dur- ing the third year, also, a parent can greatly en- hance the content of dramatic plays by descrip- tive songs and stories. For this purpose I found facf-stories relating to animals and activities in which the boy was interested more appropriate during the third year than stories in books. Dur- ing the fourth year I could use longer stories, but during the third year only Mother Goose rhymes and the simple fact-rhymes found in kindergarten song-books. XI. RECORDS OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Every child inherits naturally a desire for com- panionship with children his own age, as well as with grown-ups. Both are necessary. Compan- ionship with children gives one kind of social training; companionship with adults, another. In observing the dift'erence in the results when our boy played constantly with me, and when he enjoyed the companionship of children his own age, I stumbled upon some interesting facts. First, I noticed that he became elated and that his per- sonality seemed expanded when he was playing with children his own age. There was not per- haps the swift and sure flow of sympathy and ready speech that I noticed when with me. But his personality became different ; he developed new attitudes and new ways of doing things. It seemed quite evident that he was changing in ways I was powerless to make him change be- cause of the fact that I was adult. One day I heard him beg a little neighbor to come over and play in his sand-pile. His beseeching tones made no impression upon the little lady, who busied her- self in her garden without any sign of interest except to answer "No!" R. looked heartbroken, and running to me for sympathy, cried out, "Mother, she won't come over !" As he hid his face against mine I realized that what he craved and needed was another little personality feeling as he felt, acting as he acted, and even at times behaving in quite new and unexpected ways. And I, his mother, although I had spent years in com- panionship with children, could not hope fully to supply this need. Limitations in Adult Companionship It was at one time possible for me to observe daily, for a considerable period, the behavior of an only child who had been alone a great deal ir^2 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL with her mother. Because of the refinement of her mother's personality, this child appeared su- perior and more attractive than children usually do. Yet, placed with children her own age, she appeared at a disadvantage. She did not know how to defend herself against their aggressions, nor was she trained to cooperate with them in their play. She had not developed the social weapons of defense and offense necessary in group play. Children Learn How to Act by the Way their Acts are Received Our boy learned, early in his third year, that little friends went home if he pushed them about or monopolized the toys. It was in play with other children that he found it did not pay to hit or strike. The early appearance of this tendency had troubled me not a little. I tried holding his hands after such acts, taking him away from the group, and other forms of discipline. Finally I in- structed a child two years older to hit him back. I shall never forget the look on his face when this particular playmate did hit back. And I saw at once the effectiveness of this swift, just, sudden judgment. Not long afterwards when I was dressing R. he struck at me playfully with considerable force. I devised a hand-tagging game which interested for awhile. Still the im- pulse persisted, returning again and again. Re- membering the effect of the child's return blow I paused and said quietly, "It hurts; I'll show you how it feels !" And I administered one swift blow, smiling and saying, "Do you like it?" He looked surprised and put both arms about my neck, dropping his head on my shoulder. Some- how I had assisted him to see the social result of this purely playful yet socially harmful act. Even during the third year he would start to strike, so strong was the natural tendency in this particular child, then hold his hand suspended in the air as reason told him to stop. We mothers are often too protective in our attitude toward our children. Because we be- lieve them to be immature we shield them from the consequences of their mistakes and often make it impossible for them to learn by experi- ence. Play with other children is invaluable in showing up these prime necessities of behavior. I once saw a fond parent playing "Pussy-wants- a-corner" with his little daughter and three or four other children. He schemed to give his little daughter unfair advantages, and thus helped her to change places successfully. If limited to his companionship, what chance had this little girl to learn through play how to be fair, and to win honestly the points of the game? Adult Interference in Children's Play During the third year I found that my super- vision was very necessary if play with other children was to prove profitable. Not that I needed to interfere constantly, but I found it best to be near enough to see that sudden conflicts in the possession of the toys did not lead to throw- ing toys and blocks about promiscuously. A child of this age is too young to be told to count ten before he acts, as we adults sometimes do. In childhood many instincts pull for dift'erent kinds of behavior. A child usually acts in the direction toward which the strongest and quickest instinct pulls him. Often we mothers can attract a child's attention away from the object of his wrath and thus give him a chance to get himself under control before he wreaks vengeance on property and playmates. This does not mean that we should protect our children from the effects of their misdemeanors. Nothing could be more harmful than to prevent them from learning by experience. Where neither property nor life is threatened it seems safest to let our children act naturally, and learn by their little mistakes how to act differently. Sometimes a warning is suffi- cient. When I saw our boy monopolizing a treas- ured toy I sometimes suggested that his little friend would go home if he kept the toy to himself, then left him free to decide what to do. And he soon learned that it paid to be generous and to cooperate in play. When I played with him I de- manded my turn and fair play. R. soon learned that I expected this kind of treatment and gave it. He would often offer me a treasured iron engine as an inducement to play, keeping a less highly prized wooden engine for his own use. In conclusion, it was the result of my own ob- servations that if I wished our boy to have a happy, all-around development, he must play with other children. I therefore decided to accept the inevitable drawbacks seen in certain undesirable habits copied from other children, as well as to accept the advantages such play afforded. FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 133 XII. TRAINING IN OBEDIENCE Obedience begins with the first touch of a hu- man hand, the first sound of a human voice. Wlien you place your baby in his first nursing position and hold him there ; when you darken the room for his scheduled naps ; when you change and bathe him, you are giving him his first lessons in obedience to law and order. When your baby responds to your cooing, your cuddling, and fondling, you are deepening the roots of sympathy and understanding out of which obedi- ence will grow and flower. Training for Obedience It is a much-discussed question among mothers how important obedience is among the social habits their children must acquire during the early years of life. Obedience means submission to the will of another. Most of us in adult life do not practice occupations or engage in work which requires an instant, unqualified obedience to the commands of a superior. Most of us prefer work in which we are called upon to judge for ourselves and to bear the responsibilities of our choices. Yet we are ever subject to a series of authoritative demands in the home, city, state, and nation ; we are subject, also, to the authorita- tive voice of conscience. It is evident a child is in a different situation as regards obedience. Until he arrives at an age when he has gained the ex- perience to choose the right action, he can not be held responsible for his choices ; indeed, he needs to be saved from himself — from pursuing the whims and caprices that appeal for the mo- ment. He seems happiest and best in childhood if given the moral support of a firm hand and heart. His life runs smoothest if he is conscious of no choice about essentials. Yet he must be gradu- ally trained to make choices and bear the conse- quences. Even in the third year I began to say to our boy, "You may play out on the front sidewalk with your sled or you may go for a walk." And once the choice was made, I expected him to abide by the consequences. It required some experience and judgment on his part to decide whether one course or the other afforded the most satisfaction and enjoyment. Yet I did not say to him, "You may or may not eat your spinach for dinner," or "You may or may not take your daily nap." The spinach and nap were looked upon as a matter of course ; without a thought or question they were a part of his life. And so with other neces- sary requirements : the child should be led to con- form without question, not realizing that he is obeying the will of another. Habit avoids much friction in childhood. The Social Significance of Obeying It is an open question whether a child who obeys unquestioningly his father's and mother's commands is going to develop into a youth who responds well to the dictates of a social order or who acquires a deep and lasting sense of obedi- ence to the warnings of conscience. This is a question about which careful thinkers are rightly skeptical. In my own experience I have seen children who were disobedient at home show a real sense of responsibility to the demands of good teachers and employees. Somehow, despite the defects of early training, they responded to authority. Unless we are willing to grant a trans- fer of the habit of obedience from a trained re- sponse to a parent's command to the response to the demands of society in adult life, we must content ourselves with requiring the kind of obedience necessary for the preservation and happiness of the family group. Good habits in eating, sleeping, and playing -with toys and other children will eliminate the necessity of many commands for obedience, yet the child must come when he is called and he must respond to a com- mand of his parents, in order to avoid loss of property and danger to life itself. Requiring Unnecessary Obedience Perhaps we may simplify the question of how much obedience to require by agreeing to de- mand less, but to insist upon obedience once asked for. This course requires us to think twice before asking our children to do explicitly as we request. I once saw a child engaged in happy play jump up suddenly at the sound of his mother's voice requesting him to put away his toys at once. The mother seemed to have no particular reason for interrupting her child's play other than that it was approaching lunch _ time. A little forethought on her part would have led this mother to break more gently the happy bond of thought that was carrying her child's life into really creative channels. I learned the relation of obedience to creative play by an equally unfortunate mistake. Coming 134 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL upstairs one day with my mind bent on other things I forgot to obsecve that R. was busy play- ing with his engine. Taking him by the hand I said, "Time for bed!" Immediately I had vio- lent opposition — "I don't want to go to bed!" R. protested, stiffening his limbs and growing red in the face — "I want to play with my engine!" Seeing my mistake, I said, "Here comes the en- gine to get coaled up at the station !" His limbs relaxed and his face took on a happy look. "Here comes the engine !" he repeated, wheeling it after us. We played a minute or two, then I began to undress him, keeping his mind on the engine, and before he realized it he was ready for bed, and the engine had been coaled up and placed on a chair beside the bed. Some mothers may say, "But I haven't time for all this — I am too busy!" To this I can only reply that I haven't time for the other kind of procedure, which involves a wear and tear of nerves and an ultimate loss of time. Coming When Called We will all grant, I am sure, that it is abso- lutely necessary for a child to come when his mother or father calls him. Yet to bring about this habit with all children is not an easy thing. A child of little initiative in play is more quickly trained in this than one who is constantly finding himself in the midst of interesting and absorbing activities. With our boy I did not find it easy to establish this habit. There were always so many interesting things which he wished to do. When he was in his second year I found it best to use pain — a spatting of the little hands. In the third year, when he failed to comply with my request to come, I used other kinds of punishment, grow- ing out of the situation. Feeling that the habit of obedience was necessary, I did not coax by saying, "Come to get ready for a walk!" or "Come here. Mother has something nice for you !" But if he failed to come at once to lunch, I withheld des- sert, or if it was to take a walk I had called him, I left him home while I went out. And the third year was well on before I could count absolutely on obedience to this kind of pressure. I think this slow development in this particular child was due to the fact that by nature he particularly resented interference, and that experience was necessary to establish the fact that obedience was to be demanded and required: also that obedience paid. Other children I have known are so responsive that they obey unquestioningly almost from the first. I observed another case of a child who resisted interference more than is usual. His mother, feeling she must demand immediate obedience, rewarded him by giving him bits of candy when he came if called. This child would not come if others called him, for he had no re- ward by so doing. XIII. TRAINING IN SYMPATHY It is easy to believe that a little child is sympa- thetic; he appears to feel with us, to laugh when we laugh, and to cry when we cry. A good many of these acts are the result of imitation. I re- member when our boy was two and a half years old he would shout gleefully when a crowd of adults laughed or clapped their hands, and he would cry almost instantly if I puckered up my face and uttered a distressing sound. This was a mere unthinking response. Real sympathy occurs only when a child feels as zve feel: his mmd must recognize our feelings as akin to some- thing he has felt in his own experience. Real sympathy, then, depends upon a growth in experi- ence, in which clear thinking upon the results of experience plays a large part. We can hardly expect a child of three to sympathize with us when we are ill unless he has quite recently gone through some privations be- cause of illness ; nor can we hope for his sympa- thy when we are nervous or unstrung. Yet if we bump our heads or burn our fingers his mind instantly grasps our mental state. I have known instances where a child cried in sympathy with his mother on such occasions. Our boy cried out in terror when a visitor at our home pretended to throw Chine, his beloved doll, downstairs. With this growth in the power to imagine his doll passing through an experience he had him- self found harmful, came a power of projecting his thoughts and feelings into other people's acts. I once heard him cry out that Chine was hungry and needed oatmeal. And after the growth of this type of understanding I never saw him handle his dolls or toys roughly. Often if I dropped a rubber doll he would exclaim solicitously, "You hurt my sailor man !" I once knew a small child who had such power of imagination that he rebelled when his mother picked pansies. He went quickly toward her and began to strike her by way of protest, saying, "You are hurting my pansies !" But this, of course, is not a normal exercise of imagination and sympathy. Children differ so much in their natural FRIEXDS.— GOING TO BED.— SHARING.— TRAINIiXG IN TABLE-MANN ERS FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY; 135 capacity to project their minds into the experi- ences of another that training does not always reap a rich harvest. Then, too, a child reacts to example. In rare cases it seems to be an un- fortunate coincidence that mother and child may be tuned to a different pitch and that sympathy between them is not perfectly natural and spon- taneous. Usually, however, there is a generous give and take sympathy between the cliild and his parents. Nature apparently intends this to be so. In the rare and happy environment of a con- genial home the child learns easily and naturally the give and take of a sympathetic relationship. By example and training he develops kind and gentle ways, unselfishness, and other qualities which form the atmosphere in which sympathetic behavior thrives best. XIV. TRAINING IN AFFECTIONS It is a well-known fact that a mother's out- pouring of affection upon her child is a part of her motherly nature. Nature planned that she should bestow her affections spontaneously upon her offspring. It is not so readily recognized, however, that in the provisions of Nature the mother must earn her child's love by sympathetic, tactful, and wise training. Our children, unless trained to render love and service to the family, are as likely to bestow it in a hit-or-miss fashion. This seems to me to be one reason why we mothers should think twice before surrendering our right to be our children's chief companions in childhood. And it is in the first daily routine of baby-tending that habits of dependence and sympathetic behavior are first established. In giving physical care to our children we lay the cables for spiritual as well as physical depend- ence. The third year brings a wealth of affection to the loving, sympathetic mother. This affection is expressed not only in her child's loving caresses and endearing words, but in his desire to be con- stantly in her presence. My own little boy of three years seldom left the room when I was there. And I soon learned to watch particularly happy moods and to exact some act of service. Not that I needed the service rendered, but that I wished to establish a happy bond of helpfulness between us. "Will you help Mother set the table ?" or "Run your engines around the other way so that I may work here !" "Mother wishes a handkerchief from upstairs." Doing things for and with me became just a part of the give and take between us. And I soon learned to make ever greater de- mands. I found it possible to appeal to both his reason and affection when it was necessary to leave him. He would naturally not wish me to leave. Sometimes he would say, "But I don't wish you to go to-day!" To my explanation "Mother would like to get some from the store," or "Mother would like to go to a party to-day," he would generally answer, "All right, I want you to go !" and wave cheerfully as I passed out of sight. I tried always to render some happy service in return, without of course promis- ing it or mentioning it. On my return we would have a particularly happy playtime on the floor with the toys, or I would get out some unexpected treasure in books or pictures. And so affection grew with the little demands made upon it. XV. TRAINING IN UNSELFISHNESS It is perhaps a wise provision of Nature that a child should think first in terms of what he can secure for himself. On the whole it is of advan- tage to him that he secure for himself the most he can, the best toys, biggest apples, and pleasant- est occupations. If the love of serving others were natural to children, they would never secure the personal development which is necessary in order that they render really efficient service in adult life. So instead of making a foolish and use- less appeal to unselfish motives in childhood, it seems best to help the child to form necessary habits of unselfishness, without at first paying much attention to the motive back of it. Let him run errands for Mother because he has fun in so doing, and get Father's slippers because he wins praise and romps for the performance of such favors. He soon learns that the performance of useful acts for others brings surprises and favors in return. Thus habits of service become es- tablished happily without much thought. However, as the child's mind expands and grows, he may be led to a more rational kind of thoughtfulness toward others. Our little boy of three was particularly fond of lady-fingers, yet when told that taking an extra one would de- 136 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL prive Daddy of one of his, he no longer asked for it. One day he refused a coveted candy because he thought it belonged to "Daddy." He could only be persuaded to eat it when I assured him Daddy did not wish it that day. A good many habits of selfishness about shar- ing toys and goodies seem to me to result from a lack of experience in sharing and sharing alike. Selfishness with toys is perhaps natural at first. It seems best that each child should feel his toys are his own, and that the desire to share them should grow out of the understanding and knowl- edge that by so doing he gains companionship. The mutual advantages of sharing must be brought to his mind and attention. Life is to a large extent made up of service rendered in pay- ment for benefits received, and we must not expect a little child to blossom out prematurely into a knowledge that it is more blessed to give than to receive. This ideal of mutual service and mutual benefit in sharing toys seems to me a safe and sane road lo follow in the early days of childhood. XVL TRAINING IN ORDERLINESS A NUMBER of failures in getting toys put away without friction led me to sit down and ponder upon the times I had happy results and the times I did not. Usually the times when friction occurred were those in which I was in a hurry and failed to work upon the imagination by sug- gesting some pleasant reward, such as "Put your toys away quickly and help Mother beat up this cake," or "As soon as your toys are put away you may have lunch" — naming the good things to be set upon the table, or again, "Mother has time for a story as soon as you have put your toj's away." From failures to get results in form- ing prompt habits of orderliness I learned to use more of imagination in my efforts. I made use of a mental propulsion from within the child in- stead of physical propulsion from without. We can not always expect our little ones to rejoice in accomplishing each routine task, but we may so kindle their minds with interesting ideas that the performance of these tasks goes on in a happy frame of mind. In regard to toys, different homes present dif- ferent problems. Some children have a nursery, others a corner in a room, and unhappily other children have no place which they may call their own. Because I liked to observe and to guide our boy's play, I encouraged him to play wherever I happened to be. In fact, he needed no encourage- ment in this habit. The engine would steam upstairs after me and descend again as I came down. I tried to steel my mind against a- natural distaste to having the floor strewn with toys, for I discovered one toy enhanced the play with an- other. Yet we never sat down to lunch or went to bed before the toys were safely put away in their right places. There were shelves for horses, blocks, engines, and other toys, and drawers for smaller objects. Low shelves were reserved for books, paints, crayons, and pencils. XVII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSCIENCE We have come to believe that the so-called con- science is not a gift of the spirit bestowed upon us without effort or labor, but is the result of training and environment. We must work to attain a high sense of duty, unselfishness, and the power to cooperate with others for great ends. A little child starts out neither moral nor immoral. He builds up his ideas of right and wrong by acting and seeing the result of his acts. At first he acts mainly from impulse and from habit. He grabs food if hungry, sleeps when tired, and cries when things go wrong. And our ways of receiv- ing his actions make pain and pleasure follow his natural 'behavior. If we allow a child to eat at any time, and to cry in order that he may get what he wants, he will form a habit of so doing, and an attitude which regards these actions as de- sirable. If, on the other hand, we interest him in other things, and thus inhibit the desire to eat until the regular time to eat has arrived, we bring habit to his assistance. We inhibit this natural impulse. He soon learns it is better to wait. Sometimes during the third year our little boy would want to eat at irregular times. I found it easy to assist him to put aside this desire, which would lead to disastrous consequences, by sug- gesting that we look at pictures, or paint, play horse, etc. ; that is, I made it pleasant for him to wait. Had I allowed him to fret, or look long- ingly at food, I should have made it disagreeable for him to wait and should have hindered the possibility of his doing the right thing. In the example of striking, discussed in connection with companionship, I allowed pain to follow the im- FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY ^i7 pulse to strike, thus gradually leading to the con- trol of the act. Make It Pay to Do Right If we analyze our own conduct, or turn to his- tory to study the development of conscience, we see that in the main people perform good acts because it pays to be good. Even the altruist per- forms good deeds because he is happy in so doing: that is, he is paid for being good by attaining a sense of having done well. We can hardly ex- pect a child to start out with high motives and unselfish acts. We can call his attention, how- ever, to some acts as good and others as bad by seeing that pleasure follows the performance of good acts and pain bad ones. It rests with us as parents to see that he acquires this discrimination. But, even before he learns to discriminate, he must be led to build up habits of good action. The sooner he learns to eat at proper times and to sleep the required amount, the less it is necessary to inflict pain for wrong acts connected with eating and sleeping. I have known parents who fed a child the instant he became fretful or unoccupied, and let remaining up at night be- come so pleasant that in later life the habit of regularity in regard to eating and sleeping was most difficult to acquire. The Place of Rewards By rewarding good actions we do not mean giving a child a bigger cookie when he divides his with us, or calling him "Mother's good boy" if he quite unthinkingly comes to us when we call him. Rather should we make him experience real happiness when he enjoys his cookie with us, and feel the reward of obedience by partici- pating in our happy greeting and silent approval of his act. I once knew a mother of uncommonly high motives who habitually appealed to high motives in her child, motives that did not appeal to him, and she expected him to respond. For example, she once said to her two-and-a-half-year boy : "Come, go to bed because sleep will make you strong!" And the boy quite naturally re- plied, "I don't want to be strong! I want to play horse !" How much better it would have been to appeal to the lower motive, which he quite under- stood, and to have said quite finally, "Now it's bedtime ! We'll drive the horse upstairs, feed him, put him in the stable," etc. In the latter case going to bed was rewarded by a pre-play period. The child gained something he desired as well as learned the necessity of going to bed when the right time came. Doing Disagreeable Things One of the ways in which we parents have a great responsibility in training our children is in teaching them to do disagreeable things. We all know the type of man or woman who puts off doing disagreeable things by doing pleasant things first. No occupation or profession in life is with- out its drudgery, or should be, in the best state of society. In our present state of society we find organized labor striving to adjust this very thing by securing for each worker a proper amount of leisure to offset drudgery. We must begin very early in childhood to help our children to form habits of doing disagreeable things in order to earn pleasant things. In my own experience with children I have found it quite possible to use anticipation of pleasant things to come after a bit of drudgery is performed to lighten the drudgery: to put the emphasis on the pleasure to come rather than on the disagreeable task to be performed. In helping teachers to organize playroom activities I suggested that toys be carefully put away in order to make room for all to play some favorite game, or to listen to stories. The busy hum of voices and the eager tramping of feet showed plainly that the little minds were focused on the happy event to come. In such groups of chil- dren one can easily pick out those who have been led to avoid disagreeable tasks at home. Such children often stand about, letting other children do all the tasks, and have to be deprived of the pleasure they did not earn in order to see the necessity of each doing a part of the drudgery. Summary The development of conscience, then, consists in rewarding good deeds and in punishing bad deeds. Good and bad should not be judged from the adult standpoint, but from the child's own experience. Good habits must be ingrained in the child's nature before he is required to choose and decide in view of his reward or punishment. A CHART OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT THIRD YEAR (from the Second to the Third Birthday) These references suggest helpful explanatory passages in "The Child Welfare Manual" PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT Movements: running, riding and swinging; in- creased activity in manipulating toys and tools. Muscular control better developed. Physical resistance to disease good. Weight: 27 pounds, increasing to an average of iZ pounds [L 148]. Height: 31 inches, increasing to 35 inches. Respiration, about 25. Pulse, 110, down to 96. Dentition: 20 teeth; complete by 2;1. years [I. 209]. PHYSICAL SUGGESTIONS [I. 251-25S] Sleep: 12 hours, and 4 to 2 hours' rest. Food, as second year [I. 251, 252]. Exercise, as second year, with larger range for running; train to undress self [I. 253-255]. Arrange for sand-pile play if possible [II. 233- 240]. 138 MENTAL DEVELOPMENT Instincts: fears of an imaginative sort appear [I. 308, 334] ; curiosity is more active and be- gins to take form of questions [II. '21, 22, 96]; play is more resourceful and becomes imagi- native by middle of year [I. 52; II. 14]. Emotions, more stable [II. 135-140]. Memory, more particular, but not yet continuous; voluntary recollection begins. Understanding: of the simpler properties of mat- ter and the way things act, more definite. Continued interest in handling things to find out about them. Speech: larger vocabulary and more accura.te use of words. While individuals diflfer, most chil- dren use short sentences freely by end of year. Mental activities: imagination now enables child to imitate not only literal acts of mother but also her purposes; actions therefore more purposeful and planned; motives become more individual and personal; reasoning still direct, though crude. Interest in stories, par- ticularly of experiences with the bodily senses, that involve one's self, and include some little fancy [II. 122]. Likes to express self through crudest "drawings." MENTAL SUGGESTIONS [II. 243-255] Further drill in recollection and attention [II. 108- 113]. Exercises in sentence forming, and care in protec- tion from slang, dialects, and vulgarity [II. 83-86]. Teach: simplest constructive use of blocks, spools, etc.; use of pencil; use of dull-pointed scis- sors [II. 233-236]. Provide playthings for exercising the imagina- tion, such as blocks to be houses, dolls to be babies, etc. Encourage self-directed play of this sort [II. 17]. Answer questions plainly when child is attentive [II. 243, 244]. Tell fairv stories to develop imagination, but no gruesome ones [II. 23, 251-253, 270-275]. Use illustrated fairy-tale books. Train the senses: variety of food to encourage lik- ings of taste; odors of flowers for smell; more homely toys and playthings for touch; piano, phonograph, and singing for hearing; bright colors to enjoy [II. 229-230, 240]. A CHART OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT THIRD YEAR (from the Second to the Third Birthday) SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Distincter idea of self, with more self-assertion and real individuality of his own [II. 164]. Increased sympathy with others through imagina- tive sharing of their experiences, toward end of year. Also new antipathies. Increased affection and desire for approbation, with first attempts to set will against an- other's. In general, the imitative and socializing stage comes to fruition. Development of social feelings, of courtesy, in- terest in others, kindness, lovingness, gentle- ness, slowly increases. SOCIAL SUGGESTIONS Continue expressions of affection and approba- tion, especially because of the increased sen- sitiveness. Handle obstinacy calmly [II. 222]. Cultivate an interest in the child's imaginative plav and suggest methods as you play with the" child [II. 17]. Do not encourage too many playmates. Protect the child's sense of property rights. Encourage spirit of helpfulness in easy tasks. Teach table manners and special courtesies [I. 99- 103]. MORAL DEVELOPMENT Conscience depends on approval of others, espe- cially of mother. Contrariness toward end of year — result of new self-consciousness. Self-direction increases. Obedience now decided by own choice and mo- tive. Courage grows out of conquered fears. Self-control develops through obedience and re- straint. Play and fancy not distinguished from fact and truth. Loyalty develops through simple responsibilities. Orderliness develops through care of toys, per- sonal clothing, etc. MORAL SUGGESTIONS [II. 172-184] Continue last year's methods. Emphasize obedience, for sake of safety. Make commands few, clear, complete. Encourage self-direction in work, play, and kind- nesses [II. 164-167]. Teach table manners and courteous expressions, by word, by example, by playful exercises. Do not collide unnecessarily with the child, but foil contrariness, by almost military and un- questioning submission. K.N— n 139 A CHART OF CHILD STUDY AND CHILD TRAINING FOR THE THIRD YEAR BASED ON THE FOREGOING ARTICLES BY MRS. ALICE CORBIN SIES THE CHILD'S RESPONSES He is developing his trunk and larger muscles. His movements of running, jumping, climbing, and handling things are incessant and under better control. He has greater and longer power of attention. He shows occasional power of voluntary recall of past experiences. From his meager store of facts he begins to draw proper conclusions. Along the lines of his interests he makes vari- ous experiments, with varying success. When he goes to walk he makes many but frag- mentary observations denoting interest. Every picture and nearly every experience sug- gests to him that it has its story. His vocabulary, through imitation and questions, grows by leaps and bounds. He gets the power of make-believe in his play. He craves playmates of his own age, and is sur- prised that they do not always understand him and agree with him. He shows self-assertion and an occasional ten- dency to disobey. WHAT THEY SUGGEST If we are careful of his food, exercise, 'and sleep, we shall conserve his energy for this period of rapid and trying growth. We do not need to teach his muscles how to act, but to provide playthings for them to act upon. These should be of two kinds: those for body-movements and those for handling. It is more important now that he have interest- ing things to attend to than that we insist upon persistence and concentration. Reminiscent conversation should be helpful, and suggestive questioning. Let us not ridicule his reasonings, but try to re- member how little he has by which to form his judgments, and give him more material. We may sometimes let him try-and-fail or try- and-succeed: we may sometimes suggest or give models to imitate; we may sometimes encourage him to move out independently. Any one of these methods alone would be unsatisfactory. Simple fact-stories explaining what he has seen will be useful. TuDi all facts into stories; make stories to fit pictures; gather picture-scrapbooks of the familiar things he sees. Ask him to tell and retell frequently what he knows. Correct incorrect e.xpressions on tlie spot. If we give rich experiences, then dramatic play will be rich in meaning, beauty, and variety. A little rough-and-tumble now will tend to cure him of being self-centered. L'nnecessary obedience is not to be demanded. The criterion of wise obedience is the wel- fare and happiness of all concerned. For his own safety, however, he must at all costs be drilled to come when he is called. 140 FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY THE CHILD'S RESPONSES WHAT THEY SUGGEST He shows curious alternations of sympatliy and He can not sympathize broadly until he has had callousness. broader experiences. By imitation he can at least learn kindly ways. His affection shows itself in his desire to be in We may deepen this by frequently asking for the presence of those he loves. little acts of service. He wants his own things, and does not willingly He must be taught to think more clearly about share them. what is his fair share and about the advan- tages of generous companionship. He dislikes to put his things away. Try imaginative and playful methods and help him, remembering that often he is tired. His sense of right and wrong is irregular and At first we shall have to appeal to the lower imperfect. motives of advantage and of tlie approval of those he loves. WHAT AN AVERAGE CHILD MAY BE ABLE TO DO BY THE END OF THIS YEAR ARRANGED LARGELY FROM DATA BY MRS. ELSIE LaVERNE HILL 1. Walk between the rungs and along the rail of a ladder laid along the ground. 2. Do a lot of jumping. 3. Dig in the sand vigorously. 4. Use hammer and nails with increasing ac- curacy. 5. Use large pencil for sweeping "drawings" and "letters." 6. Listen to simplest incidents to be related in story-form. 7. Enjoy jingles and the many catchy little verses among the Mother Goose rhymes, and try to repeat them. 8. Learn to open bed, hang up clothes, and pick up playthings. 9. March to beat of piano-music. 10. Learn to undress self. 11. Run little errands for Mother. 12. Feed self without spilling. 13. Use short sentences freely. "Trying to get a boy to use his toothbrush is a serious, amusing, and interesting subject," says Gerald Stanley Lee. "All one has to do is to get enough of the boy in." OPINIONS OF EDUCATORS ON THE VALUE OF FAIRY-STORIES AND OTHER IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE TO CHILDREN "A fairy-story is not a lie, nor is it the truth. It is greater than the truth; it is the ideal. The child looks from these stories into the great truths that he will be called upon to battle for in future years. The hard-hearted man is often a man who has not had his imagination developed in child- hood, and consequently has not the power to put himself in another's place." — Walter S. Athearn. "The idea is to enrich the child's imagination, stock its mind with allusions, perform its ideas of right and wrong, and these are essentials." — G. Stanley Hall. '"There are the old fairy-tales. Such stories as these should not merely be read once to the child, but should make a part of his equipment and a background for his life."' — Eleanore R. Price. "The use of fairy-stories is invaluable. Imaginative liter- ature is the best training that a child's abstract sense can receive to fit it for understanding the religious idea." — Isabel Margcsson. "Stories from epic fairy-tales best supply what a child needs." — Herbart. "Children who are talked to by Mother Goose and fairy- story tellers learn to talk more quickly than others, and have more vivacity of mind." — Elizabeth P. Peabody. "We must include in our repertory some well-selected myths, fairy-stories which are pure and spiritual in tone, and a fable now and then." — Nora A. Smith. "When I have something important to tell a person I ad- dress him in a language he will understand. Little people are living in the wonder age, when the language surest of appeal to their hearts is the language of fancy." — Clara Whitehall Hunt. "Fairy-tales appeal to the children through yet another characteristic. This is the easy, natural relation existing be- tween animals and human beings. Folk tales may well foster whatever there is of truth in the feeling." — John Harrington Cox. WHAT TO DO THE THIRD YEAR PLAYS AND GAMES FOR THE THIRD YEAR LUELLA A. PALMER When a child has reached his second birthday- he begins to invent little plays of his own. These are very simple ; generally they are imitations of the activities of people and things around him. Sense-Plays More difficult contrasts should be presented: big. medium-sized, little ; heavy, light ; high, low. The toy shelf should contain, besides the balls, dolls, etc., several two-inch and four-inch cubes. It will require quite a little dexterity on the part of a two-year-old child to pile these on top of one another. A few larger cubes or wooden boxes, about eight inches each way, will lend themselves to many different uses in play and are a good size to strengthen the arm clasp. Special toys are really not needed. Tearing paper into small bits is excellent, and these should be picked up and put into a pocketbook for "money," or into a bag for "buttons." A narrow- necked bottle and puffed rice make an educative toy: the eye and hand control and the persever- ance needed to put the flakes into the bottle are very valuable. The child should not be helped or interrupted in such play. Boxes with stones, toothpicks, or shells make good playthings. Nests of boxes give contrasts and education in size. A paper bag with potatoes or beans will amuse — and educate — for hours. Opening and shutting doors and drawers, sticking twigs in a cane-seat chair, playing in sand — all such simple pastimes help in hand development and, consequently, mind de- velopment. Sand especially gives excellent play exercise. Movement Plays The child likes to test his power of walking on the edges of curbstones or going in and out between the palings of a fence. He wants to throw the hall and then run after it and grasp it. He wants to walk and run, climb and jump, most of his waking hours. He wants to roll on floor or grass. The best education for the child is the opportunity to be as active as he wishes, except in the case of a nervous child who needs quieting rather than stimulation. The child imitates many of the actions he sees around him ; he drums with his hands, waves a hand for a flag, bends his body up and down, and twirls around in his efforts to dance. He runs like a horse or dog, and waves his arms when he sees a flying bird. All these plays, although only crudely interpretative, help the child to observe, to develop his desire to imitate, and to gain con- trol over his body. A little rhyme for bending the head and closing the eyes is the following: "Niddy. noddy, niddy, noddy. Winking, blinking in the light, Niddy, noddy, niddy, noddy, Close your eyes and say good-night." Ball Plays Quicker activity, more imagination, and inter- pretation through language mark the ball games of this period. A child now wishes to roll the ball and then run after it. He likes to have another person roll the ball so that he may race with it. Give names to the large and small balls. Let him feel that they are his playfellows. Hide them for him to find. Play "come to visit" with them. Once in a while dress them in handkerchiefs or towels, and let him play they are dolls. Let him play that the one on a string is a little dog which 143 144 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL he is leading. In the ball plays, say or sing some simple stanza such as, for rolling game : ROLLING THE BALL* "Roll over, come back here, So merry and free, My playfellow dear, Who shares in my glee." PUSSIES AND PONIES t For soft and hard balls, say or sing: "This is little kitty, Running round and round, She has cushions on her feet, And never makes a sound. "This is little pony, Running round and round. He has hoofs upon his feet, And stamps upon the ground." Dramatic Play About this time the activities of others begin to attract the baby. The occupations of the house- hold are familiar and interesting. He will play sweeping, dusting, scrubbing. He will imitate father walking with a cane or reading the paper. "Brother" will be played by writing an imaginary lesson. If the dog and cow are well known, their cries will be imitated. As this is the period when control grows over rapid locomotion, dra- matic expression will naturally turn in this chan- nel after the action has become easy. The child will imitate the trotting of the horse and the chug of the railroad train, the jumping of other chil- dren, etc. Action-Plays Plays with the fingers or other parts of the body are really dramatic plays, for children of this age. Here is a story for mothers to use when she is washing a chubby face : "Round the house, try the keyhole, east door, west door (ears), windows closed (eyes), front door closed (mouth), flower beds blooming (cheeks), footpaths all swept up (neck)." Great care should be taken of the first teeth. A little story about the white horses or the fol- lowing jingle will tide over the time when ob- jections are raised: "See the white sheep all in the pink clover ; Stand still little lambkins, all in a row; Scrub them and wash them over and over; Now trot away, lambkins, white as the snow." BABY'S HOUSE "Knock at the door of a little white house (fore- head), — I wonder who lives inside, — Peep in here at a window bright (eyes). Now don't you try to hide ! Lift the latch with a cautious hand (nose) Or somebody'll turn the key. Then walk in through the doors ajar (mouth), But don't you stay to tea ; For the little white dogs that live inside Might gobble you up, you see." THE BABY YARD MRS. DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER A wKLi.-KNOWN doctor has suggested that every person, once in his life, should be prevented by force from drinking a drop of water for twenty- four hours, in order that thereafter he might appreciate what free access to water means for health and comfort. On the same principle it might be a good thing if every country mother should be obliged to spend a month with her * Set to inusic in "Merry Songs and Gaines," by Clara B. Hubbard. Balmer & Weber Music House Company, St. Louis. t Set to music in "Songs for Little Children." Part 11, by Eleanor Smith. Milton Bradley Company, Springfield. young children in the city, so that she might thereafter appreciate what splendid opportunities lie all about her country home. For the poorest, busiest country mother can easily have conditions and materials for which many a highly trained kindergarten teacher sighs in vain. Perhaps the greatest of her privileges is the wonderful resource' of having all outdoors, but this is a privilege which the mother of young children is apt to neglect. She herself must be in the kitchen or near it during much of the day, and she must have her babies where they are FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 145 within sight. It often follows that country little folks spend almost as much time hanging drearily around a kitchen, where they are in the way and where the air is not good, as do the city cousins. What else can the busy mother do? Little Folks Need Pens More Than Chicks Do She can apply to her children the lore she has learned about little chicks. Her men-folk, hardened to fencing long stretches of field and meadow, would laugh at the ease with which a little square of yard outside the kitchen door can be inclosed. Fencing which is not good enough for chickens will keep the little children safe from automobile- haunted roads, from wandering cows, from run- ning out of sight of their mother's eyes. And there is no farm in the country where there is not enough discarded fence material of one kind or another lying about to inclose a spot, say twenty feet square, though it might be larger to ad- vantage. It is better if there is a tree to furnish some shade for hot days, but if there is none near enough to the house, a piece of old paper roofing, or a section of old corrugated iron roofing, or some old boards with odds and ends of shingles put over them, will furnish shade in a corner of the baby yard for hot days, as well as protection from the rain during summer showers. The Necessity of Constant Activity Now with her little ones foot free and yet in security, out from under her feet in the kitchen, and yet close at hand within sight and hearing as she steps about her daily work, the country mother can take counsel what to do next. The very next thing to do is to learn by heart a short and simple maxim, and to repeat it to herself until she has absorbed the essence of it into her very bones. The maxim is: "Little children wish and need to be doing something with their bodies and hands every minute they are awake." The prob- lem faced by every mother is to provide them every minute with something to do which can not hurt them, which will help them to grow and which will not be too upsetting to the regu- larity of the family life. Now the country mother has at hand a dozen easy and satisfactory answers to this problem for every one which is available to the city mother. To begin with, if a load of sand is dumped in one corner of the baby yard, and some old spoons and worn-out pails contributed from the kitchen, there vvill be many hours of every day during which the fortune of a millionaire could give the little folks no more happiness. Such a child-yard with sand-pile in it costs almost nothing in time, money, or effort, and no words can express the degree to which it lightens the labors and anxie- ties of the mother. And yet one can drive a hundred miles in rural and village America with- out seeing an example of it. Now this plain, bare provision for perfectly untrammeled running about is in itself a better fate than befalls the average child under five, and this much can be attained by any country mother with less effort and expense than a yard for poultry. But this can be varied and improved in innumerable inexpensive ways until conditions are almost ideal for little children. A piece of planed board can be nailed upon four stout sticks driven into the ground and another on higher sticks put before it, and the little folks will have a bench and table which cost, perhaps, twenty cents, and are as serviceable as the pretty kindergarten painted ones which cost ten times as much. Potter's clay can be bought for a few cents a pound, and for a variation from sand-pile plays young children turn gladly to clay modeling. If the mother has time and ability to supervise this carefully, so much the better, but if she is so busy that she can only call out from the kitchen stove or wash-tub a cheerful suggestion to make some little cups and saucers, or a bird's nest and eggs, this will serve very well, as a beginning. If the clay is kept where it can be obtained easily, it is possible that one or more of the children may show some stirrings of native ability and begin to try to reproduce the animal life of the country. Play with Water If the country mother has followed these sug- gestions she has now, with small trouble to her- self, put at the disposal of her children the two great elements of air and earth. There is another one, almost as eternally fascinating as sand, and that is water. If four strips of wood are nailed in the form of a square at one end of the little table and a pan half full of water is set securely down into this square so that it will not tip over, another great resource is added to the child yard. With an apron of oilcloth, a spoon, and an assort- ment of old tin cups, odd jelly glasses and bottles, it is an ahnormal child who is not happy and harmlessly busy for a long time every day. Any ordinary child over fourteen months of age loves to play with water in this way and learns steadi- ness of hand and sureness of eye which go a long way toward insuring agreeable table manners at 146 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL an early age. As he grows older, a fleet of boats made of bits of wood or walnut shells vary the fun. A little apron can be manufactured in a few minutes out of ten-cents' worth of table oil- cloth. H the mother is very busy she can fasten it together at the shoulder and back with safety pins. A single apron should last through the en- tire babyhood of a child. Materials for Exercise Children under four, often those under five, are too small to "play house" as yet, but they delight in climbing, and, if possible, provision should be made for that. A wooden box can be set a little down in the ground, so that it will not tip over, and the edges padded with a bit of old comforter so that the inevitable bumps are not too severe. The smallest of the little playmates, even the baby who can not walk, will rejoice endlessly to pull himself up over the edge and clamber down into the box, thereby exercising every muscle in liis body. Little children can not coordinate their muscles quickly enough to play ball with much pleasure, but if a large soft ball is suspended by a long cord, they can swing it back and forth to each other with ever-increasing skill, and they should have a rubber ball to roll to and fro on the ground. A small wooden box with one side knocked out makes the best seat for a swing for small children. The three remaining sides make a high back and sides and keep the child from falling.* H this is swung on long poles instead of ropes there will be no side-to-side movement and little children will be safeguarded from falling out sideways. If the support for a see-saw is made very low. even children under five can enjoy it and benefit by it in acquiring poise. If a two-by-four board is laid on the ground the little folks will find much fun in trying to walk along it and acquire thus a considerable ad- dition to their ability for walking straight and managing their bodies. A bit of hanging rope with the loose end within easy reach will mean a great many self-invented exercises in balancing, and will give a certainty of muscular action which will save the child from many a tumble later. A short length of board, perhaps four feet long, propped up on a stone or bit of wood, with one end fastened to the ground, furnishes a baby spring-board which will delight the child. A pile of hay or straw to jump into will save the little gymnasts from bumps and bruises, and marsh hay will answer just as well as the best timothy. This simple set of apparatus may be completed by a short, roughly built ladder, with the rungs a short distance apart, set up against the house, with a soft pile of hay under it. This furnishes the little folks the chance to indulge their passion for climb- ing on things which is so dangerous when directed toward the kitchen table or bedroom bureau. Nothing in this baby yard need cost a family more than a few cents, nor take but very little time and almost no carpentering skill. And yet the suggestions made cover a very complete outfit for the outdoor exercises of children under five or six. Any mother who secures the simple ap- paratus here described may be sure not only that her own little children will pass numberless happy hours, but that they will never lack for playmates, because their play-yard will be sought out by all the little folks in the neighborhood. SELF-EXPRESSION DURING THE THIRD YEAR MARY L. READ During this year the child begins to run and jump and to develop what almost seems an obses- sion for several years — to walk along a coping or rail. For this stage Montessori provides a rail, like a railroad track rail, of wood. A long six- inch plank, fastened securely a foot above the ground, will provide a "bridge" that will furnish hours of fun, while it is training in finer coordi- nations. * Strips of iron bent to a right angle should be fastened over the corners of the box to keep it from spreading. — J. E. B. For jumping, a pit of sand, sawdust, hay. or straw is advantageous, as it breaks the jar of the alighting. Teach the child how to jump correctly and train him until this has become a habit. The knees should be bent, and he should land on the balls of the feet, not upon the whole foot or the heels. At this period of a child's life, his walk is marked by an easy natural grace in every motion of his body that ought to be encouraged by suit- able exercise. Otherwise, every vestige of his .desirable natural gait will soon be destroyed by FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 147 the gradual stiffening of his muscles and the changes in his body produced by clothing and shoes. To know what is best for a child of this age involves a study of the life and habits of primitive man whom he resembles in so many ways. When running, for example, a child's instinctive motions show the inherited tendency to lean and fall for- ward, which was the way primitive man learned to run. If left to his own devices, much of the play- time will be spent in digging, building with his blocks, playing with his dolls, toy animals, and wagons. He still enjoys taking out and putting in, and should be able to use all the wooden insets of the Montessftri series correctly. Manipulating soft material is now a joyous pastime, but the little hands are not always strong enough to wield the clay or plasticine. There is nothing better now than dough from the bread and cookie-mak- ing; the material is soft and clean, and is thrown away at the end of the day. If a child wants to hammer during this year — and he probably does — a wooden mallet, some large iron nails, and a cake of laundry soap into which he may hammer the nails, will fill his heart with joy and be a valuable exercise in coordination of eye and hand. Any child of this age who can strike at a nail and hit it, one strike out of five, and not strike his fingers has a more normal accomplishment than one who can say .the alphabet, which is an abnormal accomplish- ment, tabooed in the modern nursery. For Color-Play To meet the desire for painting and using a pencil, provide a small brush such as house- painters use. This is a size adapted to the hands at this age. No paint is necessary, for the two- year-old is quite satisfied to play at painting the house and all the furniture. A blackboard and dustless crayon meets some of the requirements for drawing but does not express color well. The colored crayons do not show well under the light pressure of little hands, and the colored dust is the ruination of clothes and furniture. For color-expression, the large, colored mark- ing pencils should be used, during this and the succeeding year. These are as thick as a man's thumb, and come in all the spectrum colors. Cheap, plain, soft paper — manila, gray, or straw- color — is best for present use. Plenty of mate- rial for marking upon should be provided. Any thoughtless vandalism in marking upon walls or furniture should be promptly made a matter for discussion and discipline. For Music "Practice" * If the rhythmic exercises, marching and clap- ping, have been practiced, and the hearing of music regularly provided, the child will sing little snatches of song that he improvises or at- tempts to imitate. If he desires it, he should be allowed from now on to improvise in his own way upon the piano, without any effort for a year or so to teach him what to do or how to do. Of course he should learn always to wash his hands before he touches the piano, and misuse, as in thumping, should not be permitted. Small toy pianos, with small keys and one or two scales, with musical quality of tone, can now be purchased at from ten to twenty-five dollars. They will save the wear upon the family piano, while cultivating the child's love of music. The metallic, unmusical, cheap toy pianos should be kept away from the child as carefully as. cheap street songs and ragtime. Books and Pictures Pictures and picture-books should be selected with care. Children love pictures with vivid color, strong lines and action. They show a special preference for pictures of children and animals. The pictures should be large size with strong lines, in order not to tax the eyes. They should be true to Nature in their coloring. If placed on the walls, which is best, they should be put low, within the level of the eyes. Toward the end of this year the interest in nonsense words and rhymes develops. Mother Goose contains numerous rhymes that satisfy this need. At this stage the child is ready for the many animal stories and some of the nonsense verses of Edward Lear. It is a mistaken notion that young children can understand things only in words of one syllable, or that this is the ca- pacity of their intelligence. As soon as they can speak in a sentence, they can pronounce long words. This provides good mental gymnastics as well as furnishing humor for them. * .See also "Music During the Third Year," by Mrs. Jean N. Barrett, on page 355. BIG TOOLS FOR SMALL HANDS BY M. V. O'SHEA Some parents provide very small, fragile toys and tools for their youngest children. For the older ones they provide comparatively large dolls, blocks, and so on. They act on the theory that the small hand of the young child is suited to manage only small, delicate objects, while the larger hand of the youth is adapted to the manipu- lation of big things. The young child can manage his biceps better than he can the tips of his fingers. The part of the brain that controls the biceps is better de- veloped in a very young child than the part that controls the adjustment of the thumb and fingers to and with each other. The infant can not ad- just his thumb to his fingers so as to perform a fine task. This is why we say that an infant's fingers are all thumbs. Observe the hand of an infant, and see how crude an instrument it is when he attempts to perform a precise ta.sk with it. The large, coarse, brawny hand of the man is much more delicate and coordinated than the hand of the year-old child when considered with regard to the execution of precise tasks, such as threading a needle. Observe a six-months-old child trying to pick up a pin or raveling on the floor. The thumb and fingers will be coordinated in a crude, awkward way, so that many children of this age can not pick up any small object. The two-year-old can do this better than the six-months-old child. If the child develops normally, he can at the age of five so control the fingers in relation to the thumb that he can thread a needle, say, though if it has a small eye, he will have a good deal of difficulty with it. The typical two-year-old child can not perform this task because his nervous system is not developed so that such highly coordinated actions can be executed. One sometimes hears a mother say, "My three- year-old child can not sew because he hasn't strength enough." He has strength and plenty of it, but he can not use it properly in the per- formance of fine, precise tasks. He can not ar- ticulate difficult vocal combinations, but he has a superabundance of crude vocal strength. He can make plenty of noise, as any parent will testify. If he tries to perform a delicate task, he thinks he must use a lot of energy, when what he needs to do is simply to coordinate his fingers in a way which requires but very little energy. So he over-exerts himself, as when he tries to write with a fine-pointed pen — he bears on. A wise mother will always surround a young child at the table with an area of rubber cloth, because she will realize that he fan not carry a spoonful of milk to his mouth without spilling it. He has enough strength to do this, but he can not control its use so as to perform so deli- cate a task. No mother would let a two-year-old handle a sharp razor. He may realize that he should be careful or he will cut himself, but he lacks the fine control or coordination necessary to use edged tools with precision. Numberless illus- trations of this principle might be cited. Feeble-minded persons never develop a high degree of coordination. A man may be thirty years of age physically, but he may have a hand that is crude, uncoordinated, and incapable of exe- cuting any precise task. He may be as strong as an ox in his biceps, but as incoordinated and non- precise as an infant in his actions. Control of the hand, so that a great variety of delicate adjust- ments may be made, is impossible without full development of the nervous system and of the intelligence. To some extent the development of the mind and the development of the coordination of the hand go together. It is significant to note that when a man be- comes drunk he loses the coordination of his fingers and his tongue. Alcohol attacks the high- est nervous centers first, those that control the most coordinated or accessory muscular activities. The drunken man may have his biceps and fist under control so that he can fight as well as ever, but he may not be able to hold a pen in his fingers so that he can write, As he is getting drunk he spills his whiskey, because he can not coordinate his fingers so that he can hold his glass securely. He falls back speedily to the uncoordinated con- dition of infancy. In order that the child may develop coordina- tion properly, he should not be crowded too fast in the manipulation of small tools of any sort, those demanding precise adjustments. A child 148 FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 149 of four or even five or six years who is required to thread a needle frequently vifill probably be overtaxed by it. Observe him and you will notice undue strain and tension in his face and body. There is evidence to show that children who are made to sew very much at the age of four or five are injured in their nervous development. It will be better for a young child to use a hammer or a saw or a plane, or to be running, jumping, throwing, and the like, than to be sewing or weav- ing with raffia or anything of the kind. When children begin school at the age of five, teachers sometimes have them write with pens or hard pencils. This is likely to injure them. If nothing worse, it will waste their nervous energy, because they always overdo a task of this kind. Young children can write with- out strain with chalk in large, free movements from five to ten times as long as they can write with a pen or a hard lead-pencil. Often parents provide penholders with small metal grips for their children. Observe a young child using such a pen, and you will see that he can manage it only with strain and tension. He will soon become fatigued because the task de- mands too great coordination. It would be better for him if he did not attempt to write with a pen until his seventh or eighth year, and even then he should use one with a large cork grip and a blunt point. Children who are required to read books with very fine print are apt to waste nervous energy, and they may develop eye-strain. The use of a microscope for hours each day by high-school pupils is likely to overtax the muscles of accom- modation. The principle is universal in its appli- cation, that whatever requires the child or the youth to coordinate beyond his stage of develop- ment frequently and for long periods will be likely to injure him. The moral is : A young child should use large tools and toys and perform only general, rela- tively incoordinated actions. As he develops let his tools and his activities become smaller and more precise until by the time he reaches maturity he should be able to use accurately implements requiring a high degree of coordination and pre- cise adjustments. PLAYTHINGS WHICH THE FATHER CAN MAKE WILLIAM A. McKEEVER, LL.D. TiiR ordinary busy father may easily find time to make a set of simple playthings for his children. He may thus also find a new avenue to the heart of the little ones. It will not be necessary to make many of these things at once, as two or three will be enough to satisfy the demands of the childish nature for change and variety. As these devices accumulate, some of them may be put aside for a while and brought out again later, to interest and delight the growing mind. Home-made playthings, even though crude, are usually preferable to the highly finished shop toys. With the simpler ones it is easier to fit the in- dividual needs of the child and to leave him some opportunity for initiative and adaptation. When- ever practicable, he should have a small part in cutting out and making his own playthings. In the adaptation of the child to his home-made toys two or three matters should be carefully ob- served: first, to encourage initiative and indepen- dence — not to do all the playing for him ; and second, to make the playthings a basis of fellow- ship between himself and others of his grade, and not a bone of contention. Finally, remember that the play of children is not to be considered as mere fun and amusement, but as a necessary means of satisfactory growth and development of character. The Baby Ladder It is necessary to indulge the childish instinct for climbing, and in order to do so one may easily make a simple ladder. The little one using the ladder will fall a few times, to be sure, but this ■will illustrate Nature's best mode of instruction: that is, trial and error. The ladder is constructed out of two light white pine strips 1x2 inches and 5 feet long, for the sides, and other strips the same size and 14 inches long for the rungs. Nail together firmly and remove all splinters. The three-year-old will obtain much pleasure from this ISO THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL, light device and will carry it far and wide in the course of his play.* The Nailing Block Secure a pine block 6x6 inches and about 2 feet long, also a small hammer to suit the size of the child and a quantity of sharp-pointed shingle nails. Show the baby learner how to use these, starting him right from the first. Both boys and girls enjoy the benefits of this interesting and instructive device. After the child has acquired ability to wield the hammer with considerable ease, various figures may be marked on the block for him to trace out by driving nails upon the lines. Have him print his name thus. The Building Blocks Building blocks never cease to interest the baby and to develop the infant ingenuity as well. They may be used indoors or out and they fit well into the play about the sand-box. In order to make the blocks most convenient for symmetrical struc- tures, cut them in two lengths, a third or more of them being exactly one-half of the length of the others.t A strip of white pine i x 2 inches and cut as suggested above, say, in 4-inch and 8-inch •"The ladder has been great fun for her. We had a very long stout one built for shingling the barn roof. This we laid out on the grass, and she spends hours walking the rungs. She is learning to balance while walking on the side pieces. We have to hold one hand when she is walk- ing there. Next to the sand-pile, this is her best entertainer. At first she stepped over the rungs. After a week she walked on the rungs, at first in her bare feet, by which she could cling, and now with sandals. We have been help- ing her walk on the sides for a week now, and she is able to go three feet all by herself." — Mrs. Elsie LaVerne Hill. t Mr. H. G. Wells, in his book, "Floor Games," gives the following as the proper sizes for such blocks: Whole blocks, 4'/'X2;4xl>S inches; half blocks, 2!4x 2^x15^ inches; and quarters made Ijy sawing the latter in two. Al- most any wood may be used to make these blocks except that which is likely to split or splinter or that which readily warps. In the northern and western States, maple and birch are usually available; in the South, short-leaf pine and yel- low poplar; and in the Far West, the sugar pine or western white pine. Basswood, beech, or sycamore may be used, ijlocks of hardwood, like oak, may be passed down from one generation to another. A box or chest to keep them in is almost a necessity. In addition to the blocks — from which no end of tilings can be constructed — Mr. Wells likes to have some play boards of the same wood. 18 x 9, 9 x 9, and 9 X 4'/^ inches. These boards make oceans, islands. States, counties, platforms, stages, and may serve also as roofs, walls, tents, and targets. There can hardly be too many of the blocks, but a hundred will make a fair start. '^Editors, lengths, will serve the purpose well. See that all are planed smooth and are free from splinters. The Chair-Swing The child never ceases to love the swing. But to be useful the swing must have character, must fit the child nature and indulge the impulses prop- erly. In making a swing for the little one, there- fore, observe these directions carefully : 1. Suspend the swing on a beam that is both firm and level. If the beam sags, the child will quickly tire. 2. Spread the ropes or chains fully twice as wide apart at the top as they are at the bottom, and thus insure a steady, even, to-and-fro move- ment. Otherwise the swing will wabble and so spoil half its value. 3. Make the seat broad, comparatively firm, and suspend it just high enough for the child to catch with his toes and swing himself. If the feet are not thus put into service, the child will become dependent, or angry because he can not make the thing go. Make the chair-swing as follows : The seat one foot square — the end of an egg- box will do. Bore five-eigbth-inch holes in each I of the four corners. I Cut four wooden strips i x i inch and i foot long and bore holes in both ends of these to match those in the seat, so they may be used for sides, front, and back. Secure four 4-inch tube insulators, to stand under the four strips described above, and keep them up as supports for the child. Cut a 25-foot length of quarter-inch rope into two equal parts, each to support one side of the swing. Pass the ends of each piece of rope down through the holes in the side strips, the tubes and the seat below, tying a firm knot underneath. Now pick up the two rope loops, hang them on two hooks of equal height, press the seat down level, and notice where the hooks dent the ropes. From that point flatten the two diverging strands together downward and loop them into a knot. Finally, hang the swing again, and level the seat by readjusting the two knots. This swing may be hung outside, may be car- ried on picnic trips, may be suspended in a double doorway, or even in a common doorway. MEMORY-WORK WITH MARGARET MRS. RHEA SMITH COLEMAN You will, of course, recognize that memory-train- ing goes hand in hand with sense-training. In fact, it goes hand in hand with almost every form of development. Differentiation of sounds, ob- jects, and colors is all "memory," as well as sense- training. When we return home from walks, trips to the city, or calls upon friends, I ask Margaret to tell me what she has seen and heard. In this way she remembers what she has learned, and on the next trip she will recall the things which impressed themselves upon her mind the last time. When shopping with her I call her attention to a few things rather than have her get but a hazy idea of many. For instance, we go to buy a pair of shoes, a coat and a doll. When she reaches home she is able to tell her Daddy where each thing was purchased and what she has seen in each special store. Margaret will often tell me a story of her play with little friends; with whom, where, and what they played. If, for example, they have played house, she will come home and tell me some such a story as this : "Mamma, we have been playing house under the big apple tree. Betty was the mamma, Jane the big sister. I was little sister and my dolly, Florence Nightingale, the little baby. We had a tea-party and I spilled my milk. Mamma rocked me to sleep. The baby was sick and Jane went for Doctor Billy. He came and took the baby's temperature. It was 102 degrees. He said Mamma should give her castor oil and make her stay in bed." The Story-Hour Helps the Memory Our story-hour has also been a valuable mem- ory-drill, for after I have told a story to Margaret a number of times, she will tell it to me. Some of our favorite stories are : "The Three Bears," "Old Woman and Her Pig," "Death and Burial of Cock Robin," "House that Jack Built," "Mother Hub- bard and Her Wonderful Dog," from O'Shea's "Nursery Classics;" "Babes in the Wood," "B'rer Rabbit and B'rer Fox," "Child Charity," "Cinder- ella and the Glass Slipper," "Little Goody Two- Shoes," "Miss Dolly and Captain Blue," "Peter Pan," "The Snow Girl," "The Three Little Pigs," "Tom Thumb," "Brave Little Dog of the Wood," "The First Apple Dumpling," "Story of Florence Nightingale," "Story of Grace Darling." Bible stories and stories from American Motherhood and Little Folk's Magazine are very good. At the age of one year I began to sing Emilia Poulsson's "Finger-Plays" to Margaret, at the same time teaching her to make the motions with her own hands as I sang. She readily learned these gestures. Later on, when she began to learn poetry, she seemed to grasp the whole of the little songs at once, and mafiy of them have eight verses of four lines each. Unconsciously the words had been impressed upon her little mind, so that when she could express herself she was able to give them verbatim. About 'Verbal Memorizing And this brings me to the subject which is gen- erally taken as the criterion of our children's memory, namely, the ability to recite many rhymes and verses. I think this is not an altogether fair estimate, for I have a friend whose little girl seems to have a very good memory for things, if allowed to tell them in her own words, but who doesn't seem to want to learn verses word for word. On the other hand, some children are able to recite any number of verses of poetry and yet not recall happenings. The ideal, to be sure, is ability to do both. My method with Margaret in training her to relate events in her own words I have already described to you. Now I shall tell you how I have taught her to memorize rhymes and poetry. First of all, don't force your Betty to learn rhymes ; don't cram them into her little head, and don't attempt to teach them to her line by line. As I have already mentioned, from the time Mar- garet was a small baby I have sung and recited to her many songs and poems. Before she was a year old, and still more in the second year, I re- cited Mother Goose rhymes to her, at the same time showing her the pictures. Now I recite to her poems of several verses, but I always choose those about things she knows and can under- stand. If there are lines she doesn't understand, I explain them to her through an object-lesson. Then again, I always recite and sing poems when there is occasion for them. Stevenson's "Swing Song" is given when swinging; "My Shadow" when Margaret discovers her shadow ; "My Ship and I" when sailing her toy-boat at bath-time; 151 152 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Riley's "There, Little Girl, Don't Cry" when the dolly or other plaything is broken; Kingsley's "Lost Doll" when dolly is lost; "Jesus Bids Us Shine," as well as the popular "Smiles," when my little girl cries ; Tennyson's "What Does Little Birdie Say" in the Spring when the baby-birds are in the nest; George Cooper's "The Leaves and the Wind," which tells of the falling of the leaves, on our walks in the Autumn ; Holland's "Christmas Carol" just before and during the Christmas sea- son ; little songs from the Victrola records when the records are being played or when occasion calls for them, as in the case of the charming little song sung by Olive Kline: " 'Pretty little blue-bird. Why do you go? , Come back, come back to me.' 'I go,' said the bird. As he flew on high, 'To see if my color Matches the sky.' " "Twinkle. Twinkle, Little Star" we say while looking at the stars; "The Moon," by Eliza Follen, when it shines in the nursery window at bed- time, and for good-night poems and songs, Riley's "Raggedy Man," Field's "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" and Tennyson's "Sweet and Low." I have recited poems to my little girl times with- out number, but I rarely request her to say them for me. Often, when occasion arises for some particular poem, she will recite the entire poem, perhaps for the first time. In this way she has learned over seventy-five poems without the slightest strain upon her mind or nerves. She has no recollection of having been compelled to learn anything, but only pure joy in having a story in verse which she can tell, about many things she knows and loves. Then, again, I never urge Margaret to recite for guests. If she cares to help Mother entertain, very well and good, but she never feels that she is "showing off." There are many of my friends who are skeptical when I tell them Margaret knows seventy-five poems, because, as they say, "she has never recited them for me." But I am training my daughter not to be a "stage star," but that she may get from life the best and fullest that life has to offer. PICTURES, A FAIRYLAND MRS. RHEA SMITH COLEMAN Every baby loves a picture-book, but alas, most of them are left to "love it alone," when a little time and interest on the part of the mother would open up to it a world of appreciation of beauty and of art. Interest, too, must be supplemented by good judgment in the choice of pictures, just as truly as in the selection of books for the older boy or girl. Small children love pictures of fa- miliar objects, particularly when these objects are in action. Margaret's first pictures were those of animals and birds, of babes and little children, and of the easier Mother Goose rhymes. The picture of a dog chasing a cat or of a bird sitting on a limb beside its nest delighted her much more than one of a bird or dog alone. Until the age of eighteen months I would point out any little matter of interest in the pictures, as the color of a bird, or the baby reaching for an apple. After that time I began to show her classic pictures and tell her stories about them, pointing out the objects as I talked of them. I exercised great care in the selection of these pictures. Portraits of men and women do not in- terest any child. Margaret is very fond, however, of portraits of children, such as Van Dyck's "Baby Stuart," Reynolds' "Age of Innocence" and "Simplicity." She greatly enjoys naming the features and parts of the body and notes the dress and the position of hands and feet. "Sir Galahad" has always been a delight to her, and now that she can understand the story, she loves the picture more. She compares it to a picture of Joan of Arc clad in armor, standing beside her horse ; in fact, she sometimes mistakes the one for the other. Margaret spends many happy hours with her collection of pictures. She knows the names of about seventy-five classic pictures, can relate the stories of many of them and knows some of the painters. Some of her favorites are: AMERICAN ART "My Mother," by Whistler. "The Greatest American and His Flag," by Ferris. "Putting the Stars on the First American Flag," by Ferris. "The Liberty Bell's First Note," by Ferris. "Home-Keeping Hearts are Happiest," by Taylor. "Spring," by Cox. "Mother Goose," and other pictures, by Jessie Willcox Smith. Jl FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 153 ITALIAN ART "Madonna and Child," by Botticelli. "Sistine Madonna," by Raphael. "Holy Night," by Correggio. FRENCH ART "The Broken Pitcher," by Greiize. "Mother and Daughter," by Lellrun. "The Angeliis," by Millet. "Feeding Her Birds," by Millet. "The First Step," by Millet. "The Horse Fair," by Rosa Bonheur. "Joan of Arc," by Bastien-Lepage. FLEMISH ART "Baby Stuart," by Van Dyck. "Repose in Egypt," by Van Dyck. SPANISH ART "Immaculate Conception," by Murillo. "Divine Shepherd," by Murillo. DUTCH ART "Sheep," by Mauve. GERMAN ART "In the Temple with the Doctors," by Hofmann. "The Good Shepherd," by Plockhorst. BRITISH ART "Angel Heads," by Reynolds. "Age of Innocence." by Reynolds. "Penelope Boothby," by Reynolds. "Simplicity," by Reynolds. "Stag at Bay," by Landseer. "Sir Galahad," by Watts. You may wonder where I secured my collection of pictures. By being on the alert to preserve every good picture I found in magazines and books. Many of you, who have taken the Ladies' Home Journal, will remember that for four years each number had two or three classic pictures from the leading private collections. I pasted these on heavy cardboard, so that they could be handled and not be torn. These are especially valuable because they are colored. In addition, I have a number of Perry pictures. If you can use the brush and water-colors, you can add much to the value of these pictures by coloring them in their original colors. Thus have I tried to train my little daughter to use her senses and mind and to appreciate art. There is much that I have thought and visualized that I have been unable to accomplish, because of the many handicaps that most of us have ; the many household duties, the little economies that we of moderate means must ever practice, and a limited amount of strength, which in many of us falls far below par. But I have been able to accomplish something, because I have ever put Margaret's training and development ahead of everything else. It has been my first duty, my first responsibility. My house, many times, has been neglected for her sake. I believe 'many mothers are prone to put house-care above child- care, for which the children must surely suffer. Margaret has always been made to feel that the home has been made for her, as indeed it has been from its very foundation. STORIES TO TELL THIS YEAR SELECTED BY THE EDITORS These references are to the Boys and Girls Bookshelf VOL. PAGE I saw a ship a-sailing 25 Goosey, goosey, gander 1 25 Once I saw a little bird 1 25 The wind 25 Ring-a-ring-a-roses 25 Cross patch I 26 Happy let us be 26 The old woman in the basket 26 The fox and the old gray goose 28 Jack and Jill 29 Willy boy I 29 Bonny lass 29 Oh, where are you going 30 Bobby Shaftoe I 30 Ding-dong-bell 1 30 Green gravel Old Mother Hubbard Little Bo-Peep Come out to play Little Robin Redbreast Little Boy Blue Beggars are come to town Blow, wind, blow Bye, Baby Bunting Three little kittens Tom was a piper's son Daffy -do wn-dilly Billy Boy Three wise men of Gotham Little Tommy Tucker VOL. PAGE 32 32 34 35 35 36 37 37 37 38 39 40 40 41 41 154 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL VOL. PAGE Pussy and the mice 41 When I was a httle boy 41 Little fat boy 42 A finger test 42 Pussy cat, pussy cat 45 Little Boy Blue 45 Hickory, dickory, dock 46 How many miles to Babylon 47 Hark, hark 47 There was an old woman 48 Humpty Dumpty 51 The queen of hearts 54 One misty, moisty morning 54 Old King Cole 55 Pussy sits beside the fire ' 56 The north wind doth blow I 56 I had a little husband 57 There was a man in our town 57 See saw, sacaradown 57 Sing a song o' sixpence 58 I love little pussy 58 The Horner brothers 59 A little old man 60 Jingles 60 A most wonderful sight 60 Sailing 1 61 An up-to-date pussy-cat 62 Misery in company 63 Court news I 64 A message to Mother Goose 1 65 The sleepy-time story 73 The go-sleep story 75 The wake-up story 83 About six little chickens 86 "Trade-last" 1 88 Philip's horse 89 The kitten that forgot how to mew 90 What could the farmer do 93 Fledglings 97 "Time to get up" 98 Maggie's very own secret 100 The good little piggie and his friends 102 Baby's paradise 105 For a little girl of three 108 A funny family 1 109 Little by little 110 The house that Jack built 1 111 Giant Thunder Bones 1 112 The house that Jill built 1 116 The old woman and her pig 1 119 The lambikin I 121 The cat and the mouse I 123 Henny-penny 1 124 VOL. PAGE Three goats in the ryefield 127 Teeny Tiny 129 Song of the pear tree 130 Cock-alu and Hen-alie 131 There is the key of the kingdom 136 Tommy and his sister and their new pony- cart 138 Timothy Trundle 143 A dream of glory 148 Tiny Hare and the wind ball 173 How Tiny Hare met cat 176 The wee hare and the red fire 179 The good king 182 Early and late 184 The little pink pig and the big road 185 Juggerjook 188 The little gray kitten 194 Pussy's wheels 197 The small gray mouse 198 The rabbit, the turtle and the owl 200 Homes 201 The fine good show 204 Gay and Spy 208 The three bears 220 The little bear's story 221 I like my cat 3 6 Do you like cats 3 6 Fox and dog and cat 3 8 Cat and kittens 3 8 Five little birds 3 10 The little girl and her sheep 3 11 The little boy and the little girl and the donkey 3 12 Where 3 13 Good-night 3 14 Polly, put the kettle on 3 16 Some things to guess 3 17 Some things to find 3 18 The -dancing class 3 19 Fly, little bird 3 21 Birds 3 22 The jay and the dove 3 22 The bird in the tree 3 23 "We'll go to the wood," says Richard to Robin 3 23 The clouds 3 25 A story 3 26 Another story 3 26 The crooked family 3 27 Mary's cat 3 27 The little red hen and the grain of wheat 3 31 The story of the three little pigs 3 42 MUSIC DURING THE THIRD YEAR BY MRS. JEAN N. BARRETT Happy the child whose lot is cast in a joyous musical atmosphere ! There is thus implanted in his inner being a something which will help him to go through many trials with a brave heart and an unconquerable hope and faith that this is, after all. a good world. We constantly hear mothers say, "No, my chil- dren have no talent for music and I shall not bother to have them learn anything about it." If I could feel that I had in all my life made a few mothers, a few teachers, understand the dif- ference between music as a performance and music as a life element, and thereby gained for a few children this power which more than any other stirs the vital forces by which we live, I should feel that my share of life's troubles were a small price to pay. A like misapprehension in the domain of art would banish from home and school the beautiful pictures and art forms which awaken a love of all that wonderful world of beauty revealed to the seeing eye and the appreciative mind because, per- force, so very, very few children have any talent for drawing, painting, or modeling. One of the first steps in rousing a feeling for music is to lead a child to listen. How much stress is laid in our scheme of education upon teaching a child to observe, to see ; how little upon teaching him to hear. The eye is made dominant in all things and we lose much enjoyment which a trained sense of hearing might bring us. God made the birds beautiful, but He also gave them songs, so tender, so thrilling that the very breath stops that we may listen, as we sit at twilight near the home of wood thrush or song sparrow. To the open ear is not the gentle, silvery mur- mur of the brook as it calls through the forest as keen a delight as is its crystal shimmer in a set- ting of green, when we have followed its call and found its home? Let us not forget that the morning stars sang together, and that He who created them meant His children to hear their music in the melodies and harmonies of all His great creation. Even the City Has Its Music The child brought up in the city hasn't the beautiful sounds of Nature from which to get K.N.-13 155 his first lessons in listening, but mother and kin- dergartner can make use of what they have. Even the scissors-grinder and ragman help us out here.* One of my little pupils, the daughter of musical parents, gained her first idea of imitating sounds correctly from a ragman's call. As we were hav- ing our lesson one day we heard this song come — I was going to say float, in at the window, but the ragman's tones were rather too strenuous to be called floating tones : "Rags, rags, rags ; any old rags or bolt's." The tune can be written thus: "Do si la sol sol sol do do," but no words can describe the quality of the tones. At once I imi- tated the theme, and little Frances, to my great surprise, imitated me exactly, whereas before this she had hardly been able to get one single note correctly. His "tune" was unique and it appealed to her. Musical Sounds in the Home Lead the children to listen in every way you can think of.f Tap on different substances, wood, glass, silver. You may find a lampshade that gives forth a definite musical pitch. Play tunes on tumblers, tuning them to musical pitches by varying the quantity of water in them and strik- ing lightly with silver knife or spoon. This de- vice I found most useful in arousing interest in music in a boy who seemed to have no musical instinct whatever. A writer says: "The greater part of children's time is spent in elaborate impersonation and make- believe, and the entire basis of their education is acquired through this directly assimilative fac- ulty." This applies most forcibly to music and gives to those who have the care of children almost unlimited opportunity for developing musical expression. A lullaby song at the child's bedside at night is a benediction beyond estimate. * .\n .^olian harp can be made on a long, thin pine box, about four or six inches deep. Fasten to each end of the box little bridges, like those on a violin, and stretch across them thin strings of catgut. At one end fasten the strings to the box itself, and at the other to screw-pins. By this means the strings can be tightened or loosened at will. Place the harp in a current of air, and very sweet soft notes may be obtained. t It is a pretty idea to imitate the striking of the hours and quarters by a chime-clock on the home piano. 156 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Using Music for Home Harmony A few instances of what lias been done in some homes through the power of music will, I know, tell you more than the mere advancement of theories. A little girl who was very miserable and man- aged to make Mother or nurse most unhappy all through the process of hairdressing and get- ting into bothersome clothes, would submit most graciously if Mother sang "My mother bids me bind my hair With knot of fairest hue; Tie up my sleeves with ribbon rare, And lace my bodice blue ; For why, she says, sit still and weep While others are at play?" using an adaptation of Haydn's beautiful air. Another mother learned to help her little boy work off some of his stormy fits of temper by going to the piano and playing some stormy, im- My sister remembers that even as a child she recognized this power of music to bring sweet- ness out of temper. She was very angry one day with a sense of some injustice done her and in tliis mood started to play her beloved piano. As she did this she realized that if she played she would soon cease to be angry, and not being ready to give up her resentful mood, she rejected the gentle ministry of music and went to her room to nurse her unhappiness. As an incitement to bravery, music has often been used in the home. A little boy much afraid of the dark would go upstairs to a dark room for mother when she played a strong march for him as he went. li mothers could realize how many times a bit of music would be of greater service than even the kindest remonstrance, they would have crashing chords ready for the angry boy, nonsense song to drive scowls from the face of little daughter, and Very slowly. ^ -si-- -«• A quarter past the hour! Half pastl A quarter beforel isfe The clock strikes ninel t=(- liS^g gp Bz -&■' -c- S^i The hour approaches! petuous bit like Schumann's "Wild Rider.** The boy did not know why this was done, but he felt the mood of the music because it exactly fitted his own, and he would career around the room like a veritable wild pony, until his emotion, which might have worked harm to himself and others, had spent itself in this harmless way. * The talking machine is most helpful here. Descriptive music, music which is imitative, or which tells a definite story helps to develop the power of attention in little chil- dren. An excellent phonograph record of descriptive music is "In a Clock Store" (Victor 35324). Tell the following story: "In a small shop on a busy street are kept ever so many kinds of clocks — cuckoo clocks, grandfather clocks, alarm clocks, small clocks, and ordinary -sized clocks. A very happy boy works in this shop. He comes early in the morning, and as he sweeps and dusts, the people pass- ing by hear him whistle a merry tune. Sometimes the clatter of his wooden shoes is heard above the ticking and the striking of the clocks on the shelves. The clocks in this store are real clocks — they tick and strike, they run down and need to be wound up; the cuckoo clock tells the hour of the day; even the alarm clocks are not silent. The little boy works all day long until the clocks strike four. Then he locks the store, runs home to play, and doesn't return until the next day." Play the record and ask the children to listen for the story, but do not expect them to get it all the first time they hear it. Little people enjoy telling this story, in their own words, to family friends not familiar with the music. The "Toy Maker's Shop'* (Victor 55054) and "The Whistler and His Dug" (A 2654 C or Victor 17380) are 5-#- -#- -#- -•-S#^ MP^ ^ -•-i-y long and patient building up of the system. Oftentimes plain stubbornness is an inherited trait of disposition, and yet the very parent who has transmitted it as a part of himself will not recognize it as a part of himself and try to train it out, but will be irritated at the will which op- poses his own and try to beat it out. The best way to get obedience is to study the child and find out what method will best obtain with him. And do not demand too much. Too many commands, particularly commands which infringe upon the child's individuality — arouse opposition. Nagging, fretting, constant ordering about, "don'ting" — all frustrate the desired end, shatter respect, and succeed only in disrupting order. There are a good many little things occurring in a child's daily life which it is best to overlook rather than constantly to nag for obedience. If you want your child to be an individual rather than an automaton, you can't keep at him con- stantly to "do and don't." Better to give a few commands, give them cheerfully, firmly, and ex- pectantly, than a lot of commands in "why-don't- you-but-I-don't-expect-you-to" tone of voice. Who Is to Blame for Unlovable Children? Children must be taught certain things for their own good, and in order to make them pleasant, lovable companions, as they ought to be. There's nothing much more irritating, wearing, and disa- greeable than a rude, unmannerly child, a child who constantly interrupts anybody and everybody that happens to be talking so long as his own voice is heard above theirs ; a child that is allowed to monopolize a conversation, to listen with ears and eyes to what a group of older people are say- ing, and interrupt with a continual, "Who, Mam- me?" "What, Mamma?" a child who is permitted to pounce upon any guest or caller, whether in- vited or not, and literally ride him until he wishes obligation never demanded his presence again. Children who are allowed to eat noisily and with- out neatness ; children who never are known to obey until, after an hour's continual "Come, now, do as I tell you ," "Go on now, and mind," "Why don't you mind Mother?" and other like vain and useless admonitions, the exasperated parent gets up and forces obedience — getting it that time only, and after an unpleasant scene and wearying exertion- — such children, of course, are not loved by any except their own people, and yet — the children are not to blame. Firmness in the very beginning, few commands rigidly obeyed, quiet, pleasing, and courteous manners insisted upon from babyhood up, would bring the desired result without friction and with pleasure and advantage to all concerned. Study Your Child, and— Study Yourself If your own self-control is lacking there can be no control of others. Study your own manner of speech with your children. If you speak with hesitancy, lack of firmness, assuming at the be- ginning that they are going to pay no attention, you are pretty sure to get such results. Children are the most sensitive of mechanisms, reflecting instantly the spirit of the one who attempts gov- ernment over them. Use tact, firmness, justice, decision, cheerful and assured expectancy, and in nine cases out of ten obedience will result without the necessity for coercion of any sort. JESSIE'S BEGINNINGS IN HELPFULNESS BY MRS. ELSIE LaVERNE HILL The busy mother may be surprised to learn that her children between the ages of one and three are aught but a constant care. Yet even at this early age they may begin to practice the gracious art of helpfulness, and gradually develop into really indispensable "assistants." Tiny hands can labor and at the same time keep out of mischief. The mother will need a large amount of pa- tience in order to teach her children many tasks. She should remember in taking up every new les- son that the children do not know what they are expected to do nor how to do it. Therefore, the mother must explain every detail very carefully, and show her children "just how Mother does it" many times until the clumsy little hands have ac- quired the knack. In the first few lessons their very eagerness will make them awkward. But each day the fingers will grow more nimble and as they become accustomed to handling the house- hold tools they will become more dexterous in using them. Old accomplishments should be gone over every day that they may not be forgotten while new ones are being mastered. So much repetition becomes very tedious to the mother, but the time and effort which seems to be lost will be more than made up later. A child at this age is not old enough to engage in much imaginative play, but tasks which would be drudgery to an older person are delightful play to him. Thus day by day new duties are added to the list until the result surpasses all expectation. If tliere is more than one child in a family the problem is much simplified for the younger chil- dren, as they will imitate, as much as possible, the actions of others, especially of their older broth- ers or sisters. Example is infectious, consequently if the older ones are trained correctly they will actually educate those following them. Children vary greatly in their capabilities. If one child rapidly acquires skill in doing a particu- lar task it does not necessarily follow that others of the same age will either learn as rapidly or as well. I know one little tot of two and a half years who, when her baby brother cries for a bottle, will carry it from the kitchen to him, prop it up conveniently on the pillow, and see that he drinks it all ; yet we need not expect all children of this age to exercise as much concern and care as she. From the beginning we have taught our little girls, Mary, "half past one," and Jessie, "half past two." to help in every way possible. Of course, on some days they do not do as much as on others, yet in the course of several days they do the things which for convenience we have grouped as one day's tasks. All in the Day's Work The first thing in the morning, both children take their blankets from their beds and spread them on a nearby rack to air. They take their clothes from the rack, on which they were hung the night before, and carry them in to Mother, who is ready to help with the dressing. Jessie is able to put on all of her clothes in the proper order, while Mother buttons them up and t'es the shoelacings. Mary can put on her shirt, dress, and stockings, but needs assistance with every- thing else. Just before dressing both children go to the bathroom, pull chairs to the wash-basin, and wash their faces and hands. Jessie manages both the cold and hot water faucets. Next comes the "toothbrush drill" and brushing of hair, which Jessie does most vigorously for both little heads. Then while Mother prepares the food for break- fast, Jessie puts the cups and saucers, plates, and other dishes at their proper places on the table, while Mary is busy laying the silverware. She can do this best if the knives, forks, and spoons are kept within her reach in a drawer which is divided into sections for each article. While Mary is pulling the chairs to the table, Jessie puts on the toast, butter, and jam (which Mother hands her). Then, together, they run to call Father, lessie hurrying back ahead of him that she may have time to climb into her high-chair. * The reader may at first he impressed that this mother either has some extraordinarily industrious children or that they are being worked to death. Notice, however, that the writer emphasizes the fact that all these activities are not performed regularly, but that this is simply an exposition of the large variety of things even little children can do to help, arranged for convenience as a day's program. I know these children, and they are no more dependable or regular than any other little ones, but I know it to be a fact that they have done all these tasks described, and that as they grow older they do them oftener. — IV. B. F. i6i 1 62 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL After breakfast, work begins in earnest. Mary carries the silverware to the sink, while Jessie clears off the plates and saucers, scraping any re- mains of food into the garbage-pail. Then she piles the dishes into the dishpan. After Mother wipes the silverware Mary puts it back into the proper places. Jessie dries the tin dishes and puts them on the back of the stove. She also dries plates and larger pieces of crockery — if Mother does not treasure them too highly. She draws her chair up to the sink, where she cleans the milk bottles (though of course they must be scalded later), and when all dishes are done, carefully washes the sink. And then, since all children de- light to paddle in water, allow them both to play there for a treat. Dish-towels are now neatly hung on a rack to dry and the entire family turns to tidying up. Mary gets the dustpan and Jessie brings the broom to Mother. With her own small broom she very carefully sweeps all the dust out of the corners of the room, and from under the chairs and stove. Mary meanwhile busies herself by brushing all dirt from the porch and steps. After Mother has all the dirt collected into little piles Jessie holds the dustpan for her, moving it the least bit back as required, and holding it at the proper angle to allow the dirt to be swept into it. Of this accomplishment she is very proud, for it was acquired only after two weeks of earnest effort. She then carries the dustpan to whatever recep- tacle is provided and empties the contents therein. She follows this by dusting the chairs thoroughly, and with another cloth wipes off the bottom of the stove. With a pail and small shovel she is able to remove the ashes from the stove and to empty them into the ash-barrel. After feeding and water- ing the cat and dog, both children bring some small wood for the wood-box, and what Mother needs at any time they carry from the wood-box to her. Jessie then returns to her housecleaning, runs, under Mother's supervision, the vacuum-cleaner over the rugs and cleans any spots from the paint on the floor and wainscoting. Mary meanwhile takes the soiled clothes to the laundry-room, empties the library wastepaper basket, and helps Jessie straighten all the books in the bookcases, and the papers on the table. The Baby's Toilet Perhaps baby brother is now in need of some immediate attention. Mother decides it is time for his bath, so Jessie goes to his drawer and brings out what clothes he may need, and such articles for his bath as soap, towel, powder, and wash-cloth. Then they watch eagerly for the time when they can powder him. They probably will spill some on the floor, but the doing of it makes baby's bath-time a happy event in the day's routine. The next chore is to go to the yard, where they clean up all chips, papers, or other articles small enough for them to carry, Mary wishing the while that she could rake like her older sister. Afterwards Jessie helps Mother in preparing the dinner by going to the garden to assist in bringing back the vegetables, in washing them, and in setting the table. In this fashion half the day has passed pleas- antly for all. Instead of Mother being obliged constantly to stop her work and provide new play- things for her children, or to prevent Jessie from annoying her sister, she has kept both children busy and has saved herself many steps and no little time. After dinner the children take their naps and upon waking go to their play. When much romp- ing or playing with water and dirt makes a general clean-up necessary, they hang up their own hats and coats, put away their rubbers, and get ready to have their baths. These tub-baths they take by themselves. Mother coming only to wash their faces and ears. Supper is a repetition of breakfast to the lit- tle ones, who soon afterwards, exhausted by their long day of work and play, are ready for their beds. As fast as Mother can unbutton their clothes they take them off, hang them on the rack, and slipping into their nighties, tumble into bed. Work for Special Days On special work-days, such as washing, clean- ing, or baking days, they are of still greater as- sistance. On Mondays Jessie vigorously lifts and drops the handle of the vacuum-washer, hands Mother the clothes, straightens them out as they come from the wringer, and takes great pleasure in having the duty of washing out some articles, such as stockings, all by herself. She helps to carry the clothes to the line, passes them up to Mother one by one, as Mary hands up the clothes- pins from the bag. Later in the afternoon Jes- sie assists in taking in the laundry and sprinkles those garments that need it. On cleaning-days the girls like to take the rugs oufdoors and help beat them, to straighten them later on the floors, to go over the floors with the dry mop, to wipe down the stairs, and to wipe Bon Ami from the windows. On bake-days they "grind the dough" in th^ bread-mixer and hand me such articles as will' -be needed in the cook- ing. Later Jessie puts the mixing-bowls to soak in cold water. FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 163 Outdoor Work These children are fortunate enough to live on a farm, so there is a host of pleasant things they can do which are denied to their city cousins. Mary can carry the mail to and from the R. F. D. box if a step of convenient size is placed for her; she can pick up apples and small potatoes ; carry written messages or a cool drink to Father in the fields ; and run many errands between the house and barn. Jessie can feed the chickens and help bed-down the little calves, which nerhaps are her "truly own." "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy" Even if these tasks were scattered over a num- ber of days, the girls would soon tire of them if Mother did not introduce a number of things to brighten up the hours and make the work jolly and happy. Songs, stories, and conversations are the best enliveners, though of course, if a child is really tired, a nap must be substituted, and when interest wanes new things taken up. Mother Goose rhymes have always proved a great help with our children, and we have special ones to go with almost every task. For instance, when calling the children in the morning I repeat : "Early to bed, early to rise Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," or And at bath-times we use : "Rub-a-dub-dub, Three men in a tub. And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker. The candle-stick maker; Turn 'em out! knaves all three!" These "knaves," of course, are the specks that surprise and alarm us all if we don't get thoroughly clean. Songs also may be freely introduced to tunes that we make up to go with a Mother Goose rhvnie. "Polly put the kettle on." "Little Miss Muffet," "Old King Cole," "Old Mother Hub- bard," "Little Jack Horner," "Hi-diddle-diddle." are good to sing while getting the meals ready, or "Run and set the plates for lunch. Knives and forks are in a buncli." And a good one for dish-washing time is: "Wash the dishes, wipe the dishes. Ring the bell for tea ; Three good wishes, three good kisses, I will give to thee." If the children are to help Mother while she tidies up the house, she may repeat: "Dolly's things are such a sight. Put the bureau drawers to rights," "Come, come, my dear children, L'p is the sun. Birds are all singing And morn has begun." While putting on their shoes we use: "One, two, buckle your shoe," or "Shoe the old horse. Shoe the old mare. Put a nail here. Put a nail there. Let the little colt Go bare, bare, bare." As they wash their faces and hands I say: "There's a neat little clock. In the play-room it stands. And it points to the time With its two little hands, And may we, like the clock, Keep a face clean and bright, With hands ever ready To do what is right." "Work while you work. Play while you play, And you'll be happy. The livelong day." For special tasks there are such rhymes as: "The old woman must stand at the tub, tub, tub, The dirty clothes to rub, rub, rub, And when they are clean, and fit to be seen. She'll dress like a lady, and dance on the green, for washing; "Pat a cake" for baking, and for looking after the baby, "Rock-a-by, baby," "Sweet and low," "Bye, Baby Bunting," and "Hush, be still as any mouse. There's a baby in the house. Not a dolly, not a toy. But a great big bouncing boy." Then always there are a number to put the children to bed by. such as "Deedle, deedle, dump- ling, my son John," "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," and "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe." 164 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Telling stories also helps to entertain children at their work. Though any familiar fairy stories are good, it is nice to make the story fit the task in hand; such as telling "The Three Bears" while putting things to rights, "Little Red Riding- Hood" before sending them on an errand, and •'The Little Red Hen" when preparing the meals. Although the connection is very slight, the child soon requests the same story while doing the same task. Praise and Games as Rewards A child is very sensitive to praise, and even when the performance of any work has grown to be a habit, it is always wise frequently to ex- press surprise at the fact that they can do it so well and to praise them highly for any new accomplishment. Other means of appreciation might be the wear- ing of a certain pin or ribbon as long as some piece of work is done successfully, the placing of a gold star on a calendar for a helpful day, or the wearing of a necklace or other ornament. We even give the Oberlin College yell for Jessie when she is surprisingly quick with her tasks. Often the attention of the children may be held by making work into play. We like to play "the game of Fairy." For instance, if I am sweeping and have forgotten to bring in the dustpan, I say, "I wish a little fairy would put the dustpan at my feet." Immediately two little feet scamper softly into the kitchen and back, so that when I turn round the dustpan is lying before me. No- body is to be seen, but if I look around two shin- ing eyes will be peeking at me from some corner or other. Then, of course, I exclaim in deep surprise at the work of the fairy. Tools Whenever it is practicable, we provide for the children tools of the regular size for both work and play instead of the miniature ones. These seem to be more satisfactory to handle and have the added advantage of not getting "out of kilter" as quickly as the smaller ones, which are often poorly made. Jessie prefers to sift flour or sand in a sifter "just like Mother's," or to mix with a big spoon, and she takes great pride in her row of bright and shining implements. The only small tools they have are a broom, rake, wash- board, and iron. Some Difficulties There are difficulties met with in securing help- fulness, such as fatigue, dallying, quarreling, etc., which are likely to come up at any time. Real fatigue indicates the need of a nap or sometimes a rest for all in the big chair, with a story and perhaps a glass of milk or a slice of bread and iDutter. Dallying is often forgotten in a race to see who will get her task done first. Then, again. Mother will hurry through her work to help Mary pick up the papers, so we can all go to the barn to see the baby calf, or go for a walk to the woods. Although the girls can not tell time yet, we sometimes try to get our work done before the big hand gets around to a certain point. We have tried to eliminate quarreling as to which should do each task by always assigning definite tasks to each and then alternating each day. For instance, Jessie dries and puts away the kettles on the day that Mary puts away the silverware ; then the next day they "swap" jobs. Everybody Is Somebody We have tried to instill into the lives of the little tots the habit of helpfulness. Everybody is somebody at our house, and we all must have a share in the work as well as in the play. An im- portant factor is a regular program for the day's chores. The children know they are expected to do their part, and are eager to do it. This does not mean that they become drudges. Instead, the admirable tendency that almost every small child has of wanting to help Mother in everything is directed, and the sometimes troublesome and mis- chief-making little hands are kept busy. We believe our children are going to grow up into more loving and lovable women because they have always been compani')ns and fellow-workers with Mother. The childhood shows the man As morning shows the day. — John Milton. ORDERLINESS AND TIDINESS BY MRS. CAROLINE BENEDICT BURRELL The natural child is an untidy little being. One is not conscious of this fact while he is a mere baby, for until he is several years of age he has had someone to keep him clean and to put his belongings in order, and has. therefore, had little opportunity to show his tendencies toward or against tidiness. But it is to be doubted if the average child under nine years of age cares a whit if he be clean or dirty, unless upon special occasions. For instance, when "company is com- ing," he is glad to be washed and dressed so that he may be looked at approvingly or admiringly by the expected guest. But when there are only "home people" present he would, unless he be an exception to the general rule, be entirely willing to eat with dirty hands and face, and to wear the same soiled and tumbled clothing from morn- ing to night. Nor would he mind how "messy" h'is room was so long as he was allowed to play there undisturbed. Orderly Habits to Be Formed Early A very small child will strew his playthings over the nursery floor, and when told to pick them up and put them away, very often will rebel. This is usually because it is growing toward the end of the day and he is tired ; the quantity of things looks enormous to him, and his little body aches at the very thought of the task. Still, with tact he can be helped over the difficulty. It is better not to let so many things get about, but when one set of playthings is finished with, it can be put away in some easily reached place, and some- thing else taken out. A large covered box close at hand, or the lower part of a cupboard, makes a good place for toys. Then, too, if someone will help put things away, that assists wonderfully ; or he may be told that Father is coming, and the room must all be in order for him, for he will be sorry to see it upset. At all events, in some such way order should be taught, even to a very little child. Playmates are very thoughtless in helping cover the room with toys and then going home, leaving the little host to pick up ; this should not be al- lowed, but the mother should stop the play half an hour before time for the visitors to go home and all together the children should put things away, even at the risk of seeming inhospitable. The child taught in his own home that this is the riglit thing will, when he in his turn goes visiting, help to dispose of the toys at the neighbors'. Care of the Person and the Room So with the child's own room; here from the first he must learn to keep things in order. He can always 'put his nightgown on a chair, even if he cannot hang it up in the closet; he can set the bureau top to rights, put things in the drawers and stand his shoes in an orderly row. When the bed is being made, he can help, and dust, and straighten the curtains. Really, he will enjoy the feeling of importance in doing all this if it is done cheerfully, not considered a task so much as a pleasure. If from his childhood he knows the duty of orderliness in his own room, he will prob- ably never become that selfish being, a man who lets his sister or his wife pick up and put away his things, carelessly strewn everywhere. It is only right that he should feel that he is respon- sible for everyt'ning which belongs to him, and he must keep each thing in its place. Personal neatness is really orderliness, and this, too, cannot be taught too early. Children natur- ally resent having their faces and hands washed too frequently, and it is absurd and wrong to expect them to be always clean and tidy; when they are playing they should not be bothered by having such things insisted on ; at the same time, there are hours when they should be tidy as a matter of course, especially when they come to the table for their meals. Then a mother must insist on having the hands washed and the hair smooth. This is always a trouble for both parent and child, but it need not be so difficult, if the child who comes clean gets the larger helping of dessert, and the one who has been forgetful gets but a small one. It is a lesson in orderliness not soon forgotten, and one far better taught in this way than by perpetual talking. As to training a child to keep the house in or- der outside his own room. that. too. must be en- forced. One has no right to throw down a cap, an armful of books, a pair of muddy rubbers, for someone else to put away, no matter if that someone is perfectly willing to do it. He has a duty to help keep the home attractive. But chil- dren are far too apt to think the common living- room theirs in the peculiar sense of disorder, and find it hard to remember to put away their be- 6S i66 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL i| longings. Parents, too, are sometimes thought- less in not providing places which are convenient for out-of-door clothes and books. These places must be at hand — a closet with low hooks, a shelf for story-books, a box for rubbers, and something resembling the hymn-ibook rack at church, on some wall, for the books. Then after all these are ready the child must use them. One of the best ways to teach order here is to have it a good-natured rule that such things out of place will disappear. A lost cap will be found hidden in some out-of-the-way corner; a book will be discovered tucked under a chair-cushion, and so on. When one must take precious mo- ments to hunt up such things, it is probable that next time they will go where they belong. Here, as in one's own room, a mother should dwell on 1 the selfishness of keeping the house in disorder, I and teach a child that he has no right to be careless. THREE-YEAR-OLD VIRTUES >l MARY L. READ EoRTUNATE now the child whose parents have the good sense to enjoy his prattlings and little tricks without yielding to the temptation to "show him off" before friends and neighbors. The sensitive child usually refuses to show off, and is made yet more self-conscious, shy, and bashful by the teas- ing, or threatening, or scolding, because of his refusal. The bolder child is made more aggres- sive, priggish, and intolerable by the applause and adulation shown him. which is as stimulating and wholesome for his soul as lollipops and soda- water for his body. During this year his program of motor-develop- ment, sense-training, habit-training, is to be con- tinued and made more definite; his exploration, experimenting, examining are to have a yet wider range; his speech is to be developed into sen- tences; he is to be drilled in orderliness and courtesy, in further stages of self-dependence, in dressing and feeding, in a sense of modesty, the observation of reverence, the practice of giving and the expression of gratitude. Training in Courage During the year fears often develop, of ani- mals, the dark, of imaginary monsters, of vague but horrifying dangers. Sometimes these are the direct result of tales told during this third year of ogres and monsters that will "eat him up" if he isn't good, of bogey men and cruel policemen. Such fears commonly leave their impression through life, and produce neurasthenia in adult- hood, when the definite childhood experience has been consciously forgotten. It is an unpardon- able offense thus to arouse fear in a little child. Once the damage has been done, it can never be undone. Parents can not be too careful for themselves and the associates that they permit with the child during these early years. Punish- ing a child by putting him in a dark closet or room, or threatening to do so, is a direct culti- vation of terror and fear. In the course of his life he will need all the courage and nervous vitality he can muster, and its cultivation can not begin too early. Bogeys, ogres, and villains are to be omitted from stories under six years, at least. He is to be taught the true purpose of the policeman, to protect him and his home from any harm. Pun- j ishment is to take some other and more natural i form. No suggestions of fear are to be made. Con- ' stant cautions of "Be careful," "Take care," "You | will hurt yourself," all suggest fear. Tumbles and bumps and bruises will come, of course, but instead of pitying him, asking him if he is hurt, calling him "Poor baby," teach him to be a brave child, not to cry, to be courageous like Father, and find something else to do so he will forget it. Training in Self-Reliance Self-reliance is also gained through his efforts to wait on himself. By two years he should be handling his cup neatly, learning to hold his bread or cracker over his tray so that the floor is not littered with crumbs, not handling his spoon with clumsiness and mishaps, but acquiring neatness even with this at the end of this year. He is now quite old enough to open his own bed to air, after his nap or in the morning, to put his shoes neatly together when they are taken off, hang up his hat, put his mittens away in his coat pocket or bureau, hang up his nightgown, lay his clothes neatly when undressed, put away his toys. This, of course, necessitates low hooks and shelves and a bureau drawer within his reach, a FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 167 place for everything, a box or shelves for the toys. He can make efforts at washing his face and hands and brushing his teeth, not with the expectation that he can do it efficiently, but to cultivate the habit of doing for himself. He can put on his own clothes, although his fingers do not yet enable him to fasten them. Training in Modesty Personal modesty can be developed during this year. If this trait has been inherent in the per- sonality of his attendants up to this time, he has already absorbed it. Nudity in dressing and in bathing should always be treated sensibly, with- out self-consciousness, ridicule, or reproach. All the functions and processes of the body should be spoken of naturally and with respect. Children brought up with care are normally wholesome and innocent in their thought, and without sex consciousness. They can be kept so with even a modicum of wholesomeness and com- mon sense on the part of their elders. There are sometimes silly, shortsighted people who tease even little children about "beau.x" and "girls," and by their own foolish, simpering manner suBtly pervert the child's naturalness and cultivate pre- maturely and abnormally the child's sex con- sciousness. In all their games and play, their marching and dancing, their attention should not be called to sex differences, but they should be allowed to play and choose partners naturally. They should be taught to be equally courteous and helpful to all their playmates. Training in the Social Virtues If the children have the daily example of har- mony and courtesy between their mother and father, if they see that Father works hard to take care of them and Mother, and that Mother works hard to make them and Father comfortable and happy, they are already receiving their greatest lesson in the meaning of motherhood and father- hood — its social and spiritual meaning and its acceptance of responsibility in their care. Of course, they will not always analyze or con- sciously think this until many years later, but — far more important — it is becoming part of their subconscious ideal for their own lives. Father should never become to them the dreaded judge who will mete out wrath for child- ish wrongdoings. "I'll tell your father" should never become a threat. Rather reserve it for pleasant tales of good deeds, of discoveries and new accomplishments. Let them make something as a gift for Father because of all the things Father does for them all day. Let them bring Father's slippers, put a flower at his plate, bring him the paper. Teach them always to place a high value on Father's words of approval. Teach them to look up to him as their model and their best companion. From now; on the child enjoys greatly being with other children. Not that he begins playing games with them until four or five years. Not that he gets on peaceably with them, for quarrels and teasing may often develop. But he enjoys the social companionship, a colleague to talk with and share with. He needs this for his own soul's development. He should not have a crowd — that is too hard on his nerves until six or seven years. If there are no other young children in the family, some arrangement should be made for providing such companionship with one or two, at least during a few hours of each week, if not as a constant member of the household. Your strange task is so to act on your cliild as to make him think for himself. "Knowledge is organizing experience in terms of vital need." — Ernest Carroll Moore, THE TOYS My little Son, who look'd from tlioiiglitful eyea And moved and spoke in grown-up wise. Having my law the seventh time disobeyed, I struck him, and dismiss'd With hard words and unkiss'd. His Mother, who was patient, being dead. Then fearing lest his grief should hinder sleep, I visited his bed. But found him slumbering deep. With darken'd eyelids, and their lashes yet From his late sobbing wet. And I with a moan. Kissing away his tears left others of my own: For, on a table drawn beside his head, He had put, within his reach, A piece of glass abraded by the beach And six or seven shells, A bottle with bluebells And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art, To comfort his sad heart. So when that night I pray'd To God, I wept and said: Ah, when at last we lie with tranced breath. Not vexing Thee in death. And Thou rememberest of what toys We made our joys, How weakly understood, Thy great commanded good. Then fatherly not less Than I whom Thou last molded from the clay, Thou'lt leave Thy wrath, and say, "I will be sorry for their childishness." — Coventry Patmore. SUMMARY AND FORECAST THE THIRD YEAR WITH TOM AND SARAH WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH "heredity on both Probably it's their What are the new "I AM just discouraged," acknowledged Mary Howard, sinking flatly into her sewing-chair. "Don't be downhearted," chirruped her hus- band. "What seems to be the trouble?" "The twins have broken loose and I can't seem to manage them. And they used to be such angel- children," she meditated. "Well," Frank suggested, sides has to show some time, father cropping out in them, symptoms ?" "They get tired of their playthings, and they simply tag me around, and they're both stubborn as mules," was her breathless summary. "That last, of course, comes from the other side of the house !" "But I'm getting all tired out with them," she said wearily. "Now, Mary," soothingly suggested Mr. How- ard, "let me take hold a bit. If the 'system' is going to break down, suppose I spank them both." Just then the twins ran in and Sarah climbed up on one side of his chair, while Tom was ask- ing to be kissed, on the other. Their father's hard heart relented. "They don't seem to need a spanking just this minute," he confessed. "What do you want, Sarah ?" "Dada — play," was the instant response. So Father went into the library, gave them each a brisk ride on his knee, quieted them down with a basso profundo lullaby, undressed them awk- wardly and got them into bed. "Now, Mother," he said, in half an hour, "you can do the rest." "Thank you, Frank," she answered gratefully, and went into the bedroom and did — whatever mothers do to help two rollicking youngsters to want to go to sleep. She came back with better courage. "It is hard to hate them when they are in their nightgowns," was her husband's greeting. "Yes, it is," she granted. "Frank, I am to blame. I have been going ahead blindly lately, not realizing just how fast the children are de- veloping. While you were so kindly putting them to bed I took down my neglected charts again and did a little reading. It seems that ours are no worse than the neighbor's children " "I should say not" — with conviction. "And no different. You see, the twins are still in what somebody calls the vegetative stage " "Does that mean the 'vegetable' stage?" "Something like that. In other words, they haven't much imagination. They are not re- sourceful. They can't think up anything to do, and they never invent anything new to do with the old things. Then they are growing more sensitive to praise and blame and more dependent upon my sympathy. So they follow me around for ideas and company." "Does this last forever?" "No. It seems that some time during this very year we may expect them to "break into' imagi- nativeness. Then I guess they'll be easier to take care of." Tom and Sarah "Break Into" Imagina- tiveness The "break" occurred as suddenly as had been prophesied and rather earlier than Mrs. Howard expected. The family were over to Grandfather's to dinner one Sunday. After a time the children were missing. Mother went anxiously to hunt them up. She returned eagerly. 169 170 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL "Do come, everybody," she cried excitedly, "and see what Tom and Sarah are doing !" Everybody followed her out to the barn. The children were found, seated side by side on a box, covered partly with a blanket and each one hold- ing the end of a rein that dangled down from the harness that hung against the wall. They had often been allowed to "help Grandpa drive" when seated beside him in his carriage, and now they were carrying out the idea by themselves. "Smart youngsters !" was Grandfather's satis- fied comment. From that time forward, as Mrs. Howard had prophesied, the children became more resourceful and were easier to look after. All their play was not imaginative, even if it was inventive. Mrs. Howard was wise in furnishing only one toy at a time, and in trying to choose that one so as to have it within the reach of her children's interests and capacities, the playroom was simple almost to bareness, but it was a scene of much active endeavor. One day her neighbor, Caroline Walton, came in to call. She brought her daughter Jean, who was a few months older than the twins. Jean was a nervous creature, much overdressed, and very uncomfortable. "Jean is such a trouble to me," the mother com- plained, in her daughter's presence. "She requires so much looking after, and it is so hard to keep her clean." Just then the twins burst into the room, dressed in new rompers, with their small red hands sticky with mud and scattered islands of the same ma- terial on their cheeks. Mrs. Howard led them to the wash-basin. "I am afraid, Caroline, that I don't try as hard as I ought to keep mine clean. You know the old saying that dirt is healthy, and the other one to the effect that you have to eat so much of it be- fore you die. I am sure the twins are fed up with their allotment already." "Have they been playing out in the yard?" asked Mrs. Walton. "No; it looked so rainy this morning that I have had them in the house. Come into the nursery and let's see what they have been doing." The two ladies went into the playroom, a sunny place, with prettily figured wall paper and bright pictures hung low where the children could look into them. The floor had a dull filling, and in the center, on a square of oil-cloth, was a pile of mud. Mud-Pies in the Nursery "Playing with mud — in the house? Well, I never !" Mrs. Walton e.-cclaimed with uplifted hands. "Mary Howard, what are you thinking of?" "Why not?" Mrs. Howard asked calmly. "It is a warm day, and the mud isn't cold." "But it doesn't seem very — what shall I say? — ladylike," she said, with a glance from her Jean to Sarah's muddy nose. "No. Sarah isn't a lady — yet. She is only a little girl. I think she has a right to her child- hood as much as Tom, and so — " firmly — "I guess she's going to play in mud for a while. Just see what they are doing," she added more pleasantly. Already the youngsters, forgetful of their "com- pany," were squatted down on either side of the pile, making lines in the soft mud with their fingers, then patting it smooth again, sticking in stones and examining the patterns that they made, and so on. repeating their tasks with the deepest absorption. "How long have they been doing this?" "Ever since breakfast." "And now it's eleven o'clock. Why, I don't believe Jean ever played so long with anything in her life. Come, Mary," she said impulsively, "tell me all about it. Maybe I am on the wrong track. I just want to know what you are up to." Mrs. Howard knew that Mrs. Walton, though as decided in her views as herself, was just as earnest in her longing to bring up her only little one successfully, and she recognized too that she had a candid mind. So the two ladies sat down together in the adjoining dining-room, where they could keep near the children. "My books tell me," Mrs. Howard began, "that these are the j'ears of childhood for building up a good body, that children need a lot of air and sunshine and the freest kind of exercise. They tell me that they need to use the big muscles. So I dress them nearly all day in clothes that dirt won't hurt, and I keep them out whenever it is at all pleasant. They are fond of doing all sorts of things to get command of their hands and feet. I can see this because when I don't think up some- thing for this kind of activity they do themselves. They were the ones who thouglit of the mud and of the ladder." The Mysterious Charm of Ladders "The ladder? What ladder?" "Why, Frank happened to leave our long ladder lying on the lawn, and for days the children have spent hours walking up and down between the rungs, and last week they both began to try to walk along the squared sides. It has been just the finest thing to help them in balancing their bodies. But the funniest was the rolling down hill." FROM THE SECOND TO THE THIRD BIRTHDAY 171 "Rolling down hill? I never heard of such a thing!" "Neither did I. Tom started it, as he generally starts things. One morning he was sitting or lying on the ground by the syringa bush at the top of the little incline by the front door. Per- haps he lost his balance, but at any rate the ne.xt he knew he was rolling toward the bottom. At first he didn't know whether to cry or laugh, but after a moment he seemed to think it was worth trying again, and now it is the first regular morn- ing exercise for both of them." "They certainly are two healthy-looking chil- dren, more so than Jean. I wonder what she would say if I should offer her a mud-pie." Mrs. Walton did not need to wonder, for when she looked into the playroom half an hour later, her cherished daughter was in the mud up to her elbows and her hitherto spotless dress was a sight. She looked up in mingled glee and terror when she saw her mother, and her look was so funny that her mother, who was fortunate in having a sense of humor, burst out laughing. "I guess I have found a prescription for Jean," she said, turning to Mrs. Howard, "and a better one than a doctor's, too." The Little Girl that Spanking Doesn't Improve "Stubborn as mules," had been Mrs. Howard's verdict of her children early in the year. Before it drew to its close she often reiterated her state- ment, and usually added, "and oh, how they hate to obey." "But I notice that they generally do," her mother allowed. "I am grateful if you do notice it," was the daughter's response. "Almost every week now I have a regular tussle with their wills — or rather, their 'won'ts' — their contrariness. It is mostly, at least on Sarah's part, in wanting what Tom has, or in being unwilling to give up what she has more than her share of. The point seems to me to be to get her to give rather than to have to seize from her. I have waited as long as ten minutes — vi'hich is an age to a child — for her to decide to give something up." "Isn't there any quicker way?" "Of course there is — now. But would it be in the end? Every time I have spanked her I have declared that I would never do it again. It seems to rouse the worst passions in both of us. I don't believe I was made to spank righteously, and I am sure she wasn't made to be spanked to any- body's profit. With Tom it is different." "Have you ever tried giving just her fingers a quick snap with your middle finger? I don't be- K.N.— 13 lieve it would irritate you or her, either, and when you were a baby it was very effective." "Thank you for that suggestion." Mrs. Howard had discovered that obedience was largely a matter of habit, and she practiced daily, not only in this field, but in many others, William James's famous "five laws" of habit-get- ting. Of these she considered the greatest to be, "Suffer no exceptions.'' She believed that if her children were never permitted to suppose that any way was possible but the right way, they would not only walk that way but prefer to walk it. Of course she appreciated that obedience is really only a temporary virtue, for the sake of the chil- dren's safety, but she was certain that they could not be safe unless they were dependable. ■Watching the Moral Thermometer "I have been reading," she told her mother, "what Dorothy Canfield Fisher says about 'moral thermometers.' She thinks we parents ought to keep a sliding scale of our children's offenses, ranging from those that are devilish all the way up the scale through those that are partly bad, partly mistaken, and partly well-meaning, up to those that are good and perfect. / think we ought also to have a thermometer for the children them- selves — a scale of their condition as well as their conduct, because I am sure there are some days that even the good Lord doesn't count against them." "Why, Mary, what do you mean?'' "Days when they are just tired, or languid, or are coming down with something. I quite agree with that wise mother who determined that she would never ask anything hard after four o'clock in the afternoon. It seems to me that there are two kinds of misbehavior that are likely to hap- pen when the children are out-of-sorts — one is carelessness and the other is what Frank calls 'cussedness'; one is because they are too tired to start and the other is because they are too tired to stop." "Very good !" exclaimed Mrs. Spencer. "I well remember both kinds. But what you have been saying reminds me, Mary, of something I wanted to ask you. You know our neighbor Mrs. Colwell, and you know how insistent she is upon what she calls 'unquestioning, implicit obedience.' I know you are pretty particular when a real issue comes up to see that Tom and Sarah mind, but I have never heard you harping upon these particular adjectives." "Mother, you have struck a sort of sore spot with me. I don't know just what I do think aliout that. If a child always obeys implicitly, and with- out question, wouldn't you think there was some- 172 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL thing the matter with him? Mustn't he be anemic or weak-minded or weak-willed or something? I remember that Charlotte Perkins Oilman once said that such a child, grown up, would be per- fectly valueless as a citizen. Now Tom and Sarah have this year begun to seem to have in- dividualities of their own ; you can see that in the way each one begins to cling to his own posses- sions and to want his own way. For the present they obey me, when I am firm and careful, be- cause I insist upon it and because it is a good habit with them, but if I am not mistaken, the time is going to come, and come pretty soon, when they will asR questions — and have a right to ask them, too." "What will you do then, my dear?" "Answer them, I suppose, if I have breath enough." "If you have the answers, don't you mean?" "Yes, Mother, that is what I do mean. I can see that in requiring obedience even now I must be reasonable even when I don't have to gk'c reasons, but it won't be long before they will ask for reasons, and if I want their obedience to be intelligent and cheerful, I must have good ^reasons to give." The Year's Inventory When Frank and Mary sat down to make their annual "Inventory," Frank took the pencil, be- cause, as he said, "you can think it up, and I can put it down." "Let's take the old things first." "All right. Where shall we begin?" "With health." " 'Health — fine. Good resistance to disease.' Is that correct?" "Very good. Now the senses." Frank scribbled down a list : Sight Taste Smell Hearing Touch After some discussion this was the way the schedule was filled out: "Sight — range greater. Taste — more sensitive. Smell — ditto. Hearing — can recognize a tune. Touch — keen ; great delight in handling things." "Now let's take up some of the new things," suggested Frank. To make the story short, they finally made out this list, which, if miscellaneous, was, neverthe- less, suggestive, and, as they both agreed, en- couraging: New Things in Tom and Sarah 1. Voluntary recollection. 2. Accurate use of words. 3. Real purpose in their actions. 4. Resourcefulness in their play. 5. Self-assertion (mighty!). 6. Contrariness (by spells). 7. Courage. 8. Loyalty to little "responsibilities." "A house of dreams untold. That looks out over the whispering treetops And faces the setting sun." — Edward MacDowell. INDEX TO From the Second to Adult interference, 131 Affection, 135 Art. 152 Attainments. 118. 141 Attention, 125 Baby's toilet. 162 Companionship. 119. 128. 131. 157 Conscience. 136 Consequences, 132 Coordination of muscle, 148 Courage, 166 Daily time-table. 122. 161 Discipline, 122 Drudgery, 137 Experiment. 127 Father's handicraft. 149 Fatigue. 120 Fidgetiness, 121 Food, 120 Growth. 120, 121 Habits. 121. 125. 165 Height. 120 Helpfulness. 161 Home-made playthings. 149 Imaginativeness, 118, 126, 130, 169 Imitation. 130 Interest. 127 Irritability, 122 Judgment, 126 Language, 129 Make-believe, see Imaginativeness Memory. 125. 151 Mental development, 124 Modesty, 167 SUBJECTS the Third Birthday Moral thermometer. 171 Mother. The. 119 Motive. 159 Muscular development, 120, 148 Needs of third year, 118 Nursery instruction, 123 Nursery school, 158 Obedience, 122, 134. 159 Orderliness. 136. 165 Outdoor life, 145 Pens. 145 Physical development. 120, 121 Play apparatus, 123, 149 Playmates. 119 Praise. 164 Reason. 126 Records. 124 Rewards. 137. 164 Sand box. The. 145 Self. 118 Self-expression. 146 Self-reliance. 166 Selfishness. 132 Sleep. 120 Social development, 131. 167 Spanking. 171 Strain. 125 Structure of the child. 120 Talks, 128 Third-year inventory, 172 Tidiness, 136. 165 Unlovable children. 160 Unselfishness. 132. 135 Virtues of third year, 166 Weights, 120 INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS From the Second to the Third Birthday Action plays, 144 ^olian harp, 156 Baby yard. The. 144 Ball plays, 124, 143 Blocks, 124, 150 Books, 147 Boxes, 124 Building, 124 Chimes, 156 Clay, 145 Cleanings, 162 Climbing, 124 Color play, 147 Digging, 25 Dramatic plays, 130, 144 Dressing, 161 Exercise, 121, 145 Experimenting, 127 Games, 143 Kiddie-car, 124 Ladders, 149 Manipulation, 124 Memorizing, 152 Movement play, 122, 143 Mud pies, 170 Music, 147, 155 Neighborhood nursery, 158 Outdoor play, 121 Outdoor work, 163 Physical activities, 122, 123 Pictures, 128, 147, 152 Play with water, 145 Plays, 122, 124, 127, 143, 146, 170 Plays of the senses, 143 Playthings, 123, 146 Poems, 128 Preparing breakfast, 163 Retelling stories, 129 Rhymes, 128, 147, 152, 163 Rhythm, 129 Sell-directed play, 122, 124, 127, 146, 170 Sense plays, 143 Songs, 156 Speech, 129 Stories, 128, 151, 153 Swinging, 124, ISO Talking machine. 156 Tools, 148, 164 Toys, see Playthings Walking, 123 Walks, 128 Washing dishes, 162 Work, 161, 162 Writing, 148 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 'THE KINDERGARTEN PERIOD" a •a -G ^ ^ Ui FOURTH u FIFTH V-i SIXTH ^ m YEAR CQ YEAR W YEAR m •a J3 ^ ^ u l^ ^ 3 *+-! .a r-i O s w 'nr^HE so-called "regular kindergarten gifts" and "ocaipations" are a dozen in number. They consist chiefly of certain blocks of wood in geometrical forms, such as the sphere, the cylinder, the cube, the divided cube, the divided cylinder, parquetry tablets, sticks for stick-laying in patterns, and papers for drawing, per- forating, embroidering or sewing. In Froebel's philosophy, which was an intricate one, these gifts and occupations were symbols of correspondences in the world of thought and material things; they were introductions to the mastery of geometrical forms, and they were also playthings. To-day even the most loyal Froebelian is careful not to overemphasize their value as compared with the greater values of free play and constructive handicraft, while the modern kindergartner is somewhat im- patient with a philosophy which has meaning to the teacher rather than to the child and with "gifts" that are needless symbols of real objects and occupations that are right at hand, available for use, and that as playthings are nowhere as good as other playthings for the child's development. Some of the "gifts" are also objec- tionable as requiring eye-strain and the use of finer manipulations than are desirable for small fingers. The blocks, somewhat enlarged, are still retained, and are con- stantly referred to in The Manual, though not mentioned as formal "gifts." The books of such careful interpreters of Froebel as the late Susan E. Blow iare still available to mothers who are wiUing to master the Froebelian psychology and terminology and method, but for the mother's purpose it has seemed better to present here that which is permanent and universal in Froebel— his love for and sympathy with children, his insistence that they must be studied and companioned with if we are to understand and guide them aright, and his hearty purpose that they should not only be brought close to the world of work and action but that they should enter that world with the intent and will to make it a more lovely and friendly world. The articles in The Manual upon kindergarten ideals and practice, as they are read, will make even more clear to the reader that Froebel still has his place at the heart of the kindergarten movement, but that another age and another land and other teachers have immensely enriched and enlarged the kindergarten. It is an interesting and perhaps a significant fact that not in Germany, which country has never adopted its own homeborn kindergarten into its official educational system, but in America has the kindergarten become the very foundation stone of child training. 174 CONTENTS The Course of Training p^^.. Looking Forward Through This Period William Byron Fnrhush 177 A Child's Development and Training the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Years Mrs. Bertha Payne Xewell 183 Charts ". 256, 257, 258, 259 What an Average Child May Be Ahle to Do by the End of This Period Naomi Norsworthy 260 A 'Round-the-Year Program The Committee on Curriculum of the In^ tcrnational Kindergarten Union 260 What to Expect from the Third to the Sixth Birthhav Richard's Day fredcrica Beard 267 The Fifth Year Mary L. Read ~ . . 268 What a Child is Like the Sixth Year Mary L. Read 271 The Dawn of Independence 4lma S. Sheridan 274 What to Do from the Third to the Sixth Birthday Our Home Gymnasium Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard Bonsall 277 Gymnastic Plays for This Period Mrs. Harriet Hickox Heller 282 Lively Imitative Plays The Editors 284 Plays and Games for the Fourth Year Luella A. Palmer 285 Aims and Methods in Constructive Play The Committee on Curriculum of the In- ternational Kindergarten Union 287 Beginnings in Handwork Mrs. Minnetta Sammis Leonard 288 The Importance of Self-Help Maria Montessori 294 Collecting Nature Materials Katherine Beebe 295 Bead-Stringing Mrs. Carrie S. Newman 298 "The Holy Gift of Color" Elizabeth Harrison 300 Suggestions for Color- Play The Editors 302 The Music Needs of the Kindergarten Calvin B. Cady 305 Music for the Early Years Mary E. Pennell 308 Some Play-Devices in Beginning Music Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard Bonsall 319 How to Tell Stories Mary L. Read 326 The Selection of Stories for Kindergarten Children Annie E. Moore 326 Fifty Best Kindergarten and Primary Stories 328 The Poetry Habit Clara Whitehill Hunt 329 Answering Questions About Sex Margaret W. Morlcy 331 The Religious Nurture of a Little Child William Byron Forbush 332 The Religious Education of a Catholic Child Josephine Brozmson 338 Tlie Religious Education of a Jewish Child Mrs. Rose Barlow Weinman 341 Plays and Games for the Fifth Year Luella A. Palmer 349 Self-Making Susan E. Blow 354 Constructive Play Grace L. Brown 355 Things to Make Out of Newspapers Mrs. Louise H. Peck 364 The Beginnings of Art for Little Children Walter Sargent 365 How the Cliild May Express Himself Through Art The Committee on Curriculum of the In- ternational Kindergarten Union 366 Pictures for the Home Julia Wade Abbott 369 Learning to Use Language The Committee on Curriculum of the In- ternational Kindergarten Union 370 Mother, Father, and Child— Partners Three Maud Burnham 373 176 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL PACE The Home Play-Yard Mrs. Dora Ladd Keyes 374 Playthings Which the Father Can Make William A. McKeever, LL.D., and Jean Lee Hunt 375 Plays and Games for the Sixth Year Ltiella A. Palmer 377 Play with Dolls The Editors 382 An Introduction to Nature Study Jessie Scott Himes 384 Betty's Nature Friends Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbard Bonsall 391 Play with Neglected Senses The Editors 401 Summary and Forecast Tom and Sarah During the Kindergarten Years William Byron Forhush What Should a Child Know When He Enters the First Grade ? //• G. Wells At the Schoolhouse Door Elisabeth J. Wood-ward . 405 409 412 Supplemental Articles Home Correctives for the Kindergarten Maximilian E. P. Gros=mann, Pd.D 417 The Kindergarten Years Irving E. Miller 419 Freedom of Experiment in the Kindergarten Frank M. McMurry. Ph.D 422 The Trend of the Kindergarten To-day Patty Smith Hill 425 The Kindergarten at Horace Mann School, Teachers College John Walker Harrington 427 Froebel and the Kindergarten of To-day G. Stanley Hall, LL.D 429 What Has the American Kindergarten to Learn from Montessori? William Heard Kilpatrick, Ph.D 432 Making the Original Nature of the Child into Some- thing Else Edward L. Thorndike. Ph.D 434 What is the Value of Play? Luella A. Palmer 435 Experiment, Imitation, Repetition and Purpose Luella A. Palmer 436 Ten Useful Purposes in Kindergarten Training Luella A. Palmer 437 Index to Subjects Facing 440 Index to Occupations Facing 440 ■i^ THE COURSE OF TRAINING | LOOKING FORWARD THROUGH THIS PERIOD Dear Mothers and Teachers: Mrs. Bertha Payne Newell, who was formerly at the head of the Depart- ment of Kindergarten Education at the University of Chicago, and who is one of the most eminent elementary teachers in this country, meets us for the first time this year and takes us along with her for the next few years of our journey. Her suggestions have been worked out with her own children and her neigh- bors' children, as well as in the schoolroom. As you glance through the Table of Contents, showing the rich resources placed at your disposal for this important period, you need perhaps to be reminded that you do not have to read or use the whole of it at one time. The next few sen- tences will show you just how to proceed. How TO Master the Course for This Period You wall note that this period comprises three years, and that in the special Contents on the preceding page the articles for the period are divided into three sections, one for each year. You, of course, have to do with only one year at a time, but as some children are more advanced than others, it seemed wise to group the three years so that no mother would miss any of this valuable material. Some of the material applies to all the three years. For example, no mother will wish to omit the important articles on religious education, which are classified in the fourth year. Your best method will be to proceed as follows: First, read Mrs. Newell's chapters, and those by the editors and others which are in the same series, one by one from the beginning to the end. Get the viewpoint. Make the earnest effort to decide about where your own child is to be graded, mentally, and which of the suggestions are best suited to his development. 177 178 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Second, go over carefully the "Round-the-Year Program," and make up roughly a similar one for your own work, season by season, modifying it later according to circumstances. Third, "Plan your Work and Work your Plan." Having made your pro- gram and having decided just how Mrs. Newell is to guide you, use this Reading Journey below as the basis of your work. Whenever you make use of one of the articles in the first column, take up the other readings in the columns opposite. A Child's Di'Z'clopment and Training the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Years THE FOURTH YEAR I. The Physical Life in the Fourth Year II. How the Child Plays the Fourth Year III. Building-Plays IV. Making Cakes and Other Models V. Playing in Sand VI. The Montessori Meth- ods in the Home. (By M. V. O'Shea) VH. The Instinct for Col- lecting VIII. Stringing Beads IX. Drawing and Coloring X. Music and Rhythm Companion Articles in this Manual "Richard's Day" "Our Home Gymnasium" "Gymnastic Plays for This Period" "Lively Imitative Plays" "Plays and Games for the Fourth Year" "Aims and Methods in Constructive Play" "Beginnings in Handwork" "Beginnings in Handwork" "The Importance of Self-Help" "Collecting Nature-Materials" "Bead-Stringing" "The Holy Gift of Color" "Suggestions for Color-Play" "Beginnings in Handwork" "The Music-Needs of the Kindergarten" "Some Play-Devices in Beginning Music" XI. Literature for Kinder- garten Children. (Ar- ranged by the Edi- tors) XII. When the Children Ask Questions. (By the Editors) XIII. The Religion of a Lit- tle Child "How to Tell Stories" "The Selection of Stories for Kindergarten Children" "The Poetry Habit" "Answering Questions about Sex" "The Religious Nurture of a Little Child" 'Religious Education of a Catholic Child" "Religious Education of a Jewish Child" Companion Articles in the "Boys and Girls Bookshelf" Indoor Games, vol. IV, page 3 Outdoor Sports, vol. IV, page 65 Color — Design — Drawing, vol. IV, page 171 Play and Work for the Sum- mer Vacation, vol. IV, page 291 Color — Design — Drawing, vol. IV, page 171 Nursery Songs and Mother Goose, vol. VI, page IS Play Songs, vol. VI, page 33 Songs of a Young Child's Day, vol. VI, page 49 Folk Songs, vol. VI, page 71 Nature Songs, vol. VI, page 105 Stories in vols. I, II, and III FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 179 A Child's Development and Training the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Years THE FIFTH YEAR XIV. Developments dur- ing the Fifth Year XV. How the Child Plays the Fifth Year Companion Articles in this Manual "The Fifth Year" "The Dawn of Independence" "Plays and Games for the Fifth Year" XVI. Building-Plays XVII. Hammer and Nails XVIII. Making Things Out of Paper XIX. Modeling XX. Pictures and Paint- ing XXI. Talking with and Helping Mother XXII. Outdoor Life. Pets, and Gardening THE SIXTH YEAR XXIII. Developments dur- ing the Sixth Year XXIV. Making Doll-Furni- ture XXV. Weaving XXVI. Making Doll-Dress- es XXVII. Modeling XXVIII. Nature Study XXIX. More Easy Con- structive Play XXX. Festivals XXXI. Governing Childreti (By Mrs. Eunice Barstow Buck) "Self- Making" "Constructive Play" "Things to Make Out of Newspapers" "The Beginnings of Art for Little Chil- dren" "Outlines for Early Art Study" "How Children May Express Themselves Through Art" "Constructive Play" "Pictures for the Home" "Learning to Use Language" "Mother, Father and Child- Partners Three" "The Home Play-Yard" "Playthings Which the Father Can Make" "What a Child is Like the Sixth Year" "Plays and Games for the Sixth Year" "Plavs with Dolls" "Plays with Dolls" "An Introduction to Nature Study" "Betty's Nature Friends" "Play with Neglected Senses" "Constructive Play" Companion Articles in the "Boys and Girls Bookshelf" Indoor Games, vol. IV, page .3 Puzzles and Problems, vol. IV, page 19 Riddles, Charades, and Conun- drums, vol. IV, page 39 Outdoor Sports, vol. IV, page ■ 65 Woodwork, vol. IV, page 215 Paper-craft, vol. IV, page 155 Picture Stories, vol. VI, page 177 The Garden, vol. IV, page 135 Pets and How to Care for Them, vol. VIII, page 7 Dolls and Costumes of Many Nations, vol. IV, page 110 The Little Mother's Work- basket, vol. IV, page 75 Little Nature Lessons, vol. VII, page 1 Stories of the Seasons, vol. VII. page 15 Lurking to Look About You, vol. VII, page 33 Woodwork, vol. IV, page 215 Happy Days All 'Round the Year, vol. IV, page 268 "Tom and Sarah During the Kindergarten Year" "What Should a Child Know When He Enters the First Grade?" "At the Schoolhouse Door" i8o THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL \Vc wish to direct the attention of our readers also to the very valuable series, practically a year's course in itself, entitled "Around the Year with Caro- lyn Sherwin Bailey," in the second volume of our Child Welfare Manual. Miss Bailey is one of our best known story-tellers and writers on kindergarten methods. Remember, in all your teaching, that you are to be guided most of all not by what even so wise a woman as Mrs. Newell has found useful, but by your own child's interests. Look up the "Chart of Child Study and Child Training" on page and note how it is arranged. The first column is headed "The Child's Responses," the second, "What They Suggest." You will find here many of your own child's responses interpreted for you. You will discover in yovir own child other responses, and this chart will help you think out what they suggest for you to do. For the mother who wishes something more than playful devices, who desires to know why she does what she is doing and how she may do it better, the Editors have selected with considerable care the following short articles by leading educational authorities of to-day, which they hope will be read, early and often, by the mothers whose children are in the kindergarten years. SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS The Kindergarten Years Irving E. Miller, Pli.D. Freedom of Experiment in the Kindergarten Frank M. McMnrry, Ph.D. The Trend of the Kindergarten To-Day Patty Smith Hill The Kindergarten at Horace Mann School John Walker Harrington Froebel and the Kindergarten of To-Day G. Stanley Hall, LL.D. Home Correctives for the Kindergarten Maximilian E. P. Groszmann. Pd.D. What Has the American Kindergarten to Learn from Montessori? William Heard Kilpatrick, Ph.D. Making the Original Nature of the Child into Something Else Edward L. Thorndike, Ph.D. \^'hat is the Value of Play? Luella A. Palmer Experiment, Imitation, Repetition and Purpose Luella A. Palmer Ten Useful Purposes of Kindergarten Training Luella A. Palmer These experts have expressed themselves with remarkable simplicity. It is suggested that the mother read with pencil in hand, underlining each statement that strikes her as significant, and even copying phrases that she desires to recall. Dr. Miller gives us a comprehensive view of the whole period, which binds together the scattered studies of Mrs. Newell, Miss Read, and others. The next three articles furnish the viewpoints of those who are doing" such suggestive work in the kindergarten of the Horace Mann School at Teach- ers College, Columbia University, work that means more to the practicing mother just now than that of any other institution in the country. President G. Stanley Hall shows us how the new connects with the old, how the modern kindergarten is true to Frocbel's principles, yet is liberated FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY i8l from much that was unimportant or useless that has been added by some of his disciples. Dr. Groszmann goes even a step farther, and shows how a mother in her home-teaching may avoid some of those cramping methods that have crept into many public kindergartens. Dr. Kilpatrick explains what that much-exploited modern educational philos- opher, Doctor jNIontessori, has given us, and also explains what we are not to learn from her example. The last four papers are thoughtful discussions of the philosophy of child- teaching; they tell us why we are doing what we do. These epigrammatic sentences are like nuggets of gold, which the mother must beat into shape for rich use in her daily teaching and companionship with her children. Readings in Religious Education During these years, when the child is sensitive to and curious about religious matters, and in the course of which the majority of children begin to attend Sunday-school, it will be wise to read, gradually and in order, all the articles in the series entitled "Moral and Religious Education," at the end of the Manual. These will have especial cogency if studied in close connection with the three papers on religious education in this division. What to Expect During This Period In contrasting the attainments of this period with those of the third year, two things are to be remembered: all children do not develop alike, and some of these statements may apply to your child earlier or later than as indicated in one of the columns below : ATTAINMENTS OF THE THIRD YEAR ATTAINMENTS OF THE FOURTH TO SIXTH YEAR Greater control and much use of the trunk muscles. Firmer muscular control; possible tendency to fa- tigue before sixth year. Better manipulation of toys and tools. Definite constructive ideas, but no ability yet to handle fine tools ; interest in the action more than the result. Trial now not blind, but to find out how things Trial not only to find how things act, but to recon- act. struct and change them. Imitation now not only of literal acts but of pur- Imitation now of other children fully as much as poses of others. of adults. Keener susceptibility of the senses. Sense-susceptibility complete, and giving place to • motor-interests. Speech ; sentence-forming. Large vocabulary, and understanding of many words he does not use himself. Voluntary memory, but not continuous. Memory now voluntary and continuous. Actions based on more thorough reasoning. Actions based constantly on reasoning from cause to eiifect. Self-assertion develops into contrariness. Contrariness may extend even to rebelliousness. Curiosity constant, expressed by incessant ques- Curiosity expressed still by questions, and also by tions. all sorts of experiments. i82 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL ATTAINMENTS OF THE THIRD YEAR ATTAINMENTS OF THE FOURTH TO SIXTH YEAR Play more resourceful and self-directed. Play, still self-directed, but not now so solitary; enjoyment of playmates. Imagination now constructive and fanciful. Imagination even more lively, both passive, in en- joying fairy stories, and active, in dramatic play- Noticeable aftection and sympathy. Affection less demonstrative, but for more persons. Influenced now by persons outside his home ; be- ginnings of hero-worship. Spontaneous and lively religious feelings. All the statements in the second column suggest that your child now has passed definitely and fully into the Individual Stage, the period when he is strongly independent, often wilful, and is capable of being trained to express his own nature as never before. The responses that he now makes to every situa- tion are more significant than ever of what he can do and be, and in every sug- gestion that Mrs. Newell and others make, we are to remember that we are dealing with our child, and not Mrs. Newell's children, and our child may answer where hers were silent, or refuse to respond where she obtained responses from hers. In other words, personality may now be discovered. We are beginning to discover what are the strong points possessed by our offspring. Let us watch carefully. Is he reticent but determined? Or impulsive and self- revealing? Is he likely to express himself best through his fingers, or his voice., or his general energy? Does he seem to need many suggestions, or is he resourceful? Have we oversuggested, and do we need to bring him into situa- tions that will call forth his self-reliance? Or have we neglected to watch his impulses, and do we now need to furnish him with more materials and oppor- tunities and suggestions for bringing out his latent powers? "These are some of the questions that should be in our minds throughout this important kinder- garten period. Whether he goes to a public kindergarten or is wholly trained at home, we shall find that for the first time our child needs and desires playmates of his own age, and is influenced by them even more than by ourselves. This yield- ing to outside impressions, of course, broadens his character and ability, but brings its own special anxieties and requires special safeguards. William Byron Forbush. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, FOURTH TO FIFTH YEAR A CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING THE FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH YEARS MRS. BERTHA PAYNE NEWELL n FOURTH YEAR I. THE PHYSICAL LIFE IN THE FOURTH YEAR The three-year-old is in the full swing of his play-life. His pliysical activity is incessant: running, climbing, leaping, crawling, rolling, tumbling, balancing. He needs ample oppor- tunity for this kind of exercise. He simply must let off the surplus energy in these ways. It is as important for his mental as for his bodily vigor. A child who is not abounding in activity at this age is in some way below par and needs attention. Further, this is the method Nature prompts for giving him control of his body. One of the first requisites is space, and freedom to use it, be it only a porch or a small yard. Incentives to definite and varied exercises come next. Some of the best are : a ladder or tree with low branches to climb, a seesaw, a swing, a trapeze for swinging by the arms, a large ball or bean-bag for throwing. A scantling or a "two-by-four" laid upon the ground or on bricks gives a balancing exercise similar to '"rail- walking." One must not be too cautious nor foolhardy in allowing climbing and other feats. I remember the effort with which I restrained my fears when my three-year-old was discovered half way up a twelve-foot ladder that leaned against an oak tree. She went carefully to the top and down again, not aware of her mother's anxiety. Children who are allowed to do these things are more sure because they have measured their own strength and they gain skill that prevents accidents. Some of the worst falls come from sudden access of timidity in a child who has not tested his power often enough. Climbing a slanting ladder is good exercise for the muscles of back, arms, and legs. Children at this age are still heavy-bodied in proportion to the length of arms and legs ; this makes them able to climb and swing where both arms and legs are employed. Crawling and creeping, too, divide the body-weight between legs and arms, and are good exercise. On the other hand, the shortness of legs and weight of body and head makes a long walk or continued standing very fatiguing to two and three-year-old children. We can not measure their effort by our own, or by the length of time consumed in walking. What is a short walk for the light-bodied, long-legged adult re- quires much greater muscular effort in proportion from the differently proportioned child. Games that are good for older children are for the same reason not always good for the three-year-old. Few three-year-old children, for example, can skip on both feet alternately ; a skip on the right and a long step with the left is the approach they make to it. Walking and run- ning, jumping and skipping in short periods are good. Frequent change of position is a necessity. Long-continued sitting even in well-adapted kin- dergarten chairs is wearisome. I have found no place so good as the floor for all kinds of play, where they can sprawl, kneel, sit cross-legged or lie on face or back at will. Here they can build, model, draw, or cut as long as the spirit wills. 183 l84 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL II. HOW THE CHILD PLAYS DURING THE FOURTH YEAR The approach of the third birthday brings a change in the character of a child's play that has already been recognized by Mrs. Sies, and provided for by heT in suggestions for the com- panionship of mother and child in play. This change marks the entrance of a child to the real play-period of growth. Before it began, objects were of interest for their sensory qualities and for what could he done with them: hats were to put on heads, sticks were to strike with, pans to put things in or to make a noise when beaten, and so on. When the objects have become fa- miliar, and the child has learned how they behave under his manipulations, he begins to find a new world in them, a world of his own creation. A hat is now turned into a cradle for a doll, the stick becomes a galloping horse, the pan is a boat sailing on a carpet sea. The changes re- quired demand little or nothing in the -way of making over. Some likeness is discovered and seized upon. Things acquire different meanings. These discoveries, exploited, constitute play. From now on, play becomes the vital engrossing activity of a little child's waking hours. Play Demands Recognition and Companionship These discoveries of new meanings and uses in old things are so vivid that children must share their pleasure in them with others. Mother is called on fifty times a day to see some wonderful adaptation of "something old to something new." Since it all means the e.xpansion of ideas, we are glad to welcome this play of ideas and to leave our work for minutes or half hours to join in the fun. And yet "fun" does not describe a child's feeling for this creative play; to him it is serious, more like the scientist's quiet joy in finding a new specimen.* Mothers sometimes complain that their children at this age do not play so much with their toys as with other things not meant for toys. One mother said her boy of three preferred above all things the kitchen utensils, probably for the reason that they offered such fine suggestions for this kind of play. Dramatic Play Keeps Pace with Physical "Papers?" The call comes in a high treble. I turn to the door and see Billy in his brother's cap • Tn connection with these statements it will be helpful to read Dr. Irving E. Miller's longer article on "The Kinder- garten Years," page 419 of this Manual. carrying a pack of old newspapers under his arm. Of course, I buy a paper, paying for it with an imaginary coin ; but the paper must actually change hands, no pretense will do. I tell him he may sell one to my neighbor next door. When he returns the idea has undergone a change. Stumbling over the little wagon suggests that this be substituted, and so the round begins again. On the table stands a call-bell — now a new idea enters and takes command. The wagon no longer carries papers. The bell becomes a clanging gong and I am ordered to "get out of the way quick, the fire-wagon is coming!" Acting is as natural a mode of expressing ideas to children at this age as talking. Often it can express what he has no words to tell. Be interlocutor for him at times. Play the part, and voice what he is trying to embody. Be the "other fellow" of all dramas, saying not too much, to usurp the creator's chief part, and yet enough to give reality to the scene. Change of Plays Play is now so much a matter of responding to the suggestiveness of things that the play lasts often but a short time and is supplanted by an- other, as just indicated. This shifting of subject is perhaps Nature's way of keeping the immature brain from being overworked. One set of cells is fatigued by the activity involved in one kind of action, just as one set of muscles is in gymnastic play. A ready response to new suggestions means that a different set is brought into action, both of brain-cells and muscles. The older child is capable of more sustained action and his periods of attention to one thing are notably longer. If you watch a three-year-old child at play you will notice this shifting of attention, sometimes to entirely different plays, and sometimes to a different way of dealing with his toy or subject. Play is "Just Choosing" I wonder how many people realize, as they watch children at play, what a large part choosing has in the charm. I remember seeing a little niece roll a small matting rug, and holding it in her arms, say to her mother, "See, Mamma, my baby." Then, unrolling it with a swift shake, "Now baby is gone: this is my rug." She seemed to be en- joying the consciousness that she was the maker of that doll-creature and could unmake as well as make. Moreover, this power of doing and un- doing must be exhibited and win its proper social FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY i8s recognition. What artist is there who can long live his art alone ? So the power of choice is the element in real play .that makes it different and gives it value to the player. Perhaps that explains a puzzling act of which this is an illustration. A pupil of mine in the Normal School said, "Why is it that a little farm-boy who has to plow all day will amu,=.e him- self by driving a stick-horse or another boy when his day's work is over?" Choice and illusion were cramped all day, and at nightfall they cut loose, as it were, in the very field in which they had been held prisoners. Play Extends Meanings Probably the sense of being a creator is as vivid in a little child who discovers a swinging ham- mock handkerchief, or a cook-stove in a box, as the dressmaker in her art of changing a few yards of satin and chiffon into a "creation." The dignity of this consciousness is revealed to us when we realize that it is the same power to see new meanings in familiar things that makes the poet and the reformer. The latter, inspired with a purpose to make the new better than the old, sweeps clean the alleys, giving "beauty for ashes." Movement a Large Element of Play At the very beginning of the establishment of playgrounds, in the last decade of the nineteenth century, a group of worr>en equipped a public- school yard with a few loads of cedar blocks and sand. One of these women lived opposite the school and watched the play from her windows all Summer long. She noticed the way in which children of different ages used the blocks. The older children built ambitious houses with rooms and towers ; the younger ones merely made en- closures, while the youngsters hustled them about. All day long groups of babies might be seen lug- ging the big blocks from one part of the yard to another. At the end of one day they would all be piled at one corner of the yard. The next day, like busy ants carrying their loads, the pro- cession would be headed for another place, where again they would pile them in a huddle. \Miat they were making no one knew, but at least they were on the move and accomplishing a mighty work. Much of play at three years is like this in that it is making things more. Many of the plays mentioned by Mrs. Sies and Miss Palmer for the earlier years are still in place after the third birthday. They serve an excellent purpose as long as their charm lasts. I watched a little nephew for three days at play with a toy of his own making. It was merely a small metal wheel tied to the end of a long string. He threw the wheel as high and as far as he could, aiming it to go over the telephone wire. When he had it dangling over the wire, the game continued by running it down the slant of the wire to -its lowest point, when it would be jerked down and the process repeated. This with variations was the favored play for the time. Wheels, balls, velocipedes, wagons, are all fa- vorites. Something to push, pull, roll, throw, ride ; something to carry things in, to drag about, all give the desired and valuable thing, bodily exercise of a vigorous sort, and varied exercise, too, which is as important, and a definite point to be reached. Progress in Play Somewhere along this line of inventive play real construction, or making, begins. Two things are put together to make a third, quite new and different. The box that served as a stove is seen to need a pipe, when the pencil lying near invites itself to be thrust in for that purpose. This is a distinctly higher step beyond that of imagining the box a stove without changing it outwardly. A handkerchief swung between the hands is a hammock, but when it is tied to two chairs with a piece of string and a doll swung in it, real making has begun. The simple adaptation of a thing to a new use has grown into adjusting parts to make a new whole. This involves more think- ing and more skill in handling. Just here, if there is a line at all, the line may be drawn marking off what we might call "the kindergarten age" as dis- tinct from "the nursery age." Constructive play is the best descriptive term for this particular activity. From about the mid- dle of the fourth year on it takes a high place, and continues to develop without ceasing, if given intelligent direction and scope, into all forms of artistic production. The same impulse, to complete ideas by making them take shape in material form, leads children to make plays about the life which surrounds them, and of which they are eager witnesses. The doings of people are unfolding before them like an open book. Sooner or later the novelty of an act or its repetition will attract their atten- tion and become part of their stock of material, to be developed in play. Through these plays we may see ourselves as others see us, rrwre often to the tickling of our humor than of our vanity. For this is the mode of character-study that children u-se. Our mo- tives are being probed, and our idiosyncrasies mercilessly laid bare. It would be difficult to over-emphasize the im- i86 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL portant part played by imitative learning at this age. There is no sphere of action in which your child is not an imitative learner. Your tones, voice, gesture, language, are all models which he copies both unconsciously and consciously. Soon he will absorb, in the same way, your attitudes toward many things — toward servants, animals, and inanimate things. Your animosities and fears will be adopted as quickly as your likes and pref- erences. It is a fine discipline for a mother to hide and control her fears of snakes, thunder, and burglars, that her little ones may not live under bondage of fear; and father has been known to stop the use of an untoward expression after he has heard it repeated by his child. So, in plays of physical action, of making, and of impersonation, our children are "putting them- selves through school." The only school appro- priate to their age makes chief use of these instinctive modes of play. Social Play Most children of this age play alone content- edly for a large part of the time, but they love companions'hip and are the better for having those near their own age with whom to associate in play. It affords them the discipline they need in giving up to others of like age and interests. It gives them the chance to learn from each other as well, to learn leadership and following. Where there are no other children in the family, it is a good plan to invite outsiders in to share the playroom and its equipment, especially if there is no kindergarten to which they can be sent. This might be done when the mother or some older person can be near enough to give the occa- sional word or decision that is often necessary when friction arises or the play needs guidance. The Mother as Kindergartner It is not to be supposed that this incidental supervision is all that will be needed. Other matters will often have to be set aside, for periods of careful supervision. I know this is not easy. One merely has to make a choice of what to leave undone. Something must be left, if this unutterably precious planting-season of childhood is to be given the care it needs. Meals must be planned, poss-ibly cooked as well, rooms dusted, marketing done, and the basket is piled high with mending; the day is so full that the little child is likely to be left to himself as long as he is quiet and good. What is the secret of this "goodness"? In nine cases out of ten it lies in occupation. The mother who has not merely the supervision of her house but the actual work as well will find she must be willing to leave her baking or her dishwashing, to make paste; or find a piece of string; or cut a sail for a boat ; or in some such way help the little worker out of some difficulty that stands between him and the accomplishment of a cher- ished project. Should any mother be discouraged by this pro- gram, let her take heart of grace, for not only are the rewards great beyond all counting, but, happily, it is a fine principle to "let well enough alone." Just as long as a child is happily ab- sorbed in play, it is better to let him work it out in his own way than to meddle in the attempt to improve upon his self-assigned business.* Preservation of Initiative When any occupation fits a child's capacity and interests, he will need the minimum of oversight and direction. "Let me do it myself" is one of the sayings oftenest heard when v/e try to help a child out of some difficulty in his play. The main duty for us is to provide play-materials with enough variety to hold interest, and not so many as to confuse the child. This is one great advantage of the Montessori material. It offers something definite to do, and invites handling. Children can see their own errors when they have not made the thing that the material was designed to make. For example, in one of the pieces of apparatus there are cylin- ■ ders of dift'erent heights to be fitted into corre- sponding cylindrical holes. If the short piece is dropped into the deep hole it reveals to the little worker that he has made an error and just what the error is. Much of the earlier kindergarten work was weak at this point. The ends to be reached were not within a child's power of self-correction; they required too constant direction by an older head. Children who are helped too much to do work that they can not see into become dependent. Primary teachers often complained that children from certain kindergartens were "always wanting someone at their elbows to help." It is only fair to state that many times the fault lay as much with the primary teacher, who received a child brimming with energy from a kindergarten and had no active employments to offer him. The progressive kindergartner selects, from the kindergarten materials as originally planned, those * In this connection it will be Iielpful to read Miss Palmer's article on "E.\perinient, Imitation, Kepetition, and Purpose," page 436. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 187 that experience has proved most rich in resources for a child's own inventive play. Plays Grow Out of Immediate Surroundings It is fortunate for the mother who must be kindergartner as well, that the plays of children are founded on things near to them. All that goes on in the house or out becomes grist for his mill. To build a little range with blocks, kindle an imaginary fire, cook delicious food in a make-believe pan, and serve it piping hot to an appreciative parent, this is living ! Then, presto ! The scene changes ; an acci- dental shift reveals in the stove an automobile, and mother is bidden to ride in the park ; now it turns out to be a delivery wagon, and she must be ready to receive the supply of groceries. Or, a train loaded with coal from the mine in the pantry is unloaded at the coal-yard under the table. Why is all this imitative-making so full of charm? In addition to the reasons already given there is the lure of mystery. Wagons come from somewhere and depart again — where? To the young child there is mystery in the sources and destiny of the commonest things. And mystery to the child, as to us, is a lure, beckoning on to further explorations. III. BUILDING PLAYS Suitable play-material should be one of the chief concerns of a mother who wants her child's play to help him grow. We would not dream of send- ing an older child to school without supplying him- with the necessary books, paper, pencils, and what not. Yet most of us give scanty attention to the playthings of the younger ones. Most of them have toys enough, some too many and too elaborate ones. Many of them do not satisfy the desire to "make something." Material for "putting things together," to make something, is highly important, so are materials for drawing and coloring. In the nursery, with its blocks, crayons, paper, scissors, modeling clay, sand, peb- bles, seeds, and sticks, the little experimenter works diligently. This is his laboratory in which he finds out things; his studio in which he draws; his workshop in which he plans and makes. The Little Builder One of the most vivid memories of my early childhood is of being called by my father to go down to the. barnyard and -pick up some ends of boards left by the carpenter when he mended the gate. Among them were some that I foresaw would be good to build with. How greedily I gathered them into my apron, and how ardently I wished there were more gates to be mended that I might have more of these wonderful blocks ! They were rough and ill-fitting compared to those we have now, but they were all I ever had, and met, if they did not fill, a want. All children love to play house. In one form or another, it makes the theme for most of their play throughout childhood. The play varies with the kind of material that comes to hand; if blocks, they build houses ; if clay, they make cakes ; if dolls, they are dressed and undressed, fed, put to bed, and taken to ride. K.N.— 14 Blocks are particularly suitable at this age, when children's ideas are fleeting, quickly chang- ing from one thing to another. The blocks respond readily to the changes of purpose. The best blocks are plain cubes and bricks in proportionate sizes, with a few long blocks for bridges and roofing. They should be large enough to handle easily — cubes two inches square ; bricks 2x1x4. The old-style kindergarten one-inch blocks are much too small. To place them was a strain on the nerves, requiring too accurate movements. I have seen little children exasperated into fits of nervous temper in the effort to make the little blocks stay in place. It is a good plan to begin with either cubes or bricks alone, until they get acquainted with their possibilities. With cubes alone, houses, trains, and furniture are always suggested. When an older person takes a hand in the play she can remind the children 'o-f objects related to the ones they have made; for example, a child makes a table and stops there ; Mother suggests chairs to put around it, gives him acorn cups for dishes. Mary makes a bed, is delighted with it; Mother makes a bureau to go with it. Mother says, "See if you can make a chair, or table, or wash-stand to put in your bedroom." Jack makes a train, shoves it up and down. Mother says, "Where does your train start from?" or, "Where is it going?" "What is it carrying?" "Do you want to load it with coal?" "or corn?" Mother gets something that he can really put en his cars, such as he sees on real trains. Or she may say, "Can you build a de- pot?" Perhaps she will add her skill to his by building a depot herself. When the trains begin to stop at the freight-house or lumber-yard to unload, the play grows more interesting, because i88 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL there is "something doing." Now is the time to propose the question of bridges and viaducts. "How do people get over the tracks safely?" "Is there a flagman? A viaduct (overhead bridge)?" "Do you want to make a long one? Here are some long blocks." Little penny-dolls to walk over the viaduct help to make the need of these structures vivid. As this is all play, the suggestions can be taken by the youngster or left, as he chooses, for the essence of play is spontaneity. Let us see what can be done with bricks alone. After playing with the rather clumsy cubes the bricks seem much more usable. There are so many more things one can do with them. They lend themselves to making long tracks, sidewalks, and enclosures. Barnyard fences can be built in which any little toy animals may be safely kept, such as those found in Noah's ark. The furniture, crudely built already with cubes, can be made in better proportion and more detail. Yards may be planted with flowers stuck in spools, or furnished with seesaws made of sticks and spools. Another exercise that children enjoy is to stand the blocks in a row near enough together for a block to touch the next one in falling. A slight tap given to a block at one end sends the others down in a delightfully rattling row. Here is a good one for eye and hand training : Place a brick on its broad face, lay another across it at right angles, at the middle of the first. Repeat until all the blocks are piled. Take them down and repeat, with this varia- tion : place the bricks on their long, narrozv faces. Take down and repeat, placing the bricks on their smallest faces. Language-Training The game described above illustrates the train- ing in the use of definite descriptive terms that a child gets when an older person, playing with him, takes pains to use and emphasize them in the right connection ! As we play we naturally talk about what vi^e are going to do, and how we are going to do it. The terms are usually learned instantly, be- cause they are used at a time when his interest centers in getting something definite done, such as balancing a brick on its narrow face. In these two balancing exercises the terms "long," "narrow," "broad," "front to back," etc., describe the dimensions of the blocks that one must notice to get the building to stand properly. Number-terms are learned similarly. We say, "Give me four more blocks." "Put two here and three there" (suiting action to word). The eye sees the number, the hand feels it, while the mother names it. My little four-year-old neighbor, Patty, runs in and out of the house many times a day. Each time she tries to make conversation, apparently imitating the topics discussed by the callers in her mother's parlor, and, sad to say, talking in consequence about nothing at all. This meaning- less talk was so noticeable that one day I invited her to sit at a little table near me and build with some bricks. She merely huddled them together aimlessly. The next time she came in I sat down to build with her. Again she tried, but could make nothing. So I built a house with steps leading to it. Then I built a part of another house and left her to finish it, which she did by adding roof and steps. After looking at it with distinct pleasure she said timidly, "May I take it down?" I said "Yes, of course. You can build another, can't you ?" As she took it apart, a few blocks left together resembled a bed. She called my attention to it, and I said, "Sure enough; can you finish that?" This she did quite successfully. Then I went into another room, from which she called me again and again, to see something new each time. And each time she had some interesting thing to tell me about what she had made. Gone was restlessness and gone the mean- ingless chatter. As I write she sits beside me. She is not only gaining in the power to picture things with the blocks, but she has something worth while to talk about. When children are at work happily, they natur- ally chatter to themselves or each other of their doings. This spontaneous talk is necessarily checked in a large group in the kindergarten or primary school, because the confusion and noise resulting from forty children "expressing them- selves freely" becomes unbearable. It is a pity that it must be so, as the imposed silence is not natural, and it causes a loss of the use of lan- guage where it would' be most helpful to the talker. "Free speech" is one of the advantages of a small group in the kindergarten or at home. The Oneness of Constructive and Dramatic Play As a child builds he often acts to complete his imagery, because the vjvidness of his ideas com- pels him to live them out in gesture and speech as well as in construction. He impersonates successively and with no strain of imagination the puffing of the locomotive, the ding-donging of the bell, the call of "tickets" of the conductor and the offering of the imaginary bit of paste- FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 189 board by the passenger, when as conductor he solemnly collects the fares. As a "lightning- change artist" he is quite sufficient unto himself for many parts in many plays ; again and again, throughout an entire morning* he calls on you to keep a character, while he takes another. The best thing you can do for a child's educa- tion at this stage is to supply him with such material as blocks, balls, boxes, wheels, sticks, toy-wagons, boats, dolls, and similar time-honored playthings, and then keep in the liackground until such time as he needs help, emerging from your retirement to be whatever is needed, whether audience, spectator, sympathizer, or helper over some difficulty that has proved too much for the little experimenter. Too much can not be said of this freedom which Montessori calls "liberty." It is the very breath of life to the little struggler, trying to find himself through play. IV. MAKING CAKES AND OTHER MODELS Most people are able to recall, among their vivid recollections of childhood, certain happy hours spent in a warm and fragrant kitchen, when baking was on hand and a bit of dough, begged from the cook or Mother, was patted and rolled and pinched first into this shape and then into that, and finally, after a few mishaps, deposited in a pan and escorted to the oven, a shade darker, but infinitely sweeter than the larger loaves. These excursions into cookery were not so much in the nature of domestic science as ex- periments in the plastic art of modeling. Days when the painter w'as puttying panes of glass were made memorable, if he proved good-natured, by the weird animals and men we evolved from lumps of the delightfully responsive stuff, begged from him. One red-letter day stands out in my memory by reason of a discovery of a particularly smooth clay on the banks of the brook that ran through our pasture. We spent a long summer afternoon there, shaping a tea-set of tiny cups and saucers, which we put on a board to dry, with many glee- ful anticipations of the tea-party we should have when they should have baked in the sun. But alas ! when the dinner dishes were washed and put away the next day, and we ran to the brook, what was our grief to find the little tea-set had been trampled in the soft mud by vandal boys or stupid cows. This minor tragedy, with its swift succession of feelings, the pleasure of mak- ing, the glow of anticipation, and the bitter sense of loss, has helped me many a time to understand the value children put upon their own creations and plans, no matter how trivial they seem to grown-ups. And it has stood in my mind ever since as an interpretation of the charm of plastic making. The modeling clay or its substitutes, plasticine or plasteline, should be in every home where there are children. They may be had of the shops that sell kindergarten supplies. Clay dries out quickly. These substitutes have the advan- tage of staying soft indefinitely. (Where hard objects are desired, without baking in a kiln, permodello is recommended.) No occupation furnishes a better training in representing form and in leading children to observe the forms of objects. They are keen to notice the shapes of those things that they have tried to model. Little children do not appear to study the shape of an object while modeling. They do their studying afterward. It used to be my despair as a young kinder- gartner, in charge of the "baby group" of a large kindergarten, to try to secure any results on modeling days. The three- and four-year-olds would do nothing but pat and pound and roll the clay, regardless of my blandishments and invita- tions to "make a pretty round apple." They went on their own sweet way, pinching and pounding, until the clay dried in their hot little palms and crumbled into bits. Soon I saw that I might as well make a virtue of necessity, realizing that a certain amount of this kind of purely motor-play would have to go on until the children fou.4 out for themselves that they could make the soft lump take on the likenesses of familiar things. I learned to seize the fortunate moment when some child had acci- dentally happened to make his clay look like something, and to encourage him to do coil- scioiisly what had been done at first without pur- pose. In watching them I found there were three fundamental motions that all children seemed to make, just for the pleasure of feeling the clay move and yield under their hands. These were rolling, patting, and pinching; and the products were long rolls, thin cakes, and pinched-off bits. These bits became the clues by which they could be led into discovery of likenesses and into con- scious shaping of the clay. Accordingly I began to look for opportunities of helping the children to work through these motions to real representation. As this was in 1 90 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL the days of the kindergarten program that called for certain things to be made as prescribed for the day, I had to proceed with some circumspec- tion, knowing that I was not working in accord- ance with the plans of the head kindergartner, but flying straight in the face of Recognized Authority and Established Principle. However, I concluded I might as well have a good time with the children, and follow their lead for the present, little knowing that I was doing quite the right and psychological thing. So, when some cliild held up to view a fine, long, round "worm," I would suggest that he 'Birthday Cake' 'Cookie. With Rai5ins "APPLES And BANANAS FIRST MODELINGS cut it into little rolls; to be put on the doll's plate. Or, again, I would take one of the little rolls and shape it into a batiana. Soon the whole group would be manufacturing rolls and bananas at an alarming rate. Fruit and rolls called for dishes to put them in. These were almost ready in the patty-cakes that some of the children always had on hand. A little pinching off of irregularities and we soon had plates enough for everyone. Then the little pinched-off bits were rolled into candies or berries to add to our feast. The next time the clay came on the table they began where they had left off, with definite ideas of things full of meaning that they could make. Soon they were ready to be shown how to get rounder cakes by rolling the clay round and round between the curving palms, and then gently pat- ting this ball into a disk about one-third of an inch thick. Sometimes, to keep them from pounding it too thin, we would make a game of patting in unison. We would lay our balls on the table and pat "One, two, three on one side, then "One, two, three, on the other side." This was quite effective in concentrating their attention on the effort to make a smooth disk of even thickness. I have dwelt on this in much detail, thinking it may help someone else to lead children out of the babylike use of motor-play to a discovery of the possibility of making things that "look like" something. Soon all the varieties of dishes can be evolved from the round disk above described. They find out that pinching up the edge keeps marbles from roll- ing out; that a "worm" added to a plate makes a fruit dish or basket. Curving the sides of a disk upward in the curved palm of the hand makes a deep dish. Rough- ened a little, it looks like a nest, for which the tiny pel- lets or balls they are always making become the eggs. The baskets may be filled with bananas or fruits of roundish shape and contrib- uted to a fruit-store which the older brothers and sisters might make of building blocks or boxes. When a mother or some older person sits down to play with the children more features are added to the play. After the children have rolled little balls, she may model a pea-pod, and the balls can be fitted in it. Or she may find a piece that the balls can be threaded on, and lo, a string of beads appears ! Another time she may show them how to color their beads with water-colors after they have dried. Or she may suggest the decoration of their larger cakes with tiny balls, like candies on a birthday cake. What fun it would be for them if she let them stick burnt matches all round the edge for candles. I have illustrated a principle that I believe holds good with almost all other materials, name- ly, that of letting them get acquainted with a material and what it is good for, freely using it in their own way until they are ready to welcome help. Basket FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 191 V. PLAYING IN SAND Nothing offers a more constant source of em- ployment than a box of clean sand. We all love to thrust our fingers deep into it and feel it pour through them. It is something of the primitive left under the veneer of civilization, this delight in sheer touch and movement-sensations. Even the high-school girl and boy are sent to a pan of sand to work out the modeling of river-basins, continental outlines and mountain ranges, and find profit not unmixed with pleasantness in the task. An educator, prominent in the councils of the good and great, said recently to a group of moth- ers interested in promoting public playgrounds in their town, that when the homes could show a sand-pile in the yard there would be no difficulty in raising money for public playgrounds. Ex- planation followed; that when parents felt the importance of play enough to make that simple provision at home for play, and to play zvith their children, there would be the conviction that would cause public sports and recreation to be provided as well. A sand-bed with a removable cover of wire netting to keep out undesirable visitors is a great resource in a family of children. If there is no yard, a sand-table can be placed on a porch or even in a playroom. It may be made of a strong kitchen table with a rim of four boards six inches wide nailed to it. It will be necessary to give the table one or two good coats of floor or deck paint to keep the dampness from swelling the wood. The legs should be cut off to make it low enough for the younger children to stand at it and play easily. A smooth wooden cover can be put over it, converting it into a table for other purposes when not needed in this way. I remember one such table that stood under an old apple tree in a city yard. From her kitchen window the mother of the family used to watch the children at play while she kneaded her bread or washed her dishes. All Summer long they staged their dramas here, with a cotton rabbit, an elephant, and a china dog and cat as chief actors, and now and then a doll or two. For them moun- tains reared their heads, with caves of dreadful significance. Stream courses were laid out. chasms were spanned with bridges. The goat was hunted up and down mountains and was known to take marvelous leaps down precipitous crags. One play evolved out of another. Often the inspiration of a new one v^-as found in some story read to them by their mother. At other times the life that went on at the harbor was repeated, for this was one of the ports on the Great Lakes. Piers were built of blocks and ships came and went, taking on or discharging cargoes. A three-year-old would not carry on a highly organized play like any of these, but would use it much as indicated in the section on clay-model- ing. The little ones will exploit the sand, pour it through their fingers, heap it into mounds, bury their hands in it, playing a game of hide-and-seek with these members. They will pat it smooth and mark it over with tracks. Some day the mound will be seen as a little house with a door to go in and come out of. The finger-marked furrows become roads on which toy wagons come and go, or railways for pufiing locomotives. Sticks stuck upright in the sand fence in gardens, and twigs from the bushes are planted in dooryards. Mother may take a hand here by offering sug- gestions that often give the invention a fresh start. She helps the children perhaps by propos- ing that they use the shells or acorns that they have picked up on their walks to outline flower- beds, which they can plant with dandelions, sweet- clover, violets, or with flowers from the garden. Thus she helps them turn their often-repeated plays to new channels, or, as the school phrase runs, "to organize their activity." It does not make so much dift'erence what is done, sooner or later the little builder will repre- sent something out of his surroundings that has meaning for him. Eventually his play becomes a mirror held up to the outside world, bringing it to view in related pictures. Homes have gar- dens. They stand on streets, where other houses stand also. Sidewalks lead from one house to an- other. Flowers grow in the yards. For all this the sand offers a background, a relating medium. But of this more later. Pretty-shaped dishes and shells may be em- bedded in damp sand and when removed leave hollow prints that children enjoy. Or they can fill these hollow forms with sand and turn them out on a board, like molded desserts ready for the table — glorified mud-pies. But the invention of the children and their mothers can be trusted to evolve plays without further suggestion. 192 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL VI. THE MONTESSORI METHODS IN THE HOME* BY M. V. O SHEA Doctor Montessori is a physician as well as a teacher. She first became interested in teaching in her efforts to educate feeble-minded children. She found that little or nothing could be accom- plished with them unless their work was based on the use of their senses and their hands. She could make no headway with them when she tried to have them learn from books. She had such suc- cess in the use of concrete sense and manual methods in training the feeble-minded that she concluded these same methods, enriched and am- plified, would be of value for normal children; so she extended what she found to be of service with the feeble-minded to the education of normal children. In the "Houses of Childhood" the children are always doing; they do not sit in seats and learn words. They work at buttoning and lacing frames, » • .« • -• • -• • -« • -• L.XCING AND BUTTONING FR.XMES performing the actions which they need to per- form in buttoning and unbuttoning their own clothes and in lacing and unlacing their own shoes. They build towers with blocks of varying sizes. They match colored spools. They use their fingers to trace letters or geometrical figures or to measure distances. They use their muscles to estimate the relative weight of different objects. They are often blindfolded and are required to fit geometrical insets into their proper forms, and in this way they must discover through feel- ing the characteristics and relations of various forms. They learn to read, in part, by construct- ing words from letters cut out of cardboard. They learn to write by tracing words on the sand or the floor or the blackboard. The History of the Montessori System The Montessori system is based on the principle that the child can learn only through sense-activity and motor action. Doctor Montessori did not discover this fundamental principle of learning. Every student of childhood and education, from Locket to the men of our own day, has emphasized it. Doctor Montessori has applied the principle skillfully in devising her apparatus, which trains the senses and stimulates constructive muscular activities. She is not a "discoverer" or a "wonder-worker :" she is simply a clever and resourceful teacher who is familiar with what many investigators have done and many teachers have accomplished; and she has made some ad- vance upon what others have achieved in the training of very young children. Doctor Montessori developed her system ir. Rome. The teaching in the regular schools there had always been based on memory work and rigid discipline, which took little account of individual needs or interests. The children learned from books; they did not use their senses in dealing with objects and they did not do anything with their hands. So when the Montessori methods began to attract attention, they were in such con- trast to the methods in vogue in most Italian schools that they appeared to be a brand-new discovery. As a matter of fact, the schools in America have for many decades been practicing to a greater or less extent the principles upon which the Montessori system is based. Characteristics of the System Doctor Montessori's views on the social train- ing and the discipline of children have attracted attention as well as her work in intellectual train- ing. The Montessori children are trained to help one another. They serve each other at luncheon- time, for instance. They cooperate in all their work. They assist in taking care of their school-room, and in 'doing everything else that is necessary in order to make their life and their work agreeable. They do not have servants wait on them; they are self-helpful and self-reliant. * Mrs. Newell has spoken with approval of the self-correcting feature in Montessori play, and it has also found praise because it incites little children to persist in solving problems. We have asked Professor O'Shea to describe for us its advantages and disadvantages, and show how it may be used in the home. For the sake of continuity, his article is inserted in the Course at this point, where Mrs. Newell turns from simple hand-plays to plays involving, as does Montessori iilay. the trainincr of the senses. — The Editors. t John Locke, English philosopher, lived 1632 to 1704. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY '93 Self-activity is a cardinal principle in all Montes- sori schools. Again, the Montessori children are given free- dom to do whatever interests them at any moment. Theoretically, in a school-room of twenty chil- dren, each one may be doing something different from everyone else. But as it works out, the children are usually all interested at any given time in what the teacher has planned for that time, and so they will all be working or playing together. But if any child does not wish to do what his fellows are doing, the teacher permits him to follow his own choice. It is a fundamental article of the Montessori creed that if children be provided with opportunities to do useful and educative things, they need not be coerced into any special thing at any particular time. "Let each one do what he wants to do," says Doctor Montessori, "and he will do what is best for him- self." The Apparatus in the Home How may mothers make use of the Montessori methods? The apparatus* would be found of value in any home where there are very young children. It is, however, not absolutely necessary to have this apparatus in order to apply the Mon- tessori principles. The typical home could quite easily be equipped and conducted so as to af- ford children all the varied sensory and manual training that can be gained from the Montessori apparatus. This apparatus is designed to give children experience in doing most of the im- portant things they will need to do in early life and to train them to observe and discriminate carefully through all the senses. Any ordinary home could provide many of the opportunities for sense training and manual activities which the apparatus provides, if a child would be al- lowed to use the home equipment, and if the mother would suggest uses for the kitchen uten- sils, his own clothes, and so on, which he will not think of. In the majority of homes probably the parents could without much inconvenience make its resources available for the use of the child. He shourd be allowed and encouraged to dress and undress himself, to help sweep the house, to put the kitchen utensils in their place, and so on. If a mother can give her child from three to five years of age considerable freedom in the use of objects in the home, and if he can be with her in the kitchen and elsewhere and participate in her activities, he will gain the sort of e.xperience that he is expected to get by the use of the Montessori apparatus. Further, if he has a sand- * The Montessori materials can be obtained from the House of Childhood, 103 West 14th Street, New York City. pile, and a collie dog. and tools such as a hamirier and saw and the like, with a place to use them, and a few pieces of gymnastic apparatus such as a rope ladder and a trapeze, he will gain broader experience than he could get if he should be limited to the Montessori apparatus. The chief deficiency in the Montessori system is that it is restricted to more or less formal and mechanical apparatus. Everything is prepared for the child, though he must be self-active in the use of all the apparatus. The child does not have a chance for very much originality in its use. There is not so good an opportunity to cultivate his initiative and imagination as would be possible with a sand-pile, or with tools, or a collie dog, or a train of cars, or a hoop, or a set of dishes, and so on, all of which can be provided in the typical home. Helping the Sense of Hearing Of course a young child will not wholly, unaided, use the objects around him to greatest advantage in promoting his own mental development. He will accomplish something on his own account, but his parents must cooperate by leading him to make discriminations among objects which he would not otherwise make, and to use these ob- jects for constructive purposes. Parents who are resourceful will find almost unlimited opportuni- ties in. the home to awaken the child's senses and to make him original and creative in using fa- miliar objects always in new ways, either to construct new designs with them or to derive new sensations from them. A parent who is in- terested in the activities of a child's -mind and is keen in directing his attention so that he will constantly discover new characteristics in objects, will find even a meager equipment in the home of immense value in stimulating the child's intel- lectual development. Take the sense of hearing, for instance. The Montessori sound-boxes are designed to stimulate SOUND BOXES the child to discriminate between different sounds. The view is that the greater the number of dis- criminations he can make, and the slighter the differences he can detect, the greater will be the development of the sense of hearing. The mother can cultivate auditory discrimination, beginning with even a very young child. The child can be blindfolded or, if he dislikes to be blindfolded, he 194 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL can turn his back while the mother strikes a note on the piano. The child listens and must tell whether the note is struck at the left of the mid- dle of the keyboard or at the right of it. With a three-year-old child it is enough that the general location of the sounds shall be discriminated. If the child is unable to tell, then he will look while the sounds are made, and he will see that THE MUSICAL BELLS a sound is different when it is made in one part of the keyboard from what it is when made in a dififerent part. Then he must close his eyes and attempt to locate each sound by ear alone. He must continue this experience until he gains some power in holding his attention to soimds. The piano affords an opportunity to train dis- crimination for a great variety of sounds. With a very young child the sounds must be easily distinguished in order that he may discriminate them; but every day that he makes discrimina- tions his concentration of attention to situations of this sort will increase and his range of dis- criminations will be enlarged. Incidentally, the child will be gaining experience which will be useful to him later in the study of pitch and harmony in music. There are a vast number of opportunities in a typical home to cultivate discrimination through hearing. The child is blindfolded and the mother touches different dishes on the table. The child must discriminate the sound of each dish. He may not be able to do this at the outset, but when he can not tell, he will open his eyes and associate the object struck with its peculiar tone. Again, the mother touches the glasses on the table that contain different quantities of water, and each will give forth a characteristic tone, according to the quantity of water it contains. This test affords excellent training in noting minute dif- ferences in sounds. A child can not make the discrimination unless he can attend in a concen- trated way through the ear. Of course, this test would not be suitable for a two- or three-year-old, but it is fine training for a six-, seven-, or eight- year-old. Helping the Sense of Smell The Montessori system does not offer exercises for training the sense of smell as fully as the other senses; but this sense is of vital importance n life, and the young child should have experience in discriminating a large variety of odors. The first thing that will occur to the mother will be to blindfold the child and see if he can discrimi- nate an apple and an orange, or a peach and a pear, or a cherry and a plum, or any other com- bination of these fruits. Older children should have experience in attempting to discriminate varieties of apples by odors, perhaps also varieties of other fruits, though the discrimination required to detect varieties of oranges, say, are so subtle that the typical five-, six-, or seven-year-old child can not make them. Most adults can not make these discriminations. Flowers and blossoms afford admirable oppor- tunities for cultivating olfactory discriminations. It should be possible for a five-year-old child to discriminate all the familiar flowers and blos- soms by the sense of smell, though probably most children who have had no training at all in discrimination through smell can not give concen- trated attention to any stimulus coming through this sense. There are greater opportunities in the kitchen than any place to cultivate sensitive- ness in discriminating through the sense of smell. The various kinds of meats, cakes, breads, vege- tables, and so on, give forth characteristic odors at different stages in the process of cooking. A mother who could devote a moment once in a while to a test could blindfold her child and have him tell what is cooking in the oven or on the stove, or what has been freshly cooked and put in the pantry. One could not over-emphasize the importance of cultivating this sensitiveness to odors of cooking food. Expert chefs determine the quality of food and its condition in cooking largely by the olfactory sense. Helping the Sense of Touch It will at once occur to the observant mother that the home affords opportunities for cultivat- ing discriminations through the sense of touch. A quite young child should be able to discriminate the "feel" of an orange from that of an apple. The older he grows the finer discriminations he should be al)le to make, until when he is seven or eight he should be able to discriminate varieties of oranges and of apples and of other fruits by FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 195 the sense of touch. The petals of every variety of blossom anil flower have a characteristic feel. It is a fine experience for a child to learn to dis- criminate the various touch impressions afforded by flovifers. The same is true of leaves and of grasses. When it comes to clothing, the oppor- tunities are almost infinite to discriminate kinds of clothing, and especially varieties of cloth, by the sense of touch. There are persons who can discriminate different colored yarns by the sense of touch, but this is very unusual and a mother should not expect any young child to make such minute discriminations. Helping the Sense of Sight The sense of sight has been left to the last because it is the most important of them all. A child can be encouraged to make discriminations between colors by grouping different colored ob- jects. In the kindergarten and in the Montessori schools the children classify various colored yarns. They have six or seven or eight shades of each of the important colors. These are mixed up and the child must group them properly. In respect to forms, he is given a number of objects of different forms and he classifies them just as m m m m m m ll III 'H m S S GEOMETRICAL INSETS he does the colors. He puts the spheres together, and the cylinders together, and the cubes to- gether, and so on. Again, he may be given a boxful of objects, such as buttons, beads, rice, beans, and the like. He must classify these, put- ting the pearl buttons in one cup, the lima beans in another cr.p, the navy beans in still another cup, and so on. There is hardly any limit to the variety of objects that could be included in the pile; and the parent, watching the child make his discriminations, will have boundless opportunities to assist him to concentrate his attention upon the objects with which he is dealing and note their essential characteristics. In the Montessori schools the children have a good deal of experience in discriminating geo- metrical forms, not only by the sense of sight but also by the sense of touch. They look at a triangular form, for instance, and they must put this in its proper place in the frame from which it has been removed. A parent could easily cut out a variety of geometrical forms from a thin board, and his child could have excellent ex- perience in attempting to insert each form in its proper place; first by the sense of sight, then by the sense of touch. The value of this exercise may be greatly extended as the child grows older, by giving him blocks of various forms and sizes and guiding him to construct objects, as a bridge or a doll house or what not, using blocks of particular forms and sizes for each part of his structure. The Apparatus Has No Supernatural Powers Some disciples of the Montessori system object to the use of any of the apparatus in the home. They say that an untrained parent can not com- prehend the subtle properties of the apparatus. They speak as though there were some hidden, mysterious value about the buttoning or lacing frames, or the geometrical insets, or the cylinders, or the sound-boxes, which the layman can not appreciate. All enthusiasts are likely to regard the thing which arouses their enthusiasm in a reverential light. Kindergartners sometimes speak of the gifts in a mystical way, as though a child who used the sphere or cylinder or cube in the kin- dergarten gained a peculiar spiritual benefit which he could not secure by using balls or blocks or various forms outside of the kindergarten. Froe- bel was a mystic, and he taught his followers that the kindergarten gifts were keys to all knowledge and deep spiritual experience, and to this day one can hear some kindergartners maintain that a child of five who works with the gifts acquires a philosophical understanding of the universe which could not be gained in any other way. Of course, most kindergartners have abandoned this view and they now look upon the gifts simply as useful materials with which to occupy a young child and give him experience with the character- istics of different geometrical forms and with their use in constructive activities. Kindergartners who 196 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL take a rational view of kindergarten work very well realize that a child may gain all the ex- perience, insight, and knowledge in his home that he could gain from the gifts in any kindergarten, if he had guidance from a parent or brother or sister who understood how to lead him to ap- preciate the characteristics and possibilities of the objects with which he came in contact. In the same way Montessori teachers who have recovered from the first feeling of reverence for the Montessori apparatus realize that there is nothing supernatural about it. It does not pos- sess peculiar and mystical value which the ob- jects of daily life do not possess. A child who is using the buttoning frame in a Montessori school is not gaining an)' deeper knowledge of the world or any clearer spiritual insight than he would gain if he were buttoning and unbuttoning his own clothes in his home. When he is testing different weights in order to develop the kines- DIMENSION BLOCKS thetic sense, he is not gaining anything different from what he would gain in his own home if he had similar objects and if he were led by his mother to become sensitive to slight differences in weight. And so with all the Montessori ap- paratus ; there is no reason why it should not be of value in the home and why it can not be used by a mother to keep her children occupied in an interesting and profitable manner; to assist them in gaining ideas of form and weight and color and to acquire skill in execution, as in buttoning, lacing, tying bowknots, and so on. Needless to say, the more skillful the mother is in leading the child to perceive the precise characteristics of any form with which he is working, or to discriminate slight differences in weight or in color or in sound, the greater will be the value for the child. The same principle holds in a Montessori school. Montessori teachers differ in their ability to use the apparatus to ad- vance the mental development of their children. Some are keen students of psychological pro- cesses and they can assist a child to make fine discriminations which another teacher who is not so good a psychologist could not accomplish. So in the home, some mothers can use the appa- ratus to greater advantage than others ; but every mother, no matter how little skill she may possess in analyzing her child's mental processes and as- sisting him to gain clear and accurate impressions of anything with which he is working, would find the Montessori apparatus of greater value than not to have anything like it in the home. What the Real Value Is in the System A parent who becomes familiar with the Mon- tessori system of education gives his children larger freedom to work out their own plans than he would naturally do. Most parents interfere too much with their children's activities. They do too many things for them.* Normal children wish to do everything possible for themselves; but parents often think they are so small they need help, or they take so much time to do any- thing that they can not wait for them, or they make such a "mess" of much that they try to do that it will save time and worry and trouble to do it for them. The Montessori philosophy is diametrically opposed to all this. It maintains that the only way a child can learn is to be self- active. Parents often proceed as if, should they prevent their children from doing anything while they are children, they will somehow acquire knowledge and ability and resourcefulness when they become mature. This is the chief defect in parental methods of training children. • If they have not yet been read, the two articles. "The Importance of Self-Help," by Dr. Montessori, page 294, and "Seif-Making," by Susan E. Blow, page 354, may be read now. -Mso Dr. Kilpatrick's article. "What Has the .Ameri- can Kindergarten to Learn from Montessori?" page 432. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 197 VII. THE INSTINCT FOR COLLECTING The love of repetition, that children at this age show in the folk-rhymes and tales that have been nursery favorites for generations, is shown as well in their love of accumulating like objects of all sorts. It is shown also in their self-made games in which some movement is repeated over and over again. This tendency is seen most clearly in the baby days, when all sorts of clutching, shaking, reach- ing, dropping, and picking up is playfully prac- ticed. This "try-try-again" play is as necessary for getting control of the body now as it was in earlier infancy, but in more developed and com- plicated ways. Nature takes this way of giving the little human being a control of his movements, and still further of acquiring a stock of ideas as to how things behave as they are shaken, dropped, and banged. Occupations for the three-year-old must allow for this tendency and utilize it. The stringing of the colored wooden beads is one method. It is fasci- nating to a child to see the bead glide down the string, his color sense is satisfied, and he can choose the color or form that he wants. The repetition is Jike a game ; -the string grows longer and longer through his own industry. I remember the intense desire my little girl had at three years for "more" of everything. I noticed it first in her wish for more and yet more spools. I hunted up all I could find, begged some from a friend, and finally a sympathetic aunt not only gathered a great stock of them but stained them in bright colors as well, sending them with this inscription, "In order that Olive's desire for 'a collection' may be satisfied." For a long time these were the favorites among her playthings. She built fences, chimneys, and houses of dit^er- ent colors. A similar joy came from a box of porcelain tiles in red, green, and white, left from a mantel. A kindergartner found a bo.x; of small square tiles in two colors just as attractive to the large group of babies in her public kindergarten. These were such as are used in tiled floors. They are not as breakable as porcelain and so are much better. So strong was this feeling for collecting in my own daughter's mind that she seldom acquired a cast-off bottle-stopper, cork, box, button, or like piece of "junk" without immediately wondering where she could find more of the same kind. The word "more," which was almost the first one she learned, came to be an index .to her dominating desire at one period until she came to be known by her father as "Oliver Twist." We made use of the instinct in our walks in the grove, where we picked up acorns, pebbles, rock fragments, pretty bits of moss, leaves, and empty snail shells. The finding of one was al- ways the incentive to look for more. I always gave her the correct name for each treasure. For example, our soil abounded in both mica and quartz. Some of the latter was in bits of the shape and color of bacon, known on this account as "bacon quartz." This name gave her a great deal of pleasure, as she recognized the likeness. As for the mica, we were pleased with its shini- ness and flakiness, and were rivals -in finding a bigger and yet bigger piece, accumulating finally a bo.x of it. Her interest may be imagined when two years later we passed an old mica mine on the road and clambered a little way down this hole, where we broke off great chunks of the mineral in enormous plates. What to do with these collections is the next question. If a shelf can be given up to them, they may be sorted in boxes, to be used whenever they fit into a larger play. Bits of looking-glass serve as lakes in the sand-table. Moss makes good doll beds. Smooth round pebbles are good for cakes on the doll-table, and to outline flower beds, heaped and rounded on the sand-table; round oak balls make play footballs on the mimic playground that is arranged by Mother and kiddie at some time when Mother can give herself up to playing for a few minutes. We found that a bit of pine bark could be easily bored through with a bodkin, and then a little stick set up in the hole made of it a boat. The curving pieces made doll cradles. A flock of pigeons dropped so many wing- feathers in our path from time to time that we gathered enough to sew on a band for an Indian head-dress. In these and many other ways we made the interest in collections contribute to other occupations.* * Whenever the child begins to be interested in the things which he has "made," it is well to stretch a piece of canvas from the picture molding to the mop-board in some conven- ient s|>ace in the nursery. A strip of new muslin would per- haps answer the purpose. When space is extremely limited, it is possible to mount the cloth on a window-shade roller, or even use a window-shade as the cloth. The roller should be mounted on brackets on a door, if necessary, and the entire surface can be rolled up and be quite inconspicuous, if not entirely removed, when not in use. A few square feet of blackboard-cloth can be attached to this canvas or shade, and is very useful, not only in giving children occupation, but as a means of development. This is a space on which may be pinned things which the child wishes to keep: for instance, when with a blunt pair of scis- sors a child first begins to cut out pictures, a creditable effort may be fastened here. This pleases the little one and acts as an encouragement. 198 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL VIII. STRINGING BEADS Did you ever string popcorn and cranberries for Christmas-tree decoration? Or make daisy and sweet-clover chains, or fragile necklaces of pine- needles? These are traditional with children. Bead- stringing is in the same class. It is provided for in the kindergarten supply- stores, by wooden beads in three shapes— balls, cubes, and cylin- ders. They are painted in the six prismatic colors. Shoestrings serve to string them on. Many different arrangements may be made: on the basis of form, all balls first, then all of an- other shape, then the third. Or, you may make a number-grouping, two of each, or three of each kind. Stringing by color is usually done 'best by hav- ing the children sort the beads into different boxes by color, and then choose an arrangement, such as two red, two blue, two red, two blue. Or they may use three colors or more. The string can be worn as a necklace for a while and then unstrung, ready for another time. By far the prettiest necklaces, although more sober in tone, are those made of seeds. Corn — red, yellow, white, black Mexican — is really gay. Pumpkin, squash, and melon-seeds are pretty in shape. Alternated with red rose- hips they are gay, too. Corn, peas, and apple- seeds need to be soaked in warm water a while to make them soft enough to pierce with the needle. Yellow oat-straw may be soaked and cut into half-inch lengths to alternate with any of these. I have seen curtains made for windows by hanging these strings close together. It is nec- essary to help the children find the way to put the needle through the seed at the best point. Then, with a strong thread and needle not too large, they will be happy alone. One of the good features of this play is the study of the seeds in gathering them, cleaning them, and noticing how they are borne on the mother stalk. Corn is in rows, beans are in a pod, melon and pumpkin-seeds are in the heart, attached by long strands to the inside of the glowing globe. Let them help you dean and dry them. Strips of paper about a third of an inch wide pasted into rings and looped together have always been an occupation for the youngest children in the kindergarten. It has been "overworked" there, but I would not condemn it on that account. We made the links of the chain this year in gold and red to trim our tree, in place of tinsel. IX. DRAWING AND COLORING All children go through a scribble stage in draw- ing. In it the enjoyment, like that of their play in blocks, sand, clay, and cuttings, is largely pleasure in their own movement. Their joy in the marks made has not much to do with picture- making. By and by it dawns upon them that the moving arm makes the trailing line go in certain differing directions, round and round, back and forth, up and down. The next step is like the one already described in modeling; an accidental picture is made. Then he tries to get the resemblance again and again. Not very successful, nevertheless he is started on a new road, that of choosing certain movements to get certain results which he foresees. He has learned that the wonderful things that others draw for him are not the results of some mysterious hocus-pocus, but are produced by some such purposeful guidance of the pencil as he himself is now striving after. Gradually he learns to tell his ideas of things in simple out- lines: a circle with two downward strokes for legs is a man, a "peaky" roof and two downright lines are a house. The four-year-old is usually in this stage of the drawing art. Do not he afraid to exercise your own slender skill for your children. It will be a great incen- tive to them to try their own. Suppose you have told them the old tale of the Three Little Pigs. Draw for them the straw house, the brush house, and the brick house ; or the three beds of the three bears, for which three lines each will suf- fice. Remember it is the story aspect of the pic- tures that a child delights in. Let your pencil talk, saying, for instance, "Here is a man, here is a dog following him. Here is a bone the dog finds. Now they are going over this bridge. Here is their house," etc. In this you will en- large his power of representing what he has seen in lines, just as you improved his speech through imitation. Other Steps in Drawing After the simplest outline stage, the third stage in drawing is in added detail. Bodies now inter- FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 199 vene where earlier the legs sprouted directly from the head. Buttons on coats, eyes and mouths in faces, fingers on ends of arms, hats on heads, chimneys on houses, and similar details are signs of progress. It will be noticed that these items are all con- nected with use. Buttons fasten coats, hands are to grasp with. Steps lead up and one enters houses by them, and so on. But still we, as the children themselves, should not be too fastidious in our demands for grace or likeness in their productions. Materials for Practice in Drawing Nothing is so productive of freedom in the use of line as blackboard drawing. The arm swings freely across it. The eyes and fingers are not strained by too fine motions. It is easy to get a blackboard in a toy or department store. School and kindergarten supply-stores carry them, and also slated canvas to tack on the wall. A green prepared board is to be had that is much more pleasant to the eye than black. This may be bought by the square foot. Since the free-arm movement is the easiest, the surest, and the one demanded by most writ- ing teachers, it is important to begin with it, not with a finger-movement that will have to be un- learned in schools. So, Mother, give your young- ster large, soft pencils and large sheets of cheap paper, or better, a blackboard, and see that he does not grip crayon or pencil with tense finger muscles. I used to enjoy the babies of the kindergarten at play with the chalk and blackboard. Francis used to amuse himself while waiting for his mother to come for him by traveling the length of the long board, leaving "trolley wires" in his wake. Then he drew up-and-down marks at in- tervals, which I interpreted to be poles; later he added more horizontal lines for tracks. So far he was partly enjoying his power of making long lines, and exercising his legs in walking back and forth. One day this ceased and he toilsomely drew an oblong on one of the lower lines and carefully traced a slanting line to connect it with the upper line. This was, of course, a trolley- car. And as his mother and I knew, this was his first piece of real drawing. Encourage all such developments ; talk with children about their drawings, and listen to what they tell you. Dratv for and zmth them. Stick-laying has been much used in kindergar- tens as a kind of drawing. But the sticks were too small to be handled readily and so light as to be displaced by even a snee::e. Hasty move- ments effaced the work and led to irritation, yet certain results were pleasing and definite in outline. Long slats may be used in the same way on the floor to outline tents, houses, fences, and railroad tracks, or to suggest marching soldiers, trees, and other things. This is good for an occasional employment. Cutting Pictures One of the constant delights of children is cutting. Just to see the scissors snip off bit after bit and to look curiously and see if by chance each piece may mean something, this is the main purpose at first. Then it dawns on the cutter that a turn of the wrist will make a piece of a certain shape, and the use of scissors as a picture-making tool begins. The process of draw- ing with the scissors is described further in the next section, and as some of the suggestions may fit in here, the interested reader is referred to it. Cutting out pictures from the advertising pages of magazines may be made very delightful, if you will let the children make a temporary art-gallery on the nursery-door. A three-year-old nephew used to do this with a large varnish-brush and a dish of water as tools. I used to find the door plastered over, as high as he could reach, with the pictures that most took his fancy. Of course they peeled off by bedtime, but that did not mat- ter. It was the doing that he was after. The cutting is of course roughly done, and for that reason it is just as well not to place them in a scrapbook permanently ; meanwhile the rough cutting is a training for later, more accurate use of scissors. Paper Color-Forms The three-year-old child is lacking in the mus~ cular control that is needed to manage water- colors with any degree of skill ; moreover, his ideas of form are still so undeveloped that simple drawing answers better to express his picture of most objects. But the love of color is strong, and may be satisfied and trained in other ways. The rather heavy kindergarten colored papers lend them- selves to cutting and pasting. Colored crayons are useful to draw with or to use in coloring printed pictures. Here is a device that I have used to good effect. Give a child a sheet of manila paper and three strips of brown or black paper, one long and two shorter of equal length. Ask him if he can lay a picture of a table with these strips. When this is done let him paste each strip in position. Give him some pieces of red, yellow, and orange paper, on which you have drawn the outlines of apples, THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL pears, oranges, and liananas. which are ready to cut out and put on the table. A piece of brown wrapping-paper may be cut in the shape of a dish and the fruit cut out and pasted in it. Draw a large tree with brown crayon on a piece of smooth wrapping pa-per, fasten it to the wall or door with thumbtacks, or to a drawing board. Give the children red apples of smaller size to paste on the tree. Draw or cut a big basket under the tree and let them "fill" it with fruit. When the leaves are turning red and yellow the same plan could be used for making a picture of the maple and oak tree. You can cut quanti- ties of leaves at once on a folded piece of colored paper. Cut bluebirds from some model that you may find in a magazine. Let the children paste these, as if flying through the sky, hopping on the ground, perched on a bough of the tree, which has been drawn for them on a big sheet of paper. For special occasions, these bluebirds may be strung on black thread and festooned, as if flying across the room. You can outline birds, children, roses, sunflow- ers, pumpkins, houses, and what not, on wrapping or straw-colored manila drawing paper and let the children crayon them. Of course they will scribble outside the lines, but when they have cut them out, these blemishes may be snipped away. A bird-l>ook is a great delight to children be- cause of the colored plates. They can look these through before choosing their colors. Other Pleasant Color-Experiences Blowing bubbles* is another familiar nursery occupation that needs only to be named ; the clay pipe of our own childhood is now replaced by a fine varnished wooden toy, that in its turn may easily be replaced by the simple device of a spool, on one end of which Ivory soap has been rubbed, to assist the bubbles easily to emerge. An oil- cloth apron is a good protection for the dress, and it may be used in clay-modeling as well. A prism hung in a sunny window gives pure color. Set it dancing and let the babies try to catch it. Many a time a kindergarten baby has come to me with fat hands tightly clasped, sure that he has it fast, only to find it gone when the hands were carefully opened. X. MUSIC AND RHYTHM Music supplies something that nothing else can replace. It charms, rests, and invigorates. The two factors that contribute to a child's musical sense are his native impulse to croon — to invent little melodies of his own, and the impulse to imitate sounds made by others, just as he learns speech. The teaching of both singing and piano- music to-day makes use of both these impulses, invention and imitation. We would do much to cultivate the musical sense in children if we would Ijegin early to sing short phrases, which they can answer like an echo. Your little girl calls, "Mamma, I want you." Answer: ^ S ^- Yes, my dear, Here I am. Echo. ^ There are scores of these tuneful dialog^ues that any ordinarily musical person can invent on the spot. Frequent dropping into these melodious conversations would make musical phrases as nat- ural a form of expression as speech alone. In carrying out this suggestion, use the simplest scale fragments. If you will think of the octave as the body of the scale, the first, third, fifth, and eighth tones are the backbone on which the other tones depend. These make what is called the common chord when sounded together. When sounded successively they make an arpeggio. Come to me. Come to me. * The following method of preparing the soapy water is excellent: Put into a pint bottle two ounces of best Castile soap, cut into thin shavings, and fill the bottle with cold water which has been first boiled and then left to cool. Shake well to- gether and allow the bottle to stand until the upper part of the solution is clear. Decant now this clear solution of two parts, adding one part glycerine, and you will have an ideal soap-bubble mixture. With some practice, bubbles measuring eight or ten inches in diameter may be produced and a stand for them be provided by soaping the edge of a tumbler. If any woolen material is laid on the floor and the room divided into halves by a shawl or blanket hung across, the children may be arranged in two opposing camps and have a very good match game, devising their own rules as to size and number of bubbles, whether they shall be kept in the air by fanning, how much it shall count if a bubble falls or strays across the line, etc. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 201 Emphasis on these helps to give a firm grasp of the foundation of all tunes. They are most easily heard and reproduced. i fc3=± m s W^ -I — I— I- i i Boll -iog and roll -iog, the wheel turns around. i w im ^ Grinding and grinding, the com now i3 ground. The scale may be broken into two fragments, each of which is a unit in itself. Practicing on these halves of the octave is good ear-training. I, ^3^ i^-=- --1- 4rz±t Fly a - way Jack, Fly a - way Jill, F^itt=» ^m Come a - gain. Jack, Come a - gain JlD. j l^^J-^-J- »i *- Now we're climb - ing up the lad - der, ^=^ m High - er, high - er, still we go. -I A 1 ' ^ — ft ' ^ Hear the blue - bird in tlje tree • top, i ^3e ]=a^ Sing - ing, chirp - ing, spring is here. A favorite game in some kindergartens is to sing tones in imitation of chimes. The teacher leads and the children try to imitate her exactly, using intervals similar to those given with the word above. Numbering the tones of the octave sing, 1-3-5-8 — 8-5-3-1. To the same succession sing "la-la-la-la-," or "I0-I0-I0-I0-." The Child-Voice Children's voices have a narrow range. What is a comfortable tone for a grown person may be too high or too low for a child. The average person pitches a song too low for children. It is a strain on the vocal cords to sing out of a comfortable range. Songs that range from mid- dle C to F above the second C are safe, provided there are no long-sustained notes at either of these extremes. effect on the throat organs. All kinds of vocal faults show up when it is indulged in. It is painful to listen to much of the singing in day- schools and Sunday-schools. It is so harsh and tense that one is reminded of the Irishman's reply to someone who asked him if he sang by note. "Well, no," he replied, "mostly I sings by main for-rce. ' Exercises in Rhythm There is nothing deeper, more primitive, in the range of human instinct than the feeling for rhythm. The savage's tom-tom sways the line of dusky dancers : the mother's rocking-chair soothes both her tired self and her baby; the weary business man steps alertly when a strain of martial music drifts down the street. It is a steadying, a soothing, or an arousing force, ac- cording to the character of its pulsing. But it is as an organising influence that it is valuable to a group of children. When they have been playing together for a time, the conflict of plans begins to irritate tired brains. They find it hard to compromise and agree. Then it is a great rest to the immature little citizens to have the burden of self-govern- ment lifted from them for a space. If you hear jarring sounds growing louder and more fre- quent in the nursery or playground, try going to the piano and playing something in spirited march time. Then call to them to march, under the leadership of the one best fitted to be captain, round the room once or twice, out into the hall, around the dining-room, and back to you. They may march on tiptoe, with a change of music if you can manage it ; then on heels for a little way. Change to a waltz time for a running step ; a two-four time will do, but the run is a little more light to three-four time. Institute a band and let all be drummers clap- ping to your music. Change the time from one. two, three, four, to ONE, two, ONE, two. See who can clap loud on the strong beat and soft on the weak beat. Let them play imaginary bugles to a familiar song, following the tune with their voices. Change to a soft lullaby and let them sway to 202 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL the pulsation, like trees in the wind. End with "Rock-a-by, Baby, in the Tree-top." Hands may shape nests to swing at the ends of branches — and here is a good stopping-place, for by this time the current of their thoughts has been changed. And a little lesson in rhythm has been painlessly administered.* Song-Singing t The ideal song for a little child is one of but two or four lines set to a very simple melody. Most songs are too long. Excellent examples are found in Neidlinger's "Small Songs for Small Singers," and in the Primer and First Book of both the Modern Music Series and the Eleanor Smith Series of school song-books. An unusually good collection for home use in the nursery is the one by Miss Emilie Poulsson and Miss Eleanor Smith, which is exactly what its title indicates, "Songs for a Little Child's Day." No attempts should be made to have a child sing any song or phrase until he is quite familiar with it from hearing it sung. Most children will chime in here and there, when they have been sung to and have absorbed the musical and ver- bal ideas. Then it is time to take pains to have them sing with and after you. Many children cannot reproduce intonations accurately at this age, and appear to be tone-deaf, when really the perception of pitch has not been formed from lack of hearing enough simple melody. The ap- preciation of the "Upness and Downness" of pitch will only come through much hearing of simple songs simply and clearly sung. This is one of the most notable lacks in our American homes to-day. Children are as dependent upon their elders- for musical language as they are for a grasp of the spoken word. This mastery of musical phrases will come only through imitation, just as speech came. The pity of this scarcity of true music in the home is that it leaves children a prey to the fear- fully meager common music heard on the street, at the movies often, and alas ! on the phonograph at home. A revival of folk-songs and folk- * In vol. VI of the Bookshexf, Mr. Baltzell has taken considerable pains to show just how to play these simple action-songs. t The songs in vol. VI of the Bookshelf for little chil- dren are based upon a selection made by a special Committee of the International Kindergarten Union. singing will be the best means to introduce musi- cal ideas and lay the foundation for good taste in the home. An illustration from our own home shows how sensitive very little children may be to the spirit and character of the music they hear often. I had been accustomed to put our little girl in a high-chair at the piano from the time she was eighteen months old, to keep her entertained at meal-times, as she had no nurse, and this was the most effective way of disposing of the young lady. I could watch her through the open door between the living- and dining-rooms. This was possible without harm to her musical sense or the piano either, for she never pounded and had no love of discord. The result was that she soon found pleasant little chords and melodies, and at three would repeat some of them for her own delight. I paid no attention to teaching her, merely approving when the result was especially good. At four years she noticed that she could find a harmonizing tone with the left hand in the bass. As she had seen that older people played with both hands, this gave her a feeling of being much more real in her imitative way of "playing." One day she called me to hear what she could do. Playing grave chord with the right hand with the proper first and then fifth in the bass in a slow four-four time, she said, "Listen, Mamma, this is a church tune." Then changing to a lively "jig-a- jig-jig, and tum-a-tum-tum," she turned to me with a radiant face, saying, "Now do you know what that is ? It's a Sunday-school song !" The commentary on the class of music heard in Sunday-school was as sad as it was true. I feared for a long time that her taste would be vitiated by the frequent (weekly) hearing of this class of music, but fortunately she has had enough of the antidote to reject the sentimental and vapid, and in most cases to prefer the best. Let me repeat, for it can not be too strongly emphasized, if you would have your children sing, sing to them; if you would have them love the best, sing the best. And the best is often found in the old English, Irish, Scotch, and German folk-songs, such as we all ought to know. "Afinie Laurie," "Robin Adair," "Comin' Thro' the Rye," "The Low-Backed Car," "The Wearin' o' the Green," are all fair examples. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 203 XI. LITERATURE FOR KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN* ARRANGED BY THE EDITORS Stories and rhymes are the literature, the art of language, for children of kindergarten age. To appreciate good literature means to enjoy one of the highest products of civilization, a product which is the result of the high development of capacities which raise man above the brute — im- agination and verbal expression. General Aims To give pleasure, and in giving pleasure to develop appreciation of good literature. To rouse the imagination and the desire to create through verbal form or through dramatic representation. Specific Aims To develop control of verbal expression by supplying a choice vocabulary and by giving a model of art-form. To suggest lines of action which will appeal to the child and which he will produce dramatically, carrying his imagination over into situations which he has not actually experienced. To promote high ideals: I. Through stories of humorous situations. The lower orders of man enjoy unusual situations, even if these bring dis- comfort to another. The ideal humor provokes laughter by harmless surprise. 2. Through stories which interpret a child's ex- perience. The significant in the child's own expe- rience can be isolated and emphasized or shown in its proper relations by means of a story. 3. Through stories of moral purpose which give models for ways of acting. The moral should never be stated ; if it is not indicated obviously enough for the child to interpret for himself, the story is weak. Subject-Matter The real subject-matter of a story is the atti- tude toward the world which is emphasized by the activity of the characters in the story; it is the emotional response evoked in the listener. Stories may relate very directly to the mood which is to be roused. "The Night Before Christ- mas" will be told at Christmas-time, because it is the interpretation of this experience given in literary form. "The Old Woman and Her Pig" typifies the idea of sequence, and should be told when the children are engaged in activities which may exemplify the idea of interdependence. Stories for older children may be classified as myths, hero-tales, fables, fairy-tales, humorous and interpretative stories. There are only a few stories for children of kindergarten age that can be placed under the first three headings. A sim- ple myth which may be told is that of "Little Red Riding Hood." The stories that serve the same purpose as the hero-tales are simple inter- pretative stories of good children, such as "Busy Kitty, or How Cedric Saved His Kitten." In only a few of the well-known fables is the mean- ing evident enough to make them interesting at this age; such are "The Hare and- the Tortoise," "The North Wind and the Sun," and "The Lion and the Mouse." Most of the stories told in the kindergarten may be classified under the last three headings — fairy-tales, humorous stories, and interpretative stories. The best fairy-stories should be told often. The child realizes the irresponsibility, the unreality of the characters, and he enjoys the play of the unhampered imagination. He does not take the characters as models upon which to base his ideals of right and wrong. The humorous story generally gains its dis- tinctive character by the unusual response of some person in a familiar situation, or perhaps by the change of tone of the story-teller. It should never involve appreciable discomfo t to anyone; in the "Gingerbread Boy" the pr( lica- ment creates humor, because it is the little man himself who calls out, "I'm all gone !" Such stories should never be adapted to convey an ethical meaning: they are intended for pure humor. In the stories that deal with situations of everyday life, there should be no subtle, ethical complication, but an evident struggle of right and wrong, with the right always triumphant. The story which is told for the evident pur- pose of instruction has small place in any cur- riculum. Stories should occasionally be read to the chil- dren.- A story-teller's dramatic manner aids in As Mrs. Newell has not treated this suhject, we have found nothing more helpful for this important purpose than to condense the special report that was made not long ago to the International Kinde.-garten .Xssociation by its Committee on Subject-Matter and Method. Together with this should be read the list of "Fifty Best Kindergarten and Primary Stories," on page 328. K.N.— 15 204 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL holding the child's attention, but sometimes his attention should be centered directly upon the story itself. At such times the story should be read, as the personality of the reader is not felt as much as that of a story-teller. Stories that depend for much of their attraction on their peculiar phrasing can be chosen for reading, good for this purpose. Choice of Language The language used in telling a story should be suitable to the theme of the story. The fable should be given in concise, terse language, the fairy-tale in beautiful, flowing language. For children of kindergarten age there should be little descriptive detail ; the action should be rapid. Repetition of rhythmical phrases is much enjoyed at this time. The stories from world literature should never be simplified to any appreciable e.xtent. It is better to wait until a child is able to appreciate the thought given, in a style suited to the sub- ject, rather than to lower its value by omitting the shades of meaning which are part of its beauty and strength. There are good stories well adapted to each age ; so that it is not neces- sary to give a weak version of what will later be enjoyed in a perfect form. Stories sometimes weakened to adapt them to kindergarten children are "Siegfried," "King Arthur," "Persephone," "The Golden Touch." Good Form Stories should have a definite plot, with intro- duction, complication, climax, and ending. The principal characters should stand out distinctly and all the rest be merely a setting. Little chil- dren enjoy particularly the repetition of a plot showing the principal characters in contrast, as in "Little One Eye, Two Eyes, and Three Eyes." THE LITTLE RED APPLE Once upon a time a little girl was walking under the trees in the orchard when she saw a round rosy apple hanging on the bough just over her head. "Oh, please, rosy apple, come down to me," she called, but the apple never moved. A little bird flew through the green leaves and lighted on the branch where the rosy apple hung. "Please, little robin, sing to the apple and make it come down to me," called the little girl. The robin sang and sang, but the apple never moved. "I'll ask the sun to help me," thought the little girl. "Please, Mr. Sun. shine on the rosy apple and make it come down to me," she called. The sun shone and shone, he kissed it first on one cheek and then on the other; but the apple never moved. Just then a boisterous wind came blustering by. "Oh, please, Mr. Wind, shake the rosy apple and make it come down to me," called the little girl. The wind swayed the tree this way and that, and down fell the rosy apple right in the little girl's lap. Methods in Story-Telling The number of stories told will depend upon the development of the children. As a general rule, some story should be'giveii every day, but the well-known and well-loved "best literature" stories should be repeated until the children can correct if one word is misplaced. In this way the stories are absorbed and made a vital part of the child's life, of his imagination, and his expression. Children should be encouraged to re-tell the simpler stories and to reproduce others dramat- ically. If the children do not readily recall a story, it is better to re-tell it than to drag the details from the children. Children should be encouraged to tell original stories. These may be very crude, but power to control imaginative thought and give it verbal expression comes gradually through e.xercise. Interpretation of pictures helps the child to de- velop creative power in story-telling. The fol- lowing was told by a boy of four, about Millet's picture entitled "First Step": Once there was a papa, and mamma, and a baby. The papa worked all day. and by and by mamma said, "Papa's coming," Papa took baby up, and they went in the house and had dinner. This simple tale follows the laws of good lit- erary form. Illustrations, preferably in paper-cutting, may be made by the children for the stories, songs, and rhymes. If these are bound together in book- form, the children will repeat the song or story to the family. A story-teller's manner has much to do with the interest of the story. One who e.xpects to impress her hearers must believe that the story is worth telling, that she is giving the highest and best of the world's thought, and that it can be imparted in no other way. She must believe that she can tell it so that the listeners will get the full value of the story. She must know the story well, not just memorize the words, but visualize it clearly. She must know why she tells it, must know the main point and how to emphasize it. She must feel and enjoy the story so much that she will be expressive in tone, face, and manner. "My mother has the prettiest tricks Of words and words and words. Her talk comes out as smooth and sleek As breasts of singing birds. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 205 "She shapes her speech all silver fine, Because she loves it so ; And her own eyes begin to shine To hear her stories grow. "And if she goes to make a call. Or out to take a walk, We leave our work when she returns And run to hear her talk. "We had not dreamed that things were so Of sorrow or of mirth. Her speech is as a thousand eyes, Through which we see the earth." — Anna Hempstead Branch. The full value of stories and story-telling is lost when these faults are committed : Telling a story in a weak, rambling form ; telling so many stories that none of them is remembered: telling so few that a taste for them is not formed ; tell- ing stories that connect with the topic of the pro- gram instead of those that relate to the need and development of the child ; telling too many on the plane of everyday experience; telling stories that are adapted to older children. Attainments to be Expected of the Children Appreciation of a good short story. Ability to re-tell several stories, giving princi- pal incidents in correct sequence. Ability to create a simple, imaginative story. Ability to reproduce dramatically several short stories. Poems and Rhymes Mother Goose rhymes are good poetry for lit- tle children. Each one arouses the emotional re- action to some typical situation. Children who are not familiar with Mother Goose should be given many of these rhymes. Phrases, rhymes, stanzas, and poems which are descriptive of situations and which reveal moods should be given to the children to interpret their experiences. The difficulty and length of these will depend upon the development of the children. Longer poems should be read to the children. Single lines and stanzas may often be selected from children's songs for memorization. BOOKS OF REFERENCE Bah-EY, Carolyn Sherwin. For the Children's Hour. Firelight Stories. For the Story-teller. Stories and Rhymes for a Child. Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass. Boston Collection of Stories. Hammett Company, Boston. Bryant, Sara Cone. How to Tell Stories to Chil- dren. Stories to Tell to Children. Stories for the Littlest One. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Harrison. Elizabeth. In Story Land. Central Pub- lishing Company, Chicago. Hoxie, Jane L. A Kindergarten Story Book. Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass. Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. G. P. Put- nam's Sons, New York. Keyes. Angela M. Stories and Story-telling. D. Appleton and Company, New York. Lang, Andrew. Nursery Rhyme Book. Oak Tree Fairy Book. Longmans, Green and Company, New York. Lansing, M. F. Rhymes and Stories. Ginn and Company. Boston. Lindsay, Maud. Mother Stories. More Mother Stories. Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass. . A Story Garden. Lothrop, Lee and Shep- ard Company, Boston. Mabie, Hamilton Wright. Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know. Doubleday, Page and Company, Garden City, N. Y. Palmer, Luella A. Play Life in the First Eight Years. Ginn and Company, Boston. Poulsson, Emilie. In the Child's World. Mil- ton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass. RicH.\RDS, Laur.\ E. The Golden Windows. Little, Brown and Company. Boston. Scudder. Horace. Book of Folk Stories. Houghton MiiBin Company, Boston. Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Child's Garden of \'erses. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Tappan, Eva March. Folk Stories and Tales. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Tyndall, Jessie Carr. Memory Gems for Children. Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass. Whittier. J. G. Child Life. Houghton Mifflin Com- pany. Boston. WiGGiN, Kate Douglas, and Smith, Nora Archi- bald. The Story Hour. Houghton Mifflin Com- pany, Boston. . Pinafore Palace. Doubleday, Page and Company. Garden City, N. Y. Posy Ring. Grosset and Dunlap Com- pany, New York. Wiltse, Sarah. Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks. Ginn and Company, Boston. "I believe it is our duty to impress upon children 'the miraculous interestingness' of the common tilings of life. Of course, we can not do this unless we oxu-selves feel it, and this is the reason the object lesson usually fails." — Edna E. Harris. 206 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL XII. WHEN THE CHILDREN ASK QUESTIONS BY TOE EDITORS "A question uttered or unexpressed is a prayer for knowledge. The moment when it arises in the soul should be sacred, almost like that of the hour of visitation of the Holy Ghost to the religious teacher." — G. Stanley Hall. A SKILLFUL advertisement, current a few months ago, pictured a father, seated, tearing his be- wildered hair, while his children besiege him with questions. The intimation was that if he would buy a certain set of books he could forever after secure^ himself from such a plight. Would that there were such an assured panacea ! Still bet- ter would it be if a talking machine could be invented which, even at the price of a periodic nickel in the slot, would do the business. Or if knowledge can be measured like gas, it might be emitted by the foot. Wisely does Dorothy Can- field Fisher remark that a "Professional Ques- tion-Answerer to Children" would make a for- tune — and earn it, too. Yours are not the only children who have driven their parents frantic by questions. In Doctors Hall and Smith's "Study of Curiosity and Interest," the following are some of the in- quiries that were propounded by children under school age : "Are black people made of black dust?" "Where does the stocking go when a hole comes in it?" "Am I wound up ? \\'ill I ever run down ?" "What is inside us that makes us laugh ?" "Shall I be a mamma when I grow up?" "Why couldn't George Washington tell a lie? Couldn't he talk?" "Where is to-morrow?" "What is the highest number you can possibly count?" "When you sneeze, where does the sneeze go to?" Questions a Hopeful Sign Seriously, though, we all know that if a child could buy answers to his questions out of a slot- machine, it would be the worse for him. Asking questions is the most respectable thing a child ever does. When he is practicing the habit he should not face a line of retreating backs, but a group of pleased and commending relatives. A child asking questions is giving proof of a number of gratifying qualities. In the first place, he is proving that he has a mind. Animals and imbeciles never ask ques- tions. Human beings that have stopped growing ask no questions. He is proving that he is hospitable to ideas. This is a rarely fine trait. Questions Are the Way to Life The best way to understand your child is to listen to his interrogations. "A shrewd parent can learn more from a child's questions," Kirt- ley says, "than the child can learn from his an- swers." To test this, quietly note down the next ten inquiries your young hopeful makes about any given topic. Your guidance of his whole future vocation may be wrapped up in them. What to Do with Questions The first thing to do with a child's questions is to sort them out. They fall into three classes: (l) Thoughtless questions, (2) impossible ques- tions, and (3) real questions. There are two ways to deal with thoughtless questions. One is to regard them as the efforts of a tired or lonely child to be sociable. \\'hen a child pours out a stream of inquiries without waiting for one answer before he propounds an- other question, what he often wants is just a little notice or some friendly conversation. Under such circumstances it is better to engage in a pleasant chat with him or to tell him a story. Occasionally, however, the listener may note that he is getting germs of a real question, in which case he will treat them as such, by methods ex- plained below. Impossible questions include questions that are unsuitable and questions that nobody can answer. The only questions that are unsuitable for a child to ask are those which he is too immature to comprehend. For I would never say "hush" or act the coward before any question. But I would postpone certain answers. If the question is one that nobody can answer, boldly say, "I don't know. Nobody knows." Yet even in such a case possi- bly a clue can be given. A child asks, "Who made God?" Mrs. Edith Mumford, a sensible English writer, suggests approaching an answe,' FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 207 by calling the attention of the child to the fact that just as dresses come from cloth and cloth from the warehouse and the warehouse gets it from the factory and the factory from the sheep — and men can not "make" sheep, so always when we talk of "making" we are really only "chang- ing" things, and by and by we get back to some- thing in Nature that we can not make — face to face with life and growth. Dealing with Real Questions Real questions should be carefully collected. vSometimes they can not be answered at once. This is unnecessary, if the child recognizes that they are being saved for him. One mother jots inquiries down just as she does her grocery-list and keeps them for Father's return at night. An- other has an answering-bee on Sunday afternoon. Still another has them talked over by the entire family at table. The real reasons we parents don't answer ques- tions more genially is, frankly, because zvc do not know the answers. And this leads us to quote the sensible words of Dorothy Canfield Fisher as to the resources for such answers which are right at our hands, if we weren't too lazy to use them. "Take the simplest expedient first. It is aston- ishing how many questions can be answered, how much information acquired, and how alertness of mind can be fostered by the use of a fairly large dictionary. And yet the average family either does not own a good dictionary, or consults it only at rare intervals, to ascertain the spelling of a difficult word. A child hears the main high- way spoken of by an elderly person as the 'turn- pike.' 'Why is it called the "turnpike," Aunt Sarah?' Aunt Sarah doesn't know, she's sure — never thought of it before — it just is the turn- pike. Mother doesn't know, either, but, quickly turning to good account the stirrings of intellec- tual curiosity of the child, reaches for the dic- tionary and with the child looks up the word. The result is not only an interesting bit of in- formation acquired, but the historical sense of the little brain has been improved, and (most important of all) the habit of persistence in the search for knowledge has been strengthened and encouraged. Now notice by what simple means this was accomplished. Almost anybody, even the busiest -mother, can find a few minutes in the course of the day to consult a dictionary. How to Use a Reference-Set "Of course, an encyclopedia is a bigger store- house of knowledge than a dictionary, and though it costs more, it seems to me that a good ency- clopedia is almost as necessary an article of fur- niture as a dining-room table in a home where children are being brought up. Indeed, it is a sort of dining-room table, on which is spread a bounteous feast, open to all who will give them- selves the trouble to sit down and partake. Cer- tainly an encyclopedia of some sort is more neces- sary for grov^'ing children than rugs on the floors or curtains at the windows. "But there is only one variety of encyclopedia that will do. I mean a used set ! Except in its first newness, a clean, fresh-looking book of ref- erence is a shame to any family. .\ thumbed, dog's-eared encyclopedia that opens with a meek limpness and lies flat open at any page with broken-back submission is the kind I mean." Answering One's Own Questions While clear, intelligible answers are always a child's due, it is usually better to get the child to help answer his own questions. Even when you give a reply, ask the question back to see if he understands well enough to put his knowledge into words. The dictionary habit and the ency- clopedia habit are indispensable to form early, if one is to keep a questioning child. But, concludes Mrs. Fisher, although books are precious mines of information, "they are not the only, or even the best, educational material available for the question-answerer at home. There is much talk nowadays about 'nature-study' and the value of going straight with the child to original sources for such study. This is all true. The excellence of studying trees, flowers, and insects at first hand can scarcely be exaggerated. "The principle of question-answering as a means of education applies to nearly all the ele- ments of everyday life. Instead of breathing a sigh of relief when a child's question can be stifled and silenced by the blanket-answer, 'Oh, that's the nature of it,' his mother ought to re- gard each query as another thread in the clue which, held firmly in his- little hand, will lead him through the labyrinth of indifference and mental sloth to conquer and slay the monster, Ignorance. The Results of Question-Answering "There are several delightful by-products to this system of question-answering. One is that the average mother will find it almost as satis- factory as the child to gain a knowledge of the genesis of many of the articles she so commonly uses and about which she is so ignorant. Another is the growth on the child's part of a disposition to use his holidays and leisure time in a rational 208 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL way, wliich will give him lasting satisfaction, in- stead of always turning instinctively to the idle, exciting, and profitless frequenting of so-called places of amusement. Still another, is the habit of steady and purposeful observation, which is insensibly acquired by attention given at once to any chance phenomenon. "But perhaps the most important result, when the mother voluntarily assumes the role of pro- fessional question-answerer, is the intimacy with her children which is engendered by the habit. If, hand in hand with them, she has sought out the reason why milkweed seeds have down on them, and why a three-legged stool will stand firmly on uneven ground, it is most likely that when the moinent comes for an inquiry into the darker mysteries and disappointments of life, she may have the poignant satisfaction of feeling her child's hand reach out instinctively and grasp hers in the hour of trial. And no greater reward than this can crown the efforts of a mother's life." XIII. THE RELIGION OF A LITTLE CHILD It has taken the race thousands of years to ar- rive at the religious ideas that are found in the highest form in Christianity. We can not expect to transplant them, as adults apprehend them, into the minds of little children. What are they prepared to understand? When is the right time to teach a child about God? What can we teach children that will not have to be unlearned as his mind matures? These are some of the questions that we have to face in the religious training of home and Sunday-school. We know that a wonderful order reigns throughout the universe. It holds the stars in their places and governs the form and growth of every living thing. It is no evasion of the truth to teach that this ruling Force is God. The One Religious Truth to Teach a Child He who made cares for what He made. He is wise. He both loves and knows. We are His children. He loves us. Children love and trust their fathers. They leave many things to his judgment and love, knowing he will do what is best for his children. In like manner, many things are left to the Heavenly Father, trusting that He knows, cares, and works. This is the religious philosophy of a grown person, stated in childli'.ve terms. It is the best interpretation of God, that of a loving father to his children. It is one that can be filled in and modified as a child grows in knowledge and power to think. Moreover, it is one that enlists feeling. Teaching a Little Child to Pray Prayer is talking to God. It is asking Him for what we need, and thanking Him for His gifts to us. It is a natural conception for a child who both asks and thanks its earthly father. Children imitate and participate in what grown people do. This holds true for prayer. It would be hard for a mother or father to teach a child to be reverent without at the same time being an example of reverence. Mrs. A. wished the thought of God to come to her little girl in a natural way. The occasion came when Olive was not yet three years old. They were visiting, and bedtime had come. Mrs. A. put Olive to bed, and left her alone as usual, but when the electric light was switched off, it left her in sudden and unaccustomed darkness, for at home there was a gas-jet turned down burning in the hall throughout the evening. Olive cried out to her mother that she was afraid to stay alone in the dark. Her mother told her there was nothing to be afraid of and left her. Olive heard dogs barking in the distance, and called her mother again, giving as a reason for wanting company that she was afraid the dogs would get in and bite her. Hearing a train puff- ing, she was afraid the engine might come in the house, etc. No argument would drive away her fears. Finally Mrs. A. said, "But }-ou are never alone. Someone is always with you." The baby's inter- est was excited at once. "Who is it ?" she asked. Then Mrs. A. told her a story of Someone who made many things that Olive loved. She re- minded her of the birds and squirrels that lived in the trees about their summer cottage, of the trees themselves, of the flowers that grew about it, of the grass on which she rolled and played, and told her that this God, this Heavenly Father, made them and loved them all. Moreover, he made Olive and her father and mother, and every one in the wide world. The child was absorbed in the story, and at the end. when her mother said. "He would not let anything harm you. when He made and loves you," she seemed satisfied. Then her mother said, "I can ask Him to take care of you while I am away. Shall I ?" Olive said, "Yes, ask Him." After her mother had asked, in a short prayer, she left the child content. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 209 The next night when the light was turned off Olive said, "Talk to God again. Mother." This was the beginning of the nightly prayers, followed after a time by the little girl's own pe- titions for what she wished, and still later by thanks for her pleasures. It is good for the mother to thank God in simple words for things that her child has en- joyed. God, as the Inspirer of good deeds and right feelings, can be approached in the same way; first by the mother, and later the child herself can make her own prayer. In this way the prayer becomes not something formal and artificial, but sincere and natural.* In addition to these spontaneous prayers in original wording, there are choice forms of prayer to be found, some of which follow. A GRACE AT TABLE Lord Jesus, be our Holy Guest, Our morning Joy, our evening Rest; And with our daily bread impart Thy love and peace to every heart. • This simple discussion is supplemented by other papers in the section on "Moral and Religious Training," in volume II of this Manual. MORNING PRAYER God, Our Father, hear me. Keep me safe all day. Let me grow like Jesus, In the narrow way. Make me good and gentle. Kind and loving too. Pleasing God in all things That I say or do. All that makes me happy Comes from God above ; So I thank Thee, Father, For Thy care and love. EVENING PRAYER Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee. Lord, my soul to keep. When in the morning light I wake. Help me the path of love to take, And keep the same for Thy dear sake. A CHILD'S PR.\YER Be beside me in the light. Close beside me all the night. Make me gentle, kind, and true, Do what mother bids me do, Help and cheer me when I fret, And forgive when I forget. "It makes very little difference what people think about God if they do not know God." — Una Hunt. "Where superstitious servants take more interest in the child's religious hfe than do his parents, we have the child whose life is darkened by the fear of an omnipotent ogre. The life of the spirit can not be trusted to the hireling." — Henry F. Cope. 210 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL si m o t. to a FIFTH YEAR 5 S to m XIV. DEVELOPMENTS DURING THE FIFTH YEAR Physical Development Although the period of most rapid increase in weight and height is from birth to two years, yet each year brings a great accession in growth. Also the proportions are changing somewhat, the body being somewhat more slender and the legs and arms slightly longer in proportion to the trunk and head than in the earlier years. This change makes children more agile on their feet and more disposed to dancing-steps in games. The growth of fibers of connection in the brain causes an increase in the power of coordinating movements, such as are called for in skipping, which is now easily mastered. Hurdle-leaping is a game much enjoyed in our home. The children personate horses in a cir- cus. An older child or grown person holds a long stick like a cane horizontally and low enough for the children to leap over easily and r-aises it slightly for each successive round until the limit is, reached. Different gaits are used also, walking, running, cantering, and trotting (run- ning with short steps on tiptoe). Throwing-games with balls and bean-bags are good fun and good exercise. Tie a barrel-hoop to swing from the limb of a tree and see who can throw the ball or bean-bag through it. Place a box within easy throwing distance and see how many balls or bags can be thrown in with- out missing. A football is a splendid plaything now for both kicking and throwing. A large ball of denim stuffed with clipped rags is good for indoor play. A large rubber ball lends it- self to bouncing against the wall and on the floor. All that is said of climbing, swinging, and balancing plays for the three-year-olds holds good still. The reader is referred again to the use of simple homemade apparatus, such as the seesaw, rail for walking, slanting ladder and horizontal ladder, swing and trapeze, all of which can be managed in a small yard, porch, or play- room. (See "Our Home Gymnasium," page 277, and "Playthings Which the Father Can Make," pages 149 and 375,) Thinking and Questioning Children at this age are making great efforts to piece together the unrelated and to get ex- planations for the puzzling breaks in meanings, and many mysterious occurrences. Each new experience has to be fitted in with something familiar to which it seems drawn. Things must be made to "square up." Said four-year-old Francis while taking his bath, "Mother, why does this water take the shape of the tub? I lie in it and I don't take its shape?" Harlow at the same age leaned a meditative head on hand when some reference was made to "last summer," and said "Was I here last summer?" "Yes." "Was I here the summer before that?" "Yes, you were here then." "Was I here the summer before that?" "Yes, that summer too." "Was there a time when I wasn't here ?" "Yes." "Where was I when I wasn't here?" "Were yon here then ?" "Was there a time when yo}i were not here?" "What was here then?" "Was there a time when God wasn't here?" This is an example of logical questioning. Harlow really was curious to know. Questioning of three-year-old children has no such motive. They merely question to get an answer, and any answer will do,. This is the time for stories with sequence and repetition, like "The Old Woman and her Pig," and others of the "Little Stories That Grow Big," in the first volume of the Bookshelf. This hunger for knowing more about the mean- ing of things makes of the child a ceaseless ques- tioner. He asks questions, not as often as in the previous year, to get "any answer at all," but out of a real curiosity. For this reason they deserve to be answered as clearly as possible. Keep curiosity alive. It is a great asset. Pity the child in whom it has been stunted. It is the source of knowledge. I have been concerned about a fifteen-year-old boy in whom it is. to say the least, unawakened, or perhaps "stunted" would be the right word. He came from a country home where he had few if any books or pictures, no stimulus to think or study, and very little variety in occupation. He FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 211 has never voluntarily looked at a book or picture since he came to town. Yet there are plenty of them — current magazines, stories of adventure, and a wealth of material. But what is more serrous, he a^ks no questions. Yet he is sur- rounded by things -th^t are new to him. Even on long rides into the mountains, which he never before saw, he gives no signs of wonder. I tell this to emphasize the enormous advantage a child has in being a companion of adults who respond to his questions by answering them or by asking him some that will make him observe and think. Children have a right to short cuts to knowledge from the experiences of older people. Imitative Learning Just as in the previous year, the child is "trying on" the attitudes of those who surround him, speaking their speech, acting as they act, adopting as far as he can grasp them the ideas and feelings of grown people. Let us take ■home this lesson again, that v,'-e must furnish the best possible models of courtesy, friendliness, cheerfulness, and self-control, as well as the more obvious ways of good English, good enunciation, pleasant voice, and correct carriage. For nothing escapes the child's keen observation and the innate tendency to reproduce. XV. HOW THE CHILD PLAYS DURING THE FIFTH YEAR I.N' the previous section we noted a development in imaginative play. We saw the three-year-old using a great variety of objects as symbols of other things, and expanding .these ^suggestions into plays repeated over and over again. We also noted the beginnings of constructive play, in which these chance likenesses are improved upon by some slight change to make the resem- blance to the real thing closer. When this kind of inventiveness becomes marked, the real kindergarten age of constructive play has begun. The imagination did all the transformation in the earlier stage; the tiling was not changed: now the thing itself is worked upon by the little player and is outwardly changed to make it fit more closely his image of the other thing he sees in it. Materials need to be chosen now to give this new power scope. Children are often frustrated in their attempts to do things by a lack of easily workable material. "The reach exceeds the grasp." Tears and temper follow upon the dis- appointment when failure ends a cherished pur- suit. Now is the time when a certain degree of manual skill is a means to an end eagerly sought. It is a time when knots must be tied and untied, when scissors are wanted to shape particular, definite forms, when paste is needed to stick things together, and now and then bits of cloth must be sewed together to make a string for an apron, or to put two pieces of cloth together for a tent, or for some such purpose. It is worth while to take a little time here to teach children to tie knots, lace shoes or blouses, to hold scissors easily (with the trick of turning the paper to cut in curves), to hold the hammer by the end to get more weight in the blow, to hold a big pencil and swing it round in curves, to get round effects easily with a big sweep ; in short, to help children to get control of the technique of some of the acts that are needed daily in their attempts to carry on inde- pendent play-constructions. Yet in all their work, beware of fine move- ments that strain the nerves which govern the movements of eyes and fingers; let us have no sewing of pricked kindergarten cards, no sewing with any but big needles, no pinching of small pencils. Exactness must not be expected. The same materials are desirable that were recommended for the fourth year, but these chil- dren in the fifth year use them so much more definitely that additional suggestions are now made for play with blocks, clay, sand, cutting, drawing, and painting, as well as making things from the materials commonly found in every household. Companionship, material, and opportunity for constructive play, these are the great needs of this period. Restlessness, mischievousness, fretfulness, all disappear as if by magic when these conditions are provided. 212 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAIv XVI. MORE BUILDING PLAYS We need offer no apology for continuing the subject of building as a constant employment for children throughout the kindergarten age, and even beyond. Its charm may wane for a sea- son, but it inevitably returns. One memory re- mains vivid, of our residence in a junior college dormitory, when Olive was three years old and her favorite occupation of building went on often in her father's study. The big boys who came for interviews with the President remained to play with the tiny child and her attractive heap of blocks. I have often come in to find a couple of them sprawled upon the floor, vying with each other in producing the most wojiderful structures, and lingering until the Presidentess was forced to shoo them off to study hour. "What a kindergartner I would have made !" exclaimed the scholarly professor of mathematics as he gazed pridefully on a church-belfry adorned with tower and turret, built from these same blocks, forgetting that the kindergartner is an artist in children more than in architecture. For this is the art of it, — to give the touch here and there that will direct, without seeming to dictate, the activity of a little child into the way that will lead him farther on his voyage of discovery. And of course the same is true of the mother, whose teaching is of necessity (what it should be ideally) incidental. What Blocks to Select The plain cubes, bricks, and long slats of the three-year-old's play-chest should be supplemented by more shapes and a larger quantity of blocks. Cubes cut in halves diagonally and cubes cut in halves vertically give triangular blocks for gable- roofing, and square table-like blocks fill in chinks in many places, while the bricks cut in half along their length give the square post, column, or square prism, according as you choose to name it. It is important to the fitness and fittingncss of the building that these blocks be exactly pro- portioned to each other, else they will not sup- port and maintain the structures evenly, a point as necessary in building for education as it is for the contractor's trade. The wooden peg-lock blocks are good material, though few four-year-old children have the logic and foresight needed to adapt them to house- building. Using the pegs to hold them fast, they can utilize them in simple structures, merely lay- ing them like other blocks. They have the good quality, spoken of in the preceding paragraph, of being well proportioned. Happy the child who can possess a chest of Hennessy blocks, or a couple of boxes of the enlarged fifth and si.xth kindergarten gifts, which contain the shapes mentioned above in sufficient quantity to give two or three children scope in building at the same time. For, as we know to our perplexity, the tool or toy that one child has chosen becomes at that moment the one and only thing that will satisfy little brother or sister or visitor of tender years, so strong is the force of suggestion. If the nursery can have an outfit of the Hill blocks, it will be royally equipped with building material for children of all ages. These last- named have the advantage of being large and heavy, and give a distinct weight to be lifted. This not only affords real muscular exercise, but makes houses, barns, stores, and what not, large and stable enough to be lived in by the builders. Other Building Material The sense of reality is vastly increased if chil- dren have other material that, like this, will make good-sized buildings. Children always love a little enclosed and roofed-in shelter in which they can creep. Our home in the foothills has been the scene of many varieties of such shelters. Caves have been dug out of side hills, now and then falling in on the occupants, who emerged with ears and hair full of clay, but unhurt and undaunted; huts have been built of brush in the laurel thickets; gypsy tents have been patched up from sacking; and just now a large shelter is being erected from packing-cases and bits of board. "Real rooms, Mother, one for each of us," says Olive. Pieces of wood from three to four feet long may be laid on one another, pig-pen or corncob fashion, like an open log-house, and roofed over. This will not only satisfy the children's desire to have a house large enough to get into, but will be invaluable for the physical exercise employed. Stooping, rising, lifting, arm-stretching, the work involved gives the finest of muscular training. Moreover, it has this advantage over ordinary gymnastics in which the exercise is often half- hearted: this is done with mind alert and spirits buoyant. Enthusiasm is high in feeling that something is being done that is worth while. In short, the child's whole self is at work. ■When Mother Takes a Hand at Building "Please come play, too. Mother." It did seem as if I could not spare the time, but the appeal FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 213 was too heartfelt. So down I dropped, thinking, "Now we'll see if Mother's one-time kindergart- ner's skill in showing children better types of building than they would have found is all we used to claim for it." "Let's see if we can make a porch like the one on the big school building," I said, and I began to lay the porch floor of bricks, preparatory to setting up the column-shaped blocks for pillars. "You pick out enough of the square prisms to go across this for pillars, and — " "Oh, no, Mother, not that way. I want to do it another way. I know exactly what I want to do now." "But I thought you wanted some help," said I. "Well, I did, but now I can do this, thank you just the same." The last remark evidently meant to soothe Mother's wounded feelings, if so be she had any. This kind of experience was so often repeated during the kindergarten stage of our little girl's childhood that, as her mother saw, a more fit, shapely, realistic bit of building grow than her own grown-up invention could have contrived, a suspicion, entertained long years before, became deepened into a conviction — namely, that given material as shapely as these bricks, tablets, and columns, and plenty of time and freedom, a child is his own best teacher in the childish form of the building art. Of course, cooperation novir and then was help- ful, such as the start I gave when I suggested the school porch. Evidently at that particular moment she needed a stimulus of this sort. But the start once given by my suggestion, the method of arriving at the end in view began to shape itself at once, and she not only needed no adult advice, she even shook it off as if it irked her even to think the way might not be left to her own finding. Sometimes it is a help to propound problems to him like in kind to those he sets for himself, but with the addition of definiteness of statement, such as the following: "See if you can make a fence for your chicken- yard two bricks long on every side." "Let's build a chicken-run, the longest one you can make with eight bricks." "Lay a dancing-floor, using all these bricks, and make it square." "Now let's change it to an oblong one." "Let's build a lot of chimneys (or towers), the first one the smallest you can make and the next one bigger, until you get the tallest one that will stand." But in the main the problems evolved from a child's own impulse to represent that with which he is familiar are those that stimulate the most vital thinking.* The child of this age is an individualist and an egoist, in the sense that his keenest enjoyment comes from his sense of personal achievement. He also sees things with a vivid feeling of their meaning and but little appreciation of their wide relationships. The porch alluded to in the para- graph above may serve as an illustration. Most children at this time will make some such detail of a house with great pride and delight, quite satisfied without any house to go with it. A pair of steps, a doorway, a room, each is suffi- cient, standing alone. It either seems to his imagination complete, a meaning in itself, or else the house is implied in this part of it, which is a house-symbol, as it were. Later, we mark a new development which grows out of the skill acquired in making these isolated things; this new sign is that of organ- ization. A child who has discovered, either by chance or of a purpose, ways to represent these features of doorway, steps, porch, and room, soon gets new pleasure from his power to combine them into a new whole ; that is, he organizes them. When this power becomes marked, the child in question is entering the later kinder- garten period, dealt with at length in the next section. Stories Furnish Themes for Building-Plays Several of the old folk-tales, that ought to be in the repertoire of every teacher, owe part of • The grocery store may be made an individual project, each child building with Froebelian blocks counters and shelves, adding cans of fruit and vegetables and glasses of jelly represented by cylinders of the beads, large and small. Other material may be used with the blocks as the repre- sentation and play are carried forward and as the children discover a need for them. Real fruit, vegetables, and grains may be used, or clay fruit and vegetables may be made and ainted, and boxes and baskets constructed to hold these, lioney may be made, a pocketbook to carry it in, and a de- livery wagon for the goods. At the approach of the Christ- mas season the grocery store will be transformed into a toy shop and decorated and equipped with a large variety of toys. In the Spring the need for new clothing may lead to the building and equipping of a dry-goods or department store. Another project is laying out the farm, building fences, constructing the farm buildings, such as the farmer's house, the barn, the shed, the chicken-house. -An e-xcursion will be made to a farm if it can be provided for. The morning will be spent in playing in the hay, feeding the chickens, and getting as much valuable and happy farm experience as possible. On the following day the toy farm animals may be brought out and the child may build with blocks to pro- vide the animals with proper shelter, water troughs, and barnyards. Fields, gardens, and perhaps an orchard will be laid out and fenced in, and gradually a miniature farm will develop in the sand-table or in one corner of the room. Here, as in the grocery store, other materials may be com- bined with the blocks to complete the project. If the ex- cursion to the farm is not possible, and if a farm visit has not been a part of the experience, less time will be spent upon the problem, and_ only those phases of it will be re- produced in manual activity which seem most interesting and closest to the child's experience; for example, the construc- tion of the farmer's wagon bringing the produce into the grocery store, building a shelter for the toy animals, pro- viding for feeding and watering the toy animals. S: 214 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL their charm to the suggestions they contain of housekeeping. They make good themes for rep- resentation with blocks. Using cubes, bricks, and long blocks freely to- gether, let the children see who can make a house that the old wolf cannot tear down, though he "huff and puff" as much as he will. Snow White and the Seven Little Dwarfs lived in a cottage with fireplace and dresser to be kept in order, seven little beds to be made, floor to be strewed daily with "golden sands." Who can make the dresser in which Snow White put the dishes after she had washed them? Who can lay a floor, and who will make seven little beds to arrange on it? The old favorite "Three Bears" has three beds, three chairs, three bowls, all of "big, middle, and little sizes," to be imitated. Bowls might be made of plasteline or clay. All Making is Solving Problems I never can decide whether to laugh or to cry when some parent or teacher refers to the pri- mary - school curriculum as being "work," in contradistinction to the kindergarten building, cut- ting, sewing, and making as "play." The im- plication is that it is all perfectly easy, requiring no effort, no concentrated attention, and on the whole just filling in time until the real business of school begins, which in its turn gets its value from being a "preparation for life." And when, pray, I ask, does living begin? No; the child who is patiently trying, choosing a brick now, and a half brick then, to fill some space, or measuring the side of a half-done en- closure with his eye, and then selecting enough of the right length of blocks to fill it, is doing thinking of a high order. He is setting prob- lems for himself, and then solving them by the hour, day after day. An Instance of Self-Building While I write, a little four-year-old boy sits on the floor beside me. He wandered in from a neighbor's home, and I handed him a box of blocks of a great many sizes and shapes. He played without interruption for half an hour; when I turned around he showed me a little cannon he had made by balancing a long cylin- drical block on an axle made of a burned match stuck between two large button molds for wheels. Near it was a small house, in which he had utilized several blocks of different dimensions very cleverly. We talked a little about these things, and then I turned back to my typewriter, leaving him no suggestion as to what to do next. Becoming absorbed, I forgot all about the little fellow until, darkness gathering, I looked at my watch and found three-quarters of an hour had elapsed. To my surprise, he was still there, contemplating with satisfaction a structure of some preten- sions. I thought it was a church, seeing a fine portal with square columns, round columns, and roof, built in front of the large box, which served as auditorium. I saw rows of seats within, too; but no, it was a "movie theater." I could not help wondering at the shapeliness of the little building, its fitness, and the evidences it showed of thought and skill. Here was an illustration to my hand of this text: the right viatcrial is a stimithts to creating. This child, like all others in whom a purpose is born, knew neither fatigue, nor flight of time, nor loneliness, but was "possessed" by an idea, completely lost in working it out. The concen- trated work meant control, will, persistence. The preliminary handling of the various blocks served to make him acquainted with their possibilities. After some experimental building, he made a door- way, which some inner sense told him would be pretty if the round columns and square columns were placed in pairs opposite each other. This portal probably sug- gested the movie theater. Casting about for some- thing large enough and hollow, his eye fell on the empty box. This called in turn for seats. Again a bit of observation and thinking to pick out the best blocks for these and to adjust them in two rows, with an aisle between. Seeing me still busy, he lay back on the floor and chatted and hummed his satisfaction until I turned around. I was impressed by the value to the youngster of the knowledge gained, the thinking done, the persistence exercised, the pur- poseful control; yet when all is said, we must include the training of the affections. After all, the best the children get out of some of their imitative plays lies in this last item. We overlook the fact that in all the things that sur- round us, there is a kind of "dearness," coming from association through use, which constitutes their meaning, and that these playful makings deepen and define these feelings. BUREAU llAMMhK AM) .\ A i LS.— UKl nR A I Kl> l'Al'1-.K 1 )1SHES,— I LA V Mulil-L.^ FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY SI- XVII. HAMMER AND NAILS Children get a great deal of pleasure in play- ing carpenter. There is a sense of reality about the wooden toy that is lacking in the things of paper. Odds and ends of lumber, the waste from BEN'CH-STOP measured lengths, may be bought cheaply at al- most any lumber yard. We had a load of this kind put into our cellar for kindling, and Helen and I picked out the best of it to make still more furniture for the doll-house. Tools We had a hammer, a bit and brace, borrowed from father's tool-box. and a saw of her own with a narrow point. It is a Ball saw, made for BED this kind of work. We used the back steps for a work-bench, .^.t first Helen held the boards steady while I did the sawing, then she took her T.\BLE turn at the saw. Then I made a bench-stop like the diagram. This helped hold the boards firmly by bracing them against angle D. CH.\IR A and B are two blocks 2x2x4 inches. C is a block 4x4x1 inches. The stop is shown in the diagram fitting over the bench or table, X. We used small wire-nails, but the wrought-iron finishing nails are better, because they do not bend so easily under ill-aimed blows. Some of our bits of board were 2 x J'S-inch stufif. We cut the wider stuff into two- and five- inch lengths ; these worked up into table- Jops, bottoms of beds, piano-backs, etc. The square-ended stutif we cut into one- and two- inch lengths for legs. The furniture was rather rough and home- ly, and w-e decided to use a small plane to smooth the pieces the next time. For these we used coarse sand- paper. Some we stained mahogany-color, some oak. White enamel paint would make the bed- room furniture really pretty. We planned to go to a carpenter-shop and or- der poplar stock one-third of an inch thick, and make some furniture for her little cousins. This material is soft enough to work easily, and has a good grain and color. Wagons Materials; Cigar box and four flat tape-spools, bits of leather, and wire-nails with good heads. Place wheels on side of box with hole over edge of bo.x-bottom. Drive a nail through a bit of folded leather, put through hole in spool, and drive into edge of box-bottom. A screw-eye screwed into front makes a superior fastening for the string that pulls the wagon. Large but- ton molds make good wheels, but empty type- writer-ribbon spools of metal are the best of all. Sailboat Materials: Thin (three-eighths-inch) board about 4 X 10 inches. Dowel-rod eight inches long. Cloth square, 6x6 inches. Tacks. Small screw- eye. Glue. Measure end of board. Find point half way across and place dot. Measure same distance on 2l6 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL other end. Measure a like distance from corners down sides of board and dot. Place ruler from dot at center of end to dot at side of board. 7K- DIAGRAM OF SAIL BOAT Draw a line. Repeat on other side and same at other end. Saw off these two right-angle tri- angles. Place ruler from point to point of this board. Draw a line to bisect the angles and con- nect them. Place a dot on this line three inches from one end. Bore a hole. Insert dowel-rod for mast. Glue it in. Cut square cloth in half, to make two triangles. Fasten one of the straight edges of one of the triangles to the mast with its other straight edge parallel with the Ixiat. Tie a string to the loose corner, and run the string through a screw-eye near the back of the boat. Plant Stand This would make a good Christmas or birth- day present for some grown person. Saw a square from a board 6 inches wide. Saw four cubes from material one-inch square. Nail or glue the small pieces to the corners of the large square, to serve as "feet." Four spools might be used instead of small cubes. Spools and Their Uses One day I took Nancy with me to the Red Cross rooms, and gave her the empty spools to play with. The manager said we were welcome to take them home. They made such good build- ings that I got paint and turpentine and stained them in bright colors. Nancy used them for col- umns, gate posts, and organ pipes. With card- board for floors and roofs, they made ornamental houses. One day she made a cupboard that she wanted to keep, and I showed her how to use liquid glue, putting it on the ends of the spools with a match, and then planting the cardboard on top of it. XVIII. MAKING THINGS OUT OF PAPER One of the most profitable occupations for chil- dren is found in making things out of the odds and ends that we throw in the trash-basket. There is in our house a certain low closet shelf, where we all go to find string, wrapping-paper, and empty bo.xes. On the shelf above, nails, tacks, sandpaper, hammer, and saw are in the com- pany of the paste tube and glue bottle. Here the children find the materials and tools for many little toys and constructions. The most recent demands made on it were for the construction of scenery for a puppet theater that Helen and Sara were fitting up. Big sheets of brown wrapping-paper were wanted, to be painted to represent a wooded valley. Pasteboard dress-boxes were used for side scenes, which Mother helped them cut like great oak trees. Small boxes were made into cots and tables, and the ragbag was rummaged for bits of khaki and scarlet cloth, by which token you may know this was to be a Red Cross play. A match-box made an ambulance with big but- ton molds for wheels. Paper fasteners were obtained from father's desk to fasten the top to the body. Mother offered her best French crayons to color FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 217 the scenes, and when the boys of the neighbor- hood came around and saw the girls laying on the color, they wanted to take a hand, quite sure they could beat the girls at it. Mother indulged them in more crayon, and soon David and Tommy and Jack were lying on the porch floor reveling in brilliant color effects, partly derived from their "inner consciousness" and partly from the land- scapes that Mother got down from the wall for hints on sky and hills. The best scene was voted on and then the boys wandered away, bent on their own schemes. Next, little Jimmy came pattering up the steps in search of occupation, and to him was offered the job of putting the ambulance together. Eight- year-old Helen very patronizingly explained how he could put a pencil point through the hole in each button mold, to mark the place for a hole on the box, where he might punch it with a sharp-pointed nail ; and how to thrust the fasten- ers first through the button, then through the hole, how to bend the points back, etc., etc. Great fun for little Jimmy and a piece of routine work shifted from Miss Helen to someone else. Meanwhile, Mother sat sewing by the window, thinking what a blessing was that closet shelf and offering her advice when asked or unasked. One aspect of this utilization of common things is that every little bit of string, or paper, or cloth, or spool, though apparently worthless in money, has cost many people weary hours of toil. Helen and I often think of this when we make a game of hunting a thing down to its sources, and noting the many hands and processes through which it has passed. She has come to realize that even a shoe-box is no despicable thing. Once Mother found the tables turned unex- pectedly on her when she objected to buying something Helen wanted, because of the price. The little girl answered, "Why, Mother, I don't call that expensive. Just think of the people that have vi'orked on it — the man who sells it, the people that wove the cloth and dyed it, and the sheep the wool grew on, and the farmer that cut it oft' and took care of it. I don't call that expensive !" Match-Box Toys All children love to make something that will "go." A shop-made wagon will never quite take the place of one a child has made. The toys described below can be planned and made by any youngster with very little help. The materials needed are : Large-sized match- boxes of the kind that push open, a sharp-pointed bodkin, a hatpin or horseshoe nail for punching holes, brass paper-fasteners or laundry studs, button molds or milk-bottle tops, liquid glue, string, and a wire hairpin. Doll's Perambulator Place one match-box inside another at right angles to it, so that the inside one forms the hood. Glue in place. Punch holes in centers of four circles. Lay one on side of body of peram- bulator at front, one at back. Punch hole through center of circle and box. Put fastener in hole. Bend back ends of fastener. Punch holes for hairpin ends to go through for handle-bar. Bend hairpin and insert. Train of Cars Make a series of wagons and fasten them to- gether with bent pins for couplers. Make engine of a box with four wheels and a smaller box glued to back end for cab; spool in front for smokestack; tiny spools for sand-box and dome. Milk Wagon Use a box for body. Hold another upside down over it, to see where strips may be fastened at each corner to secure it. Cut four strips about four inches long and half an inch wide and glue on the inside to the body, one at each corner. Invert the other box and glue strips to its cor- ners, inside. Fasten string in front to pull by. IVheclbarroii) Take out one end of a match-box, cut off two corners from side next it. Glue two strips of heavy cardboard along sides of box extending about two inches in front, for handles. Punch hole in center of bottle-top, thread it on hair- pin. Punch two holes in sides of box at the back. Bend hairpin open. Bend ends at right angles and push them through these holes. A Delivery Wagon An automobile delivery wagon can be made by using the box for body. Loosen one end at two sides and open in line with bottom of box. Loosen opposite end at bottom. Cut it down middle to make two rear doors. Glue a piece of pasteboard as wide as the bottom of box and four inches longer to the bottom and the flap that has been bent down in front. This stiffens it to hold a smaller box, which can be glued to it on top. When this is quite dry fasten one pair of wheels to the back end of body and one pair to this engine-box. Stick a match through the bot- tom, slanting upward, with bottle top stuck on end for steering-wheel. A tiny square pillbox will make the driver's seat. This is too hard 2l8 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL for a four-year-old to think out, but if parts are made ready he will enjoy putting them together. Folding and Cutting The kindergarten folding evolved by Froebel was a device at first to employ his pupils pleas- antly on rainy afternoons, when they could not have their customary excursions afield. Later he developed it elaborately into a long series of complicated folds— symmetrical ones that made little designs, and realistic ones that were called "life-forms." The life-forms seem most appropriate to little children and have been added to since his day. A few are given here. It will be necessary to have paper cut in accurate squares at first. Later, accurately cut oblongs can be used to bet- ter advantage. The younger children lack the control of eye and hand to do much folding, for it requires ex- actness. The forms given below can be done in rather heavy paper cut 5x5 or 6x6 inches. It will be noticed that one form grows out of the preceding, and leads up to another, which follows from it with but one slight step added. This fashion of working is in kindergarten par- lance "sequence." It is a very helpful method of leading children to overcome difficulties bit by bit. Easy Folding, Scries I One day a group of four children, the babies of the School of Education Kindergarten, went into the garden to pick nasturtiums, to carry to their mothers. I gave each one a paper and asked them if they could make something of it to carry the flowers in, so they would not wilt. They had been given no folding lessons, so the problem needed some thinking and experiment on their part. Fryar pinched his together at each corner into a dish-shape and asked for paste to make it fast. Bessie made hers into a roll, open at each end, and thought she could tuck the flowers inside. James made a kind of cornucopia of his and asked for pins to fasten it. Charles could think of no way, but decided to make his like James'. Donald folded his square in the middle, making it in the shape of a book. I was rather pleased to see them go to work in such direct and origi- nal ways to meet the difficulty, for it meant think- ing to make the means at hand meet the end. The next day they went into the garden to gather lettuce, and instead of repeating the work of the day before, I offered to show them how to make a little basket with a handle, somewhat in this fashion ; "Lay your papers on the table. Take the front edge (the one next to you) and fold it over till it touches the back edge and lies on top of it. Press down on the folded side of your paper till it lies flat. Now use your thumb-nail for a little tlatiron and smooth this edge still flatter. Here are two little squares. If you will r fold these in half, as you have ] done this paper, we can paste it in at the ends of this book- shaped paper to close them up. Here is a strip for a handle you would paste it." 1 Show me where (See Fig. I.) In this instance I did not show the children how to make the article until they had felt the need of it, and had tried to make something that would fill it in their own way. Sometimes I would put a finished thing on the table and say, "Would you like to make one like this?" and let them find out how to do it. In cither case they have to do some thinking, which is good for them. If the thing to be done is in the nature of putting parts together, as in the wagons described in a preceding section, it might be well to put a finished one before them, and lay the material down for them to build up one of their own. Fig. 2 shows the same sized square folded into a book. Pictures from magazines may be pasted in it to make a doll's scrap-book, or it may be cov- ered with make-believe writing, or pic- tures can be outlined in it to be colored liy the children with crayons. It is easier than the basket, but we needed the basket. Fig. 3 is the lower edge folded to the upper edge, and the whole opened. We call it a window. It might be made of the semi-transparent paper that cereal packages are wrapped in and a frame of thicker paper strips pasted around it. ^ Fig. 4 is folded by laying one corner of the square on the op- posite one, making a triangle. It makes a good shawl for an old- **" * lady clothes-pin doll. It is fun to fringe it by snipping slashes round the edge. Figs, sa and 5b show something that suggests a sailboat. Fold window, shawl, shawl made by two FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 219 other opposite corners put together, open, and fold one corner to touch center. 64 6 b Figs. 6a and 6b are steps in making an envelope into which a letter can be tucked. < ''■ \'' > 1/ \/ \ Fig. 7 becomes a valentine when a picture is pasted in the center. Figs. 8a and 8b are steps in making a pinvvheel. Cut in heavy lines and pin corners a, b, c, d to center. Thrust pin in end of rod, as in 8b. Easy Folding, Scries 11 (Illustration on page 220) Fold as in Series I, front edge to back, right to left, making "window." Open. Fold front edge to meet the crease that runs from right to left through the center. Same with back edge ( Fig. 2). Turn over and play with as tunnel; stand on end for cupboard doors (Figs. 3 and 4). Crease into square chimney (Fig. 5). Lay on table, doors down. Fold a short end to meet middle crease, same with opposite end ( Figs. 6 and 7). Turn over for bridge (Fig. 8). K.N.— 16 Suggestions for Play with These Polils The cupboard may have straight horizontal lines drawn on it for shelves, with apples, bottles of jam, etc., drawn on them. Fig. 6 may be called a toboggan, and made to slide down a smooth slanting surface. The tunnel may have toy cars pushed in and out of it, be put in sand- table as a bridge used over stream in sand. It may also serve as a chimney glued to a paper box for a house. A Good Barn or House Fold as for bridge. Open (Fig. 9). Mark the three creases on two opposite sides with pencil. Cut in marks. Pinch middle crease and lap the four free squares over each other, two middle ones first, then end ones. Fig. 10 shows process. Fig. 1 1 shows barn pasted and doors and w^indows cut out. This would be a good model for the children to work out from your finished one with the marked paper as a guide. This same foundation will be used in the sixth year for a set of furniture. Paper-Cutting No "made" toys have ever given us so much pleasure as we got with blunt-pointed scissors and colored crayons. They were our resource on several long journeys. We tucked them into the handbag with a tube of paste, an old maga- zine and a newspaper to be spread on the floor of the car to catch the clippings (not to make the porter too much trouble). Then with cutting out pictures, coloring them, folding tents, cutting soldiers in rows, chicken-coops, chickens, and what not, the time passed wonderfully. The advertising matter in magazines is full of pretty things, many of them done by clever, artists, that can be colored, cut out, and pasted into scrap-books. Helen and Sara took some useless official books that had wide margins and good bindings, and filled them with pictures for the children's ward in a hospital. Old department-store catalogs furnish rugs, furniture, and kitchen utensils as well as paper ladies for the paper doll-house. Free-Hand Cutting Too much cutting out of pictures sometimes keeps children from becoming independent in cutting free-hand. They are afraid to launch out. But at first it is good training simply to follow a line. Four-year old Nancy had a struggle to cut 220 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL paper dolls without amputating a limb. * Yester- day she showed me a family with pardonable pride. There was not a cripple among them. That's the result of frequent cutting-bees under the superintendence of Helen. Now we want to see Nancy developing some power to make pic- tares of her own with the scissors. It takes a good deal of random snipping to find out that a turn of the wrist will turn the I give her a long strip of paper and let her paste it under the house, it will look, when mounted on a sheet of dark paper, like a bird-house on a pole. Scraps like wings can be made into flying birds, and so the picture grows. The same house, with a snip cut out for a door, looks like a dog-kennel. A little triangle is like a chicken-coop. If Nancy can not cut the biddies, I can. Wlien they are pasted on the paper, I can give her short I -J Jiu'.u^au^AujxJj ^Limimtt/tMUli ^ 8 ^ r ; - 11 line at will. To-day we will spread a paper on the floor and when Nancy comes to call, will let her snip and sec what pictures she can find in the scraps. Here will be a shoe and here a tent, and now something that looks like a house. If * Before construction can be undertaken, control of the scissors shouhl be gained. The first cutting will be making little snips, which can be used to fill a pillow for the dolls; paper may be fringed for rugs and table runners for the playhouse; table siircads, rugs, and bedding may be cut, and napkins cut and folded for the playhouse. By this time the child should have sufficient >:ontrol of the scissors to cut successfully from the magazines pictures with straight edges. Strips to lay on the paper for fence-posts and long ones to lay across for the boards, and so we have a picture of a yard with bird-house, dog-kennel, and chicken-coop. All this is drawing. We are representing things as they look in outline. As we look at what we have done (whether by purpose or acci- dent) we feel its inaccuracies and want to ob- serve the real thing more closely the next time we see it. This is the way all drawing, modeling, and cutting helps observation ; and is the reason FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 221 why high school students of botany are required to draw the plant-forms they are studying. Little children in the nursery are studying in the same way, with this difference : they are in- terested in the story aspect of their work, and not much in its accuracy. Nevertheless, their drawing is not mere amusement. It is training the eye to see and the hand to carry out. Additional Suggestions Let a square be folded in half. Fold one of the resulting triangles in half, putting sharp corners together. Draw for child lines from TRIANGLE FOLDED AND MARKED CHICKEN COOP folded edge toward longest edge. Cut out strips on these lines. Open. Result : Chicken-coop, slatted. Chicken: Cut a large and a small circle. Paste one half-way over the other. Draw bill and legs. Cottages: Cut a square into four small squares, an- other into triangles. Let the triangles be pasted on the squares, making four cot- tages in a row. House: Fold a square in quarters, fold two ad- jacent corners to the cen- ter, making outline of house with roof. Fold this through center, divid- ing peak of roof in half. Cut out oblong for door. Unfold. Cut little oblong to make chimney. Paste on roof. Apple: Give child a circle or let him cut one. Curve in one side a little. Make stem and paste in depression. HOUSE OPENED APPLE E.SKIMO HOUSE Eskimo house: Give or cut circle. Fold and cut in half. Cut tiny opening in middle of straight edge, for doorway. FOLDED SQU.\RE SAME FOLDED AND DOOR MARKED FOR CUTTING CRESCENT MOON Crescent Moon: Use other half to shape by one curving cut. Christmas Gifts Calendars can be made by cutting out small pictures appropriate to Christmas and pasting them on a card with a small calendar below. The school supply-houses carry a line of these small pictures. The beauty of these depend on the neatness of the pasting, the color of card and ribbon or cord used to hang it, and the spacing of picture and calendar, width of margins, etc. These are matters for the mother to call to the children's attention before pasting. Let them experiment with the arrangement, and then put pencil-marks on the card to mark corners of picture. 222 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Pin-trays: Very small picnic plates can be bought for a few cents a dozen, for children to decorate with a band of color done in water- color about the rim. Pictures can be used for the center. Blotters: Get a sheet of blotting-paper and narrow ribbon to harmonize. Lay on it a stiff blotter of size desired and let child mark round it and cut out with scissors. Tie several of these together with ribbon run through slits or holes punched through the several blotters. A picture may be pasted on the top one. A Ball for the Baby: Cut circle two inches in diameter from a piece of card. Punch out a hole one-fourth inch in diameter at center. Thread darning needle with long, double strand of wool. Sew through hole, bring over edge of card and in hole again. Repeat until hole is full and circle thickly padded. Cut along edge of circle. Push wool back and, separating the two round pieces of cardboard, introduce a string between them and tie it firmly around wool at center of circle. Tear card away and trim ends of wool off to a well-shaped ball. Of course many strands will have to be threaded into needle. Needle-book : Let child draw around some circular object on a pretty colored piece of tough cover-paper. Cut out. Use same measure for wool cloth, mark with chalk. Cut out. Sew these leaves to the paper circle at one side or punch holes and fasten them with ribbon. Penwiper: Make as above, using old cotton- cloth or pieces from kid gloves for leaves. There are many more things that a child of this age might make, but your own invention will suggest the ones best suited to his needs and taste. Whatever is done should be so simple that the work on it will really be in the main the child's own. Then it will be honestly done and given. XIX. MODELING IN THE FIFTH YEAR This occupation continues to be of absorbing in- terest, as it was in the previous year, and it is such an unrivaled training for the sense of form that it is well to keep the clay jar always in readiness, or to have on hand one of the modern substitutes — plasticine or plasteline. After the very primitive kind of modeling described for the fourth year, the children will begin to discover that they can produce like- nesses to familiar objects and can improve upon them by repetition. This tendency to repeat themselves with variations is as fruitful a process here as are building, and speech, and all other forms of mastering particular problems. A little help is advisable now in showing how to manipulate this plastic material to get results, just as you would show the manipulation of the .scissors for getting results in cutting, or the chalk in blackboard drawing. What to Model The answer to this is easy: anything at all that a child tries to make is legitimate copy. Some things are easier than others, as we saw in the motor-play with the clay described earlier. Some things are more beautiful in form than others, but it is doubtful if at this age the aesthetic qualities of form make a very strong appeal. Let us get our first cue from movement, as we did earlier. Taking a small lump of clay (large enough to fill comfortably the hollow in the palm), roll it round and round as if between millstones until it begins to look spherical. Of course, if it is a good ball somebody else will want to make one, too. It suggests an apple, an orange, a man's head. Very well, let's make a man, perhaps like a snowman, built-up head on trunk, and extended arms, perhaps a rather flattened gentleman lying supine with legs as well as arms too weak to hold him up. Very likely he will have no body at all, but legs and arms sprouting from the place where his neck should be. A question in this case as to where his own arms spring from, an observation of Mother's own substantial body, or feeling his playmate's rounded trunk, might be sufficient direction to cause him to correct his model. If not, it does not matter; there is ample time com- ing for these perceptions to grow in definiteness. If we could only realize this truth, that growth itself will bring much that we push and strive for, our relations with children would be far happier, and their development be quite as sure and normal. The normal reaction from attempting to draw, model, cut, or make in any material, is to look sharply at the thing we are trying to reproduce the next time we see it. This is just as true of children, though they may not be conscious, as we are, of the effort to study. To return to our ball, we find that it needs just a stem to make it an apple; but if an apple is felt all over, the dimple for the stem is ap- parent, and another dimple where the blossom fell off. Now that the whole range of spherical objects is opened up, all fruits can be represented. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY J23 With a little extra pinching and rolling of each end we have a lemon, a plum, or a melon ; by flattening opposite sides we find a resemblance to a tomato ; the same grooved from one depres- sion to the other presents us with a pumpkin or canteloupe. Each new resemblance achieved is hailed with joy. There is no need of any suggestion of organizing the results into any new whole, like a fruit-store. That can come later. Simply to be making, this is enough. Animal Forms At the Hull House kindergarten we once had as a visitor a baby alligator, that was sent from Florida when the kindergarten opened in the fall. He was brought in when clay had been distributed for modeling, and was put on the table with the suggestion that the children make his picture in clay. The children were full of interest in the sprawling movements and curious legs and jaws of "de alligate," as the Italian children called him. But they fumbled vaguely with the masses of clay, quite unable to give form to it, though they amiably tried. The results were shapeless and we dropped the idea. The alligator was carried off to parts unknown : probably he was an honored guest in the public school near by. Six weeks passed, during which the children played with the clay almost daily. The fruit- stands on Halsted Street were gay with autumn fruits, so they modeled these, and made a variety of inventive discoveries, handling the clay freely as they chose. One morning I discovered the alligator in a back room and brought him in and placed the pan containing him on the table. Shortly after I heard an excited call from brown-eyed An- nunziata : "Teach', teach' ! Come and see de alligate." I came, supposing he was in some queer new pose, but no, a rough but telling clay sketch of the ungainly creature lay on the table before her. She was wild with delight at her success and so were the other children, with whom beautiful Annunziata was a queen. Spurred with the skill of their favorite, they all bent to the task and soon the table teemed with swamp life. It seemed strange to us that, in the long time that had elapsed since the children had seen the queer and unfamiliar creature, their ideas had grown so definite. We could only lay it to the training their daily modeling had given their eyes and fingers. In the above I have tried to show the order of a child's development as exhibited in the han- dling of clay : from purely motor play to dis- covery that likenesses accidentally achieved can be reproduced by repeating the movements that brought forth the form; that the eye follows the hand, taking note of what it is doing and has done. Little dishes continue in high favor. The best of them can be baked in a hot oven (the hotter the better) after being dried for several days. If put in wet they crack and fly in pieces. But on the whole it is quite as well not to make permanent these very imperfect models. Many have served their purposes in the joy of making and can be quietly disposed of after the little artist is tucked in bed. I usually let them stand on display until they are replaced by something more recent. But let me caution you not to do injustice by treating these things with either disrespect or unwise praise. Children long for recognition and praise and ought to have it, but let them not get it in such terms that each one thinks he is the eighth wonder. More Play in the Sand-Table The sand-table continues to be a source of un- failing joy. The play goes on much as described for the fourth year. Roads, railroads, hills and caves, wells and ponds, are made and improved upon day after day. A fence about it gives the clue to another range of plays; within its boun- daries may be at one time a house, a school- house, a pasture, a chicken-yard. Blocks trans- ferred to it complete the buildings. Little cotton Easter chickens may be the stimulus for the chicken-yard. The chickens need coops, which can be made of one square of paper folded into an oblong, set up like a tent, and toothpicks thrust across, piercing the slanting sides for the slats. A flag and some lead soldiers suggest a drill- ground, for which you might suggest folded tents of paper. Any child who has seen a windlass-well or a windmill-pump will be delighted to reproduce them. A square box with the sides intact and bottom removed makes a well-curb: a spool with a rod or a twig through it makes the windlass; a string and toy bucket finishes the essentials. For the windmill tower, blocks laid pigpen fashion will do. Pin to the top a pinwheel made like the one on page 219. A miniature playground will delight any child and can be made from the contents of his play- box, — a seesaw from a ruler balanced on a spool, a swing from a frame made of a short block balanced on two tall, upright ones, with a string 224 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL tied to the short one in a long loop. Little penny dolls or paper dolls can swing and teeter. A swimming-pool is too easily made to need de- scription. Leave that to the mere suggestion. But if you will show the children how to fold a square of paper back and forth, fan-fashion, and then cut a string of paper children hand in hand to be dancing in a ring, you will have contributed a pleasant feature that can be repeated ad in- finitum. Children will devise their own scenes with very little help if they have the toy animals, dolls, blocks, spools, string, and other materials. Your part will be in suggesting and encouraging, with now and then the solution of a knotty problem too hard for the little head. XX. PICTURES AND PAINTING The reader is referred to what has been written in the previous section on drawing for the three- year-old. Since drawing is so nearly another kind of speech to little children, it should be made as full and free as possible. The way to do this is to keep drawing-materials of the kind easiest to handle constantly accessible to children. To me the blackboard and crayon are ideal, save for the dust of the crayon in the room. That, however, is an objection that does not ob- tain in the home where one or two, not forty, children are using it. The great advantage of the blackboard is that the drawings may be erased and repeated countless times without waste and with such ease of movement; and perhaps greater than .this, is the play it gives to the large arm muscles. Both the psychologist and the artist say that we cramp the child's powers by giving him small pencils to grasp, and hard pen- cils on which he must bear down to get a line. First-grade teachers say that after a child has once learned to grip his pencil at home it is next to impossible to get him to limber up and write with the loose fingers and easy arm-movement that is the great nerve-saving habit of modern writing. Then let us use the blackboard or large sheets of wrapping-paper and soft wax crayon or the big marking pencils used by carpenters. Play-Practice For getting control of movements needed in drawing: Use soft pencils. Practice a free arm-movement, pencil lightly held in the fingers, arm- resting on the table. Swing round and round in big continuous "0"s." Make this a picture of a ball of yarn. Swing the pencil back and forth from left to right and make the "ground." Beginning at the top of the paper, draw long strokes to the bottom of the paper. Draw in the same way shorter fence-posts and cross them with "wire" or "boards." Right and left strokes. Christinas Tree: Long, broad stroke from top to bottom for trunk. Downward sloping branches made with single strokes. Poplar Tree: Branches sloping upward. Elm, Maple, or Oak Tr.ce: Branches slightly upward sloping, but many times branching into smaller and smaller branches. The Object of This Drawing At this age we are uncritical of the resthetic side of drawing and painting; the aim is to say something with the drawing, not to make a beautiful thing. At first the objects are repre- sented in an isolated way — a man, a dog, a chair, a tree. Then these things are used to tell a story. The grotesquerie of these drawings should ex- cite neither comment nor laughter in the presence of the artist, unless the child sees it as funny himself, in which case it will not check his ef- forts to laugh with him. The main thing is to put nothing in the way of free expression, and to give encouragement. Suggestions can be given without concern as to whether they are adopted or not. Often ques- tions and suggestions will keep children from settling down and adopting their own conven- tions for tree, flower, man, or what not as final, and will start them on a new track. For in- stance, in a picture of "Aunt Elsie wheeling her baby," the dress of "Aunt Elsie" disclosed an extraordinary length of leg below the triangle which symbolized the skirt. I asked the little girl, "Does Aunt Elsie wear such short dresses?" Whereupon she hastily lengthened the garment by a scribbled addition. I have often called the attention of children to the fact that in real life legs are not visible through petticoats. I have suggested the addition of hands and feet, and FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 225 SO on, just to keep the attention moving and ideas growing in detail. Painting It is best to take the paints out for very little children. Use little pans or butter-plates. Dip the brush in water and wash paint from pan. putting it from one color into another. Other- wise the colors will never be pure and brilliant. One day I sat down beside Robert to show him how to lay on the strokes for leaves. Uncon- sciously I dipped the brush loaded with green into the blue pan. Instantly the reproof came from the young man, "How can you tell us not •fe ^:< CD- C3 €^> c:- ^ BRUSH PRINTING Transfer to plate. Repeat with each color needed. This saves smearing one color over another in the box. Red, yellow, and blue are all the colors they need. They enjoy watching the mixture of these colors to produce others. Red and yellow blend to orange, blue and yellow to green, and red and blue to purple. Each child should have a bit of old cotton cloth with which to dab up spots of color that fall where not wanted. Teach them to rinse the brush in water before to do that when you do the very same thing yourself?" I meekly accepted the correction. Methods and Devices Painting is drawing in color. Children go through about the same period of experimenta- tion with the new medium that they do with any new material : first playing with the brush and color to see what they can do with it. They usually handle the brush like a scrub-brush, gripping it in the fist and scrubbing around. 226 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL ^P' % BRUSH PRINTING What a gorgeous trail it leaves in its wake ! The brush is plunged in the paint again and the spot spreads till the paper is awash. "Mine is done !" says the embryo artist and looks about for more paper. This is the time for a little direction. Let him choose another color, and show him how to sweep the brush across the paper from left to right, un- til the long streaks blend, and a wash has tinted the paper smoothly. These washes, when dry, can be used for rugs in the doll-house or cut into paper-doll dresses. A blue paper may stand for the blue sky over- head, a green one for the grass plot. Paste the blue above the green and you discover a land- scape. To make it more real, reproduce the effect on one piece of paper, washing the brush when half-way down the page and laying on WASH I'AlNTINCi — SKY AND GRASS ^-isi HLKNinXr, COl.OKS BUBBLES SPOTTING ANn WASHTNG FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 227 green. Add life to it by cutting out a bird-house and pasting on, or a flight of birds across the sky, or dot yellow daisies in the field as it be- gins to dry. This is beginning where a child is and, as some one has said, "No matter where you're going. another color. Children call these soap-bubbles. Try them in all combinations of color. Little blobs look like beads. Thread them on a string by a sweep of the brush. Purple blobs dropped close together look like a bunch of grapes, red ones like cherries. They grow in -i^ \ r / ♦ #♦ ♦♦ STREAKING AND SPOTTING you must start from where you're at." The washes are just what the teachers in the art schools teach as preliminary practice. Call attention to the brown fields, if it is .Au- tumn, and paint them under the sky. At sunset, notice the reds, yellows, and orange, and paint them. This is a good way to teach the blending of colors. If the sky is yellow above, shading into orange below, and then into red, let one ftoiv into the other. Spotting While playing with the blending of colors show the children how to drop spots of one color into another and watch the shading of one into the other. Let them make a circle with a round and round motion of the brush and spot it with pairs on tiny green stems from a brown branch. Yellow drops look like black-eyed susans when brown centers are dropped in them. With these suggestions, your inventions and the children's will lead to much delightful play, full of discoveries as to color and likeness. So far the pictures have been happened on. Soon they will try puyposcfiiUy to make pictures. Brush-Prints: Play and Application .'V wise old teacher of drawing in London told me this story: A little girl pupil laid down her brush full of brown color unintentionally on her picture, and was distressed at the blot. To com- fort her, Mr. Cooke said, "Oh, no, that is a mouse ; see how your brush tip made his sharp 228 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL little nose. Til add this streak, for his tail." Her distress changed to glee. Then he began to experiment with the print, setting his children to see what they coidd repre- sent with it. They used it for leaves, petals, and decorations, and found it a great aid to invention. They arranged prints for leaflets along curving streaks for stems, and arranged them around dotted centers. I recommend this plan to you. Fill the brush — a large one— and press it on the paper, being sure to let the tip leave the paper last. The surplus of color left by the tip makes a pleasing shading. After much experimental play with the brush, print; meanwhile the children will find how to lay the brush down cleanly, and how to lift it without scattering the paint. They will be ready to combine the prints into pictures of mice, rab- bits, beetles, leaves, and flowers. Now if you will show them how to paint two long parallel bands across the top of a sheet of paper, they can fill the space between the bands with pat- terns. Call their attention to the frieze on wall- paper, to the borders at the top of book-covers, and to similar applications of this border-like design. Paper the doll-houses with these designs. Another application of these designs that will be even more suited to their interests and ability is found in decorating paper picnic-plates that may be had at any ten-cent store. Painting in Outlines After playful practice in washing, streaking, spotting, and printing, children are ready to paint within boundaries requiring more muscular con- trol. Draw outlines of simple forms, a chicken, house, apple, leaf, and let them fill it in with the brush. Let them draw their own outlines by putting a tumbler on the paper upside down and drawing around it. Fill in with color for a balloon. Make a number of small balloons, and draw or paint lines from them, meeting below as if held at one point. Do the same and float colors over one another. When color "runs" outside the line, blot it up with a slightly damp rag. XXL TALKING WITH AND HELPING MOTHER LiTTLfi children like to feel that they are sharing the occupations of grown folks. Often it would be easier to dispense with the help, but the chil- dren would be the losers. Every kind of work has its charm, but cooking, with its delightful odors, surreptitious tastes of sweets, and chance for making messes, is chief in attraction. There were occasions when Helen was only three years old and Mother had to play nurse and cook at the same time. Perched on a high stool she beat the eggs, sifted flour, and creamed the butter for cake. When the mixing was done she had a bit of the dough for her own. These impromptu cooking-lessons acquainted her with many qualities and processes. Think, for in- stance, of the transformation of an egg: the breaking of the frail, brittle shell, the pouring out of the translucent white, the globular yellow, the gradual blending of the two in a foamy mass. Could there be a better lesson in colors, forms, and textures? The flour has its qualities to be tested with all the senses : squeezed in pudgy palms, dusted over the board, sifted through the wire mesh. How good its wheaty odor is, how sweet it tastes to the tongue, and how it flics about ! This all changes when it is wet. Now it is sticky, cling- ing to fingers and pan, but with more flour it becomes soft ; elastic when squeezed and pinched. How many of us, I wonder, ever think of the sense-training in such experiences as these? Quite as desirable is the training in deftness gained in handling the dishes, sifter, and egg- beater, and the dish-mop and pan during the washing up that follows. The soap and water make shimmering bubbles, just as lovely as though not made in the course of necessary work. There is more to be noticed and felt and done, neatly and deftly. The mixing-bowl is heavy, demanding all the strength in arms and wrists to lift and turn it. The wooden rolling- pin is not so smooth nor as heavy. The egg- beater makes one wonder what makes it turn so regularly, and the cog-wheels seem somehow concerned in the motion. It is all worth while. Helen seemed to think that if she took a pinch of this and a spoonful of that, something good would come from the mixture. She would not take my word for it that cocoa, salt, flour, and sand would not make a delectable mess. So I let her try a few of her own mixtures until she was ready to take my advice. Then I let her measure the ingredients for sweet muffins, in doing which she learned to measure in cupful, half cupful, tablespoonful, teaspoonful, as well as the difi^erence between FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 229 level and heaping. It was not cooking in the real sense, just play, but she was learning, too. Regular Duties Mothers find it hard to train children in house- hold tasks where they keep servants who do not want children fussing around. One of the com- pensations for the difficulty in obtaining domestic help is in the occasion it furnishes for children to have regular duties. It was one of the sources of education in the old-fashioned home that "all were needed by each one." What can children under five years do? They can wash silver and the smaller dishes, dry and put them away on low shelves. They can dust and polish furniture. Setting the table is another task within their capacity. When our cook left I put the dishes used most often on a low shelf so that Helen could reach them easily. Then there are errands. How many errands they can do in the house and out of it ! No work should be too long continued and it is good to change work occasionally. In all this the charm will wear off when the novelty is gone and the lesson then is one of "standing to" and learning the moral lesson of responsibility. Habits of Order It is usually easier to pick up toys and clothes than to see that children do it for themselves. But it is one of the things in which we should be firm with ourselves and hard-hearted with the children. It is one of the disagreeable necessities of civilized life, and the sooner we make it habit- ual in children, the easier it will be for them and us. Just once disregarding the rule, and the mischief is to pay. For the secret hope is born in a child's soul that the omission may occur again. Then he will have to be followed up — to his sorrow and ours. Miss Elizabeth Harrison tells a story of a boy who for a time came to the table repeatedly with unwashed hands, and was as often sent away to wash them. At length his mother said, "Why do you persist in coming without washing — you know I never let you stay?" "Oh, yes, you did once!" the young hopeful replied. "When?" asked she. It turned out to have been a week before. The moral is plain. XXir. OUTDOOR LIFE, PETS, AND GARDENING The little child who has been the center of care and attention all his life is innocently selfish. It is hard to keep him from sensing the fact that he is a person of importance in the household, and that his wants are matters of first concern. What can be done to curb this natural childish egotism and plant the seeds of consideration? Consideration is a plant of slow growth. Ex- ample and precept are helpful in promoting its growth, but voluntary deeds of service are neces- sary to put a child in the attitude of one who cares for others. A child must have something definite to do that makes an appeal to him, an appeal for some service within his powers. Some homes offer better conditions for these acts of helpfulness than others. These are the simple homes in which mothers do their own household work. We know that children get a kind of social training at play together that they do not get in a home where older people regulate all their dealings from a grown-up standard. With each other they must make their own rules of con- duct and administer them. The four-year-old is still the baby in most groups of playing children, and matters are adjusted to his whims with a certain degree of leniency, much as in the home. So there is still something wanting of discipline in serving and giving up voluntarily to others. The Value of Pets In the presence of the plant and animal world the child feels himself superior. Here is the opportunity for cultivating in him a feeling of tenderness and responsibility. As Froebel said to the mothers of his time : "If to a child's sole care is left Something which of that care bereft Would quickly pine and fade. The joy of nurture he will learn ; A rich experience which will turn His inner life to aid." The pet dog, cat, rabbit, bird, are all depend- ent on some human being for food, drink, and protection from their natural enemies. When the pets belong to a child, he should be made to feel their dependence on him. He appreciates their appeal for food. His sympathy for their feelings is a strong motive in remembering their mealtimes, their signs of enjoyment his reward. Often he must break away from desirable play to feed them. All this is a needed offset to the egotism nourished by fond elders. 230 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL It is not easy for these elders to put up with the inconveniences of pets. Fido drags bones to the front porch, where they confront the caller. He is fond of playing with your rubbers and not careful to return them to the hall. He slips in and settles on the living-room couch. Pussy gets underfoot and is under suspicion of being a thief. But it is worth while to make the best of it all, in the light of their unconscious contribution to the kiddies' training in responsi- bility. Plant Life Plants make a similar if somewhat weaker appeal for care. Potted plants, if the children's own, will repay for the attention given them by marked growth. In November the city child can visit the local florist's shop and buy hyacinth and Chinese lily- bulbs. From the time the latter are first bedded in a glass bowl among stones and given a foot- bath, they need little save to have the water kept half way up the bulb, and they grow so rapidly, that they are new from day to day. Hyacinths grow best in earth. Cover them about an inch deep. Even in a city flat a child can have a window- box. All the preparations are full of interest: going to the grocery to get an empty raisin box, or to the carpenter shop to order it made ; search- ing in the backyard or in the woods for suitable soil : deciding what seeds to plant ; carrying the soil home; rubbing it fine; filling the box to the right depth ; making the furrows, and finally, sprinkling in the seed and patting the earth firmly above them. Lettuce, parsley, and chives will be good in salad and for flavoring soup and also as relish for the canary. At least enough can be grown in the window to garnish the meat-platter. Beans pay best in the exhibition they give of the way a seed behaves when it begins to make a plant. Notice the coming up of the bean itself in the shape of two fat leaves ; the gradual thinning and withering of these. Someone calls them the baby plant's nursing bottles, which it sucks dry. Soak some in a saucer and look at the plantlet packed between these nourishing leaves. With spring, real outdoor gardening begins. Strong hands are needed to spade the plot, but little rakes can do the smoothing and breaking of the clods. Teach children to break these to powder; to rake the surface smooth; to mark the furrows straight; to make them a certain depth; to drop the seeds a certain measured dis- tance apart, one inch or two or whatever is re- quired; to pat the earth to firmness when seeds are in. The italics are to suggest to you the qualities and their names that children are learning while working under your direction. How infinitely more full of meaning they will be than when toilsomely dwelt upon by a teacher, as I have seen them in the primary school "observation" lessons in Germany, where "flat" and "round," "rough," "smooth," and the like, were taught ut- terly apart from any joyous activity. Children's patience is short-lived. Let them plant something that matures early, such as let- tuce, radishes, nasturtiums, and annual phlox. Let the weeding and watering be done reg- ularly, making the plants a means of developing habits of persistence, as well as of sympathetic acquaintance with plant-ways. (See also "The Garden" in the Boys and Gikls Bookshelf, vol. IV, page 1.35.) ALICE With little red frock in the firelight, in the lingering April evening — (The moonlight over the treetops just beginning to shine in at the cottage door) — Her big brown eyes and comical big mouth for very gladness unresting, like a small brown fairy — She stands, the five-year-old child. Then, so gentle, with tiny tripping speech, and with a little wave of the hand — "Good-night," she says to the fire and to the moon. And kissing the elder wearier faces. Runs off to bed and to sleep in the lap of heaven. — Edward Carpenter. 'A Q Q f- FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 231 pt, u •S SIXTH YEAR ■w ID X Xi .^ 4-* en u m XXIII. DEVELOPMENTS DURING THE SIXTH YEAR All divisions in the life of a child are only ap- proximate. A group of children may develop very differently. Some will have a sense of form developed very early, showing in the drawings he makes. Another is forward in speech, and possibly backward in some other way. Some children have a very early development of the feeling for musical intonations. I know one child who startled a visitor (who knew the baby could not walk) by singing to herself in perfect tune and perfect enunciation. Yet, in spite of all these irregularities, there are certain lines of growth that mark the changes from one period to another which can be limited in a general way by years. Children in the si.xth year can do more, ob- serve more, tell more of what they have experi- enced, than in the fifth year. Walks, rides, pic- tures, stories, and the overheard conversations of his elders have given him a larger stock of ideas on which to draw for his dramatic play. A year of "making things," of constructive play, has given definiteness to his power of thinking things out and putting them together. It has given control of his brain over his hand as well. He sees more into the detail of the things he tries to draw or make. The four-year-old draws imaginary coal in his toy cart and dumps it into imaginary cellars. He ties a string to a shoe-box and is delighted to have made so fine a wagon of his own. Some- one shows him how to fasten spools or button- molds to his cart, and his power of making now includes that improvement. Hereafter wheels are within his scope. The five-year-old, given a hammer, nails, and round wooden disks or spools, finds he can improve upon the wagon. He has seen coal-yards and coal-trains, too, and possibly his play will extend itself into realistic building with blocks of yard or depot ; and his wagon carries real coal. To go farther, the five-year-old has seen pic- tures and been told stories of mining. He has another set of conditions to add to the plays of earlier years. With his playmates he builds a shaft of packing boxes and dramatizes the life about the pit and in the mine. Most five-year-old children can keep rather an extended play going. In other words, they have the ideas and persistence to center their play, day after day, around a central purpose: such as making a doll-house or representing a farm scene in the sand-table, adding barns, corn-crib, chicken-coops, fields, and other features as they occur to them or are suggested by others. In working out any such themes they will use the skill acquired earlier in building, modeling, cutting, painting, and the like. They will do more of the same kind of work that they have been do- ing, but carry it into more detail and relate it more as a part of a general purpose. That is, they will do it if you give them the opportunity. These things make for opportunity : materials to work with, as in the previous year, and sug- gestion, in case their own initiative does not prompt them. Someone asks, "Why all this emphasis on play, and especially on constructive play ?" The answer is that the supreme business of children at this time is play, and that the best quality of thinking goes into constructive play. Through play they are getting the bodily ex- ercise that they must have. Through play they are testing their own powers of strength, of control, of thinking. They are not only finding them, they are enlarging them at the same time. Through dramatic play they are entering into the social life about them, and are themselves the characters they see, hear, and that they are told of in stories. It is making them observant of the way things are done. In dramatic play the imagination is obliged to construct a defi- nite scene or character or plot. Imagination becomes disciplined, does not spend itself fruit- lessly. It is the servant of thought. Through constructive play they are learning to harness imagination in a different way. They measure, combine, think out ways of reaching results that they want. Imagination is again a tool to shape things as they are wanted. It is harnessed with tJiinking as a yoke-fellow. Con- structive play can be made a means of logical thinking. Since it is so important, let us give our atten- tion now to constructive play and work. 232 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL XXIV. MAKING DOLL-FURNITURE Suppose a child wants to make a paper doll- bed. You can let the child alone to work at it in her own way or you can help her in any one of several ways. Left alone, the problem may baffle her; in all probability it will if she has no clue to its solution; that is, if she sees no plan, imagines no details, of putting together. You want to help her to see the parts of a bed in their relation, to see how they go together. Then they must be shaped, at least, there has to be some practicable, workable way of making them stay together. It would be easy to do all her thinking for her, but that would not help the next time. In the educational sense it would not be practical. You can help her to see that a bed is made of three main parts — a head, a foot, and a horizontal part to lie on. The head and foot serve, when extended, as legs. You might give her a flexible piece of cardboard or heavy paper, and let her cut out these three pieces in her own way, and hold them together the way they belong. The next step is to find a way of fastening them together. If she does not think of a way you might show how you would do it: by folding up a narrow strip from the end of the main part. to give a surface to which the head can be glued, and the same for the foot. A coarse needle and thread could be used to sew them together if the paper is soft and tough. If the result is satisfactory she will probably want to make many more, as this seems to be Nature's way of getting children to practice any new accomplishment. Then there will be other things wanted to which the same method of think- ing out and putting together can be applied. Variations of Method Then it would be well to try other ways of getting the paper furniture made. Having seen the parts in relation to each other and put them together, it might be a step in advance to propose getting them all out of one piece of cardboard. Instead of cutting four strips for table legs and pasting them at the four corners of a square, the plan can be drawn on paper, cut out, and the legs folded at right angles to the top. Much of this kind of furniture is provided in the "cut-outs" in popular magazines. A ready- made thing is really given children in these, which is well enough in its way and would be all that might be desired, if it would only lead them to self-designed things. My observation leads me to believe that it does not. After this experimental work has been enjoyed it will be a satisfaction to most children to make , 1 -.L_„ - — — 1 ..A 1 "1 1 the toy furniture upon some plan which can be changed and adapted to many things. The most satisfactory one I have ever seen is given below. The objects made are well-shaped and propor- tioned, and have a kind of finish that children appreciate after their own less stable fur- niture has been worked out. The foundation is made as in Fig. g in Easy Folding Series, No. II, on page 220. Opened out, it shows sixteen squares, out- lined by creases, Figs. 10 and 1 1 show the process of getting a barn from this foundation by a series of clips, folds, and pastings. To make a bed, table, or square box, the creases on the inner sides of two corner squares are cut. These two squares must be on the same edge of the paper. Then cut in the same way the creases on the inner sides of two corresponding squares at the opposite edge of the paper. (See Fig. I.) To make a table, fold the row of four uncut squares at right angles to the rest of the paper. Repeat this on opposite side. Let small oblongs between the squares at end stand level to make end Icaz'cs of tabic. Fold squares next them FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 233 toward each other. Now it is done, save for bracing. Cut from a paper folded like the foundation (in sixteen squares) a square 2x2. Paste it over the two squares at the end of table and on under side of leaf. This binds "flapping" squares together and stiffens leaf. Repeat at other end. (See Fig. 3.) Bed Fold and cut exactly like table, but turn small oblongs at ends up to form head and foot of bed. Cut 2x2 square as before and paste on the out- side of head and foot of bed, to strengthen and make smooth. (See Fig. 2.) The basket (Fig. 5) and the wagon (Fig. 6) are modifications of the table, turned upside-down. Bureau Fold two squares of paper as before into sixteen squares. Lay one aside and proceed with the other as for bed and table, but fold small oblong flap down over the two flapping squares and J ■•■ ^ paste. This makes a square box. Stand it on one side, to contain the drawers. Cut the other folded square in half, mak- ing two oblongs. "* Paste one of them at the back of the box, to stiffen it and serve as a mirror. Take two more squares of paper and fold into sixteen squares, but first cut a very narrow strip from two adjacent sides of each, to make these squares slightly smaller than the ones used before. After the sixteen squares have been folded, open the pa- per, all but one row of four squares, leave 5 these folded over. Now fold them with those that lie on at right angles to the rest of the paper, also the row of four at the opposite edge. This makes the paper trough shape. One row of four squares forms the bottom of the trough. Cut the creases that run at the sides of each end square of this row of four. Fold them up at right angles to the bottom. Slip them inside the pair that are doubled on the front edge. Now you should have an ob- long box with one edge doubled and firm. Push it inside the bureau for the bottom drawer. Re- peat to make top drawer. Now the bureau is ready for any trimmings your little girl wants to put on it, in the shape of bureau scarf or tinfoil mirror. Small black laundry-studs make good handles for drawers. IVashstand This can be made like bureau with lower back. Other furniture can be worked out with the same foundation. You can use your ingenuity to make sofa, armchair, and dining-room chairs. They are very pretty made in brown, tan, or green smooth cover-paper. Furniture calls for a room, or better yet, a house. Rooms of shoe or hat boxes are satisfac- tory. Windows can be cut in the sides and cur- tained with tissue-paper or muslin. The walls can be papered with scraps of wall-paper. Houses of wooden boxes are more durable. Did you ever make one of an orange crate when you were a little girl? A Doll-House Janet wanted a house, and Mrs. Reed, remem- bering what fun she had had with them, sug- gested that they get a fruit-crate from the grocery. The walls were rough and had to be covered with paper to make them pleasing in the doll's eyes. Finding no scraps in the attic, they tried to buy some last year's samples at the decorator's, but could not get any. So Mrs. Reed took some smooth sheets of light-colored wrap- ping-paper and told Janet if she would cut the pieces to fit the walls she would help her deco- rate them. Janet measured the height of the wall and made a pencil mark to show where it came on her paper, and then folded it off to that width. Then she poked this piece into the house 234 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL to see how much she would need to cut off for the side wall of one room. Mrs. Reed came in then and suggested that it would be easier to measure this on the outside of the wall. When the pieces were all cut they decided to make the bedroom a pale green and the down- stairs living-room a soft orange-color. Mrs. Reed advised Janet to mix as much paint as she would need for all the paper for one room at one time, so it would be exactly the same shade. would provide them. She cut long strips for the table, measured them to the same length, and glued them inside the rim with liquid glue. The bed legs were cut half as long and glued to the outside of the box, which was turned upside down to hold the mattress. This did not look right, and then she had g, happy thought. She took the cover of a box^ cut it across into a short and a long piece, fitted one end of the bed into the long one for the head and the other into the short one for the THE TL'LIP BORDKU It took a good deal of mixing and trying to get it just right. They fastened the sheets of paper to a draw- ing-board with thumbtacks, so that it would not bother them by curling up when wet. First Janet wet the paper all over with clear water in a big brush. Then she took up all the extra moisture with a soft cloth and put on a wash of green, sweeping the brush from left to right in long strokes. The wash of clear water made the color go on without streaking. When the papers were all tinted they thought one at least might be decorated with a border of some kind. Mrs. Reed showed how to draw with a ruler a line i^ inches from the top, and this was tinted with two more washes of green to make it a little darker. The living-room was measured off in the same way. Mrs. Reed drew a tiny tulip on a card and cut it out. Then Janet put it about the ruled line and drew around it and then again, until a row of tulips blossomed on the border. These were painted red with green leaves. Janet had learned how to make paste after many experiments. She knew that four tea- spoonfuls of flour mixed with eight tablespoons- ful of cold water and cooked until clear would be thick enough. She put it on with a large painter's brush, an inch broad, and soon the house was ready for furniture. Furniture for the Doll-House Some empty spool-boxes seemed the best things at hand to make over into furniture. One served as a bed and its cover as a table, but both lacked legs. Janet saw a broken box and knew this foot. Now it looked very real and inviting to even a doll of fastidious tastes. The next morning mother and daughter went to the nearest dry-goods store to get more spool- boxes, and happened on a rich find. The clerks were busy taking inventory of stock, a general house-cleaning had littered the floor with boxes of all sizes. Janet joyfully gathered an armful and carried them home. The next morning she got her mother to help her make a bureau to match the spool-box bed. They took one end out of a box and stripped the sides loose from it half-way down. These sides were bent toward each other and glued where they lapped. This made the back, sides, and mir- ror of the bureau. The drawers were made by cutting straight across the end of a box and past- ing a folded paper over the back to close the open side. A wardrobe was the easiest thing to make. Janet stood a bo.x on end and fastened the top of a cover to it with paper strap-hinges. They had the most fun with the drum and wheel-shaped pasteboard things on which tape and ribbon had been wound. From these they made a cake-box, pail, oil-heater, and coal-stove. The kitchen range was made from a candy-bo.x with doors cut from the side for oven and fire-pot, and circles marked on top for pot-holes. A piece of paper, rolled up, was stuck into a small hole for the stovepipe. How We Invented Cornstalk Furniture One Saturday afternoon in late October Helen and I invited Sara, Jack, and John to go with us to a place we had found the week before. fc t y, -' f- ■ fx ■7 ui FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 235 where a deep ravine with tributary gullies had washed so deep in the red earth that it seemed a miniature cafaon. We played Indian and emi- grant, with exciting adventures, and planned to come again the next holiday with more of the older children, to make a real drama and act it here. Then, tired of climbing up and down and digging caves, we wandered back into the woods to see "what we could find to bring home. We filled our pockets with fine big acorns, to use for dishes in the doll-house. The little ones loaded themselves with soft green moss and gray lichens to carpet their playhouse under the oak tree at home. Crossing the pasture, we pulled rushes to weave into baskets, and willow-wands for the same purpose. Then our short cut led through a cornfield. Remembering the cornstalk fiddles my brothers made for me, I proposed to cut some and take them to experiment with. These are some of the things we made at home: Fiddles. Tumbling men. Log houses. Furniture. Flutter mill. Here is how we made the tumbling men : We melted down some tinfoil in an old iron spoon over the gas flame and ran it into little pellets. I cut the stalk into short lengths and the children hollowed the pith out of one end and put in pellets of lead, cut circles of white cloth and tied them over this end to keep the lead in, first padding the end with a wad of cotton, to make the man's head. Then they marked features on this with soft pencils and ink. Set up on the Hght end, the men turned over instantly. Jack cut the stalks at each joint and built them into cob-houses by laying them on the flat sides. I told him the real log-houses had notches hacked in the upper sides of the logs where the top log fitted in to hold them close together. This notch- ing made them more firm. Helen got an idea from this of making furni- ture. She took some of the short pieces and a card and placed one at each corner for legs. This was the starting-point for a whole set of parlor furniture, much needed in the doll-house. I found some smooth green heavy paper and some pins, and all were happy for an hour cutting the paper into different dimensions, some long for shelves, some broad for table-tops and sofas, and pinning the legs to them. They looked like rattan, and made a pretty effect in the parlor. To make the flutter mill, peel a thick section of stalk, so that the thick, glassy skin is in strips FLUTTER MILL one-fourth inch wide. Cut pith in four-inch lengths, and covering in two three-inch pieces. Stick a match in each end of pith. Cut two slits at center of it, side by side at right angles to each other. Push the thin strips through these after sharpening ends. Hold mill by ends under water tap. Notice curving face of strips. Let water fall on these. What happens ? "Why ? If you have followed the course of this work you may have noticed that we studied the struc- ture of the stalk as we worked : its length, taper- ing toward the top: its joints, ringed strongly; its pith: its glassy hard covering; the shape of the sections, which made them good for fiddles, cylindrical, save for one concave groove. Each of these features was of use to us, enabling us to do a special thing. Later, when studying the science of plant structures, these children will be ready equipped with a knowledge that will be an immense advantage. I have given this illustration to show how varied and rich are the experiences children have when encouraged to look about them and play with what they find. .Also the ways in which a mother can further their plans, adding her ex- perience to theirs. K.N.— 17 "The greatest contribution ... is discovering to them problems which challenge their attention, the solution of which for them is worth while." — Naomi Norsworthy. 236 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL XXV. WEAVING A LITTLE piece of oilcloth makes a good covering for the kitchen floor. We had none, so I told Helen she might make a play-one by pasting DESIGN ilAUli WITH SQUARES heavy paper in oilcloth patterns. I found an old note-book with a smooth brown cover, and marked this cover into inch squares, very accu- DESIGN MADE WITH HALF-SQUARES rately. Then I did the same with a piece of heavy terra cotta (an old pamphlet cover) and let Helen cut them out. Then she had tablets in two shades, with which she laid patterns. After she had played with these a while I told her to cut some of them in half from corner to corner to make triangles. These made prettier and more varied figures. One of these patterns she chose to paste on a square of cotton cloth for the oilcloth. For the living-room she raveled a piece of woolen cloth ; then, as she noticed the threads going under and over each other at right angles, I explained that these were named the warp and DESIGN MADE WITH THREE COLORS woof of all woven cloth, and told her she could weave paper like it. The kindergarten mats would do well here, but as you may not have them I will give the directions that I used for making the mat, which answers to the warp, and the strips, which are the woof, of a paper rug. A five-year-old child who is used to folding and cutting and playing with the rectangular blocks would be able to carry out the directions with a little help. Take an oblong of tough cover-paper 5x7 inches. Place a dot half an inch from each corner on the edges of the oblong. Connect opposite dots with a pencil-mark guided by ruler. This makes an oblong within the edges of the paper. Measure the short edges of this oblong and dot into one-inch spaces. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 237 Connect these dots, making three more lines parallel with the long edges. Fold short edges of paper together and cut from folded edge on penciled lines (five of them) to short edge of penciled oblong. The mat is ready I 1 ^ THE PLAN OF THE MAT for strips. Cut these one inch wide and five inches long. They can be woven in with the fingers. Start every strip under the half-inch strip that forms the frame of the mat. Then let the first one go over one, under one, and so on. The next strip alternates with it — under one and over one, and so on. The third repeats first, the fourth repeats second, and so on. Mats may be cut in half-inch strips and woven in the same way, or patterns varied by altering the number-arrangement. For example, the strips may be drawn over and under two. Another time a mat may be woven in threes. Another pattern that is easy is : First strip : over one and under two. Repeat. Second strip: under one and over two. Repeat. Third strip: repeats first, etc. Box Pattern First strip: over three, under three. Second strip : over one, under one. Third strip: over three, under three. Fourth strip: under three, over three. Fifth strip: under one, over one. Si.xth strip: under three, over three. Seventh: repeats first: eighth repeats second, and so on through to thirteenth, which repeats seventh. Other patterns can be invented indefinitely. These mats are not only good for doll-rugs but can be converted into many pretty little articles for a child's gifts to others. Calendars can be mounted on them, or one may be lined with pretty paper and folded corners to center like an en- velope, a square of cotton wadding enclosed, with sachet powder or lavender flowers inside, for a handkerchief sachet. BOX PATTERN Pretty as these things are, they are frail, and the weaving-idea is better carried out in real tex- tile material, for which a loom is needed. The Simplest Loom Draw an oblong on a piece of heavy cardboard as directed for a paper mat. Mark off the ends of this oblong in quarter-inch spaces. Punch a hole in each dot. Use hatpin, darning needle, or small bodkin for this, if you have no punch. White twine will do for warp; colored twine is prettier. Thread a darning needle with it. Put it through a corner hole. Carry it across to the opposite hole. Make a short stitch on the re- verse side of card by putting needle into next hole. Carry thread across length of card as be- fore and continue until holes are all filled. You will have to loosen and pull thread through from hole to hole as you go on with the sewing, for it 238 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL takes much too long a thread to allow for break- ing it off as in ordinary darning. Fasten the thread at the last hole on the wrong side by sew- ing under and tying to next stitch. Now the loom is strung and ready for the woof. For a first rug it is best to use short lengths of yarn. Different colors may be used, making "hit and miss" or stripes. Not all five-year-old children can string the loom in this way, but where there are older and younger in the same family or associated in this work, the older can measure and string the looms for the younger. It is then a contribution to the little ones and is pleasing to both parties. It is fine number-work to do the measuring and drawing. Round Rugs Little circular cards are to be had at the kin- dergarten supply-houses punched with one hole in the center and a ring of them around the edge. WE.WING A ROUND RUG If you do not care to order them they can be made at home. Thread the warp from the outside to the cen- ter, making short stitches at the edge on one side. When threaded it looks like the spokes of a wheel on one side. Thread the darning needle with as long a piece of yarn as the child can manage and begin weaving over one, and under one, continue tying new threads on when neces- sary until margin is reached. Fasten thread and cut or tear card from the weaving. Tarn o' Shanter Cap To make a cap, thread round loom with long stitches on both sides. Into center, into marginal hole, back to center. Weave (or darn) as before. When one side of card is filled with woof, turn card over, and go on weaving as before until size is reached that fits doll's head. Fasten woof- end. Pass a needleful of thread around the woof strands at center of circle, tying them tightly together. Fasten firmly. Cut ends of warp on reverse side of card and tie in pairs to hold under side of cap in a firm edge, keeping woof from fraying out. Hammock for Doll-House Take piece of cardboard and mark as for oblong loom. Fasten curtain ring at middle of each end of card. There must be a space of three to two inches between this ring and the oblong that outlines loom. Tie a piece of string (warp) in ring. Thread it through needle. Pass it through a hole at end of row of holes. Carry it across to end hole opposite. Put it through and tie to ring at that end. Take another piece of string of same length and do same. Repeat until all holes are filled. Weave as before. Tie ends of yarn that make woof in pairs all down sides of hammock to hold firm. Tear card free and tie a long string in each ring to hang hammock by. WE/WINC; A II.\MMOCK FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 239 XXVI. MAKING DOLL-DRESSES The doll plays a large part in childhood: the beloved companion of the three-year-old, the actor in the dramas of the four-year-old, and L TWO WAYS OF MAKING A KIMONO these and more to the older child ; for now a doll is to be not undressed and left lying in cold nakedness, as is so often the case earlier. It is to be dressed as well, and clothes made to order. For doll's dressmaking and for acting plays the small dolls are much the best. First, without sewing, try this pattern shown me in my childhood by a young lady who seemed to me then the most beau- tiful creature that ever walked the earth. That such a being should condescend to show me how to improve on my first attempts at dressing seemed a miracle. I pass on the pattern. The glamor it still holds is my own. Cut a circle of cloth. Fold it in half, in half again. Snip off the corner at center. Open and put doll's head through opening. Cut two tiny armholes.* Put doll's arms through and tie with a sash. Kimono from Half Circle Cut a half circle of cloth. Wrap it around doll's shoulders, straight edge at neck. Cross * We used to make this arm-opening by folding the goods and cutting a V-shaped notch. This gave the effect of a sleeve, the apex of the V coming at the doll's wrist and the wide part at the shoulder. — J. E. B. over in front and snip armholes. Pin a belt or tie a sash around the waist. Kimono Pattern Fold a sheet of paper in half. Lay doll on it, neck across folded edge, arms outstretched. Cut across bottom at ankles, across width at wrists of doll. Shape out under arms and slope outward to edge of skirt. Take up doll. Fold pattern in half, lengthwise. Cut a semicircular hole at angle on folded edge for neck opening. Cut a slit downward from this for opening. It needs a bit of thinking for a child to work this out in paper and then in old cloth, until she learns to leave what seems an unnecessarily wide allowance for sleeve and body widths. She does not realize how much cloth is taken up in cover- ing the thickness of these members. I think it is a good plan to let children try their own ways of cutting and fitting and fastening up the dresses, until they have some notion of the difficulties and have tried their own devices to meet them. That is the order Nature imposes on us in all invention. Then after this trying the patterns are appreciated. Another way to get at a pattern would be to let the little girl lay her own kimono out straight and cut a pattern free-hand in miniature. Clothespins make good dolls, especially when many are wanted, as for a party or wedding, or a procession, or to fill the streets of Sand-Table Town. With gray skirts and white capes and circular caps gathered at the outer edge into a "mobcap," these look like Puritan women. Fea- tures may be marked in pencil or wax crayon. Flower Dolls \\'ho has not made hollyhock ladies? Turn a blossom upside down. It will stand in spread- ing skirts. Pin a smaller flower upside down on the green knob of the calyx. Let them walk two and two demurely, like boarding-school misses of the seventies, or dance in a "flowery ring." So much for the dolls and doll-house. There is much more that might be said and done, but let us pass on to another kind of material and other tools. For each one has its suggestiveness, its own problems to be encountered, and its own lessons of resistance and training in muscular control. 240 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL XXVII. MODELING This occupation continues to be of absorbing in- terest and of as great value as in the preceding year. It is such a splendid training for the sense of form that it is desirable to have the clay jar in readiness. Autumn fruits, nuts, and vegetables, animals and birds, bowls and dishes, flower-pots, flower- forms in relief, are all suitable subjects. In modeling fruits and vegetables it will help to notice the relation of the thing to be modeled to a ball and roll the clay in the rounded palms until it is spherical, then modify it : to a tomato by flattening a little, or to a pear by rolling more at one end and then adding more clay, welding it on by pressing and smoothing and rounding it with the fingertips. A bit of twig thrust in for a stem is more satisfactory than to model a stem, as the latter is too fragile. Animal-Forms Begin with something with which the children are very familiar, such as one of their pet rabbits. It is well to have the lively model near by, though the children will not often compare their work with the object to be copied. They work from the picture left in the mind by previous acquaint- ance with the thing. Notice the general shape of the body. In the mouse, rabbit, and squirrel it is almost egg- shaped, from the round of the back, including haunches, to the tip of the nose. Model this shape and then add shaping of haunches, nose and ears and tail. The little toy animals make good models. The forms are well done and so small that the chil- dren can pass their hands over them and fed as well as see the form. Toy dishes can be dried awhile and then baked in the oven of the range. This will make them a little more lasting, but to be hard as real pot- tery they need to be fired in a real pottery kiln, which is not worth while, as they will be making things in the later years that they will really want to keep. The main thing in their minds now is the play of the moment, and in ours the training in seeing and creating that this work gives them. Flower-pots made large enough to hold a bulb or a few seeds can be made and used for their spring planting. Flower Forms in Relief These figures serve as a record of the beauti- ful shapes of some of the spring flowers. They may be used as paper-weights. Mold a ball about two inches in diameter. Flatten it by passing on the smooth table, first on one side and then on the opposite, until it is about a third of an inch thick. This makes the plaque or background. Three-leaf Clover. — Roll three little balls about half an inch in thickness. Elongate them a little by rolling and press them out into ovals (not too thin). Lay them in the center of the plaque in clover shape. Roll a stem and apply. Four-pctaled Poppy. — Follow same plan as above. Fh'e-pctalcd Flower (apple blossom or rose). — Notice the cupping of the petals and their nar- rowing to the point at the center, also the cluster of stamens that may be simulated by a little ball planted where the petals meet and stabbed with a toothpick until it is deeply roughened. Si.v-pctalcd Flower (daffodil or narcissus or Chinese lily). — Notice the pointing of the petals and the ridging in the center. A tiny green ring in the center surrounds three tiny dots (pistil). In all modeling remember to have the clay well worked and soft enough to feel elastic and greasy as you smooth or press it. Without this the children can do nothing with it. Plasticine is to be had at the kindergarten sup- ply-houses and will not dry out. Plasteline has a less disagreeable odor, Moldolith hardens, but may be soaked out soft again. Permodello will harden as if baked without baking. XXVIII. NATURE STUDY Autumn Walks Autumn is a fine season for rambles afield. It used to be our regular custom to take the chil- dren for long tramps on Sunday afternoons espe- nuts, beechnuts, or chestnuts. cially, when we would come home loaded with spoils — branches of scarlet oak leaves, stalks of milkweed pods, cocoons on bare twigs, pockets weighted with red thorn-apples, acorns, hickory FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 241 When we went in the direction of "Mossy Hill," so named by Nancy, she loaded us all down with such quantities that we were fairly stagger- ing under "just this one piece more." This every southern child knows makes the loveliest moss houses, built around tree-trunks and kept green with frequent sprinklings, and it can be furnished with cobble-stones and twigs, with acorns for dishes. The red rose-hips and haws figured as fruit at doll feasts, and then were strung. The leaves made the mantel beautiful awhile, and some were ironed with a flatiron passed over beeswax and put away for Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving dec- oration. The milkweed pods were so beautiful that we painted their pictures and then used the down to stuff doll-pillows, with lace casings thin enough to let the silky down show. Pretty stones and snail shells were put in our collections. Crawling caterpillars were great finds, to be carefully brought home and with them the plant on which they seemed to be at home for food. We made homes of shoeboxes, punched airholes in the lids, set the leaves in a bottle of water inside, and sometimes were rewarded by finding that a cocoon had been spun overnight. Harvesting In gathering the yield of the home garden we notice the different kinds of corn, the color, depth of kernels, and the arrangement in rows on the cob. We put away sweet corn for parching, pop- corn for winter-evening poppings, and pumpkins for their many good uses. Each has its appeal to the senses, to be felt, weighed in the hands, smelled, and in good time tasted. A guessing game is fun. Blindfold each child in turn, and see if he can distinguish each vegetable by its odor. Do the same with feeling, which is a good test for carrots, beets, turnips, salsify, etc. Special nutting parties make great occasions, long remembered. We often noticed that some- one had been before us by the empty shells. When we examined them, we saw they had not been broken but gnawed in two. The whisk of a bushy tail and an angry chatter in the tree over- head gave a clue to the worker, who expressed vigorously his opinion of the two-legged invaders of his premises. Questions You Can Help Children Think Out What do squirrels eat? Do they put away food for winter? Where do they stay in cold weather? What other wild animals spend the winter near us? Where do the rabbits live? Chipmunks? Go- phers? Fieldmice? Tree-Life Notice twigs from which the leaves have fallen, leaf-scar, and new bud. Distinguish by bud, leaf, bark, and color of bark the common trees, such as maple, hickory, willow, apple, and cherry. General Suggestions All the wealth of seeds, fruits, nuts, falling leaf, and safely packed bud tells the story of preparation for Winter and for continuing life in Spring. Little talks, stories, and songs help children to see this meaning. Helping to gather and store fruits and vege- tables is one of the best ways to impress children with our dependence on these foods. Where there is no home garden children may be taken to a farm or truck-garden, and every city child can visit markets and fruit-stands. After such visits let them tell Father, or some- one who did not go, what they saw, making it vivid by drawing some of the most interesting things. This will help hold them in their mem- ories clearly, and center attention on things that mean most to them. Expression of some kind is half the value of such experiences. Take cray- ons and tablet with you and have a sketching party on the spot when there is some special trip. Painting is naturally invited by the gorgeous colors of Autumn. Trees make splendid splotches of color seen against blue skies, good subjects for little fingers just learning to paint in broad washes. Play fruit-stand and market, and advertise the goods on sale in markets by pictures of fruits and vegetables done on big sheets of manila paper. It has worked well in my experience where there are several children, to let each one adopt his own tree and keep a record of it throughout the year — in autumn dress, bare in Winter, show- ing its first tinge of spring color, in blossom, and last in full green. Twigs can be painted through the Spring, showing detail of leafage. The older kindergarten children much enjoyed looking over these records, which I labeled and put away for each child and gave them at the close of school in June. During late autumn walks abroad you may set the children to hunting for leaf-mold for their window boxes and pots. Learn to distinguish this and loam from clay, by the bits of rotted leaf, twigs, and rootlets. See the shining par- ticles of sand mixed with it. Distinguish it by smelling the earthy odor, let the fingers feel its 242 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL soft crumbliness, and the eyes take in its rich, brown color. Contrast it with the smooth, hard, clay texture. Let wet mold and wet clay dry in the sun and see which one would be the better for tender roots and thirsty mouths. (Have plants mouths?) In digging under the fallen leaves you may find the brown, dry leaves of the hepatica, or green ones of the violet. Dig deep and bring them home with plenty of earth about the roots and plant in your wildflower garden in a shady spot. Add to it in springtime the characteristic woodflowers of your locality. It will be a joy for countless .succeeding Springs to you as well as to the children. In your hunt for roots and mold look out for insects in winter quarters, under stones, logs, and the crevices of bark. Count the kinds found. Winter While the outside plants are hidden is a good time for window-gardening. The cook will ap- preciate a box of chives and parsley, and the canary a tender lettuce leaf now and then. It is quite possible. Winter ice, frost, and snow make sports the great thing now. The sand-table can be turned into a miniature skating rink or frozen pond by imbedding a sheet of glass and sloping the banks down to it. Cut paper skaters, fold paper sleds, build little houses on the bank of blocks or paper. Sprinkle cotton snow over the sand if you wish. How does the ice look in making? Notice a puddle. Ice fingers are shooting across it, like straight, sharp-pointed spears. How is snow made? Catch the falling flakes on a dark coat and look closely. Use a magnifying-glass to see the wonderful stars. Let the children draw what they see. Then show them the snow crystals in the Bookshelf, vol. IX, page 64. Let them fold and cut crystal forms as pictured in the next section of this volume. If you can get mineral crystals, such as quartz, galena, amethyst, or rock salt, that are very strik- ing and plain in their angular forms, it would be a good time to get them out for a feeling-and- guessing game. Notice how soft coal breaks in angular chunks. This has a crystal form also. Make a saturated solution of salt. Pour it in a saucer and let it evaporate. Lay strings over the edge of the saucer into the solution and notice what happens to them. Spring Now the seeds collected last Fall can be brought out and those that need an early start planted in window-boxes. The bulbs that were put in their pots before Christmas are brought into the light and warmth and watered. Just to see plainly how a seed starts to grow, put some large lieans to soak in warmish water in a saucer. Cover with cotton and put near the stove. Watch the overcoat grow loose and wrinkly. Then it tightens and two fat halves of the bean pop out. What a wonder of a tiny plantlet is packed within ! Just a pair of folded leaves and a white rootlet that grows so fast you can almost see it move. Let each child "take its picture" every morn- ing, as we took the snapshots of the baby every few weeks. Of course it must be put to bed in the earth and watered every morning. Note the gradual lifting of the earth as the bean-leaves "back" out of the soil ; the greening and thin- ning of these storehouses of food. Ask where the plants get the stuff to make it grow so fast, and where the children get it? Has the bean a mouth? Put some oats on a piece of cheesecloth tied over the top of a glass of water. Let the cloth sag into the water until sprouts appear. Note growth of roots. Where are the mouths likely to be? Paint the picture of glass and contents several times. Cut the tapering root from a carrot, hollow it out and tie a string to it and hang it stem end down in a window. Keep water in the hollow, and watch greenery appear. Paint picture. Keep record of a bulb's progress in the same way. Keep a lookout for the first hint of swelling treebuds. One year I brought twigs of willow, lilac, and cherry to the kindergarten at Hull House in February. We sorted them out, each in its own glass of water, looking well at them as I named them. Every morning some child was deputed to keep the water fresh, and we looked them over. The first hint of green ap- pearing on the lilac was hailed as an event, and finally even the cherry bloomed long before there were any signs of green on the outdoor twigs. These city children lived a quarter of a mile from a tree worthy the name, yet their interest grew keen in the pet twigs, and in March, when we made our first pilgrimage to the bare little square, by courtesy a park, the children scam- pered ahead and instead of frolicking on the grassplot, as in former trips, they all clustered around a forlorn syringa brush, peering into it as if some wonder hid therein. I thought it must be nothing less than a bird's nest. "Children, what have you found?" I called. "We're looking for the green leaf-buds," they shouted back. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 243 I recognized in the answer an unconscious quo- tation from a song we sang, "God sends the bright spring sun, To melt the ice and snow, To start the green leaf buds, And make the flowers grow." Just a little noticing, watering, an occasional painting of the twigs, and what a door had been opened leading to plant-life for Tony, Solly, An- nunciata, and all the rest I Finding that trees do blossom, we look later for blossoms on every tree, and find winged maple-keys, that flutter down and stick upright in the soft lawn, shy oak catkins that hide be- hind leaves of the exact shade of their own green, pussy willow that changes from gray fur coat to yellow powdered gown. Pond Life When Helen and I sat on the porch one warm evening in late January we heard a soft croak- ing from the pond in the pasture lot. Could it be frogs singing their spring-song thus early? We must not let the time escape us for taking a dip-net and hunting for the jelly-like masses of frog's eggs that I knew would soon after be found in clusters about the stems of rushes. A glass jar makes a fair aquarium for a child, especially if some water weed can be put in it to supply oxygen for the animal life to breathe. Snails, tiny minnows, and water-beetles make a good beginning. Water must be changed daily by dipping out and gently pouring in fresh of the same temperature. Cocoons Happy is the child who has the privilege of seeing his own moth from his own cocoon. One day in April a big brown Polyphemous appeared on the study-shelf under the cocoon which had a hole in the end. He was too weak to fly and his downy velvet wings were wet and crumpled. We watched him slowly unclose and fan them to and fro, and at last he made a wavering flight to the window. A good model, he posed there for our painting. But he refused to uncurl a long tongue to suck up the honey as the brown butter- fly did the drop I placed on my finger-tip last fall. XXIX. MORE EASY CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY Paper-folding has some forms that children en- front-to-back edge to make an oblong, opened, joy and that are easy, if one will only observe and right folded to left-hand edge, making an one little trick, which is this: after folding the oblong. When this is done, the paper is creased A SOLDIER C.'\P WITH A COCKADE diagonals of a square — corner to corner making triangles — it must be opened into a square and turned the other side up; then the paper is folded in such a way that if it is turned one side out it will fall as in Fig. 3; if turned the other side out it will take the shape of Fig. 7. It is im- 244 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL possible to make the canning soldier-cap and the equally fascinating sailboat without observing this matter of folding the diagonals and then turning the paper over before folding the diameters. Fig. 3 shows the first step in making the cap. It may be fringed across the long edges aiul used as a candle-shade. A strip of paper rolled serves 11 12 AN UMBRELL.\. A FLOWER, .WD A BOAT for a candle, an empty spool for candlestick. The shade is fastened on by a pin run through the apex of the shade and top of the candle. Fig. 4 shows one sharp corner folded up to the right-ang4ed corner and creased. Fig. , Fig. 7 is often called an umbrella when a stick is thrust in for a handle. Fig. 8 shows it turned with open side up, pasted on a card with a stem of green paper and green leaves, to make a con- ventional flower. Fig. g .i^hows the same with the right angle on top turned down to tlic opposite one, and I'ig. lo shows it turned over antl with the other right-angled corner turned down. Fig. 1 1 shows it with this right-angled cor- iK-r tiiriK-il l),ick. first to the lop and then to the crease running across the middle of the square and the bottom thick corner folded over to meet it. Fig. \2 shows the boat set ready for a good lilow into the pocket-like sails, which will send it sailing across a polished table. If dipiied in melted paraffine this or any other pajier boat will lie ready for real water. Other forms can be evolved from the flower shape that precedes this, inchiding a balloon. Can anyone study it out ? Snow-Crystal Cutting Take a circle of thin paper and fold it in half. Fold this half circle again in half. SNOW TRVST.NL Ct'TTlNr. shows this repeated with the otlier sharp corner. Now there is a triangular cap with a square on one side split in two triangles. Fig. 6 shows the right angles of these two small triangles folded over to the "crack" between them, making a cockade. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 245 Open into half circle, and notice crease mark- ing middle of straight edge. Fold one-half of the straight edge upward un- til its end touches the curved edge and adjust it so that a segment is folded over equal to the one in view (Fig. 2). Fold the other straight edge backward in the same way. The half circle should now be in thirds (Fig. 3). Crease firmly and cut from corner to corner in straight line. (See dotted line in Fig. 4.) Fold this triangle in half, so that the thick corner is divided in half; draw dotted line par- allel with one edge and cut in it. (Fig. 5.) Open. (Fig, 6.) Fi^s. 7, 8, and 9 show variations made on the foundation 5. XXX. FESTIVALS These take a big place in the life of children, anticipated so long in advance that they are great incentives to preparation that can be continued for a period of days and even weeks. They are centers in themselves, full of meaning. Around them cluster tales, songs, games, and each calls for something to be made or arranged' in which children can take part with zest. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Easter, and the civic birthUays, Washington's, Lincoln's, Lee's, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, are all of them occasions of meaning. Of course Christ- mas is for children The Great Day of the whole year, and its preparation, masked in secrecy and surprise, begins long in advance. Valentine's Day and Hallowe'en are the children's own, dedi- cated to merrymaking. May-day, once the day for young lovers in Merry England, is now the children's day exclusively. We owe a debt to childhood for maintaining joy, poetry, and spring in a tense and weighted age. Let us pay it by preserving to them their holidays, each with its full, its best significance, its poetry and symbolism. Family birthdays too can be celebrated with some special treat. Children can make small gifts, that will have enlisted their most careful work because it is for someone else. Clean hands and neatness seem essential when a present is marred by inattention to these matters. Let us look at some things that can be made that will go into some of these celebrations. Hallowe'en This festival grew out of All Hallows' Eve. a religious festival. Nothing of its original mean- ing remains in this country, save the by-product of tricksy elf, witch, and ghost, probably a de- generation of the original belief that the spirits of the departed came to earth and communed with the living. "How long is it to Hallowe'en, Mother?" "Two weeks from to-night, my dear." "Goody ! only fourteen days more. Won't you ask Daddy to take us out in the country where we can get pumpkins and bring them home to make Jack-o'-lanterns?" "What's that about Jack-o'-lanterns?" says Father, coming into the room at that moment. "No pumpkins to play with this year, food is too scarce to waste on playthings." "Oh, Daddy, please; just one pumpkin?" "Not one, my dear. It wouldn't be right." "Never mindj" says Mother. "There are a lot of cereal boxes I have been saving on the top pantry shelf. Perhaps you can make lanterns of them." And the next time Mother came into the din- ing-room this is what she saw: a little girl hard at work drawing nose, eyes, and mouth on the side of a cylindrical box of heavy pasteboard. "Please, Mother, may I take your knife?" "Don't you want me to do it?" "No, please, I want to do it myself." When it was cut out she found some black cats in a magazine which she traced on thin paper, colored with crayon, and pasted on for decora- tion. We stuck a large piece of candle in the bottom with a little melted paraffine. When it was lighted it glared in a pleasantly terrific way, and featured largely in the procession of small white-clad figures that larked about the neigh- borhood- and wound up at our fireside, where they popped corn, ate apples, and told elf-tales. "I believe I like my Jack-o'-Lantern as well as if it were a real pumpkin," was the final verdict, echoed' by every child present. Thanksgiving Day The celebration of this day, with reminders of its origin in Puritan New England, is best left to the older children. For the little ones its significance is best understood as a harvest fes- tival. The younger children can learn to make souvenirs for the dinner-table, little folded dishes for the salted nuts, and turtles of table-raisins, with cloves for legs, head, and tail. They can 246 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL a b c "a assist in the cooking operations, and best of all, can learn a thanksgiving hymn to be sung as grace before or after the feast. Nut Dishes Fold a square of paper in half diagonally both ways. Fold each corner over to touch the center, mak- ing an envelope shape. Turn paper the other side up, and repeat last folds, making a smaller envelope. Turn paper over and note four small squares. Tuck back the corners that meet in the center, each underneath the square of which it is a part, making four triangles. Turn paper over again; the other side shows four stiff triangles which meet in the center. NUT DISH— II Fold these center corners back to outside corners of square. Press firmly. Turn over on other side. Put a finger in the tiny triangular pocket, and with thumb and fore- finger of other hand pinch it till it doubles in half. Repeat with other three, and you have a tiny dish that stands on four tiny triangular feet. These might be used for saltcellars. Or, take a six-inch square of paper and fold it in half diagonally. Fold this triangle in half again, and once again. Note the right angle. Fold it down to touch the middle of the opposite (the longest edge). Fold it back again. Note crease parallel with long edge. Cut the whole paper through on this crease. Open and see cross with arms ending in trian- gles. Fold each of these triangles toward the center. Turn paper over and fold each square arm over the center square. Stand the paper on FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 247 this center square with arms at right angles to it and triangular tips pointing out. Punch holes at meeting of arms and tie. Place-Cards These might be made of white cards with a little picture pasted at the left-hand end, such as would be appropriate to the day. You might draw a pumpkin on a card and let children color and cut it out and write names across it. A strip The taking of the gifts from the teacher and marching proudly with them to the smiling father or mother (one could seldom hope to achieve the presence of both) was a crisis, a triumph rehearsed in imagination many times in the fore- going weeks. We were waiting in the long dressing-room of a big public school in one of the dreariest, crowded neighborhoods of one of our ugliest dis- tricts. The Christmas exercises were over. The , ,,,,,,,,, ,,, I ,,,,,•: 3} •! I :} iiii'i} 1 -rrrrr Fig. 4 HOW TO M.MCE THE STAR of Stiff paper pasted to the back will make the.se stand up in easel fashion. A little Puritan maid, drawn in silhouette, alternating with a Puritan man in broad-brimmed hat and full knee-breeches, would make good place-cards or souvenirs. Christmas This climax of all holidays, anticipated tfie long year through, is a day for giving by even the youngest. I used to notice in the kinder- garten that the children were wholly absorbed in making and giving, without a single thought of receiving a gift at the kindergarten Christmas tree. They each made two articles, one for Father and one for Mother. The moment grew tense when the time for stripping the tree came. Fin. 3 mothers. Bohemian, Irish, and German, were waiting in the hall for the bell to ring for the dismissal, which would yield to each her young hopeful from the line of march. To while away the minutes, we recited the classic " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Five-year-old Charlie, son of a rough saloon-keeper, looked up into my face and said, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good-night. Now Christmas is over, but next comes Easter. I love Christmas, and I love Easter. I love every day in the year, and everybody in the whole world." Was our kin- dergarten celebration worth while? We made a trip to the country this year and cut down our own tree. It was the prettiest one we ever had. Helen fancied all the folks who saw our Ford thus burdened envied our fortune. Mother made a trip to the stores and announced there was not a bit of tinsel to be had for trim- ming. "Never mind," said Helen. "We can make our own trimming." So we got out the box of all kinds of bright paper, and this is what we made. Lanterns Take a square of bright-colored paper. Measure one-half an inch from each corner on each edge. 248 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Connect these dots with lines. Dot the lines on two opposite edges about one- quarter of an inch apart. Fold paper in half to bisect these lines. Cut in lines. The result is a "mat" such as we made for weaving. Bring edges of mat together so edges lap and paste. Parallel strips must run up and down. Attach paper strip for handle. Cornucopias Lap two adjacent edges of a square of paper and paste. Attach handle. If these are made of bristol-board or cover- paper, or of woven paper mats lined with these papers, they will be strong enough to use for candy and nuts. Otherwise they will be merely decorative. Bells Make exactly like cornucopia, but paste a little clapper to one edge and tie a string at the point to hang it by. These should be quite small and are a very gay trimming. Candles Roll a square of paper, beginning with one edge, into a cylinder. Paste securely. A flame-shaped piece of gilt or yellow paper pasted to the top makes it more realistic. Cut a notch in the bottom. Place over a twig and pin, passing pin through or under twig. Star Take a six-inch square of paper and fold in half to make an oblong. Place ruler along short edge at left hand, even with long edge. Place dots one inch and two inches from cor- ner. (See Fig. i.) Fold corner d over to dot 2. (See Fig. 2.) Fold corner e over as far as it will go. (See Fig. 3-) Fold edge x — y over to 2 — y. Cut line 2 — e. (See Fig. 4.) These may be cut from gilt paper, two thick- nesses pasted together, with a black thread put between to hang it by. With these decorations, and chains of red and gold rings, our tree was prettier than any we ever had. Christmas Presents Kindergarten sewing on fine perforations is under the ban because of the strain on eyes. But there are large cards with punched-out holes far apart that can be quickly and easily sewed with colored cotton or zephyr by darning needles, that are delightful to do and in moderation harmless. These can be had of the kindergarten supply- houses. If you use them get the simplest outlines and never let a child sew more than twenty min- utes in one period. Penzviper Circular card, maple or ivy-leaf design. Sew round outline once in and out, then round again to fill gaps. PENWIPER Lay card down on old white cotton cloth and mark around with soft pencil, and cut out several thicknesses. Attach to card by stitches through the center. Needle-Book Similar to above. Cut flannel leaves. Attach to edge of card. Match-Scratchcr Sew any simple design on oblong or square card. Glue sandpaper to back. Punch holes in top and tie ribbon-hanger in. Block-Printing This is such a good form of decoration for Christmas gifts made of paper, that it is given here, with a description following of a few ar- ticles to which it can be applied. Materials : Water-colors, soft-finished paper, or cotton or linen cloth, and blocks of small size in different shapes. Process: Mix plenty of color in a little pan; dip the end of the block in the color and press firmly on the paper or other material to be deco- rated. It takes practice to convey just enough and not too much fluid, and to press the end of FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 249 the block cleanly down and then lift it without smudging. A little unevenness in depth of color in the print is not bad ; sometimes it gives a shaded effect that is distinctly good. Considerable play should be had with this new process before at- tempting any decoration on anything permanent. Patterns; Practice in pattern-making is delight- ful play and is best done as a straight border on cheap print-paper. Try placing squares in differ- ent relations and positions, such as a part touch- ing by corners, touching edge and corner alter- nating, the same overlapping. Then take circles or oblongs, and experiment with each alone, then with triangular prints. Then use two shapes to- gether, alternating them. Application: One of the simplest uses of this idea is to frame the Christmas pictures that are mounted on tinted paper or cards. Plenty of space should be left between the picture and the border and a pleasing margin outside the border. Calendars can be mounted below the picture. Picnic plates and trays can be decorated or trays of a child's own making. Some other suggestions are given below. Address or Note-Book Cut square of cover-paper 5x5 inches. Stamp a small design in each corner, or along each edge. Fold into oblong. Cut several leaves slightly smaller. Fold and sew, pin, or fasten with paper fasteners into the decorated cover. Burnt-Match Holder Punch two holes with a sharp pointed nail in the edge of a baking-powder can, opposite each other. Cut a rectangle of paper as wide as the height of can and long enough to wrap round and over- lap it. Decorate along top and bottom edges and glue around can. Punch holes to match those in can, and pass ribbon through for hanging. Tray for Bureau Take a square of water-color or cover-paper 8x8 inches. With ruler find and mark points two inches from corners on each edge. Using ruler as guide, connect opposite dots. Draw lines from each intersecting point of these lines to corner nearest. Cut on this last line. Place ruler on one of the lines that outline square and score lightly with knife-point, and repeat on other lines. Bend edges of paper up. 3 C C B \ \ \ N \ \ \ / / / A A A A / / / / / y N N \ N \ :b c c 3 DI.\GR.\M FOR BURE.\U TR.W Let triangular ends of these edges overlap, punch holes in each pair and tie with ribbon. Decoration may be printed on rim before tying. The Easiest Things in Raffia This material, much used in basketry, is too hard for children of this age to weave, but there are many things to be made by winding, a few of which are described below. PicUire-Frame For this a circle-marker will be needed. Cut a circle five inches in diameter. Within this draw and cut a circle three inches in diameter. Wrap the resulting one-inch circular band with raffia. Cut another pasteboard circle slightly smaller, and glue to back of first, leaving opening at top through which picture may be slipped. Punch holes with bodkin and pass ribbon- hanger through and tie. Napkin-Ring For foundation use a circle of pasteboard from J^ to I inch wide. (This may be had from a ribbon bolt or cut from the end of a mailing tube.) Wrap a strand of raffia once round, passing through center and tie. Continue wrapping until nearly at end of strand. Lay end of new strand on ring and wrap old strand over it until it is firm, then begin wrap- 250 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL ping with new strand, covering end of old strand firmly. Proceed in this way to end. When ring is covered, weave end of last strand in and out on inner surface of ring. This may be decorated and made more secure by threading a narrow ribbon into a darning needle and darning in and out once around ring at middle and tying in bow. H this method of lapping new over old strands does not seem practicable, the two strands may be tied in such a place that the knot will be on inside of ring. Pcn-lP'iper Cut circular disk of cardboard about three inches in diameter. Cut hole in center about one-quarter inch in diameter. Wrap, passing strand through center. Cut two circles slightly smaller from an old kid glove or cotton cloth and fasten to center of disk. Needle-Book Wrap two disks as above and fasten two circles of flannel between them at margin and decorate with ribbon bow. Trinket-Box Wrap circular band as for napkin-ring. Wrap two disks cut to fit ring for top and bot- tom of box. Sew one all around for bottom, and attach other at margin for cover. Doll's Broom Take a little round stick for handle. Cut raffia two inches long, lay a few on end of stick and wrap and tie with end of long strand. Continue placing short pieces and wrapping with long until broom is full enough, fasten end firmly. In all this work children will need help in making the firm fastenings necessary until they have learned how to manage it for themselves. St. Valentine's Day The accepted convention of our childhood was a lace-paper fantasy touched up with gilt and tiny bouquets, mounted on a folded sheet of paper, inscribed with a tender sentiment. No other form of valentine has seemed so resplendent, so prodi- gal in its promises of unlimited affection. The first plan offered below is fashioned after the old model. Take a square of paper and fold in a triangle. Fold sharp corners together, making a smaller triangle. Repeat, folding one sharp corner over to the opposite on one side of paper and the other on the other side. Cut from one short edge toward the long edge in a line parallel with opposite short edge of triangle. Repeat from long side and continue alternating, never cutting paper clear through to opposite side. It is best to draw lines to mark cuts. Unfold carefully and pull up from center in ''Bird-cage." Mount this on a square of colored paper, and put verse on reverse side. Very pretty if done in thin white paper. Another Lacy One Fold as before and cut heart-shaped notches from the edges that are folded. This is prettier if long edge is cut in curves first. Open and mount on delicate tint of paper by tiny dabs of paste at corners. Hearts Fold square of paper in half and cut a heart from it. Practice until you have a satisfactorily proportioned pattern. Lay this on a red paper, draw around it, and cut out. Repeat on white paper, and tie two of these to back of red one. punching holes in "shoulders of hearts" for ribbon. Paste pictures on all three, or, let child select verse for you to write on one. Heart-Shaped Doors Fold paper in half, open and fold two opposite edges to center crease, double in half on crease and cut heart, leaving paper united at widest part. Open and write verse on inner face. Pictures may decorate heart-shaped doors. Graduated Hearts Cut three hearts of graduated sizes and punch and tie the smaller below the larger. Decorate . and inscribe. Easter Colored eggs and rabbits, lilies and butterflies, these seem a curious combination of things to be associated in a child's mind with a church festi- val. And yet all save the rabbit do symbolize awakening life from seeming death. He is a survival of an old German tale explaining in fanciful terms the origin of the colored eggs. The story is a good one to tell children of this > age. The preparation for appreciation of Easter FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 251 as a renewal of life is given in the section on Nature Study, page 240. Hand Work for Easter Outline on cards very simply such flowers as the tulip, jonquil, and narcissus, and let children tint them in water-color. If these blossoms have opened in your own house, the children will be familiar enough with them to paint them free- hand, and after a little daily practice of this sort can put the picture on a card. Even though crude, it will be all their own work. Outline pictures for sewing can be ordered from the kindergarten supply-houses. Butterflies will be found in color in the Bookshelf, vol. Mil. page 356, that will make splendid copy for the children to draw by tracing through on thin paper and coloring in crayon or paint. After a good deal of "choosing" one will be found that can be cut out of the tracing paper and attached with tiny dabs of paste to a card. Some of the cards may be decorated with edges of the water-color gilt, to be had for very little at drug stores and stationers. In addition to these gifts, there are nests and clay eggs to be modeled and hidden in the garden for other children to find. The eggs should be thoroughly dried in the room, then in the oven, and tinted with thick water-color or calcimine. Let them make nests of dry grass, twigs, string and paper, in imitation of the birds' nests they found last fall, and hide them in fence corners, bushes, and other nooks. If you live in the city and have no yard, take them to a quiet corner of the park, inviting other children to the hunt. When you have developed a good butterfly pat- tern from studying the pictures, fold it in half and outline on paper similarly folded ; then cut a whole flock of butterflies. Tell children about the migrating butterflies, and propose to let a swarm loose in the living-room. Cut them in plain wrapping or manila paper, color, and string and festoon from light-fixtures to corners, on black thread. This is decoration for an Easter party. Blueprints These make pretty Easter cards. Get the blue- print paper at any place where photographer's goods are sold. It must be kept absolutely away from the light, or it will darken. Make a printing-frame of a piece of glass fit- ting exactly a piece of stiff flat board — binder's pasteboard will do. Strong rubber bands will hold the two together. Make an arrangement of a spray of blossoms or leaves or a spray of seeds, such as golden- rod, lay it on an oblong of blueprint paper on the board. Place the glass over it and clamp down with rubber bands. Lay it in the bright sunshine and leave it until the paper turns blue. Remove print and wash under running water un- til the blue ceases to run off. These make pretty decorations for calendars or other gifts for other seasons as well — blotters, match-scratchers, note-book covers, and for the inside and outside of scrap-books. It is great fun ioT the children to watch and make the prints, and it directs their attention to the grace and beauty of flower and leaf forms. XXXI. GOVERNING CHILDREN* EY MRS. EUNICE BARSTOW BUCK ous noise, for instance- anyway; but whining Whining and Kindred Ills Many of the more annoying things which we are apt to punish hastily — mischievous pranks or riot- will be outgrown in time fretfulness, peevishness, and sulking are germs of real character-disease which if not checked may infect an otherwise wholesome life. If a bit of a whine creeps into a voice we may say, "If you speak pleasantly I can do it. Whin- ers never get what they ask for," and we make it a point to see that they never do. Indeed, we are sometimes entirely deaf to their unpleasant tones. If teasing is known not to bring results other than general unhappiness, it is very seldom tried. Other symptoms call for pleasant isolation in a quiet place, always with the privilege of coming back as soon as happiness returns. Sometimes we discover when one of the chil- dren is out of sorts with the world that a cold is coming on, a tooth coming through, or the di- gestion a bit out of order; and the treatment called for is physical rather than mental or moral. Sometimes there are hours, even days, when everything goes wrong. Both children are cross. * Since Mrs. Newell does not deal with this important subject, we have asked Mrs. Buck, whose first sensible article we hope you have read, to continue. Please read her other article again in this connection. — The Editors. K.N.— 18 252 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL disobedient, and "into everytliing," and confusion reigns. Mother is responsible ! It almost always means that she is physically or nervously below par, and that unconsciously her weariness has crept into her voice and manner, upsetting the whole household. In such cases a nap — perhaps even a day in bed or a wee vacation for her — will restore harmony and peace. We mothers must do everything in our power, by example and suggestion and penalty, to make our children realize that there is no place in the world for disagreeable people. Temper The spirited child has wonderful possibilities if he can learn self-control and have his energy di- rected in right channels. We hope that when Brother is a man certain things will make him so perfectly furious he will just have to make them change. Before that we may even be proud when he fights the school bully, for teasing a younger child. But such righteous wrath is very different from the petty irritableness that is ex- pressed in most nursery quarrels and by the wilder tempests which rage there. Quick temper is more or less a matter of nerves and temperament, and any praise or punishment for the same when this fact is not considered is unjust. When Sister is patient and calm under trying circumstances there is no real virtue — she is not even tempted to explode. Under similar provocation. Brother, who is. an intense, high- strung little fellow, might find it almost impossible to keep his self-control. Again, if he is nervously tired, things that at other times would not bother him at all will arouse a whirlwind of passion. He has always seemed to need physical pain occasionally to quiet mental disturbances. Before he could express his feelings in words at all he would bang his head on the floor as hard as he could when things went wrong, and the kiss that healed the bruise healed the troubled feelings too. Occasionally now, in certain moods, he will stamp and scream "no, no," to all suggestions and en- treaty, but a spanking calmly administered, or more and more often a warning that one will fol- low, if he can not stop within a certain number of counts, brings back our happy little boy. With some children— perhaps as administered by some parents — such drastic treatment would only increase the strength of the storm. It should never be attempted by a person who has not the physical strength to handle the child with assur- ance and dignity should he struggle, and of course there must be no sign of anger or annoyance. With our little lad milder methods never bring as speedy a recovery. He can sometimes be shocked back to manliness by having hands and face washed with a very wet cold washcloth, but if that does not work he is shut up until he is himself again. This last method is especially effective when the passion is directed against a person rather than against things in general. Once last Winter, when for several days the weather had prohib- ited outdoor play. Sister displeased him in some way and he flew at her, strikirfg and even biting in an ugly and most uncivilized fashion. We told him that a wild savage could not be allowed loose and we must shut him safely away in a prison. We carried him to the guest-room, which was farther from the rest of us than any other available place. After bringing up a small chair, a book, and his cut-out work, we locked him in. He screamed and pounded on the door for a while, but in fifteen or twenty minutes he was playing quietly and contentedly. At the end of two hours he was asked if he could be trusted to behave like a gentleman if we let him play with us again. He assured us that he could, and we were all good and happy together the rest of the day. What a diild in a temper needs is something to help him regain self-control in a way that will make a lasting impression of the undesirability of his passion. Obedience If our training has been properly constructive, there will be less and less need of commands as the children grow older. Requests will be gen- erally cheerfully complied with, and give an opportunity to decide between two courses of action. We parents sometimes forget how impor- tant this is. If a child's will is to grow to be strong for right-doing he must have the privilege of free choice whenever possible. We must do all we can to help him to wish the right and to make the result of the wrong choice unpleasant. The other day some of us were discussing an imaginary situation in regard to Jack and the door. We all agreed that the ideal would be for Father to say, "Jack, please shut the door," and the ideal — and the probable — response would be, "Certainly, Father," followed by a courteous "Thank you." If the answers were otherwise Father should say in answer to, "I'm too busy," or any other excuse, "I'm sorry," and leave the door open or close it himself. Jack's conscience would be sure to prick, and if he didn't get to the door ahead of Father he'd resolve to next time. If, however. Father makes an issue of the thing by commanding, "Jack, shut that door," and FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 253 Jack says, "I won't," to say, "I will whip you until you obey me," is unjustifiable, for it gives Jack's will no opportunity to function. The sug- gestion was then added that perhaps Father might put it this way, if he had unduly forced the issue : "Take your choice. Jack ; shut the door or take a whipping" — strenuous will-training, perhaps, but not will-breaking. The discussion was of course quite theoretical, and we all realized the unskillfulness of Father in getting himself unwarily into such a box. Of course, we none of us mean to get excited about such unimportant things as doors with children who are old enough to reason, but the principle involved is suggestive, whatever the issue. We must all keep in mind what Henry Clay Trum- bull expresses so well in "Hints to Child Train- ing" : "There is a place for punishment in a child's training, but punishment is a penalty attached to a choice. No child ever oug'ht to be punished unless he understood when he chose to do the wrong in question that he was thereby incurring the penalty of that punishment." When we give a command we can wisely fol- low the sensible suggestions in Mary L. Read's "Mothercraft Manual": "Give it distinctly (to get attention), definitely (to get understanding), kindly (to get a cooperating spirit), and firmly (to get action)." Of course, as the Children grow older, our punishment for disobedience will more and more take the form of "natural consequences." The boy who can not obey is not man enough to have certain privileges; and the girl who can not do exactly as she is told can not be trusted to help Mother with the baking. Between the ages of tvifo and four, perhaps, if a child acts like a disobedient little animal he must be treated like one, and a tingling birch switch may be a useful addition to the nursery equipment. This method of discipline seems to me to have many advantages. In the first place, it maiies it easy to separate the sin from the sinner. We can cry, "Mother is so sorry that the little hands must be hurt," take the small ofifender into our arms for comfort afterward, let him know that we are sure he is going to be good, and then set him happily at work — helping Mother, if possible. It gives a chance for choice of action — "Is the pleasure of the misdeed worth the pain that will surely follow?" The retention of sympathy makes confession comparatively easy, and — best of all the incident is closed. The child really starts afresh. On the other hand, if we try to "reason" with him and make him "sorry," he feels vaguely that we are grieved and disappointed, and he gets nervous and de- pressed, and his whole day is spoiled. Such punishment as tj-ing the hands or making the child sit on a chair do not work in our family. They cause much shame and sorrow, but leave us only a child who is conscious of naughtiness rather than one who is truly resolved to be good; and the rest of the day is pretty sure to go wrong. A sensitive little tot is likely to become either hysterical or defiant when reasoned with, and the nerve-strain is great on both parent and child. We have had some amusing experiences. When Sister was not quite three she learned to say, "No, I don't want to," and it was then that we cut our first birch switch. It was only used twice, and the following conversations took place on those occasions. The first time: "Sister, run into the house, quickly." "Why?" "You have on socks and there are many mos- quitoes here in the grass to-night. Run along !" "No, I don^t want to." "Why, of course you want to do what Mother says ! Run along !" "No, I won't." "Very well. If the little legs can not run into the house. Mother will have to get a switch and switch them." "Switch them?" "Yes." "With a switch?" "Yes." "Will it hurt?" "Very much." "Do the little girls downtown get their legs switched when they don't do what their mothers tell them to?" "That, or something worse." ".\nd you have a switch right there?" "Yes." "Well," with a great sigh, "I guess I'll go in." The second time she was playing in the water in the bath-room, and I calied, "Come, Sister, your hands are clean now. Dry them and come and play with us." "No, I don't want to." "They've been in water long enough. Come!" "No." "Sister, if you do not start before Mother counts five she must use the switch. One, two, three, four — five — !" And the switch was used. This happened twice, then — "Sister, come. Must Mother use the switch again ?" And a calm little figure appeared at the door. "Is it there in that room. Mother?" "Yes." "Can you reach it?" 254 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL "Yes." "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Well, I'll come." The decision that obedience was wise and best seemed to be made for all time, and the switch was only mentioned to her a few times after that, and never again used. At three and a half she had practically outgrown the need of physical discipline, but Brother will require occasional doses of Oil of Birch for some time, I fear. Silence and Disaffection To-day Sister confessed a fault in the dearest way, adding, "I'm so sorry I did what I ought not to. Mother." Of course she was forgiven gladly and no punishment was needed. Keeping one's children's confidence, especially as they reach the age when they must begin to leave the home nest for sc'hool, is so much more important than the keeping of any rules and regulations. It is easy for Brother to "tell Mother all about it," but Sister is a strange child in some ways. When she is happy and good she just glows — her eyes are full of changing lights and her lips are sweet and eager. When things go wrong, how- ever, her _face changes into an expressionless mask and it takes a real effort to reach the little girl underneath. It would be very easy to lose her confidence permanently, but we try not to be harsh with her, and tactful suggestions and loving correction are increasingly received in the right spirit. Once last Winter when things had been harder than usual for us both, I told her a story of a little girl who did not like to talk things over with her mother. Each time she failed to tell about what had happened, a stone was added to a wall that began to grow between the two. This made the mother very unhappy, for she wanted to be near to her little girl always, and the hor- rid wall frightened her, but she could not make the child climb over or knock it down. At last one day something happened that made the little girl troubled and sad. She wanted so much to be comforted, but when she would have gone to her mother she found that the wall had grown so high that she could not climb over, and so strong that she could not knock it down. She was lonely and so unhappy there on her side ; and the poor mother was just as lonely and un- happy on the other side. They found at last that they could talk a little through a chink in the wall, and as they talked the chink grew larger until they could get their hands through. Then they pulled and pushed and poked, hurting their hands and making their hearts ache, until there was a hole big enough for the child to climb through. Then she sprang into her mother's arms and told her all about everything that had ever happened, and the mother told her many wise things. They lived happily ever after, for that little girl never let the least bit of a wall grow between herself and her mother again. When I said that the little girl did not tell her mother everything. Sister interrupted to ask shy- ly, "What was the little girl's name. Mother?" I said, "Perhaps it was Sally Smith," and went right on with the story. She listened soberly and was unusually quiet when I tucked her in that night. Since then she has really made an effort to talk more freely about "mistakes," and we sometimes say during quiet times together, "We're not going to let any wall grow between us, are we?" Lying The sensitive child is peculiarly susceptible to the Evasive Lie. As a child I would grieve for hours if I thought I had displeased anyone, and the most tragic memory of my own childhood is of a time when I told a lie to hide a wrongdoing. I could not bear to face my mother's distress if she knew what I had done. By the time both wrongdoing and lie were discovered, the sin had grown to such proportions in my eyes that I could not acknowledge even to myself that I had committed it, and I stuck to the falsehood to the bitter end. I am glad that the memory of that suffering remains so vividly in my mind, for it helps me to understand some of the curious men- tal processes of my own children. We sometimes make children lie when we are tired and nervous by "pouncing." When I said to Sister the other day in a quick and terrible voice, "Who turned the gas up?" it was her natural instinct of self-preservation that prompt- ed her to say, "I don't know." A friend told the other day of her husband calling to her in such a voice, "Are you pounding that ice in the new sink?" She was, but quick as a flash she took the bag out and set it on the floor, and said, "Of course not !" It's human nature ! When I was sure that Sister had turned up the gas in spite of her denial, I asked her quite casu- ally if the beans were boiling when she went into the kitchen. She answered that they were not, so she turned up the gas a little. I ex- plained that she really was not old enough to manage the stove and must speak to Mother the next time, adding that it was a big mistake not to tell Mother the truth when she asked first about it. Of course, she agreed and was very FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 255 sorry, and I'm sure a bigger impression was made than if there had been a hasty punishment on the spot. The only time when we have been seriously troubled by untruth was after having a maid in the house who habitually lied out of things. For a while both children told the most awful "whoppers" with perfectly straight faces, and — so unnecessa- rily ! We cured the acute attack by first eliminating the source of the contagion, then by avoiding occasions for stumbling as much as possible, prais- ing the children for telling things straight when- ever we could, and by the use of patience and tact when errors were discovered. Once or twice we have washed a mouth with soap. In the extremest cases we have taken the position that we were unable to believe something of impor- tance to the child stated by him later, for "You did not tell me right about so-and-so — how can I be sure you are telling me right now?" Brother sometimes relates the wildest, most im- possible yarns. After listening with interest we say, perhaps, "How exciting! That's something you thought might happen, isn't it?" He gen- erally admitted quite frankly that it was, and we let it pass with but a word of caution. "He must be sure," we say, "when he tells stories, that people understand that he is only playing that the things happened." Vivid imaginations are great assets — we want to control, not quench them. We have never let the children hear the words "Lie" or "Liar." They are too ugly for boys and girls who are learning to distinguish and to tell the truth. Destructiveness and Mischief We find practically no tendency to destructive- ness in the nursery so long as there is plenty of material for constructive work at hand.' Certain mechanical toys invite disaster and are better kept out of well-regulated play-rooms. Broken articles, unless unusually precious, should be re- tired at once, for having them about rather en- courages carelessness. When Brother was four we gave him a small saw, a hammer, and a box of nails, with permis- sion to use any boards he wanted from the pile left in the cellar when the house was built. People asked how we dared have so young a child loose in the house with real tools — didn't he ex- periment with the furniture and woodwork? Of course not ! He was so busy using material legitimately that such a possibility never occurred to him — and you may be sure that we did not suggest it. Of course all children make mistakes some- times and accidents will happen in the best reg- ulated families. Where there is confidence be- tween ourselves and our children, however, a few words of sympathy, understanding, and sug- gestion are generally all that is needed to avoid troublesome mischief. We had a queer experience ^ith Sister long after we supposed her to have outgrown such possibilities. One day she stained her hands in some way, and in an attempt to get them clean used a bit of the contents of every bottle in the medicine cabinet. We tried our best to make her realize the danger of experimenting with liquids of which she knew nothing, but she did not seem to be impressed at all. The very next day she took my watch, which had stopped, and opening the back tried to make it go by pushing the wheels with a pin — with fatal result, of course. Again we seemed unable to make her realize that she had done anything seriously amiss. Finally, I said, "Sister, I'll have to do some- thing to make you stop and think whether things are right or wrong before you do them. What do you suppose would make you remember?" She replied quite calmly, "Why, I'm sure I don't know. Mother!" "It will have to be something pretty big, I'm afraid. If I put you to bed now and gave you just bread and water for supper, would you re- member next time that it is very wrong to ex- periment with other people's belongings? Or do you think that spanking the hands that did the mischief would do more good?" "Well, if you don't mind, I'd rather have the spanking," and she held out her dear pink hands with a smile of perfect trust. I had not spanked her for almost three years, and had certainly never expected to again, and — oh, it was hard! I found a ruler and made her ■hold her hands out behind her so that I need not watch that vivid face, and — I did it, good and hard. Then I held out my arms and she sprang into them and we cried together. In a moment I was called to the telephone, and when I returned she was quite happily watching Brother's building operations, but with the poor hands held painfully away from her skirts, and she smiled lovingly and understandingly as I passed. Indeed she was more affectionate than usual for days, and her conscience has worked satisfactorily ever since. Sometimes naughty pranks are really very funny, but of course we must never laligh at them. Still more important, we must never tell of them in the child's hearing. Some parents seem to find it almost impossible to resist the tell- ing of tales about the cute youngsters whom they THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL "just can't do anything with," whether sharp little ears are present or not. The child then gets an exaggerated idea of his own cleverness and comes to feel that Father and Mother are really proud of the very things they scold about, and discipline becomes a more and more hope- less task in the household. Unpunctuality and Dallying When things drag in the nursery — when games are played languidly and it takes forever to put things away — we often find that the treatment needed is physical as well as moral. A romp in the open air may work a miraculous cure, and in extreme cases physic may be called for. For a while last Summer Sister was slower than molasses in January about everything she did. One afternoon, as an experiment, I took her temperature and to my astonishment and dismay found it 102° ! The next morning it was sub- normal, but late in the afternoon was unpleas- antly high again. The child was going through a siege of malaria, and dallying was the only external symptom besides the fever. There are many ways in which we can help our children to work while they work and play while they play. Recognitions are always more useful than penalties in this particular field — a tiny star pasted on a card when a certain task is done in record time, or some simple treat, or. best of all, just the joy of hearing Daddy told how quick and efficient they have been. A race is always fun. On her si.xth birthday. Sister really beat me getting dressed. Timing has a magic which all children love. "Let's see how many minutes it will take you to set the table," or "It's now just five minutes past. Let's see if you can go to the store and back by half past !" — these appeal especially to the little person who is just learning to tell time. When boys and girls first begin to play away from their own yard it is a very hard thing to come home at a certain hour. Indeed it is al- most too much to expect a five or six-year-old to hear the whistles when absorbed in an exciting game. Of course they must learn to keep track of time whatever they are doing; but we try to be very patient with unpunctuality of this sort, and as appreciative as possible when Brother and Sister do come home at the right time. A Recipe The ingredients given in a certain recipe for an ideal nursery atmosphere are "Non-interfer- ence," "Suggestion," "Substitution," "Tact," and "Fairness." We find that when we, as well-dis- ciplined parents, mix these prayerfully and season well with love, understanding, sympathy, and ap- preciation, the result is pretty sure to be happy children who are as "good as gold." CHARTS OF CHILD STUDY AND CHILD TRAINING FOR THE KINDERGARTEN PERIOD BASED ON THE FOREGOING ARTICLES IN THIS SECTION, "THE FIFTH YEAR" AND "WHAT A CHILD IS LIKE THE SIXTH YEAR," BY MARY L. READ, AND "THE KINDERGARTEN YEARS," BY IRVING E. MILLER THE CHILD'S RESPONSES His ever lively physical life expresses itself in two main channels : motor-action and construc- tive activity. When he tries to make anything that is small or fine he fumbles. His immediate surroundings and particularly the actions of adults start him in all sorts of imita- tive play. This constructive and imitative play shows con- sider'able imagination, and he develops the power of per.sonating various characters and activities. He often makes an ideal world for a time with his playthings and imaginings. WHAT THEY SUGGEST These suggest that we give the first tendency opportunity through materials to encourage climbing, sliding, running, etc., and the second througli materials for building and making. It is evidently not time for him to do fine work or careful finish. We should give him materials, often of a homely character, that he can use for this purpose. The wider the experiences we give him the broader and bigger will such play be, and stories will tell him of an even larger world. Here fairy-stories begin to come in to give him the beautiful background for such play. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 257 THE CHILD'S RESPONSES He does a good deai of taking apart and destroy- ing as well as putting together and building. He is constantly asking questions. He begins to put his ideas together now, and they are more definite than before. He associates his experiences better, and begins deliberately to recall and remember. As he puts his ideas together, he reasons from them. Every impulse tends toward immediate action, which often subsides soon and then swings into another direction. In his hand-plays now he seems to be interested almost wholly in self-expression, and is easily satisfied with a quick and hasty result. He is impatient when objects do not comply with his will. He is equally impatient with playmates who do not conform to his wishes. He is independent, to the point of rebellion at times. His religious feelings are spontaneous and lively. He begins now to idealize persons and try to imi- tate them, not only as to what th^-'' do, but as to what they plan and intend. WHAT THEY SUGGEST This is curiosity. Let us give him used-up ma- chinery that he may safely take apart, and take pains also to show him how things are made. Many of these, if he is really attentive, we should answer, but whenever possible we should en- courage him to find out for himself. Then let us give him more definite experiences. The Montessori methods have this advantage. Offer him more conscious sense-e.xperiences of smell, taste, sight, color, etc., particularly in connection with Nature. This suggests that we can start some sort of a program wnth him. For example, we can re- late his play to the seasons and the holidays. We can encourage collections. Constructive play, where plans and causes lead to results, should help here. Exercises like cooking, clay-work, and doll-dressing should help. This warns us of the peril of fatigue. Also this "motor flow," as Dr. Miller calls it, suggests that there are golden hours of attention and energy that we may take advantage of. Still, if we can show him'how he has accidentally made a likeness, with his drawing, for example, we shall often find that he becomes inspired to see if he can do better. His self-satisfaction grows less as his ideals get larger. Sometimes, not always, showing him that the right technique will bring a better result, will develop his patience. He needs more playmates, of his own age and older, who will not care very much about what he wants and will show him that he has to be content with his share. Much rebelliousness may be provided against by very early drill in right habits. There is a strong impulse to do what one has always done, and if exceptions are never permitted they are not asked for. Silence, solitude, and certain firm disciplinary methods are necessary now to keep this tendency in bounds. This, united with other impulses already men- tioned, suggests: letting religious teaching be in the form of stories, and religious practice con- sist of the habit of prayer and of spontaneous helpful and generous activities. We need to furnish him real heroes, and be such to him ourselves, and to give him ideal heroes in stories and verses. A CHART OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT FOURTH TO SIXTH YEAR (From the Third to the Sixth Birthday) These refcrenees suggest helpful explanatory passages in "The Child Welfare Manual" PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT [I. 275-280] General Development: Rapid growth of body and brain. 4th and 5th years; retarded before 6th year [I. 383; II. 14]. Resistance to diseases good, 4th and Sth years. Tendency to early fatigue before end of period. Retardation common, 6th year [I. 325-326]. Special pleasure in taste, Sth to 6th years [II. 37]. Muscular control gaining in strength and firin- ness [I. 279, 280]. Physical development toward close of period apt to be affected by school habits, confinement, poor sanitation and contagion, if exposed to such conditions [I. 275, 276, 390]. Weight: at 4 years, average 36 pounds; at 5 years, average 40 pounds; at 6 years, average 44 pounds [I. 204]. Height: at 4 years, average 37^ inches; at 5 vears. average 40 inches; at 6 years, average 43 inches [I. 382]. Respiration: 20 to 25 [I. 283]. Pulse: 90 to 110 [I. 283]. Dentition: second dentition begins at 6th year with first four molars [I. 183, 217, 299, 341- 343]. PHYSICAL SUGGESTIONS Sleep: 13 hours, and rest from 1 to 3 hours [I. 44, 46, 48, 271, 272, 276]. Foods for body-building, and special attention to nutrition needed from age of five [I. 57-66; 223-238]. Physical examination and vaccination before en- tering school, with special care of teeth [I. 337-342]. Guard against fatigue and contagion [»I. 288- 330]. Without neglecting the senses [II. 36, 37], the strong constructive instinct and motor inter- ests are to be encouraged through tools and material [II. 253, 254]. Train the child to dress himself, Sth or 6th year. Physical exercises outdoors, running, jumping and ball-plav to be encouraged [II. 237, 241-243, 245-247, 261]. 258 MENTAL DEVELOPMENT [II. 14-23] Instincts: curiosity shows itself by perpetual questioning, also by building [II. 245-247] and taking things to pieces; play runs out in two directions: lively motion, such as running, jumping and rhythmic dancing, and also play that represents adult activities, with some slight interest in formal games; both play and curiosity lead to runnintj away [II, 55, 258- 262], Emotions, upset by new school conditions, more changeable [II. 135-140]. Memory more clear, consecutive and voluntary, as power of attention improves [II. 93, 94]. Understanding, definite ideas about everything; new notions from school and playmates. Mental activities: imagination lively, builds a fairy world in play; love of listening to fairy tales; attempts to print and represent a little by drawings; interest in color, 4th year, yields to new interest in form of things, Sth or 6th year; interest in play or work is in the activ- ity itself rather than in the result, and so is not prolonged or continuous; all his activities (by the si.xth year) are affected by the fact that he now has a larger environment than his home [II. 121-123, 266, 267]. Quick, eager spontaneousness is his mental keynote. MENTAL SUGGESTIONS [II. 44-57, 257] For home occupation, give materials for weaving, molding, drawing: blocks, balls and things for playing house, store, railroad, etc.; plants; objects to stimulate collections; free play rather than games [II. 235, 236, 250, 251]. Use the best Montessori and kindergarten ideas [II. 44-54] to enrich his experience in every possible way. For home requirement: telling time, dressing, singing scale, counting up to 100, simple knitting, coarse sewing, helping about the house [II. 256, 257]. Home reading aloud [II. 230-233], singing [II. 261, 292], memorizing [II. 87-90, 280-283]. Home nature study [II. 100, 101, 118]. Stories of fairies, animals and things near home [II. 270-277, 403-406]. Be a companion in the child's play, interests and school work [II. 42, 187]. Guard purity of speech [II. 83-86]. Give simple sex-information before entering kin- dergarten [I. 11-13, 361, 362, 374, 375], and refute fears and superstitions picked up in school [II. 68-70]. A CHART OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT FOURTH TO SIXTH YEAR (From the Third to the Sixth Birthday) Tlicsc rcfcKiiccs suggest liclpfid explanatory passages in "The Child Welfare Manual" MORAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Imaginary companions common in 4th year [II. 125, 126]. The child now enjoys play with other children and with pets. Still selfish and self-assertive. In general, the individual stage. SOCIAL SUGGESTIONS Supervise companionships and play, to supply in- itiative and prevent quarreling [II. 146-149]. Do not give too much responsibility for care lest pets suflfer [II. 262-265]. Insist on responsibility for orderliness and special assigned tasks to teach partnership in home relations [I. 81-83; II. 249, 250]. Insist on acts of cheerfulness, patience, and polite- ness. They tend to build the virtues of which they are the symbols [II. 457-459], and they are the basis of all his future social life. Social feeling may be stimulated through appro- priate stories [I. 73-75; II. 251-256, 270-275], and dramatizing such stories together [ll. 260, 266-270]. Give confidential companionship to the child, especially at bedtime and when he craves sympathy [I. 172-175]. Singing in the home is one of the best ways to develop the social life of the household [II. 261, 291]. At about 5th year strong independence, some- times leading to revolt against authority [II. 55, 218, 219]. Imagination, leading to fear, also develops capac- ity of trust [IL 123-126]. Confused through imaginativeness or fear [II. 123-126]. First hero-worship (father, mother, policeman, etc.) appears [II. 201, 411-415, 451, 452]. MORAL SUGGESTIONS [II. 390-397] Independence must not become disobedience at home or bullying away from home. Meet by interested activity. The child should be trained to see and express truth clearly and never be scared into lying [II. 127-132]. Teach: Truthfulness, by precept and example; Loyalty, through love [II. 43, 44]; Courage, by storv, example and commenda- tion [II. 161, 388] ; Self-confidence, through encouragement of effort [II. 139]; Self-control, bv phvsical discipline and play [L 332, 350-354; IL 406]; Caution, by explanation of the lessons of experience; Personal reserve, by instruction, and a certain amount of repression; Punctuality, by penalty for failure; Cherfulness, by example, interest, and love [L 104]. Teach the child to carry his trust of parental and other human strength over into trust in God [II. 409, 410, 435, 437-439, 454, 455]. Encourage original expressions of gratitude and trust in prayer. Utilize the admirable qualities in the child's he- roes as examples. Furnish others in stories, especially the Bible stories [II. 403-406]. Establish habit of attendance at Sunday-school about 5th year, and church about 6th year [II. 449-451]. Use his spontaneous feelings toward goodness in every possible way for kindly, generous ac- tivities. 259 WHAT AN AVERAGE CHILD MAY BE ABLE TO DO BY THE END OF THIS PERIOD* TAKEN LARGELY FROM DATA BY THE LATE NAOMI NORSWORTHY Note. — The words "he" and "his" wherever used in these lists generally apply to activities appro- priate to girls as well as boys, unless otherwise indicated. 1. He can attend to and control his bodily functions. 2. He can perform the simpler courtesies of good breeding. 3. He can to some extent restrain the impulse to cry when disappointed or hurt, to kick and .shriek when angry, to handle what he knows to be another's property, and can stop sulks, crossness, and contrariness. 4. He can obey. 5. He can understand simple instructions and hold them in mind sufficiently well to carry them out. 6. He can pick out a few colors and express a preference among them. 7. He will have a vocabulary of from 2,000 to 4.000 words. He will understand more words than he uses. 8. Rote memory is good. 9. He can build or alter simple forms for use in play. 10. He can make a rude drawing and perhaps print a few words. 11. He can tell a simple story, partly of his own. 12. He can act out a simple story, and pursue an imaginative play for some time. 13. He is in the midst of the "how" and "why" period. 14. He is full of spontaneous feelings toward goodness, which may easily be turned into the channels of kindly, generous service of others. A 'ROUND-THE-YEAR PROGRAM t ARRANGED BY THE COMMITTEE ON CURRICULUM OF THE INTERNATIONAL KINDERGARTEN UNION General Outline for the Year September, October, November- 1. Life III the Home. The family; care of the home: preparation of food for the family. 2. Sources of Food. The garden and farm; the market, the peddler, the dairy; occupations related to the supply of food; direct attention to the food products, fruits, vegetables, grains, eggs, milk, bread, butter, and to some of the simpler proceses involved in food getting. 3. Seasonal Activities and Interests. Preserv- ing and canning for Winter ; planting bulbs ; gathering flowers, leaves, berries, seeds, nuts, etc.; collecting caterpillars; preparation for and celebration of Thanksgiving. December Preparation for Christmas. "Santa Glaus ;" the toy-shop; making gifts; the Christinas festi- val and tree. January, February, March I. Life in the Community. Houses for differ- ent families; streets, walks, street lights; modes of transportation in the community; public build- * An excellent outline for the physical and mental examination of a child of this age, just entering school, is Riven in The Child Welfare Manual, vol I, pages 336-338. t As the mother reads the suggestions made by Mrs. Newell and all the other wise teachers for this period, she fee.s the need at once of org.inizing them into some sort of a curriculum, so that she may have a program and plans for every month of the school year. We have adopted for this purpose the epoch-making report made to the International Kindergarten Union by its Committee on Curriculum, which is likely to guide our best kindergartners for a number of years to come. A daily program is hardly practicable, because the conditions in each home vary, and it would hardly be wise, because if offered, it would tend to bind down both mother and child and exalt a system instead of the needs and impulses of 260 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 261 ings needed by the many families; various shops and stores; post-office; fire department; school; church. 2. Seasonal Interests. Out - of - door play in snow and ice ; heating and lighting of homes and other buildings; celebration of St. Valentine's Day; recognition of Washington's Birthday; care of plants now grown from bulbs planted in the Autumn ; care of pet animals, fish, birds, etc. April, May, June 1. Occupations Related to Clothing. Making clothing; buying material at store or shop. 2. Seasonal Activities and Interests. Life in the park and playground; excursions to observe signs of Spring, budding of trees, birds return- ing, coming of wild flowers; out-of-door play with marbles, tops, etc.; gardening; raising chickens or doves; celebration of Easter; cele- bration of May Day. Explanation of Outline September, October, November I. Life in the Home. The necessary work in- volved in housekeeping, especially that related to the supply of food for the family, furnishes ex- cellent subject-matter for the Fall program. It is all very familiar; the activities involved are simple and objective, and they are intimately related to the welfare and happiness of the chil- dren themselves. (See: "Talking with and Help- ing Mother," page 228.) A few well-selected toys, such as a bed, a stove, a broom, a tub, and some dolls, will suggest the housekeeping plays. Large floor-blocks may be used to make more beds, stoves, ovens. Clay may be used for bread, cookies, cake, etc., to be baked. Older children may make bedding for their doll-beds. Paper napkins and doilies will be needed to carry on the dining-room plays. Designs developed from berry and seed-stringing described below are sometimes applied in decorat- ing the doilies. The art impulse may be con- served also by attention to the arrangement of table-furnishing and the effective placing of flowers on the table. ( See : "Building Plays," page 187; "Making Cakes and Other Models," page 189; "Playing in Sand," page 191; "More Build- ing Plays," page 212; "Hammer and Nails," page 215; "Making Things Out of Paper," page 216; "Modeling," page 222 ; "Pictures and Painting," page 224; "Beginnings in Handwork," page 288; "Constructive Play," page 355.) In order to keep the child's interest and atten- tion centered on the household activities and to furnish motive for many of the plays and occupa- tions, a playhouse may be provided in one corner of the room by means of a screen. Here the toys and block constructions may be kept from day to day, additional furniture and equipment supplied as need arises, and the life of the family in the home, their work and their pleasures, dramatized fully and freely. The mother may suggest a real luncheon or tea-party which will necessitate a trip to the grocery-store, the dairy, or the bakery. A cereal or some other food easily prepared may be bought, cooked, and served by the child himself. (The Bookshelf, vol. IV, "Mother's Cooking- School.") A series of plays and occupations of this kind, developed largely by the child and supplemented by pictures, stories, and conversation, serves to bring isolated ideas, experiences, objects, and processes into their true relation in the child's thought, and to stimulate to further organization of experience through play. 2. Sources of Food. The excursion to the store suggests the desirability of a play-store, and the child himself. The little study by Miss Beard, "Richard's Day," suggests how a mother may follow the suggestions of a child's own activities and use them for educational ends. It is not time yet for formal periods of school-discipline, but there may well be definite occasions each day for con- scious learning. Every little child feels proud to be big enough to play "school," but he should do this in a way to make him alwa-ys think of school as a privilege. The daily experiences of the children will include some interests, impulses to activity, and emotions, which, although not related to the series of topics which have been selected, should nevertheless be given opportunity for expression. .\ rainy day. with its interesting accompaniment of rubber boots, raincoat, and umbrella, might call for expression through dramatic play, drawing, or song, which would be much more significant on that day than anything relating to the larger unit of work or project which was being carried on. It is most wise to keep a simple record of each day's activities and interests, and to file these, thus connecting one with another, and using each day's successes and failures to help in planning new projects. The following is the form used at tlie kindergarten of the Horace Mann School; D.^Y'S RECORD 1. Material presented 4. How the child responded to the day's plan 2. How far the child is along in the use of it 5. Selection of response worth considering and using to- morrow 3. Plan for the use of it to-day 6. Suggestion arising in this lesson for future work. THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL this may now become the next project.* It will call for much experimentation with building blocks and boards. It can be worked out on a small scale by the child and later reproduced with large building materials. To stock this store furnishes numerous problems for the child to solve, and affords him excellent experience in selecting and shaping materials to serve his play- purposes. (See: "Playing in Sand," page 191; "How the Child Plays During the Fifth Year," page 211; "Building Plays," page 212; "Begin- nings in Handwork," page 2S8 ; "Constructive Play," page 355. The extent to which garden and farm become centers of interest depends necessarily upon the child's experiences. A miniature sand-table farm, showing buildings, fields, farm animals, etc., is an interesting and valuable play-project for chil- dren who are familiar with farm life. (See: "Playing in Sand." page 191 ; "Outdoor Life, Pets, and Gardening," page 229.) Play with real fruit, grains, and vegetables in the grocery-store or in connection with prepar- ing and serving food in the home will give fn opportunity for as much emphasis upon the proc- ess of food-getting as is desirable. The making of butter is a process which even little children can carry on successfully, and they may help in making jelly. Both butter and jelly may be saved and used at the Thanksgiving festival. 3. Seasonal Activities and Interests. Parallel with the interest in these domestic and industrial activities will be interest in the season and some of its characteristic aspects. Bulbs may be planted in the Fall for early Spring blossoming. Seeds, berries, and autumn leaves may be gath- ered, sorted, and made into chains and wreaths. As autumn flowers are brought in, the child may arrange and place them in the room. Interest in observing the caterpillar spin a cocoon will be stimulated by taking the child out to find cater- pillars and helping him to provide some means of keeping them. (See: "The Instinct for Collect- ing," page 197; "Nature Study," page 240; "Bet- ty's Nature Friends," page 391 ; "Collecting Nature Materials," page 295.) The program for the season culminates in the preparation for and celebration of Thanksgiving. The child had some share in preparing food for future use in the butter-making and preserving. He has seen fruits and vegetables in abundance • It matters little whether we talk ahoiit, sing about, or dramatize, the policeman in October or in May, the carpenter in January or in Tune, the birds in September or April, or whether we take these specific representations at all, so that we help the child through some representation to see how his great fundamental needs of food, shelter, clothing, rest, law, love, are met, that he may grow in relation to the social whole." — Edna Dean Baker. in the markets. He has gathered some vegeta- bles from his own garden. These direct experi- ences, enriched by pictures, conversation, song, and story, will help the child to some realization of the meaning of the harvest season. He may prepare for Thanksgiving Day by decorating the dining-room appropriately and beautifully. (See: "Festivals," page 245.) Children of kindergarten age can not under- stand the historical significance of this holiday; hence it is a mistake to give it to them. The social significance of the day, however, may be realized liy the child, through associating it with the harvest and the pleasure that comes from sharing good things with the family and friends. This will lay the foundation for the appreciation of the spiritual significance of the festival, which will come to the child at a later period in his development. Hallowe'en is a day for the child to enjoy with other children. It may be made the occasion for a party. The celebration should emphasize the wholesome, legitimate humor that is associ- ated with the Jack-o'-lantern and the antics of the elves and brownies. December Preparation for Christmas. The outline for December suggests that three weeks of tiiis month be devoted to work and play related to Christmas. The little child's associations with this day are in terms of Santa Claus and toys. The story, "The Night Before Christmas," recalls all the joys of the Christmas season. The child should be given full opportunity to 'reproduce parts ot the story through materials and in imitative and dramatic play. The making of a toyshop and toys will stimulate the child to his best efforts in construction and supply incentive for further dra- matic play. Songs and stories which interpret the activities in which the child is engaged, or the mood aroused by the experiences he is hav- ing, will enhance the value of the entire Christ- mas experience. The song, "Who Will Buy My Toys?" is an example of a play-activity in poetic form. "The Shoemaker and the Elves" is a story closely related to the Christmas experience, because it deals with the making of gifts and contains the element of surprise. The spiritual significance of the festival may be emphasized by telling the story of the First Christmas. After such happy experiences as these, the child will be ready and eager to plan and make gifts for his parents. This Christmas festival should be the most beautiful of the year. The work should be so planned that hurry and strain in FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 263 connection with making gifts are avoided. All preparations should be accompanied with pleas- ure in doing and joy in anticipation. The gifts should be carefully wrapped and tied or sealed. (See: "Festivals," page 245.) January, February, March I. Life in the Cotmnunity. Occupations related to food, clothing, and shelter, represent both home and community activities in relation to each other; but the home-life supplies the background in each case, and the several neighborhood in- dustries become interesting in connection with some one or more heeds of the home and family. (See: "Building Plays," page 212; "Hammer and Nails," page 215; "Making Things Out of Paper," page 216; "Modeling," page 222; "Pictures and Painting," page 224; "Constructive Play," page 355-) It is desirable, in addition to these, to empha- size the needs of and provision for the neighbor- hood or community as a whole. There are fam- ilies, represented by children themselves, living in their several homes; these homes are located on roads or streets; w'alks and street lights must be provided so that travel and transportation may be safe and comfortable. There are numer- ous stores and shops on the business street of the neighborhood which supply many of the needs of the community. Provision is made for the protection of the people by means of the fire department and the police service; and for com- munication through the work of the letter-car- riers and post-office. There is the school for all of the children; and the church attended by the different families. A miniature community as a project may be easily developed out of the building of individual houses on the same street or in the same neigh- borhood. These structures will be characteristic of the environment — single houses only, or single houses, blocks of houses, and apartment build- ings. As the houses are completed, other neces- sary buildings of the community suggest them- selves. The stores and shops of the miniature community may be distinguished from one an- other by their window displays. Sidewalks, street lights, mail-boxes, and vehicles of various sorts may be added as need for them is felt. In the early spring the playground and park may be- come additional projects especially interesting and significant as the days grow warmer. Associated with the construction are the plays in which the children carry out in imitative and imaginative form the various community activi- ties. They -play at shopping, visiting, going to school and church. They play postman, car driver, policeman, etc. They visit the fire de- partment and see the firemen and engines. Il- lustrative drawing and modeling are other forms of expression used to interpret these different interesting and important phases of community life. The play is simple and the products crude, but they represent a child's method of entering into the life of which he is a part and learning something of its interrelations and interdepen- dencies. These objective and relatively permanent rep- resentations of the objects and ideas involved in the subject-matter hold the children's interest and attention for several days or weeks. 2. Seasonal Interests. At Christmas time the use of the holly, mistletoe, and evergreens will call attention to the trees which keep their leaves all Winter. In Winter, if environment favors, the children will make snowballs and snow-men. The melting of the snow-men will serve to show the change of- snow to water under the effect of warm sun- shine. During the short winter days attention should be directed to the moon and stars, while they are visible, before the children's bedtime; and verse and song expressive of childlike feelings and interest in these heavenly bodies may be used to deepen the children's pleasure in them. The bulbs planted in the Autumn may be brought from the cellar and kept where the child may watch them grow and give them the care they need. The planning and making of valentines will furnish good problems in construction and design, and this day, like Hallowe'en, may be used to further the development of social spirit. Washington's Birthday is a holiday which has interest and significance for the older children in the school and for the community in general. The younger children tend to reflect, without un- derstanding, a community interest of this kind. They are, obviously, too young to appreciate the service of Washington to his country; but they will be satisfied with the explanation that he was a great soldier and the first President of the United States. They may help to celebrate his birthday by making suitable room decorations and soldier caps for themselves, by carrying flags while marching to martial music, and by hearing and joining in the singing of our national songs. Thus will pleasurable and right associations be made by them with the name of George Wash- ington, a national figure too great to be intro- duced to children through anything so trivial as the commonly used cherry-tree stofy. 264 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL April. May, June 1. The Need and Supply of Clothing. As oc- cupations related to the supply of food may be initiated through suggestive toys, so interest in clothing and occupations necessary to supply it may be approached through dolls and doll plays. Dolls which need garments made of actual cloth may be used, or paper dolls, or perhaps both kinds ; in any case the problem is one which will make a strong appeal to the children. ( See : "Mak- ing Doll-Furniture," page 232 ; "Weaving," page -'36; "Making Doll-Dresses," page 239; also in the Boys and Girls Bookshelf, vol. IV, page 75, "The Little Mother's Work-Basket.") Material is the first necessity. The children may go to purchase it themselves. The planning and making of the garments will follow. This work will suggest the stores and shops again as places where not only materials, but also ready- made garments, may be secured. It may involve the dry-goods store, or the department store, ac- cording to the circumstances and environment. The plays and occupations will bring the chil- dren in contact with a variety of textile mate- rials. All occupations related to clothing take on an added significance in connection with the out- of-door life of the season. When the subject is a part of the spring program, the need of cotton clothing, shade hats, sunbonnets, and parasols may be emphasized. If it is included in the winter work, heavy coats, caps, mittens, rubbers, and leg- gings are necessaries to be provided. In either case, the merchant as a factor in supplying human needs becomes a person of special interest. 2. Seasonal Activities and Interests. During the late Spring and early Summer, when the chil- dren can be out of doors much more than at any other time of the year, the central interest of the program may be selected from the activities and interests relating directly to the season of the year. (See: "Nature Study," page 240; "An In- troduction to Nature Study," page 384; "Betty's Nature Friends," page 391.) The playgrounds and parks are being made ready for summer use. As suggested elsewhere, the representation of a playground or park in miniature may be the final project of the work growing out of the interests in community life. In the early Spring, the effect of sunshine on seeds and bulbs planted in the window-boxes will have been noted. Excursions will be planned in order that the children may discover signs of new life as they appear in the grass, leaf buds, and early wildflowers. Interest in these may be stimulated through drawing and paper cutting as well as through language and poetry. Observation of returning birds should be encouraged and an effort made through pictures, conversation, drawing, etc., to help children to recognize readily a few birds common to tlie locality. The child may also make a bath for birds in the yard and keep it filled with water. In addition to these experiences incidental to the objects and phenomena of Nature, the activ- ities of gardening and the care of animals should be carried on. Children of kindergarten age are too young to carry gardening activities very far. They should, however, have the opportunity to plant some flower and vegetable seeds which will mature quickly. Seeds of various kinds planted in pots, bowls, or boxes, made or decorated by the children, will help to keep the interest active through appeal to the ownership instinct. Furthermore, the plant growing in the little pot on the window-sill is much more in evidence than the plants growing in the relatively remote garden. It is worth while, therefore, to plant seeds in the Spring and bulbs in the Autumn, both indoors and out. Lettuce and radishes planted early in May will be ready to harvest by the time school closes in June. The seeds of these and other plants may be gathered in the early Autumn. Animals which are interesting in their habits and which may be easily cared for are goldfish, canary birds, ring doves, rabbits, and a hen and chicks. In a number of instances kindergartners have succeeded in raising a brood of little downy chicks. Opportunity thus to become intimately ac- quainted with two or three types of animal life is far more important for the children than merely to be introduced to a larger number and variety of animals, although the aspect of num- ber and variety need not be neglected. The festival days of the season, Easter and May Day, should be recognized in appropriate fashion. Since Easter comes at the beginning of Spring, the associations with it should be those of new life. The season is one of promise. May Day, like St. Valentine's Day, is a time for surprises. It should be so celebrated as to give pleasure to friends and neighbors. The old custom of hanging baskets of flowers on neighbors' doors is a charming one to per- petuate. Method In general, the method of using subject-matter selected from home and community life, or from Nature study, involves the following: I. Recall of familiar experience through real objects, toy representations, pictures, conversa- tion, or through some closely related experience. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 265 2. Extension or interpretation throug-h excur- sions, or by means of objects or processes in the home, etc. 3. Interpretation and organization through one or more of the several avenues of expression or forms of play. The third step usually involves for the child a problem which he will be inter- ested in solving. For example, suppose the chil- dren have been shaping cookies of clay. The question of baking may present itself, and they then realize that baking tins and ovens are needed. The first problem for the child may be, "How can I change this piece of paper into a pan to hold my cookies?" The next problem follows, "How can I make an oven in which to bake this pan of cookies?" Attainments The attainments are realized so largely in terms of the various activities of the program, handwork, language, drawing, excursions, and so on, that it is difficult to formulate them apart from these several activities except in very gen- eral terms. A year's work as outlined below should result in the following values for the children : I. Attitudes, Interests, Tastes. A broader and more intelligent interest in those phases of social and natural environment included. An eager, receptive attitude toward new expe- rience resulting in the development of new in- terests. 2. Habits, Skill. Increased ability to relate and organize experience. Increased ability to adjust oneself to social situations. Increased power of attention shown in ability to concentrate on a series of related ideas and activities. Increased power to think and work indepen- dently. 3. Knowledge, Informcfion. A considerable fund of valuable information concerning the home and neighborhood activities and natural objects and phenomena to which attention has been drawn. Some realization of the social relationships and moral values involved in certain of these activi- ties. BIBLIOGRAPHY BoBBiTT, Fr.\xklix. The curriculum. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Course in community life, history, and civics. Uni- versity Elementary School. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Dewey, John. Froebel's educational principles. In his School and Society, rev. ed. University of Chi- cago Press, Chicago. Martin, Katherine. The kindergarten. In Public School Methods. The Methods Company, Chicago. MrLLER, Irving E. Education for the needs of life. The Macmillan Company, New York. Palmer. Luella A. Some reconstructive movements within the kindergarten. Psychological Clinic, Vol. VII. June, 1913. Wee Grace, just opposite Nelson, is busily \vTiting answers to a column of examples. 4-t-2=6, 3 — 3^0. 7 — 2=? Ah! that is a puzzler! The bro%vn head is shaking sadly. The brown eyes gaze steadily at the hard problem. The other children hand in their work. Grace is not ready. Recess comes. Still she sits there. At last the teacher goes to her and says, "Let me help you, Gracie." The child lifts her flushed face and answers bravely, "Mamma tells me to try my best before I let anyone help me. I think I can do it pretty soon, thank you." It is a small incident, yet it speaks volumes for the home influence exerted upon that child, and when the right answer is obtained, the teacher, if her insight is keen, will reahze a little of the sj-mpathetic admiration that will thriU the mother heart when the story is related to her. — Angelina W. Wray. "In her fine contribution to kindergarten literature, "The Kindergarten in American Education," Miss Nina Vande- walker gives these four principles which the psychologist of to-day approves, not for the kindergarten alone, but for all education: first, education is a process of development rather than a process of instruction. The child is not an empty vessel to be filled, but a growing organism with unfolding power of body, mind, and spirit. Second, play and not work in the sense of drudgery is the natural means of development during the early years. Third, that the child's creative activ- ity must be the main factor in his education. He "learns by doing" rather than by memorizing facts. Fourth, that his present interests and needs rather than the demands of the future should determine the material and the method to be employed. Instead of selecting subject-matter which as an adult he might understand and use, we select that which he can know, enjoy, and use in his play-projects now; for he who lives the life of the present day of his development most fully will be most ready for to-morrow." — Edna Dean Baker. mmmz m WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY RICHARD'S DAY* A REAL DAY OF A REAL BOY, AGED FIVE, AND LIVIXG IN THE COUNTRY FREDERICA BEARD Note. — This little observation is worth the whole of some volumes of child study. It shows how the mother might have taken advantage of the impulses named in the second column in so many of the ways Mrs. Newell and others suggest, and helped him carry them just a step farther until they really meant something toward his development. Trv making such notes of your own child for to-day, and then to-morrow apply them in your com- panionship with him. Time 7:00 A.M. After Breakfast 8 :45 A.M 9:15 A.M 10:15 A.M 11:00 A.M 12:00 M. After Dinner 4:00 P.M After Supper Events t Got up singing and continued to sing while he dressed himself. He and Sister Barbara (aged three) played with large "paper dolls" (really cardboard, of baby size, with clothes to put on and off). Went to woods to play in "camp" that Father made for him out of pine boughs. Returned for Barbara. Brought Barbara home from "camp." took his cart and went to pine grove for chips for kindling. Went with Grandma "down street" to get potatoes. Made mud-pies. Playing in barn with neighbor. More playing with cart and in mud. Had to stay on couch because of quar- reling. Played "bomb," "pendulum" and "fish" with rope tied to soft ball. Undressed himself; teased Grandma to read a story, which she did. When in bed he and Barbara talked for "one solid hour." Comments (a) Joyous expression. (b) Doing for himself. (a) Desire to "live over" life at home. (6) Boy cares for dolls (except when ridiculed, in this case by cousin whose parents have incul- cated the notion of unmanliness). (f) Parental instinct as true in boys as girls if not crushed out. (o) Desire to represent home life on simpler scale than house offers. (6) Interest in nature. (c) Interest in construction (just beginning). Desire for companionship. Play for a purpose, just showing itself at five years. (Work is anything done for a result: here is a mixture: the doing for the fun of it — play; the doing for what comes from it — work.) Same as above (chips for kindling; going for po- tatoes), with the interest of going somewhere with someone. Easy medium for representation and construction. Repetition. (fl) Selfishly overriding Sister, teasing, etc. (6) Imitating: representing things of motion (ac- tion), (f) Imagination. (a) Eager for story. (6) Eager for expression. * From "The Beginner's Worker and Work,'* by Frederica Beard, published by the Abingdon Press, New York, by permission of the author and publisher. t Comment of Mother: "I have not told him to do a thing; we never have time to silperintend his play." Used K..\ 267 THE FIFTH YEAR BY MARY L. READ During this year Mother often wonders why Jimmie, who has been so docile before, is becom- ing so disobedient and impudent, and why Katie, who has been so eager to follow around and "'help Mother," no longer wants to dust the chairs or put away the silver, but gets "tired of work- ing"; and why Henry, who hitherto has been 3greeable with his toys and playmates, is now so quarrelsome and teasing. The explanation is practically the same for all of these manifestations. Jimmie and Katie and Henry, and any other of the normal four-year- olds, is developing his own personality and be- coming more conscious of himself. He has more of a mind of his own, and it is as natural for him to express this as it is for a spring of water to bubble up through the ground, breaking through the impediments that would hold it down. This force of personality, initiative, self-con- fidence, dauntlessness, is a very precious posses- sion. It is a mainspring of democracy and an essential for leadership. The wise man who finds a spring of fresh water on his lands does not at- tempt to repress it by covering it over with a heavy plank. Neither does he leave it to seep through the ground and make bogs. He brings some stones, so it will collect into a useful and beautiful pool, or he pipes it into the house, so that it may be utilized for the benefit of all the family. Tlie wise parent heeds this parable of Nature, and neither attempts to crush out this developing sense of personality by tyranny and lack of sympathy, nor does he let it run riot into disobedience, impertinence, rudeness, quar- relsomeness. How to Train Personality The wise parent guards, leads, and directs this developing force into constructive social expres- sion, n the child were an idiot he would never develop this sense of personality. If he were feeble-minded or a neurasthenic he might need special stern measures or institutional treatment. But being a healthy, normal child, he has now other developing traits that can also be utilized — the "stones," or "pipes," as it were, for direct- ing this force. These other and supplementary traits will vary somewhat with each child, but most children at this age have also a keen sense of humor — espe- cially of the grotesque — a strong imitative ten- dency and a great desire to be like grown-ups. They are able to reason with considerable clear- ness, and they are affectionate. The mother and father, on their part, must exercise great control of temper, must keep in close touch with the child's feelings and his way of looking at life and experience, must use all their own sense of humor, common sense, and far- sightedness, and keep a firm, kindly control. Does this appear to call for a grasp of com- plex details, a high degree of personality and a great deal of personal judgment instead of offer- ing a simple, specific rule that can be applied in all cases? Even so. Child-training is indeed a complex process, and for its efficient practice calls for fine discrimination, well-trained judg- ment, ready wit, scientific knowledge, poised per- sonality. The sooner we all appreciate this the sooner s'hall we abandon the present irrational policy of expecting parents somehow to be endowed from heaven with miraculous gifts of these qualifica- tions when a child is born ; the sooner shall we appreciate the absurd delusion that "anybody can mind the kid. because he is so little and doesn't know anything." And then we shall shake off our inertia and begin to train young people for these responsibilities as thoroughly and intelli- gently as for any other responsible and profes- sional work. Utilizing Humor To consider the cases of Jimmie, Katie, and Henry: Suppose Jimmie has a keen sense of humor. With his new sense of personality added to this, he will naturally make a great game — and to him a most amusing one — of seeing how much his elders can be made to stand for by way of inattention, disobedience, and impudence, and how much he can rufile their tempers. His parents, if wise, will not "ruffle." Instead they will play the game his way. For instance, there is no fun crawling under the bed, and thus trying to escape being washed for supper, if your mother will not chase you and try to reach you with a long stick, nor get cross and "rave" because you don't come out. If she just lets you alone, and presently when you feel inside you that a bowl of cereal and milk 268 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 269 and baked apple are essential to your comfort and happiness, and you crawl out to get them — and find everything put away, and Mother just smilingly says suppertime is past and that you can have some plain bread and water if you are hungry, and all your importunings bring nothing else — if this is the way you are treated, there is no fun in it. Henry, for his part, has not such a rippling sense of humor, but is full of "make-believe." According to the dramatic parts he is now inter- ested in, he will respond heartily to suggestion, where he would naturally rebel at being ordered about. When he is galloping around with his make-believe horse and the time has arrived to get washed for supper, he will quickly meet the suggestion that "supper is ready for the pony," and will come prancing and neighing to "have his harness off"; he will come to the "stable" for his "oats and hay." Using Imagination Katie is more prosaic and mature in her part, but dramatic and imitative. She doesn't want to stop her doll-play and get ready for supper either, but the suggestion that "Mrs. White and her child are coming to have supper with us" falls upon listening ears, and "Mrs. White" comes glee- fully and shows her "child" how to have her face and hands washed for supper ; she graciously partakes of her evening meal, instead of coming reluctantly and sulkily. Obedience must be required. The child must learn that the parent's word is serious and that there are social and rational limitations to the expression of his personality; but it is not neces- sary that he should be made constantly, con- sciously — and therefore painfully — aware of those limitations. It will require weeks, possibly months, during this year for the child to learn that Mother and Father mean exactly what they say ; that atten- tion is to be given the first time- the child is spoken to, and that no exception to obedience is permitted. If a parent is inconsistent, at some times requiring obedience and at other times let- ting the matter go by default, then the child is never certain how far he may go, and there is constant rebellion, friction, and unhappiness. Impertinence may develop first in a playful way, when the child is cautiously feeling how far his elders will permit him to go in slapping, pinching, biting, in calling them disrespectful names or making disrespectful remarks. The self-respecting parent will not allow himself or herself to be called "a mean old thing," or be told to "shut up," or "I'll give you a thrashing," even in play; nor will he be drawn into quibbling and arguing with the child. At this age the child respects only reasonable and just authority that allows no arguing, firmness that is also just, and control of temper that neither explodes nor nags at him. Using Tools Much of this developing personality and energy can be utilized constructively in play. From now on there is need of plenty of space and facilities to run, shout, climb, jump, roll, turn somersaults, throw balls and stones. Nature has given the child — let us hope — a superabundance of physical vitality and energy, in order that through his inner impetus he shall use his muscles and lungs, and thereby develop both his body and his mind. If the child, with all this dynamic energy, be kept indoors, in crowded quarters, without space, freedom, liberty, and the apparatus for such ex- ercise, not only is his natural physical and mental development being handicapped and retarded, but there is bound to be many an explosion, many a spontaneous combustion of vital spirits, constant frictions. Moreover, the child is frequently, under such impossible conditions, accused of being "naughty," "bad." "wicked," "unmanage- able," when he is perfectly good and normal, and these epithets really belong to his restricted, un- natural, abnormal environment. A box of carefully selected tools and materials for handiwork is needed now. Nothing should be included that taxes the eyes and the fingers. All fine work, such as sewing with a cambric needle, stringing small beads, straws, papers, seeds, berries, popcorn, following small dots or fine lines, is too great a strain on the eyes and the nerves, which need to be conserved and strengthened for the heavy demands that civiliza- tion will put upon them in the oncoming years. Such fine work must wait until the eyes and fin- gers and nerves are ready, at si-x or seven or eight years of age. The large blocks, in a variety of shapes, and the sand-box are the most plastic and valuable materials, and they are naturally put to constant use now in giving definiteness to the child's ideas and his expression of his ideas. With the car- pentry tools he can begin fashioning simple doll furniture and toys, but his interest is still chiefly in experimenting with the tools, and he is not ready for careful workmanship. What Dawdling Means One of the usual characteristics of this year is dawdling, day-dreaming, being dilatory. Some- times this is- because the child is carrying on an 2/0 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL imaginative play in his own mind, and he has not yet learned how to think his own thoughts and to use his hands at the same time. Sometimes it is simply that he is not thinking at all. Part of this dawdling must be expected, over- looked, or allowed for. Persistent effort, how- ever, should be made to overcome this in such necessary processes as dressing, washing, eating. Sometimes occasion demands that the dressing process, for instance, must be finished in a few minutes, and then 'the mother must put on the child's clothes and wash his face and hands for him. There is the temptation to do this work for him all the time because he takes so long, but this temptation must yield, at least for some of these processes every day, to the greater need of his training in self-reliance, responsibility," attention to what he is doing, manual ability. The nervous mother must learn to control her impatience and refrain from "Hurry up," "Be quick, now," and similar nagging bromides as conscientiously as she would refrain from swear words. The nervous child will be made irritable and nervous by such nagging, and the stolid child will soon become so accustomed to it that he will pay no attention. Part of the preparation of the child for his con- centrated attention on these activities, when he comes to do them himself, is to keep his attention on them at this time when the mother is doing them for him. In dressing, for example, as each garment is put on, she can talk of it: "Here comes the petticoat," "Now we put the dress on," "Here goes the stocking on the left foot," "On goes the right shoe." Little games can then be invented to "run a race" with Mother while she is dressing, or to see which child will be dressed first, or to be all dressed before the big hand on the clock is at half-past seven, or to surprise Father by being dressed and hiding behind his chair before he comes in for breakfast. Children's undergarments and their every-day clothes should be made to fasten in front or on the shoulder, with easily working buttonholes and bone buttons of moderate size. By sewing but- tons of different sizes on a strip of cloth and making buttonholes to match, a mother can soon find out experimentally which size the child can do with least difficulty, and can use that on his clothing. The large size snap-fasteners are even easier than buttons. More than one ingenious mother has thought to train the little fingers for these processes by cutting the strip of buttons and buttonholes of a convenient size from an old garment and putting this with the child's play- things, or hanging it by a gay ribbon around his neck, where he can experiment with it inter- mittently. Physical Exercise for This Year All the sliding, plank-walking, jumping, and climbing and the apparatus for such play are to be provided this year. The trunk, back, and arm muscles are better developed for throwing now. A basket-ball should be provided for tossing to a partner and also for tossing into a "basket," which can easily be made from a barrel hoop or a piece of heavy wire, and some mosquito netting, fastened low enough on a wall so the child can toss the ball up into it, as in playing the game. Such ball play utilizes both sides of the body and all the trunk muscles. Small bags filled with sawdust are as much fun as bean-bags, and they do not hurt so badly if they happen to hit a child in the face, as often happens. Rhythm and Music If the rhythm and music previously suggested have been continued, the child should be able now to clap or march in time to marching rhythm. He should also be able to skip and to do some of the very simple little folk dances. It is not probable that he can yet carry a tune, but he loves to sing, and this is to be encouraged and developed, being very careful that it is done softly, never shouting nor screeching, which might seriously injure the vocal cords. Many of the Mother Goose songs have been set to music. The natural range of the child's voice at this age is about from middle D to upper D. A few minutes with the child at the piano, trying his range, will discover what his individual compass is. The songs taught him should then be chosen within this range. Many songs written for chil- dren are at fault in this respect. Pictures and Color Pictures have a very great attraction at this age, especially pictures of animals, children, ships, trains, industries, and funny pictures. There are many beautiful children's books and pictures produced by real artists, using the strong lines, vivid color, and spirit of fun that children of this age both love and need. The child's love of color, drawing, and painting becomes a great enthusiasm during this year, and should have ample means for expression. In- stead of a water-color box with a variety of colors, purchase a box containing only the three primary colors — red, blue, and yellow — and let him learn to combine these to make the others. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 271 Good and Evil Imaginative Imitation The child has no standard of worth in the activities he shall imitate, but includes everything that comes within his observation. He will play drunken man, villain, funeral, as readily as wholesome parts. The problem is to supply him with a wide range of the latter, and if his atten- tion has been called to the former to divert his activity by positive suggestions of other things, letting him forget the unwholesome. In this con- nection thought must be given to military play. There is no getting away from the fact that soldier-play' cultivates in the child an innate ad- miration for militarism. Unfortunately the tragic phases are not presented to him — the physical tor- ture of the soldiers, the heartbreak of the mothers and wives, the destitution and sorrow of the or- phaned children. Of the brutality, the sordid- ness, the vandalism, the lust, the social chaos, the enmity, he could, of course, have no comprehen- sion. There are other examples of bravery, courage, steadfastness to duty, fine physique, to hold be- fore him as ideals. The life-savers on the shore, the firemen, policemen, engineers, divers, explor- ers, miners, are only a few examples of men whose work calls for these qualities, and at the same time is picturesque and constructive. He can beat his drum and march with them. He can even fight, if need be, but let it be with beasts and dragons, with personifications of spiritual evils and bad habits and faults, and never with his fellow-men. WHAT A CHILD IS LIKE THE SIXTH YEAR BY MARY L. READ This is the year when that metamorphosis oc- curs which gradually changes the babyish little ones into little men and women. They are be- coming every day less dependent, their pronun- ciation and use of the language is almost cor- rect; they are more self-reliant in thought, with a growing sense of individuality, more "mind of their own"; they are able to rim, dance, skip, hop — all complex accomplishments; many children can carry a tune ; they are eager to do things like grown-up people. Get the Best Out of His Dramatic Play One of the most marked characteristics of this year is the dramatic play. A large part of the child's time is spent in playing he is someone else — the fireman, a sailor, the grocery boy, Hia- watha, and a thousand other characters. He is likely to play he is any person that he has known about, either through seeing or hearing about them. Therein lies a great responsibility and opportunity for his parents. By providing examples of worthy characters in the stories they tell him or the persons whom they bring about him, or the neighborhood in which they decide to live, they are selecting the characters he will imitate and like which he will try to become. What shall be done when the child chooses an unworthy character, as, for instance, a drunken man? One way is to command him to stop and scold him for doing something wrong, as though he knew the degradation of such a character. Another way is to ignore this and let him play it, thereby letting him carry the impression that drunkenness is one of the natural and necessary experiences. An educational way is to start a more fascinating play so that he drops this, with- out comment for the time, and then, on some early occasion, to tell a story of the misfortunes in the drunkard's family, so that he will of him- self draw the conclusion that drunkenness is an evil and disgrace and that the drunken man is someone to be pitied, not laughed at. He will find it great fun to play "Eskimo," "Indian," "Greek," and a score of other nation- alities. There are so many good books now pub- lished giving accurate and concrete accounts of the ways of living in every country and age, that such parents as will devote themselves to this need have no difficulty in finding at the public libraries all they can possibly utilize, and much more, for such imitative play. (See volume V of the Boys and Girls Bookshelf.) If the child at this stage is getting true pic- tures of these occupations and peoples and char- acters, this play becomes of great educational value; he can not fill in the pictures out of his own imagination. Such play, too, gives him a large vision, a large sympathy toward all the peo- 272 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL pies of the world, and lifts him forever out of a merely petty, selfish attitude toward others. What Handwork Is Suitable Now A second marked characteristic is the desire to make things with his hands. Such materials and tools as he uses should still be chiefly those requiring work of the large muscles, and little demand upon the fingers, the eyes, and the nerves. So a hammer and saw, and a coping saw are better for him than a needle; wood and card- board are better than fine straws, sticks, and papers. Carpentry, coping saw work, the making of playhouses out of wooden boxes, the making of wooden furniture for the dolls, the weaving of little rugs with inch-wide cloth strips, hold just as much enjoyment as 'trying to work with tooth- picks, peas, or paper strips, and they make none of the strain upon undeveloped muscles and nerves. Painting, which is one of the chief joys now, be- cause of the love of color, should be with a large brush. As much as possible, the house painter's brush should still be used, and painting done of play- houses, play furniture, and fences; for picture painting, not too fine a brush, and this set in a handle as big as a carpenter's pencil. All of the painting should be spontaneous and an expression of imagination, and there should be nothing that might cramp this, in the picture given for color- ing, or the criticisms of work. Much of the picture painting should be without a drawn figure. Such figures as are used should be with simple, firm outlines. Large-sized crayon and drawing pencils should also be used, and these put away whenever the child shows by his tight hold upon them that he is getting tense. Dealing with Imaginative Lying About this time many children, perhaps most of them, begin telling stories which many a parent condemns as "lies." The child's world at this age is a strange mixture of the "real" and the "unreal." His fairy-tales are as "real" to him as his bread-and-milk world — sometimes more so. He lives in a world of imagination, as the good poets and fiction writers do. Parents need to be very careful, therefore, to judge wisely, not to accuse the child of lying w^ien he had no inten- tion of deceiving but was simply telling some tale that was so vivid to his imagination that to him it was really true. If the child is getting too deep in this imagi- native world, there are subtle ways of letting him see that you know the game, too; for instance, after he has told a special "whopper," you may say, "I know some fairy tales, too," and proceed to tell one to match his; or a gentle "I guess you saw that in your dream." Definite Responsibilities Begin Now Responsibility is one of the necessary, though often hard, lessons of this time. It is so much easier to be waited upon than to do things for one's self, and we all dream of a fairyland where personal responsibility for the drudgery of every- day living no longer takes our time and energy from the "fun" we would like to have. But life on this earth is not without these responsibilities, and so the five-year-old must begin to learn to take his share. There should be some definite responsibilities for every day. Of course he should now be dress- ing himself, taking care of his own clothes as they are taken off, keeping his own toys in order, brushing up crumbs he spills on the floor. He should also have some other responsibilities in preparing his food, clearing up after meals, help- ing sometimes in little ways with the laundering of his clothes. This is necessary that he may appreciate what others are doing for him. There also should be some responsibilities for others, as well as for his own care. He can help bring in the wood, water the flowers, dust the dining-room, bring the milk, or do other little errands, at least for an hour at intervals during the day. Thus he will come to appreciate that he is a part of society, that each member of society must expect to take some share in work- ing for others. Care should be taken to respect his own inter- ests, and not to interrupt him needlessly in the midst of some absorbing game. Fortunate the child brought up in a family without servants ! Beginnings of Thrift Thrift is a fundamental virtue that should be- gin at this time, if not earlier. About the great- est temptation the child at this age has is, as soon as he gets them, to spend his pennies for temporary and self-indulgent things — chewing gum and lol- lipops, jimcracks and moving-picture shows. Not to mention the injury to his physical health from such indulgence in sweets, or the flicker of light, the poor ventilation, the excitement and the preco- cious mental consequences of such expenditures, there are the more fundamental consequences of lack of foresight and planning, the yielding to self-indulgence, the spendthrift habit. The child in the country, of course, has fewer temptations, yet he may be just as intemperate when opportunity offers. There is a negative way of controlling the pennies, either by not giving them or by not permitting the child to spend them FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 273 in these ways. Neither of these, however, is educational, but merely an exercise of police- power. The educational way is to use "the expulsive power of a new affection." Make something else so much more interesting and worth while that he will prefer it to the lollypops and chewing gum. The child loves pictures and a drum, paints and tools; he would like to go on some little trip, or have a pair of red mittens. Keep these before his iipagination so vividly that they will shut out the poorer things. Provide a charming little bank; he can even make one himself and divide it into sections, so as to apportion and save his money for the different things he wants. Stories, Verse, and Pictures During this year myths and fairy-tales are food for his mind and soul. Mother Goose is beginning to be outgrown. The sense of humor and of the ludicrous is powerful. Instead of some of the present abominations in humorous pictures, provide some of the funny pictures of such masters in the art as Gelett Burgess, Peter Newell, and the picture books of the English artists — Caldecott, Leslie Brooke, and Edward Lear. The nonsense books of Carolyn Wells and Lewis Carroll are also good. Verbal memory is now strong, verily like a sponge. It will absorb whatever is provided, whether it be trash or of good quality. Rhyme and rhythm, especially, are learned rapidly and wellnigh permanently. A child will now absorb many pages of "Hiawatha" or other poems of Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Wordsworth, Ten- nyson, that are about subjects interesting to him. He can learn many hymns and Bible verses and proverbs that will be of comfort and guidance to him in later life, and which he but partially comprehends now. But beware of teaching mere words. First Interest in Group-Games Most children do not care much for group- games until near the end of this year. They like to play at throwing the ball, at jumping, running, or sense games. They have not enough self-con- trol to play well at hiding or finding. Here are some suggestions of sense games. Put six ob- jects on a tray and, while the child hides, take one object away; let him open his eyes and tell which one is missing. Let him be blindfolded when there are several persons in the room, and let one of these call his name; he is to guess by the voice which one called. Have several common objects which he has seen; blindfold his eyes and let him tell by feeling with his hands which object is given him. Strike a note on the piano and let him see if he can echo it; that is, sing the same note. If there are several children, let them see who can re- member the greatest number of things they have seen when they were out for a walk. Special Physical Examination Desirable Now Special observation should be kept of the teeth, the eyes, the spine, and the chest development. The first teeth must be kept from decaying, otherwise the system will be poisoned from the decaying matter and the second set will not be so strong. This means daily responsibility in his wielding of the toothbrush, a semi-yearly exami- nation by the dentist, and plenty of hard crusts which require work of the jaws. If the child frowns when looking at a picture, holds his work near his face, or complains of headaches, his eyes should be examined by a competent oculist, and, if necessary, glasses worn, and the use of the eyes in reading and writing postponed until the oculist says they are ready. The child who has the handwork that utilizes the large muscles, and that requires standing rather than sitting, is less liable to develop a curvature up to this time; especially if he also has swing- ing rings or a trapeze among his playtime ap- paratus. The child who is kept out of doors and active will develop a good chest and vital capacity with- out any further need for attention. It is the part of wisdom, however, to have a thorough physi- cal examination at the beginning of this year, by a physical director or a physician competent for such examinations, and to be assured that the child is developing as he should. If he is in first-class physical condition, half the troubles of "discipline" will be done away with. He may be full of mischief, but that is norm:.' and natural. He will not be "bad" until his physical condition- or an unnatural environ-- ment cramp and curtail his natural energies and normal instincts. With worthy examples in the people about him for his imitation, he should grow strong and fine in mind and soul as well as in body. THE DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE* ALMA S. SHERIDAN Allan arrived at Sunday-school quite out of breath after his long walk through the snow. He was struggling with his heavy coat when the teacher spied him and sent one of the other pu- pils to help him. But Allan refused all assist- ance. "I'll do it myself !" he said. Katharine and her mother were out for supper. The mother was somewhat nervous about her small daughter's table manners and was trying to help her in every possible way. This became very irksome to Katharine, and when the muf- fins were passed she hastily snatched one and screamed, "Let me butter it, let me butter it my own self!" James was out walking with his nurse. There were many slippery places on the sidewalk, and nurse took James by the hand and said, "Give me your hand, James, or you will fall." James quickly jerked his hand away. Though he walked very close to nurse and was evidently trying to be careful, he would not allow her to hold his hand. Do these stories remind j'ou of any instances from the lives of the children you know? Sunday-school was over. Above the noise and clatter of preparations for going home, a loud scream was heard. In an upper hallway, sur- rounded by a bewildered group of grown-ups, Rigby was lying in a heap on the floor. His face was buried in his hands. He would not speak to anyone : he would not allow anyone to touch him. When efforts to rouse him became unpleasant he screamed again. "What is the matter with Rig- by?" everyone was asking. But no one seemed to know. Just a few moments before he had been loitering in the hall when his nurse had reproved him, telling him to hurry up and put on his coat. Rigby declined. The nurse tried to force him. Rigby struggled. When she made further efforts he threw himself down in this way and refused to move or speak. Allan's independent determination not to ac- cept help from anyone, and Rigby's violent re- fusal to act on the nurse's suggestion about put- ting on his wraps, were indications that both of these children had reached a stage in child- development which may come any time after the third birthday.t At first he did not even know that his feet and ears and the other parts of his body were really a part of himself. He pulled and tugged at them just as he pulled at his playthings, and he often hurt himself. Then when he began to think, he did not know that everyone else did not share his thoughts. The "Value and Peril of Independence But now, since his experience has broadened, he becomes conscious of the difference between "mine" and "yours." In the occasional conflict of wills he discovers that he does not have to sub- mit to the will of his mother unless he wishes to do so. He learns that he possesses a person- ality of his own. When this feeling comes to a child, it shows itself in his conduct. It does not come to all children at the same time nor in the same degree. Thus the acts which tell us it is present may vary greatly. If the child is tired or ill, it is probable that he will be dis- agreeable about it. With some stronger person- alities the independent spirit will manifest itself in acts like Rigby's. This phase of the child's development presents a serious problem. Parents and teachers are apt to smile when it is simply a question of the child insisting on not accepting help. They are, how- ever, extremely puzzled and even vexed when the self-assertiveness assumes a more violent and unpleasant form. To deal helpfully with either case, a sympa- thetic understanding of what lies behind the act is necessary. This is the time for the develop- ment of individuality. Merely forcefully to re- press all efforts of self-assertiveness probably would cause the child to become weak-willed. On the other hand, there is grave danger of allow- ing the child whose sense of individuality has become very prominent to develop into a self- willed tyrant. If the child is shy and retiring, he needs to be encouraged in tiis desire to help himself. If he is extremely self-assertive, while no attempt should be made to "break his will," * From "Life in the Making," published by the Abingdon Press, Cincinnati. Used by permission of Wade Crawford Barclay, Editor. t With Mrs. Horn's child, the lirst evidences of this showed a year earlier, and this is not uncommon. 274 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 275 it is important that he be taught to respect the wishes of other people. Each Fresh Problem Suggests Its Question "Thomas, I can not understand what makes you ask so many questions. I wish you would run away and stop bothering me," says an exasperated mother who is quite too much absorbed in her household duties to think of the reason why the stars do not fall out of the sky. We sympathize with the mother, but what of Thomas? Is there nothing to be said in his behalf? Is it simply the desire to be a nuisance which prompts him to ask his never-ending ques- tions ? Of course not. Thomas's problems are very real. Thomas has just recently discovered that he and all the other members of his circle are indi- viduals, each with his own characteristics and each having a name. Now he wants to know the name of every person and thing which he en- counters. His widening experience soon tells him that most things have causes. He comes in from his play with his stocking torn. Immedi- ately he is asked, "How did you tear your stock- ing?" Mother finds the front porch covered with gravel, and again the question comes, "Who put the gravel on the front porch ?" So he be- gins to ask Iiis questions. Mother considers it perfectly reasonable for anyone to want to know how holes come in stockings, and how gravel gets on the porch, but when it comes to wanting to know how the stars are held in the sky she thinks it rather foolish. Perhaps the reason why she thinks Thomas's question unimportant is be- cause she long ago satisfied her curiosity about the stars. When the child is four and five years old, then is the time that he gets a simple philos- ophy which forms the basis of all his later thinking. Recall the situation he is facing. He has sud- denly wakened up in a perfectly amazing uni- verse. Everything is new and strange. He has just realized, too, his ability to take his place in that universe. Just as quickly as possible he wishes to share in the new order of things. So he asks his never-ending questions. He has problems which he must have solved. Pretty soon he will have what is, for him, a fairly sat- isfactory theory to which he may add later on. Then he will turn his thoughts to more practical problems. But just now he must not be scolded and sent away unanswered. Neither is it wise to tell him everything. He should be given a cer- tain amount of information and encouraged to think other things out for himself. "Life is so great a possession, so unending a procession of delightful possibilities, that each day ought to be a new gladness and every day a veritable holiday. For all the work that is worth doing, rightly handled, is the greatest fiui of all the fun there is. Only the work must be worthy, sturdy, honest toil that you can put your whole heart into and do just because you would rather do that particular thing than anything else in the world." — C. Hanford Henderson. Mabel had hcarrl, with poHtencss, six histories related in the gentle, monotonous voice with the accompanying re- minders, "You see, dear, how kind Emily was," or "From this you will notice little Emily's unfailing good temper," etc. At the end of the sixth narrative Mabel sighed and in- quired : '"Grandma, do you know many stories about little Em'ly?" "Yes, indeed," much flattered by the question, "I know a great many, my dear." "And is she as good every time as she has been in these six?" "Better, darling. Little Emily always did the best thing possible. You like her ever so much, don't you?" Mabel sighed again. "Grandma," she said gently, "you won't feel hurt if I tell you something, will you? I'm so sick and tired of little Em'ly that I don't know what to do!" — Angelina W. Wray. WHAT TO DO FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY OUR HOME GYMNASIUM BY MRS. ELIZABETH HUBBARD BONSALL Nothing will develop children's muscles so well, bring color to their cheeks, and give them so much real fun, as an out-of-door gymnasium. Perhaps the word "gymnasium" may arouse in a timid mother visions of accidents and over- straining, but with simple apparatus on the grass, placed not more than a foot or two above the ground, there is no more danger for children than in ordinary playing. In fact, there is less, for with it they are learning to control their muscles. Starting with One Board We started our gymnasium last year with a smooth board and a couple of vi^ooden boxes. I brought the board from the cellar with the idea of having it for sliding, and of all its uses I think that one is the most popular. Our board is an ideal size, eight feet long and one foot wide, but a shorter and narrower one will do. Even the leaf of an old table will serve very well, provided it is smooth and there are no splinters or rough edges. .-Mso, one end of it can be placed upon the side edge of the steps, if it is not con- venient to use a box. The children are constantly inventing new ways of coasting down. First they just sat down and slid, then they went down sidewise, then on their stomachs, and finally standing up, with the board at a low angle. Of course you can't expect them to wear lace-trimmed or hand-emliroidercd underclothes while doing this, but it is surprising how long a pair of bloomers or overalls will keep respectable. Then we use our board as a seesaw, by put- ting it across a narrow box. As Betty is nearly five and Ann not quite two, I must carefully lial- ance it for them to start with, but after that they go up and down by themselves to their heart's content. I have them put their feet out straight on the board in front of them, so that it seems as if they are going higher, as they go all the way down to the ground. Betty herself discovered that, by having the box in the middle, she could stand on the center of the board, tipping it up and down, and keep- ing her own balance perfectly. Perhaps this training will be of service if she takes a trip overseas ! At any rate, she is gaining in ability to keep her balance in precarious circumstances. 277 378 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL We use the board as a springboard by having one end projecting about a foot over the edge of a low box. I am always careful to put my foot on the lower end of the board as Betty is about to jump, otherwise is might suddenly fly up. And then we make a lovely bridge by putting the board across two boxes, over which the children walk, jumping of¥ at the end. Betty can do nearly everything herself, and is gaining considerable skill. Little Ann wants to try everything that her 'big sister does, and it is astonishing how much she can do, especially if I hold her hand. Boxes and Sand As we had a quantity of stout wooden boxes in our cellar, I have been eager to make use of them. Other people who are not so fortunate can obtain all they want at any provision store. Turning them upside down, we place several of them in a row, fairly close together, and the chil- dren jump from one to the other, pretending they are crossing a brook on stepping-stones. Then by lying on their stomachs across individual boxes, they are learning the swimming strokes. I hope it will make real swimming easier for them next Summer, but at all events it is increas- ing their lung capacity. Another most important feature of our gym- nasium is our sand-box. Under a tree we have a good-sized one, made from two large soap- boxes, about five inches deep, nailed together with the inside partitions removed, making a large shallow box. A funnel, sifter, and a few spoons and jars are enough to keep a child happy for some time, and after more strenuous exercise forms a very acceptable means of comparative relaxation, and incidentally gives a busy mother an excellent opportunity to shell a few beans or pare potatoes. The children always find plenty to do in the sand of their own accord, but if you want to teach them geography, there is no better way than to make mountains, valleys, and islands. We also have a couple of smaller sand-boxes, each made from a single box, which can be moved about at will, in the sun or shade. During a continued rainy season, we even moved one of the boxes to the porch. For Vaulting and Jumping Another simple feature which we soon added was a planed 3 x 4-inch strip of lumber about 8 feet long. After Betty learned to walk across the board bridge, we let her try this narrow strip stretched across from box to box, putting it iiigher as she became more confident. She has also learned to vault very nicely over it, placing her two hands close together, and lifting her feet over with a single jump. Notliing makes children more agile and graceful than jumping and running. For broad jumping only a piece of chalk or a stick is needed to mark the distance covered, but for high jumping I would suggest a simple device, similar to ours. I sawed a clothes-prop in two, and pointed the ends. Six inches above the ends I drove in a long row of small finishing nails, half an inch apart. We drive these sticks into the ground several feet apart, and measure the jumping ac- Nails jAparf'':: .--■^W^f- Mjif- ... curately by hanging a string across the nails weighed down at the ends by small stones tied to it. How hard we work to beat our own rec- ords ! Even if Betty catches her foot in the string there is no danger of falling, for the string simply yields. Another use for clothes-props, which is not quite so destructive of their original purpose, is for pole-vaulting. With a little run, and placing the stick firmly on the ground, it isn't long before children can lift themselves quite a distance in the air. The real fun begins when they try to go over obstacles, like small boxes, and find how high they can lift themselves. Gymnastics A short ladder adds no end of fun, and such a lot of exercises can be invented for it. If it OUR HOME GYMNASIUM FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 279 is placed flat on the ground, even the baby can step safely from round to round, and if it is raised about three inches, a little excitement is added without making it dangerous. When it is placed against a tree or side of the house, with the upper end about four feet from the ground, Betty loves to climb up and drop through. It also makes a splendid seesaw when placed over a low box. If you haven't a short ladder, ask your husband to help you make one. Too often fathers leave the whole training of the children to the mothers, and the gymnasium gives a good opportunity for the whole family to be together. I wish we had a good place for a long rope to hang in our yard. I have screwed one up in the corner of a shed, but we can not swing on it very far without bumping into obstacles. Of course we have an ordinary swing with a little seat, but the hanging rope furnishes an excellent opportunity to strengthen the arm and leg mus- cles, as the children cling to it. Our rope can be used for climbing a short distance, and it won't be long before Betty will be able to "shinny" up to the top, if she keeps on as she has started. Where We Keep Things Maybe it sounds as if our lawn were littered from one end to the other with boxes and boards, but with the exception of the large sand-box and .X_^ / / /5crew£yej 1 /^ \ jL / swing, everything else can easily be put away, the sliding-board and long bars lying qn their sides against the house, and the boxes piled neatly in an inconspicuous corner. We usually take out only one or two things at a time, so that in a jiffy our yard is in order. Rope^ -W ^^ x5crew tyes 7~(r^ A' 'C / In addition to all the other advantages of an out-of-door gymnasium, it keeps the children per- fectly contented at home, without the temptation ^crew Eye^ Rope 'W \ A! c V to wander away. And as for stunts themselves, mother enjoys doing them every bit as much as the children, and she is sure her health is the better for it. Our Indoor Exercisers On rainy days, and on stormy days in Winter we take our exercise indoors with the windows open. Our first gymnastic device was a strong rope hung through two large screw-eyes fastened in the top of the doorway of Betty's bedroom. I intended it for an ordinary swing, and it is occasionally used as such, but by far its most popular use is pulling the ends down, making the two ropes parallel. Betty and even little Ann take hold of the rope with their hands, pulling their bodies from the ground and swinging back and forth. We always leave the rope in this position when we are through using it, as it does not hinder passing through the door. By pulling 28o THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL one end of the rope completely up to the top, the other side makes a nice firm rope for climbing. We have recently put up a trapeze in Ann's doorway. The bar across is made from an old rake-handle, sawed about six inches narrower than the doorway, and hung by two strong ropes to screw-eyes in the top of the door-frame, just high enough so that Betty can reach it by stand- ing on her tiptoes. Swinging back and forth is in itself strenuous exercise, and I have been able already to note an increase in endurance. Betty hasn't yet mastered the art of pulling herself up and placing her chin on the bar, though Mother is glad to say that she herself can still do it. And even little Ann can hang all alone and swing, if someone lifts her up and takes her down when she is tired. There are lots of stunts that older children can do — sitting on the cross-piece, and skinning the cat, besides swinging in all sorts of ways. If you feel safer, you can place the small part of a mattress under the swing, and the children will enjoy it just as much. I pull our trapeze all the way up to the top when I am tlirough with it, to make a clear passage through the doorway, and to keep the children from using it when I am not with them. An old iron bed, if you are fortunate enough to have one, furnishes unlimited opportunity for exercise. Climbing over the foot, walking along the edge, and jumping up and down in the cen- ter, supply the basis for many variations which the children will invent. We have occasionally brought our sliding board in, and put it against the side of the bed, letting the children coast down. Our Setting-Up Exercises In general the children seem to get plenty of exercises from their own play with the apparatus we give them, but once in a while we have a set- ting-up drill, which they enjoy immensely. Here are just a few of the things we do: 1. Raise arms slowly to horizontal position, breathing in. Hold breath, and strike chest lightly with closed fists. Let out breath and lower arms slowly. 2. Hands on hips, take running steps without moving from position. 3. Stand straight with heels together. Bend over and touch the floor without bend- ing the knees. 4. Sit on the floor with feet straight ahead. Bend body forward as much as possible. Our Folk-Dances We started to learn a few folk-dances when Betty was two-and-a-half. At that time I was teaching them to the Camp-Fire Girls, who met at my home, and Betty joined right in vifith the rest. She loved them so much that I taught her several on her own account, simplifying them to meet our needs. The following are a few which can he learned by very young children. The music can be hummed or whistled. TAILOR'S DANCE (Adapted from Miss Elizabeth Burchenal) ^^=^ ESIzEiEi ^ 3^^^£ -:&^ g^ m f 4^ ^ i -»i— r*- Partners face each other. Feet together. Place left hand on hip, and raise right hand as high as shoulder, hand closed, except second and third fingers, which are stretched apart, pointing upward, representing scissors. 1st measure, 1st beat. Place left foot sidewise, heel touching the ground, and toe in the air. 1st measure, 2d beat. Left foot back to position. Close fingers. 2d measure. Repeat. 3d and 4th measures. Partners join both hands, ex- tended sidewise, and change places with four walking steps. 5th to 8th measures. Repeat all, only placing right hand on hip and raising left hand. 9th to 16th measures. All the couples join hands, and skip in a circle. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 28l ^ f MORRIS DANCE (traditional) Tt-=- *=tt -^— - ?^fe; I'i t. • 1^ ^E3 Partners face each other, about four feet apart, arms straight above heads, waving handkerchief in each hand. 1st measure. Hop on left foot, raising right foot about twelve inches from the ground, knee stiff. 2d measure. Hop on right foot without moving forward, raising left foot twelve inches from the ground, knee stiff. Continue till 16th measure. 16th to 31st measure. Skip in circle, waving hand- kerchiefs at height of shoulders. 31st measure. Jump with both feet, handkerchiefs high in the air. 32d measure. Jump with both feet, handkerchiefs brought down to side. i a: REAP THE FLAX (Adapted from Miss Elizabeth Burchenal) iJ^ ^^ ^- ^^ ■t ^ ^m i^ :^^- ■zir-i^ i ifcT ^i^-» Dancers stand in a line beside each other, hands on hips. (If more than five dancers, form two groups.) 1st measure. All bend forward to pick up flax. 2d measure. Raise it as far as waist. 3d measure. Throw it over right shoulder. 4th measure. Hands again on hips. 5th to 8th measure. Repeat. 9th to 16th measure. The one at the left end places hands on hips and leads. The rest place hands on shoulders of the one to the left and follow with running steps, three steps to a measure, around in a circle, ending in the same position at the 16th measure, and finishing by stamping twice. 1st measure. Dancers bend forward to gather flax. 2d measure. Return to standing position. 3d measure. Reach flax forward, as if to put it around hackle. 4th measure. Jerk it back from the hackle. 9th to 16th measure. Spinning the flax. Dancers close in a circle, with right shoulder toward the center. Reach right arms toward center, join- ing thumbs, left hands on hips. Run on tiptoes in a circle, three steps to a measure, for four measures. Turn around quickly and join left thumbs, running in circle the opposite way, till last beat. Let go of thumbs and form original position. "The prime end of musical education is to train the sen- timents, to make chihlren feel nature, religion, country, home, duty, and all the rest, to guarantee sanity of heart, out of which are the issues of life." — G. Stanley Hall. GYMNASTIC PLAYS FOR THIS PERIOD BY MRS. HARRIET HICKOX HELLER The modern nursery must not only be a play- acting place, but it must partake largely of the nature of a gymnasium. Especially is this true of lusty children. The adventuresome little fel- low early likes to ride on Daddy's shoulder and will soon learn to walk on his own legs while holding fast to the firm hands. Many times he will do this, when at length with a little encour- agement he will turn himself completely over, doing a sort of "skin-the-cat" stunt, which I have known children to enjoy, playing with the father until at length they had grown too tall to make the run. It is quite an achievement when a chap learns to turn a somersault, a real somer- sault, going clear over and not sideways, and to be able to turn two or three somersaults in rapid succession is a worthy nursery achievement. The hand-spring belongs to the mysteries of later development. During the earlier part of the period that a child is interested in stunts, he enjoys lying flat on his back and letting his hands lie useless at his side, and then trying to raise himself to a sitting posture. It is an excellent exercise for certain muscles and affords amusement. From the same position it is well to lift his feet until the legs are in a vertical position. Many appar- ently strong children find difficulty in doing this until they have given it considerable practice. Then, of course, there is the ordinary little "set- ting up" exercise, which consists of standing in a military position; raising the hands high above the head and bringing the tips of the fingers down to touch the floor without bending the knees. These are in imitation of real stunts of larger people. The number of times a child can hop on one foot is interesting to him and may be increased by practice. The effort to be able to make as many hops with the left foot as with the right has some value. It is fun to march "following the leader," and doing all the queer things that he does. Even little children learn to skip to a rhythm, and the list of dance games which may be enjoyed in a spacious nursery is too long to be enumerated at this time. Suitable Games Variations of the game of "Hide and Seek," beginning with "Hide the Thimble," or, as the children say, "Hot Butter Beans," which con- sists of placing a small object in perfectly plain sight and guiding the searchers in their quest by the terms "Warm, warmer," and "Cold, colder," as they are near or far from the coveted object, are enjoyed by children of this age. The send- ing of a child from the room where a number of children are at play while the eyes of the rest are blindfolded is interesting to little folks. When they do not recall immediately the name of the child who has gone, they may be aided by the color of the hair or the eyes or some dis- tinguishing characteristic. The regular game of "Hide and Seek," with a goal or "home base," is appreciated if it is not made too difficult. Some introductory phases of "Blindman's Buff," if we may so refer to them, such as "Still pond, no more moving," where the child walks out with his eyes shut he comes in contact with the chil- dren who have become quiet at his command, and then without opening his eyes tells which one he has, gives much amusement. The ball is the great plaything of the world,' and some little ball-games may be used by folks under five. Drawing a chalk circle in the middle of the nursery, it is interesting to try to roll the ball so gently that it will still remain in this circle. It requires more skill than at first is apparent. Placing the waste-basket in the middle of the ring, children enjoy tossing the ball into the basket. If there are but two or three chil- dren, some little count or score will need to be kept to keep up the interest. If there are many, the mere clapping of the hands and giving of another turn will be sufficient. To place a block of wood in the middle of the circle and roll the ball, aiming to strike it, also forms a pretty good game. The following list of suggestions may be found helpful. They are recommended by Dr. Mon- tessori as suitable physical exercises for little children. Some Suggestions from Doctor Montessori I. Hang a heavy, swinging ball from the ceil- ing. Two children sit in their chairs opposite each other and push the ball back and forth. This is an e.xercise for strengthening the arms and spinal column. 282 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 283 2. We don't know why children are so amused by walking on a line, but we do know that it is good exercise. Draw a chalk line on the floor or extend a piece of white tape for ten or twelve feet for a child to walk on. This amusement is valuable in improving the carriage of the body. 3. Later, walking upon the edge of a plank supported by standards, takes the place of walking on fences. The effort is a training in bodily balance and it also develops courage. Hold the child's hand at first if he is timid. 4. Jumping is one of Nature's best exercises for developing strength in the legs and judgment in coordinating the movements. The eye, too. is trained in judging distances, and courage gradually develops. Guard the child at first, but let him begin to jump from one low step in this second year. Have a little flight of steps in the nursery, or use boxes of different heights. 5. Lines may be painted on the floor to meas- ure child jumps. Jumping in and out of a circle is another game that children enjoy. Several circles, diminishing in size, are drawn inside of a large one. The child stands in the center and tries to see how far he can jump. Color in these circles adds to the child's pleasure. 6. The swing is needed for training in rhyth- mical motion and courage. Dr. Montessori sug- gests a broad-seated swing to support the legs in an extended position, the feet to strike a wall. This strengthens a weak child's knees. 7. Two small rope ladders are hung parallel to each other for the child to swing between. Another simple piece of apparatus is like a fence. A few parallel bars supported by uprights make such a fence, which gives the child opportunity to climb; also to walk sideways and even back- ward on the floor, is quite a feat in a child and is desirable for the exercise of certain mus- cles. Every mother knows how a child loves to play on a gate or a fence and to "saddle" along. 8. The child's legs are much shorter in pro- portion to the length of his whole body than those of an adult, and for this reason the child tires of the erect position, is apt to throw himself upon the floor, kick out his legs, climb, and jump, making many movements to strengthen his legs without knowing why. 9. Simple pieces of apparatus, such as the fence, the rope ladder, the swing, strengthen the hand in clasping and holding. Such movements must precede the finer movements necessary for writing and drawing and such handwork as sew- ing and cutting. The rhythmic games in march- ing, and the ball and bean-bags, kites, hoops and games of tag are valuable. 10. We should not make young children con- scious of breathing exercises too soon, but they imitate deep breathing as a game. Deep breath- ing in the open air, accompanied by a few simple arm movements, will develop lung capacity. 11. In addition to the apparatus named, one may have a tree for the little ones to climb. An ordinary short stepladder is useful. A horizontal bar may be fastened in the doorway. Place a low bar for jumping over, and raise it gradually. It may be at first supported on the lower rungs of two chairs. "Let us bring up our children simply, I had almost said rudely. Let us entice them to exercise that gives them endur- ance — even to privations. Let them belong to those who are better trained to fatigue and the earth for a bed than to the comforts of the table and couches of luxury. So we shall make men of them, independent and staunch, who may be counted on, who will not sell themselves for pottage, and who will have withal the faculty of being happy." — Charles Wagner. K.N.— 20 LIVELY IMITATIVE PLAYS BY THE EDITORS Little children are not especially fond of formal gymnastics, but it takes only a little ingenuity to arrange imitative plays in such sequence as to exercise in turn the big body-muscles, the lungs, the heart, and the abdomen. Some of these have been suggested by Marion B. Newton. Mother Goose Exercises 1. "Simple Simon." Two children walk quick- ly around the room, meeting, touching hands and passing on. At "the fair" Simple Simon sees — 2. "Yankee Doodle." At this point the chil- dren pretend to ride on ponies, dancing to the time of the old rhyme. 3. "Jack be Nimble." They jump over a low stick as this quatrain is repeated. 4. "Old King Cole." They march in step to the rhyme and pretend to be fiddling. 5. "Little Boy Blue." They take deep breaths and blow into a horn, and then lie down and pretend to sleep. Circus Plays 1. Trained Dogs. They hop about on two feet, with knees slightly bent and hands hanging in front of the chest, jumping up on stools or boxes and then down. 2. Tight-Rope Walker. They walk along the top of a narrow plank, such as a 2 x 4. 3. Trapeze Man. They hang from a broom- stick or other rod fastened into ropes, hanging from a tree in the yard or in a doorway in the house. 4. The Strong Man. They swing a heavy imaginary hammer up and down upon an imag- inary post, and then throw it far into the air. 5. The Tall Man. They walk about on tiptoe, with their arms stretched high overhead. 6. At last they play they buy toy balloons, and blow them up themselves. Imitating the City Helpers 1. The Policeman walks around, straight and tall, swinging his club and blowing his whistle. 2. The Fireman climbs a ladder, "rescues" a doll, and hastily descends. 3. The Street Cleaner makes the motions of brushing and shoveling. 4. The Messenger Boy runs very fast, deliver- ing messages. 5. The Bell Ringer leans down and up and swings his body as he pulls the cluirch bell rope down and up. 6. The Mounted Policeman gallops and can- ters on his splendid horse. 7. The Band Master fills his lungs and blows his trumpet, then swings his hand to the band and leads off the procession. Imitating the Home Sights and Events ' 1. The Rooster stands on his two feet, throws his chest forward and his head back and crows sev- eral times, taking in a full breath before each crow. 2. The Farmer sows the seed, carrying his sack of seed under his left arm and moving for- ward with a large rhythmic movement of his right arm. 3. The Windmill swings its arms slowly from the earth in a complete circle through the air. 4. The Rabbits hop about the lawn and nibble the clover. 5. Greyhounds take long leaps over cushions on the floor. Puppies frisk about with shorter steps. 6. Monkeys climb poles and get up into the lower branches of safe trees. Many other imitations will suggest themselves to mother and to child. "'Bad' chilrlren are simply those with more self-assertion and initiative than the rest." — Randolph Bourne. 284 •J S FOURTH YEAR IS o t. PLAYS AND GAMES FOR THE FOURTH YEAR LUELLA A. PALMER while the thimble is being placed in one of the well-known places, and then let him try to find it. As a still later development, place the object in a new place — at first in plain sight — while the child is hiding, and then let him try to find it. A child trained in this way will become a keen observer. If this is real play it is fair play, for the adult should take his turn at finding the thimble. For ear training use a xylophone, gong, or piano. Strike notes that are far apart and help the child to distinguish high from low. If a drum is too noisy, give him a triangle, so that he may make a rhythmic sound. A drum is preferable if the neighbors will not object; its simple res- onance is more satisfying to the child than instru- ments with overtones. Hide a clock when a child is not in the room; have him find it by listening for the ticking. Cover some of the child's toys with an apron or a paper. Let him put his hands under the cover and feel the objects. After a few trials he should be able to tell their names before look- ing at them. Gradually increase the similarity of the objects; have spools and bottles, buttons and pennies or stones. Sometimes let the child gather objects and cover them for the adult to guess. None of these games needs a special play- period. The game with the piano can be played when mother is dusting the parlor; at the end of the day the toys can be put away, afterward naming these as unseen objects; the thimble game can be played in kitchen or sewing-room at any time. Movement-Plays Place three bean-bagsf or three spoons on the floor a short distance apart. Let the child try * All Miss Palmer's articles on play and games are specially rearranged by her for us from her useful book, "Play Life in the First Eight Years," by permission of the publishers, Ginn & Company, Boston. t Bean-bags should be made of heavy, closely woven material, such as ticking, awning, duck or denim, and should be from six to twelve inches square when finished. They are stitched around the outer edge (except for a small length through which the beans are inserted). The bag should then be turned and stitched a second time. Hand-sewing is preferable, as often better able to stand the strain put upon it. The bag is filled with dried peas or beans. A bag six inches square should contain one-half pound of these. A larger bag may contain a few more, but the half-pound weight is good for any sized bag. For little children a six or eight-inch bag is very good. It is desirable to have an equipment of bags made of two different colors, half of the bags, for instance, being red and the other half blue; or some of striped material and others of plain. This aids in distinguishing the bags that belong to opposing teams or groups of players. It is ea^ to improvise a substitute, to be made by placing dried leaves in a square cloth, gathering up the corners and tying them with a string. — Jessie H. Bancroft. A THREE-YEAR-OLD child wants to be active during most of his waking hours. For this reason the plays that he enjoys are generally those that involve some bodily activity. Sense-Plays Homemade Inset. — An ingenious adult can make a rudimentary inset case, such as Dr. Montessori finds educative in having little chil- dren teach themselves differences in sizes. Select six or more spools of graded sizes. Cut circular holes in the cover of a shallow box, so that the spools will exactly fit in order of size. The child must get each spool into its proper place or there will be an odd one left over. Let the child experi- ment without direction until he has discovered the right use of his toy. Bottles can be used instead of spools. Spools are very good playthings at this time. Some of them may be colored with paints or crayons or with the aid of nonpoisonous dyes, such as are used for clothing. Red, yellow, green, and blue are usually the first colors to be distin- guished; later orange and purple might be added. These can be strung on a cord in many different color and size arrangements. Play with running water is valuable as an edu- cative pastime. Hide the Thimble. — Let the mother, while the child is looking, place a thimble or spool in an unusual place, then let him close his eyes for a moment ; when he opens them, let him find the object. This is a memory as well as an observa- tion test. Repeat this play for several weeks, but place the object in more and more obscure corners. As the next step in this game, persuade the child to close his eyes, or to stay in another room, 286 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL to jump over them or hop over them. Let him hop doviTi a pair of steps. A tricycle gives good exercise at this time, for the child moves over the ground rapidly as he delights in doing, yet his weight does not tax his leg-muscles. Ball Plays At about this age a child begins to bounce and toss the ball without trying to catch it. He is exerting his power over the ball, but does not feel the necessity of making it return to him. He will experiment quite aimlessly at first, but some day the ball will accidentally come to his hand. Such added pleasure is gained from the return of the ball that he will afterward strive to bring such a climax to his play. Most of the plays during this year will take the form of simple experimenting. The worsted ball with a string will give opportunity for vari- ous kinds of motion. Let a child have an inclined board so that the ball may run down. Let him try to roll it up the incline and have it come back to him; he will the sooner desire to catcli it when bounced or tossed. Dramatic Play At about three years of age a child begins to weave the different incidents of home life into a short plot. His ideas are becoming related to each other, so that he can play with the thought of sequence. He now undresses the baby, gives it a bath, puts it to sleep, and then takes up a book to read. Or he puts on his hat, goes to market, returns with the meat, and cooks it for dinner. These connected stories will be acted out if nothing interesting happens to distract his attention. All such efforts should be encouraged by the adult. Whenever possible, some question should be asked or statement made which would lead the child to add more incidents to his play. If the train is going round and round, ask at what sta- tion it stops. Later suggest that while express trains go past so many stations, locals stop very often. Generally imply two possible ways of act- ing when a statement is made ; the necessity of deciding upon a choice makes the imaginary world seem very free and yet real. Finger Plays THE MARCH Wave the flag and beat the drum, Down the street the soldiers come. NUMBERING THE FINGERS Go to sleep, little thumb, that's one, Go to sleep, pointing finger two, Go to sleep, tall finger three. Go to sleep, ring finger four, Go to sleep, baby finger five. Go to sleep, to sleep, to sleep. JUST FIVE The thumb is one, * The pointer two. The middle finger three. Ring finger four. Little finger five. And tliat is all you sec. A Dance Dance to Your Daddy. Children delight in dancing as little "Babby" does in Mother Goose picture books, and will originate dainty steps, swaying back and forth as little Babby would do when blown by the wind. "Dance to your Daddy, My little Babby, Dance to your Daddy, My little lamb. You shall have a fishy In a little dishy. You shall have a fishy When the boat comes in." "Blessed are those who play, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." — Emily Dickinson. AIMS AND METHODS IN CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY THE COMMITTEE PREPARED BY CURRICULUM OF ON KINDERGARTEN THE UNION INTERNATIONAL General Aims in Construction Play 1. To stimulate a feeling of power which comes from control over environment. 2. To develop energy, resourcefulness, and per- sistence in realizing a purpose. 3. To give means of control over surroundings and means of interpreting processes. Specific Aims I. To satisfy the child's desire to experiment familiar with with materials and thus become their properties. 2. To help the child take the initial steps in art and industrial processes. 3. To develop ability to work with others toward common ends. Methods in Helping the Child Experimentation with Materials to Discover Their Characteristics, Properties, and Possible Uses. Children come to all new materials with a questioning attitude. Curious and eager to gain knowledge of and control over their environment, they find for a time the mastery of material an absorbing problem. The teacher should not hurry the children through this period of experimenta- tion, for what they learn by direct inquiry is of greater value to them than what they are told by another, even though a longer time and greater effort are required for the learning process. If the materials are wisely chosen and hence adapted to the present needs and interests of the child, they should hold the interest for a time without the presence or efforts of the teacher. While the child is thus experimenting, however, a mother who has a thorough knowledge of her child and of materials may direct his activities. I. Study the child, making note of his choice of materials and problems, his natural ways of work- ing, and rate of progress, in order to make sug- gestions and to set problems suited to his needs. 2. Guide the child's interests in and uses of materials to prevent them from becoming habitu- ally trivial. 3. Help the child to organize his experiments so that these will be useful and will lead con- stantly to higher stages of development. Solving Problems through the Use of Mate- rials. Educators are to-day seeking to develop in children initiative and reflective thinking. The first pre-requisite of productive thinking is a problem which seems to the child real and worthy of* solution. 1. Problems initiated by the child: Experience has shown that children are often capable of set- ting for themselves worthy problems, the sug- gestions for which may come from these sources: (a) Ideas may grow out of the child's handling of material. Problems are suggested and formulated because of discoveries of the possibilities of material. (b) The child may formulate problems sug- gested by some present interest or some past experience. (c) The child may formulate problems to meet needs created by some social situation. 2. Problems suggested by the teacher : The teacher will receive many suggestions for prob- lems from watching the child during the free- play periods with material, and will select those problems which the child shows an interest in working out or for which he feels a need. Other problems may grow out of some situation, or be in line with some seasonal interest. These problems, suggested by the teacher, must be so in line with the interests, needs, and expe- riences of the child that the child will adopt them readily as his own. and they must seem to the child real and worth the solving in order to pro- duce good, productive thinking and interested effort. * The value of this brief statement, which is condensed from a report that is likely to affect American kindergartners for many years to come, is that it clearly states just what the mother ought to have in mind in her endeavor to help the child in his handwork, what in general should be her methods, and what she has a right to expect in the way of attain- ment. Mrs. Newell, Mrs. Leonard, and Miss Brown have said most of these things, each in her own way, but here, for your convenience, is the philosophy of constructive play in one nutshell. — The Editors. 287 288 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Imitation, wiiicli helps children to do in a more effectual way what they are already struggling to do, and which leads to later independent action on a higher plane, is a valuable agent of educa- tion. If the teacher's contribution is not related to the needs of the child, he may follow the sug- gestion for the moment, but it produces no efifect upon his later work unless it is to make him dissatisfied with his own crude products. Imitation is often used when the problem is one of technique, — a better way of holding the scissors or using the hammer; but when the prol5- lem is one of expressing ideas the child should, in the main, be left free to try this or that method and to select the one which works, since this is a necessary condition governing the thinking process. Attainments to Be Expected 1. Attitudes. Interests, Tastes. Readiness to attack simple problems in construction, and faith in power to solve them. Increased interest in the products of construc- tion leading to more purposeful work and effort to secure better form. Development of the social spirit resulting from cooperative effort toward common ends. 2. Habits, Skill. Increased control of the ma- terials and tools which have been used. Ability to select suitable material and construct without help a number of simple objects. 3. Knowledge, Information. Acquaintance with the properties of a variety of objects and mate- rials. BEGINNINGS IN HANDWORK* MRS. MINNETTA SAMMIS LEONARD It is not an unusual thing to find children of capable and resourceful mothers more than com- monly helpless. Unreasoningly we remark, "How strange it is that Mary can do so little for her- self; her mother is such a wonderful manager." Just here lies, probably, the secret of Mary's helplessness. Her mother is as much in need of guidance as a friend of ours who remarked the other day with woeful sigh, "My children will never do much with their hands ; I don't know how to teach them." This paper hopes to show Mary's mother how not to hurt her child through her own ability. I would like to make it clear that, however val- uable these hand activities may be, it is not essen- tial to have a special training or any special set of materials to do good work with little children. We do need, however, to start with a realization of the importance of handwork for children and an earnest desire on the mother's part to see that the child grows as normally and steadily in the use of his brain and hands as in growth of his body. Most mothers of to-day are very particular about proper food and exercise for their babies and watch carefully to see the eft'ect of diet and to make proper adjustments to their needs. Much the same kind of thought and care is needed for this other growth. The mother should give her child the right kind of playthings, and he will appropriate them as readily as he attacks his food. Then, keeping hands off unless really needed, she should see what he does with the material. While waiting and watching him at work, her mind looks ahead and sees difficulties he is likely to ifind, and thinks out a reply in case he appeals to her for aid. I called recently on a friend who has been struggling with the problem of employment for a four-year-old boy. I was met at the door by mother and child, both joyous over the clever little suitcase and wagon the boy proudly dis- played. The mother said, "John was making a bridge and running his trains under it when it crashed down. You know how easily John is discouraged, and I feared he would give up, so I said, 'Oh, dear, I hope no one was hurt. You'd better get them to a doctor quick !' He thought of an ambulance and told me how he could make one." Together they found a box. He worked alone some time and then showed a wagon made by pushing through two sticks from his tinker- toys and putting on wheels from the same toy. Then the doctor had to have a surgical case. A fat box with adhesive tape cut and put on for hinges, a parcel-carrier handle tied on with string, and two string-loops which fastened over two bent pins, made a splendid case, which also later became useful in a visiting game. After the paper dolls were made comfortable, the wreck was cleared away and traffic resumed. The whole • Mrs. Leonard accepts the theories of the preceding article. Note how simply and sensibly she applies them to your home situation. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 289 morning was gone, and the busy mother had a chance to get much of her work done while he was so occupied. Importance of Handwork for Little Children There is a vast difference in children, both in their ability and in their desire to make things with their hands, but every child should have his own ability and interest encouraged. There are values he gets from this that he gets in no other way. Besides the recognized values of muscular and nerve development and control, as preparation for writing, sewing, and other later work, there are two most important reasons why the right kind of handwork should begin very early with children. The first is that, through his work, the child discovers himself as "a cause of things happening" — respects himself as a pro- ducer, a worker. And, because what he has done is a real thing, he can now form an estimate of himself. Is there any more joyous cry than the child's "Oh, see what I made !" It is full of pride and self-importance. The next four years belong to handwork, as the following years belong to reading, writing, etc. It must be fiozv or, it is most likely, never. Wrong Kinds of Handwork When the things for children to make are mostly suggested by older people and the way to make them is shown, the wrong sort of hand- work is being encouraged. This makes for de- pendence. Whatever makes the child say, "I can't; you do it," or does not lead to the child's impatience to do it for himself, is wrong. Too great devotion of adults frequently makes lazy youngsters. Work which is a strain on the eye, hand, or patience, because too difficult or too small, is wrong. And, interested as I am in the manual development of children, I should say that such interest in handwork as keeps the child indoors very much, depriving him of exercise and fresh air, is harmful. Perhaps if a mother has to drive her child out of doors as I do one of ours, she may compromise by making a workroom of the porch, so that even in cold or rain the child may be working in open air. Selection of Toys and Play-Material My experience has taught me that for the very little child the things about the house, kitchen, and yard are often the best play-materials. A thoughtful mother will often find materials by watching what the child chooses for himself. She may have to use her superior knowledge to substitute a better thing for what he dis- covers, as, for instance, the mother who, when she found her baby trying to build a tower with corks which tumbled down repeatedly, making her cry with vexation, substituted several sizes of unopened vegetable cans. Children ask for every bright string or paper which comes into the house, and they find ways to transform boards, boxes of all kinds, milk-bottle tops, col- lar-buttons, newspapers and what not into toys. Many mothers have learned to value wrapping- paper for scrapbooks and magazines for pictures to cut out and paste into them. Not only is it an economy to learn to use these inexpensive materials, but much real ingenuity is developed in trying to use them. Besides, they are always to be had. However, as the child grows older he needs a few other toys, and it requires much thought and judgment on the part of parents to select wisely, from the heterogeneous mass displayed in stores, a few things of real value. It is necessary to say something here about the selection of toys; first, because, as little children use materials, there is no difference between their playthings and their work-things ; and secondly, because the sort of toys they have determines largely what they make or whether they make anything at all. Here are a few matters to consider when buy- ing a toy: One should be sure (i) that the new material is needed; (2) that the child couldn't by any possible means make a fair substitute for him- self; and (3) that the possession of this toy or material will lead to constructive play or work. One must see into the future as well as consider the present desire. The first point is worth considering because too many playthings are overwhelming anQ lead to confusion and fickle fancy and idleness. Even among the toys a child possesses it is wise from time to time to put away a few. When the child gets them again they are like new and suggest all sorts of possibilities for work and play. The second point — can a substitute be made or found by the child? — is also worth thinking about. The Hallowe'en false face that stayed in the store window did its work there for my baby, aged three years and four months. She tried to make one with paper and was fairly successful. Then I made her a cardboard pattern which fitted her face; showed her how to trace around it, and gave her the needed material. When done, she used it for dressing up. Making and re-mak- ing this face, then varying it to a Santa Claus mask with fringed paper beard, she still, in Feb- ruary, is occupying some of her time with it. Closely related to this point is the third consid- eration I mentioned that the material should 290 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL lead to constructive play or work. Scissors, paste, clothespins, blocks, papers, invite always to do something; they are useless without effort on the part of the child. A doll needs to be fed at a table and set in a chair or put to bed. H this furniture is lacking, much good work and planning is needed to make it. There is no more fruitful line of growth through months and years than the making and furnishing of a doll-house, from the block-furniture in a dry-goods or paste- board box, to the elaborate home, made perhaps with hammer and saw by the little girl herself or her brother, furnished with pasteboard furni- ture copied from a catalog, and curtains and rugs made and decorated entirely by the child. Trains call for bridges to go under and stations to stop at. To change the first crude objects into a countryside with villages of cardboard, farms, and Meccano-bridges, means splendid growth for the boy, not only in handwork but in interest in home geography. Thus one, in choosing toys, may look far into the future as well as at the immediate present. The furnished doll-house and the "cute" little store-bought rail- road station, on the other hand, are the sort of things not to buy if one wants to develop a good worker. By the time he is four, a child should have gone a long way toward finding out that he him- self has the power to transform things into play- things for himself; that the waking day is quite too short to carry out the things he has planned, and that he can find employment for himself at ?,ny time ; and he should have learned much about the nature of many materials and their uses, even if he is not able yet to use them well. With the exception of paints, perhaps, all new materials should first be given to the child to use as he pleases without any "showing" or di- rections from parents. It is common for the father who brings home a new construction toy to drop down on the floor beside the child and show him how to use it, and thus rob the child of all the fun of discovery, as well as of his confidence in what he can do himself. For the adult can make so much better and harder things, and what the little fellow can do himself is so poor in comparison that he gives up in discour- agement. Let him get all he can out of it for him- self before helping him. Then, when the call for help comes, the parent can help wisely, be- cause it will be clear just what and how much help the child needs. Blocks Some day. while piling his blocks or shoving them along the floor, the child discovers some resemblance to a chimney or a street car. He names the form and then tries to make it again or build it more like his idea of the real thing. He remembers that he made this delightful thing and starts another day to do it again. He be- gins to realize that instead of making and then destroying things, he can get more pleasure in making and saving them. He finds clothespins or other things to ride in his cars. Then these constructions change to a house for the people to live in, or a bed to sleep in when they get home. Usually with very little children many other materials are brought into play. These not only add interest in the blocks but often lead to better building, and may be used by the mother to give criticism. While the young child needs much praise and encouragement in his work, he ought also to have some suggestions to help make it better. When our baby showed me a bed she had made very well indeed, but too short for the doll lying in it, I said, "How straight you have made it ; there are no cracks anywhere. But how will you keep your baby's feet covered if they stick out so far?" "Oh, well, I dess I will mate it bidder." And so she corrected her work. The large blocks referred to earlier are most valuable toys. They are so large that they are used for all sorts of purposes. When B. first gave doll tea-parties, she seated her family on boxes, stools, or even a kettle upside down. These seats lacked backs ; so, soon she had to hunt out taller objects to place behind. She used the large blocks to pile up back of the boxes, until finally she found that she could build the whole chair with blocks. But even now, at three years and eight months, she combines block chairs as far as they go with other chairs or boxes. We have added to the large oblongs of the earlier period other forms made on the same scale. A mother ordering blocks made can work out her own dimensions, provided she plans them so that they fit well together. I give specifi- cations of ours at the end of this paper. Not only is it fun to build again things made previously, but it is pleasant to save good things made to show Daddy when he comes home and then keep them to start to-morrow's play with. Our baby always had a place where she could keep her work. Often the ne.xt day's fun, instead of beginning all over again, began by making im- provements or adding new parts. For example, she was very proud of some "deedledums" she cleverly reproduced from a set she saw at a friend's house. These often stayed for days while she built all sorts of things for these creatures to use. All these constructions were naturally crude BEGINNINGS IN HANDWORK FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 291 and most simple. Now, a year later, she not only builds much better, but makes a great many quite elaborate things. She has made greater prog- ress in blocks than in any other material. Clay and Plasticine * Clay and plasticine are great favorites. When I start getting dinner, out comes the children's folding table, their little chairs, the oilcloth table-cover, and one of these materials. The children attempt almost anything — cakes for a bakery, vegetables to play fruit-market with (several of the clay ones were saved to paint "really" color when dry), animals seen at the zoo, beads and marbles, even an umbrella. When they have come to me in distress, I have shown how to make legs stay on and how to smooth surfaces. Aside from that, I let all the work be free and do not attempt to guide it, except by such indirect suggestions as described in the work with blocks. These suggestions they can take or not as they please. Cutting and Drawing For a long time a child uses a pencil or crayon merely to mark or scribble and scissors to snip with, so that anything which comes in his way is likely to suffer. He should never be punished for his first destructive offense, because he has no idea of doing wrong; it is merely a new ex- periment. But the wrong should be made clear to him, and at the same time he should be shown the newspaper pile or waste-basket and told that he is welcome at any time to help himself to what paper he needs. After he understands this, no offense should go unpunished. It is well to show from the beginning that the right use of ma- terials means great freedom. Drawing is the young child's writing; by it he tells his pencil stories. At first it is mere scribbling, but later becomes an attempt to pic- ture. It is wisest to let him do much of this with almost no attempt to direct him, even till well into the next period. Showing children how to draw prevents their free expression and often spoils entirely what might be good work. I should draw only for the child who hasn't yet gotten any idea of the fun, and only for a starter. Sometimes the baby tries to cut out a picture. But the handling of scissors requires so much skill that during this period I should encourage almost no line-cutting, but stimulate much free cutting and snipping, finding ways of using results so as to make the work constructive. Our child has filled a box full of paper snow ; she cuts snips * The value of various modeling materials is discussed in "A Suggested Play Outfit." that she called feathers to fill a doll's pillow— a paper bag pasted at the ends; and yesterday she made dessert to go in the plasticine gelatine molds she had made for the dolls' dinner. She cuts or tears long strips of paper and pastes the ends to- gether to make links in a paper chain, and cuts arms and legs for paper-doll heads. At first I folded papers for her to cut "surprises"; now she does the whole thing herself. These surprises never cease to amuse, and we have found a use for large ones, — to set the luncheon table for the family, for doll-house rugs, and as valentines with picture-flowers pasted on them, the whole mounted on another colored paper. She made valentines for more friends and relatives than she possesses. Now, as I write, she is working beside me on a scrapbook. The pages are cast-off sheets of this manuscript, which she is sewing together in her own way, two at a time, with a paper cover cut from a wall-paper book. She has by her, to paste in the book when it is done, her box of post-cards and pictures saved or cut from catalogs. As I do not wish to encourage the difficult line-cutting she has picked up from older children. I am not criticizing the fact that, in her desire not to cut into the picture, she has rarely touched the line. When she is surer of her control she will begin to cut on the line, and when I am sure that she is able without strain to do this well, I shall hold her to her best. In addition to the nervous strain, another rea- son for not letting children do line-cutting early is that they become dependent on a pattern in- stead of cutting pictures themselves. Paper dolls to cut out and pasteboard patterns to trace around are good to use occasionally after the child has learned to cut freely. "But," says the mother, "how shall I encourage my child to cut things freely? He is afraid." Watch when he is cutting and seize upon any likeness you see — "Why, this would look like a pig if it only had some legs" — and he will hurriedly paste on strips for legs. I handed B. a picture of a baby's head, remarking that it would be a good doll to dress if it had a body. She disappeared into the playroom with it, and after a while came back with a doll with a "stummit" (body) — one paper strip — and arms and legs of various-sized other strips, with slashes at the ends for fingers and toes. Then she made dresses and colored them with crayon. By and by from this pieced- together cutting she will learn to see and cut in larger wholes. Painting I made an exception of painting as not an experimental material. Because paints are ex- 292 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL pensive and easily wasted, and a messed-up paint box may spoil any more valuable use, it may be vi'ise to give very early a few simple directions, such as how to use the brush without spreading it, how to mix a pan of color for a wash, and how much water is needed to wet the paint properly. The painting books, however, so often displayed in the stores, are not at all good for beginners. Painting inside such small and com- plex figures can not possibly be done right during this period and will establish careless habits. Large and simple forms are different. Our youngster traced around a good-sized pan from her set of doll-dishes, colored the circle, and made it into a bali to go on her Christmas tree. We purposely have but a small supply of colored paper at our house, so that we have to paint or crayon most of what we need for doll dresses, bails, strips to make flags and chains, and other things. B. is finding how to make colors — that blue and yellow produce green, red and yellow, orange. She has noticed sunset colors, and the stained church windows, and is trying to imitate these. She also has a large flat painter's brush and helps me do painting and staining jobs around the house. She can now make a few large sheets of even color with con- siderable skill. Other Ways the Mother Helps There are tvifo other important ways for a mother to help. She ought to see to it that neither she nor anyone else interrupts the busy child until his work is done, if this can be avoided. Concentration for him is as important as for his older brother working at school tasks. She should also help him to take up and finish any good thing he has started at another time. I keep a mental — sometimes a written — list of such things. When asked, "What shall I do now?" I recall some of these. Or, when I find time to give to the child, we pick up and finish some of these projects, uncompleted perhaps because I was too busy to help. Ways That the Busy Mother May Manage Some mother who does her own work exclaims, "Mercy, how do you expect me to get my house- work done !" If she really wants to, the mother can always find a way. Have stools or high fruit- baskets to put, inverted, beside the kitchen table so that she may watch the children while she cooks or washes dishes ; let the outdoor play- time come when she has to sweep or clean and can not be with the children. Then, when they come in. do sewing or writing in the room near them. They like to carry their work about the house, and are wonderfully patient in moving' it from room to room, if they may be near mother. And they soon learn to work on newspapers or large cloths to prevent unnecessary muss that they must clean up after them. Aside from ths advance children make under this sort of ar- rangement, the beautiful atmosphere of trust and comradeship which grows between mother and children goes far to help them over the strained places elsewhere. The joy the mother herself gets from it lifts her out of the dull atmosphere of household drudgery. PLAYTHINGS WHICH SHOULD BE BOUGHT FOR EVERY CHILD I. Blocks At least one good set of blocks, preferably two, a large and a smaller set : Here are several block sets to choose from: Large Blocks 1. The Hennessy Blocks, sold by the Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass. These are of various shapes, including the cylinder; they come in a large hardwood box and cost from live to eighteen dollars. 2. Blocks made to order by any carpenter, from two units: (i) oblongs at least as large as a brick and (2) square blocks the length of the oblongs ; there should be two or three dozen of the oblongs and nearly as many square blocks. (3) A dozen oblongs may be cut from end to end for posts. (4) Cubes glued together to make larger cubes than can be made from a single piece of wood. (5) Two dozen squares cut diagonally from corner to corner, for large triangular blocks. (6) One dozen squares cut twice diagonally for smaller triangles. Our set is made from oblongs 7x3^/2x154 inches and squares 7 x 7 x l^ inches. With this set should be included thin boards of various lengths and widths. 3. Schoenhut's "Hill" Kindergarten Blocks. The A. Schoenhut Company, Philadelphia, Pa. These blocks are wonderful in their possibili- ties and in the muscular development they give. It is worth while to send to the company for the circular describing them. The difficulty in having them for the average family is their expense, and in most homes the lack of space for using them. The company sells quarter sets. Where children from several families play together, a set might be used in common. 4. Peg-Lock Blocks. The Peg-Lock Block Company, Fort Lee. New Jersey. All sorts of forms may be built with them and fastened to- gether with the pegs. MIXING COLORS FROM THE THREE PRIMARY COLORS— RED, BLUE, AND YELLOW Green — 1 part yellow + 1 part blue Orange — 1 part yellow + 1 part red V'iolet — 1 part blue + 1 part red Neutral gray — 1 part yellow + 1 P^rl blue -)- 1 part red Yellow-green — 3 parts yellow + 1 part blue Blue-green — 3 parts blue + 1 part yellow Yellow-orange — 3 parts yellow -|- 1 part red Red-orange — 3 parts red + 1 P^^t yellow Blue-violet — 3 parts blue + 1 part red Red-violet — ■ 3 parts red -j- 1 P^rt blue FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 293 5. The Star-l)uilt Blocks. The Emhossing Com- pany, Albany, N. Y. Small Blocks 1. The Frochel Gift Blocks (enlarged). The Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass. Each set is of hard maple and comes in a cherry-wood box. 3d Gift: Eight two-inch cubes. 4th Gift: Eight oblongs 2 .x 4 x i inch. 5th Gift: Twenty-one two-inch cubes. Six large triangles made from the cubes cut once diagonally. Twelve small triangles made from the cubes cut twice diagonally. 6th Gift: Made by similar divisions of the ob- longs of the fourth : Eighteen whole oblongs 2 X 4 X I inch. Six columns — oblongs cut from end to end. Twelve two-inch squares — oblongs cut cross- wise. 2. Homemade substitutes for these more ex- pensive blocks, made from sets found in all toy stores : 1. From three sets of 12 large ABC cubes at 25 cents each : Two dozen cubes used as they are. One dozen large triangles — si.x cubes sawed once diagonally. Two dozen small triangles — six cubes sawed twice diagonally. 2. From three sets of 12 "circus" oblong blocks at 25 cents each : Two dozen oblongs used a.s they are. Twelve posts — si.x oblongs sawed from end to end. Twelve squared — six oblongs sawed crosswise. II. Modeling Material 1. Clay: This may be obtained from any school supply house or artists' supply store ; in some cities it may be obtained from a pottery or kiln or tile works. 2. Plasticine, plastina, or plastiline: materials always ready to use, and presumably healing to the skin because of the glycerine in them to keep them moist. These come in several colors and may be bought at any artists' supply house, large toy department, or regular school supply house. 3. Moldolith (Milton Bradley): Looks like clay, but is a little easier to care for, needing only to be put away always in a tightly covered jar or tin can. 4. Permodello (A. S. Barnes Company, New York) : a plastic material that hardens without baking. III. Coloring Material I. A Good Paint Box: The best and cheapest are Milton Bradley's and Prang's. These are carried by the small supply stores for school children and cost from 25 cents up. 2. A Good Camel's Hair Brush: The brushes that come in the bo.xes are not good enough for real use. 3. Scissors: The blunt points are safest, but those with one sharp point answer more purposes. 4. Crayons : These may be found almost any- where at 5 or 10 cents a box. Very desirable large marking crayons may be bought from the Milton Bradley Company at 35 cents a dozen. 5. Good Paste : The bottled pastes or wall- paper paste. This latter is convenient, as it can be got in flour form in pound packages at any wall-paper house and mixed like flour and water in small amounts as wanted ; it costs about 80 cents a pound, in any quantity. 6. A Good Blackboard with Colored and White Crayons: A large slate-board is best, but these cost more and are breakable. We enjoy most a large piece of blackboard cloth which can be rolled to go in a trunk, spread out on floor or table, or tacked to a large pasteboard and hung on the wall. Our piece is about a yard wide, and we bought three-quarters of a yard at a large stationer's store for 90 cents. 7. A Low, Comfortable Work-Table: This can be made by a carpenter or from a kitchen table with legs sawed off. The Milton Bradley Com- pany have tables of soft green and dark and light brown with chairs to match. The chair should be broad-seated and comfortable, low enough for the child's feet to rest on the floor. IV. Other Playthings Desirable to Buy 1. Large Manila Drawing Papers — for painting also : these may be bought at school supply shops. Or, the yellow typewriter paper which Father uses so much. 2. Large gray bogus drawing papers for fold- ing, painting, and drawing — to be had in the same places. 3. A good supply of tiles such as are used for floors : these can be bought at a plumbers* sup- ply store ; they cost about $2 a square foot. As the half-inch or three-quarter-inch squares are good, a great many of several colors may be had in one square foot. 4. Colored Folding Papers in four-inch, five- inch, and six-inch squares: at Milton Bradley's; also at some newspaper stands and stationers' stores. 5. Large Wooden Beads and Shoe Strings for stringing them : these beads come in natural wood — red, green, orange, blue, purple, and yel- low; they are made by Milton Bradley and may be got of them or in large toy shops. 294 thf: homk kindergarten manual 6. Carpenters' Tools: a small hammer with broad head and short handle, a screwdriver, small stout saw, and a box of assorted nails, tacks, and screws. More usable tools may be had at small cost from five-and-ten-cent stores than those in tool sets for sale in toy stores. The best sets are those put up for use in schools: a school supply house can either furnish these or tell where they may be had. 7. A good paper doll with arms and hands standing out from the body. This will last longer if mounted on cloth and cut out. 8. "Wood-Bildo" sets, found at any toy store, are similar to the Meccano toys, but better adapted to the small child. The set consists of various-sized wheels which fit into grooved and notched strips of wood. 9. "Wonder Blocks," made by Baker & Ben- nett Company, New York City, and sold in the toy stores. These are not easily combined with other sets, but furnish excellent fun and good training for little children. 10. The Tinker Toy, sold at toy stores: besides its use as a set of mechanical materials, furnishes wheels, axles, and rods to use with other things. V. Useful Articles Found at Home 1. Wooden boxes for houses, wagons, cup- boards : boxes may be carefully taken apart and used as building materials, their notched ends fit- ting together to hold the boards in place. They make good combinations with building blocks. 2. Fruit-jar lioxes, useful for houses and carts. 3. All sorts and sizes of pasteboard boxes. 4. Small fruit baskets, for furniture and for hammock swings, with clothespins used as stand- ards. 5. Bottoms of one-half bushel baskets make fine wagon wheels. 6. Milk bottle tops, all kinds of circular paste- board pieces, and spools also serve as wheels, plates, saucers, and clock faces. 7. Toothpicks, burnt matches, and meat skewers are valuable in many ways. 8. Brass paper fasteners, collar buttons sent home from the laundry, and round sticks are use- ful to fasten on wheels. 9. Button molds serve for wheels and for stringing along with spools, cranberries, rose hips, and the like. 10. Spools serve for furniture legs. 11. Clothespins are useful as dolls, legs to box-furniture, etc. 12. Wrapping papers and pasteboard oblongs which come home from the laundry in shirt pack- ages are good substitutes for folding, cutting, and painting papers, and for pages in scrapbooks. 13. Newspapers are almost unlimited in their uses. 14. Wallpaper sample-books serve for folding, cutting, and papering doll houses. 15. Tinfoil. 16. String. 17. Pins — with a cushion for holding them. 18. Magazine and catalog pictures are used for dolls, for pictures to mount or frame, and for scrapbook material. 19. Pumpkin seeds and other large flat seeds are used for stringing and for making outline pictures. 20. Apples and potatoes, with stick arms and legs, for making animals and men. 21. The paper caps which some milk-dealers use over the tops of bottles make good cups and saucers and other dishes. 22., Bits of cloth and blunt, large-eyed needles. 23. Pasteboard patterns of animals to be traced around. These may be traced with tissue paper from picture books and transferred to pasteboard by using carbon paper and then cutting out. 24. A mother may find packages of home-made folding squares, cut from wrapping or news- papers, very handy and much less expensive for common use than the colored papers. THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-HELP* BY MARIA MONTESSORI We habitually serve children : and this is not only an act of servility toward them, but it is danger- ous, since it tends to suffocate their useful, spon- taneous activity. We are inclined to believe that children are like puppets, and we wash them and * From "The Montessori Method," by Maria Montessor Company, New York. feed them as if they were dolls. We do not stop to think that the child who does not do, does not know how to do. He must, nevertheless, do these things, and Nature has furnished him with the physical means for carrying on these various Used by permission of the publishers, Frederick A. Stokes FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 295 activities, and with the intellectual means for learning how to do them. And our duty toward him is, in every case, that of helping him to make a conquest of such useful acts as Nature intended he should perform for himself. The mother who feeds her child without making the least effort to teach him to hold the spoon for himself and to try to find his mouth with it, and who does not at least eat herself, inviting the child to look and see how she does it, is not a good mother. She ofifends the fundamental human dignity of her son — she treats him as if he were a doll, when he is, instead, a man confided by Nature to her care. Who does not know that to teach a child to feed himself, to wash and dress himself, is a much more tedious and difficult work, calling for in- finitely greater patience, than feeding, washing, and dressing the child oneself? But the former is the work of an educator, the latter is the easy and inferior work of a servant. Not only is it easier for the mother, but it is very dangerous for the child, since it closes the way and puts ob- stacles in the path of the life which is developing. Another very interesting observation is that which relates to the length of time needed for the execution of actions. Children who are under- taking something for the first time are extremely slow. Their life is governed in this respect by laws especially different from ours. Little chil- dren accomplish slowly and perseveringly various complicated operations agreeable to them, such as dressing, undressing, cleaning the room, washing themselves, setting the table, eating, etc. In all this they are extremely patient, overcoming all the difficulties presented by an organism still in process of formation. But we, on the other hand, noticing that they are "tiring themselves out" or "wasting time" in accomplishing something which we would do in a moment and without the least effort, put ourselves in the child's place and do it ourselves. Always with the same erroneous idea, that the end to be obtained is the completion of the action, we dress and wash the child, we snatch out of his hands oljjects which he loves to handle, we pour the soup into his bowl, we feed him, we set the table for him. What would become of us if we fell into the midst of a population of jugglers, or of lightning- change impersonators of the variety-hall? What should we do if, as we continued to act in our usual way, we saw ourselves assailed by these sleight-of-hand performers, hustled into our clothes, fed so rapidly that we could scarcely swal- low, if everything we tried to do was snatched from our hands and completed in a twinkling and we ourselves reduced to impotence and to a humiliating inertia? Not knowing how else to express our confusion we would defend ourselves with blows and yells from these madmen, and they, having only the best will in the world to serve us, would call us haughty, rebellious, and incapable of doing anything. We, who know our own milieu, would say to those people, "Come into our countries and you will see the splendid civili- zation we have established, you will see our won- derful achievements." These jugglers would ad- mire us infinitely, hardly able to believe their eyes, as they observed our world, so full of beauty and activity, so well regulated, so peaceful, so kindly, but all so much slower than theirs. Something of this sort occurs between children and adults. COLLECTING NATURE MATERIALS* BY KATHERINE BEEBE "O little feci, amid the grass. Chasing the shadoifs as they pass. The river talks beside your icar, The winds are sweet at dazvn of day, O little feet." — Mary T. H. Skrine. come dulled and blunted if his questions are not answered and his efforts appreciated. To be much out-of-doors with the children, to follow their restless leadings, to be interested where they are interested, and to be able to lead them into "fresh fields and pastures new" when they are * From "Home Occupations for Little Cliildren," by Katherine Beebe, published by the Saalfield Publishing Compan;, Akron, Ohio. Used by permission of the publishers. It is a mistake to think that little children, un- aided, will become observers and lovers of Nature. We of the present generation have but to look back to our own childhood to prove that. In spite of a child's love of outdoor life and his keen interest in all he sees, that interest will be- 296 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL ready to go, is to "live with our children" as Froebel hoped we should some day. Play with Fruits and Nuts This lover of children laid great stress on sense-games in his book for mothers. He would have them train the senses of their children to acuteness and discrimination by means of play. In one kindergarten this idea was carried out in September by means of the fruits so abundant at that time. A number of these were provided, the number suited to the ages and abilities of the children, who named them and counted them, and also drew them with colored chalk. One child's eyes being blindfolded, another child hid one of the fruits. It was then the turn of the blinded one to guess which fruit was missing, and if he guessed correctly he was "heartily cheered;" if his guess was wrong, he tried again another time. This was played as long as the children were interested, and on another occasion a game of guessing, by feeling the fruits, filled a half hour, while still later they were guessed by smell- ing and tasting. Such games as these, when taught to children and played occasionally with them, ought to set them going in this particular direction to their own physical, mental, and spiritual upbuilding. Older children delight in these simple kinder- garten games and seldom have the opportunity they wish to learn and use them. In their play- ing school or playing kindergarten they could amuse both themselves and younger brothers and sisters in this way, for the games can be played with nuts, leaves, shells, stones, blocks, flowers, grains, children, and miscellaneous objects. Nuts, used after this manner, make delightful playthings, and kindergarten children delight in playing they are squirrels and hunting the nuts previously hidden by one of their number, es- pecially if privileged to eat the nuts at the end of the game. Hunting nuts in the real woods is a joy which children should taste oftener than they usually do, for in these days of railroads and electric cars, the woods are not so very far off, and once a year at least there should be a nutting party in every well-regulated family. Making Nature Collections If, in the Indian summer days, after the leaves are off the trees and the birds have flown, a col- lection of nests could be made from the woods, parks, or suburbs, by means of excursions in com- pany with a boy of tree-climbing age and pro- pensities, a work worth doing would be wrought in the minds and hearts of all concerned. Nothing gives children more pleasure in the Fall than milkweed pods full of the "dainty milk- weed babies." Go where these are to be found in September or October; bring them home and let them dry in the house ; explain to the chil- dren why they are furnished with wings and how the wind plants them ; let them have some pods to play with out of doors on windy days; and let them make pretty winter bouquets of dry clusters of the pods for friends and relatives. Little girls can make down pillows of the seeds for their dolls, and an ambitious child could even collect enough for a down pillow for a real baby. Thistledown can also be used in this way. During the Autumn the different kinds of seeds and seed-pods greatly interest the children, who would enjoy gathering them if there was any reason which appealed to them for so doing. The interest of the older people in such a col- lection is sufficient oftentimes to stimulate them to effort, but a real object, such as saving for next year's garden, making a collection for a present to somebody, or gathering quantities to be sent to city relations, or anyone poor or sick, appeals more to the child. He is a reasonable little being and does not care to do things which are not "worth while," any more than we do. An examination of the seeds with a microscope will repay anyone, and no child will fail to be interested in the perfectly formed leaves tucked up in many seeds all ready for next year. Play with Leaves and Acorns When the leaves begin to fall, playthings are literally showered on those children whose eyes and hearts true sympathy has opened. It is a commonly pathetic sight in autumn days to see a little child gathering the bright leaves with a wistful what-can-I-do-with-you expression, only to throw them away. If he brings them into the house, they are often unnoticed and uncared for, and the most he can expect is to have them put into a glass of water and forgotten. The names can be learned ; guessing games can be played with them ; they can be traced, drawn, and painted; beautiful borders and patterns can be laid with them ; tea-tables can be decorated with them ; wreaths and festoons can transform* the child into an autumn picture for his father; they can also be pressed, varnished, and waxed. In the great masses of dead rustling leaves are delightful places to play squirrel and rabbit games, and for a romp, what material is better adapted for tossing, rolling, and throwing? Children will rake leaves patiently, if, when Father comes home, they can be present at the bonfire. Baskets of acorns will be gladly gathered if FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 297 they can be used, and in many a city kindergarten they would be treasures indeed. The double acorn cups can be strung by slipping the string between the two cups. These productions give much pleasure to the children who have to find the double acorns and string them, as well as to the baby brother, sister, or neighbor to whom they can be presented. Other Collections Corncobs in quantity made in olden times, and still make, charming playthings, and a corn-husk dolly would be a greater treasure than one from a store to many an indulged child. Wild cucum- bers and toothpicks will stock a miniature farm with bristling pigs, and the vines can be grown in almost any spot of earth where there is good soil. Stones always interest children, but the interest is a fleeting one for the reason that limitations are reached so soon. If a place is prepared for a collection of the most attractive stones, and if the mother can tell her child a little of their his- tory, an added stimulus to patient hunting and sorting is given. The bright berries of Autumn, the haws, thorn-apples, and cranberries are beautiful for stringing purposes, making a pleasant change from beads and buttons. In season, clover heads, dandelion heads and the tiny flowers which make up the lilac's blossom make good material for stringing, and this industry should be added to the familiar occupations of making dandelion curls and chains. Nature Handicraft Get a sheet of dark bronze paper on whose white side flying birds can be traced from a pattern. The model can be drawn and cut out of pasteboard, or a picture be made to serve the pur- pose. Let the children trace and cut out a flock of these birds; fasten them high up on the nurs- ery wall, headed south in the Fall, and make others which can head north in the Spring. Sets of these can be made for friends and saved for Christmas and birthday gifts ; for a present which is not the child's own has little value, as a gift, in his eyes compared with one which has cost him effort or sacrifice. Where children can have the use of hammers and nails, they can make crude bird-houses in which real birds will live all Summer, and they will often spend a half-hour raveling out bits of coarsely-woven cloth, which, hung on bushes, trees or fences in the Spring, are to furnish the birds with nest-building material. Things that Live and Grow A globe, or other receptacle, in which fish can be kept will be a treasure to children old enough to go about alone or fortunate enough to possess a grown-up real friend who will take them occa- sionally where they want to go. It will give a reason for the collection of frogs' eggs, tadpoles, tiny minnows, crawfish, and mussels. How chil- dren love these things, and how seldom is it worth their while to bring them home. "They are very interesting, dear," says Mamma, trying to repress a look of disgust, "but we have no place to keep such things. Throw them away." A tub in which water from their own homes and breeding- places can be placed seems to agree best with tadpoles, by the way. To learn the trees by name, to know their blossoms and seed, is a pursuit in which old and young may join with mutual pleasure and profit. The country is full of thriving little seedling trees which, striving for life in vacant lots, park- ways and roadsides, will one day become real trees, if transplanted into an amateur nursery. Someone once suggested that if, for every child born, a tree, seedling, or seed were planted, the forestry problem would be solved. A miniature fruit farm can be made by plant- ing apple, peach, plum, pear, cherry, orange, or lemon seeds, and, while it may never reach a very advanced state, the planting of the seeds, the watching for the first shoots, and the observation of the tiny trees will fill up some of those indus- trial vacancies for which we are trying to pro- vide. When we were children there were few Springs when we did not plant a vegetable garden in an old dish-pan or cheese-box, using for plant- ing purposes one potato, one beet, one onion, one turnip, and one anything else we could get. I do not remember that there was ever any outcome to this agricultural enterprise, but I have a very distinct recollection of the pleasure this tilling of the soil gave to me. I will add that we lived in a city and that our backyard was boarded over, but to the true farmer-spirit all things are possible. The collecting of cocoons in the Fall will give occupation at that time as well as later on when the moths come out. These are found in both city and country, and a study of them will prove most interesting. More Nature Playthings Of the small snail shells found on the lake shore, and in gravel piles, strings can be made, as they usually have holes in them. A child will hunt patiently for these treasures even when he 298 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL has not the hope of using them. Babies and younger children are dehghted recipients of such gifts as these, and the fact that they so soon tire of them need not affect either the work or the satisfaction of the donor. Drinking-cups can be made of large leaves pinned together by their stems, and those of us who read the Rollo books long ago remember that the backs of the lilac leaves can be used for slates if pins are the pencils. I have known kindergar- ten graduates to reproduce their brief educational experience, using pebbles, twigs, leaves, dande- lion stems, and burrs for material. The pebbles were seeds, the twigs sticks, the leaves folding papers, and the burrs clay. They even wove coarse grass into mats and did pricking with thin leaves and stiff grasses. The burdock's prickly seed-pod can be made, not only into baskets and nests, but into animals, furniture, and almost any sort of object. It is well to protect little hands with old gloves for this work, for the burrs leave invisible splinters in the fingers, which are very uncomfortable. Until one has tried it, one does not know how lifelike and satisfactory to the children are the squirrels, rabbits, dogs, cats, and elephants which can be made of either the green or the brown burrs. The golden-rod galls can, with a knife and the addition of grasses or stems, be trans- formed into tiny vases and dishes. Flower dolls make beautiful fairies with their pansy, daisy, or dandelion faces, their leaf shawl and poppy or morning-glory skirts, and "pea-pod boats with rose-leaf sails" are delightful possibilities. Making a Fairyland I know one child whose delight it was to make fairylands, filling a shady corner or shallow box with moss-covered earth in which she planted miniature trees, flowers, and shrubs, sinking a saucer, which could be filled with water, into the ground for a lake. .On a lakeside or seashore the construction of hills, mountains, islands, and rivers gives even a little child at times more satisfaction than his own rather aimless building of houses. One group of children made the Michigan fruit farms and a smaller Lake Michigan, over whose waters fruit-laden boats sailed to city markets. Radical as it sounds, water makes a delightful plaything, but it is seldom used because — it is too much trouble ! Happy is the child equipped for play in a fresh puddle left by the rain, or in a tub of water in the backyard ! Happy is the cliild who is sometimes dressed for a frolic in a warm summer shower, who on hot days is allowed to play in the bath-tub or with the hose ! Happy are those children who, when taken to shore or beach, are dressed, or undressed, so that they will not have to be cautioned every other minute not to get wet ! The old familiar rhyme beginning "Mother, may I go out to swim?" — you know the rest — would be appreciated by many children on lake shore and ocean beach if they happened to know it. Mother Nature, with her sunshine, rain, wind, hail, snow, and various commotions and combina- tions of the elements, is always ready to play with the children, and they with her, were they only allowed to do so. They are not allowed because of the fear that they will soil or in- jure their clothes, hurt themselves, take cold, or be too much trouble to someone, and so they lose many hours which, through the happiest play, might bring to them health, courage, freedom, and joy. BEAD-STRINGING MRS. CARRIE S. NEWMAN Stringing beads has always been a favorite oc- cupation of little children. It is, we presume, an instinct inherited from their ancestors, as beads of stone or metal have been found in the tombs and caves of many ancient peoples. All primitive folk have delighted to decorate themselves with necklaces of various kinds. But the haphazard material usually supplied the children has prevented satisfactory results. and so the interest quickly dies and bears very little fruit. To satisfy this instinct and make it of real edu- cational value, the kindergarten provides large wooden beads of the six prismatic colors and the three forms, ball, cube, and cylinder. These are strung upon shoelaces or stout string, and the combinations that can be made are simply lim- itless. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 299 At first one string alone is used; later, as the child gains skill of hand and development of mind, two, three, or even four strings may be used in one combination, so the work can be spread over a number of years. The tiny child of two years is delighted to run the tag through the hole in the bead and see it run down the string, and will fill string after string with a miscellaneous assortment. His joy is confined to the manual operation, to using his hands; form and color are as yet meaningless to him. But little fingers are being trained and brought under the control of their owner. Then, just at the right moment, the mother or an older child suggests that he pick out all those like sister's red hair ribbon, or the red geranium in the vase, and a whole new world opens before his eager eyes as comparison and classification become factors in his play. His first attempts will probably result in a mixture of red and orange, if red is the color chosen, or of blue and green if blue is what he is seeking, but these dif- ficulties will soon be overcome. After stringing red or blue beads he will delight in a game the object of which is to find all the articles of that color in a given space, the room, or the garden. Combination Stringing Once familiar with the different colors, he can begin making combinations. Here the uncolored beads are valuable, as the combinations are more truly artistic. If Mother or Sister makes a chain of one red, one white, he will hail it with delight as prettier than the one color and be eager to imitate. The next step is to make a different combination. He has now entered upon a limit- less source of joy, for it has been calculated that four hundred different combinations can be made on single strings and more than a thousand where several strings are used as one. Of course this, like other occupations, gives greater pleasure when several children work together, each aiming to make the prettiest combination he can im- agine. A glass prism hung in a sunny window, so that a rainbow is thrown on the floor or wall, will greatly delight the children and lead to the making of rainbow chains. Soap bubbles will often pro- vide a similar valuable experience. A new line of thought may be started by calling the children's attention to the colors of flowers and suggesting that they make chains to represent certain flowers — yellow and green for buttercups, blue and yellow for forget-me-nots, for instance. At this time a box of paints and experiences in mixin? colors will be most valuable. Laying Beads in Patterns The beads need not always be strung. Many games of position and direction may be played, as the child lays borders of contrasting colors, or picks out green cubes and arranges them to rep- resent a lawn and places a border of tulips or crocuses around it, if such be a part of his en- vironment. What a gloriously happy rainy afternoon might be spent in thus reproducing in miniature his out- door surroundings ! Would it not be worth while going to some public park or garden purposely to get such a setting for his play if there is no garden at home? Will not such memories be life- long possessions, lending a charm to picture and poem in later life? Are not many lives dwarfed and stunted just for the lack of such experiences in early childhood ? Another trip might be taken to drink in the wealth of color in the market or fruit store in the Autumn, and the beads used to reproduce it. Then if Father will lead the little minds to pene- trate into the wonderful life-history of some of these children of Xature, he will add to their lives, and perhaps renew in his own that which no money could purchase. The natural culmi- nation of such experiences is of course a song which embodies these thoughts. Special attention may be called to the form of the beads by making such combinations as, three cubes and one ball ; a ball, a cube, and a cylinder in one color; or making human beings by placing a cylinder on a cube and adding a ball for a head. A string of uncolored cylinders makes a fine garden-hose, while colored cylinders make fa- mous jars of jelly for the dollies. Other Materials for Stringing But beads are not the only material for string- ing. Nature provides many suitable objects, such as nuts, shells, seeds, berries, and haws. And the gathering of these will help to open the chil- dren's eyes to the many wonders so generously strewn about them. To be able to read even a page or two of Nature's wonderful story-book is surely a valuable accomplishment. And the time to begin this study is in early childhood. A bundle of the artificial straws used in ice- cream parlors, cut in inch lengths, will be a much- prized adjunct to the stringing. Bead-Stringing and Number In stringing, the child is constantly making use of different number-combinations and laying up K.N.— 21 300 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL information which will be invaluable when he begins his number work in the primary grade. He knows the difference between three and five, two and four, etc., and has a definite impression to call upon when any simple number is men- tioned, and so is saved the hiborious work many a little child goes through. Colored paper, cut in circles and squares and Strung with straws, makes a beautiful decora- tion for nursery or for Christmas tree. Narrow strips of paper pasted in rings and joined together make a pleasing variation. While to our adult eyes these chains may not be artistic, to the children they are truly beautiful and a source of intense delight. Older children may manufacture their own beads from colored paper, following directions given in many magazines. A friend has just told me of a little girl who makes pretty chains by stringing cloves and glass beads. 'THE HOLY GIFT OF COLOR"* BY ELIZABETH HARRISON "Of all of God's gifts to the sight of man, color is the holiest, the most divine, the most solemn," said John Ruskin. And yet, wonderful as is the infinite variety which color presents, the average human eye is dull to much of its marvelous beauty. Ceaseless as are the changing emotions which its lights and shadows awaken, the average human life is poor and empty, although surrounded on every hand by these inestimable riches ! Many Young Folks Are "Color-Blind" I took with me to the country one Summer for a short vacation a bright and intelligent young girl. She was sensible, had the average educa- tion, and was unusually attractive. She was a good conversationalist, had taught school several years, and was in many respects far above the commonplace young woman. Much to my aston- ishment, I found that she had never taken a walk before sunrise, and therefore knew nothing of the silent, mysterious beauty which precedes the birth of a summer morning. She was wild with delight over the long shad- ows on the grass, and the straight yellow rays sent forth by the upper rim of the coming sun. A tall row of hollyhocks that glittered like trans- parent gems as the early sunbeams struck through their pink and crimson petals were as new to her as to a child. She had never watched a sunset across a body of water, and so knew naught of the thrill that comes as the earth catches the glory of the heavens and the two become one in a har- mony that fills and exalts the beholder, much as great music does the attentive listener. She had never seen the miracle in which the sunlight transforms an ordinary chestnut tree into an en- chanted tree, each leaf of which is outlined with glittering gold. In fact, she did not know a chestnut tree from an elm, and listened with won- der to the story of the rose and carmine, the ru.5- set and buff blossoms with silken and velvet tex- ture that adorn the oak and hickory each Spring. And her pleasure was almost childish when she learned that the bark, twig, leaf, and blossom of a tree all harmonized in color, and told of the same characteristics as did its shape and branch- ing, its roots and leaf-veins. Day after day, her evident blindness to the most apparent beauties of nature became more and more evident, until at last I exclaimed, "Where were you brought up? What did you do as a child?" "I lived," she re- plied, "in a country town all through my child- hood, but I was a sidewalk child ! I can explain it in no other way 1" I liked her frankness and the term she had coined, "sidewalk child." It exactly describes hundreds of children who may be seen any day in our great cities, straggling listlessly along the streets, or worse still, if they chance to belong to the so-called better class, being led unwillingly along by some dull-faced nursery maid. Even in our smaller towns I have heard the thoughtless mother give a parting injunction to her little daughter as she opened the door for her, "Now. take care of your dress; don't get ofT the sidewalk and don't play with anything that will soil your hands !" Such a command — when all God's world was inviting the child to come and be * From "Some Silent Teachers,' by permission of the author. by Elizabeth Harrison, published by the Sigma Publishing Company, Chicago. Used FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 301 its companion and learn of its secrets and revel in its beauty ! Show Nature's Colors to Your Child If a child is so fortunate as to live in close con- tact with nature, and has free access to the out- of-door world, it is an easy matter to call his at- tention to the various aspects of the sky, to teach him to observe the exquisite tones of gray in the storm cloud, and the deep blue of a summer day, as well as the more striking beauties of the sun- set and sunrise ; the stars of a summer evening will appeal to his young soul as no words can hope to do. It is a well-known fact that quiet moonlight often soothes a fretful infant. Children delight, when once their attention has been called to it, to watch from day to day the yellowing of the branches of the willow, the red- dening of the twigs of the sumach, the lighter tones of gray on the oak, as Spring approaches ; again the slowly changing hues of the hillsides and the exquisite tints and shades of the catkins and tender young leaves are a never-ending joy. Later on, the still richer coloring in the leaves and blossoms, as the Summer adds its beauty to "the miracle of the year," brings another whole world of delight. Then comes Autumn, with its gor- geous panorama of golden grains, of purpling grapes, of reds and russets, of yellows and browns ; even Winter is rich in harmonious color- ing. Then, again, the rain gives one tone, the sunshine another, and twilight still another, to each of these many colors. Next in order of purity of color comes the study of the plumage of birds, the wings of in- sects ; then the hair or fur of animals, and last in strength of colors, but not least in beauty. Nature offers a great assortment of colors in her precious stones and metals; and in minor tones of more subdued, though no less beautiful colors, her marbles, agates, carnelians, sandstones, and granites repeat the wonderful story of her ex- haustless supply of color harmonies. Thus the child learns to enjoy the ascending and descend- ing scale of colors in the world about hiin. Fill the Home with Color The nursery walls should, if possible, be of some warm, cheerful tint. It is far more impor- tant that these ever-present, silent teachers, the walls of the room, shall speak of love and har- mony and cheerfulness than that the crib shall be made of brass, or the pillows be trimmed with lace, or the baby carriage be lined with silk. Of course, such belongings as rugs and curtains and the like should harmonize with the walls. There are now so many cheap, pretty textile fabrics that scarcely any mother is excusable for surrounding her child with ugly, crude, or dingy colors. There is as true an art in properly clothing a child as in carving a statue. There is as true an art in furnishing a living room as in building a cathedral. It is but a difference in degree when results are looked at. Someone has called the great paintings, statues, and cathedrals of the world "the autobiographies of great souls." May we not with equal truthfulness call an harmo- nious, well-arranged home "the autobiography of a loving heart"? And upon no one thing does the beauty and harmony of home appointments depend so much as upon the right use of color. Water Colors Among the Playthings Many mothers do not know the amount of pleasure and growth that comes to a child by the free use of good water-color paints. A child of three or four years may easily be taught not to waste his colors and may be given only three cakes of pure paint, carmine (red), gamboge (yellow), and Prussian blue. Out of these he can make almost every shade and tone of color, and will soon revel in reproducing the colors of all the objects about him, thereby training his eye to see and his heart to feel color, just as the ear of a child is trained to rejoice in harmonious sounds -by being allowed the right use of a piano. Color-Play in the Nursery The beautiful coloring which comes from the sunlight shining through the autumn-tinted leaves of the forest may be brought to any home, for a short time at least, by the simple device of fas- tening well-pressed colored leaves to the window glas's by means of slender slips of tissue paper. Sometimes, when artistically arranged, the effect is that of a costly stained-glass window. A clear glass paper-weight placed on a sunshiny window- sill of the children's play-room will throw each morning a sparkling shower of pure rainbow col- ors upon the walls and floor, much to the delight of the children. Color is a Free, Beautiful Gift Every earnest mother may not have it in her power to give her child a knowledge of and a love for noble and inspiring music, but she can give to him a perception of and a love for beau- tiful color, no matter how limited her circum- stances nor how far removed from the centers of culture her home may be. We can not fill a child's life too full of keen enjoyments, if they are of the right kind. And this love of color, so accessible and so easily im- 302 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL parted, furnishes hi-m with clean, health iiil rec- reation during all his after life, for when once acquired it is never lost. For it seems to be one of the native languages of the soul, by means of which the great heart-throbs of the big outside world are felt by the heart within the child, just as tears and smiles and tones of the voice are understood by all children. I have seen children's faces grow radiant over the colors brought out by the wetting of some common pebbles gathered from a neighboring gravel pit; and a joy beyond words may be awakened by the gathering of a handful of au- tumn leaves. Why should we fill their young lives with coarse and sensual pleasures, such as fashionable children's parties, visits to exciting theaters, cheap and tawdry toys, when they are so easily satisfied by the beauty and the marvels of Nature's colors? "The infinite soul of humanity," says John Ruskin, "with its divine worship of self-abnega- tion, has no counterpart in all Nature equal to the service which color renders to the rest of the world. How it glorifies and uplifts the com- monest objects !" No wonder that he has called color the type and symbol of Love ! SUGGESTIONS FOR COLOR-PLAY BY THE EDITORS "Tzvilight's in the corners, the tivilight and the fire. As the knights come riding, each attended by his squire: And you hear the flutter as the silken, pennons flit. Hear a trumpet fanfare, and you long to folloiv it. Where broivn-eyed princesses bend from high embattled toilers. Where in wondrous gardens flame the wondrous Wishing Flozvers." ^Patrick R. Chalmers. Mankind has always been an incurable fire-wor- shiper.* Once perhaps his was the worship of fear, when the flame, untamed, rushed across his crops, burned his home, or drove him to shelter. But there is a later, a gentler adoration, the wor- ship of fire controlled and imprisoned. This love of the domesticated fire, fire tamed and friendly, accounts for many things. It ex- plains why a campfire, seen across a lake at night, or the light in the home window, looks so exceed- ingly cozy. There is a familiar remark to the effect that "Nobody has a right to poke the fire but the master of the house." This harks back to the passion for mastering, taming this element. It explains why children love to play with matches. Patterson Dubois once wrote quite a pathetic little story, which he entitled "The Fire Builders," telling how a father once quarreled with his little boy, who insisted on getting grimy • "In the home interior it is commonly some bit of bright light, especially when it is in movement, which tirst charms the eye of the novice; the dancing fire-flame, for example, the play of the sunlight on a bit of glass or a gilded frame, the great globe of the lamp just created. In some cases it is a patch of bright color or a gay pattern on the motlier's dress which calls forth a full vocal welcome in the shape of baby 'talking.' In the out-of-door scene, too, it is the glitter of the running water, or a meadow all white with daisies, which captivates the glance. Light, the symbol of life's joy, seems to be the first language in which the spirit of beauty speaks to a child, A feeling for the charm of color comes distinctly later. The first pleasure from colored toys and pictures is hardly distinguishable from the welcome of the glad light, the de- light in mere brightness." — James Sully, LL.D. while assisting to light the furnace. Of course, that little boy died, but ever since then the author has allowed his other children to enjoy this lux- ury. And, rightly, he advises all other fathers to do the same. Indeed, to be promoted to be official fire-lighter for a household has, no doubt, prevented many a youngster from growing up to commit arson. Everybody remembers that happy household in Edinburgh of which Stevenson sang, where "We are very lucky, with a lamp before the door. And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more; And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light, O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night !" How natural the aspiration of that same child: "I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do, O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you." Fireplace the House Altar That shrewd student of human nature, St. James, remarked once that the human tongue is a fire that no man can tame. I wonder if he ever sat with his children in front of lighted coals. For fire not only is tamed, but it is itself a tamer. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 303 It has such magic that no one can keep his eyes off it. It softens the mood of all present. It causes the children to relax muscles and tempers, forget to tease each other, long to listen to gen- tle fairy stories, and to accept the most direct moral advice without flinching. It creates mem- ories of the sort that can never afterward be forgotten. It is not hard to sympathize with those Friends, called Quakers, who erect no altars, but who go into their meeting-houses and sit, mostly in si- lence, and together beside an open fire think of God. Here is a suggestion for a perpetual device for peaceable child-training. Build your home al^out an open fire. In Summer, the campfire. Perpetu- ally the fireplace. It may have to be fed with oil or gas or coal, instead of wood. But it is the true family altar. In her "Alemoirs of a Child," Annie Steger Winston recalls a certain white plaster tower of her childhood, "something like an un-Leaning Tower of Pisa, rather more than a foot high and with rows upon rows of windows, through which the light would shine when one placed inside a lighted candle. That made its fascination. See- ing it so lighted, it was impossible not to think of it as furnished and inhabited; as full of life, festivity, and elegance." Taming Fire Another recollection of such an outshining of light from within came from colored Japanese lanterns or, even more, from home-made, candle- lit pasteboard boxes, fantastically cut out and lined with brilliant-hued tissue paper. "There was joy in the thought," she says, "as one carried them around after dusk in one's hand, that one was, in that deliciously careless way, carrying fire in paper. One would have also a vague feeling that fire itself had somehow grown tame and friendly." The device of hanging Japanese lanterns along the porch from rubber bands instead of cords, so that they would dance as well as sway, gave the children in one household a delightful sensation of being surrounded by living fires. Carolyn Sherwin Bailey tells of a mother who, as the last and prettiest touch for her little daughter's birthday candle, planned to light for her the birthday cake. The children had all been assembled in a darkened room. Quietly the doors were opened into the dining-room, where the table, loaded with food and favors, could be seen under a single light. Then, in the center of the table, the birthday candles were silently lighted one by one. As they shone in their fairylike splendor the little girls clapped their hands, and one of them spontaneously began to sing softly, "Nearer, my God, to Thee." Dr. C. Hanford Henderson calls attention to the fact that a candle, wherever it is put, makes the place an altar, whether it be upon a table, be- side a bed, or in a window. Simplicities of Light "How little I myself really need when people leave me alone," said Walter Pater once. "Even a few tufts of half-dead leaves, changing color in the quiet of a room that has but light and shadow in it ; these, for a susceptible mind, might well do duty for all the glory of Augustus." "Put a flower in a glass on her mantelpiece," says Ernest Rhys, "and put a candle then below it, so that it casts a shadow on the wall. Out of the play of light and shade on a common wall the child gets at the secret of fantasy. It may be a door, or a window, or a street lamp, or a star reflected in a puddle. Any light will do to find the light." Shadows, also, are as potent as, and are more magical than, light. "You need not stint yourself of shadows," Alice Meynell says. "It needs but four candles to make a hanging Oriental ball play the most buoyant jugglery overhead. Two lamps make of one palm branch a symmetrical counterchange of shadows, and here two palm branches close with one another in shadow, their arches flowing to- gether and their paler grays darkening. It is hard that there are many who prefer a 'repeating pattern.' " Few people have ever noticed the color and the progression of shadows. Ask almost anybody of what color shadows are and he will answer, "Black." Whereas, there are no black shadows, except on the moon. It was a good many cen- turies before painters discovered that fact at all, and it is only a generation ago that Monet and the scientific impressionists called attention to the fact that shadows contain the complementary colors to what is seen in the adjacent sunlight. The length of sunrise shadows, the difference between shadows and reflections, the special qual- ity of shadows under the moonlight, these are all observations not likely to be made by chil- dren unless they are directed. Mrs. Alice Meynell seems to think that dusk brings children some faint revival of their prime- val inheritance of excitement. She says : "When late twilight comes, there comes also the punctual wildness. The children will run and pursue, and laugh for the mere movement — it does so jog their 304 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL spirits. What remembrance does this imply of the hunt, what of the predatory dark ?" The Transforming Power of Light Children often do not notice until directed to do so what light does to a landscape. This sen- tence of Walter Pater's is familiar: "A sudden light transforms a trivia! thing, a weather vane, a windmill, a winnowing flail, ithe dust in the barn door: a moment — and the thing has vanished; but it leaves a relish behind it. a longing that the accident may happen again." One household made a New Year's resolution to enjoy together a year of sunrises. Each mem- ber agreed to rise in time to witness every sun- rise of the year, and the arrangement was made to make daily notes of what was observed. Need- less to say, the result had a moral as well as an esthetic influence. In Stevenson's well-known reminiscence of "The Lantern-bearers," the boys who used to carry tin bull's-eye lanterns under their topcoats, we get a glimpse of the way light and mystery and adventure conjoined to give an unusual pleasure. Fishermen, burglars, the police, suggested the play. "But take it for all in all, the pleasure of the thing was substantive; and to be a boy with a bull's-eye lantern under his topcoat was good enough for us. . . . The essence of this bliss was to walk by yourself in the dark night, the slide shut, the topcoat buttoned, not a ray escaping, whether to conduct your footsteps or to make your glory public — a mere pillar of darkness in the dark; and all the while, deep down in the privacy of your fool's heart, to know you had a bull's eye at your belt, and to exult and sing over the knowledge." Then, of course, there must be the irrepressible Scot's moral, "Life from without may seem but a rude mound of mud: there will still be some golden chamber at the heart of it, in which he dwells delighted; and for as dark as his path- way seems to the observer, he will have some kind of bull's-eye at his belt." Moderns Have an Enriched Color-Sense Probably we moderns are capable of the en- joyment of more varied tints and shades of color than were men before us. It has been noticed that the only color distinctly mentioned in the "Iliad" is red, and possibly yellow. It has been thought that the primary colors were the only ones noticed by the ancients. The use of color in English poetry is comparatively recent. To Wordsworth the sky was merely blue and the grass green. Little children are early sensitive to the primary colors, but respond late to the secondary ones, such as purple and gray. "In parts of Georgia and South Carolina," William Wells Newell says, "as soon as a group of girls are fairly out of the house for a morn- ing's play, one suddenly points the finger at a companion with the exclamation, 'Green!' The child so accosted must then produce some frag- ment of verdure, the leaf of a tree, a blade of grass, etc., from the apparel, or else pay forfeit to the first after the manner of 'philopena.' It is rarely, 'therefore, that a child will go abroad without a bit of 'green'; the practice almost amounting to a superstition. The object of each is to make the rest believe that the required piece of verdure has been forgotten, and yet to keep it at hand. Sometimes it is drawn from the shoe, or carried in the brooch, or in the garter. Nurses find in the pockets or in the lining of garments all manner of fragments which have served this purpose." This, and other games of color-matching, helps explain the charm of treasure-strove. The broken bright shards of pottery, shining shells, things that are transparent or that have luster or glitter that we pick up, all these call to have their stories told or retold. "Una Mary's" narrative is full of such incidents. A walnut shell that opened, colored tiles, a Persian rug, certain bright stones, bits of china, evoked her fancy and even her adoration. In her sacred tree and upon her garden altar this lonely, untaught worshiper sought and found the Divine. Hers and other experiences suggest how close vivid sense-experiences of color and smell are in early childhood to the deep springs of wonder. Prisms, kaleidoscopes, a paper-weight with its mysteriously inclosed snowstorm, and old laces and brasses are among the objects that recall to some of us strangely beautiful and even holy rec- ollections and imaginings. Color-Play in the Home Let us realize how we may transform the dull and homely things in the house by the mere magic of color. Sealing-wax may be used to change the sim- plest pieces of glass and chinaware into attractive vases. Very common furniture may be made distin- guished by the use of red china paint or glossy black. A dull kitchen may be caused to shine by bring- ing out and setting up our stock of ruddy copper kettles, white enameled sheet iron, and aluminum ware. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 30s In the dining-room cluster the lights upon the table, by candles if not otherwise, because the folks are the center of the picture. Keep other lights away from the firelight, because the fire- place, the household altar, is the center of this picture. For the charm of shadows have no other illumination in the room than the fireplace. The library needs little color but the massed reds and greens of the books on the shelves, cleverly ar- ranged as a sort of tapestry. A bright red quill in the inkstand will carry this tone into the cen- ter of the room. If you frame your own pictures, try making the mats out of silk and satin remnants, strips of birch-bark, sheets of cartridge paper, pieces of gilt. White mats make holes in the walls. Countless ways will suggest themselves to our readers by which even small children may cooperate in these homely but beautiful tasks of color-enrichment. THE MUSIC NEEDS OF THE KINDERGARTEN* BY CALVIN B. CADY The right of the child to be well born is not more true, not more essential, than his right to be well nourished. Good judgment in respect to the choice of ma- terial for thought is vital, since, after all is said, it is not the teacher, but the kind and quality of the mental nourishment we give to the child, that is the real cultural influence. Pure and nourish- ing food is as essential to mental as to bodily growth. In the development of a cultured language we see how vital is the influence of the thought and language with which the child comes in contact at home. When you meet a young child with a cultured language it is always the product pri- marily of the high character and quality of the ideas that are in common circulation in the fam- ily and school, and this must hold true, there- fore, in an equal degree in awakening to conscious activity the latent germ of music intellection, the development of conscious music-thinking, expe- rience, appreciation, and cultured judgment. In respect to music, the need, therefore, is for a higher type of music material ; for songs of finer quality ; for pure music of intrinsic and esthetic value. Happily, there is a widespread awakening to this need, and a real effort to meet it. Some years ago Miss Susan Blow recognized the fact that the music in Froebel's "Mother Play" was quite impossible for parents, teachers, or chil- dren, and she selected and published a number of songs deemed suitable for modern use. But her proposed reform did not go far enough, be- oause it did not start from the basis of a practical knowledge of the music-education of the child, and a just conception of the part the kindergarten should play in its realization. Besides, the preva- lent notion of music as an adjunct — important, to be sure — of the program fiction, played too large a part in the choice of material. The Music Should Be for Music's Sake, Not for a Program The question, therefore, is: In this general stage of the child's consciousness, when wonder- worlds within and without begin to dawn upon him and awaken intense desires and interest, shall his first glimpse of the wonder-world of music be primarily song-material adjusted to the various experiences involved in the day's program? Shall it not rather be the function of the kindergarten, as of every school, of every music-teacher, to choose material which shall center the child's interest, power of grasp, assimilation, enjoyment and expression in music itself; to open a new world of beauty to the child's mind and heart ; to entice him to enter, to appropriate, and to enjoy its fruits, through mental and spiritual assimila- tion ; to treasure in memory, and to find one more worthy incentive for that self-expression which is essential to individual growth and the service of humanity? Taking this conception as the ideal to be at- tained, what, in brief, are the specific objects which shall determine the songs and the purs music to be used? Taking for granted that we are all agreed that songs are the most primary material for our pur- pose, three primal needs must be considered. Songs to Sing to Children I. Above all others I would put the need for songs to be sung for the children. These songs have a twofold purpose: (a) to * Used with the author's permission. Read before the International Kindergarten Union. 3o6 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL shed sunshine and shower upon the dormant, siib- conscious germ of music-apprehension, and (&) to awaken, if may be, some degree of conscious appreciation and enjoyment through incitement to active participation in the singing. Would that our hygienic lawmakers were wise enough to inject into the minds of mothers a little of that milk of human motherhood, love which would bring back the old-fashioned bedtime cus- tom of taking the children into their arms and lulling them to slumber with song. Would that more mothers to-day sang into their children's minds and hearts at least a few of the host of melodies great in their childlike simplicity, pure beauty, and depth of meaning. Songs for this purpose should be chosen with reference to intrinsic musical beauty, especially melodic beauty, though the children may understand and appreciate little, if any, of the poetic thought. For the vital purpose is to touch the latent power of music-perception and appreciation with the fructifying warmth of music itself; to awaken and stir to active participation in the esthetic and spiritual nourishment of truly great melodies — melodies immortal by reason of a simplicity and beauty which young and old can apprehend, en- joy, and treasure in memory. For this purpose it is not necessary that all songs should be completely rendered. Here and there are to be found beautiful strains in songs which, in their entirety, may not appeal to the child. For instance, what could be more effective in waking the latent power of musical apprecia- tion than the first two strains of "The Linden Tree," by Schubert? In these strains are to be found a strength, a simplicity, a beauty, and a tenderness which can not fail to appeal to the child-heart of every age. Such strains should also be included in this repertoire. For cultural work, so large is the number of available songs, one is at a loss to choose even for illustration, but the following, taken at ran- dom from the song literature of different nations, are pertinent to our purpose. Among German songs there is the "Little Dustman," glorified by Brahms, and a rare "Christmas Song," by Peter Cornelius. From France, "II etait une bergere." "The Shepherdess," and "Winds of Evening." Known to all is the tender old Welsh lyric, "All Through the Night," and the still more wonder- ful Irish gem, "O Spirit of the Summertime." Nor should "Sweet Afton," from Scotland be forgotten, nor "Where the Bee Sucks," by that good old English musician, Dr. Arne — a melody too fine to be omitted. From our own land, "Suwanee River" no doubt comes to mind; but I wish to call attention to a group of songs, "Song Vignettes," from the pen of the late Gcrritt Smith, than which nothing finer has been brought forth by any of the previously mentioned writers of songs for children. It is necessary to cite only two songs, "Rain Song" and "Peace at Night," to reveal the general quality of the collection. It is not to be inferred from the emphasis laid uprn melody in bringing to birth and nurturing a healthy music-consciousness and experience, that the art of poetry in song and the poetic spirit of the child are to be neglected. Far from that. To spur into active life and nurture poetic im- agination is the high emprise of song. The poetic spirit of the child, therefore, should also be well born and nourished. To accomplish this, besides the songs chosen primarily for the intrinsic beauty of melody, which require no help from poetry to carry a_ message to the child-heart, many more should be sung in which the poetry assumes importance, and is simple enough to awaken interest, develop imagination and active appreciation of the poetic spirit of song. Songs to Help Music-Thinking 2. The second function of song, for which we need proper material, is to stimulate active melo- dic tliinking and expression, and to furnish op- portunity for that appreciation and culture which can only result from the interpretative study of song. If the latent germ of music-thought were always easily awakened, or if perceptual and construc- tive poetic and music imagination were univer- sally strong and active, the problem of choosing material for nourishment would be measura- bly simple ; but material must be chosen to meet the needs of the children of sluggish or weak musical ability. For such children, and they are numerous, ,there is a necessity for short phrase- songs in which the melodic, as well as the phonic, elements are extremely simple, and present the least number of impediments to quick grasp, and to free vocal expression. Songs for Larger Musical Culture 3. After the problem of melodic and poetic con- ception and voice have been measurably solved, the choice of songs has, for its third purpose, purely cultural development through interpreta- tive study and appreciation of many songs, cover- ing a wide field of poetic and musical imagination. As an extremely valuable and essential by-product, such intensive study will result in a memory richly stored with songs of intrinsic beauty, and poetic and spiritual significance. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 307 To summarize: Song material falls into two general groups; (i) Songs for children to hear. (2) Songs for children to sing. The latter group subdivides into songs which may serve (a) to awaken conceptual thought, and to discover pure voice; (b) songs for cultural purposes — to develop musical thought and appre- ciation through interpretative singing; and (c) songs to be treasured in memory. The practical question that arises is, where is this rnaterial to be found, and how may it be col- lected so that it shall be of service. The field from which to glean is wide. Gems are to be found in all the folk-song literature of the world — Slavonic, Scandinavian, Gallic, Celtic, British, Latin, Teutonic. Indian, American, and American Indian. Again, there is the domain of songs written for children ; the art songs which have sprung from the minds and hearts of the song-poets of many nations — Brahms, Schumann, Reinecke, Taubert, Grieg, Schubert, Cornelius, and in our own country, in particular, Gerritt Smith. Beautiful Music Ought to Be Matched by Beautiful Words This leads to another point to be noted. In our song books there are many beautiful and useful melodies associated with poetry inane in thought and puerile in language and rhythm; also many mismated melodies because of poetry foreign to their character. There are also many exquisite melodies which should be available, but the poetry is utterly unsuited to our children. This latter condition obtains in many very beautiful French songs. To be sure, many such melodies have been rescued and supplied with poetry adapted to the thought of our children. But there are many more of equal, if not greater, value which the children should know and sing. For example, from the Weckerlin collection, "Popular Songs of France," might be cited a number of such melo- dies which our children might learn with profit. These melodies are of rare quality, but the poetry of the songs is impossible for our children. Mr. Ralph Seymour, of Chicago, has published one of the most beautiful of these melodies, substitu- ting for the French Noel. "Chantons, je vous en prie," a stirring medieval Christmas hymn which is in perfect accord with the spirit of the melody. Martin Luther believed that "the devil should not have all the good tunes," and forthwith meta- morphosed popular ditties into good German cho- rals; and Handel, "that grand old robber," did not hesitate to make use of love songs as themes of great choruses in the "Messiah." There is every reason, therefore, and precedent, if such were needed, for appropriating to the children's use melodies, wherever found, that are culturally adapted to their needs. With a poetic setting be- fitting its simplicity and tender grace, that ex- quisite thirteenth century love song which Marion sings to her lover in Adam de la Hale's Opera Comique, "Robin et Marion," might emerge from its obscurity and be added to the gems our chil- dren could learn to sing, love, and cherish. On the other hand, there are many worthy poems sadly mismated, or without adequate musi- cal interpretation. One such rare gem is Victor Hugo's poem : "Good-night, good-night. Far flies the light; But still God's love Shall flame above. Making all bright; Good-night, good-night." As far as I know, this poem is associated with no melody which adequately voices its inner spirit. But it is worthy of music which shall enhance the beauty of its imagery, strengthen its spiritual im- port, and add to the musical and poetic treasures of childhood's memories. In this connection, and out of practical expe- rience, I should like to suggest that such poems might be sung in their native language. French songs, if the poetic thought has cultural value for our children, offer splendid opportunities for the initial learning of the language in a most practical way. Not only may fine diction be obtained, but the children approach the language from the right angle — that of art-perception and esthetic enjoy- ment, for they are privileged to revel in the beau- ties of the two arts of poetic imagery, and the rhythm and melody of oral sounds. Such material it is not necessary to manufac- ture, and we need no dry technical bones to offer to the children. Fine melodic material may be found in abundance in phrases taken from folk- song literature. The old French cradle song, "Dor, dor, I'enfant, dor," or the more familiar German folklied, "Kukuk. Kukuk, ruft aus dem Wald," are both excellent because of the sim- plicity of the melodic phrases available for phrase-songs and the sing-able qualities of the vowel sounds of the language. Besides, they are of intrinsic merit musically. A word, now, concerning the practical work of investigating and selecting the desired songs. It must be understood, first of all, that no one person is prepared to meet all the demands. How- ever clever and cultured poetically and musically one may be : however skilled, through long prac- ^oS THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL tice, in the development of the child mind and familiarity with the specific needs of the kin- dergarten, no one individual is_ wise enough to do full justice to the subject. It demands the combined wisdom of cultured musicians who have had practical experience in the musical education of the little child, and trained kindergartners of poetic and musical taste and culture.* MUSIC FOR THE EARLY YEARS t MARY E. PENNELE The following suggestions, I hope, will prove helpful to mothers and teachers of young children in developing an appreciation and love for music. The World War made us realize, as never before, that music is the most universal of all languages. The soldiers did not understand the words of the war-songs of other countries, but they did not fail to understand and respond to the meaning expressed in them. During the war, music was one of the most effective means used for promoting unity of purpose and intercourse among the peoples of all countries, as it was among the soldiers. The Community Choruses, formed in all parts of the United States, played no incotisiderable part in the success of our war activities. The development of a love and under- standing of music will be one of the greatest safe- guards to our national life in the future. As leisure hours increase, a definite provision for the spending of these must be made. A knowledge and love for music therefore should be developed in all children through the home and the school. Music is a Language Music is the universal language of childhood as well as that of adults. "Sound and movement are language to the child long before he has com- mand of formal speech." He should be early in- troduced, then, to this means of expression. Music, as a language, should be learned just as the mother-tongue is learned. Let us see, then, how the child learns to speak. A mother con- stantly talks to her baby, although she knows that only tones and movements will be her answer. This, fortunately, does not deter her from talk- ing to her little one, for if it did, speech would be long delayed. The mother talks about everyday things that the child can see or what they are going to do * The selection of music for, little children in the sixth volume of the Bookshelf was based upon a special report of the Music Committee of the International Kindergarten Union, and represents the best recent thought as to what is best and most worthy for the purpose. t Here, in a nutshell, is a real little textbook of musical appreciation for the helping of little children, written by one of the most successful kindergarten sui)ervisors in this country. Material is here for months of work by the mother. Note how simple and sensible are the suggestions. Miss Pennell brings out the neglected possibilities of the talking machine and of even humbler musical instruments, and shows how the mother who is not an expert performer herself may give lier children tlie priceless possession of musical enthusiasm and expression. — The Editors. together. In this way words come to have a defi- nite meaning to the child. Soon the child's tones and meaningless gurglings begin to sound like words. At once the mother encourages the child by repeating the words correctly and getting him to try again. Can you imagine a mother giving her child printed words to read before he has learned to talk? And yet that is what is often attempted with the musical language. The child is given symbols of this tone language before it has any meaning to him, therefore a distaste for music results. We must remember that "the elements of the tone-language must be learned through the ear by imitation, just as the mother-tongue is learned." We do not attempt to have a child begin to try to interpret the printed page until he has a vo- cabulary of many words. So, also, a child should be able to interpret many selections and have a musical vocabulary of many songs before he is given musical symbols to interpret. After years of experience with children, I feel that the value of any method of teaching vocal or instrumental music which emphasizes the de- velopment of technical skill rather than apprecia- tion, interpretation, and creative ability, is to be questioned. Results can unquestionably be ob- tained, but they are without sufficient foundation to endure. Symbols are barren unless they are "carriers of meaning." The following sugges- tions are designed to create a love for and ability to understand music. With this foundation laid in the first seven years of a child's life, the de- velopment of technical skill can safely follow. Create a Musical Environment The early musical education of children should be begun by having the children hear good music. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 309 If we wish children to be able to think and ex- press themselves through this medium, then we must surround them with a musical environment. The use of records makes this possible for moth- ers and teachers who cannot play or sing. Only records of the best music should be chosen. A musical environment can be created in the follow- ing ways : I. Form the habit of singing and playing to your children. Many musicians rarely, if ever, sing to their children. Sing to them rather than say "Good- morning." Sing to them while you are about your work, not formulated songs but snatches of melody. How do you do this morn - ing 1 Have regular times during the day when you sing or play formulated selections to them. Be careful, at such times, to choose your selections wisely. Select them to fit the occasion. At bed- time do not play dance music, but music which will create a quiet, restful mood. In the morning quiet music will not be appropriate, as a child awakens full of activity. There is a song and appropriate music for all the experiences in a child's life, if we only take the trouble to find them. i^ E85ES=£ ^ ^^^ What are you do - ing, my ba - by ? Lullabies are among the first songs to be sung to the child. Nature songs, Mother Goose melo- dies. Hymns, Patriotic Songs, Songs for Festi- vals and Holidays, Songs of Human Activities, and Finger-Plays should all be used at appropriate times. Many of these songs have been sung by artists and records made. RECORDS OF LULLABIES AND QUIET MUSIC (Note. — Play the selections rather than the rec- ords if you are a musician. The records, unless otherwise indicated, are Victor.*) The Sandman 64220 Berceuse from "locelyn" 3S1SS Cradle Song 17254 Song Without Words 3S1SS * Miss Pennell, as well as others of our writers, recom- mends the talking machine as a valualjle aid to music in the home. Mrs. Leonard calls attention to the fact that all machines, even of the same make, are not of even quality, and that the tone of the phonograph to be purchased should be as carefully tested as if it were a piano. — The Editors. Traumcrei 64197 Wynken, Blynken, and Nod 64219 Sleep, Little Baby of Mine I 1721' Slumber Sea J Lullaby (Brahms) .' 17181 First Movement, Moonlight Sonata 3S426 Humoresque 17463 Consolation 18119 Evening Star 16813 Melody in F 45096 or 87250 Priere Nocturne 70027 Evening Chimes 18018 Sweet and Low 47% Slumber Song 17513 Slumber Boat 45075 All Through the Night 74100 LULLABIES TO BE SUNG TO CHILDREN Little Birdie, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- liiiger). Rocking Baby, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). The Moon is Playing Hide and Seek, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). Cradle Song, Play Songs (Bentley). The Dream Man, The Song Primer (Bentley). Cradle Song, Song Stories (Hill). Baby's Lullaby, Songs and Games (Jenks). Lullaby, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Hush-a-By-Baby, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). The Moon Boat, Songs of the Child's World (Pouls- son). MUSIC FOR JOYOUS MOODS See List of Music for Rhythms MOTHER GOOSE SONGS Baa baa. Black Sheep and others 17937 Mother Goose No. 1 17004 Mother Goose No. 2 35225 Mother Goose No. 3 and 4 18076 (See "Mother Goose Songs to be Taught to Children") SONGS OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES Sleighing Song 17869 Little Shoemaker | 170^7 The Blacksmith J ''^■" Blowing Bubbles ] Pit a Pat \ 17596 The Sailor J Boat Song 17210 The Blacksmith, Songs of the Child's World (Gay- nor). The Little Shoemaker, Songs of the Child's World (Gaynor). Washing and Ironing, Song Stories (Hill). The Blacksmith's Song, Song Stories (Hill). The Blacksmith's Song, Songs and Games (Jenks). (See "List of Songs to be Taught to Children") NATURE SONGS Pit a Pat and others 17596 Blue Bird and others 17776 The Bobolink 17686 Bunny 17776 310 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Canary and Thrush Duet 4S0S8 Thanksgiving Day, Play Songs (Bentley). Daffodils 18015 Thanksgiving Day, Song Stories ( Hill ) . Rain Song 17004 (See "Songs to be Taught to Children") Good-night, Prettv Stars 17282 The Wishing Stone 17210 mwrc-D dt avc Jack in the Pulpit 17719 FINGER-PLAYS The Woodpecker and others 17686 i,, r,- tt c- j /- ^ t , -. Oriole's Nest and Wind Song 17177 ^^ ?'-?f,°'\?''"'f-'- ^""^, ^"^ ."^^T' (J'^"'^^)- ' Violets 17625 ^^^e L.ttle Me.i^ I-mger-Plays ( Poulsson). Ihe Squirrel, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). The First Flying Lesson, Small Songs for Small The Counting Lesson, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). Singers (Neidlinger). Mrs. Pussy's Dinner, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). Mr. Frog, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- How the Corn Grew, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). linger). (See "Finger-Plays to be Taught to Children") Mr. Squirrel, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- linger). HYMNS The Snow Man, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). God's Care of .^.11 Things, Song Stories (Hill). Jack Frost, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- (See "Songs to be Taught to Children") linger). Who Has Seen the Wind? Play Songs (Bentley). crM.Tr-c Winter Song, Play Songs (Bentley). PAlKlUliC bUNGS Butterflies are Flying. Play Songs (Bentley) . ' ^ S ..^ ^ j ^ Children") Jack Frost, Play Songs (Bentley). v & & / Sunshine, Play Songs (Bentley). Little Jack Frost, First Year in Music (Hollis MISCELLANEOUS Dann). Moon Song, Song Stories (Hill). Tick-Tock, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- The Blue Bird, Songs and Games (Jenks). T-u'T'"^b cue t c ,i c- Over the Bare Hills Far Away, Songs and Games ^he See Saw, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- (Tenks) linger). Pussy Willow, Songs and Games (Jenks). ^^pple Gray, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann) Little lack Frost, Songs and Games ( lenks). Jo Baby Land, First Year m Music Hoi is Dann). Tiny Little Snowflakes, Songs and Games (Jenks). Boating Song, Songs for the Child s World (Pouls- The New Moon, Songs and Games (Jenks). „,*?"v c- c- , ,,-,•,,.,,•,, /t, , Twinkle. Twinkle, Little Star, Songs and Games Sleighing Song, Songs for the Child s W orld (Pouls- ( Jenks) ^°"-*- The Bird's Nest, Songs of the Child's World (Gay- (See "Songs to be Taught to Children") nor). Jack Frost, Songs of the Child's World (Gaynor). Have Children Create Their Own Sonajs Little Yellow Dandelion, Songs of the Child's World (Gaynor). Have children sing to you in response to your Jhe Violet, Songs of the Child's World (Gaynor). greeting, or have them sing the answer to the The Tulips, Songs of the Child s World (Gaynor). .- ■ i j ^i, 'ru t_ u questions you have asked them. 1 hey should SONGS FOR FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS early learn to express their thoughts in song. It is of the utmost importance that you use a Around the Christmas Tree 17869 ,j j^j gofj head-tone in singing to children and Holy Night 17842 . ' u . uu *C ^ tl Christmas Carols 31873 ^^ve them respond with the same tone. The moment they are allowed to sing loudly the qual- Christmas Night, Song Stories (Hill). it ^f t^ng jg ruined and the voice becomes A Wonderful Tree, Songs and Games (Jenks). . , Christmas Song, Songs of the Child's World (Gay- stra nea. _ nor). Illustrations: Child. m^^mi --t=r. Good morn ■ ing. my dear. Good mom - ing, dear moth m Question. u Response. i ^ What are you do - ing, my -V — ba - IE ^ ± byl I'm play - ing with my dolls. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 311 Teach Good Songs to Children Children need not only to create their own songs but to know simple songs that trained mu- sicians have composed. The latter will give chil- dren a standard for their own original songs and he the means of developing them along right lines. The formulated songs should supplement, but not take the place of, songs created by the children themselves. In choosing songs to teach children, remember that "The selection of real things and interests of the daily life about which to sing is, undoubtedly, the keynote to the restoration of song as a natural, rather than a studio art." These interests may be in relation to Nature, festivals, human activi- ties and events, poetry and stories. The songs should not only be about experiences with which children are familiar and interested, but they should be expressed in language which the child can readily understand and reproduce. The songs should also be short, as a rule, in- creasing in length as a child gains musical power. When longer songs are used they should involve a good deal of repetition, both in melody and words. The pitch of songs should be high, as children's voices range from E to F sharp. The accompaniments to songs should be simple. Some authorities say that singing with piano- accompaniment should be the exception rather than the rule. Too many songs should not be taught. A few songs well learned are better than many only partially learned. The children should sing only a few songs at a time, lest their voices become strained. Individual, rather than chorus singing should be stressed. What Method Should Be Used? .\ possible way : 1. Introduce the idea of the story or song. This introduction should be brief and to the point, otherwise interest and appreciation will be lost rather than created. 2. Give the child something to listen for as you sing, or some motive for learning the song.* 3. Sing the song to them several times, being careful to (1) Have the right pitch. (2) Have the right quality of voice. This will be determined by the spirit of the song. (3) Phrase well. (4) Enunciate distinctly but naturally. 4. Have them answer the question you asked them in regard to the song. 5. Be sure that the children understand and ap- preciate the meaning of all words used in the song, otherwise they will be unable to sing with expression. The words, however, should not be repeated by the children. 6. Sing the first phrase and then have the children individually, or as a group, sing it. Then sing the second phrase, having the chil- dren repeat this. Put the two phrases to- gether and have the children sing these. Use this method until all the phrases have been developed and the children are able to sing the whole song. PRETTY LITTLE BLUEBIRD ores. dim. ^^^£ -^-^ "Pret-ty lit - tie Blue - bird, why ~-^^ It do you go? Comeback, comeback to me:" "I i^ -^ m i dim. IP =t= go," sang the bird, ores, i: ^Z he flew on high, "To see if ray col - or match - es the sky." I dim. ^ Ei ^^ -M ^ — tS" X * Saturate them with the song first. Then let them teli what is in it. Have the mastery of every song grow out of the child's experience with it. — M. S. L. 312 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Illustration of This Method What spring birds have you seen? Which is the prettiest one? I saw a bluebird when I was riding yesterday. When we got near him he flew way up in the sky. Do you ever wonder where the birds are going, and why? Listen and find out what this blue bird told a child who asked him. Sing "Pretty Little Bluebird." Where did the bluebird go ? Why was he flying on high ? What did he mean by, "To see if my color matches the sky"? Do you think it did? Now, after I sing what the little child asked the bluebird. I want you to see if you can sing it to me. See if you can sing that part. (Child sings.) "Pretty little Bluebird, why do you go? Come back, come back to me :" Listen while I sing what the bird answered. "I go," sang the bird, as he flew on high, "To see if my color matches the sky." Who can sing that to me? (Child sings.) Now let me sing the whole song to you, and then I want you to sing it for me. Perhaps to- morrow you can sing it to Father. What Singing Habits Should Be Begun at Once 1. Wait for the prelude to be finished. 2. Get the right pitch by having the key note sounded on piano, or by the teacher. It is sometimes well for the children to sound this before beginning the song. 3. Begin on the first note. 4. Avoid shouting, sing with soft, light, head tones. 5. Pronounce the words correctly and distinctly. 6. Have a good sitting or standing position for singing. 7. Get children to feel the need of improving a place in the song which they do not sing well, in order to make it tell a better story. How can you help a monotone? 1. Never let a child feel that he can not sing and never let him be embarrassed by other children. 2. Whenever possible, do not let him sing with other children, as he influences their tones and he can not hear the correct tone because of the sound of his own voice. 3. Let him stand near the piano when singing. 4. The most helpful thing is to give tone plays to monotones. (See Tone Plays.) 5. When working individually with children get one who pitches the tone lower to think a higher tone. How can you get good tones? 1. One of the best ways to get good tones is to have children listen to good singing. This is made possible through the records of the world's famous artists which the coming of the phonograph has made possible for all. The ideal voice for children to hear and imi- tate is the lyric soprano. Listening to violin and flute records is equally helpful. (See suggested list of records.) 2. Require children to use good flexible tones in speaking. In the child's mind all con- scious discrimination between the singing and speaking voice should be eliminated. 3. Clean and open nasal passages are of first importance. 4. A good sitting or standing position is 'abso- lutely necessary to get good tones. (But don't let the matter of position become too formal or self-conscious. — M. S. L.) 5. Tone plays are helpful. (a) Let children play they are your echo. Take the notes, such as singing "00," then "o" and "ah." Have children imi- tate these. iiE^^E ^ Sweet ap - pies. ^ Too, too, too. (b) Have them match tones by tooting like an engine, imitating street calls, various kinds of bells and whistles. (c). Have them imitate various sounds of Nature, such as the wind, bird-calls, bees, and calls of animals. (d) Have them repeat names of children, prolonging the vowel and thus turning it into a singing tone. Ma ry FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 313 Songs to Be Taught to Little Children GREETING SONGS Good-Morning to All, Song Stories (Hill). Good-Morning Song, Song Stories (Hill). Good-Morning to You, First Year in Music (HoUis Dann). Good-Morning Song, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). HYMNS God's Works, Song Stories (Hill). Thanks for Daily Blessings, Song Stories (Hill). Church Bells, Song Stories (Hill). Morning Hymn, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). The Morning Bright, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). A Song of Thanks, Holiday Songs (Poulsson). Thank Thee, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). God Sends His Bright Spring Sun, Song Echoes from Child Land (Jenks). LULLABIES Cradle Song, The Song Primer (Bentley). The Sandman, Holiday Songs (Poulsson). The Birdie's Song, Songs and Games for Little Ones ( jenks). Rock the Baby, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). Lovely Moon, Song Stories (Hill). The Moon Boat, Songs of the Child's World (Gay- nor). NATURE SONGS Come, Little Leaves, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). The Song of the Rain, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). Jack Frost, Play Songs (Bentley). Sunshine, Play Songs (Bentley). Bobby Redbreast, Play Songs (Bentley). Waiting to Grow, Song Echoes from Child Land (Jenks). Snowdrops and Violets, Song Echoes from Child Land (Jenks). Autumn Leaves, Song Echoes from Child Land (Jenks). The Blue-Bird, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). The Bunny, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- linger). Tiddlely Winks and Tiddlely Wee, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). Mr. Frog, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- linger). Mr. Duck and Mr. Turkey, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). The Snow Man, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). Jack Frost, The Song Primer (Bentley). Snow Flakes, Song Stories (Hill). Fly, Little Birdies, Song Stories (Hill). The White World, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann ) . Snowflakes, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Garden Song, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Daffy-Down-Dilly, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). The Seed Baby, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Buttercups, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Winter Time, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). The Moon and I, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Dandelion, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Jack Frost, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Feeding Birds, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Flakes of Snow, First Year in Music ( HoUis Dann). The Robin, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). The Dandelion. First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Daisies, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Barnyard Song. Holiday Songs (Poulsson). Birds in Autumn, Holiday Songs (Poulsson). SONGS FOR FESTIV.\LS AND HOLIDAYS Santa Claus, The Song Primer (Bentley). Santa Claus, Finger Plays (Poulsson). The First Christmas, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). Shine Out. Oh Blessed Star, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). Carol, Oh Carol, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). At Easter Time, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). Jolly Santa Claus, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Old English Carol, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). My Valentine, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Jack o' Lantern, Play Songs (Bentley). Hallowe'en, Play Songs (Bentley). When You Send a Valentine, Holiday Songs (Pouls- son). Nature's Easter Story, Song Stories (Hill). MOTHER-GOOSE SONGS Hickory, Dickory Dock, First Year in Music (Hol- lis Dann). Little Bo-Peep. First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Tack and Jill, Play Songs (Bentley). Sing a Song of Sixpence, Play Songs (Bentley). Mother-Goose Collection (Ethel Crown inshield). SONGS OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES The Blacksmith, Songs of the Child's World (Gay- nor). The Shoemaker, Songs of the Child's World (Gay- nor). The Blacksmith, Songs and Games for Little Ones (Jenks). The Carpenter. Play Songs (Bentley). The Soldier Song, Play Songs (Bentley). The Little Cobbler, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). The Cobbler, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). PATRIOTIC SONGS America. Forward March, Boys, Play Songs (Bentley). We March Like Soldiers, Songs of the Child's World (Poulsson). Marching Song, Songs of the Child's World (Pouls- son). 314 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL FINGER-PLAYS Ball for Baby. Finger-Plays (Poulsson). Good Mother Hen, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). Making Bread, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). Making Butter, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). The Little Plant, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). Santa Glaus, Finger-Plays (Poulsson). Mother's Knives and Forks, Songs of the Child's World (Gaynor). MISCELLANEOUS Mv Old Dan, The Song Primer (Bentley). Teachers' Book. The Zoo. The Song Primer (Bentley). Teddy Bear. The Song Primer (Bentley). The Clock, The Song Primer (Bentley). Honk, Honk, The Song Primer (Bentley). The Train, The Song Primer (Bentley). The Fiddle, The Song Primer (Bentley). Once I Got Into a Boat, The Song Primer (Bentley). The Bells, Play Songs (Alys Bentley). The Bear, Play Songs (Alys Bentley). The Kitten and the Bow-wow, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neidlinger). The See-Saw, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- linger). Tick Tock, Small Songs for Small Singers (Neid- linger). Doll Song, Holiday Songs (Poulsson). Hop, Hop, Hop, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Dapple Gray, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). The Two Cuckoos, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). The Apple Man, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Winter Coasting, First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Appreciation and Interpretation of Music Children should not only be surrounded by a musical atmosphere, but they should be helped in the appreciation and interpretation of music. The following ways have been found' helpful : I. Have children interpret music through move- ment. "The simpler and more primitive form of mu- sical expression finds its vent in rhythmical action." This rhythmical interpretation of music is also one of the best means of furthering the physical development of children, as it exercises the large, fundamental muscles, which crave exercise at this period. The children should listen to the music first and then, when the selection is played the second time, be ready to do what the music suggests to them. In this way they create their own rhythms. This method has secured very much better re- sults than the imitation and dictation of steps to be used with certain selections. ■ The music at first should be very simple and present marked contrasting rhythmic moods, such as a slow-moving waltz and a gavotte, or a march and a polonaise. Later, music requiring finer discrimination can be used. One piece will often require very different movements. The minuet has two distinct themes. Method I : (a) Have the children listen to a selection, such as a gavotte. (b) Let them do what the music makes them feel like doing. (c) Have children notice good movements used by other little ones. If necessary show them appropriate movements. See that the children's ability to interpret music grows. (d) Follow the gavotte with a slow waltz • and see if children change their move- ments. 3iIethod 2: (a) Have the children listen to a selection such as "The Dagger Dance," or "In the Hall of the Mountain King." (b) Let them interpret the music through movements. (c) Tell them something about the meaning of the selection and let them interpret the music again. Care should be taken that the movements are really expressive of the music and that they do not become stereotyped. Pictures showing people dancing have been found to be helpful as a means of creating ideas of good movements. Formu- lated rhythms also furnish a standard for good movements. Method I : (a) Play a selection and have the children do what the music makes them feel like doing. (b) Call them to you and show them a pic- ture of people dancing, using movements which would be appropriate for the music you are using. (c) Let the children interpret the same music again. Method 2: (a) Show the children a picture of people dancing. (From the Perry pictures or a magazine.) (b) Have them describe the kind of music the people in the picture must have been hearing. (c) Have such music played and see if they can make as pretty movements. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 31S Method 3: (a) Have children look at a picture of peo- ple dancing. (b) Have two selections played, one appro- priate to the movements shown in the picture, one inappropriate. (c) Let children see if they can select the appropriate music. (rf) Let them interpret this music. PICTURES THAT COULD BE USED IN THIS WAY 1. "Dance of the Nymohs," Corot. 2. "Apollo and the Muses." 3. "Ring Around the Rosy," Jessie Willcox Smith. 4. Pictures of Esthetic Dancing, often found in current magazines. Method 4 : (a) Play a skipping, running, tiptoe, or tramping theme, and let children inter- pret it. (&) Show the children what movement is adapted to this music and how it should he done. (c) Use the same music for this movement day after day, working definitely for the development in the quality and not variety of movement. Method 5: (a) Have the children interpret the music that is being played. (b) If good movements do not result, play one of the formulated rhythms described in Method 4, which calls for the same quality of action and have children re- spond to this. (f) Let children reinterpret the music and see if better movements result. RECORDS FOR RHYTHMS ("C" indicates Columbia Records) Le Cygne 64046 Dancing Song 17719 Am Springbriinnen 70031 Gavotte 17917 Gavotte 74164 Marche Romaine 17186 Spring Song 16516 Dances from "Henry VIII" 35530 Traumerei 64197 Minuet 17917 Spinning Song 35195 Capricietto 64204 In the Hall of the Mountain 'King, Grieg. . .A5807C Children's Toy March, Currie A1295C Marche Militaire, Schubert A5302C Humoresque 74180 William Tell Overture 35120 and 35121 K.N. — 22 Dagger Dance 70049 Ride of the Valkyries 35369 The Butterfly, Grieg 60048 Scarf Dance 35022 Gavotte 74164 Minuet Waltz 64076 2. Ask Questions that will Stimulate Interest in the Music. Method I : Have children listen to several pieces and then ask them which they like best and why. Children also enjoy knowing the composer's name and being able to identify his picture. POSSIBLE SELECTIONS Dance of the Fairies 16048 Voice of the Woods 74395 The Brooklet 17532 Marche Militaire 35493 Method 2: Have children listen to the music and tell you what they hear. A hint may be given as to what will be heard. POSSIBLE SELECTIONS Song of a Nightingale 64161 Song of a Nightingale 4S057 Song of a Thrush 45057 Spring Voices 16835 The Mocking Bird 16969 Arrival of the Robins 16094 Song of a Sprosser 45058 Canary and Thrush Duct 45058 Dance of the Song Birds 17521 Birds of the Forest 16835 Hunt in the Black Forest 35324 Santa Claus Patrol A2374C Santa Claus Workshop A919C In the Clock Store 35324 Babes in Toyland 55054 Forge in the Forest 17231 Children's Symphony A129S Children's Toy March A129S Method 3: Tell the children that two composers have written music suggested by the same theme and have them decide which selection they like the better. Sometimes tell the children what the theme is about; sometimes have them tell you what they think it is. POSSIBLE SELECTIONS Spring. Grieg 5844C Spring, Mendelssohn 6020C The Butterfly, Chopin 64706 The Butterfly. Grieg 35448 The Cradle Song, Godard 35155 The Cradle Song, Hausen 17254 The Morning, Peer Gvnt Suite, Grieg 35597 At Dawn, William Tefl Overture, Rossini . . . A5765C 3i6 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL 3. Show Pictures that Suggest the Same Mood Spring "I as the Music. Dance of the Nymphs [ 16516, 60046, 17216 Show two or three pictures full of action but t''°in° Son""" ^'"'" of very different type, and have children choose Spirit of 76 ) A';302C appropriate music for each ; later the pictures need Marche Militaire ) not present such marked contrast in moods and more than two can be used at a time. 4- Use Poems and Nursery Rhymes to Aid in ,, , , the Interpretation of Music. Method I : ' ' (a) Show two pictures, such as "Rock-a-by- Method i: Baby," by Jessie Willcox Smith; and (<») Tell two or three nursery rhymes or "Prince Balthazar," by Velasquez; "A poems such as, "Hickory, Dickory Dock," Gust of Wind," by Corot; and "The a"d "Bye, Baby Bunting." Avenue of Trees," by Corot. (*) Play music fitting the mood of one of (b) Have the children tell you what they see "^^ rhymes. in the pictures ^'■^ Have children decide which rhyme the (c) Have them listen while music appro- music fits, priate for each picture is played. Method 2: (d) Have one of the selections played again (a) Tell two nursery rhymes or poems, and have the chddren tell you which pic- (^,) pjay music fitting the mood of one. ture IS 'being interpreted. (V) Have children decide which poem the Method 2: music interprets. (a) Show two pictures as in Method I. M tl 1 5 • {h) Have the children imitate the activity represented in each picture. (°) "^'^'^ °"« nursery rhyme or poem, (c) Have them listen while music appropri- ^^^ ^'^^ ^^^° selections, one appropriate and ate for each picture is played. , , °"^ inappropriate. ^ _ ,,,, TT r ii 1 .• ,1 • l"^) Let children select appropriate music for {a) Have one or the selections played again th and have the children represent the pic- ture that is being interpreted. ,, ,, . a H ILLUSTRATIONS Method 3: (a) Show a picture to the children, such as Jlif'^^ Humming-Top ) I445O •'AC .. c \\j- 1 » u /^ ^ I he Top, Gillette \ A Gu.st of Wind, by Corot. Washington Post March A5^3SC {b) Tell them the story that the picture seems to tell you. 5- Have Children Recognize the Tones of Dif- (c) Tell them that music tells you stories fercnt Instruments. also and that you are going to play two At first use a record where a single instrument selections, one of which tells you the P'ays, such as in "Traumerei," while children lis- same story as this picture and the other ten to the music. The selection may be an old a very different story. favorite. It may be well to let them interpret the (d) Play two selections, such as "The rnusic through some medium, then tell them that Storm," and "The Butterflv." ^ ^''°''" '^ making this beautiful music. Play (£•) Have them decide which selection tells \&^'". ^"^ ^f ^^^ children listen to the sound of the same story as the picture. the violin. Use other records in which the violin IS played and see if children recognize the instru- POSSIBLE SELECTIONS AND *"<^"'- Use this same method with other instru- APPROPRIATE PICTURES ments. Later use a record in which two or more in- A Hunting Scene ) 35324 struments are played and see if children can A Hunt m the HIack Forest \ ., .., ., iL, . ,. „ , ,, ■ , Bye-Baby-Bye, Jessie Willcox Smith ) 35495 'dentify them. The violin, flute, cello, piano and Moonlight Sonata j " xylophone should all be familiar to the children. Pictures of Spring ) \6?,iS Sometimes pictures of instruments, shown Spring Voices j after a selection in which they have been plaved, A (just 01 Wind, Corot ( ^^^'>(\ -n 1 1 • ^i •.■ 1 ^^ j-o- ■' The Storm ( •' P '" *^ recognition of the different tones The Swan I 64046 produced by various instruments. The Victor The Swan J ' Company have published large charts in color, FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 317 picturing the different instruments, prove most helpful. RECORDS THAT COULD BE USED TO IDENTIFY INSTRUMENTS The Bee (X'iolin) 64076 Gavotte (\'iolin) 64140 Traumerei (Violin) 64197 At the Brook (Violin) 17600 Gavotte (Violin) 74164 Minuet Waltz (Violin) 64076 Capricietto (Violin) 64204 Distant Voices (Flute) 60029 \\'ind Among the Trees (Flute) 70026 Andalouse (Flute with piano ace.) 60027 Sing. Sweet Bird (Violin, Flute) 16242 Am Springbriinnen (Harp) 70031 Priere (Harp) 7(X)27 Concerto for Harp and Flute 70029 Cradle Song ('Cello) 17254 Spring Song ('Cello) 16516 Berceuse from "Jocelyn" ('Cello) 35155 Evening Chimes (X'iolin, 'Cello, Harp with Bells) 18018 Humoresque (Violin, 'Cello, Harp) 17454 The Mocking Bird (Xylophone) 16969 Gretchen's Dream Waltz (Xylophone) 17050 William Tell Fantasie (Xylophone) 17120 Gavotte ( Bells and Xvlophone) 17917 Bolero in D Major (Piano) 18396 Minuet (Piano) 16474 Harmonious Blacksmith (Piano) 71041 At the Brook (Violin, 'Cello. Piano) 17600 Christmas Bells (Violin and Harp) 919C Instruments of the Orchestra 35236 6. Have the Children Use Siinl>le Musical In- struments to Accompany the Piano-Sclectiois or the Records. Blocks of wood covered with sandpaper, drums, and tambourines (to be beaten) can be used with forJe (loud) music: triangles, flageolets, hum- mers, bells, tuberphones, and tambourines (to be shaken) for the pianissimo (soft) music. The children should have a chance to experi- ment with these instrtnnents and find what kind of music can be made with them. Then ask them with what kind of music they think they should use the different instruments. At first use music with which only one type of instruments, the loud or the lighter, should be played. Later use music with marked contrasting movements, with which, at the appropriate time, both types of instruments can be played. After the children have gained considerable ability, play selections which do not present such marked contrasts and call also for the modulation of the different instruments used. Method i : I. Play the selection, or the portion of it to be used, to the children, having them These would listen to find out what instruments should be used to accompany this music. 2. Have them tell you their decision. 3. Let them use the instruments with the se- lection. 4. L^se this same selection many times so that the children may become able to keep perfect time with the music. Method 2: 1. Play a selection with which both types of instruments should be used at different times, while the children listen to see when the different types of instruments should be played. 2. Play the selection again and let the chil- dren see if they can play their instru- ments at the right time. 3. Practice this same selection often until the children attain a fair degree of skill in the control of the instruments and in ability to play them at the proper time. Method 3 : This method should not be attempted until the children have gained considerable skill in music. 1. Develop a selection as in Method i. 2. Play the selection and let the children listen and see if the music is equally loud or soft throughout the piece. 3. Let them accompany the selection with the appropriate instruments, trying to modulate the tones of their instruments to correspond to the music. SELECTIONS TO BE USED WITH LOUD INSTRUMENTS March from "Tannhauser." Marche Militaire (Schubert). Soldiers' Chorus (Gounod). .'Xnvil Chorus, "II Trovatore" (Verdi). Militarv March (Gounod), First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Soldiers' March (Schumann), First Year in Music (Hollis Dann). Marche Militaire, Music for the Child World (Hofer). Melody in F (Rubinstein). Carmen, "Toreador Song." March from "Faust" (Gounod). The Orgy, "Les Huguenots." SELECTIONS FOR THE LIGHTER INSTRU- MENTS Carmen : Melody in F (Rubinstein). Heart Bowed Down. "Bohemian Girl." Farewell. Summer, "Martha." Grande Valse de Concert (Mattel). Rondo (Mozart). Sonata (Moszkowski). 3i8 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL SELECTIONS FOR BOTH TYPES OF IN- STRUMENTS II Trovatore : Melody of Love* (Engelman). Hand in Hand, Arnold's Collection of Rhythms. Cadets' March. Arnold's Collection of Rhythms. Review March, Arnold's Collection of Rhythms. Air du Roi Louis XHI, Music for the Child World (Hofer). In the Gypsy Camp, Family Music Book (Behr). All of the suggestions given in this article can be used by a mother with one or more children, and by the teacher with a larger group. No at- tempt has been made to teach the technique of music for the reasons previously given. The author does believe, however, that the best and safest foundation for later technical training has been laid. Music is one of the many bonds that should unite a mother and her children. It can be used by the mother as one of the best means of dis- pelling and creating moods. A nervous child can be quieted, an angry child soothed, and an unhappy child made joyous by the right kind of music. The attention of the educational world is being called to the need of instilling in children a love for the right kind of music. Few people can create music, but nearly all now have the oppor- tunity to listen to and enjoy the masterpieces of music. To be able to listen and enjoy these mas- terpieces is more necessary in the education of the youth of our land than the ability to read foreign languages. It will prove one of the greatest safeguards to the youth in time of temp- tation. It will be the means of keeping the young at home in the evening or attending the right kind of entertainments. Dr. Woodrow Wilson says, "The man who disparages music as a luxury and non-essential is doing the nation an injury. Music now, more than ever before, is a present national need." Mothers should remem'ber that this musical education should be begun long before the child enters school. Teachers should not be so inter- ested in teaching the three R's that the time for music is shortened. Dr. P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, says: "Sooner or later we shall not only recognize the cultural value of music, we shall also begin to under- stand that after the beginning of reading, writing, aritlimetic and geometry, music has greater prac- tical value than any other subject." "The supreme mission of mechanical music is its direct educational mission. If people can only hear enough good music when they are young, without having it forcibly fed to them, they are almost sure to care for it when they come to years of discretion."— Robert Haven Schauffler. "1 want liim to know from his earliest years something about the development of music and the God-given geniuses who have flooded our world with glorious melodies and helped make life beautiful. I want him to love in his heart the composer whose composition he may be studying, be- cause I feel sure he will understand and play it so much better. I also encourage and show my appreciation of his childish efforts by taking him to musical treats. I want liim to feel and know what a truly wonderful and beautiful art music is." — Therese Auerbach. CHILDREN AND MUSIC SOME PLAY-DEVICES IN BEGINNING MUSIC* MRS. ELIZABETH HUBBARD BONSALL Like most mothers. Mrs. Clark wanted her daugh- ter Helen to be "musical" ; that is, to appreciate music and to be able to play the piano or some otiier instrument for the pleasure it would give herself and others. And so when Helen was eleven years old she began to study music and her mother thought she was starting early. But when Helen returned from school with lessons to do at home, Mrs. Clark had difficulty in keep- ing her indoors any longer to practice at the piano. Helen would keep putting off her prac- ticing time, and frequently fifteen or twenty min- utes were wasted in arguing with her mother about it. The early lessons in music, with so many exercises, were dull and uninteresting, when Helen wanted pretty pieces to play; so after struggling along for a year or two, the music- lessons were given up. Now, at nineteen, Helen is blaming her mother because she did not make her practice. And Helen is only one of hundreds. Mrs. Clark thought that she was giving Helen an early start at eleven years, but if she had started much earlier she would not have had some of the problems which confronted her later. At five years, when Helen was beginning to count and to learn her letters, her mother could have taught her a great deal by kindergarten methods, by spending a few minutes regularly every day, and Helen would have learned, v.ithout realizing it, much of the elementary work so tiresome when she was older. Then at seven or eight years, when she really started to study music, she would have been sufficiently far advanced so that the lessons would have been interesting, and there would have been no arguments or tears in order to secure the time for practicing. It is really astonishing how much can be learned by little games and devices. Nearly all the mu- sical terms can be taught, the keyboard under- stood, the ear trained to observe differences in rhythm, pitch and expression; the fingers con- trolled to a certain extent and considerable prog- ress can be made with reading music written in large type so that there can be no strain on the eyes. And incidentally if a mother has had some ability to play herself, in the past, it gives her a fine opportunity to work up her own music at the same time that she is taking care of her children. Practically all of the following sug- gestions may be used with only one child, the mother and child doing the things together. However, they can be made a bit more inter- esting if three or four children can be learning together. Rhythm Rhythm seems to be the most fundamental ele- ment with which to start. Long before five years of age, most children have gathered some idea of it from nursery rhymes, such as "Seesaw, Mar- jorie Daw," so that the idea is not entirely new. Place the children in a line and march very slowly, keeping in step and counting "one, two; one, two," with a decided accent on the one. The arms can be made to help in keeping time by clapping the hands together when saying "one" and placing them down at the sides when saying "two." After this is learned perfectly, march faster and then slower, seeing if the children themselves can detect the change of rhythm. Finally play a simple piece on the piano, with two beats to the measure, and let the children find the rhythm themselves. When the idea of two beats seems to be grasped, play three and then four beats to the measure, the children listening themselves for the rhythm. As they develop, the children will love simple rhythmic dances like those shown on page 320. The first one of Chopin's Preludes, to which a minuet step can easily be danced. Let the chil- dren stand in couples, side by side, with the in- side hands clasped and raised high. Starting with the inside foot, take three slow steps forward, and then make a deep curtesy, facing slightly away from each other. Then starting with the outside foot, take three steps, curtesying again, facing slightly toward each other. Repeat to the end. Polka Step. Dance singly, or with couples fac- ing each other. Take a sliding step to the right, with right foot, and bring up the left foot beside it. Repeat. Then stamp three times, right foot, left, right. Then slide with the left foot first, * Appreciation and love of music should come first — real saturation. Next, an itrgent desire by the child to play. This may, of course, be fostered try the mother. Then, when the background work is done, Mrs. Bonsall's advice as to how to teach mechanics is in place; but not before, unless we want to make children hate music later. — M. S. L. 320 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL SIMPLE RHYTHMIC DANCES I. THE MINUET Efe ::^: e =3^ zs>- Btep step bow step step step bow, g » 1- T -N— Iff- S W -zS- :^ :A— •- bow bow bow i 4^ j^^=^ -fZ- bow bow //. THE POLKA STEP r-l 1- bow. Slide, slide 1-2-3 slide.... slide 1-2-3 slide, slide 1-2-3 slide.... slide 1-2-3 dia.e:onally forward, taking- three short .stamps, beginning with the left foot. Repeat to the end. The Keyboard Then start in with the keyboard. Cut out eight little squares and write a C on each. Place the first one on middle C and let the children place the rest on the other positions of C. Then learn the position of G and after that the other notes of the scale. We learned them in this order : E, F, D, A, and B, making sure that the previous ones were mastered before starting in with any new ones. After two letters are learned, shuffle the squares and let the children draw them, = J J = J J J <5 = J J placing them on the correct note. In a surpris- ingly short time every note of the scale of C is learned. Time-Value of Notes We have some nice little games for learning the time-value of notes. As all children love to crayon I let them go over the notes written on cards, outlining in bright colors the whole and half-notes, and filling in solid the quarter- and eighth-notes. Then we cut them out, each note in a small square, shuffling them up and taking turns in drawing them and placing them in piles in front of us. If I drew a quarter-note from the pile and someone else had a quarter-note, I could take his away, and the next person who drew a quarter-note could take both of mine away from me. After all the notes are drawn, we count to see who has the most piles. After the names of the notes are learned in this way. we match them up according to time- value. For example, I hold up a whole note, and each child draws a note from the pile and must tell what other note or notes are needed to make up the value of the whole note. A child having a half-note would need another half or two quar- ters. I have written a series of cards showing the values of the notes as follows: J = ;;;;;;;; = ; ; ; ; We refer to this series in matching up the notes. On large cards I have written another series of notes which we learn, counting and tapping them on the table, and finally the children can play them on the piano as a special reward for having learned them. The following series is one which we have used : |JJJ|JJJ]JJJ|JJJJ|o|JJ| 3J~J|JJ|JJJ|J-| FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 321 Music-Symbols I have found sewing-cards an attractive way of teaching many of the music-symbols. We started in with the Sharp. On a stiff piece of cardboard I drew the figure and punched the holes in it. While the children were sewing upon it with bright worsted I told them that a Sharp made a note go up just a little bit higher and u-- K • o when they finished we played on the keyboard the sharps of all the notes. I then made more cards, writing Ct, Dt, etc., upon them and we placed them with our other series of cards containing the plain letters. Then we learned the Flat and Natural, making cards for them. And a little later we made the G clef and five-lined staff. The values of the notes can also be learned very readily by the children by making sewing cards for them also. Sewing the cards as well as crayoning them furnishes a double means for learning the time-values. The Staff The best way I have found of becoming fa- miliar with the staff is by a music pegboard. I bought a small-sized square pegboard with ten rows of holes each way and painted narrow lines across every other row of holes, making the staff. Then we used little colored pegs with rounded heads to represent the notes, which could be placed either on the lines or spaces. A person at all skillful with tools could make a pegboard, using a piece of wood about seven inches square and boring the rows of holes with red-hot wire. The pegs could be made from the good ends of used matches cut three-quarters of an inch long, and round heads may be formed by dipping one end several times in paraffin. Learning the names of the lines and spaces is the first step. We say the names of the lines in unison : E-G-B-D-F. I have these letters written on little cards and each child takes one and in turn places the peg upon the staff in the place indicated by the letter drawn. If it is put in the wrong place, the child misses his point; and after each child has had several turns, we count up to see who has won. Then we learn the spaces in the same way. The next step is the game of putting the peg on the board and finding the corresponding note on the piano. One child puts the peg anywhere he wishes on the board, the one next to him must play that note on the piano. Then the next child places the peg and the child following plays the note on the piano. After the positions of the notes are learned, more difficult things can be attempted. Two notes may be placed on the pegboard first like this, fa J *^ then like this. I then this m letting the children work out the difference for themselves. A number of principles of Harmony can be taught in a simple fashion. If a child can count he will love to figure out that I is a sec- ond, ^^a third, ^^^ fourth, ^1^ a fifth, and so on to m the octave. When the children can count these intervals perfectly with the pegs, they may be played on the piano. Then, by using three pegs, it is easy to show that m-" a chord, because there are three notes played above each other in a line, while J L JJ* is an arpeggio, 'because the notes of the chord are placed one after the other. In teach- ing these things, let the children themselves fre- quently place the pegs, telling what they have made, or correcting one another. Training the Fingers It is the actual playing at the keyboard that makes children feel that they are really studying music ; and to encourage them, we begin with a simple duet. I place the child's hands on the keyboard, with the thumb on C. and the other fingers resting lightly, each on the note following. Then I ask the child to play the five notes firmly, and with the right fingers, one after the other. It seems like a simple thing to do, but what strug- gles the little ones have to move the proper 322 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL fingers ! It seems as if all the fingers must move, or none. The earnest expression on their faces shows their determination, and finally with what pride they conquer ! Then the left hand should be played, and at last both together. Teach the child to count four for each note, and harmonize a base like the following: hands going in opposite directions. Unless a child himself wants to, I think he is apt to become con- fused if he tries to play both hands together in the same direction. The scales of G, D, E, and A are all within the grasp of a very young child, if each is thoroughly learned before going on with the ne.xt. $ -4-f- :i^ -fefe r^-f-^ -*=- r^ -s>- Eg f- —— T Children are always so pleased that .they are eager for more. Variations can be made by playing it in the key of G, and A minor.* When the little fingers gain ability to move separately, some simple exercises can be given to develop control like the following: These scales and exercises are splendid for teaching control of the finger muscles, -but we parents like to feel that our children are getting in touch with -beautiful music. It is foolish to think that children of five -should -be kept to such elementary tunes as "Mary had a Little Lamb," How school children detest such exercises, for they seem so dull, but the little folks think that they are 'beautiful, and are delighted when they can play 'them. And scales — I remember how I used to dislike to play them — how I would hurry on to my pieces, but how my teacher kept me working at them till I could finger them correctly. But I have known my little daughter of five, of her own accord, to work for twenty minutes on a new scale, trying to get the fingering so that it would be perfect. When she made a mistake, instead of giving up in discouragement, back she would go to the beginning and start all over again. We began with the scale of C, playing the first three notes with consecutive fingers, then putting the thumb under on F and playing four more notes, placing the thumb under on C again, so beginning another octave. Then we played the left hand, starting with the thumb on C and going and other ^fother Goose melodies. These may have their place with children of two and three, but at five years there are many lovely themes of the great composers which they can easily learn to play and which they will love more and more as they grow older. Write .these themes on large sheets, with the staff lines at least half an inch apart. One of the easiest of these themes is the first two measures of Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony." l±± '=^=^ i It adds to the interest if you tell the children that some people think that it represents a knock at the door, and you can tap the rhythm with your knutkles on the table. This accompanying theme of Beethoven's was iSE3: 3^5 ^•— i~ :?=t 1 down for two octaves. When both hands were learned separately, we played them together, the * There are many simple duets for teacher and pupil, such as the book by Low: "Teacher and Pupil," Bk. I. one of the last that he ever wrote, and as he was deaf at the time, he never heard it himself. Another favorite theme is the "Westminster Chimes." Each phrase represents a quarter FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 323 I St Quarter ^ =*=i: I 2nd Quarter ^iili 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter HOUR ^3: -+-r- hour. and finally the clock strikes the hour. Teach it phrase by phrase and then let the children strike any hour they wish. fe w^^ This lively little phrase by Haydn is full of fun. It is part of his "Surprise Symphony," which he played one time very softly and then suddenly came a crash to awaken everyone who had gone to sleep during the performance. Here is a little phrase from a Musette of Bach's. The lower hand doesn't change, for it represents a piece played upon a bagpipe and the lower notes are held. Si This phrase is from Wagner's opera "Parsi- fal" and represents the ringing of the church bells of Montsalvat. Nearly every mother must know of many similar phrases. Ear-Training Some children are born with a much better "ear" for music than others, but any normal child can be trained if taken in time. Difference in pitch is the first thing with which to work. Let the children close their eyes or turn their backs, then you play two notes on the piano more than an octave apart and ask which is higher. Then bring the notes nearer together and finally a semitone apart. Play the scale of C several times to impress it; then play C followed by a note a little above it and see if the children can tell what note it is. Let the children hum notes and try to find them on the piano. Then play a simple series and see if the chil- dren can plaj' it. The ear-training work that the children will like the best, and a part which is sadly neglected by most music teachers, is to have the children recognize the masterpieces of music. Mothers have a wonderful opportunity for self-improve- ment by this means. I have small mounted pic- tures of nearly all the famous composers, and when a piece is played, the children select the writer's picture and place it upon the piano. It is also an aid in impressing the music if the chil- dren can act out the spirit of the piece. For example, if I play Chopin's "Funeral March," after the children have placed the right picture on the piano, they place little veils over their heads and walk around very slowly with bowed heads. If you could catch a glimpse of their faces you would see they were smiling, but their manner is most serious. A Chopin waltz makes them skip around with glee, while with Grieg's "Cradle Song" they rock their dolls to sleep. At the first note of Gounod's "Soldier's Chorus" they take flags and march in a most military manner; while with Schu- mann's "Traumerei." they lean back in their chairs and fall asleep. Chopin's "Butterfly Etude" brings them to their feet, fluttering around and waving their arms to represent wings, while 324 THE homp: kindergarten manual Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" sends them skip- ping to pick flowers. Study of Musical Instruments Every musician should be familiar with our common musical instruments, such as are used in the symphony orchestras, but there are very few who are. And right here the paint-brush can teach a great deal. Catalogs of musical in- struments are easily obtainable, and the pictures can be cut out and colored. Also, most large dic- tionaries contain pictures of instruments, the out- lines of which can be copied easily or traced, and the children can fill them in with colors. While they are painting, you can speak of the three different ways in which music is made. The oldest instruments probably were struck, like our drums, bells, and cymbals, and are called per- cussion instruments. Then there are the wind instruments, which are blown, like the bugle, flute, cornet, bagpipe, and even whistles. And finally ing children are happier themselves and bring more happiness to others than ones who do not know any songs. And here, as elsewhere, it is foolish to think that children should be kept to nursery rhymes with insipid tunes. There are many lieautiful songs for children written by the very best writers. Often motions can be used with them which makes them doubly attractive. Our little ''good-morning" song is written by Haydn, and Tennyson's "Little Flower in t'he Crannied Wall," which we often sing, is set to a theme from Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony." Both of these songs are taken from a valuable collection of famous songs for children by Kitty Cheatham, called "A Nursery Garland." Indian songs and other folk-songs make a very strong appeal to children ; there are several rep- resenting scenes in the life of the Indians by Neidlinger which are particularly attractive to children. One portrays a little Indian girl sit- ting by a wigwam grinding corn and humming a weird little Indian tune, as follows : ^iS= rn. i- comc the string instruments, played by vibrating tight strings of different lengths, such as the vio- lin, harp, and guitar. It is surprising how easily children grasp the difference when it is made so plain, and you can play a little joke on them by asking what kind of an instrument the piano is. Usually they will answer "struck" or "per- cussion." But then take off the front of the piano, and when they see the strings inside, of their own accord they will change their opinions. I let them play a few notes and see how the little hammers cause the strings to vibrate. We have a toy piano, and I let them compare the two instruments and see that the toy piano has no strings. As the sounds come directly from strik- ing the plates, it is really a percussion instrument. Singing Though I have not said much about singing so far, it forms a most important part of a child's life as well as of his musical education. Sing- m ::* Another, by the same composer, is the song of the Camp-fire Girls and suggests the flickering of the flames. In singing songs the children enjoy taking turns being the conductor and leading the rest. We have a little stick for a baton, and all the chil- dren watch carefully as our conductor stands on a box for a platform and beats two, three, or four counts to the measure. It is fine training both for the leader and the followers and gives the chil- dren some idea of the problems of the orchestra. Still more advanced along this line is Haydn's "Toy Symphony," written for children with a piano accompaniment : we use the minuet sec- tion and I divide the children into two groups, the owls and the cuckoos. The owls say who-o-oo with a rising inflection and the cuckoos make the conventional sound. Then I play the piano, nodding to each group when its turn comes. The children soon learn to watch very intently for the signal. "Children should not be asked to sing unless they feel. With each vital selection, therefore, should go the story, if it have one, and those songs that have stories should be always preferred." — G. Stanley Hall. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY THE CANARY 325 APPENDIX After the children have learned the letter- names of the notes they will be helped in ra])id i ijve in reading and will much enjoy these playful exer- cises of spelling words out on the staff. These And are taken by permi*ision from the Introductory Grade of "The University Course in Music," published by the University Society. They were written by Edith Sanford Tillotson. MY BUNNY Bunny, you were very Very: today, Just because you were not *^'" LL£J f II You tried to run away. But I caught you at the V" f |> f f^^ Of the V- LT r ^ ^^ -patch. Bunny -^^^^, don't try to V- J P 1 — 1. ^^ n For 111 y I I quite your match. Do not make ^ _ II :^='^^=^ at me, I can *J' o | | severe, You may ^ | J^ i ^ to run about, But I'm too V' p [J ^^ to hear. Pink eyes may look in vain, Safely ^ you'll stay, Hope is V- p r J pi , so go to 4 [ J" You won't ^= f free to-day. —Edith Sanford Tillotson in the window, the bright garden all day, And there till the sunshine has And all its soft light I sing to the I away, The vine and the And the dew- To But after the sunset has I sit on the My and the blossom, old trees, that hangs on the lily swing in the breeze. ;of my swing, is moved down to the table, And then for my supper I sing. They ^ p QJ" g me with seed and with ■ crumbs. As all yellow birds should be Then I tuck my head under my feathers. For that's howi I bird goes to - Edith Sanford TdlutMi BIRTHDAY PRESENTS Birthday Fairy, bring to me. Presents fine as fine can "V' J I I kitten I can birdie in a for all my school-books, too, with blue, A sweet Kind fairy, don't be I need these things, I do in necklace that will shine, dolly would be fine,- l plead, -Edith Sanford Tillotson Copyright, 1920, by the National Academy of Music, New York HOW TO TELL STORIES BY MARY L. READ For the person who "can not tell a story," as for the person who "can not swim," there is one es- sential : forget yourself and plunge in. and prac- tice until you have gained confidence. 1. Tell something in which you and the chil- dren are interested, and keep at it repeatedly until you feel at ease. 2. Recall stories that interested you at that age. 3. Tell stories the children themselves ask for, refreshing your memory by reading up a standard version, or by asking the children to tell it to you. 4. Study Mother Goose, .^sop, and Bible stories as models of the best story-telling. 5. Live the story as you tell it — see it as pic- tured in your own mind. Tell it so vividly that the children can play it out afterward. 6. Use direct speech in telling conversation. 7. Make your picture vivid by a few descriptive words, especially of colors and sounds ; increase your vocabulary of adjectives. 8. Beware of making it too long, especially for very little people. 9. Use perhaps a very few natural gestures, but do not try to act it out. Children have not the mental ability to hear narrative and see action at the same time. 10. Children love the same story repeated, and they want it told the same way, in order to see the same pictures; therefore, have your stoi'y clear in your mind the first time you tell it. 11. If you are telling a classic or standard story, respect it as it is, just as honestly as you would an historic or scientific fact. If you do not wish to tell it that way, don't tell it at all, and don't tinker it. 12. Do not try to memorize a story, except possibly the conversations. 13. If a story is clearly told, the child will usu- ally absorb and discern the ethical principle in- volved, without any necessity on your part to obtrusively "point the moral." Sometimes a child will draw an erroneous or unexpected inference because his judgment is yet immature or his ethi- cal experience is elementary or pe;.rverted. Un- der such a condition, try to tell another story that will concretely clear his thought. THE SELECTION OF STORIES FOR KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN BY ANNIE E. MOORE "O talcs of ogre, knight, and elf! You make a rainboit.' on our shelf. Wide store of mirth and magic arts. You light the sunshine in our hearts! They are the key to ivi::ard wiles. The guide-books to enchanted isles. The grammars Zi'hcnce we understand The tongue that's talked in Fairyland; The sum of our inheritance Of all the wondrous zvorld's romance." ■ — St. John Lucas. We have available very few records regarding the particular stories which seem suited to chil- dren of different ages. Tradition and child-study both assert with emphasis that children of a cer- tain age love fairy stories, but we are helped only slightly by this well-established fact. The ques- tions of quantity and quality have still to be de- cided. Just which fairy stories and which ver- 326 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 327 sions of them shall we use? Choice has largely depended either on tradition or on the individual likes and dislikes of the mother or teacher. There is a certain common stock of stories of which American children are in possession, and an examination of the titles of this list would show that they are among the best of the popular folk- tales. These are the old stories which satisfied the imagination and fed the spirit of the human race in its infancy and which are suited to the young of all races and all times. A long process of natural selection has been going on by which the coarse and brutal have largely been eliminated and those embodying uni- versal truth and appealing to modern standards have survived. In the repeated telling and re- telling these old tales have also been polished in form so that from the standpoint of perfection of finish they are well-nigh impossible to imitate. "Cinderella," "Sleeping-Beauty," "One-eye. Two- eyes, Three-eyes," "Snow-white and Rose-red" fulfill perfectly all the requirements of the good short story. One principle, such as the ethical value, must not be allowed to assert itself over all the others, such as pure enjoyment, cultivation of taste, re- finement of diction, training of imagination, and developing power in thinking. Don't Select Wholly for the "Moral" The exclusive use of stories having a clear moral lesson is sure to result in a very narrow selection and the elimination of much that is of positive value, or the very questionable practice of making over and doctoring in accordance with a certain prescription until all the original beauty and virility of the story are lost. There is evi- dence that many kindergartners are dominated almost exclusively by the purpose of making the story the vehicle of a moral lesson. For what other reason would one think of selecting out of the great body of folk-tales such stories as "Faith- ful John," or "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon" ? They are long and complex, contain many objectionable features, and are anything but childlike in their main current of thought. It would be easy to mention twenty folk-tales far superior in every way for children except for the lesson which these are thought to convey. It is possible to be too exacting regarding liter- ary beauty and finish. An over-refinement here may cause one to reject altogether certain types of stories which, while not measuring up to the standard of the classic, still appeal to children and serve to suggest desirable lines of thought and action. Many realistic stories and bits of history and biography come in this class, since we can rarely find such m.aterial in very finished or perfect form. Here the art ideal must be partially set aside in favor of something which is for the time of paramount importance. Don't Choose Just Because They Are Seasonal The seasonal influence often tends to narrow and circumscribe the choice of stories in the kindergarten and to set a false valuation upon many that we use. Take a complete collection of Hans Andersen's fairy-stories and search for those best suited to little children. Would any- one think of selecting "The Little Match Girl" for kindergarten or first grade were it not for the fact that it is a Christmas story? I am in- clined to think that "Persephone" from among the myths is chosen chiefly for its seasonal signifi- cance, since its theme is not particularly well fitted to little children. The use of poor, homemade stories is accounted for in the same way. Information Not the Chief Value Information is not a legitimate element in story any more than in poetry. Nature fairy-stories are as much a "fraud on the fairies" as the abuse to which Dickens referred, that of turning the old tales into temperance tracts. Nature's phenomena and processes are quite as marvelous as any fairy- tale and will, if properly presented, prove quite as interesting to children, but these wonders can not be revealed by talking about them or by weaving fanciful tales about natural events. There is a truth, deeper than scientific fact and more significant in the lives of children, contained in such a story of animal life as that of the squir- rel mother and the elf, which forms a chapter in Selma Lagerlof's "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils." And does not Kipling, in his whimsical and altogether delightful way. answer to the entire satisfaction of young minds some of the whys and wherefores that beset them? In the class of short, realistic stories for little children, few writers of real power have made any contribution. At first this fact seems unaccount- able when one. considers that writers of ability have not deemed it beneath them to collect, edit, and revise folk-material for little children, and that not a few writers of genius have produced delightful fai^y stories, fairy plays, and fanciful tales. In the matter of fairy plays, witness the noteworthy list of comparatively recent produc- tions : "Peter Pan," "The Bluebird," "The Good Little Devil," "Snow-White," "Racketty-Packetty House." Probably adult mind and child mind are much more nearly on a plane in the realm of 328 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL fancy, while in the realm of real, everyday child- life with its small problems and events it is almost impossible for a grown-up to get down close enough to see from the child's standpoint. Cer- tain it is that there is a sad lack of stories of the realistic type having any claim to literary merit. It seems very important that teachers should have a wide range of stories from which to select. In the use of stories much depends on one's own taste and temperament, and better results are obtained where the individual has a large degree of freedom in the matter of choice. FIFTY BEST KINDERGARTEN AND PRIMARY STORIES This list was compiled by the Literature Committee of the International Kindergarten Union. Forty-four of the secular stories are found in the volumes of the Bovs and Girls Bookshelf, and the stories from the Bible are in the companion volume of Bible Stories and Character Building. KINDERGARTEN STORIES The Cat and the Mouse. Henny Penny. The Elves and the Shoemaker. The Fox and the Little Red Hen. The Goats in the Rye Field. Little Black Sambo' The Little Red Hen and the Grain of Wheat. Oeyvind and Marit. The Old Woman and Her Pig. Gingerbread Boy. Scrapefoot. Three Billy Goats Gruff. The Three Pigs. Thumbelina. Travels of a Box. Wee Robin's Christmas Song. Stories from the Bible Birth of Christ. Boy Samuel. Moses in Bulrushes. STORIES FOR FIRST GR.\DE Brementovvn Musicians. Cinderella. Doll in the Grass. Fisherman and His Wife. The Fire-bringer. Fulfilled. The Hare and the Hedgehog. Hashnu, the Stone Cutter. The Lad Who Went to the North Wind. The Sheep and Pig Who Set Up Housekeeping. The Straw Ox. Taper Tom. Town Rat and Country Rat. The Wonderful Iron Pot. Viggo and Beate. The Doll Under tlie Briar Rosebush. The Floating Island. Stories from the Bible Birth of Christ. Daniel in the Lion's Den. David and Goliath. STORIES FOR SECOND GR.A.DE Boots and His Brothers. Sleeping Beauty. Hansel and Gretel. The Flying Ship. The Jackal and the Camel. King Midas. Line of Golden Light. Princess on the Glass Hill. Saint Christopher. Scar-face. Tar Baby. The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal. ■Viggo and Beate. Allarni. The Black Pond. Hans, the Old Soldier. Bingo. Johnny Bear. Raggylug. Stories from the Bible Birth of Christ. Gideon, the Warrior. Joseph and His Brothers. The Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Parable of the Prodigal Son. THE POETRY HABIT* CLARA WniTEHILL HUNT When I was a little girl I had the good fortune to live in a city where there were no bridges, crushes, and police-patrol gongs, barrack-built flats and brownstone rows, to frighten away the birds and crowd out the flowers and play-spaces; but where fathers, even on moderate salaries, could own little houses with big piazzas and gen- erous yards. We boys and girls raised Jack-o'- lantern pumpkins in those yards, and cheerful morning-glories and downy chickens. We plucked juicy plums and cherries and grapes from our own trees and vines. We played in safe, shady streets without fear of trolleys or motors; for our city was so charmingly behind the times that the jin- gling horse-car did not readily give place to the clanging electric. In Spring we tapped the maple- trees in front of our houses, smacking our lips over the few spoonsful of sap that dripped as musically into our suspended pails as if this were a "truly" maple-sugar camp in the country. After school hours, in the rapidly gathering dusk of short autumn days, we raked gorgeous leaves into huge piles and danced wild Indian dances around bonfires that blazed like beacons up and down the length of streets unpaved with for- bidden asphalt. We made snow-forts and snow- men and Kskimo huts, we wallowed in clean snow- drifts, we coasted down long, hilly streets on our big brothers' "bobs." Yet how all these pleasures of the school year were as drab to scarlet contrasted with the radiance of vacations on Grandmother's beautiful farm ! How we hated to take off our clothes at night for fear troublesome buttons would make us miss something in the morning when we woke far too early to bother poor Mother to help us dress. How, beneath all the childish, physical delights of wading and huckleberrying and riding atop the loaded hay-wagon and playing "I spy" in the shadowy barn, there flowed the deep cur- rent of joy in the beauty of earth and sky ! When, barefooted under the willows, we tugged at heavy rocks which we perspiringly erected into lighthouses and forts to guard our homes along the brook — I should say the seashore — we were only dimly conscious that the song of the brook and the carpet of dancing light and shade under our feet, the feel of the flower-scented breeze on our hot little faces, the murmur and hum of the insects in the waving meadow grass over the stone wall, the vivid blue of the sky — which an old black crow "caw-caw'd" for us to look up and notice — that all these beauties of Mother Earth were a deep part of the happiness of our free play in the outdoors, whose large- ness was answering to a craving of the child- soul, that feels the cramp of the city more than does the adult. How Prosaic the City Child's Life To-day I watch the children at play as I walk to my office along streets of highly respectable apartment-houses. How cruelly narrow the range for the imagination of the young child ! The very "respectability" of a neighborhood — which exacts a rent that often eats up all country va- cation money — is against the child. How can a youngster possibly have a good time if he is not allowed to muss up the front steps and get his clothes dirty? Yet it is not the physical handi- cap of the city child that most stirs my pity, for his he'alth record is steadily improving. It is the little one's missing experiences in beauty, it is the robbery of his imagination, effected by paved streets, that I deplore. There is no possible help for these children except as they shall get their experiences vicari- ously through Father and Mother and books. For our comfort we know how marvelously books can be made to supply what Father's salary can not. Only we need to remember how and when to apply the various books. There is a best time for introducing poetry and myth and heroes of history; and a lifelong loss may be that child's whose parents know not when to feed a certain interest. Begin in Earliest Babyhood The baby's first taste of poetry should be given not later than a month after he alights, trailing his clouds of glory and with the music of his heavenly home attuning his ears to a delight in rhyme and rhythm, long before Mother's songs convey the word-meanings to his mind. There * From "What .Shall We Read to the Children" by Clara Whitehill Hunt. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Reprinted by permission of the publishers. 330 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL never was a normal baby born into this world who did not bring with him a love for poetry; and the fact that so few adults retain a trace of this most pure delight points to the need of conscious effort on the parent's part to foster the child's natural gift. So the first book I would put into the baby's library would be a collection of the loveliest lulla- bies and hymns and sweet old story-songs. I know that doctors and nurses frown upon rocking the baby to sleep, but if I were a young mother I'd rock and sing to that baby after he waked up ! I would sing Tennyson's "Sweet and Low," and Holland's "Rockaby, Lullaby, Bees in the Clover," and Field's "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod"; the little German slumber song — "Sleep, baby, sleep. The large stars are the sheep ;" and the Gaelic lullaby — "Hush, the waves are rolling in White with foam, white with foam." I would sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear." and "While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night." I would sing the "Crusader's Hymn," and Luther's "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," and Newman's "Lead, Kindly Light," and Pley- el's "Children of the Heavenly King," and Bar- ing-Gould's "Now the Day is Over." I would sing "Annie Laurie," and "Home, Sweet Home," and "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton," and "The Suwanee River." Use of Lullabies and Finger-Plays Choosing songs so beautiful and so appealing to a child's heart, I should make sure that when the little one began to try to imitate Mother, he would sing of winds that ruffle the waves, of dew, of pleasant banks and green valleys and clear, winding rills, of the Heavenly Father's care, of the enduringness of home love. I should know that, though the words at first called up no clear mental pictures, they would spell love and beauty and happy feeling, and that life would, little by little, unfold to the child the full meanings of these lovely songs. Before the baby is a year old he will enjoy action-rhymes like "This little pig went to market," "Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man." By the time he is two, he will be trying to repeat the gay Mother Goose jingles with their irre- sponsible nonsense and their catching rhyme and rhythm. \Mien he is three he will be enjoying Stevenson's "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me." and other posies from "The Child's Garden of Verses." Use of Story-Telling Poems Now the important thing is for the baby to acquire the poetry habit. A few years later, this child, if he has not listened to verse nearly every day of his life, may begin to be bored by the language of poetry, so dear to one who com- prehends quickly, so tiresome to one who, for lack of right preparation, must dig out the mean- ings, as he works at a translation from a dead language. At first we need to repeat nursery jingles and the simplest child verses, because these are the bottom steps of the "golden staircase" to real poetry. If. however, we try to get firmly lodged in mind the fact that children enjoy an infinite number of things which they do not understand ; that they understand far more than they can ex- press ; that their understanding grows by leaps and bounds if we foolish adults do not inter- fere — we shall stop trying to stint their active imaginations by keeping them so long on baby- rhymes. * The child will most easily climb the staircase to real poetry by way of story-telling poems. Sentimental and martial, merry and sad, the story-interest and the music of the old English and Scotch ballads fit them exactly to the liking of children, little and big. Browning and Tenny- son, Matthew Arnold and Scott and Longfellow give to the children "The Pied Piper," "The Lady of Shalott," "The Forsaken Merman," "Jock of Hazeldean," "The Bell of Atri." A number, almost without end, of stirring romances in verse will reward a search through our "adult" poetry Hbrary, after we have exhausted the lovely children's collections like "The Blue Poetry Book," "Golden Numbers," "The Golden Stair- case," and others. Connecting Poetry with Biography and History . Each poem may be made to introduce many others, if we take advantage of the child's de- light in the association of ideas he has acquired. For example, the little one has loved to hear mother sing "Annie Laurie" and "The Blue Bells of Scotland" and "The Campbells are "She read a poem to her child one day. And added explanations not a few. But paused a moment at the end to say, 'I wonder, darling, if it's clear to yon.' "But still he sighed, and slowly shook his head; She turned the page as if to start again. When, drawing nearer, 'Mother, dear,* he =aid, 'I'll understand it if you don't explain.' " FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 331 Comin'." He has mourned brave Sir Patrick Spens, has galloped with Lochinvar, and "wi' Wallace bled" in defense of Scotland's freedom. Scotland to him has become a land of romance, dear to his heart. One day, after he has been lustily singing "The Campbells Are Comin' , Oho ! Oho !" Mother tells him how the dying English, penned up in Lucknow, sprang to their feet laugh- ing and crying with joy as they heard, faint and far away, the bagpipes playing "The Campbells Are Comin'." Now is the time to read Whit- tier's "The Pipes at Lucknow," as Bayard Tay- lor's "Song of the Camp" will touch the children after they have joined in singing "Annie Laurie." Taylor's poem, and the bit of explanation about the Crimean War which it involves, will in- troduce "The Charge of the Light Brigade," another stirring poem of the same war. A whole cycle of Southern and Civil War songs and poems may follow the reading of the L^ncle Remus stories — "Dixie" and "Maryland, My Maryland," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Sheridan's Ride," and "Oh, Captain, My Cap- tain !" Somehovi'. the child will enter into the heart of the North and the South, the soldier and the slave, and he will be a better American in this reunited country for loving the songs of both sections that gave their best for what they believed to be the right. The Right Poem at the Right Time Make it an unvarying practice to link poetry with the children's every happy experience, every celebration, family or national or religious. Read the "Concord Hymn" and "Paul Revere's Ride" on the Fourth of July, "The Landing of the Pil- grims" at Thanksgiving, "The Flag Goes By" and "The Commemoration Ode" on Memorial Day. Weeks before Christmas begin to read and sing every beautiful poem and song you can find. There are so many, we have no excuse for de- scending to doggerel. On New Year's Eve read Tennyson's "Death of the Old Year": on a gusty winter evening read "Old Winter is a Sturdy One." Before taking a journey, hunt up poems of places the children will visit. After an ex- citing trip to the Zoo read Blake's "Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright," and Tavlor's "Night with a Wolf." When the children have enjoyed the Norse stories, read them Longfellow's "Skeleton in Armor." After hearing the stories of Tarpeia and Curtius and other Roman legends, they will be ready for Macaulay's "Lays." Does any father or mother think I am- going too fast? Prove it by experiment! I am sug- gesting a poetry course, not for the "exceptional child," but for real little bread-and-butter boys and girls of happy birth and home environment. There are only three rules necessary to follow if you would delight your soul with watching your children's poetry taste grow with their growth. These are : Begin early. Read poetry every day. Read the right poem at the right time. * ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT SEX t MARGARET W. MORLEY '"Where Did I Come From?" This question the child is bound to ask sooner or later. There are two ways of answering it. One way is to evade the question, or answer it untruthfully, telling the child that the stork brought him or some such fiction. This is a bad way, for the child knows it is not true. If, at first, he does not know it is false, he soon will. The other way is to tell the truth. One mother answered the question of her eight-year-old son with the simple statement, "You came from Mother, dear. You grew within her body and lay close to her heart for a long time. She knew you were coming, and got ready for you, and thought about you, and loved you even before you were born." The boy looked at her, threw his arms about her, and exclaimed, "Oh, Mother ! that is why I love you so." He had been told the truth, and he instinctively knew it was the * Read slowly and with full rhythmic swing to eet the swing of it early. In order to have "right poetry at the right time. ' I find it good to keep marked volumes within easy reach, also our own "Home Anthology." We copy into this all bits of poetry the children have asked for from Library Books or others we can't keep. — M. S. L, fTiiE^CHlLD Welfare Manual has two careful articles showing how to give this important instruction in detail to boys and to girls. K.N.— 23 332 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL truth. He did not have to find out later that his mother had deceived him. When any child finds that he has been deceived by his mother, he naturally loses confidence in her. Usually he will not ask her any more ques- tions, but vvfill listen to vile stories from other people and will think that they are true and that is why his mother is not willing to be frank with him. It is well to anticipate the direct question by getting ready before the child is old enough to ask it. How to do this? Begin, perhaps, with seeds. Show the seed-pods of any plant. The seeds are«the children of the plant. The plant gives them protection and feeds them with its juices. They are part of the plant. The plant is the mother of the seeds. When the seeds are ripe, the pod opens and the seeds leave their mother to live their own separate lives. Dwell upon the care the mother-plant takes of her little seed-children, of the beautiful flower petals she wraps about the tiny pod. Speak often and reverently of motherhood. Make the little boy as well as the little girl understand and love the mother. In the springtime show birds' nests, if possible. If not, show pictures and talk about nest-building and how both parents engage in it. Then show or tell about the eggs. Explain how the eggs grew inside the mother-bird. They are a part of her, just as the seeds are a part of the plant. When the eggs are ready, the bird lays them in the pretty nest and sits on them to keep them warm. The father-bird sings to her and feeds her. Both birds love the baby birds, and as soon as they hatch out, father bird and mother bird feed them and care for them and teach them to fly. A hen sitting on her eggs can be used to teach the lesson. The egg grew in the hen. How wonderful it is that a little egg can change into a beautiful bird or a cunning little chicken! As the child grows older, lead him to notice that the seed grows into a. plant just like the parent, that the egg becomes a bird like the parents. Tell the child how important it is for children to come from good parents. Speak of parents and children when talking of plants and birds; this will cause the child unconsciously to connect the ideas gained about plants and birds with hu- man life. When a chance comes to show the child young kittens or puppies or rabbits, or the young of any animal, tell him quite frankly, whether he asks or not, that of course the young ones came from the mother, that before they were born they were a part of her. Make it all seem natural to the child. Dwell upon the love and care the mother every- where bestows upon her children. Include father love wherever it is expressed in the lower life. When at last the great question comes, the child will probably answer it himself, "Mamma, did I come from you?" "Yes, darling, you were once a part of mother. How mother loves her little son (daughter) !" Each mother will think of a way to tell the story, according to circumstances. Only remem- ber two things. Tell the story properly before anybody gets ahead of you and poisons the child's mind. And tell it in a way to make the child reverence and love parenthood. The mother can make her child what she wants him to be by impressing right ideas and high ideals upon him when he is very young. THE RELIGIOUS NURTURE OF A LITTLE CHILD WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH "Lo! Lord. I sit in Thy icide space, My child upon my knee, She looketh up into my face. And I look up to Thee." — George M.^cDox.^ld. What shall we teach the little child about religion? Remembering that he is perfectly credulous, but also that he is of limited capacity, naturally we should teach him only what he is ready for. Instead of volunteering information upon all sorts of religious topics, our conversa- tion should be chiefly confined to those things in which he shows a ready interest; and our religious replies should be almost entirely to questions that the child raises himself. Teaching About God Most parents teach about God as Jesus did, as our Father, perhaps unconsciously expecting that FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 333 this thought will be interpreted by human parent- hood. It may not be wholly sentiment which causes us to approve of the following anecdote, which illustrates how the child reads his social experience with his parents into his thought of God. The story is told by Dr. Coe. "Mamma," said a small boy, "do you know what I'm going to do the first thing when I get to heaven? I'm going to run up to the Heavenly Father and give Him a kiss !" So near is the child to the animal world that we can not reach to the depth of his nature un- less we touch the animal and passional as well as the spiritual. The child must be made manly before he can become godlike. In no better way does the mother reveal the love of God than by her anxiety so to satisfy the child's physical needs as to reveal her own love to him. The sense of perpetual comfort and 'care not only makes the child feel at home in his world, but makes him convinced that God is a Person there. The sharing of the physical life has in it, as Dr. Coe suggests, the sacredness of incarnation. The es- sential method of education is the sharing of life between a higher and a lower person, whereby the principle of incarnation is carried forward in each new generation. This care of the body of the child has another religious value, too, in that protecting the child as a good animal is the wholesomest way to pre- pare him to become a good Christian. But even this thought of the Fatherhood of God does not entirely satisfy the child, because it does not seem to fill the spaces of the universe with his presence. There is still so much that is dark and mysterious which the child can not ex- plain. We may therefore agree with President Hall, that anything that stimulates the child's thoughts about the unseen world, which makes him believe that Nature is alive and friendly, is truly religious teaching. Whatever fosters the sense of being at home in the universe, or in any way teaches the sense of the oneness of it, is lead- ing toward the desired end. The first question which suggests to the mother the necessity of telling the child about God is generally a question of cause. Dr. George E. Dawson cites a child, probably his own, who be- gan with his fourth year and seemed always to be trying to find out where things came from origi- nally and who kept the world a-going. "Who makes the birds ?" "Who made the very first bird ?" "Who fixed their wings so they can fly?'' "Who takes care of the birds and rabbits in the Winter, when snow is on the ground?" "Who makes the grass grow?" "Who makes the trees?" "Who makes them shed their leaves and get them back again ?" "Who made the sand and rocks in Forest Park?" "Who made the Connecticut River?" "Who keeps it from running dry?" "Who makes it thunder?" "Who put the moon in the sky?" "Who made the whole world?" "Who made peo- ple?" "Who made me?" "Does God make every- thing?" "Who made God?" "Was God already made?" "Is God everywhere?" Such were the questions asked again and again, with all sorts of comments in reply to the answers that were given him. The question of zi'ltaf is the origin of things was seldom or never asked. It was always ■who; and when the personal cause he was seeking was named "God," in connection with numerous ob- jects he finally generalized by asking if God makes everything. Earl Barnes cites a four-year- old girl who asked more definite questions. "What does God eat? Is it chopped grass? Doesn't God have any dinner? Did Robinson Crusoe live before God? Who was before God? Is rain God's tears running out of the sky? How did God put the moon in the sky ?" Mrs. Edith Read Mumford says: "The romance of fairies, gnomes, and sprites is, to my mind, full of spiritual truth. Every flower, every leaf, every object around us, has a spirit of its own; is fraught with mystery, they are more than mere material objects ; they are, as it were, thoughts of the Creative Power clothed in matter. Can the Spirit of love, of power, of beauty, of humor, embodied in the world, be more fitly expressed for the child than in this undergrowth, as it were, of tiny creatures, haunting the night, when the 'humans' are asleep; this world of moral, unmoral, and non-moral fairy beings?" Because of the vividness with which children clothe inanimate things with life we must be cautious about telling children things which they may magnify into terrorizing objects. It is cruel to tell children stories about "The Bad Man," "The Big Bear that will catch you," etc. Bolton suggests that even the good fairies and Santa Claus should never be represented as dwelling too near. Let them be the "good men away off." A child may suffer great mental agony if he thinks that even dear old Santa Claus lives in the kitchen chimney. In teaching about God to little children, Jesus must be left for the present in their thought, no matter what be the theological beliefs of the parents, rather, as Horace Bushnell said, "as the good Carpenter saving the world" than as Deity. And we may agree with Dr. Coe, that the point of contact between Him and the in- dividual child is "the spirit of loyalty, which makes the child endeavor to be like some great 334 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL person of whom he has heard and which im- pels a child to do the right." "You can't do this, 'because Father or Mother wouldn't like it," produces similar allegiance, admiration, and affection for Jesus Christ. To develop such loyalty in childhood is to render a service of in- estimable value. It is to do the greatest thing that can be done for the shaping of character. Teaching About Duty The child's conception of duty is always con- crete: it always takes the form of some definite thing to be done or to be left undone now. It consists therefore almost entirely in the forming of correct habits of doing the customary things that are to be done and of inhibiting the things that are customarily not to be done. Dr. Arthur Holmes puts it even more con- cretely when he says, "The problem of character- making with the child from one to twelve years of age resolves itself into making good habits by having the child do tilings." Perhaps the child outgrows this automatic rela- tion to righteousness sometimes earlier than we think, owing to his intense personifying of things ; his sense of loyalty to right may be as early and as powerful as that of loyalty to per- sons. Mrs. Dorothy Canfield Fisher says, "I know a child not yet quite three who, by the maddeningly persistent interrogations character- istic of his age, has succeeded in extracting from a pair of gardening elders an explanation of the difference between weeds and flowers, and who has been so struck with this information that he has, entirely of his own volition, enlisted him- self in the army of natural-born reformers. He throws himself upon a weed, uproots it and casts it away with the righteously indignant exclama- tion, 'Horrid old weed ! Stop eating the flowers' dinner !' " Habits of Prayer "Children," says Mrs. Mumford, "are not ready for prayer at any fixed period in their lives. In some the instinct of affection and gratitude is late in developing. If they do not greatly love the father whom they have seen, how can they love a Father whom they have not seen? And if they do not love, are they ready to pray? The first condition of all religion is merging of self- love into other love. Love goes before faith. Not to love is not to believe, for it is love which makes us feel that the object is worthy of our faith. Bit by bit, in the case of such children, we need to develop the loving side of their na- ture and watch for our opportunity to tell them of God. Some children can truly pray before they are three ; others not till much later. But the earlier the better, if the prayer is real. Until they can pray themselves we must let them see that we pray for them. But when they begin to be capable of unselfish love toward those around them, begin to grow in their power of imagina- tion — on some specially glad day, when we are tucking them up at night, we can remind them of all the glad things in their lives, recall the joys of that day, the beautiful sunshine, the flowers in the garden, the romp with Father, the kisses and the hugs at bedtime, till the little one glows with conscious joy ! Then we can ask, 'Who gives you all this joy? Who makes Father and Mother love you ? Who makes you love them — the loving that makes you so glad ?' We can tell them it is God who gives all good things. Would they like to thank God? If the children respond, and they will respond if we have chosen the right moment, with their eyes shut and hands reverently folded, we let them say their first spontaneous prayer: 'Thank you for making me happy ; please make everybody happy,' is one such first prayer. The form of prayer may depend upon the child and our sug- gestions to the child; but we must see that it is real." Reverence in Prayer The Importance of reverent attitudes is that they readily become to the child the physical ex- pression of the moral feeling. "The child's first ideas of prayer," Froebel said, ''come to him when an infant, by the mother's kneeling beside his crib in silent prayer; her bowed head and kneeling body tell of submission to and reverence for a power greater than herself; her tone of voice when she speaks of sacred things is far more effectual with the little listener than the words she says." It hardly needs to be said that kneeling in a cold room is not sacred, and that the necessary haste to get into bed destroys any sense of rever- ence. Many young children love to say their prayers on what William Canton's "W. V." called mother's "blessed lap of heaven." We have an opportunity to develop the spirit of reverence by the child's contact with the world in which he lives. To bring a little one into a great church, perhaps a cathedral, eitlicr during a beautiful service or when the sanctuary is empty, and teaching him to step softly, to catch the wonder of the height, the depth or the di- mensions, and to look up with reverence toward the Holy Place, is to give the child an emotional impression that will be far-reaching. Even more profound is the child's reaction toward darkness FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 335 and starlight. Some children who were afraid to stay in bed alone have been entirely reassured by being taken to the window and shown the hosts of heaven, which seemed to them like guardian spirits. So tremendous is the impres- sion of the multitude of stars upon children that one child, at least, acknowledged, even in woman- hood, that she was scarcely able then to endure to look upon their splendor. How to Teach a Child to Pray The method of one mother, cited by Susan Chenery in her "As the Twig Is Bent," is per- haps typical. "When Margery was about two," said Helen, "I taught her to say a little prayer, and had her repeat it every night on going to bed. 'God bless Margery'- — that was all at first ; but I showed her how to kneel, and she understood that the prayer was always to come before lying down for the night. Of course, the name God meant nothing to her, and the three words together nothing at all. My only idea was to have her begin to pray so early that it would be second nature to her to say her evening prayer, and. indeed, that she should not be able to recall a time when she did not say it. As she grew older I suggested "God bless Papa. God bless Mamma. God bless Frank. God bless Margery.' and this was the form for some time, but was altered to admit others from time to time, and often stretches out now into a long list of friends and relatives. "Not for a long time did I try to teach her anything about God ; but it was probably in an- swer to some questions of hers that I explained, when she was old enough to be interested, that God loves us, that He is the Father of all the people in the world, that He wants everyone to do what is right, that He sees everything that happens, that He is glad when we do right and sorry when we do wrong, and that He has a home where He takes His children when they are through with this world." Perhaps the prayer most commonly taught to little children in the one that begins. "Now I lay me." This has been objected to by many parents because of its entire selfishness and its prominent suggestion of danger and death. A better ren- dering is this: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep ; Tliy love be with me through the night, And bless me with the morning light." Mrs. Mary Duncan, many years ago. composed a rhyming prayer which is thoroughly childlike and contains many elements of a good prayer : "Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me. Bless Thy little lamb to-night; Through the darkness be Thou near me : Keep me safe till morning light. "All this day Thy hand has led me, And I thank Thee for Thy care ; Thou hast warmed me, clothed and fed me ; Listen to my evening prayer ! "Let my sins be all forgiven ; Bless the friends I love so well ; Take us all at last to heaven, Happy there with Thee to dwell." Dr. George Hodges gives the following peti- tion, in which the suggestion of a rhyme assists the memory : "O Lord, our Heavenly Father, lead me, guard me. help me, bless me, keep me, make me pure and brave and true, in all I think and say and do !" A Treasury of Prayers A MORNING PRAYER "Dear God, I thank Thee for the light and the food and the love and for all the other good things Thou hast given me. Please help me to be a good, kind child to-day and bless and (naming those he loves). Amen." A MORNING PRAYER "Father, we thank Thee for the night, And for the pleasant morning light ; For rest and food and loving, care. And all that makes the day so fair. "Help us to do the things we should, To be to others kind and good ; In all wc do in work or play. To grow more loving every day." A MORNING PR,\YER "Father, dear, I fain would thank Thee For my long refreshing sleep. And the watch that Thou didst keep, While I slumbered soft and deep, O'er Thy child so lovingly. "All that I to-day am doing. Help me. Lord, to do for Thee; May I kind and helpful be, Only good in others see, Try to serve Thee faithfully. Amen." A GRACE AT TABLE "Lord Tesus, be our Holy Guest, Our morning Joy, our evening Rest; And with our daily bread impart Thy love and peace to every heart." A GRACE AT TABLE "We thank Thee for this bread and meat And all the good things which we eat ; Lord, may we strong and happy be. And always good and true like Thee." — James Maxon Yard. 236 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL AN EVENING PRAYER "Now I lay me down to sleep ; Heavenly Father, wilt Thou keep Me and those I love all night? I'or with Thee 'tis always light. "And. dear Father, while I share In Thy tender love and care. Help me every day to be An obedient child to Thee. Amen." — Hcnrielta R. Eliot AN EVENING PRAYER "In my work and in my play Thou hast kept me through the day. While I close my eyes in sleep. Tender watch above me keep. Loving Jesus, meek and mild, Let me be thine own dear child. .\men." AN EVENING PRAYER "Father, bless Thy little child to-night ; Wake me with the morning light. May I pure and holy be. Daily growing more like Thee. Amen." One mother, cited by Kate Upson Clark, met a special problem in teaching her child to frame a prayer of his own. She met it wisely, as fol- lows: "I found it impossible, when my eldest child became old enough to make up a prayer for himself, to induce him to do it. He was too shy and too reserved to do it. He could not seem to find the words. I meditated upon the matter, and prayed for light upon it. At last I saw that, as the most effective instruction is by means of the object lesson, it was my duty to offer such a prayer as I thought he ought to, until he should learn to do it for himself. There- fore, instead of offering a mere formal and con- ventional prayer, as I had been used to, I began to offer such a prayer as I thought he would want to, using expressions like, 'when I grow up,' and 'help me to obey my father and mother and teachers,' just as if he were talking himself. The prayer is always very short and plain. As the younger children became old enough to un- derstand, I adopted the same custom with them. "That they enjoy this little prayer, so simple and so short that I am almost ashamed to men- tion it, is proved by the fact that they often say, 'Don't forget your little prayer. Mamma'; and if I am going out to dinner, or to any entertain- ment, they say, 'Why, Mamma, you can't say your little prayer if you go away and don't get back until we have gone to sleep.' " This practice is certainly a beautiful one. and if the mother does not always succeed in making her petitions childlike and the little one falls asleep, it will in later days be a sacred memory that she used to fall asleep amid her mother's prayers. So strong is the imitativeness of little children that it is often extraordinarily difficult to de- termine, even in the case of the child of six or' seven, how far his religion has, even at that age, become directly personal, or whether God is not often a Being to whom access is only possible through someone else. Susan Chenery gives an illustration in which we seem to watch the growth of the child into a personal conception of God. "Margery had been repeating a prayer for a good many months before she realized the privi-, leges of prayer. One night she said to me as I tucked her up for the night, 'Mamma, what do people do when they want things?' Not quite understanding her, I yet answered, 'If it is some- thing to buy, and they have money and know it is right to buy it, why, they go and get it.' 'But if it isn't to buy with money, and they don't know how to get it?' 'I'll tell you what I do, Margery; I ask God to let me have it, if it is good for me, but that I don't want it if it isn't.' 'How do you ask him?' 'I say, "Oh, God, if it is best, help me to get this thing, and don't let me have it if it isn't good for me." 'Oh, yes, now I know. If I whisper it, can He 'hear?' 'Yes, indeed, or if you just think it, He will know all about it.' She told me afterwards what it was she wanted, and that she had asked for it." The Little Child and the Bible The reason why the Bible is the child's first and best story-book is because the early Israelites were a child-nation — a nation with its face to- ward God. If it be true that the little child does not have an innate God-consciousness, it is never- theless a fact that, as Mrs. Louise Seymour Houghton tells us, "There is in all the world nothing so reasonable to the unsophisticated hu- man mind as God. The little child, 'made of dust and the Father's breath,' 'has a bias toward the faculty of God - consciousness. The Old Testament is the best of all religious story-books for the little child, because it is the one book in the world in which it is assumed that man is in a divine order. The relations with God, as we find them in the Old Testament, are the relations of a child-people with their Heavenly Father." Even the order of the books of the Bible seems appropriate to the stages of the child's develop- ment. It begins with stories of the creation — a wonder-tale that ajipeals strongly to the mind of the child who is beginning to ask "Why?" and "How?" Next comes a period of pastoral life, affecting the child's out-of-doors interests; then FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 337 the heroic stage, telling of the God of Battles, the stern and just Lawgiver and Inflictor of Punishments, like the parent — a narrative full of wonderful tales, of which the child never tires. Later comes the story of Jesus, with its spirit of love and self-sacrifice, especially appealing to adolescents, but containing in its child episodes much that touches the affections and sympathies of the little child. The parent, of course, tells Bible stories by a wise selection. The stor}' of the creation, in the second chapter of Genesis, with its picturesque details and human interest, is far more effective than that in the first chapter or that in the Book of Job. There are, for instance, in the Old Testament, narratives which wind like a river under terrible crags, through malarial reaches and into untraversable bogs. The mother will forsake these for the sunlit streams and the musi- cal waterfalls. The exact narrative of the Scrip- ture must, of course, be freely handled.* Some even accommodate the Bible >to modern thought by up-to-date slang. This is scarcely necessary, but is perhaps a fault in the right direction. It would certainly not do violence to the spirit of the Scriptures if the mother should tell a Bible story about kittens instead of sheep, if the child were familiar with kittens and did not know any- thing about sheep. We always have the privilege of expanding where the original is terse, or em- phasizing what the original takes for granted, and of using the imagination, especially in re- sponse to the little child's questions. As to the method of Bible stories, perhaps the best single word to speak is that one should tell such stories as folklore. Such they really were, and as such they should be given to the child. Let the mother, in telling Old Testament stories, imagine herself an aged Hebrew nurse, handing down the traditions of her race to a circle of eager-eyed children. Let her tell such stories as if she were sitting in a window overlooking the events that were at that very moment taking place, of which the children could not possibly have any knowledge except what she makes clear to them. As to the purpose of Bible story-telling to a child, Mrs. Houghton gives us a wise word when " The old Bible stories are skillfully told in a collection entitled "Bible Stories and Character-Building," published by Tlie University Society. she says that it is "in order to give a religious meaning to all the e.xperiences of his early life." Beginning at about three, the story is to be told in its simplest possible outline and as much as may be in the Bible words. At about five, an ele- mentary unfolding of its spiritual meaning may come in answer to the child's questions. In the story of Cain and Abel, for instance, it is pos- sible to give the narrative a religious meaning which shall touch the experiences of the Child in two ways: by showing the interest which God has in the spirit of love, in the gifts of His chil- dren and by reminding the little one of the joys which come from taming the young lion of hatred before it grows big and strong, and of the sorrow and pain which follow if this lion grows strong and cruel. Church-going and Sunday-school It would seem to be a wise practice for chil- dren to begin the habit of church-going at about the time when they begin to go to public school. Even before this age most children are eager to attend. It seems better to keep church-going as a special privilege and reward for good behavior until the age of reasonably steady habits. In many churches the rigor of the long service is mitigated by a special nursery for little children, conducted during a part or the whole of the service. There is no doubt an impressiveness even in a beautiful service, which the child does not understand, which becomes a wholesome and precious influence through life. There are some children who are so nervous that early church- going does not seem advisable. Church should never seem to a child like imprisonment. The habit should certainly begin as a privilege and delight and then should become a duty, but not an unpleasant one. Many of our religious leaders feel that the beginning of the fifth year, rather than before, is the earliest time that a child may wisely attend Sunday-school. Before that year he is incapable of class instruction, and the habit of inattention, formed then, is a barrier to religious education later. Just as public schools, even the kinder- garten, prefer not to take children until they are five, so, perhaps, the Sunday-school will some day follow their example. Before that time the child needs individual instruction and should receive his religious training from his mother. "The childhood of to-day challenges the Church to pro- duce its joys." — William E. Gardner. THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CHILD* OF A CATHOLIC JOSEPHINE BROWNSON "As the twig is bent so the tree will ^fovv" is a saying as familiar as it is full of truth. Unless, then, we wish to rear a race of agnostics, how date we shoulder the responsibility of neglecting to make the child's religious impressions its strongest and earliest? I know of a boy who when five years of age could discuss an airplane with considerable intelligence, and yet his mother had not then taught him the "Our Father." She said that he was too young to understand sudh things. Now, as a matter of fact, small children have a natural aptitude for spiritual truths which is woefully lacking in some maturer minds. If a child of five years is unable to speak, how anxious his parents are ! Should they not be equally an.xious if at that age he is unable to speak to his Heavenly Father? Early Opportunities for Memorizing Let us see to it that the religious training keeps pace with the training in other matters. Thus when we teach words, let the first be the holy names of Jesus and Mary; when we teach the child to wave and clap its hands, let us teach the Sign of the Cross; when we teach the repetition of a number of words, let us teach gradually the words of the Our Father and of the Hail Mary ; when we sing lullabies, let us sing hymns to the Infant Jesus; when we show pictures of flowers and birds and call them by their names, let us show pictures of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and the Angels, and call them by their names; when we would read Mother Goose, let us read Catholic nursery-rhymes; when we would read fairy-tales, let us read Bible stories. I remember hearing a little boy, two and a half years old, recite at a Christmas party the whole of the rhyme, " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Is it too much to expect a child of the same age to be able to make the Sign of the Cross and say the Our Father and the Hail Mary? Then let us teach the child to kneel and with folded hands say its prayers morning and evening. It will readily assume the attitude of prayer if it has watched its mother reverently pray. It is the living lesson of the mother's example that must precede the effort to train the child. Grad- ually, we can add these words addressed to its guardian angel : "Angel of God, my guardian dear. To whom His lovo cntnmits me here. Ever this day be at my side To light and guard, to rule and guide." The next prayer might well be the Morning Offering. We can teach it in some such simple form as, "Dear Jesus, I give Thee everything I shall think or say or do or suffer to-day." Per- haps we can do the child no greater good than to form in it the habit of transforming its daily actions into prayers. This the j\Ioming Offering does, and we can frequently renew it by- say- ing aloud little aspirations w'hich the child will readily repeat. Teach it to say in all the events of its small life, such as a bruise on the head or a cut on the finger, ".'MI for Thee, my Jesus." Then, not only for a brief moment morning and evening, will its childish thought go heavenward, but its whole life will be made radiant and kept innocent by being lived in the presence of God. Another beautiful practice for the children to learn is the pausing a moment every time the clock strikes in order to whisper, "Agonizing Heart of Jesus, have mercy on the dying and the dead. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen." The First Sacred Observances All these little practices are powerful helps for the child to lead a life of faith. Thus the lighting of a blessed candle and the frequent making of the Sign of the Cross during times of special peril teach the child to seek God's help in danger. When the child awakes in the morning let us teach it to look at some picture of the Infant Jesus we have placed over its bed and to say, "Good-morning, dear Jesus !" Again, at night. * This earnest paper, with its emphasis upon reverence and careful teaching, will be found instructive hy niairy non» Catholic mothers. 3.^8 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 339 let its last words be, "Good-night, dear Jesus, good-night !" In the sixth year, we can begin to teach the Apostle's Creed and the Act of Contrition. The Acts of Faith. Hope, and Love can follow. The smallest child can wear a blessed medal, and when it is old enough to understand, we can explain how the scapular stands for the uniform of our Blessed Mother and that if one wears it faithfully through life, she will bless and care for him as her special child. And how proud a little child will be to have a gayly colored rosary all his oRvn. He can hang it on his bed, carry it to church, and, little by little, learn to use it. During certain seasons of the church ^-ear we can gather the children for additional prayer and reciting the rosary aloud, and thus teach them the beautiful mysteries of the life of Christ. Follow the Pathway of the Church Year The Church fills the life of the smallest child as well as the life of the greatest philosopher. What better than to have the children follow her through the various seasons of her year. Thus during Advent, we can tell them of the coming of the little King, teach them to prepare His crib by acts of self-denial, and to long for Him by frequently saying. "Come, Lord Jesus, and do not delay!" Then January is the month of the Holy Childhood. Give them a desire to imitate the obedience and truthfulness of the Infant Jesus, a Child like them. Lent usually begins in February. We can speak of the Passion, take them to church to make the Way of the Cross, teach them to give up candy and make other small acts of self- conquest, to be kind and gentle, and to put some of their pennies in the poor-box. During Holy \\'eek, let us show them the church draped in mourning because of grief over the death of Christ. Then the glory of the Easter, the altar decked in gold and white, the Paschal candle, which will be kept near the high altar for forty days, until the day Christ will go back to His Heavenly Father. Nor should we forget dear St. Joseph during March, w'hen we can teach the children to say some little prayer in his honor every day and to beg of him the grace of a happy death. Then the beautiful month of May, when the children can gather flowers for our Blessed Mother's altar and recite together the rosary and sing a hymn in her honor. June follows with its lesson of love for the Sacred Heart of Christ that loves us so much. July comes with its devotion to the Precious Blood. August and September take up the won- derful miracle of Christ's public life. October is beautiful with its devotion to the holy angels. Let us speak to the children of their Guardian Angels and teach each to look upon his angel as his strongest, best, and dearest life- long friend and companion. Let us speak of the purity and beauty of the angels and of the great care they take of us. November is sad in its devotion to the Poor Souls in Purgatory. It will be easy to enlist the sympathy of the children and to arouse their longing to send some poor soul onward to Heaven by their prayers and little sacrifices. Sacred Symbols in the Home Let us not forget the power of music. Chil- dren quickly pick up the songs they hear, and we all know how snatches of song learned in babyhood cling to one through life. Why not have a little selection of hymns that we can sing to them? A great stimulus to devotion is the building and care of a little altar in the home. To attach a shelf or box to the wall and drape it with cheesecloth is a simple matter. Have on the altar one or two pictures and, if possible, a statue of the Sacred Heart, or of Our Lady, or of the Blessed Mother holding the divine Infant. When flowers are in season, the children will delight in arranging them on the altar. Let them also keep a little light burning, at least on Fri- days, in memory of Christ's death, and on Satur- days in honor of Our Lady, and on great feast days. Have near the altar a receptable for holy water and teach them how to g3 to church and get holy water when the supply gives out. Gather the children about the altar for morn- ing and night prayers. At Christmas, have a miniature Bethlehem. In a corner of a room, or in an open fireplace, make rocks of coarse brown paper and sprinkle them with sparkling snow from the ten-cent store. Form a cave and place in it a manger holding the Infant Jesus, and arrange the figures of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, the Shepherds, etc. Let the children save their pennies and buy their own set of figures. Teach Reverence in God's House The child can not be too young to be taken to church for short visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Even if he can not yet take notice, the blessing of Christ will be upon him. When two or three years old. we can show him where Jesus lives, speak of the sanctuary lamp, etc 340 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Children will learn reverence for God and holy things from the carefulness with which we teach them to make the Sign of the Cross with holy water before entering the church and to genuflect before the altar; from the reverence of our atti- tude in prayer ; from the fact that they must not turn around or speak in church. We can give them a love for going to church by letting them visit the different shrines and there telling them a word about the saint each one honors, by letting them walk slowly along the Way of the Cross while we answer the questions they will surely propound. They will delight in the music and incense of Benediction and in watching proces- sions through the church. And when the child is old enough to go to Mass, his curiosity will find food for many ques- tions. He will be impressed by the lighted can- dles, the altar-boys, the pouring into the chalice of the water and the wine, the vestments of the priest, and the different colors that are used, ac- cording to the feast or spirit of the Church. .'\nd then, above all, we can tell of the great miracle that takes place upon the altar. The child will learn reverence also (and if we do not teach him reverence, all our religious in- struction is in vain) from our manner of speak- ing of holy things. Are not many of the remarks of children, which are repeated by their elders as marvelous examples of originality and intelli- gence, deplorably lacking in reverence? And is not the oft'hand, careless manner in which holy things have been explained to them the cause ? We say they are so young that no irreverence can be meant. True, but all unconsciously they are learning irreverence instead of reverence. By these various means our children will grow up in an atmosphere which is as necessary for their spiritual growth as is air for their physical growth. And without ever having heard of a Catechism, their hearts will be prepared to re- ceive the fuller and more definite knowledge of their faith which will come with riper years. Dramatic Play and Nursery Rhymes The children will show great ingenuity, too, in dramatizing the Bible stories we read, or better still, in telling them. How they will enjoy play- ing David meeting the giant, Judith slaying Holo- fernes, Daniel discovering footprints in the ashes, the messengers 'bringing to Job word of his losses, etc. And they can form tableaux of Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, of Joseph tell- ing Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams, etc. A valuable asset to the nursery will be a finely illustrated book of Catholic nursery rhymes. Thus a mere baby can learn of God and of His creation and of the birth of Christ, etc., by little jingles. A single quotation will suffice: "One cold, starry night, A long time ago. From Heaven above To the earth below. Came little Lord Jesus And laid Himself down On straw in a manger In Bethlehem town. "And Mary, His Mother Did kneel by His side. And Joseph was there To guard and to guide; And angels bowed low And wondered to see The great God of Heaven, A Child so like me!" The Use of Sacred Pictures in the Home Nothing makes a stronger appeal to children than pictures. Have in the nursery pictures of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and the Guardian Angel. Have a wall set apart for these. To place them next to profane pictures leads to irreverence. The Brown or Perry penny-pictures are very beautiful and can 'be easily mounted and framed. The Birth of Christ, Jesus Blessing Little Chil- dren, a Madonna and the Crucifi.xion will attract. Children three years of age, looking at a crucifix, have expressed love and sympathy we ourselves could envy. It is a mistake of the present day to keep away from them all suggestion of pain and sorrow. This makes for weakness and selfish- ness. And as nothing can be more beautiful than a child's grief over the sufferings of Christ, so nothing can be more potent in beautifying its character. There is no danger of a normal child's becoming over-sympathetic. The silent lesson of the crucifixion on the wall is a strong factor in the child's religious training. The penny-pictures are far more beautiful than many expensive ones, which are too often mere caricatures. Is it not strange how we show children a hideous picture and ask them to love the one it represents ? What would be the result were it not for their faith and love that pierce through the mask? If you can not procure these pictures in your home town, write for a catalog to George P. Brown & Co., 38 Lovett Street, Beverly. Mass. Also, in the front of the little book, "To the Heart of the Child," published by the Encyclopedia Press of New York, is a selected list of these pictures illustrating events in the Old and New Testa- ments. The numbers are given by which they can be ordered. Such a list is valuable, for it FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 341 requires much time and experimenting to procure the desired pictures by means of a catalog alone. These pictures can be used in various ways. The children may buy them with their own pen- nies and make with them valuable scrapbooks. I have found a loose-leaf cover that holds the set nicely. The pictures are clamped in. which is preferable to punching holes. If Father or Mother explains each night one of these pictures to the children, the latter will never forget the lessons so pleasantly given : neither will there be need for distinct Catechism lessons until the children are older. All they need to know the pictures can be made to tell. Again, these pictures can be used in a radiopti- con. requiring an electric bulb but no curtain, if the wall is light. The radiopticon can be used as a treat, say on the first Friday of the month. We can show the pictures we have already spoken about and call on the children to give the story. Or. at each lesson, we can keep on the screen the entire time the picture illustrating the story we are telling. Even though we use these devices for the older children, the smaller ones will gain as much as though we appealed directly to them. We all know how surprisingly little children ab- sorb what they see and hear. I remember going to a house to prepare a grown person for Bap- tism. A tiny, sickly child stayed quietly in the room. Later, her mother told me how she had overheard her teaching her doll the lessons I had given. Bible Story Telling in the Home But perhaps the parents themselves would like to refresh their memory of Bible stories learned long ago. The Extension Press of Chicago pub- lishes a book called "Catholic Bible Stories." These are taken from both the Old and New Testaments and are filled with illustrations. This hook is compiled for small children and prepares them for an early First Confession and First Holy Communion. Children from five to twelve years of age will revel in these stories, which are more thrilling than any others that can be found. Why not establish a story-hour in the home, in the late afternoon or evening? Read a story a day and when you have read them all. read the favorite ones again. Do not let the children form the bad habit of always wanting something new. It is ruinous to their minds, which should be fed upon the best, oft-repeated. When the children have outgrown this book. I would recommend "To the Heart of the Child," mentioned above. It will interest them and give them a deeper, fuller knowledge of their religion.* THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF A JEWISH CHILD t BY MRS. ROSE BARLOW WEINMAN The poet has said, "Trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home," and we Jews would extend the glorious line by saying. "To God, who is our home," for from the moment the babe opens his eyes he looks upon a God-permeated world, or, as one of our sages of old has put it, "In the beginning, God." The birth of a child is not only an event of great happiness, but one linked closely with religion. For this blessing prayers of gratitude are uttered, and with gifts the poor and the Synagogue are remembered. Also, as is well known, a religious ceremony of profound sig- nificance, the rite of circumcision, accompanies the bestowal of a sacred name upon the baby boy. Keenly yet with great rejoicing do the parents feel the holy trust, and the Jewish mother, like Hannah of old. would gladly dedicate her child to the service of God. The bud unfolds, and as the little one develops in health and strength the watchful parents in- dulge in the thought that he will one day be a fearless fighter for God; and the mother, as she guides the first unsteady, tottering footsteps, thrills with joy, cherishing the hope that the Heavenly Father may lead her child in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Before ever the babe can prattle he knows about God. "See the pretty flowers! God made all the • Now turn to "The Catholic Mother and her Child." on page 721. t How rich and delightful is the treasury of Jewish traditions and festivals, and how useful for the religious training of children, will be a surprise to many who read this paper by an unusually intelligent Jewish mother. 342 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL flowers, and the birds, and the trees. He made the water, the sun and the moon, the rain, the lightning and the thunder, too. God made every- thing," we tell him. A young Jewish mother once related this inci- dent to me : "We were enjoying our daily walk along a shady path," she said, "my baby boy (not quite two years old), tlie nursemaid, and I, when the maid, in telling about a little girl of her acquaintance, exclaimed, 'But she does ask so many questions ! Why, the other day she asked her mother who made God.' 'Nellie,' I remonstrated, somewhat startled, 'I wish you had ndt spoken in that way in the presence of Baby.' But Baby, perhaps in defense of his beloved nurse, or was it desire to answer the great question, piped out, 'God made herself.' To be sure we were amused and sur- prised, but can you doubt that I was indeed happy to know that at his tender age he had begun to realize the power of God?" "Out of the mouths of babes come wondrous truths," I answered. "If we could but hear them, or hearing them, deal with our children in accordance with the grand simplicity of their receptive minds." "Muvvcr," one baby lisped, "when you came up to Heaven how did j'ou know to pick me out?" Another little boy whom I knew intimately, like most children, thrived on rhyme and fairy- stories, taking great delight in hearing them told and retold, even incorporating them in his own conduct and experience. "A big liear came in my garden and played with me to-day," he said. "You dear little boy, are you sure ?" I asked. "Well, not to-day, but when I were a lady he did." From the age of three until after his sixth birthday, the child's frequent use of that expres- sion caused much wonderment, and although at times we were sorely puzzled, we never once questioned that his words, "When I were a lady," indicated certain unusual or imagined ex- perience. But one day we told him how Adam and Eve were sent from the Garden of Eden, and that while an angel guarded the tree of life he showed the way that they should go. "He," ci'ied the child in wide-eyed wonder, "He ! Oh, I thought all angels were ladies." And he hid his face in shame. These little ones in their direct and simple way arrange a world all of their own, and view that world, to be sure, with their own eyes. To the Jewish child all the world is Jewish, and no effort is made or required to connect the God idea with that of the child's Jewish origin; for they seem to be inextricably interwoven. "This thing happened simply of itself. Just as the night is created when the day goes." Like a chameleon, he takes the color of his sur- roundings : now he is the bird in the song, hop- ping, flying, singing praises to his God on high; now a fairy, or a lion, or a giant. To-day he is Noah leading the animals into the ark. Some- times the animals are naughty and will not walk in a straight line. Or he may be Jacob sleeping in the desert on his pillow of stone. Oh, the wonderful ladder reaching from earth to Heaven with the beautiful fairy angels on it ! He would like to play with them. His mother has told him the story with a sense of loving ownership, even as it was told to her. Father also paints the heroes of Israel in glowing colors. Does he never weary of relating the battle between David and Goliath — the victory of Israel over the Philistines? Or the story of Moses as he led the children of Israel over dry land in the midst of the Red Sea? "Jew," "Israel," "God !" These are familiar words to the Jewish child, words heightened and colored by love, pride, and a subtle sense of be- longing.^ God is near. He loves good little boys and girls, and Jewish boys and girls should try to be good, try to obey Father and Mother, to love Brother and Sister, to be gentle in their speech, to permit their friends to share their toys, to be kind to animals ; in fact, to endeavor to please God in every way. He loves all children, for thev 'belong to Him. All the world belongs to God. The Jewish Home Is a Shrine With such impressions promptly registering themselves, a Jewish consciousness is slowly but surely developing in the child mind, and the little one, with implicit faith in the words and acts of his beloved parents, takes much for granted. Then, too, in their religious life the members of a Jewish family act in unison, even the little one soon rejoices in the fact that he is a part of the whole. Seated with the family at meals, he hears his father day after day utter the words, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Uni- verse, who causest the earth to yield food for all." Words, mere words, are they for several years, yet so frequently was he wont to hear them, that they become a needful accompaniment to every meal, and as time goes on, their meaning is en- graved upon his heart. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 343 Is not this home the child's first shrine, the first akar where, with Father and Mother, he may worship ? He, too, holds communion with God ; for in the evening, as the mother tenderly folds him to rest with loving words and quieting thoughts, he feels a beautiful something within him and is encouraged in his desire to speak to God. This is one child's first prayer : "Dear God, I love you, and I love my Daddy and my Mamma. Good-night." The Mother Talks with Her Little Ones And now, in the daily contact with her child, through means of his duties and his play, his pets and toys, the morning strolls, the loveliness of Nature, through the beauty of favorite stories, of pictures and verses, and countless other golden opportunities, through every benign and beauti- ful influence which environs him, the thoughtful mother attempts to satisfy the yearning, out- reaching tendency of his child nature. She speaks to him of the goodness of God. No, we can not see God's face, but we know Him through His love and kindness. Because God is kind, mother is kind. Because mother loves her little boy she does everything in her power for his good. "I love you, Mother," the child exclairrrs again and again, and in her wisdom she tries to have him translate that declaration into action and conduct, for love must be meaningful. And when we tell God that we love Him, we must show our love by our deeds ; we must do our very best for Him; because He cares for us and watches over us day and night. "By slow degrees, by more and more" these thoughts are given to the child, until he is ready and eager for this simple prayer : "I thank Thee, O God, for the blessings of this day. Thou art my Shepherd ; I shall not want. Thou dost neither sleep nor slumber, and wilt pro- tect me all the night. In peace I lay me down to sleep. Bless my home and all who are dear to me. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. I am in thy care, O God, when I sleep and when I wake. Amen." The Sabbath in the Jewish Home Every pious Jewisli family hails with delight the celebration of the Sabbath, and the very young children, too, are impressed by this day, if only in respect to its unlikeness to other days; for the ways of the household are changed. All activity has ceased, even the "man-servant and the maid-servant" do no work. All is festive in appearance and in holiday attire, and though peace and quiet prevail, the children are happy and expectant. On Friday, preceding the evening meal, the Sabbath is ushered in with a religious service called the Kiddush, or sanctification. The ceremony is begun by the kindling of the Sabbath lights and by a fervent prayer to God that the home may be consecrated by His light, which signifies love and truth, peace and good-w'ill. The Sabbath is welcomed as a messenger of joy and praise, and while workday thoughts are put aside, a calm, serene spirit of divine love hovers over all. In praise of the good housewife and mother, the father of the family reads from the thirty- first chapter of the Book of Proverbs that glori- ous tribute to the good woman "whose price is far above rubies, in whom the heart of her hus- band trusteth : who bringeth her bread from afar and riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth food to her household. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates." The father now lifts the cup of wine as a symbol of joy, and renders thanks to his God for the blessings of the past week, for life and tlie light of love, for home and friendship, for strength to work and for the Sabbath day of rest. With these thoughts the cup of wine is passed around the table and each one in turn drinks from it. Then they partake of bread dipped in salt. The beautiful service concludes as the father lays his hand upon the head of each child in silent blessing. At the meal good cheer abounds, each en- deavoring to please the other, and all waiting and attending on the guest in their midst. To suggest that the little child participates in these ceremonies with more than vague, unformed impressions were indeed error; for only as the words and acts and symbols touch him in his association of ideas, in his daily experience, in his environment, can they come to be a part of his thought and feeling, and in time this comes to pass — a knowledge and feeling of Judaism, which is a vital thing throughout the years. Often, indeed, we have heard men in their old age declare that from the dim past they ever see the glimmer of the Sahbath lights, and feel the touch of their father's hand in blessing upon their head. The Jewish Passover Not only is the Sabbath day thus set aside for worship and prayer, but there are many appointed days of the year when the members of the family are united by the bonds of worship and of love, days devoted to thanksgiving and praise to God, to quiet enjojTnent and to acts of charity and kindness. Especially does the great Feast of Passover appeal to the children. It is unique. It gives full 344 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL play to all the poetry and heroism of their nature. How wonderful is the unleavened bread which they eat and the thoughts it calls to their minds I There is the little baby alone among the bul- rushes ! Will no one ever come to the rescue ? What joy they feel when his own mother clasps him in her arms ! And then to think of his life in the palace with the Egyptian princess. Was it a fairy palace? But on learning more of Egypt and her cruelty to the children of Israel, their hearts are filled with pity. The scene changes, and Moses, their hero, is a shepherd in the land of Midian. How tenderly he carries the little lamb back to the flock. And then the strange beauty of the burning bush, out of which sounds the voice of God ! For many years the bush is a real bush and the voice a real voice, just as they should be: nor does aught of their divine power pass from them when the Jew comes to feel that the fire is a fire of holy purpose to save and to serve, and similarly that the beautiful ceremonials of the Passover are but object lessons used to tell of God's mercy and providence, of the return of Spring, the urge of new life, the birth of free- dom and liberty. As the week of the Passover approaches, the inmates of the home of the pious orthodox Jew industriously prepare for its coming. All leaven must be removed and special china and utensils for cookery brought out. Each child in the fam- ily proffers his help, with a kindness persistent though impeding. Passover eve arrives, the evening which ushers in the feast of Unleavened Bread, ever observed as a memorial of God's deliverance of the Israel- ites from Egyptian bondage. This festival of Freedom is celebrated by a beautiful and impres- sive home ceremonial called the Seder service, one in which the child participates with real joy. The Seder forms a bond of union not only among the members of one family, but between every Jew and his brother Jew throughout the world, for do not its prayers, its songs, and its tradi- tions tell of joys and sorrows common to all Israel? On this night of the feast, the head of the household, or one invited to act for him, con- ducts the service, reading in both Hebrew and the vernacular. The table presents an unusual appearance, for not only is it in holiday dress, with flowers, sparkling glass and silver, but upon it appear the articles peculiar to the Seder. There are pieces of unleavened bread, or matcaJi, as it is called, a roasted bone of lamb, an egg, also roasted, a dish of bitter herbs (horseradish), some parsley or watercress, wine (an unfermented concoction of raisins), and charoscth, a mixture of minced almonds, apples, and raisins. "With song and praise, and with the beautiful symbols of our feast, let us renew the memories of our wonderful past, and take to heart its stirring lessons," says the father. They drink of the festive cup and sing their songs of glad- ness. All are given a bit of parsley or watercress, and they partake of it saying, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, Creator of the fruit of the earth." The reader raises the plate of unleavened bread: "Lo, this is the Bread of Affliction, and though God's providence has freed us, may we ever be mindful of those who are not free, and endeavor to aid all who are oppressed. Let those who are hungry come and eat, those who are poor, share with us our Passover." It was written, "And thou shalt tell thy son in that day," therefore the Seder Service includes an explanation to the children of the festival and its celebration. The Explanation to the Children "Why is this night different from all other nights?" asks the young child, as he views the strange objects on the table. "This night is God's watch-night over the children of Israel. He watched over our fore- fathers in Egypt and delivered them from slavery. He guards us continually, and to-night we praise and thank Him for His protecting care. He was our Redeemer and Deliverer, so that we may be His messengers unto all the peoples of the earth." "What is the meaning of the Pesach?" another child inquires, and he is told that the word signi- fies Passover: that God passed over and spared the House of Israel not only in dark Egypt, but again and again has He saved His people from destruction. "And the lamb bone?" calls out another. "Ah, the Paschal Lamb reminds us of God's command to Moses to sacrifice a lamb before the departure from Egypt. The lamb was sacred to the Egyptians, and when the Israelites obeyed the words of Moses, they struck the blow for freedom." "What is the meaning of the unleavened bread?" "The matzah, or bread of affliction, is the sym- bol of divine help. When our ancestors were driven from Egypt and forced to depart in haste, they carried no food but the unleavened dough in their kneading troughs. They did not starve, however, for this dough dried into unleavened bread. Seven days -we. eat of the unleavened FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 345 bread as a sign of God's loving care and of His power to save. "The salt water, the bitter herbs, and tlie charoscth — all are tokens of the hardships en- dured by the Israelites before their deliverance." "But the charoscth is sweet," the children say, and to their minds no hardship, until they are informed that its appearance suggests the clay and bits of straw used in the making of bricks by our forefathers when they toiled in Egypt. "And the egg?" "The egg speaks of life and faith in immortal life." Fun at Passover Time At the conclusion of the first part of the ser- vice, the table is laid and a delicious meal is served, which is welcomed and keenly relished by all, for has not the appetite been whetted by waiting, and has not the wife and mother devoted much time, thought, and effort to its preparation? Psalms, poems, quaint folk-songs, and refrains intersperse the entire service. What a lilt has this old nursery rhyme: CHAD GADYA (A KID, A KID) "A kid, a kid, my father bought For two pieces of money — A kid, a kid. "Then came the cat and ate the kid That my father bought For two pieces of money. Then came the dog and bit the cat. That ate the kid. That my father bought, For two pieces of money, etc. "Then came the Holy One. blessed be He, and killed the Angel of Death, That killed the butcher. That slew the o.x, That drank the water. That quenched the fire, That burned the staff, That beat the dog, Tliat bit the cat. That ate the kid. That my father bought For two pieces of money." "It is just like 'The House that Jack Built.' or 'The Old Woman and Her Pig,' " whisper the children, one to the other, as with friendly recog- nition they join in the refrain. These young commentators are in agreement with the learned ones who designate it a Jewish nursery rhyme modeled after an old French song. Other there are who affirm it to be a legend show- ing how Israel (the one only kid) was oppressed by the other nations of the ancient world, and how the Holy One came to his rescue. I shall quote in part from another folk-song which is written in riddle form. The riddle, as undoubtedly many recall, was employed as a means of entertainment at the table of Jewish families. This song shares popularity with the "Chad Gadya." "Who knows One? I know One — One is the God of the World. "Who knows Two? I know Two — Two are the Tables of the Covenant. Two Tables of the Covenant — One God of the World." This form is continued through the number thirteen. It is considered appropriate for the Seder, as it lays stress upon the fundamental truth in Judaism, "God is One." "Who knows Thirteen? I know Thirteen — There are Thirteen Attributes of God (Ex 34:6, 7) Thirteen .Attributes ; Twelve Tribes ; Eleven Stars (Joseph's Dream) ; Ten Commandments ; Nine Festivals ; Eight Lights of Hanukah; Seven days of the week; Six days of Creation; Five Books of Moses ; Four Mothers of Israel; Three Patriarchs ; Two Tables of the Covenant — One God of the World." "And it Came to Pass at Midnight" is the name of a hymn recounting instances of divine deliver- ance from the early days of Abraham to the great deliverance in the future. The poet Heine found inspiration in this song: "Unto God let praise be brought For the wonders He hath wrought (Response) At the solemn hour of midnight. "All the Earth was sunk in night When God said, 'Let there be light' (Response) Thus the day was formed from mid- night. "To the Patriarch God revealed The true faith so long concealed (Response) By the darkness of the midnight. "But this truth was long obscured By the slavery endured (Response) In the black Egyptian midnight," etc. The meal concludes with a bit of pleasantry. One-half of a bit of matcah. which has been re- served for the Aphikomon, a Greek word mean- 346 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL ing "after-meal," or dessert, has been slyly drawn away by one of the children and concealed from view, the reader all the while feigning ignorance. Finally, he notes the loss, and not until he prom- ises a gift, however trifling, does the offender bring forth the missing cake. "A game of paying forfeits," you will say. In this brief account of the Seder service much has been omitted, but the Jewish child is sure to cry out, "Remember Elijah !" Many years will elapse before he can understand that Elijah, the prophet, the hero of the Passover, represents the protector of the home, the lover of parents and children, the messenger of redemption ; but for the present he awaits the taking of the fourth cup of wine, and the opening of the door by his brother. Yes, when he is older, perhaps, he may be allowed to rise and open the door with the hope that Elijah may come in. Should a stranger or a friend enter the room at that time, it is needless to say that his place at the table awaits him and that he is most hospitably received. Little wonder that many a poem has been in- spired, many a beautiful tale told, because the door of hope, of love, of religious fervor, is opened to freedom and to justice that April night. The Passover ! It is a joyful feast, a week devoted to memories of the past, praise and thanksgiving for the present and for the future. Each day does the house resound with songs, hymns or psalms : "O, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy endureth forever," or this festival-song with its stirring traditional air: "God of might, God of right. Thee we give all glory ; Thine all praise in these days As in ages hoary. When we hear, year by year. Freedom's wondrous story." All this the little one receives, and were an observer to discover an added sense in the Jewish child, he would find that one to be the sense of religion. The Jewish Harvest Festival In the religious e.xperience of the Jews, history and Nature unite to form the background of the great festivals. Just as the Passover developed from the commemoration of the exodus from Egypt, and the ripening of the early barley crop in the land of Canaan into a festival of freedom and of springtime, so a reminder of the years when the children of Israel dwelt in booths in the wilderness, together with gratitude for the latter harvest in the conquered land, gave rise to the Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of the In- gathering, a festival of Autumn. Can we doubt that the little child glows with interest and pleasure when, in celebration of these events, he may spend some time each day with his dear ones in a leafy arbor or booth (sHccah), which is erected as an adjoining room to their home? In this frail structure with its partly open roof the people of the household take their meals, study, and receive their friends. Here, with song and prayer, they give thanks to God for His wondrous providence. How supremely happy the little one feels to sit in this bower of green, red, and yellow leaves, with clusters of grapes and shining apples here and there ! Upon seeing the dark sky and twinkling stars through the roof he asks, "Are the holes in the top so God can hear our prayers better?" Some day a thousand meanings for this leafy tent will come to him: his own frailty, his de- pendence upon God, the openness that life should spell, the open hand, the open heart, the open mind, the upward look, the reverent dismantling of the structure with a fervent desire to move on and on, to follow the "cloud by day and the fire by night." But now he needs to know only that the loving Father has blessed him with all good things, and that he in turn should be helpful and kind to others. "Little hands be free in giving, Little hearts be glad to serve," thus is he taught to sing in gratitude to Him "whose kindness endureth forever." We have seen that though we are concerned with the commemoration of very significant events, their observance never fails to create a place for the little child. "Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children," uttered back in the dim ages, still sounds a clear, insistent note in the hearts and homes of Israel's people ; so we dare to hope that the celebration of the Sabbath, the Passover, the Feast of Booths, leaves a marked effect upon the character of our children, and that Hanukah, a feast of "mirth and joy," holds a high place in their hearts. The Feast of Lights What is the meaning of Hanukah. do you ask? It is the feast of Dedication and of Light. Dedication, because it commemorates the victory of the Hasmoneans over the Syrians, and a re- dedication of the Temple at Jerusalem (165 b.c.) by Judah Maccabee, that brave warrior and loyal Jew; a feast of Light because of a tradition FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 347 surrounding the conquering hero, although, like Christmas and the Brumalia of the Romans, and the Yule-tide feast of the Norse people, it had its origin in Nature as a feast of the winter solstice; as it were, a feast of the birth of light. The elements of Nature, histery, and tradition, like strands of brilliant colors, are woven into a design of surpassing beauty, and we have Hanu- kah, the Festival of Lights, different from the other days, as the events which it commemorates happened later than those recorded in the Bible. They are told in the Apocrypha in the first and second books of the Maccabees. The little child knows nothing of the origin, the history, or the literature connected with this holiday; but the story, the lights, the songs and the games, these he finds a never-ending source of joy. While the young, eager faces are upturned to hers. Mother tells the story very simply, how the Syrians (Greeks) through their cruel king. Anti- ochus Epiphanes, tried to force their idol wor- ship upon the Jews. But the people of Israel, faithful to God. held true to the religion of their fathers. She tells them of the good old man, Mattathias, who, with his five ibrave sons, raised a small army and went out to battle against the enemy ; and that when his strength left him, he bade his sons fight on and conquer. '"As for Judah Maccabee, he hath been mighty and strong even from his youth up; let him be j'our captain and fight the battle of the people," he said. They put themselves in God's care, inscribing upon their banner, "Who, O Lord, is like unto Thee among the mighty?" and Judah led them and gave them courage to strike for their religion and their land. After three years of war he led them into their beloved city and their Temple at Jerusalem. "Oh, they must have been happy," said one of the children. "What did they do then?" asked our little one. "Of course," continues the mother, "they wished to enter the Temple and worship, to thank God for His help and protection, but to their sorrow the holy place was deserted and the altar pro- faned. Why. they found the gates burnt up and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest. How sad the people were ! 'They rent their clothes and wept aloud.' "But Judah gave, them hope and courage. While some of the men at his command were building a new altar others were intent upon cleansing the sanctuary. At last all was purified. The grateful people were eager to re-dedicate God's house. But where was the oil for the sacred lamp? K..\.— 24 "Someone has said that after long searching a little boy found a tiny cruse of oil and witli great joy gave it to the hero, to Judah, to the tall, strong, fine, brave, loving Judah." "I wish I was that little boy." "You may be, dear. When you are older you will understand. "When the oil was poured into the lamp, it was feared that there was not enough for one day's use, but wonder of wonders ! the light con- tinued to burn for eight days. These were the days of re-dedication, and so in memory of them and of God's wondrous power to help those who trust in Him, we burn the Hamtkah lights in our home for eight successive nights. Do you re- member, children, one candle the first night, two the second night, until, on the eighth evening, eight lovely tapers are burning? " 'Kindle the taper like the steadfast star Ablaze on evening's forehead o'er the earth. And add each night a luster, till afar An eight-fold splendor shine above the hearth.' " "Don't forget the Shammus, Mother." "What is the Shammus?" asks the littlest boy. "Mother will tell you, dear. The Shammus is the taper which kindles all the others. It is the 'Servant of the Lights.' We say it is Israel carry- ing God's word to all the people in the world." "I like the Shammus, Mother." "I am happy to know that. Remember the little boy who found the cruse of oil. "Children, are you sure that you know the old, old Hattukah song?" They begin to sing: "Rock of Ages, let our song Praise Thy saving power," etc. Then the older children talk about the Hanukah play to be given at the synagogue, and of the beautiful pageant of lights that will be shown, where "Light," a lovely girl, will represent the light of day, of the stars, of love, of truth and righteousness, the light of knowledge, of the home, of charity, patriotism, law, and lastly, Israel, or the light of faith. And besides, their kind mother is preparing a splendid entertainment for them, a real Hanu- kah party, to which they may invite their friends. She will teach them some of the old games like trcndclc, that funny little square top with a letter on each side. Does our little one understand all that he sees and hears ? We know that he does not ; but we conclude that the joy, the mystery, and the poetry of the events of his religious year creep into tlie young heart and mind, and there slowly but 348 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL surely form an armor of pride in race, a true in the little one the impressions begun in the Jewish consciousness. home ? The mother will yield her treasure to Soon the parents will place their little boy in the school, hoping that the foundation for the the Religious School, and the kindergartner may love of Judaism has been well laid, and that her attempt to share that sweet fellowship which has boy may grow "from strength to strength" under so closely linked mother and child. Will hers tlie guidance of those dedicated to the sacred be a sympathetic understanding? Will she deepen task. The reason a teacher who understands little children occa- sionally suggests a use of crayon and blackboard or paper is not alone to vary monotony and thus reawaken interest, but to afford fingers the opportunity of which lips often are incapable. For self-expression is such a necessary part of a child's development, and the vocabulary is so limited and words so difficult for shy lips to form, that the problem is frequently solved by handwork. The blue blur is the flower which makes the child glad, the straight mark the stick which David used to protect his sheep, the tiny dots the crumbs with which the child fed the birds, the yellow crosses God's stars that keep watch when a child sleeps, the green marks God's carpet for the earth, on which his beasts feed. "Find all the pictures of kind people," says the teacher, and the children show what impression of kindness they have received by touching the Good Shepherd, the good Samaritan, and possibly the mother in the Sistine Madonna. "Touch pictures of creatures and things the Heavenly Father takes care of," she suggests again, and the children pick out animal and bird and flower pictures, and even discover these things as details of Bible story pictures. "I wonder who can find me a picture about the verse, 'Let us love one another,' " she asks, and the pictures illus- trating helpful love are chosen. The crirx of the whole matter is this — to develop, not inform: to draw out, not pour in: and thus give to the child his opportunity to grow naturally. — Frances W. Danielson. FIFTH YEAR PLAYS AND GAMES FOR THE FIFTH YEAR LUELLA A. PALMER The plays of a four-year-old child begin to be recognized as leading toward games with certain rules. He is still so immature that he can not understand any but the very simplest checks to his free play. Sense-Plays Hide the Ball. As a development of the earlier hiding games, let a child cover his eyes while someone places a brightly colored ball in some spot where it is inconspicuous, but not entirely out of sight. Increase the difficulty of the game by hiding smaller objects or those of a more neutral color in more obscure places. Pictures. Letting a child tell all that he sees in a picture is good training in observation. Beads. Boxes of wooden beads, called Hail- mann beads, of the six prismatic colors and in three forms — ball, cube, and cylinder — can be purchased at any kindergarten supply-store. These can be used for the early color and form discrimination. After the child has sorted them and built objects with the different colors and shapes, they may be strung upon a shoelace. The stringing of beads is good practice for the development of the hand. After the first delight in making a chain for the neck, the beads lend themselves to combinations which may in- crease in difficulty. ( i ) The first stringing will probably be without discrimination of either form or color. (2) Later the same forms might be strung together, as all balls, all cubes, all cylin- ders. (3) All of a certain color might be strung. (At first, in all probability, red and orange will be confused, and blue and purple, but color dis- crimination grows with age.) (4) All balls of one color, then cubes, then cylinders. Repeat with other colors. (5) One ball, one cube, one cylinder, of one color. Repeat with other colors. (6) Alternating colors all of one form, as one red ball, one blue ball. (7) Two of same form, alternating colors, as two blue balls, two yellow balls. (8) Three of same form, two colors. (9) Two of each of three different colors, as two red balls, two yellow, two blue. (10) String balls in prismatic order. (11) String one ball, one cube, one cylinder of red, and so on, in prismatic order. (12) Three of one color and two of an- other. Children may vary the work of different chains hy choosing different combinations of color, using different number combinations, and stringing the forms in different order. Difference of Sound. Have several resonant substances within reach, such as wood, tin, glass. Strike one of these while a child has his eyes closed. Let him guess which object was struck. Increase the number of substances to be dis- tinguished. Matching. Partly fill boxes of the same shape, such as small baking-powder cans, with stones, shells, beans, canary seeds, etc. Have at least two of each kind. Let the child shake them and put in pairs those with similar sound. Let him test by opening the boxes. Dr. Montessori sug- gests this type of educative play. Chin Chopper. Have pieces of apple, pear, and peach or orange, grapefruit, and lemon. Let the child close his eyes, then chant: "Chin chopper, chin chopper, chin chopper chin, Open your mouth and I'll drop in." As the words are repeated, the child who stands with closed eyes opens bis mouth and tastes what is placed there, then tries to guess what it is. Movement-Plays During the fifth year the child makes for him- self more difficult tests with regard to his con- trol over balance and various ways of moving. He hops on one foot, or walks along a crack in the pavement, or jumps down steps. He skips at first with one foot and later with two. 349 350 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Always encourage a rhythmic repetition of the exercise. Tap toes standing; sitting. Tap heels standing; sitting. Tap toes together. Tap heels together. Fiody up and down on tiptoes. Walk on line. Run, on tiptoe. Skip on one foot. Hop on two feet, like birds. Jump down step, land on toes. Walk on tiptoe, like a fairy. Body down; up, jumping on toes. Body bend sideways at waist,, like seesaw. Knees up when .walking, like high-stepping horses. Arms outstretched, fly like birds. Arms up and down, t)ack and front, twirl. Hands clap loud ; soft. Body with arms up, sway like trees in wind. Ball Plays In the plays with the ball this year a child tries to toss and bounce so that he may catch it. He likes to have an adult play with him because their aim is accurate and he has a good chance of success. If several children are playing .to- gether, they enjoy having the adult toss or bounce the ball so that any child may catch it who can. A child of this age likes to roll a ball back and forth with a playmate. If there are several children they like to keep two or more balls roll- ing at the same time. Dramatic Plays The child of four still draws the most of his material for dramatic interpretation from the home, but he adds to this the familiar street occupations seen from his window or doorstep and also the activity which made a vivid im- pression when he went on a trip to the zoo or the beach. From this he will arrange a short plot and act it out, supplying the details with words. "I'm making a house. I can make a house. I'm a carpenter. Here's the door and here's the win- dow." Then probably the part played by the four-year-old will change suddenly and he will say: "This is my house. Come to see me." So he goes through the day, taking first one charac- ter and then another, but always playing the leading part. Help the child to weave more and more of the ideas together like incidents in a story. On an imaginary visit to the park, a child could walk around the room or garden, step upon the car (chair or stool), pay his fare, wait for Fifty- ninth Street, jump off the car, walk to the park, feed the squirrels, throw bread to the fish, jump the rope, run lightly on the grass, watch the birds, and take the trip home again. The following topics are suggested as pos- sible subjects for connected dramatic play: A trip to the seashore. A walk through the woods. Frogs and fishes in the pond. Birds nesting and rearing brood. The crawling caterpillar going to sleep and evolving into the fluttering moth. Playing in the snow. A visit to a mechanical toyshop and imitation of the various toys. Santa Claus' ride and leaving of gifts. A trip to the zoo. The circus. Different trades (as shoemaker, blacksmith, car- penter). House-cleaning. Trees in a storm. May party. Picnic. Plays that are "originated" by all children are horse, house, train, boat, bird, carpenter, post- man, policeman, blacksmith, fireman. The child of four will wish to be engine, engineer, pas- senger, and whistle, all himself. The game of "The Sparrows" is much enjoyed by city children. After a shower they will often stand at the window and watch the delight of the sparrows as they splash in the cool water. A sug- gestion or question at such a time will lead to spontaneous dramatization. "See the little sparrows come Out from under cover To the water in the street, Gayly hopping over; "Now they hop and now they fly. Huddling in together. Chasing, chafiSng, chirping gay. They mind not any weather. "Now just see — away they fly Chirping all together. Now just see — away they fly Chirping all together." Actions should accompany the words of the song and be as good imitations of the sparrows as the children are able to make. Simple rhymes can be interpreted dramatically in the fifth year. Jack' be Ni)iible. — Any small object may be FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 351 Hilda Rusick, THE SPARROWS m -A ^- m l^EAz zi-tt ^ M ^ M ' . ' -• — • — I — • — •■ -i — c. -• — • — •- i J^-t ^— T— I ' r ^ ^^ — *> *— r-*^ ^'^ 1 1 =^— S b -ra ■ e y f^ P ^^ — J — * — »* — * * — * — *~F* — * — * — * * ^ ^^ I — r~ ^fc^=^^=^=^=^^ -•— = — 0- • — • — • — • — — •— = — • — «• -ft-^ — & — I*, — \ -V s/ 1^- I I k K r i — -^ < 1 — J 1 — ^ — — — 1-» — — — I placed on the floor for a candlestick (a tray with spool and lead pencil makes a fairly good one), and the child jumps over it as the words are repeated. Always let the children choose what they wish for stage properties. Adults are usu- ally too realistic. Jack and Jill. — Two children, one carrying a pail, take hold of hands and pretend to walk uphill. At the proper time Jack falls down and places his hand on his "crown," and then Jill tumbles headlong, too. Little Miss Mnffct. — One child sits in a chair, pretending to eat from a bowl. Another child creeps up behind her like a spider and "sits down beside" the chair while Miss Muffet drops her bowl in her fright and runs away. Other rhymes much enjoyed at this age are "Jack Horner," "Tommy Tucker," and "A Little Boy went into a Barn." Finger-Plays A BEDTIME STORY "This little boy is going to bed; (First finger of right hand in f'alm nf left) Down on the pillow he lays his head ; (Thumb of left hand is pillow) Wraps himself in the covers tight — (Fingers of left hand closed) This is the way he sleeps all night. Morning comes, he opens his eyes ; Back with a toss the cover flies ; (Fingers of left hand open) Up he jumps, is dressed and away, (Right index finger up and hopping aivay) Ready for frolic and play all day." THE SOLDIERS "Brave little soldiers, march for me. Swift little soldiers, run for me. Stout little soldiers, jump for me." THE FINGERS "Ten little men all in a room ; Ten little men to market go. Thumbkins go to buy some meat; Pointers go to buy some wheat; "Tall men go to carry back The great big bundles in a sack; Ring men go to buy some silk; Babies go to buy some milk." The play can be repeated, using the first finger of the left hand for "This little girl." Social Plays Yankee Doodle. — To this tune children sing: "Yankee Doodle is in town, Tra, la, la, la, la, la. "First it's up and then it's down, Tra, la, la, la, la, la." At the first word one child makes some mo- tion with hands or feet, such as waving hands or stamping feet, and the other children imitate. To the Wall. — Two or more children stand in a straight row opposite a wall. The first child goes to the wall and back, hopping, shaking his head, or making some similar motion. The other children imitate him. The second child then has a turn to show how to go, etc. 352 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL 77)1? Ride. — One child chooses another for a horse; he then asks a httle playmate to ride with him. ^= z— N J' -y - T' i-A — ^^-^ — I— '^-~^ ' f 1 ->— f- •j T^-n?" Come and take a ride with me Far a - way, far a - way. We will man - y plac -88 see, -7 ^^th-i^r — ' — ^ d — T h ^~i — J" — 1 1^ — \ ^-1 — ^ — ^ — r-H" — r~ :^5^5l_^^=^^,— 4^----^I-=t-J *^J ^J J— J ^J ^ P^ In our ride to - day. Tra la la la la la la, rit. Tra la la la, S^ ^ -|- tra la la la, Tra la la la la la la, Whoa, whoa, back whoa. Looby Loo (simplified). — Form in a circle, but omit the circle dance at the end of each stanza; four- year-old children can not control themselves enough to hold hands while moving swiftly. Sing: A ■— fV — I 1 \-i — c N N 1 1 ; ?.— :t sa£ I will put my one hand in, I will put my one hand out. wiU give my one hand a shake, shake, shake. And turn my one hand bout. mE& -« — ^ Here we clap loo - by loo. Here we clap loo by lay. m mmi rs Here we clap loo - by loo, All in a mer - ry play. I will put my other hand in, etc. Then "two hands," "one foot," "other foot,"' "two feet," "one head," "whole self." End each stanza with "Here we clap [shake or skip], looby, loo," etc. Tlic IJ'liccl. — All the children join hands and circle around, singing: —I U :^%£ m t: =t Turn - ing, turn - ing, turn - ing, turn - ing. This is the way the wheel goes round. This game can be developed further in several ways: by choosing one child to stand in center for hub ; by reversing the motion of the circle, saying, "Whoa ! back !" by dividing into two and, later, into four wheels, each with its hub ; by forming concentric rings. The Carpenter. — Almost any activity with which the children are familiar will fit into the follow- ing rhythm : tJ ^SE ml 5=p= =jt= ^= :=|t FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 3S3 "The carpenter is sawing, sawing, sawing. The carpenter is sawing, sawing boards to-day. The carpenter is hammering, etc. The carpenter is planing, etc." End with, ". . . making a house to-day." All the children while singing imitate the action indicated. Spring Game. — Any gardening activity which the children suggest, such as planting, weeding, digging, may be dramatized and acted out to the following rhythm : ^^ ^ EE ^^P W^± Rak - ing, rak - ing, rak - ing, rak - ing, rak - ing our gar - den bed. Dancing Song* — Little children should make up their own steps to the melody, either prancing on tiptoe or sliding or whirling. Perhaps some of the older children will suggest clapping to the first, second, fourth, and fifth bars and whirling in the third and sixth. Albta Rossitbr. Waltz time. ^^s m^ ± T e£ :t One, two, three. One, two, three, Dane " ing go; ^^ ^■ m gsS g^s m ? 3 i 15^ ^ — n-- One, two, three. One, two, three. Light - ly tip ^ j ^ = tJ -i- -m- d= toe. -*•- i 3. * Alys Bentley, "The Song Primer." The A. S. Barnes Company. Let him be a lover of wind and sun And of faUing rain; and the friend of trees; With a singing heart for the pride of noon. And a tender heart for what twihght sees. —Ethel Clifford: "The Child: SELF-MAKING * BY SUSAN E. BLOW "To give a child a conception, instead of inducing him to find it, is a zvicl^ed act." — Pestalozzi. "Let it lie," the vigorous youngster exclaims to his father, who is about to roll a piece of wood out of the boy's way; "let it lie; I can get over it." With difficulty, indeed, the boy gets over it the first time, but he has accomplished the feat by his own strength. Strength and courage have grown in him. He returns, gets over the obstacle a second time, and soon he learns to clear it easily. If activity brought joy to the child, work now gives delight to the boy. Hence, the daring and venturesome feats of boyhood, the exploration of caves and ravines, the climb- ing of trees and mountains, the searching of the heights and depths, the roaming through fields and forests. The most difficult thing seems easy, the most daring thing seems without danger to him, for his promptings come from his innermost heart and will. I well know how hard it is to resist the fear which deters us from giving children occasion to cope with difficulties, conquer obstacles, con- front reasonable perils. Yet I also know that if you wish to develop Harold's strength and manliness you must be ready to let him do and dare. Now is it less true that if, as he grows older, you wish to develop his intellect you must avoid making the path of knowledge too smooth, broad, and easy, and if you wish to develop his moral energy you must permit him to grapple with moral problems. I should not express myself so strongly on this point were I not sure that hundreds of children are ruined because enough is not expected of them. The keener your realization of this peril, the more earnestly will you incite your infant Hercules to strangle while still in his cradle the twin serpents of sloth and selfishness. In your efforts to incite and discipline his energies you mu.st, however, be careful to keep a just balance between his strength and the obstacles you ask him to overcome. Will may be paralyzed as well as dissipated, and through the failures born of attempts to grapple with overwhelming diffi- culties the child may be made moody and coward- ly. Moreover, his affections are repelled from * From "Letters to Mothers on the Philosophy of Froehel,' D. Appleton & Company, New York. the mother or teacher who asks of him what even with his best effort he can not do, while conversely the impetuous currents of his love flow freely toward all those who procure for him that ela- tion of spirit which is the fine flower of success- ful achievement. Finally, it is from many small successes that he wins courage and modesty. Becoming accustomed to strife and victory, he learns just what he may venture to attempt, and in the end grows capable of that "reasoned rashness" which all great emergencies demand and all great successes imply. By many persons Froebel is supposed to be the avowed champion of two very popular, very plausible, but very dangerous educational heresies, against which his whole system is a protest. One of these heresies has been called sugar-plum education, the other has been fitly baptized flower- pot education. Sugar-plum education in its moral aspect means coaxing, cajolery, and bribery; in its intellectual aspects it is the parent of that specious and misleading maxim that the chief aim of the educator is to interest the child. Like the theory which wrecks happiness by making it the aim of life, the effort to win interest re- sults in methods which kill interest. The end of life is not happiness, but goodness; the aim of education is not to interest the child, but to incite and guide his self-activity. Seeking goodness we win happiness; inciting self-activity we quicken interest. Please say to Helen that unless she wishes her kindergarten to be a wretched parody of Froebel's ideal she will say to herself, "I must get and hold their attention." The kindergart- ner who lashes herself into a dramatic frenzy when playing the games, and talks herself hoarse in vain attempts to interest her children in their gifts, too often remains serenely complacent in face of their phlegmatic indifiference to her well- meant endeavors. Has she not done everything to interest them? They must, she thinks, be peculiarly unresponsive children ; or perhaps they have been spoiled at home ! If she would pro- pose to herself the objective test, and frankly admit that unless she can hold attention she is a failure, she would hit upon devices appealing by Susan E. Blow. Used by permission of the publishers. 354 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 355 more to the self-activity of the pupils. Striving for attention, she would win interest. For true interest can neither be seduced nor compelled; it must be incited. These hints will help you to understand sugar- plum education. Now for the flower-pot. Flower- pot education means the efforts to make the child wise and good through the influence of an arti- ficially perfect environment. You will take your tender plant out of the common ground and away from the common air and keep it safe by setting it in a sunny window of your own room. The struggle for life may mean something for other plants, but you will improve on the divine method in rearing your choice rose. Two false assump- tions are latent in your procedure: first, the as- sumption that character may be formed without effort ; and second, the assumption that evil is only outside your child, and not at all in him. Both flower-pot and sugar-plum education are attacks upon freedom. The former holds that the child may be molded by environment, the latter that his blind impulses may be played upon by the educator. Froebel holds that he is a free being, and therefore must be a self-making being. Hence, v^hile sugar-plum education appeals to the activity of the educator, and flower-pot edu- cation to the activity of environment, Froebel appeals first, last, and always to the self-activity of the child. CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY* GRACE L. BROWN I. The First Handicraft There are many signs that your four-year-old is leaving his babyhood behind, and some are hard for you to accept, but one which appeals to both your interest and pride is his growing mastery over materials and tools. From being a scribbler he is becoming a maker of pictures, ideas coming thick and fast when he once gets started. Cutting just for the fun of cutting, when anything within reach, from the newspaper to his hair, may fall a victim to scissors, gives place to efforts to make things — a wagon or boat, a doll's dress or bed cover. His chief use of material up to this time has been experimenting — playing with it — learning what he could do with it. Now he begins to put that knowledge to use and his crude, often gro- tesque efforts should be encouraged, not laughed at. This is the beginning of creative handwork, and as such should be respected and helped on in every way possible. How to Help Mother, father, and older sister and brother can all help: their part is to supply material, give a suggestion here and a little help there, and, above all, the sympathetic encouragement which all children need in their effort to think and do for themselves. Children a little older often know better how to help than grown-ups, for they see more quickly the point of difficulty and know how to suggest a remedy. One thing in particular is fatal at this period in the development of new interest. In your eagerness to help, do not take the work out of the child's hands, saying. "I'll do it for you!" for in your desire to save him from failure — to have a perfect product — you are denying him the opportunity to test and develop his own power of thought and skill, the only way to true learning. Encourage the little worker to believe he can do what he attempts, and nine times out of ten he will measure up to that belief. Another word of warning: his idea of finished work and yours will differ widely, for he will be perfectly satisfied at first with a slight re- semblance to the real thing. Do not try to im- pose your standards ; remember he is only four, and just beginning. Materials Many of the most satisfactory materials are odds and ends found around the house, such as — wrappmg-paper newspapers paper bags string cardboard boxes paper fasteners paste berry and grape baskets cloth clothespins buttons spools milk-bottle tops * This article is not only useful for its practical suggestions, but it is interesting as being the first published descrip- tion of the methods that are in daily use at the kindergarten of the Horace Mann School at Teachers College, the school which is having a more potent influence on elementary education than any other at the present time. Miss Brown is the associate of Patty Smith Hill in the direction of this kindergarten, and prepared this paper especially for this {(Ianuai.. 356 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL In addition to these, the outdoors makes a unique contribution of its own, varying with the season and locality — sand shells pebbles snow leaves seeds straw flowers Every yard where there are little children should have a sand-pile or sand-box if possiljle, and an old packing-case makes a wonderful play- house because so many things can be done with it. Clay should be included in every list of materials. If there is a pottery anywhere near, your source of supply is at hand. Keep the clay in good condition, by packing together after using, wrapping well in a heavy, wet cloth and putting away in a small crock or covered earthen dish. A piece of white oilcloth is an essential to protect the table, and children should learn to wipe it off with a damp cloth after using. The wardrobe of every girl and boy should include work apron or overalls of strong material, to relieve both mother and child of anxiety and irritation over soiled clothes. A box or chest for materials and tools is a real need, and the realization that there is a right place for everything can not begin too soon. Tools Every child is entitled to own a few good tools. Do not waste your money by buying toy tool- boxes or cheap tools — get one at a time, if the cost seems excessive, but select the best. How can little unskilled hands accomplish anything with tools which would be useless even in the hands of a grown-up? , The tool-box of your four-year-old should contain — medium-size scissors — semi-sharp No. 3 nail-hammer flat-head wire nails — }i to 13/ in. long. The best implements for the sand-pile are a strong kitchen spoon, small tin dishes, tin boxes, and a pail, while a funnel and sieve to pour the sand through give variety. What to Make Boys and girls enjoy making the same things at this a.ge. Boxes. — A spool or candy-box becomes a wagon by merely attaching a string, and later a more realistic one can be made by the addition of cardboard wheels or milk-bottle tops fastened on with paper fasteners. Several wagons fastened together make a train — the engine a box with cover and a spool glued on for a smokestack. Baskets. — Berry, grape, and small peach baskets become beds for the doll family when fitted with mattress and covers. The mattress can be made of a salt or flour bag stuifed with cotton or cuj;-up newspaper, and the covers need no hemming. Paper. — The fascination of just cutting paper still holds with the four-year-old, and while it seems like a destructive tendency, he is really learning how to handle scissors and make them work effectively. Supply whatever paper is most plentiful, and take care of the cuttings by filling a bag, box, or basket, possibly using them as suggested above. Strips of paper, no matter how irregular, can be pasted in rings and made into chains, and bright colors add interest and variety. Efforts to make furniture are helped by cut- ting out paper dolls to sit in the chairs or lie on the beds. These first articles of furniture are legless and satisfy the little maker for a short time only, then he adds funny wobbly legs, and so the work improves, adding one detail after another. Do not try to hurry this growth of ideas — give them time to come gradually — nat- urally. Chiy. — Clay in the hands of a four-year-old means at first patting and pounding, squeezing and rolling, and out of it all will gradually come things which look like little cakes or cookies, loaves of bread and rolls, plates to put the cakes on, and so the play begins. Play they have a bakery, or play doll's tea- party, making crude little cups and saucers, and a plate of cookies or a layer cake (one cookie on top of another). Small balls, though uneven in shape and size, can be used for marbles, or while moist may be strung as beads, using a darn- ing needle and small twine. Marbles and beads are much more attractive if gayly painted with water-colors after the clay is dry. Every child will discover for himself things to make, and imagination will make up for all imperfections in form. Cloth. — Wrapping a piece of cloth around a small doll and securing it with a stitch or two or a pin, regardless of comfort or anatomy, is the first effort of the doll's dressmaker. Save from the scrapbasket pieces of bright cloth and bits of ribbon and lace for this purpose, and encourage sewing by the gift of a work-basket fitted with needles, thread, thimble, and a pin- cushion. A very attractive basket can be made of a small berry basket covered with gay silk or cretonne. If there are no small members of the doll family, clothespins, rolls of cloth, and even corn- cobs make very good dolls, especially at this age, when arms seem to play so small a part in the FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 357 dressing. At first, wrapping the cloth around the doll is quite satisfactory, then a hole may be cut for the head to slip through, later the arms will be freed in the same way, and always the sash plays an important part. Boys enjoy this work as well as girls, and in- stead of being told it is girls' play should be encouraged to try it out, for everyone should know how to sew. Mattress and covers for dolly's bed have al- ready been referred to; sails can be put on the box boats, and flags of white or colored cloth tacked on sticks for a parade. All the sewing will 'be very coarse and ir- regular, usually not more than a few stitches, and that there may be no strain, a coarse needle and double thread should be used. Nature Materials. — A sand-pile and a child need no introduction ; put them together with or with- out the proverbial shovel and pail, and play be- gins. The same is true of snow, and the possi- bilities range from digging and snowballs to the snow-man and snow-fort of the older boy and girl. Some Nature material, such as leaves, has only a temporary value, as it is perishable, but a great deal can be gathered in Summer to be brought out some wintry day in response to the oft-re- peated appeal, "What can I do?" Gardens supply a variety of seeds, the fields give their grasses and straw, trees their leaves and nuts, and the seashore a fascinating contribution of pebbles and shells. Encourage children to collect, or at least assist in collecting, their own material, for it will give them a first-hand contact with Nature, which will be an invaluable background for future na- ture study. For winter use, save such seeds as pumpkin, watermelon, beans, and com, drying them before putting away. A cupful of these mi.xed seeds will afford much entertainment, the children themselves finding many ways to play with them. Where a suggestion is needed, show how to assort in piles — black beans in one, white beans in another, and corn in a third, or arrange in rows, making different combinations of kind and color. Shells and pebbles may be used in this same way. The love of personal adornment is very strong in children, and the suggestion to make a neck- lace will meet with a quick response. Seeds, straw and grass stems, leaves and flowers, supply the material, together with a strong, sharp needle and spool of strong thread. If -the seeds are very dry it may be necessary to soak them in cold water for a while before stringing. Straw and large hollow grass stems may be cut in lengths of about one inch and used to alternate with seeds, shells, berries, or flowers. Many small shells can be made into chains, as there is almost always a thin spot, if not a hole, which can be pierced with the needle. What country child has not strung the flowers of dandelion, daisy, or clover, and been trans- formed into a king or queen by a garland or crown of leaves, like the maple or oak, pinned together with their own or grass stems. The milkweed when ripe supplies the softest of down to stuff a doll's pillow, and the empty pod, when fitted with a tiny sail of leaf or paper stuck on a toothpick, will sail away with quite the air of a real boat. II. Beginnings of Art Scribbling with pencil, crayon, or paint, and patting or rolling clay, is where the fine arts begin. These first efforts seem far removed from the beautiful things which delight us in art museums, but that is the way in which every artist and craftsman started. Knowing this should make us very patient with the slow prog- ress and crude work of children. Materials Colored wax crayons — 6 or 8 colors. Water-color paints — semi-moist. Camel's hair paint-brush — large. Paper for drawing and painting — manila or unprinted newspaper, size g x I2 or larger. Paper for cutting — light-weight wrapping or unprinted newspaper. Paste — library or homemade flour paste. (Do not use mucilage as it is slippery and takes too long to set.) Paste brush — ^small bristle. In the "scribble stage" crayon or paint is used just for the fun of using, movements of the hand are experimented with, colors are played with, the little user knowing and caring nothing about art. Some day, from a tangle of lines, a man or animal may emerge quite by accident, and then be' purposely attempted : from that time on the discovery that ideas can be put on paper in this way will carry the little artist along. The tendency is to draw in outline and to work out one detail, then another, as the ideas of form grow more definite. How to Help Crayon. — Encourage a great deal of drawing with colored crayon, because the material is easy to handle, and the color gives an added interest. Use large sheets of paper and if possible pin with thumbtacks to a board which can stand 358 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL against the wall. This encourages large, free drawing and painting, which is better for both the child and the art than small, cramped work. At first the work will be just trying out the material, probably scribbling; encourage this, but at the same time watch for good bright color or some resemblance to an object, and call attention to it. Gradually picture-making will begin, and during this stage of funny men and headless ani- mals be sure to make a child conscious of his successes rather than his failures. Such ques- tions as "Where is your man going?"' or "Who lives in your house?" will often lead to the addi- tion of new details to the picture. Small bright spots of color, if repeated across the paper, are not only fun to make, but are the beginnings of real decoration, and are especially interesting if the shapes of the spots are varied. The best help is encouragement, trying to see the beginnings of ideas in the making, and draw- ing quickly and crudely with the child, making it a game. Paint. — There is much more interest in paint as a bright surface-covering than as a means of expressing ideas, — making pictures, as with crayon. This is due to the nature of the mate- rial, as paint and water naturally spread them- selves out over whatever they touch, and control is more difficult to acquire. When painting begins, put a thick newspaper or oilcloth on the table and have a small dish of water and plenty of small sheets of paper. Show how to wet the brush, roll it on the paint and draw it across the paper instead of scribbling with it. Encourage experimenting with various colors and different movements of the brush, always trying for strong, clear color. Some pic- ture-making may be attempted, but more of this will be done wtth crayon. Clay beads, marbles, and dishes may be painted, also paper baskets, paper or cloth flags, and anything where color will give an added interest. Paper,.— AW uses of paper begin with the snip- ping stage already described. As skill in handling material develops, cuttings take more varied shape. From these pick out a few which suggest some form — as a boat, tree, flower, man, or ani- mal, and arranging them on a sheet of darker paper show how to paste them on, using little paste. This selecting of pieces with chance re- semblances can be carried on as a game and will soon lead to direct cutting of houses, boats, ani- mals, etc., which will of course be very crude, but quite satisfactory to the young producer at this stage in his development. Encourage the selection and mounting of the best forms cut and you will find a gradual group- ing of figures in relation to each other which later leads on into story illustration in silhouette or color. III. Constructive Plays the Fifth Year Out of the past year's experimentation with materials and tools you will find growing a desire and effort to make things with which to play. Sometimes these things are suggested by the material itself or the work of another child, some- times by a play or game, and again it may be the season which whispers the magic word, kite, parasol, or sled. An interesting thing to watch is the source of suggestion and how it works out, — the 'material used, the originality put into the making, and how one thing made and played with leads nat- urally to another, as a doll's table calls for a chair and dishes to make the play complete. What to Expect Children at this age are too unskilled to do real toy-making, but the result of their crude efforts now will soon begin to show and surprise you. Theirs is the joy of making, and the hours spent in devising means to reach the desired end are offset by pride in the crude product because it is all their own handiwork, li the kite is too heavy to fly, or the doll's house too small for the doll, it does not matter seriously to the small workman, for his mind naturally reaches ahead to the possibility of success the next time. He may discard without a qualm what is unsatisfac- tory to him, and begin all over, with an uncon- scious faith in the creative power which is the birthright of each of us. With some children of five years and over there is still a fascination in just using — experi- menting with — materials and tools, especially if they have had little opportunity or variety before, but this phase lasts but a short time, while with the three- and four-year-old it is the characteristic use. This period begins to show the distinctive in- terests of boys and girls, but they should not be emphasized by those guiding them. Both need to learn the use of all materials, the boy to sew and make or dress dolls if he wants to, the girl to use hammer and saw. How to Help One of the best ways to stimulate constructive work and play is to bring together two or more children, for work always develops more rapidly when there is an opportunity for interchange of ideas. There will be little inclination to co- operate in working out a common problem if the FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 359 children are about the same age (5 to 6), for the interest of each is centered in what he wants to do, but a free helpful give-and-take of criticism and suggestion will result. Your largest contributions will be giving needed suggestions and sympathetic encourage- ment, helping to find materials and tools, and being tolerant of the noise and disorder which is often a necessary part of their work. Children soon learn to plan their own work, what they want to do and how to do it, but they do need your help in learning how to test the product. The sure, simple test of a cart, whether crude or finished, is the test of use — does it work? Does the marble roll? Is the bed the right size for the doll? Gradually apply this standard as a suggestion and it will soon be adopted. This comes after your child has passed the stage of experimentation when criticism is only a hindrance. Do not use specified, detailed directions for handwork at this age. While this method does produce a finished product, it tends to block the original creative side of work and make the worker dependent on outside ideas and help. If you want to show your boy how to make a kite, or your girl a pattern for a doll's dress, let them watch you start or make one, then do it them- selves. Adults do too much thinking for chil- dren, who are naturally courageous in attempting new things. Even failure is a wise teacher. Materials The materials for this year's work will be the same as last, those found in and around every home supplying a large part, with the help of nature, or a nearby store or carpenter shop. Paper of all kinds, cloth, wood, and clay are the favor- ites. There will be a constantly increasing demand for wood, especially with boys, and it is well when the home supply gives out to take the child with you to the store to get discarded boxes, or to the carpenter's to ask for odd pieces of soft wood. The first requisite with wood is that it shall be soft so the nails can be driven in easily, and the nails should be of the flat-head wire type, varying from }i to 2 inches in length. Cloth, old stockings, and bits of ribbon and lace will be wanted for doll dressing, and a piece-box which receives contributions from time to time often proves a fertile source of suggestion. With a growing skill in using wood will come the desire to paint or stain the article. Make this possible if you can by covering the young painter with a work apron, putting plenty of newspaper under the work and having it done where spatters can do no harm. Use any stain or bright oil paint you may have or can get in small quantity, being sure the paint is thin enough to dry quickly. A great variety of materials for children to use can be purchased, but none of it has a greater value than the simple home supply. An occa- sional gift of some bright-colored paper, a new box of colored crayons, a jar of paste, a ball of string all his own, or a pincushion, needles, and thread for the doll's dressmaker will mean more to your child than an elaborate outfit if he has been encouraged to use materials easily procured. As already suggested, every child should have a place to keep his possessions and early establish the habit of putting them away and getting them out himself. Tools The suggestion already made that no childhood is complete without the ownership of a few simple good tools will bear repetition. If scissors and hammer are already a part of your child's play equipment, he will probably not need anything more than a pencil, until the end of the fifth year, when a short crosscut saw, a ruler, and sandpaper can be added, if wood is being used. What to Make Wholesome, purposeful play is naturally the chief business in life of a five-year-old and a most abundant source of suggestion in his con- structive work. The two work wonderfully to- gether, some play-interest suggesting what he shall make and something he makes suggesting more play. Dolls have many needs, such as furniture, dishes, and clothes, and the furniture when made leads to varied plays of home life which may call for more furniture, more dolls, or a doll-house. Doll Furniture The first furniture is usually made of heavy brown wrapping paper or paper boxes. For convenience in handling the paper, cut it in squares and oblongs of from 6 to 12 inches, then by folding here, cutting there, and pasting where needed, any article of furniture can be made. Turn up each end of a narrow oblong piece, paste on legs, and a bed is ready for white paper sheets and pillow. A small square or oblong, with strips for legs, makes a table which may be set with white paper plates, and cups may be made by crushing a small circle of paper over a finger-tip. Many of these forms may be very crude, but when arranged in a moderately large box for a 360 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL house, will give great satisfaction for the time being. Small boxes can be made into various articles of furniture, such as a bed, cradle, bureau, piano, and table. Several little safety-match boxes, fitted and pasted into a large box, make a bureau with real drawers, and knobs may be added by making a small hole in the end of each and pushing through from the back the metal or wooden collar buttons which come from a laundry. Shoe buttons may also 'be used for knobs or handles, fastening them in place with a bit of cardboard or stiff paper through the eye. 'Paper fasteners and glue hold cardboard more securely than paste. Boys are especially interested in making wooden furniture. Any soft wood from V$ inch to }i inch thick can be used for this, provided some boards are wide enough for a table-top or bed. The dimensions of all the furniture will depend on the size of the dolls who are to use it. For the first making of wooden furniture the simplest construction is to use blocks of wood two or three inches square, instead of attempting legs. The chair, if made of a 2-inch cube for the seat, will need a thin strip about 2x4 inches for the back, and a table to go with it can be made with a top about 5 inches 'square on one of the cubes, and on the bottom a base about 3 inches square to make it more steady and to raise it so the chair will go imder. A simple, strong chair construction for either doll or child calls for one piece for the seat, one for the back which goes clear to the floor, and two side-pieces in place of legs. The table top can be put on two pieces like those used for the chair, only higher, or on four sturdy legs. The bed needs one board for the bottom, one each for iiead and foot, and two narrow side strips may be added to give gre?ater rigidity. When this furniture has been put together with wire nails it may be sandpapered wherever rough. In sandpapering, show your child how to fold a small piece over a small iblock of wood, which makes it easier to handle and gives better results. Doll Dishes Clay dishe's for the dolls while easily made are easily broken, but that is no source of discour- agement to a child; it rather gives the opportunity to make another and better set. Be sure the clay is soft so it will model readily without cracking, and as the pieces are finished, put them in the sun or any warm place to harden. When dry, these can 'be made very attractive by decorating with water-color paints, either a solid color, a border of gay dots or a few flowers scat- tered all over. A thin coat of white shellac put on with a brush over a dry paint will give a harder surface and bring out the color. Dolls Making dolls begins much earlier with some children than with others, a clothespin, a bottle, a bag, a roll of cloth and even newspaper being used to supplement the doll family. Often an ingenious, imaginative child will find an interest- ing, original way of meeting this play need. Clothespin dolls are of necessity the same height, but the dressing can be varied by using either cloth or tissue paper and making a face with pen and ink. A bottle, with a head of cotton and cloth tied over the top and then dressed, has the advantage of standing up, and for this reason lends itself well to many plays with blocks, the character changing with a change of clothes. A paper-bag doll is made with a small and a larger bag filled with cut up newspaper, the top of each drawn up. slipped together and tied at the neck. A crayoned face and hair, and a paper dress make it complete. The making of a doll out of a roll of cloth is of ancient origin. This begins with a single roll for body and head, a few stitches holding it to- gether, and later small rolls may be added for arms and legs, the doll becoming a reality with the addition of face and dress. Doll Clothes The real doll's dressmaker soon passes the point where she is satisfied with a wrapping for a dress, and needs your help in learning how to make a pattern. Lay the doll, whether large or small, on a piece of wrapping paper, with arms out- stretched; draw around from the neck to the knees, cut out, leaving a margin, and lay the pat- tern on the doll to see if it fits. If the pattern is not rig-ht, try again. This gives what is known as the "kimono pattern" and is used in the same way, by laying the shoulder line of the pattern on a fold of the cloth. (See page 239.) Clothes for any of the doll family can be made from patterns fashioned in this way. The sewing of the two seams should be done in the way which is easiest for the child ; it will be coarse and uneven and hems will not be turned, but there may be ribbons and pockets, aprons and caps, to offset that lack. Outdoor Play Outdoor play holds suggestions of its own for constructive work, the most universal interest centering in the wagon and the play-house. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 361 I'Vagojts The mere thought of real wagon-making ap- peals to all boys and to -most girls, and with a little help is quite within the range of their ability. A two-wheel cart for a doll, or for use in the garden, can -be made of a small wooden box, a square axle an inch longer than the width of the box, two wooden wheels of suitable size and a long piece for a handle. Nail the axle securely near one end of the box, then put the handle in place on the bottom, and after boring j4-inch holes in the center of each wheel fasten them to the axle with a strong nail or screw put through an iron or tin washer to hold the wheel on. When making a four-wheel wagon, put an axle close to each end, fix the wheels as described above, and bore two holes in the front end for a rope handle. Playhouse. — City or coimtry, north or south, much outdoor play centers around some form of shelter. Stones, sticks, or leaves may outline the boundary of a house or store ; a blanket thrown over two chairs or over a hanging branch gives the desired enclosure, but a large packing-box is the best of all. The box house, being more permanent, not only lends itself to varied plays, but changes its fur- nishings as any stage is reset : a box counter makes a store; a window curtain and chair, a house; while just playing horse transforms the same into a barn. If it is possible to have a play- house of this kind out of doors, include it in your child's play equipment. Dramatic Play is another source of suggestion for constructive work. The five-year-old begins this in a very simple way; a piece of cloth for a long skirt transforms a small girl into a mother; a badge or official-looking cap, and the boy is the train conductor, while a few pieces of homemade paper money and a small assortment of clay cakes or other things bring forth the announcement, "I am Mr. Blank, the baker." When invited, enter into the plays as father, passenger, or customer and encourage these early dramatic efforts. What the Season May Suggest The time of year always plays its part in tKe work of children, for who would think of making a kite when the snow is falling or a sled when the spring winds blow ? Spring. — The winds of Spring suggest kite and pinwheel ; the rains leave small pools and full streams calling for boats, while marbles are on the counters of every toy store. The first kite can be made of an inflated paper bag with a string attached, which will sail behind a running child, "but a real kite requires greater accuracy than is possible at this age. Gay little tops which really spin need only lyi or 2-inch wooden button molds, and through the holes push burnt matches or round sticks about 2 inches long. Color 'these with bright paint or crayon. A realistic tug or steamboat is made of a small oblong piece of wood, with spools glued on for smokestacks and possibly a little block for a pilot house. Clay marbles should be well made by this time and before painting can be put in the oven to harden. After painting with gay water colors, apply a thin coat of white shellac to give a fin- ished surface. Marbles call for a marble bag, and the sewing is put to a very practical test, for if there are large gaps between the stitches, th^ marbles will find them. The old custom of leaving a May basket at a friend's door when the first flowers come is worth reviving. Paper baskets large enough to hold flowers can be made of drawing paper daintily decorated or of colored paper. Experiment with wrapping paper, folding and cutting in different shapes — square, oblong, or round — and use the best one as a model. Summer. — A little girl's summer needs are also her doll's needs — thin dress, hat, and parasol ; and boys are always seeking a shelter as a center for their plays. Vacation trips yield new nature ma- terials to the bright eyes which have been opened to their play possibilities as suggested in the fourth year. Effective doll's hats are made by crushing over the doll's head a square of wrapping paper or cloth of suitable size, and sewing the folds in place around the crown. When sewed, it should fit easily over the head and the rim can be cut any desired width or turned up wherever desired. A paper hat can be trimmed to suit the maker with strips of colored tissue paper for ribbons, crushed bits of the paper for flowers, and small chicken-feathers for plumes. Bits of real ribbon and feathers can be used on the cloth hat. A doll's parasol consists of a circle of stiff cardboard the right size for the doll, covered with a bright cambric, lawn, cretonne, or wall-paper, and for a handle a small round stick six or eight inches long. Paste the cardboard circle on the cloth or paper, then cut the cloth an inch larger than the cardboard, and slash this border to make a fringe all around the edge. Fasten the top on the stick with a tack, and the parasol is ready for Miss Dolly. A child's parasol, twelve to four- teen inches in diameter, can be made in the same 362 THK HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL way. A cheap lead pencil may furnish the stick for the parasol. Autumn. — The coming of cold weather brings new demands for doll's clothing — a warm dress or petticoat, a cap, and cape or coat. The cap is fitted on the doll's head, drawing the folds to the back of the neck, where they are pinned in place, then sewed. Strings and perhaps a bit of trimming give the finishing toucb. For the coat use the same pattern as for the dress, only make it larger and open down the front. Sewing on buttons is usually a new ac- complishment at this age and slits serve as button- holes. Winter.- — With the advent of the shut-in days of Winter, toys and blocks are used more, and floor plays often grow quite elaborate, especially if there is room to leave the work and carry" it on from day to day. The supply of blocks is usually limited and needs to be supplemented by small boxes to com- plete the village street, the farm buildings or the railroad center, with which the child plays out the life of the community in which he lives. A box becomes a house when doors and windows are cut and a paper roof and chimney added. Paper dolls can wait at the railroad station for the incoming train, paper animals to inhabit the barnyard can be drawn, cut out and mounted on a base of stiff paper, and wagons and trains can be made of small boxes, as suggested in the fourth year. With the coming of snow a doll's sled will be needed, and again there is use for a small wooden box with a string attached, to which two strips can be added for runners, if desired. Gold, silver, and red paper are the best materials for Christmas-tree decorations. With the gold and silver paper make dainty chains of J^ x 4- inch strips, a few small stars of cardboard, and silver icicles of l-inch strips rolled like the old- fashioned lamp-lighter. Through a point of each star and the top of each icicle put a thread loop to hang on the tips of the branches. Red cornu- copias, baskets, or boxes for popcorn or candy, add the touch of holiday color. IV. Beginnings of Fine Art Almost all of a child's spontaneous drawings and paintings up to six or seven years are pic- torial — pictures of things — real objects in daily life such as men, women, animals, houses, wagons, and boats, drawn in outline and sometimes filled in. During the fifth and sixth years you can expect more detail and association of ideas, pictures which tell stories of things thev have seen or are doing, as a house with people in or around it, a horse, wagon and driver, or an automobile full of people. The house may be transparent, showing the furniture in each room, but that is because the young artist is putting down what he really knows about a house and its contents, not what he sees — he is drawing from memory rather than from the object itself. This very realistic phase is only temporary, but a necessary step in development. Another characteristic of this period is the ra- pidity with which children put their ideas on paper. The crayon or brush fairly flies and the picture is declared finished; there is little or no lingering to perfect details, but a quick moving on to another idea waiting for expression. How to Help With repetition comes an increased skill in handling both materials and ideas. When a child holds on to one idea and repeats it, watch for and encourage the addition of new details, also improvement in form and color. Slight changes mean growth, even though the form is still far from our ideal. Even young children are not copyists by nature, but producers, seeking every opportunity to ex- press their own ideas in their own way. The great variety in life is due to the fact that the creative instinct within us gives an individual touch to everything we do, if we are not forced into the mold of conventionality by others. There are many ways of drawing or modeling a man, a horse, or a flower, and color combina- tions are innumerable ; so if your boy departs from your idea of what should be done, do not hold him to the cold facts of color and form as you see them, but enjoy his way with him. The test to apply to a child's picture is how clearly it tells the story in the mind of the young artist. If you feel he is not doing his best, say, "I know you can tell that story better," or "Try to make a train that is really going." This helps to center the attention on characteristic points. Smoke rolling out over a train gives a feeling of movement and curling straight up from the engine indicates it is standing still. An effective way to show a child how his work is improving is to put away an occasional drawing or painting to have for comparison with later work ; this helps him not only to see how much better his work of to-day is than that of last month or last year, but encourages further im- provement by awakening a feeling of pride in his achievement and your recognition of it. Real growth in anything can onlv come through desire FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 363 and effort from within, never tlirough compulsion from without. Love of color is strong in every one of us, but all too often children's sense of color values is untrained because they have little or no opportu- nity to choose and use the colors they like. A box of paint or crayon gives the desired variety from which to choose, and a consultation with a child as to which hair ribbon or tie shall be pur- chased or worn gives an every-day training in color selection. In working with both crayon and paint, large sheets of paper encourage larger, freer work, and a water-color brush twice the size of the one which usually comes with a paint-box gives far more satisfactory results. What to Do Clay. — If you are watching for the beginnings of art in children's work with clay, you will begin to realize how often they try to make the human figure and animals — fruits, vegetables, and flowers — even vases and tiles. When figures are the center of interest you can help by speaking of some part of the work which is better than the rest, as "That man's head is very good," or calling attention to whatever sug- gests action, as "Your elephant looks as if he is walking." Show how a slight bending of head, arm or foot gives life to the figure, even when the work is very crude. Small fruits or vegetables colored with water- color paint can have a clay basket or bowl to hold them, and flowers can be laid on flat pieces like a plaque, for stems are seldom strong enough to stand upright. Any flat piece (square, oblong, or round) sug- gests a tile or paper-weight, especially if deco- rated with a drawing or design sketched with a match or toothpick and painted. Leaves, shells, or large seeds pressed into the smooth, soft clay surface and then removed, leave their own im- pression, which may be very decorative if done with care. Crayon. — By this time the period of experi- menting with the crayon has largely passed and storj'-telling is in full swing, crayon stories of things done and seen, or of such well-loved tales as "The Three Bears" and "Jack and the Bean- stalk." The eiifort to put a record of familiar stories on paper not only gives material for draw- ing but makes more real the story itself. Some- times the story-pictures will run on from one sheet of paper to another, like scenes in a play or a moving picture ; this shows a growing continuity of thought. K.N,— 25 Line drawing still predominates, with an occa- sional filling in with color, for crayon and pencil lend themselves more naturally to making a line than a surface covering. The elements of decoration have probably ap- peared before this in rows of round or irregular spots ; these may now be varied by making such additions as stems to make rows of flowers, or the alternation of color or form. Use these borders on paper boxes, baskets, or plates, across the end of a cloth cover for -the doll's bureau, or around the edge of doll's parasol or hat. Paint. — While crayon is largely the picture- making medium at this age, paint will begin to come into its own. The painted figures will lack much of the detail of those done in crayon, but will gradually show more action and life, every hit of which should receive favorable comment from you. Color is such an outstanding interest in using paint that color washes are always a delight, sometimes one or two colors, sometimes many on one paper blending into new and fascinating com- binations. The colors may be washed over a large sheet of paper and then cut into circles for balloons or balls and flowers or leaves, if their coloring is suggested, using cardboard patterns; or the paper may be cut into circles, squares, or any desired shape, then painted and mounted on a fresh sheet. Paint as a medium for decoration is full of suggestion, the bru.sh itself making several dif- ferent forms, depending on how it is held. These brush spots may be combined and varied in color just for the joy of doing, or used as a border or in all-over pattern on articles made of paper or clay. Paper. — Even in the fifth year paper-cutting as a means of picture-making gives way to crayon and paint, but it is well worth while to do this work with a child in order to get him started, for it gives one more way of expressing ideas, and the results are interesting. Follow the way of beginning suggested in the fourth year, then try story illustration, using white paper for cutting the figures, and mount on a colored sheet — green, blue, or brown. At first the forms may be cut in parts and put to- gether, as a man's body, head, arms, and legs, or a flower with separate stem and leaves, but with a little help from you they will soon begin to appear in one piece. Some children visualize form more quickly than others and find great joy in this new art. Small figures, flowers, or conventional forms, cut several together, or from a pattern, make very decorative borders, especially if done in color. THINGS TO MAKE OUT OF NEWSPAPERS MRS, LOUISE H. PECK For our fun we need only flour or prepared paste and the newspapers which have been folded care- fully away, waiting for us all this long time. Chains. — Cut the white margins from several newspapers, very straight and all the same width. Then cut these in strips five inches long, all ex- actly the same length and with ends cut straight. Take one strip and paste ends evenly together to form a ring, holding for a moment until the paste catches. Slip another strip through this ring, paste the ends as before, and now we have two rings, one linked within the other. Go on in this way until a long chain has been made. Some- times brown wrapping-paper strips may be alter- nated with the white newspaper strips. Later, make chains that will teach numbers : one brown, one white; two brown, one white; three brown, two white ; using all kinds of combinations. Don't cut" the strips for the children. The preparation of their own material is a wonderful part of the lesson. When several long chains have been made, they may be swung to music or singing, or used as a decoration for the playroom. Pussy Chains. — These are also made from evenly cut margins, and in as long strips as pos- sible. Lay the ends of two strips across each other at right angles, and paste together. Fold the under strip over across the pasted end of the upper strip, but do not paste. Keep on folding one strip over the other at exact right angles until they are used up. Paste on other strips to make the chain longer, and paste ends together to finish. This makes a delightfully "stretch-y" chain. These chains are pretty made of two colors, and may be used as decorations for a Christmas tree or to hang on the wall. Paper Sticks. — Now let us make some paper sticks for laying patterns or pictures on the table as we would with toothpicks. Cut a strip from the white margin or from the printed paper half an inch wide and twelve inches long. Dip one corner of one end in water and begin to roll tightly at a slant. Keep on rolling tightly, hold- ing the tip with the right hand while the left holds and rolls the strip. When completely rolled into a paper stick of five or six inches, hold firmly and fold over the end. No paste is needed. This makes the old-fashioned lamp-lighter or ''spill.'' Illustrated newspaper sheets make pretty varie- gated sticks. When fifty or more of these sticks have been made, use them for laying pictures of houses, trees, fences, and other objects. Sometimes we bend the sticks for roofs, curves, and corners. If the child wishes to keep a picture, have him make a penciled drawing of it in a scrap-book prepared of smooth wrapping-paper. All kinds of geo- metric figures may be made with paper sticks — oblongs, squares, circles, triangles, and so on. The bent sticks are kept in one box, the straight ones in another. In still another box we have all kinds of queerly-bent paper sticks. These are our jackstraws. and we make our wand for lifting the sticks from a longer strip of rolled paper, bent at the small end to make the hook. Paper Pipes. — These are made of whole sheets of newspaper rolled into long loose cylinders, measuring three or four inches across the end, the ends being folded or bent tightly in toward the center to keep the pipe from unrolling. To make water-pipes, slip the end of one into the end of another, and lay as many as are desired, following the mopboards or anywhere else about the room. These rolled sheets may be stood on end for a stockade fence, or placed across each other to build a log-house. Stepping Stones. — Half sheets of paper placed on the floor a long step apart make good stepping- stones over a running brook, the floor being the "water." Care must be taken to step straight and squarely on the paper to avoid slipping. The game is a fine one for developing quick balance. Sometimes we play "Eliza Crossing the Ice," with the dolls held tightly in our arms. Castles. — Roll doubled sheets of newspaper into cvlinders, big short ones, and big high ones. Look at some good castle picture and see how to pin the cylinder towers together, with long balconies. Good drawbridges and portcullis may be made by skillful fingers, also a moat from brown paper. The growing castle in the corner of the room has been known to make a whole family study pictured castles as never before, and when every- one helps in the building, there is more than a castle being built. 364 THE BEGINNINGS OF ART FOR LITTLE CHILDREN* WALTER SARGENT The human race has built up various means of ■self-expression, Each of these modes of expres- sion furnishes an outlet for thoughts and gives them objective form. They also influence the kind of thinking and feeling and, to a degree, shape and determine ideas. The Arts deal with aspects of experience and reality which language tends to neglect. They give added mental and emotional experiences, different in kind from those which come through other channels. By them this many-sided world gains new meanings. In our companionship with little children our problem is to recognize the most important e.xpe- riences which art study can give to children, and to keep these hoped-for results in mind, so that they will dominate the numerous details of daily method. A comparison of drawing with language helps us to realize how drawing cultivates a new way of looking at things. Language uses words which are more or less arbitrary symbols, fitted to dis- cuss relations, causes, and conclusions. The vo- cabulary is furnished by society. Drawing uses lines and color; terms which are suggested by first-hand experience with reality. Language re- lates things, drawing individualizes them. It thus furnishes another way of handling impressions. Children's Interest in Drawing There is much discussion as to whether chil- dren shall be taught to draw in mass or in outline. What is their interest in drawing? It consists partly in the fact that drawing is a way of han- dling and defining things. They are not so much interested in representing actual appearances as in presenting ideas. Outline is a convenient way of cutting objects out of the undifferentiated flow of impression and setting them forth clearly. The effect of mass presents really an adult point of view. It involves a thing in its setting or rela- tions. In actual practice, children settle the ques- tion, for unless they are under the closest super- vision, they draw in outline. Even in silhouette it is the edge which appears to interest them. Children's drawings usually present a story. Attempts to teacii them an exactness which checks this narrative interest are harmful. On the other hand, there are times when their symbols fail to satisfy, and when they need to be guided into new perceptions of form. Then instruction does not check the impulses of the children, but rather reenforces them. The best instruction as to how to draw is generally given by example. Design in the Kindergarten The importance of landscape drawing in the kindergarten is frequently over-emphasized. His- torically, the representation of landscape for its own sake is a late development. Until recently, landscape was used in. art as the setting for a story. Probably that is its best use for young children. A reasonable standard of attainment in drawing in the kindergarten should include the establisliment of a habit of using drawing for narrative purposes, and some definite teaching of a graphic vocabulary. Another important result of art-study is that which design furnishes in giving acquaintance with rhythmic patterns. Designs are not merely decorative arrangements. They are also schemes for seeing and interpreting. A feeling for fine spacing is seldom developed in young children. They need suggestive examples in order to give them good types of arrangement. Highly con- ventionalized forms, such as Coptic or Aztec designs, are full of suggestions for children. Con- siderable material will be found in the reports of the United States Bureau of Ethnology. Much design has grown out of playful experi- mentation with appearances and experiences. Design should include a decorative interpretation of stories, games, etc., in much the same spirit that games and folk-songs often give a playful or musical interpretation of occupations. De- sign should be so taught that what children pro- duce should be in part an evolution from their own experiences and not simply an adoption of abstract patterns. Children's Love for Pictures In addition to drawing and design, a third art influence is that of pictures. A picture has two elements: its story and its form. Young chil- dren are interested mainly in the story. They fall in love with some pictures. They talk to * Fundamental to any endeavor to help little children to express themselves through pictures is such a study as this, by Professor Sargent, of the kind of drawings and pictures that interest children. Read it carefully, pencil in hand. r,66 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL them and live in their scenes. Their imagination is stimulated and they identify themselves with the characters in the pictures. These occasional affections for certain pictures furnish good points of departure for picture-study. One secret of developing appreciation of art is to start with what one likes, and then become ac- quainted with the best of that type. There is need of further experiment to discover wh'at good pic- tures children most generally like. The interest of children in narrative should 'be taken into ac- count. Their often-criticised liking for the comic supplement of the Sunday paper depends partly on this interest. These pictures generally pre- sent progressive stages in a story. Illustrators of children's books should utilize this device. Conscious interest in fine art comes* much later than the kindergarten. It is generally awakened in us not directly by works of art, but by the help of someone who enjoys art and in whose discrimi- nation we have confidence and whose enjoyment, which we realize is genuine but beyond ours, we would like to share. Imitation and Initiative Any teaching of art must take account of the initiative instincts of children. Some instructors fear that they may check originality. Conse- quently they hesitate to draw for children or to express their own choices in matters of design. Children's imitative tendencies are not simple affairs. Many factors are involved, but we can usually tell by the results w'hether the imitation is a stimulus or hindrance to originality. Imi- tation and originality are closely related. In fact, each i^s necessary to the other. For example, the dramatic impulse is based on mimicry, but is a potent factor in self-discovery and development. There is a sense of power in expanding one's personality to include that of another. Our ideals are usually suggested by persons and then imi- tated. Thus imitation is closely related to the development of character. In matters dealing, as esthetics do, with the emotions, imitation has special significance. Pro- fessor Josiah Royce says, "With the aid of cer- tain deep and instinctive tendencies to assume imitatively the bodily attitudes or the other ex- pressive functions of our fellows, functions which may be in part internal as well as external, we are able to share the emotions of others even when these emotions relate to matters that lie far beyond our own previous experience." Children imitate and therefore absorb not only the technical habits but also the esthetic attitude of the instructor. Methods of instruction are valuable, but esthetic appreciation is contagious. If we have a genuine love for art, it tends to awaken a similar emotion in the children with whom we come in contact. HOW THE CHILD MAY EXPRESS HIMSELF THROUGH ART* PREPARED BY THE COMMITTEE ON CURRICULUM OF THE INTERNATIONAL KINDERGARTEN UNION General Aims 1. To gain better control of the medium. 2. To see objects more clearly and to express thought more definitely. 3. To use color and arrangement more con- sciously. Specific Aims 1. To satisfy the desire for expression and to develop the creative imagination. 2. To develop a feeling for color and arrange- ment. 3. To clarify thought. 4. To enable the child to see beauty in Nature * This valuable statement ties together what is said on th Brown, and Professor .Sargent, and helps the mother define she shall expect to attain. and in works of art from a new point of view, because he has tried to express himself through art mediums. Method in Relation to General Aims To satisfy the desire for expression and to develop the creative imagination: — Opportunity should be given for free expression with paper and scissors, crayons, paints, and clay. The first expression of children is from the image and not from the object. As John Dewey says : "Even in drawing objects the child will draw from his image, not from the object itself. As soon is important subject by Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. Newell, Miss for herself her aims, just how she is going to work, and what FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 367 as the child has acquired the habit of vivifying and liberating his image through expression, then a re- turn may take place to the original form. In one sense there is no technique up to this time, but there is the psychological factor corresponding to technique, the motor expression, its coordination with, control by, and stimulation of the visible image. This be- comes through training what is ordinarily called technique. The first consideration is the doing, the use; after use comes method, the how of doing. Now, method must exist not for its own sake but for better self-expression, fuller and more interest- ing doing. Hence these two points; technique must grow out of free imaginative expression, and it must grow up within and come into such imaginative ex- pression." To develop a feeling for color and arrange- ment. — I. Color: A child's love of color should be satisfied by giving 'him colored materials with which to express himself — crayons, water-colors, and colored papers. It is better for kindergarten children to use colored crayons rather th.in pen- cils, because they satisfy the sense of color and at the same time give broader, softer lines than the pencil. The first expression of the children should be free, even if the color combinations are crude. More estlietic shades and tints should not be given the child until he has satisfied to some extent his love for the more brilliant colors. He often makes barbaric combinations which are as unconsciously beautiful as primitive art. While these results may be at first accidental, through emphasis and selection by the teacher, they may form the basis for more conscious control on the part of the child. The teacher may influence the results, as the child becomes more familiar with the medium, by supplying backgrounds of a neutral or harmoni- ous shade upon which the work is applied, and by occasionally limiting the choice of colors. 2. Arrangement: In tlie free work of children we find many examples of unconscious arrange- ment : for instance, a child makes a succession of stars and moons across the top of the paper in- stead of drawing a literal representation of a night scene. This interest in arrangement may be developed and made more intelligent by supply- ing motives for design in the decoration of the kindergarten room, and by decorating baskets, plates, paper-doll dresses, etc., which furnish shapes so suggestive for design. The use of materials which naturally lend them- selves to the repetition of a unit or to orderly arrangement rather than to illustration, such as peg boards, bead stringing, stringing nature mate- rials, all develop interest in design. To clarify thought. — In general, all expression objectifies ideas, and so tends to clarify thought. However, if the teacher does not regard the re- sults that the child attains .as worth while, and if she fails to provide opportunity for motivation of work, the quality of the results will not im- prove and will most likely deteriorate. Too often teachers impose devices upon the child in the form of results which may have been suggested by an exhibit of kindergarten work, or by a visit to another kindergarten. These "results" have no value in themselves, but only as they represent a working out of a problem which is vital to the group concerned. ^Motive in work makes expres- sion grow in intelligence. Problems of "how" or "what" constantly arise in the child's experimen- tation, and should be made more clear by the teacher. The more instinctive activity character- istic of the first use of the material becomes trans- formed into a process that demands clear think- ing. "Imitation of the teacher's copy" used too frequently in art-work with kindergarten and elementary-school children encourages the child mechanically to repeat the result which the teacher has thought out, and not to think his way through the process, which is one of the chief values in any kind of expression. To develop appreciation. — Activity is the child's key to knowledge. He likes flowers because he can pick them, but when he has represented their brig'ht colors, the activity involved in the process of making a picture gives him a new attitude toward the object. The interest in the art-result, because it is the child's own project, carries over to an interest in the object and so brings about a more intellectual attitude as a basis for the next effort. This objectifying of experience makes other people's pictures more interesting to the, child. This is one approach to picture apprecia- tion. Method in Relation to Specific Aims To gain better control of the medium. — The first interest in any material is in manipulation ; results are secondary. As bas been suggested, scribbling may be developed into firm lines and smooth rubbing on of color ; daubing and scrub- bing may be changed into the application of washes. When children have passed out of the experimental stage and have the ability to secure better results in technique, they may criticise their own results and those of the class. One child said frankly tfliat the water in a picture "looked like mussed-up hair," realizing that the lines might have been kept parallel. When children draw, they seem instinctively to use line instead of mass drawing, but as rub- bing on of color strengthens technique, mass drawing may be suggested in connection with line drawing. For instance, boats are drawn in 368 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL outline, but the water is rubbed in. Soldiers or sailors may be drawn unsubstantial and stick- like, but uniforms are sug'gested, and again there is need for broad, smooth, strokes. A book filled with illustrations may 'have a cover decorated with units in massed color. When there is group instruction in art-work, the children should be classified by their ability in using a particular medium, and nof by age or the length of time they have been in the kin- dergarten. In this way the children w'ho are still in the e.xperimental stage will work very freely with the medium, while those who are tending to repeat themselves or who desire a better form of expression. may have the benefit of instruction. To see objects more clearly and to express thought more definitely. — Many children of kin- dergarten age are too immature to draw from olijects and should first live through the more imaginative stage of art expression. There are some children of kindergarten age, however, who can draw with a considerable degree of accuracy and a grasp of details. They are able to study a flag and to reproduce it in the right colors and with the right relationship of the field to. the stafif and of the stripes to the field. Children in this stage of development can draw clocks with some sense of proportion, and they show their maturity by making some kind of symbol around the face of the clock instead of merely making marks as do the young children. This kind of drawing would seem to have some relation to the ability to write. It is also the beginning of me- chanical drawing and the drawing of still life. It should never take the place of the more im- aginative drawing, but there are subjects in the kindergarten curriculum which lend themselves to this form of expression, such as the drawing 01 trains, houses, etc. In the Spring, branches of pussywillows, wildflowers, and hyacinths that the chHdren have planted may be drawn with some regard to correct form and color. When chil- dren, however, look indifferently at the spray to lie drawn and then make a flower growing out of the ground, and even use green and red indiscrim- inately for flower or stem, they are not in the stage to draw from an object. A group of chil- dren whose teacher had given them a spray cf bitter-sweet to study and represent merely took the berries as a suggestion and worked out a variety of arrangement in spots and lines which were very decorative, but which merely suggested the berry and had no resemblance to the actual growth. To use color and arrangement more consciously. — As was suggested in a previous section, provid- ing a motive tends to make the work more thoughtful. For instance, the younger children scatter all kinds of objects over a page with no thought of selection or arrangement. To make a book with a picture on each page brings about orderliness of thought and arrangement. When the subject-matter of the curriculum has made thought more clear, the children's illustrations will reflect this quality, and the teacher's em- phasis will be along the lines of the relationship among objects in a picture. When the problem is a decorative rather than an illustrative one, the objects to be decorated will control the use of appropriate color and de- sign ; for example, orange and brown at Hallow- e'en and red and green at Christmas-time applied to plates, baskets, and other objects associated with the festivals. The doll-house presents ex- cellent problems in combinations of harmonious color and design applied to wall paper, rugs, etc. Attainments 1. Attitudes. Interests, Tastes. — Eagerness and willingness to express ideas and emotions through the mediums of graphic art. More intelligent interest in pictures. Feeling for color, form, and arrangement. 2. Habits, Skill. — Orderly habits in using mate- rials. Ability to handle art mediums with some degree of skill. 3. Knoidedge, Information. — Some idea of form in relation to expressing thought to others. Clearer idea of subject-matter in the curriculum through having expressed thought through art mediums. Nobofly can be a useful mother without having some sort of fun every day. — George Hodges, Pictures for the home* JULIA WADE ABBOTT What arc some of the problems of wall decora- tion? We have learned to hang our pictures low and nearer the level of the children's eyes. We often dull children's perceptions by having all the large pictures before them all the time. If the pictures have not been talked about or hung in different positions in the room, it is an interesting experience to take the children out of the room and question them to see if they have noticed the pictures at all. Do you remember Penrod's attitude toward the pictures in his room at school? "Roused from perfect apathy, the boy cast about the schoolroom an eye wearied to nausea by the perpetual vision of the neat teacher upon the platform, the backs of the heads of the pupils in front of him, and the monotonous stretches of blackboard, threateningly defaced by arithmetical formulse and other insignia of torture. Above the blackboard, the walls of the high room were of white plaster — white with the qualified whiteness of old snow in a soft-coal town. This dismal ex- panse was broken by four lithographic portraits, votive offerings of a thoughtful publisher. The portraits were of good and great men, kind men — men who loved children. Their faces were noble and benevolent. But the lithographs offered the only rest for the eyes of children fatigued by the everlasting sameness of the schoolroom. Long day after long day, interminable week in and in- terminable week out. vast month on vast month, the pupils sat with those four portraits beaming kindness down upon them. Never while the chil- dren of that schoolroom lived, would they be able to forget one detail of the four lithographs : the hand of Longfellow was fixed, for them, for- ever, in his beard. And by a simple and uncon- scious association of ideas, Penrod Schofield was accumulating an antipathy for the gentle Long- fellow and for James Russell Lowell and for Oliver Wendell Holmes and for John Greenleaf Whittier, which would never permit him to peruse a work of one of those great New Englanders without a feeling of personal resentment." We have improved somewhat since that day and we are all familiar with the carbon prints of good paintings that are found in -almost every house. Yet one grows a little tired of "Sir Gala- had," "The Children of Charles the First," "Ma- dame Le Brun and Her Daughter," "The Sistine Madonna," etc. We must remember that in de- veloping art-appreciation in children, the form presented, whether it be poem, story, song, or picture, must have some element that appeals to the immediate interests and instincts of the child. But in addition to this, there must be elements of permanent beauty that will help transform the naive interest of the child into real appreciation. Color makes its appeal to all children, and the fact that billboards and comic supplements use this appeal in such a flamboyant fashion, makes it all the more important that we use colored prints. What subject shall we select? It is more usual to find pictures of people and animals than land- scapes. If the element of color were not present, landscapes would not appeal to children, but I have found that broad, pure color, found in the landscape more often than in other pictures, makes a distinct appeal. I have tested the ap- preciation of groups of children by taking them to an art-store, and having placed before them, on a large easel, picture after picture, without comment. In Minneapolis, these Middle-West children were particularly interested in pictures of the ocean, a commentary on the practice of literally-minded people who would confine the curriculum to the child's immediate environment. One especially lovely landscape had bright blue sky, floating white clouds, green grass with a few red poppies scattered here and there, and the atmosphere of summer permeating it all. When this picture was put on the easel, one little girl gave a sigh of delight and threw her arms wide in a gesture of abandonment more significant than any words could have been. What should be the general character of the large, framed pictures? From the art stand- point the landscapes should be decorative in char- acter and broad and simple in effect. In pictures containing figures, the drawing should be good and the positions restful. Some pictures which * A Report prepared by Miss Abbott as Chairman of the Graphic Arts Committee of the International Kindergarten Union and presented to )>be Union. Used by permission of the President, Miss Caroline D. Aborn, and of the author. 3/0 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL are merely illustrations and which are very good in a small-sized picture do not bear enlargement and are not decorative enough for a wall picture. Whether the subject is landscape or figure, the picture should make an appeal to the child's imagination. Just as all stories about children are not for children, so all pictures with children as the subject do not interest children. "The Age of Innocence" is charming to us as a delineation of childhood, but to children it is just a passive little girl. But Baby Stuart awakens that feeling for little, young tender things that many boys and girls of five have to a large degree, though they themselves have so recently ceased to be babies ! I saw a little colored boy run up and kiss the picture and say ''Dear little baby!" the first morning that the picture was hung low in the room in relation to the family idea. The Knaus Madonna appeals to little children because there are so many pretty, charming babies in the picture. The attitude of the mother and child enters into the children's appreciation of pictures of madonnas, and I imagine the Sistine Madonna seems cold and strange to them. At Thanksgiving time, I used to show the children Millet's "Sower" until one little boy, more frank than the rest, said, "He looks just like a burglar I" And then, for the first time, I saw the picture as the child had seen it. and the slouch hat and undefined dark face were for the moment more striking than the fine action of the figure as a symbol of the satisfaction of human needs. We must strike a happy medium 'between pictures that are too classic for little children and the very ordinary pictures that one may find in maga- zines and too often in children's picture-books. But very good pictures appear on the covers of some of our magazines, and we can make very valuable collections from many sources. We should remember, however, that we use pictures for two purposes : for the giving of information and for the development of appreciation, and the same kind of picture will not serve both purposes. Pictures of fruits and vegetables from a seed catalog might be very appropriate when the in- terest is in naming all the kinds of things the farmer has planted in his field, but when we ap- proach Thanksgiving and the interpretation of the Harvest, we should want a picture that con- tained the beauty of the fields in Autumn and the human activities of reaping the grain as Dupre and Breton represented them. The development of art appreciation in young children depends upon the presentation of the right art form in relation to an immediate, emo- tional experience. LEARNING TO USE LANGUAGE* ADAPTED FROM A REPORT BY THE COMMITTEE ON CURRICULUM OF THE INTERNATIONAL KINDERGARTEN UNION In language, the wealth of learning and aspira- tion of the race have been stored up, ready to be unlocked when the child has found the key of some actual experience which will give him the power to enter into his inheritance. Words are symbols ; that is, they suggest and represent meanings. John Dewey says, "Words should be signs of ideas, and ideas spring from experience." General Aims I. To provide a means of communicating with others. — The kindergarten period is the one during which a child should become thoroughly grounded in colloquial, conversational English. He should gain in the ability to grasp the mean- ings of others as interpreted in language. 2. To aid in the clarification of ideas; to crys- tallise a meaning zvhich the child has discovered in his e.vperiencing, so that such meaning, may be used in thinking. — As the child realizes finer dis- tinctions in his experience, he seeks for a word that will fix his idea. If it is supplied to him or if he coins one for the situation, he can make easy reference to that situation in his later thoughts; the word gives him a new basis for discrimination. Specific Aims I. Improvement of the technique of oral c.r- prcssion. — Increase of vocabulary due to wider experiences and finer distinctions. Better grammatical construction, sentences * Select from tliis practical article at least one teaching-device to try to-day. and another for to-morrow. But do not rlepend on scattered devices. Read the article over and over, to remind yourself of the aims you have in mind with your methods.— W. B. F. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 371 more complete and following each other in se- quence without loss of spontaneity in expression. Clearer enunciation; correct pronunciation; pleasing, expressive tone of voice. 2. Organisation of thought. — In striving for adequate expression of his ideas, a child learns to emphasize the more significant phases of his experience, to relate these to his former experi- ences, and to define them in terms of former ex- periences. In social intercourse he interprets the thoughts and feelings of others in the light of his own, and so enlarges and modifies his own. 3. Freedom of expression. — A child should be led to feel that he has something to say which is worth saying. A child should be led to feel that he has an interested listener. A child should be led to feel that he will be encouraged to com- municate his ideas. Method Conversation should not be limited to certain periods of the day set apart for that purpose; for in such a case it becomes formal and forced. Throughout the day the child should have freedom of expression. He should ask questions of other children as well as of his mother; he should ask their help in work and play ; he should express his opinions, and thus test his ideas by the knowledge of others who may sanction or dis- approve. It is only when a situation does not provoke energetic thought that a little child's talk becomes silly. Wrong Methods. — It is almost impossible to give model outlines for conversations because of their inherent nature. Conversation is a give and take, modified by the mental attitudes of the people taking part. It is easier to show what the so-called conversation periods should not be like. 1. Question and answer method : The mother may start by asking, "What did we talk about yesterday?" If little impression was made the previous day, no answer may be forthcoming or perhaps a random guess. "It was a tall man who carries a flag." "Yes, a soldier." "What did we say a soldier did?" This method rouses a half- hearted interest because the child gives informa- tion only. 2. Monologue method: The mother may tell the child all about some experience. The child is passive, may not be interested in the topic, and has no opportunity for expression. Children should usually gather information from some direct experience. 3. Over-organized method: The mother may say, "Yesterday we talked about where the squir- rel lives; to-day we will talk about what he looks like." A little child is not ready for concentra- tion on such minute details, pigeonholed under headings. A child must respond to a whole situa- tion if his language is to flow freely and fully. 4. Poor method of using pictures : "Here is a picture; what do you see in it?" is often a way that a conversation is started. Such a question is unnecessary if the picture illustrates experi- ences familiar to the child. The picture itself will suggest interesting conversation. But if the picture shows objects or activities entirely for- eign to the child, he may guess at its meaning, but there is little language value. The child may learn to speak the words which the mother uses in describing the picture, but as there is no con- tent to the words, these will drop from the vocabulary. Right Methods. — I. Recall of an experience: A vivid experience, such as watching the carpen- ter at work, playing in the wind, planting in the garden, is a good starting-point for a general conversation. "Language will become vigorous and effective when there has been reaction to- ward elemental things." The child himself must use correct language form. "Nothing but per- sistent oral repetition of the correct form will overcome the habit of using incorrect, ungram- rnatical, and inelegant expression in daily speech. These are matters of ear-training and motor- habits as well as of knowledge." If the child describes an experience in a desul- tory, disjointed way, the mother may ask a few suggestive questions and at the end may com- bine the child's ideas in a sequence of events, an interesting summary. 2. Experience of the child told to others: \\'hen the child's contribution is of such a nature that it is of significance for others, the mother should help the child to tell the experience. The responsibility for interesting a group because one has something worth while to say is an attitude that should be encouraged in a social situation. 3. A social situation which calls for organiza- tion of oral expression: Invitations to celebra- tions, letters to absent friends or other children, etc., are excellent opportunities for the formulation of ideas in written form. 4. Good method of using pictures : A question which leads to picture-interpretation complies more with the spirit of art than one that suggests picture-analysis. The following stories were told by some five- year-old children as interpretations of Millet's "First Step": The father is saying to the baby, "Come over here," And the mother is holding the baby. "Come 37^ THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL over here, come over here, and I will put you on the car." Once a man was in his garden picking up wheat and putting it all in his wagon. His mother and his haby came in to see how it was in the garden, and he put out his arms to lift up the baby, and he wanted to lift the baby, too, but he had too mucli work ; he couldn't. Then, after he was done with that, he planted some seeds. So many trees are there! All the people came from all over the coun- try to see how nice it was. He had fences so that nobody could come in to touch his stuff. He took his wheat to the miller, who made it into flour so that we'd have something to eat. After a few stories about a picture have been told by the child, the mother can draw attention to different parts of the picture which have been misinterpreted. For instance, the above stories show that the wheelbarrow in the "First Step" is an unfamiliar object. Conversation will then center on these unfamiliar objects in familiar surroundings. Sometimes it is the activity, the meaning of the picture, which is misinterpreted. In such cases the mother will question about the detail which gives the clue to the rightful mean- ing. This method of studying a picture develops imagination and gives a unity to a picture and to the ideas about it. When questions lead to the mere naming of different parts of the picture, observation is developed, but it is not true picture- study ; that is, a consideration of the idea, the underlying meaning as expressed through the relations between the various parts. Aids to oral language. — Language-work is greatly aided by drawing, handwork, dramatiza- tion. Any communication of ideas is really lan- guage, because the hand and the bodily gesture have a language of their own which really carries over into verbal language and enriches it. Dramatization, drawing, and language bear a close relation to one another. A child of kinder- garten age strives to fix and clarify an idea, first, by dramatization, then by oral language, then by drawing. The younger child dramatizes the dif- ferent parts of the experience without much regard to the sequence in which the events hap- pened. His subsequent oral expression is still dis- jointed, but is more related than his actions. His drawing illustrates isolated parts of tiie experi- ence. As the child grows, his ideas become better organized; his dramatization shows an attempt to relate different incidents, his oral expression contains incidents woven into an embryo story, and his drawing represents several objects in some relation. Dramatization is composition in primitive language form; drawing is composition in picture-writing form. Both should be used by the teacher in conjunction with language to aid in the organization of thought. Attainments No absolute standard can be set, for home conditions exercise great influence upon the lan- guage-development of children. Training should result in increased control, power, and desire in the following directions : 1. Control over tone of voice, enunciation, pro- nunciation, and grammatical construction. 2. Power to put ideas into language, either in asking questions or in making statements. 3. Ability to understand simple conversation and to respond to directions which have been stated once. 4. Desire to find proper and adequate verbal expression for vague ideas and to add to the vocabulary. The vocabulary should include the names of the most familiar objects in the school, home, and neighborhood ; also such qualities and activ- ities of these objects as are necessary for a child to understand in order to carry on his life and play-projects, or the qualities and activities con- cerning which he is curious. Habits of courteous response and intercourse should be developed. "Please," "Thank you," "Excuse me," "Yes, Mother," should come nat- urally at the appropriate time. Replying when spoken to and waiting until others have finished speaking should be one result of training. Education in language is not measured by the number of words which a child can pronounce, but by the clearness of his ideas about a number of selected experiences, as shown through his adaptable, usual vocabulary. Nothing can so sap the intere.st and destroy the educative value of play so quickly as to discover everything for the child. — Luther H. Gnlick. MOTHER, FATHER, AND CHILD— PARTNERS THREE MAUD BURXHAM Kate Douglas Wiggin says, "How inexpressibly tiresome is the everlasting 'Don't' in some liouse- holds. Don't get in the fire, don't get in the water, don't tease the baby, don't interrupt, don't con- tradict, don't fight with your brother, and don't worry me NOW, while in all this tirade not one word has been said about something to do." Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten, studied to give the children something to do. If a mother's and father's demands are such that they can not take time for study, they may at least share the interests and pleasures of their chil- dren in ways that constantly suggest themselves. By doing tliis they will enter into a paying part- nership with their boys and girls, and later on they will have less reason to complain that the chil- dren seek other homes for diversion. When a mother allows little daughter or son to use the tiny board and rolling-pin at cookie- making time, or permits the toy broom, dust-pan and brush, washtub, or little iron to serve a pur- pose, she is not only beginning a partnership, but laying a foundation for real usefulness later. Enjoying carefully restricted play with cup, pint and quart measures, or even the scales, helps the child to practical knowledge. There are times when he may even play with the fireless cooker and demonstrate to his satisfaction that he can fit the right cover in the right compartment and place one utensil within another. Fortunate the small boy or girl who is allowed to play "train" with chairs or use them for cages in the zoo; who may appropriate the waste- paper basket for a hen-coop and use the clothes- basket for a boat. One mother I know shows the spirit of part- nership as she sits in her rocker sewing. She calls the following, "rocker" games: 1. The tea-bell is placed on the floor. From a given spot the children roll marbles to hit it. 2. Mother is the kitty and the children are mice. Kitty's dish is placed back of the rocker, where Mother can not see it, and then from a corner farther back a mouse comes on tiptoe to try to pick up the dish without kitty's knowing it. If ever so little noise is heard, kitty cries, "Meow," and the mouse runs to the corner, to give another mouse a turn. 3. The "groceryman" knocks at the door. Mother gives orders which are written down in make-believe. Then the goods are delivered. 4. The "iceman" calls with wooden blocks. A father has ample opportunity to be a partner with his children. There may be a chance to share in the care of animals, and carpentry and garden tools offer unlimited possibilities for cooperation. A certain professor allowed his boys to assist in making their sand-box. Those who could not use tools smoothed the rough boards with sand- paper. These same boys helped to make a won- derful stationary horse out of a barrel. Instead of forbidding his child to touch the typewriter, one father taught him the alphal)et on it. As the boy grew up he used it for certain school work and letter-writing. Xora A. Smith suggests the keeping of a diary to help in cementing the family partnership. In this is recorded each evening the events of the day. the weather, and so on. One of the most delightful pleasures to be shared in the home is reading aloud. But oh, if the toys were not scattered about. And the house never echoed to racket and rout; If forever the rooms were all tidy and neat, And one need not wipe after wee muddy feet; If no one laughed out when the morning was red. And with kisses went tumbling all tired to bed; What a wearisome, work-a-day world, don't you see. For all who love wild little laddies 'twould be. —Kate M. Cleary. 373 THE HOME PLAY-YARD BY MRS. DORA LADD KEYES Note — The gist of this article is in the sentence: "Social training is the biggest contriljution of the kindergarten. The child needs to play with other children." The writer tells how she cultivated this social opportunity by developing the home play-yard into a "Neighborhood Fun Club." My husband and I feel that the eight dollars we invested in a fence for a play-yard for our two boys were well spent. The play-yard is fifteen feet square and contains a little cherry-tree, some grass, and a large space from which grass has long since disappeared. Here we put a big sand- pile which, when wet, supplies dough for all sorts of delectable bakery products, and when dry affords opportunities for constructing bridges and mysterious tunnels. The play-yard is the place for tea-parties in the "hungry middle of the afternoon." It has not only supplied the needs of our own children, but is quite the social center of the neighbor- hood — too much so, one mother sometimes thinks ! Songs, stories, hand-work, and nature study are important lines of kindergarten activity which a mother can pursue at home with the help of a few good books and her own resourcefulness. The child deprived of kindergarten is not so likely to suffer for want of these activities as for the lack of the social training which, to me, is the biggest contribution of the kindergarten. The child needs to play with other children. "Here," says Jean Paul, "the first social fetters are woven of flowers." And therein lies the unique value of the little play-yard. Children learn there to give and take, to adjust themselves to each other and to cooperate. They also develop the initiative that makes for leadership. Play in the play-yard is undirected so long as harmony prevails. The neighborhood is the next larger natural group after the family, and prepares the child for a conception of the larger school group and the community. In the Summer I invite the children of the neighborhood— about sixteen in all — to come to our big lawn twice a week and join in our "Twilight Play Circle." During the Winter I also invite them to come once a week to play indoors. We call the winter meetings our "Neighborhood Fun Club." I took my neighbor- hood as I found it, and the children vary from three-year-olds to two eighth-grade girls. One of the latter plays the piano for us and the other helps in numberless ways. I serve no refresh- ments. Last Winter we learned three simple folk dances and a number of the beautiful games that are so deeply rooted in the early social experiences of the race, such as "London Bridge," and "Here we go 'round the mulberry bush." We also played other games suitable for a large number of children indoors, and learned about thirty riddles. Children who could read prepared special contributions, such as child poems of Eugene Field and Robert Louis Stevenson. Two little girls sang duets for us, and one day we had a little guest who taught us some charming solo dances based on Mother Goose rhymes. The children's love of the dramatic was shown by their fondness for guessing pantomimes. A child usually planned a pantomime beforehand and then invited others to help him work it out for the rest to guess. Our pantomime material was drawn largely from Mother Goose, yEsop's Fables and well-known fairy-tales. Our "Fun Club" takes some of my precious spare time, as well as a considerable amount of energy, but I feel that it pays for myself as well as for the children. It makes me realize what Froebel's friend meant when he said, "It is like a fresh bath for the human soul when we dare to be children again with children." The central interest in child life is not what nature is doing, but what man is doing. — Patty Smith Hill. 374 PLAYTHINGS WHICH THE FATHER CAN MAKE BY WILLIAM A. McKEEVER, LL.D., AND JEAX LEE IIUXT The Stilts Stilts are very attractive to children if made to fit the age and development of the player. For the four-year-old begin with broomsticks. Pierce these with a gimlet a few inches from the larger end. With a piece of old garden hose make a loop large enough for the child's foot to slip in easily. Pierce the lap-ends of this loop and pass a long stove bolt through the rubber and the hole in the broomstick. For older children use a stouter staff and raise the loop higher gradually, by having a series of holes for adjustment. After due practice boys may walk on stilts four feet from the ground. Bring a group of these together and have a stilt parade. The Sliding-Board The sliding-board has proved its worth as a popular plaything, although some have con- structed it carelessly and used it unintelligently. For the smaller child at home, a trough of wood may be easily constructed as follows : Obtain for the bottom a smooth 14-inch board. 10 to 14 feet in length, and use i x 2-inch stuff of the same length for the sides. Decide as to the upper end of the board in accordance with the direction of the grain, and so avoid splinters. Rub the trough down well with sandpaper and with a full coating of ordinary floor wax. Secure the upper end of the slide to the edge of a platform or box, allowing a slope of about 45°. Arrange a ladder or cheap stairway for reaching the top of the slide, placing banisters and supports where needed. At the lower end of the trough there may be a shallow sand-pit or some other provision for a soft landing. Teach the little ones to take their turn here and to assist one another. The Climbing-Rope Children are not strong enough in the arms to climb a vertical pole or rope, but they may develop much vigor from ascending a rope stretched diagonally. Therefore secure one end of a j4-inch rope to a post or tree at a point just within reach of the child. Now draw taut as possible and fasten the other end similarly but considerably higher, say at a slope of 45°. Rub the rope down with wax or oil in order to give the hand a secure hold and to prevent the fibers from pricking. There is little danger of falling. However, the ground below may be padded with some soft material in order to en- courage the beginner or -the timid child. This climbing exercise is an excellent lung- developer. The Turning-Bar To develop the muscles of the arms and chest and send the red blood outward from the heart, turning on the bar is scarcely to be excelled. If started upon this exercise in mere babyhood a child grows especially fond of it. Ordinarily half-inch gas pipe makes a good bar for children. Obtain a four-foot piece from the plumber and have him attach flanges at the ends for nailing the bar up between the posts. It must be perfectly firm and must not turn in the hands. Hang barely within tiptoe reach of the child. A trapeze of the same material and swung at the same height is also good. The swinging motion adds to the charm. Hang also a gas-pipe hoop about thirty inches in diameter. This lends itself to several extra turns and contortions. The Seesaw Board — Straight grain lumber, 1%' x 9" x I2'-o". Two cleats ij4" x 9" bolted to the under side of the board to act as a socket on the hip of the horse. Horse — Height 25". Length 22j4". Spread of feet at ground 20". Legs built of 2" x 3" material. Hip of 2" x 3" material. Brace under hip of %" material. Note — All figures given are for outside meas- urements. Apparatus, except seesaw board and sliding-board, should be painted, especially those parts which are to be put into the ground. The Trapeze Two Uprights — 3" x 3" x 6'-io". Top Piece — 3" x 3" x 2'-io". Ends of top piece secured to uprights by being mortised or halved and bolted together. Uprights rest on bases of 2" x 3" material, 3'-7" 375 376 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL long, connected by a small platform in the form of an H. Bases and uprights are bolted to dogs or pieces of wood 2" X 4" X 5-8" set in the ground about 3'-o"- Adjustable bar (round) l^s" diameter. Three holes bored in each upright provide for the adjustable bar. The first hole is 3'-o" above ground, the second 3'-5", the third 3'- 10". Swing bar (round), i}i" diameter, is 20" long. Should hang about 16" below top piece. Two holes 5^" diameter bored in the top piece receive a continuous rope attached to the swing bar by being knotted after passing through holes (^" diameter) in each end of the bar. The Swinging-Rope Upright — 3" x 3" x 6'-9". Top Piece — 3" x 3" x 2'-g". Upright and top piece are mortised or halved and bolted together. Bracing at top (3" x 3" x 20^" at long point of miter cuts) is nailed to top piece and upright at an angle of about 45°. Upright rests on a base measuring 3'-o". This is mortised together and braced with 2" x 3" ma- terial about 20" long, set at an angle of about 60°. Unless there are facilities for bracing at the top, as shown in the cut, the upright should be made longer and buried about 3' in the ground. The swinging rope (}i" diameter) passes through a hole bored in the top piece and held in place by a knot. Successive knots tied 8" to 9" apart and a big knot at the bottom make swinging easier for little folks. The Ladder and Support Ladder — 14" x io'-2". Sides of 13^" X 1/2" material. Rungs %" di- ameter set ioj4" apart. At upper ends of the sides a U-shaped cut acts as a hook'for attaching the ladder to the cross bar of the support. These ends are reenforced with iron to prevent splitting. Support — Height 4'-6". Spread of uprights at base 4'-2". Uprights of ij^" X 23/2" material are secured to a foot (l>4" X 4" X 20 >4") with braces (n^-^" X 2V2" X 12") set at an angle of about 60° Tops of the two uprights are halved and bolted to a cross bar 1%" x 2J/2" x 10" long. The uprights are secured with diagonal braces I'yi" X ^y/' X 3'-9" fastened together where they intersect. The Parallel Bars The two bars are 2" x 234" x 6'-io" and are set 163^" to iSyi" apart. The ends are beveled and the tops rounded. Each bar is nailed to two uprights (2" x 3" x 5'-o") set 5' apart and extending 34" above ground. An overhang of about 6" is allowed at each end of the bar. The Cave or Den Children delight in an underground retreat of their own. Boys especially pass through an age of burrowing. A miniature "robbers' den" is what they want. A quantity of loose brick, some good-sized dry-goods boxes to be torn down for the lumber, and some utensils for digging, are the requisite here. Lay off the plan roughly, give a few sug- gestions, and turn the boys loose to do the work for themselves. Now, watch them imitate prim- itive man as they proceed to make a place to live and hide their plunder. Some toy weapons, fortifications, and other evidences of the defensive instinct may be expected to develop here. The Play-House An outdoor playhouse may be constructed without any considerable expense of time and money. Such a structure soon becomes a popular place of sociability and play for all the little ones of the neighborhood. Make the house as follows : Frame up a sand-box as directed above for outdoor use and consider this as the foundation of the house. Nail firmly to this the necessary number of 2 x 4 uprights 6 or 8 feet long. Frame up above as for an ordinary comb roof. Brace the corner uprights. Cover the roof with sheath- ing and with one-ply tar paper to keep out the sun and the major part of the rain. Leaving a space for the door or entrance, cover the sides all round with heavy-strand woven fencing-wire having the square mesh. This wire lets in- the light, keeps out the "enemy," and is good for climbing (for the children) and for the trailing vines which may be grown on the outside. The floor of the house is covered with four to six inches of sand. Seats, blocks, a hammock, a chair, a swing and other childish bric-a-brac may all serve .as furnishings. Here the story- hour may be enjoyed, or the mother may sit with her handwork while the little ones play. ^ 5 SIXTH YEAR .S 5 PLAYS AND GAMES FOR THE SIXTH YEAR LUELLA A. PALMER When a child has passed his fifth birthday he begins to enjoy games that have very simple rules. Help him to play fair. If he does not seem to follow the rules of a game, make them simpler so that he will understand them. Sense-Plays Hide the Ball. — The previous hiding-plays should be made more difficult. The object may be colored so that it will be almost indistinguish- able or it may be very small. If several children are playing, the one who sees the object must not show where it is but must sit down. When all are seated, the child who first saw the object gets it and hides it again. One from the Ring. — Have several different objects or balls of the six prismatic colors placed in a small ring on the floor. One child hides his eyes while another takes away one of the objects. .'\fter opening his eyes the child tries to guess which object has been removed. To make the game more difficult, increase the number and similarity of the objects. Hiding a Child. — A game similar to the above is played by a ring of children. One child closes his eyes and another leaves the ring. Then the one who closed his eyes tries to guess the name of the one who is hidden. Mask Game. — Several children hide their eyes while one child puts on a brownie or Jack-o'- Lantern mask, which can easily be made by the children with paper and crayon. As the children guess the name of the masked child, they whisper it to the leader and then take their seats. When all are seated, the first one to give the correct name has a chance to hide his eyes. Increase the difficulty of the game by covering the clothing also. Who Stoops Last. — Several children walk up and down the room. A march is played on the piano and stopped suddenly in the middle of a phrase. When the music ceases the children must stoop ; the last one to do so must return to his seat. Continue until only one child is left stand- ing. Put Hands On. — This game helps a child to follow the spoken word in opposition to his im- pulse to imitate an action seen. The children first practice putting both hands on wrists, toes, hips, etc., as the leader directs. Then, after ex- plaining that the children must do as she says and not as she does, she will direct them to "Place hands on knees," and at the same time will put her hands on her head. After a few trials, any child caught following the action rather than the word must sit ; the one who remains standing longest wins the game. What am I Doing? — One child closes his eyes while another walks, runs, knocks on floor, or makes a noise in some familiar way. The blind- folded child tries to guess what has been done. What is It? — Supply a bag containing miscel- laneous articles, such as spools, balls, buttons, blocks, etc. Let the children stand in a line with their hands behind them. One of their number places an object drawn from the bag in each child's hand and he must guess what it is by feel- ing of it without looking at it. Daffodils. — Let a child close his eyes. Hold a flower over his head or nearer if the perfume is faint. Then sing: "Daffodils and violets, Roses, sweet and fair, Tell me, pretty maiden, What have you in your hair? "Oranges, or grapes or plums, Apple, peach, or pear. One I place within your hand, Guess what you have there." This last stanza can be repeated for either a touching, tasting, or smelling game. Night Game. — Fear of the dark can be lessened if Mother will, once in a while, go with the child into a rather empty, dark room. Let Mother stand in the center while the little one goes a 377 378 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL short distance away, ringing a small bell. When the ringing stops Mother must find where the child is. Let the two take turns at this play. Movement-Plays A child of five tries to jump the rope, to slide, to whirl around, to hop a certain distance on one foot. Previously it has been a great feat to perform the act, now he begins to set a certain limit as a goal. Imitations become more exact and varied. The horses may walk, trot, gallop, and high-step. The birds may fly high up into the sky or low down, be large birds with widespread wings or tiny ones with small, quickly moving wings. The running may be done lightly, as a ball bounces. The hopping may be done on two feet and with body bent to imitate a frog. Arms can be waved up and down for windmills, while the body is held more rigid than for seesaws. The whole body can sway to represent the trees .blown by the wind. The adult should direct the child's atten- tion to the ways in which the plays can "be varied and woven together to form a tiny drama. Walk slowly; fast; like ponies. Walk with body bending forward, like horses drawing heavy load. Walk with long steps ; on tiptoe ; tall, like giants. March like soldiers. March with hands on head for caps; on shoul- ders for epaulets; waving for flags; imitating difl'erent band instruments. Run on line on tiptoe. Skip with two feet. Hop on one foot, then on other foot. Gallop like horses. Jump over low stick, like hurdle. Tramp like horses. Body down slowly ; up quickly. Body bent front and back at waist, hands on hips. Feet slide from side to side, like skating. Stretch hands up, pick apples from trees. Stretch hands down, pick apples from ground. Stretch up to take hold of rope ; pull far down. Clap hands quickly; slowly. Clap hands back ; front ; above head. Twirl hands quickly, slowly, like wheel. Arms extended, one up, other down, like wind- mill. Arms extended, push back, like rowing with oars. (This is reverse motion to actual rowing, but in this form is excellent exercise to expand the chest.) Twirl arms out, up. back, down, like wheels. (Give in this exact order; the reverse motion does not develop the chest or waist muscles.) Head bent up, down like toy sheep. Head sideways bend. Head roll sloivly. Ball-Plays Bounce or Toss Ball. — Bounce or toss the ball to music or to simple counting, limiting the win- ning point to small numbers at first. Counting eight to the descending scale gives a simple rhythm. Hoop Ball. — Toss the ball through a suspended hoop to a child on the other side of the room. Hot Ball. — The children are seated on the floor in a ring. A ball is rolled back and forth. The children must not grasp it, but push it away with the palms of their hands, not allowing it to touch them. A later development is to push the ball away with the back of the hand. Another varia- tion is to keep two balls rolling, one large and one small. Balls in the Ring. — Chalk a three-foot ring on the floor. Let the children, one at a time, try to roll their .balls so that they will remain in the ring ; or place several balls in the ring and let the children roll the balls to knock out those that are in the ring. Ball and Bell. — Suspend a bell from 3, small up- right standard. Let children stand in a row a short distance from the bell, each one with a ball, and at the signal "One, two, three, roll," they try one at a time to strike the low-swung bell. Ninepins. — Place six of the ninepins so that they form a triangle. Each child in turn has three balls and tries to roll them so as to throw down all the pins. Those who succeed have another chance ; those who do not must await their turn to try again. Dodge Ball. — The children form a ring with five or six in the middle. The children on the outside try to roll a large ball so that it will touch one of those in the center, who keep dodging it. As soon as touched, each one must return to his place in the ring. Continue until all have been sent back. When the children have become expert at dodging, use a smaller ball or let the large ball be tossed instead of rolled. Dramatic Play In the sixth year more incidents should be woven together in the plots and told more con- nectedly, with more descriptive language and ac- tion. The same subjects interest as the previous year, but the postman must have a bag, and the horse a pair of reins. Adults should not inter- FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY m fere by insisting on too complete a costume. In- terests will now be wider; other plays acted out may be fireman, farmer, teacher, storekeeper, ex- pressman, milkman, coal man, artist. The play of "train" may be so extended that stations are required, also ticket sellers, conductors, and engi- 12. And then the wheat is threslied. 13. 'Tis ground into the flour. 14. The flour makes good bread. This is a long story and the children will prob- ably not care to reproduce the whole of it. It is given here as a suggestion. FINGERS AT PLAY' Annie B. Winchhstbr. -V -P h- What sball our Thumb - kin play? (dance) Thumb - kin shall ■ skip - to ( run ) day; ?=t -(=2- E^E^ =1= Dance, and dance, and dance a ^^£^t= way, '- ^ r— Dance, and dance, and dance a - way. f^ m asE -z?- — I 1 1— Thia sball our Thumb - kin P^ play, -• Thumb - kin shall dance to -P- day. 4: neers. The passengers may leave the train at a country station and drive a^way to visit friends and return to the city later. The Wheat. — The story of the wheat may be set to the familiar tune of "Farmer in the Dell." The verses might be 1. The farmer in the field — 2. The farmer takes a horse — 3. The farmer takes a plow — 4. The farmer plows the ground — 5. The farmer sows the seed — 6. The rain comes falling down — 7. The sunbeams help to grow — 8. The wheat grows up so tall — 9. The farmer cuts it down — 10. He ties it into bundles — 11. He takes it to the barn. Longer Mother Goose rhymes may be acted out this year. Little Boy Blue.—Ont boy sits down under a table and pretends to sleep while two or three children wander around one part of the room (the "meadow") and eat grass while others eat "corn" in another corner. At a blast from "Little Boy Blue's" horn the "sheep" and "cows" run to some cover designated as the pasture or barn. Other Mother Goose rhymes are good, such as "Bo-peep," "Four and Twentv Blackbirds," "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," "Hey Diddle, Diddle," and "Boys and Girls, Come Out to Play." Good stories for dramatization are "The Three Bears," "The Night Before Christmas," "Little Red Apple," and "The Shoemaker and the Elves." * From Company. 'Ring Songs and Games," Lucy Wheelock Training School. Compiled by Flora H. Clifford. Milton Bradley K.N.— 26 38o THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Finger-Plays THE WEATHER VANE From north and south and east and west The merry wind comes blowing ; And what its name and whence it came The weather vane is showing. THE MICE See the round mousehole ! Who is at home? Ring at the doorbell, Will anyone come? Yes, one comes creeping On his tiptoes. Number two follows. How soft he goes! Three chases after. Then four, then five. Off they all scamper. Then down, down they dive. COUNTING OUT Here, there; this, that; High, low ; stood, sat ; Red, blue ; whisper, shout ; This finger goes out. THE PLANT First a seed so tiny Hidden from the sight. Then two pretty leaflets Struggling toward the Soon a bud appearing Turns into a flower. Kissed by golden sunshine. Washed by silver shower, Growing sweeter, sweeter, Every happy hour, Kissed by golden sunshine. Washed by silver shower, light; Social Plays Lads and Lassics.- Rye." -Tune : "Comin" Thro' the "Lads and lassies out a walking chance some day to meet. First they bow, then clasping hands, dance with fairy feet. Tra, la, la, etc. "Lads and lassies, home returning, gayly wave good day. Hoping soon to meet again for a happy play. Tra, la, la, etc." The children walk in different directions as though on the street. At the words "First they bow," they bow to each other and then all join hands in one large ring. They dance to the right during the chorus. If desired, the chorus may be repeated while all dance to the left. At the beginning of the second verse the children sepa- rate and walk away, waving good-by. During the second chorus all clap hands to the music. Wind up the Fagot* — The children form a line with a large child at the head. Holding hands, the players wind slowly around the head child as a pivot, singing, "Wind up the bush fagot, and wind it up tight ; wind it all day and wind it all night," until all are wound up tight. Then all sing, "Stir up the dumplings, the pot boils over," singing faster and faster and jumping up and down, keeping time, until all are in a general mix-up. This game can be varied by having the head child lead the line into a smaller and smaller ring until he stands in the center. A more orderly way of dispersing — without the rollicking fun — is to have the head child reverse his steps and lead the line out into the large circle again. Little Boy and Playmates. — The children form in two rows facing each other, with one child halfway between them near one end. This child goes up and down between the rows, showing the action which all are to imitate. gi^l =1= -^— N ^^ :5--!v 'A lit - tie boy and all his plajmates then Went b|: out to (hop) and then (bopped) home a -gain." This song is repeated while the two sides ad- vance to the middle and return to their places, imitating the action of the leader. This child then chooses another to -be the leader. Fanner in the Field. — Tune: "Farmer in the Dell." One of the children is chosen for the farmer, and he, in turn, chooses a horse, cow, sheep, dog, hen, etc. This can be changed into a contest game by choosing but three of the animals — horse, cow, sheep. The farmer goes home, leaving the gate open, the animals all run out, and the farmer has a hard chase to catch them all. He inay need to select a helper. With this form of the game the verses of the song would be: 1. The farmer in the field, etc. 2. The farmer needs a horse, etc. 3. The farmer needs a cow, etc. 4. The farmer needs a sheep, etc. 5. The farmer opens the gate, etc. 6. The animals all run out, etc. • From George Ellsworth Johnson, "Education by Plays and Games." Used by permission of Ginn & Compaily. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 381 After the animals are caught and the farmyard gate closed, sing: 7. The animals all are home, etc. Seven. — The children stand in a ring. One child starts counting, beginning with himself, and when he has reached the seventh child, that child "La, la, la," etc. Both children then stand in front of partners and the game begins again. Race. — Two children start from a given point in front of the leader and run in opposite direc- tions around the circle until they reach the leader again. This game can be varied in numberless ways. A chair outside of the circle may be the starting-point and goal. The children may start Tune: "Muffin Man' m Oh, will you come and skip with me, and skip with me, i U^ -I- -I- and ^ skip with me? Oh, will you come and skip with me, This hap - py, hap - py day? says "Run" or "Whirl," etc. ; they join hands and from the leader, touch -the wall, and run back ; perform the activity suggested while the whole this variation is better for si.x-year-old children, group counts seven. The second child then starts Playmates. — The children stand in a circle counting from his former position, and the game with one child seated in a chair in the center, begins again. If the group numbers seven or They walk around singing, while the one in the fi fc^ -r Here sits Ut - tie play - mate, in a chair, chair, In the rf^-l- .'.. =^ F^ -- 1 =^ r-) 1— \- pr- -1 — fN 1 A — -4^=*^ *. • • a — * • • -*-. 1^— -J — — ; — J— — • cen - ter of our rmg f ver there, - ver there. Now rise up - on your -*— =^ -\:^ feet, And choose the one to greet. As man - y turn a - round once more. P 3 iSEiz 1 — Here we dance - ver the green grass, Here we dance i ver the lea, See -w- *- then if Here we dance - ver . the green grass. you can find me I a multiple of it, some other number must be chosen. Skipping. — One child faces a partner and sings the following song. At the end they cross hands and skip together while the melody is repeated to middle suits his actions to the words of the song. At the end of the last line he extends his right hand to some child who comes forward, shakes hands, and then sits in the chair. Over the Lea. — The children dance around 382 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Lightly. while one child .stands blindfolded in the center of room. At the close of the song all the chil- dren stoop. The one in the center then turns and walks until he can place his hand on some child's head. This child then becomes the one blindfolded. Dance Children stand in two concentric circles, part- ners facing each other. Clap to two measures. Dance with hands on hips to two measures. Repeat. Take partner by hands and circle in place to end. Bow, and inner circle moves one place to left for next partner. Repeat as often as desired or imtil each child meets his first partner. Children like to clap their hands, to dance in front of a partner, and to whirl around with their playmate. There are no steps in this dance which need to be taught. It can be suggested in what order the activities which they enjoy might come, but further than that an adult need not interfere with the child's free expression. PLAY WITH DOLLS COMPILED BY THE EDITORS 'The doU is [tcrhaps as significant as the' statue,, the gargoyle, the coin." — .\lice Meynell. "The doll." Sully tells us, "takes a supreme place in the fancy realm of play." The complete adapt- ability of the doll makes it an ideal means for dramatic play. "A good, efficient, able-bodied doll, like the American girl's," says Joseph Lee, "is at home in any situation in life, from princess to kitchen maid, to which she may be called. And one doll in her time plays many parts. She has to, or lose her job." Besides this, so perfectly does the doll mingle with the child's own person- ality that it produces and maintains a complete feeling of oneness. Says Sully : "The dolly must do all and be all that I am ; so the child in his warm attachment seems to argue. This feeling of oneness is strengthened by that of exclusive possession, the sense that the child himself is the only one who really knows dolly, who can hear her cry when she cries, and so forth." A most thorough study of the interest of chil- dren in dolls was made several years ago at Clark University by A. Caswell Ellis and G. Stanley Hall. They found that the age of doll-play was chiefly from 4 to 14, with a rapidly increasing interest between 7 and 10, and with two years of greatest enthusiastn at 8 and 9. The great majority of little children prefer baby-dolls, larger children like child-dolls, and in general all children prefer dolls which represent an age some- what near but perhaps a trifle less than their own. The Educative Value of Doll-Play A questionnaire as to whether they believed doll-play had any effect upon their own moral and intellectual development when they were children was sent to a number of adults Forty-four thought such an influence was "good;" forty-one thought it helped in the preparation for future parenthood ; thirty-eight thought it helped to fit for domestic life; thirty-nine thought that it de- veloped morals; thirty-five thought it developed taste; thirty-five thought it furnished training in sewing. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 3S3. One or two miscellaneous facts are of interest. The investigators found that boys play with dolls as eagerly as do girls, but not for so long a time. It was their conviction that boys, if not ridiculed, would play with dolls more generally, and that they ought to have the profit which comes from such pleasure. As to whether doll-play is to be interpreted as an early outcropping of mother- love among girls, their judgment was negative, since they found that many women who were excellent mothers had never played with dolls, and that many girls who were extremely fond of dolls did not become especially domestic. They rather interpreted the apparent maternal tenden- cies as largely imitative. Dr. Ellis and Dr. Hall both would impress us that doll-play is of very great value, both as a means by which we who are parents may learn to understand our children and as a means of their part of self-education. In playing with dolls the childish instincts are open for observation. To their dolls the children whisper their most sacred confidences ; they f ee^ them their favorite foods and even project upon them the symptoms of on- coming maladies. What they are with, and feel toward, their dolls is what they most largely are and feel themselves. Doll-play has very great educative value. Young children have been known to learn to read so as to teach their dolls. They construct miniature villages for them and thus get valuable handicraft training; they take them upon imaginary journeys and thus learn to know about the outer world. These investigators go so far as to say that doll-play could aid in teaching everything that is being taught in the kindergar- ten, and that therefore dolls ought to be a cen- tral educational appliance in that institution. If these things are true, it behooves the mother to observe most carefully the play of her children with dolls. By its use she may learn to un- derstand them better than in any other way, and by skillfully directing such play she may do more for their mental and moral awakening than by any other process. The bright mother needs only a suggestion to apply this thought. Through a doll-supper or a doll-party a little child may learn table manners; in doll-discipline she may learn to discipline herself; in the making and care of the doll's clothing and in doll housekeeping she may learn the simpler housewifely arts ; while playing with other girls in a doll community she may learn lessons of sharing and generosity. The doll has a special value in developing the child's love for his home. The next interest with babies after ball-play is in their home surround- ings. The doll becomes the personality around which play with home things and home occupa- tions may most readily center. So, as Patty Rod- man tells us, "dolls that can be dressed and un- dressed are best, for they give the little hands something to do. The child is a doer of deeds, and will imitate all the acts and sayings of those about him. He learns to do by doing; so a whole- some suggestion and good example from the mother are necessary to direct activity. The mother's task is to conserve this energy." We have in play with dolls. Miss Meredith Smith says, an important method of moral influ- ence. "One example,"' she continues, "may per- haps make this more clear. At one time, when a group of kindergarten children were playing with their dolls, a number of them laid the dresses just taken off on the floor. After some remark about teaching children to take care of their clothes, I noticed a child quickly pick up his doll's dress and say to himself. 'I'm not going to teach my lit- tle girl to throw her things on the floor.' The interesting thing about it was that teaching his little girl meant doing it himself, for it did not seem to occur to him to make any pretense of playing the doll was picking them up. "Is it not true, though this is what zve would call play, that there is a strong element of reality in it to children? In such absorbing occupation they are really living. Dolls are to them other people. And if it be true that children become like what they imitate, we must believe that char- acter will be influenced and modified for the bet- ter in this reproduction of human life through play." How to Make the Doll the Center of Play- Activities in the Home A mother entered her five-year-old son in a kindergarten. She took him there every day, and once in a wliile staj-ed with her three-year- old daughter to visit. Noticing that the chil- dren were happy .because they were busy with work which appealed to them, and that the doll's house was frequently the center of attraction, she decided to allow her little ones to make a house at home. For twenty cents two wooden egg- boxes were secured from the grocer, amid much excitement on the part of the children. The boxes were taken straight to the children's corner, and it was decided that work should be done on them on rainy days only, and that the children were to do all of the work if possible. At their dictation. Mother made a list of the things they intended to do: paint the outside of the boxes white; make a curtain across the front; have a kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room and bedroom; paper the rooms; make rugs for the floors, and make furniture for the different 38a THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL rooms. The next thing to do was to prepare a list of the various materials needed: paint, paper, scissors, thumbtacks, cardboard boxes, spools, glue, scalloped-edged tissue-paper napkins for window curtains, white oilcloth, japalac, and so on. These lists were not completed at once, but added to as the children fliought of things, or as new things were made for the kindergarten doll- house, which served as their model. All this was splendid training in memory and in concentration, for it kept the attention di- rected toward one object, and at the same time it was sufiiciently varied work not to become mo- notonous. It also developed skill in the use of the hands. Mother, who was just as enthusi- astic as the children, would occasionally suggest something of which they had not thought, and sometimes in their walks they would stop at shop-windows to play a new game which this occupation had suggested, "finding treasures for the doll-house." The children were allowed to ask the shop- clerks for the material, and sometimes they paid for it with their own money, for Mother knew that, like "grown-ups," they would prize things more if they bought them with money of their own than if the things were given to them. In this way the boy learned to count, and both real- ized, to a slight degree at least, the relation be- tween value and price ; also that they could buy only what they could afford. For example, one day they planned to buy a paint-brush with five pennies they had saved together. When they reached the store they noticed first a large attractive brush, but found it was ten cents. There were smaller five-cent brushes, but it would take more than they had to get one for each. Little Daughter wanted Mother to give them the extra five cents needed, and Son wished her to lend it to them, but both these suggestions were finally ruled out, with in- calculable value to both children. There was quite a long debate and a hard struggle in each little head before the final decision was reached — to buy one five-cent brush and each take turns using it. Materials were kept in a covered box on top of the doll's house. The children returned every- thing to this box when they were ready to stop play for the day, including their aprons, which Mother had made large enough to cover them completely, and sheets of a newspaper, which were used to spread on the floor to protect the rug from stains. It took a number of days to paint the outside of the house, as little children can not remain at one occupation long, and many articles were made for the rooms during this time. The wall-paper was cut from a sample book given by a neighbor- ing wall-paper firm — blue and white tiled paper for the kitchen, flowered paper for the other rooms. Rugs were cut from mail-order catalogs and pasted on stiff cardboard. Tables, chairs, and bed were made of paper boxes with spool legs. The kitchen sink was made of a small tin box fastened to the wall with two square brass hooks, inverted, to represent hot and cold water faucets. This house was kept for several years, but the interior was constantly changed as the children became more efficient in handwork. There was no whining, "What shall we do?" They would play for long periods at this favorite occupation while Mother sat by and mended and made their clothes. She, for her part, never became irritable when they interrupted for legitimate assistance, for she realized the wonderful lessons they were constantly learning. AN INTRODUCTION TO NATURE STUDY. BY JESSIE SCOTT HIAIES The mere turning of children loose in Nature is not enough. They want you to go with them, if possible ; and they certainly want your interest. As Tom grows older he begins to ask questions. "How does the water go through the pipes? How did it get into the pipes? Where is the reservoir? How does the water get into it? Where do the streams start?" "Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?" You know all about this endless questioning. It has driven you to your wits' end many a time, but did you ever think that when you are driven into a tight corner you might say something like this? "I don't know how that is, but we will try to find out together. Everything has a secret to tell about itself, a secret that those who ask can find out by watching the thing itself, by experimenting and thinking. Only those who are patient enough FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 385 to ask over and over find out the great secrets, but we will try together." In this word together lies courage and promise of success. A child's interests are apt to be ca- pricious ; so it is Mother's interest and encourage- ment that keeps the boy's instinctive curiosity going until it gains results to the point, and then it is her enthusiasm which leads him on in col- lecting material and experimenting with it until a habit of intelligent observation is formed. Mother and Tom and the Frogs' Eggs For example, Tom is curious about frogs' eggs. The other boys dip the white jelly-like masses out of the pond into tin cans and keep them in the backyard. Tom does the same, but after watching them for a few days for signs of change, he finds a bluish-white coating forming on all the tiny black balls of the jelly mass and the odor of the water offensive, demanding that it be thrown away. If Mother is then consulted about the project, she points out that the cans have been left in the hot sun a part of the day, the water has become too warm, and has thus caused the decay of the eggs. She helps Tom to think of the con- ditions prevailing where the eggs were obtained, so as to know how to provide an artificial home for them as comfortable as possible. Water shut into a tin can or even a glass jar becomes warm and stale. A broader surface exposed to the air makes aeration possible, more as it is in the pond, so the next batch of frogs'-eggs- jelly is placed in a large pan containing the pond's own water with perhaps a little of its mud and a few of its green growing plants. It is set in a light place but in a north exposure, where there is no danger of sunlight overheating it. There the tadpoles flourish and develop in fine style, and Tom, find- ing that partnership with Mother yields good returns, will share his next venture with her. The Place of Books in Nature Study • However, Tom's growing confidence in Moth- er's wisdom may give rise to some anxiety on her part lest she be not always prepared as a helper. Then it is that she will appreciate the Book- shelf volumes on Nature and Outdoor Life for her own reference and for inspiration to first- hand study. Only let her never feel it necessary to cram zvith facts from hooks. Nature study was never meant'to be a mere accumulation of facts, never primarily book work, not even a course in biology, but rather an opportunity to develop, through actual contact, "a sympathetic acquaint- ance with Nature." and "to learn to see the things that one looks at." according to Dr. Bailey of Cornell, who has been one of the leaders in the great movement for nature study in this country. So "Bring not the fancies found in books. Leave authors' eyes and fetch our own." The one most important thing is that the chil- dren have the actual contact with Nature together with Mother's fellowship in their interest. Sample Questions and How to Get Answers Why do dandelions spread their leaves out like a wheel lying flat to the earth in Fall, Winter, and early Spring, but hold them up straight in the tall grass? How can they hold their seed balloons up so high above the lawn in the morning when Father cut the grass the night before and all the dandelions, supposedly, were mowed down ? Let us watch and see. How can a baby robin eat so many worms, more than his own bulk? Do birds have any work to do? How long does it take to dig 152 worms for a baby robin's daily food? Try it and you will know. How did the stream happen to take such a crooked course through the town ? Experiment with water in a sand-pile, using also a few pieces of rock. What became of the pollywogs' tails? How did Mr. Toad change his coat? He srvaUowed it! Oh, the millions of fascinating, curious things that the out of doors holds ! If the children discover wonders for them- selves, well and good. If they have queries, en- courage them to pursue them to their solution. Make excursions with them to see the gathering of the harvest of fruits, vegetables, and grain. Call attention to the need of man's care for do- mestic animals in contrast to the wild creatures' care for themselves. Notice their adaptability for this and the many devices for protection in coloring and habits that Nature has given them. Gather berries for food, for home decoration, and for the little ones to string with reeds or grasses cut into short lengths. Gather branches of gay leaves and autumn wildflowers; collect seed-cases and examine the scores of curious means of seed-scattering. The children did not know that the burrs that clung to their stocking legs or to the cows' tails were seeking a ride to a new home. Even seeds have their own indi- viduality and their own curious habits. Everything has its story and every day out of doors is a puzzle picture. How to Study the Habits of Plants The children will enjoy getting acquainted with the various plants and trees. The first step, of course, like a favorable introduction to a person, 386 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL is to stand face to face with the plant and to hear its name distinctly pronounced. A little child is athirst for just such experiences. In the period of acquirement of language the names of things and of attributes of things are sweet food to a voracious child-mind. The oft-repeated "What's that?" or "What is its name?" give us the clue to this interest. So make the most of your chance to introduce the children to as many flowers, trees, shrubs, grasses, and ferns as possible. It will not be long before they will discover that each has its own place to live and its own manner of growth. We do not realize that chil- dren are thinking about these things until some day even the five-year-olds surprise us by saying that apple, cherry, and pear blossoms are tree flowers, that lilacs, roses, and peonies are bush flowers, that yellow violets, trilliums, and adder tongues are woods flowers, that tulips and pan- sies live in gardens, blue violets and strawberry blossoms grow in the meadow, and white clovers and dandelions on the lawns and roadsides. Then it will be great fun to make long lists of these various classes on a blackboard — if you 'have a large one- — or on sheets of paper pinned to the wall or in a notebook. See which list will be the longest. It will be a motive for observation through many happy days in fields and woods and will amount to a sort of inventory of one's ac- quaintance with plant life. There are other games of classification for the very little children. They love to handle the flowers, and can enjoy selecting and arranging them. Let them have a plenty of empty bottles or small glass jars, enough so that each variety of flower can be placed by itself. Then the vari- ous small bouquets may be arranged according to color, fragrance or the lack of it, size of blos- som, variety of stem — that is, woody or tender — length of stem, or according to any other basis that seems interesting. After the children have discovered the places where various flowers like best to live, it is only a step further to learn that they like to live in family or neighborhood groups. There are trees and shrubs, low-growing plants and mosses that can always be found living near each other in the woods. If you see one you can be fairly sure that the others are close by. There is an entirely different group in the swamp-land and another in the open sandy spaces. To get acquainted with the various members of each group is an interest- ing study for the older children, who will enjoy reading about the reclamation of desert land in the west and the transference of plant families to suit the changed conditions of soil and ex- posure. Sometimes the same plant will show difference of growth according to its environment, lying in a flat rosette in one spot and stretching its leaves in long upright fronds in a shadier place. This way of looking at plants as real, living things, affected by conditions very much as peo- ple are, is one secret of helping children to know and love them. Froebel says, "Because he lives himself, the child Oft thinks that all things live, And pours his little heart upon That which no love can give. "But when his life, outreaching, meets With answering life around. His wistful eyes are lit with joy That comrades he has found." This represents the child's attitude, but it is al.so a matter of science that all plant life is "an- swering life," responding to conditions and being modified thereby. Each kind of plant has its own distinctive character and a reason for all its being and doing. For example, take the dandelion, whose cheerful, aggressive, never-say-die char- acteristics have led it to the place of conqueror in all too many grass plots. How to Know the Dandelion It is a child's flower, with blossoms enough to satisfy the desire of all, and in possibilities as play material excelling most plants. To begin with, let it "tell if Mother wants you" or "tell the time of day." Make chains and curls, wreaths and whistles, but do not let its acquaintance drop there. Discover its persistence, its cleverness in adaptation by some such pathway as follows : Select for observation a single well-developed dandelion plant. Mark it and watch it day after day to discover its I. Habits. • Where it lives. Who are its plant neighbors. Who are its visitors. How it keeps warm. How it keeps clean. How it drinks. How it sleeps. What it does on rainy days. Sunny days. How it takes care of its buds, as to protec- tion and food. How it makes blossoms. How it makes seeds. How it scatters seeds. Later, select other plants in varying locations and compare them with the first. NATURE STUDY— I FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 387 2. How the plant is made : ( 1 ) Shape and arrangement of leaves. (2) Placuig of buds in relation to leaves. (3) Kind of stem. (4) Structure of bud cup. (5) Structure of the blossom. Many sepa- rate flowers. Count them. (6) Seeds and their sails. 3. How each part helps the whole — that is, relation of structure to habits: (1) The leaves protect and feed the whole plant. They lie close to the earth for warmth and they spread in a rosette to get the most light possible. They surround the buds and flowers so as to feed them most easily. (2) The roots help to feed and water the whole plant. They hold the plant in place. Note the difficulty of removing the whole root from the ground. (3) The stem is cylindrical for strength and economy. Being hollow, it serves its purpose of raising the flower or seed-vessels quickly, with least expenditure of food and force. (4) The bud cup holds together the large group of flowers and makes it possible for scores to mature as easily as one. It holds the seeds and protects them while they are ripening. (5) The blossom calls the bees and furnishes honey and pollen to them. (6) When the seeds are ripe, the bud-cup turns downward and lifts the little white circle that the seeds stand on, thus spreading the seed-balloon. (7) The tiny parachutes carry the seeds away to new homes. They need new homes because there are too many of them to find food in a single spot of earth. 4. Who the dandelion's friends are — the bees in particular: (i) What they do for it. (2) What it gives them. (3) How the bees use flower dust. (4) How the flowers use it to make seeds. 5. What dandelions are good for: (i) Food for people. (2) Food for cattle. (3) Medicine. (4) Beauty, cheerfulness, and to teach many wonderful secrets to those who have eyes to see and minds to think. By skillful questioning help the children to dis- cover for themselves if possible all of this mate- rial. Make it a part of the game to find the story directly from the plant itself and do not use books e.xcept as a last resort. This general procedure may be followed in get- ting acquainted with any form of plant life. Everything has its story and every day out of doors is like a puzzle picture. The Care of Pets One of the best means of learning to take re- sponsibility and thoughtful care for others lies in the care of pets, because their appeal is so strong. Pretty as the garden's bloom may be, interesting as it is to watch the growth of plants, and satisfying as it may be to eat their fruits, the companionship of friendly animals is worth more to the average child. Pansies may dry up in silence, but if Rover needs a drink he has a way of telling his little master of his neglect and of winning sympathy as well as water. If he is well and promptly fed, the friendly wagging of his tail speaks his pleas- ure and gives approval to the thoughtful child. His happiness lies in fellov^fship with the chil- dren, his care of them is watchful and efficient, and his affection for them may call out their kindest care. Yet children are so used to re- ceiving care and never giving it that they may be careless and naughty to a friend as patient and unfailingly loyal as a dog. It is the appeal of the helplessness of little things that wins the best from all of us. The soft, furry balls of kittens who can not yet see, the straggling, weak- kneed puppies, the baby rabbits shivering with the cold before their fur has grown — all these win the tenderness of a child. Is it because he, too, knows what it is to be helpless? At any rate, there is no better way to teach a child to value a mother's care than to let him see the mother rabbit pulling out her own soft fur to warm her little ones: the mother bird nestling her fledglings, ugly little cry-babies though they are, is busily searching for food for them; the mother hen clucking her chickens to safe shelter under her wings; the mother cat dressing her kittens with never-ceasing care for their clean- liness. Thus the children are prepared to know and understand somewhat of their own mother's devoted care. So gratitude springs. Some parents are finding that the care of pets makes a suitable opportunity for introducing chil- dren to the laws of reproduction. It is true that from three to five or six years of age children are in a condition of innocent teachableness that especially prepares them to learn from Nature's object lessons in all purity, and surely this is preferable to having children learn things that should be sacred from the lips of playmates that 388 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL may have been polluted, ever so little. One can never tell how early such whisperings of evil may begin. Therefore, it is advisable that before the school age, certainly, there should be some home teaching about the origin of life and the mother care of little ones before their birth. Ob- servation of the life of pets may well be the occasion for such instruction, which should be given in such a way as to make the children free to come again with any similar questions that might arise. It is advisable to speak of such things quite simply and naturally, and yet to teach the children that they are only to be talked over with Mother or Father, like certain other private affairs of life, not for general conversation. To leave the children to learn from Nature alone is not likely to be satisfactory, for curiosity will enter in, and imless confidence between par- ents and children is established so that children feel free to ask questions, more harm than good may be done. Inasmuch as human life is in reality far differ- ent from all other life, it is probably quite as well for the mother to tell the story about the human baby in the first place, whenever the child shows by questioning that he is wondering about such things. That story, more than any other, can quicken tenderness and gratitude in a child's heart, if it is simply and reverently told. It is a good plan to let children have some pets for their very own, for which they alone are responsible, as soon as they are old enough to give the necessary care. But it is also well to be prepared to entertain, for a few days at a time, other animal visitors — a wild rabbit, a tame duck or hen, a pair of pigeons, a turtle, or a toad. In such case the first thought should be for the comfort of the visitor, and a place should be provided as near like the natural habitat as pos- sible. An "animal house," so-called, may be made of galvanized wire netting, about ^-inch mesh. It should be about 30 x 18 inches, with a zinc bottom and a roof of netting. In the middle of one long side there should be a door about ten inches square with hinges and a hasp lock. There should be legs one inch high at the corners. This is light enough to be moved about easily, open to the view, and adaptable to many kinds of occupants. Sawdust, straw, or sand can be put in the bot- tom when occupied by fowls; half of it may be carpeted for a rabbit, and he will sleep and rest there. The bottom of the cage can be covered with soft mud and moss for a toad, and the mud should be kept moist. A toad does not drink but absorbs moisture through its skin, and to that end buries itself in wet earth. For frogs, sala- manders, and turtles, a photographer's black ba- sin, or any pan, can be set in and filled with water to make a pond. Mud, mosses, and grasses may be set around it and a stone large enough to project out of the water may be placed in the tiny "pond." When the visitors go, and they should never be kept long enough to suffer discomfort, the house can be washed with a hose and made per- fectly sanitary for the next occupant. A case for cocoons can be made of wire net- ting of the same kind, in shape suitable to be set outside a window and fastened to the ledge. This keeps them in natural conditions of moisture and temperature, and thus prevents shriveling and drying of the imago. The door of the animal house can be left open after the visitor has made himself at home. If he has been fed in the house and otherwise made comfortable, he will return to it — a rabbit, toad, or pigeon, at least, will do so. Toads like to have their heads stroked from front to back and will become quite tame. They are such very useful creatures, and j'et so often misunderstood and subject to injury, that every child should be assisted to make intelligent ac- quaintance with them. It is well to have a re- serve of handkerchiefs or similar soft cloths with which to handle toads and frogs. Though they really can not harm one, it is more agreeable to use a cloth. How to Know a Pet Animal The children will spend many happy hours watching these various visitors. The mother's part will be the establishment, by example, of an attitude of friendly consideration for them all. For successful results later, "early attitude is far more important than early teaching." and yet, doubtless, some direction of the child's thinking will be helpful. One might outline a plan of procedure like this: 1. Purpose. The one main purpose of developing, through experience, a sympathetic acquaintance with Nature, should dominate all that is done. There may well be secondary aims in the parent's mind, such as to encourage ( 1 ) Intellectual curiosity. (2) Freedom and accuracy in language ex- pression. (3) Self-control for the sake of timid crea- tures. (4) Nurture of helpless things. 2. Method. An acquaintance involves a certain degree FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 389 of knowledge gained through contact. For it to be sympathetic there must be some ap- preciation of the creature's relation to one's own life, his home, his manner of life, his friends, the conditions of his well-being, his pleasure, or his trouble. These facts underlie method. With these in mind the following suggestions for teaching are made : (i) Informal observation with children's questions answered by themselves as far as possible. (2) A\'hen a question is raised which the children can find out for themselves by continued observation, but have not yet solved, it should be re-stated concisely 'by the parent as a definite problem to be pursued together. 3. Questions that may be asked. What is it? Would it hurt you ? How do you know ? Where does it live ? Who takes care of it? Can it take care of itself? How? What does it eat? How does it eat? Try it. What does it drink ? How does it drink? Experiment. Is it happy now? What makes you think so? Is it frightened? What makes you think so? What can it do that you do ? What can it do that you can not do ? How is it dressed? What has it that we have ? What has it that we have not? How can we make it comfortable ? Does it like you ? How can you tell ? 4. Encourage the children to tell their father or other children what they have discovered. 5. The importance of the parent's use of con- cise English must be emphasized. The use of many words blurs the thought. Nature study should not involve much talking by parent or teacher. The interest in dress and habits of such crea- tures, and the response of their helplessness to one's care, make ample reward for the trouble they cause. However, one can not be too em- phatic in warning against the discomfort or death of such visitors. Better far never to take them from their home than to let them come to grief. So also in gardening. Too often plant culture in the house is a failure. Plants in egg-shells or small jars lack sufficient moisture and die. Care- lessness in providing necessary conditions for bulb culture for early spring blooming means blighted growth, and often no blossoms at all. This is a case where learning by experience is too hard for any child. Successive failures would probably result in total loss of interest, so it is well for Father and children together to consult Mrs. Higgins' garden guide in the Bookshelf (vol. IV, page 135), or some other equally good manual. It is true that in many cases parents may well "keep silence even from good words," while the children listen to Nature's secrets at first hand, but yet Mother's interest should always stand ready in the background to give needed guidance or approval, to help to hold curiosity to a definite track of observation, to assist in experiment, to encourage one to patience in awaiting results or in the making of records, until out of nature study grow the careful habits that make for scientific investigation. How came there to be an Edison but by such persistent study and experimentation ? How came Marconi to find the wondrous power of the air to serve man's intercourse? How came an Au- dubon to understand the life of birds and know their haunts ? How came Muir to explore the secrets of our American glaciers? Yet it is not that we may have a greater race of scientists that we encourage nature study, but that children may be enriched by the training of their own power to appreciate and enjoy life, to know their own resources and to exult in them. It is to teach them to appropriate riches that will not take unto themselves wings and fly away, but which will stand by one, increasing with the years, proving a rest and a refreshment to the wearied man or woman of middle life. Who Are the Blind? Nature is full of beauty — beauty free to all. Shall we throw it aside or close our eyes, refus- ing to look and be made glad because it is free? Shall we underestimate its value because we do not pay a paltry dime to behold it? There is an entrance requirement which is worth infinitely more than any fee to a box seat. It is the ability to enjoy, the power to appreciate. I was walking along Canal Street in New York on a late winter afternoon. Pushcarts had been pulled aside and the street was fairly open. One could in places look into the squalid habitations of men, and dark and dirty, smelly and unwhole- some they all were, surely, but the western sky was aflame with sunset tints, deep red and glow- 390 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL ing gold, and silhouetted against it the stately outlines and towers of those great lower New York buildings. It was a glorious picture, beauty free to all, and yet I saw not one response in a human face, though I looked curiously and eag- erly at them as they walked to and fro. Their sense of appreciation had not been quickened. Their hearts* occupation with sordid, material things had shut their eyes to a picture unequaled, in its way, by any the Metropolitan Museum of Art could show. There was refreshment to be had for an upward glance, but the hurrying crowds of people were blind: perhaps, because their mothers had never taught them to see. How could a mother teach her child to see beauty? Learning to See First of all, in just, the way she teaches him other things, by enjoying it herself so he could learn by imitation. He sees his mother enjoying a sweetmeat and he wants to taste and enjoy it too. He sees his father smoke, perhaps, and he must have a make-believe pipe. It is a child's way of understanding things, and it gives an easy clue to ways of teaching. No method is so potent as example. Well do I remember rousing from sleep in the early hours of a clear winter night, feeling my mother's gentle arms lifting me up and wrapping me in a great blanket shawl and then carrying me to the piazza or open window where we could look at the stars. I don't remember what she said. There was something about Mars or Jupi- ter and a conjunction. I suppose I looked at what she showed me. but the particular thing learned was of no consequence. It was what I felt through or in her. Those stars in their clear brilliance in the blue-black sky were a deep joy to her, and because she was happy she wanted to share it with her children. So we looked and felt also, and the influence of those silent nights has lived with us ever since. When we are weary or restless the stars have a peculiar charm. Curiosity led us as we grew older to find out about those mysterious planets, orbits, and con- junctions that Mother found so interesting. Im- itation was the earliest response, but it issued in intelligent understanding and pleasure. There is beauty in sound, and we learned to enjoy that by imitation also. "Hark!" Mother would say on the still Sun- day evening in Summer. "Listen, children !" and then, stopping for a minute to see what she meant, we would hear the sweet sound of a bell far away. "It is the Lansing church bell," she would say, but though we ran off again to our play there was a light in her face as she listened that had some deep meaning in it, and we would often stop again, saying to ourselves : "It is the Lansing church bell. Listen !" And as we listened, the stillness of the summer night, the near chirping of crickets, katydids, and other little garden creatures, the sweet fragrance of the fields in bloom, and the far-off chime of the little church bell in the village over the hill, which we had never seen, were all mingled in our thought with the light in Mother's face, and so we learned to care for the music in night sounds. On a warm, moist March morning Father re- marked as he came from the barn, "We can smell the Spring in the air to-day." "What is the smell of 3pring?" we asked. "Oh, it is the smell of the earth growing bare, the smell of swelling buds, or the moist sweetness of the south breeze." So we little folks went trudging about, sniffing of bare earth to learn the secret, or holding our faces up to the soft wind like young deer learning life through their noses. The summertime brought new-mown hay, the dainty fragrance of white clover with the bees in it, apple bloom and roses, and the fragrance of fruits and burning leaves made Autumn sweet. So, through teaching us to enjoy, our lives were stored with treasure. Sometimes it was the moonlight making patterns on our floor or the frost decorating our windows ; sometimes it was the beating of the rain on the roof or the croon- ing of the wind in the pines; sometimes it was the howling of the wind about the house on wild nights, rattling window-blinds and doors, ruffling the hair on our brows as it came in the open window, even shaking the house on its founda- tions ; all, somehow, were for us, we felt. "Did you hear the wind howl in the night?" Mother asked. "It makes one feel very snug and warm in his bed." We loved it for its power and its sweet breath. We cared a good deal to learn about it as we grew older — what made the wind, how the weather-man could tell, by com- paring the various barometric readings, what the weather would be. We learned of cloud forma- tion, how to know the signs of rain or of clear- ing weather. Every day was different from the otliers, each with its own interest and cheer, and not until years after, when we went away from home, did we learn that some people fret about the weather and hate the sighing of the wind; that the dripping of the rain can make one nerv- ous and the falling of the leaves bring depression. Oh, open the eyes of your children to see that every season has its own glory and every day its own gladness. NATURE STUDY— II FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 391 "In rose time or in berry time. When ripe seeds fall or buds peep out. When green the grass or white the rime, There's something to be glad about." So it is that children's minds are prepared to understand and enjoy the imagery of literature, and nature poetry becomes a familiar language. So, also, a child is led to know the great Creator and to love Him for His gracious benefits, as one of His little ones said in her evening prayer of spontaneous thanksgiving, "Dear God, thank you for the apples, the plums, the pears, and the bread and milk. I love you. Good-night." To be awake to all the wonders of our daily experience makes one reverent of life. With daily miracles before our eyes we have no need for doubt of miracles, past or future. With eyes opened to behold the glory of each passing season one's heart is tuned to Nature's hymn: "Honor and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary." BETTY'S NATURE FRIENDS* BY MRS. ELIZABETH HUBBARD BONSALL fuzzy hairs and gum, to protect them from injury from the winter rains and melting snow. And after the leaves fall their usefulness is not over, for they decay, forming leaf-mold, which is valu- able for the soil. The Birds There is a noticeable stillness in the woods and bushes now, for most of our birds are gather- ing in groups, preparing to fly to the south. Their colors are not so bright as in the spring, and sometimes it is hard to recognize our friends. It seems strange to have them disappear without even saying "good-by" or thanking us for the care we have taken of them, or telling us that they hope to see us next Spring ! One by one our winter friends — the chickadees, juncos, and others — come back, and it is a good plan to put down the dates when they are first seen, for com- parison from year to year. The birds' nests are more conspicuous now that the leaves are gone, and we are always surprised to find how many birds are living right near us that we never knew about ! Betty has quite a collection of vacant nests that she has gathered in the Fall. Such a difference there is in them ! Some are beautifully woven and carefully secured to the adjacent twigs, while others we have picked up from the ground are ready to fall to pieces. One nest we discovered had some tiny * Mrs. Bonsall furnishes here material enough for home nature-study for a family for several years. Every one of these observations is accessible to a mother who will keep her eyes open. Indeed, those that Mrs. Bonsall has taken with her two little children were all made in and about a suburban home near a large city. The criticism was made of this series by one of our associate editors that many of these studies were imposed upon these children rather than suggested spontaneously by them. Perhaps the point is well taken, for Mrs. Bonsall, before and even since her marriage, has carried on extensive biological studies in a university: but if this enables her to qualify as an expert, then the rest of us have the advantage of her wisdom. Certainly it is better to impose a hobby of our own upon our children, especially if it is so valuable a one as this, rather than to let their minds grow entirely unwatched and untended. I am fortunate in an intimate acquaintance with Betty and Ann, and I_ have no hesitation in saying that, whether imposed or not. the nature-enthusiasm has already "caught on" with these little children. .\s I have fol- lowed Betty about through her garden, visited with her the family bird-houses, and studied the bird-pictures on Betty's walls. I have wished that all children might have a mother so enthusiastic, so faithful, and so assiduous in her love of Nature.— H'. B. F. Fall This is the time when nearly all of our Nature friends are making their preparations for Win- ter, and the woods and fields are full of interest. Think of the changes that Winter brings, and how we must have food and means of warmth if we are to live till springtime. The children love in their little way to help meet these needs. We gather the dead wood that breaks from the trees and pile it high in the cellar for use in the fire- places in the cool autumn evenings. The children are so interested that they work like little Tro- jans, and take great pride in their accomplish- ment. Then we collect a few nuts, and wild grapes for jelly, so that the little folks feel that they are helping with the food, too. And I think it gives them a more sympathetic feeling for the animals as they lay up their stores or hunt out some snug little hole where they can keep warm. The Leaves Ordinarily T do not think that we consider the leaves as doing any work, but in reality they have been very busy all Summer making food for the tree and forming next year's buds. And now they send their nourishment back into the twigs and branches. Long before the leaves fall you can see the baby buds, wrapped away so care- fully with their little scaly coats and sometimes 392 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL little bones in it, and we wished that we could have fed the little birds ourselves, if anything had happened to their parents. Bird-houses may now be opened and their contents removed. How neatly the little wrens have kept their home ! There was a small crack at the back of one of our boxes, and the birds had carefully padded leaves against it till it was waterproof. Another box was tilted forward a little, and the birds had painstakingly filled it up level. The Garden Although we had carefully weeded our garden before leaving for our vacation, the grass was high in it when we returned. Probably our beets and carrots were not so big as they otherwise would have been, but they were fair-sized, and King Midas himself, when he first received the gift of the golden touch, could not have been more delighted than were my children when they pulled their own golden carrots from the ground and had them creamed for lunch ! And then Betty was convinced of the wisdom of having thinned them last spring, for in a few places several of them had been left together, and were consequently small, while the ones off by them- selves were much larger. Indoor Plants We have a plant-shelf in our hall window up- stairs which the children keep filled with their very own things. It is a queer and not altogether artistic collection that we have, but it is our very own, and we prize it more than anything that we could buy. Our ferns we dig from the woods. It is hard to place them evenly in the pot, for it seems as if the largest ones persist in going to one side instead of staying in the middle. But then they are growing finely and there are lots of little new fronds coming up, and we eagerly watch their little rolled heads uncoil so beauti- fully. Then we -have slips of ivy which we keep in water till the roots grow enough so that we can plant them. It seems very strange to the chil- dren that we can cut a little piece from the plant and have it form a whole new one, but the hardy way in which the ivy grows shows that it was intended to have that sort of treatment. I have found ivy one of the most satisfactory plants for children, for it grows so quickly and is so hardy. It is easy to measure its growth as it twines up a stick. While it has no flowers, the leaves are smooth and glossy, and the children love them nearly as much as flowers. Seeds of all sorts may 'be planted. Orange, grape-fruit, and lemon seeds grow into beautiful little plants, but so slowly that it takes a great deal of patience to wait for thcni. The Wind This is the best season for observing the wind, except possibly in March., Let your child make a weather-vane himself by taking a hatpin and punching it through a cardboard arrow so that it swings easily. It will take a little experiment- ing to get it just right. He will discover that the arrow points in the direction from which the wind is coming. Teach the terms North, South, East, and West and also that between north and east is northeast, and so forth. If the pin is placed in a cardboard circle upon which are marked the various points, it will make it easier to see just in what direction the wind is blowing. The Animals We have not been very fortunate in discover- ing animals hiding in their winter quarters, with the e.xception of cocoons and spiders. But one day late in the Autumn when raking the leaves we uncovered a very fat toad which had hidden away for the Winter. He was so sleepy that he paid no attention to uS. so we put him back into his hole and covered him up again. Winter Perhaps it seems as though Winter were not a good time to start in to become acquainted with Mother Nature, for everything outside appears to be dead, or at least asleep, and it is impossible for children to be out of doors all day long, as in the summertime. But in many ways it is the best time to begin to know her. There is not the confusion and wealth of beauty crowding in upon all sides as in the Summer, and one by one the trees, birds, and flowers can be watched as they change their form or make their appearance, and each one can become a real friend. Then, too, on stormy days and in the evenings children love to look at nature pictures and colored plates, like those in the Boys and Girls Bookshelf, FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 393 learning many of the names, so that later it is much easier to identify them. Trees The trees are always with us. Birds and animals come and go, and the flowers have their seasons, but the trees are among our most faith- ful friends. And to recognize a tree in the win- tertime, without leaves, flowers, or fruit, is to know it indeed. Shape. — At this time the shape of a tree is one of its most conspicuous features. How straight are the poplars and evergreens, with their branches tapering to a point at the top ! And the willows leaning, with their branches drooping, are often broader at the top than at the bottom. And the gnarled oak spreads its mighty branches, twisting and turning in all direc- tions. Sometimes trees do not have a fair chance to grow as they should, and have to change their shape accordingly. We know of a tree growing against a rock which has flattened out where it is in contact with the rock. Another small tree in our own yard has branches only one side, be- cause a larger tree is in its way, and yet it keeps right on growing as best it can. If you have a chance, notice that the trees in a thickly wooded place are straight and tall, and then, when one has plenty of room, how beautifully and evenly it develops ! Little sketches of trees can be made on winter walks, or less preferably from the window, to be colored later and bound into a tree-book. Bark. — In Winter, too, we study the bark, not- ing how it protects the parts underneath from colJ and injury. How rough it is on the chestnuts, how smooth on the beeches, and how easily it peels off the birches and cherry ! Of course, we never take off large pieces, for fear of injuring the trees. Then we note the difference between the bark of young trees and older trees of the same kind. It seems too bad that the older trees have to wear such tattered garb — their over- coats are in shreds in places ! Later in the season we watched the gum come through the bark of the cherrj' and spruce trees. Age. — If a freshly cut stump is available it will show how the bark protects the tree, and the little fingers will enjoy counting the rings of growth — one for each year — to see how old the tree is. A moderate-sized tree we found was sixty-four years old, and many trees live to be over one hundred years. Evergreens. — Naturally, in Winter the ever- green trees are our favorites. How glad we are to see the deep green of their branches and to smell their fragrance ! Every child should know and love the pine with its long needles, the spruce with shorter needles, and the cedars with flat branching leaves. Of these the pine needles may be strung into necklaces and chains by carefully pulling out one needle of the pair, and tucking the point of the other end in the vacant socket. Twigs. — Cut twigs from as many different kinds of trees as you can and put them in water by a sunny window, watching the new buds come out.* The horse-chestnut with its sticky bud. made so carefully to keep out the water; the tulip tree with its beautiful smooth leaves, and the peach with the lovely pink blossoms coming out before the leaves, should surely be among those collected. Notice, too, if there are any leaf-scars from previous years on the twigs. These show how much the tree has grown during the year. Birds If you live in a suburb or near a park you will be surprised to find how many different kinds of birds are in your neighborhood all Winter. This year in January we saw ten different birds and in February six, and many of these were unlike the ones we saw in the same months last year. And that is the interesting feature about watching birds. Except for the most common ones, you never know which you are going to see, and often you have a real surprise. On the first of January each year we start a border around Betty's room of pictures of birds which she has seen, putting them up one by one by means of clips on the picture molding. "The Mulford Bird Pictures" are the ones we used but if the pictures from the Bookshelf (vol. VIII) are traced and colored carefully an added interest is given. Of course we always start off the first day with the English sparrow, and usu- ally we can add the junco, with his slaty back and white feathers at the side of his tail. Then we saw a flock of chickadees with their little black caps, and heard their cheery voices as they hung upside down to get insects from under sides of twigs. Next came the nuthatch, going down a tree head first, and uttering his queer little "yank, yank." Every time we see a bird we try to notice every- thing we can about him — his plumage, his song, how he flies, whether he walks or hops, what he eats, whether he is shy or friendly, whether he likes to go in flocks or by himself, and whether he stays with us all the time and whether he likes cold or warm weather. The winter birds were mostly rather somber * If the end is cut off each day, buds and blossoms may come in the house long before they appear out of doors. 394 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL, in color, till one day we saw a cardinal (our eighth bird), and how glad we were to be able to add his picture, with his brilliant plumage, to our gallery. This year, too, we were very for- tunate in seeing a hawk hovering over a meadow, poising over one s-pot, keeping his position by flapping his wings and suddenly swooping down to carry off his prey. Another time we saw a pair of kinglets, tiny little birds with an exquisite song, who were flitting constantly from one branch to another, brimful of energy. Stormy days afford a splendid chance for mak- ing bird-houses. The little wren seems to be the easiest bird to attract in the region around Phila- delphia. This year he occupied our bluebird and robin houses as well as his own. The house need not be large, and a circular opening an inch wide allows the wren to enter easily, and also keeps out the English sparrow and other troublesome visitors. The houses should be put up facing the south and not too close together. If the top is made with a hinge, it can easily be cleaned each year and used again and again. Stars No friends are more faithful than the stars, for they follow us on land and sea wherever we may go. Only daylight and stormy weather hide them from us, and even then we are sure that they are there. We know that as long as we live they will remain unchanged, so that a little time spent in getting acquainted with the stars is well worth while, for i-t will be a constant pleasure afterwards. There is no time that the stars are more brilliant than in Winter, and it is dark early enough for even the four- and five-year-olds to stay up and see them. When it begins to grow dark Betty and I watch to see who will discover the first star and where it appears. One by one as they appear I tell her the names of the in- dividual stars, and before long she is able to tell them herself. Together we look over the star maps and try to learn the most prominent stars and constellations, or groups of stars. The Great Dipper forms the best starting-point, as it is familiar to nearly every- one and is seen all during the year in the north. Did you know that what appears at first to be a single star, next to the end of the handle of the Dipper, is in reality two stars apparently near together? See if you can distinguish them when it is dark and clear. The Indians call these stars the little papoose on the mother's back, and it is considered a test of line eyesight to dis- tinguish them. Following along, almost in line with the two stars of the Dipper, farthest from the handle, is the Pole Star, which is almost above our North Pole and keeps nearly in the same place all the time. Following the two stars making the rim of the Dipper, we come very close to a beautiful star, Capella, meaning a little she-goat. Early in the winter evening it is to be seen high up toward the northeast. Betty loves to think that the beautiful yellow star is sometimes called the twin star to our own sun, which is really a star too, but is so very much nearer to us than the others that it seems larger. On the other side of the Pole Star from the Dipper is a queer-looking constellation made up of several groups like an M or W, depending on its position in the sky. This is Cassiopeia, or the Chair of Cassiopeia (an Ethiopian queen) as it is sometimes called. Early in the Winter evenings it may be seen almost overhead. On the west and almost sinking below the horizon are three very bright stars forming a large triangle — Vega, the falling eagle ; Deneb, the tail, and Altair, the bird. Deneb is at the head of a group of stars forming a sort of cross. Altair is the middle star of three in a row, and Vega is the one that sets first in the west. The Milky Way with its host of stars stretches overhead, and we like to pretend, as did little Hiawatha, that we see "the broad white path in Heaven, crowded with ghosts — the shadows." In February, looking toward the south, appear the -most beautiful stars: Orion, the mighty hunter, attended by his two dogs, com'bating the Bull with the red eye, who is sheltering the Seven Sisters, crowded together behind him. These form the most imposing spectacle in the whole sky. The giant Orron is our favorite con- stellation. We love to look at the three bright stars in a row forming his belt, with the fainter stars forming his sword. Sirius, the big dog, to his left, is the brightest star in the whole sky and is easy to discover on that account. A little farther to the east and north comes the little dog star, Procyon, in reality a magnificent star, but quite overshadowed by Sirius. Toward the west of Orion is the beautiful red star, Aldebaran, the eye of the Bull who is attacking Orion, and just a little farther to the west is the faint little group of stars called the Seven Sisters, or the Pleiades. These are merely a few of the stars and con- stellations that every child could easily learn. Every pleasant winter evening before supper we watch the stars come out one by one, and then after supper, when Betty is ready for bed, I carry her around from window to window to see our BETTY'S NATURE FRIENDS FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 395 friends in all their glory as they shine out in the black sky. We gaze in silence and wonder at their beauty, and with this peaceful scene to conclude the day my little girl drops quietly off to sleep. The moon and the planets also are interesting, because they keep changing their position among the stars. Unlike the stars or suns which twinkle, the planets shine with a steady light. Venus is the brightest of these, sometimes visible in full daylight, and Jupiter is the largest. We never find Venus except in the east or west, while Jupiter is found in the south as well. Saturn is much fainter than the other two, and Mars may be distinguished by its reddish color. The other planets are less easily located. The moon moves so rapidly that even children can see the change — one night below a star, the next above it — and are enthusiastic about watch- ing it. Where do you look for the new moon ? Which way is the crescent facing? Does it al- ways face the same way ? How long does it take the crescent to become a half moon? a whole moon? Is there ever no moon in the sky? Why do you suppose the moon changes its shape ? Children of five can hardly understand a full explanation of how the light of the moon is simply reflected from the sun, but they will enjoy the many legends about the shape of the moon, how it was supposed to be eaten every month, or how it is a sorrowful woman drawing a veil over her face — legends which had to satisfy men for ages. Does the moon give us heat ? What are the markings on the moon? Here again there are many legends, but if your child really wants to know what they are you can tell him the wonderful true story, that they are enormously high mountains, much higher than those on the earth, and great plains, perhaps the bottoms of former great seas. Once there may have been living things on the moon, but not now. for everything is cold and we can discover no air or water there. On rainy days we sometimes copy the strange signs that have been used for ages to tell the location of the sun every month. These signs are to be found in the Bookshelf (vol. IV, pages 268-279), in the upper left-hand corner of "A Year with Dolly," and we have included them in the little monthly calenda-r we keep. Leo, repre- sented by the lion's ta>il, and Taurus by the horns of the Bull, are Betty's favorites. Rocks On winter walks we bring home any interesting or pretty pebbles that we come -across to put in our mineral collection. Perhaps you think that K.N.— 27 all the stones are alike in your neighborhood, but unless you live in a most unusual place you will be astonished at the variety you -will find. In the first place, notice where the rock came from: did it come from a near-by cliff, or was it carried by a stream or river? Has it rough edges or smooth? How do you suppose it came to be the shape it is? The hard white quartzi-te pebbles and those containing mica are generally the easi- est to find and recognize. Note how hard the quartz is, how difficult it is to scratch, but how it can make a scratch on almost any other rock. Perhaps you will find a calcite pebble, in appear- ance very much like the quartz, but much softer and more easily scratched. See if you can find both the white mica (muscovite) and the black mica (biotite). How do you think rocks are made ? It is easy to see that many are being broken up all the time into small pieces and finally becoming sand or crumbling into earth; but it is not so easy generally to see the formation of new rocks. If you find a piece of slate or s'hale, you can think of it as part of a mud flat long ago that has become hardened. Sometimes in these rocks we find fossils. The sandstone was a sandy beach which was buried deep and hardened. There are also the crystalline rocks — granite, once molten rock, which solidified slowly deep down in the earth, and which contains large crystals. Prol)a:bly you will find pebbles with quartz or calcite veins running through them, or if you are fortunate, some dark reddish garnets or some iron pyrite crystals. Above all, do not be dis- couraged if you do not know what kind of a rock you have. I have heard learned professors discussing at length as to the name of a very plain little piece of rock. Pebbles containing mica are fascinating to children. The white mica (muscovite) is the commonest, next comes the* black, or biotite. Both micas are found in flat, six-sided forms, and are soft, being easily scratched. Children love to pull the mica apart into fine layers, but the thinnest leaf we can make still contains many more layers. This feature of splitting into layers is called cleavage. Fragments of granite are also plentiful in most localities. It is used so much for building that pieces of it can be easily procured if it is not to be found in the ground naturally. This rock differs from the quartz pebbles in being com- posed of several minerals, the crystals of which may be clearly seen. The glassy mineral is quartz, and feldspar is the one which gives the dis- tinctive color — pink, gray, or white. Usually there is a little mica present, and sometimes horn- 396 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL blende, a dark mineral in needle-shaped crystals. Because of the large crystals, we know that granite was long, long ago a very hot molten mass, cooling slowly, deep down in the earth. So whenever we pick up a bit of granite we think how very old it must be, for all the earth on top of it must have been worn away before it could be brought to light. Another common rock is gneiss (pronounced like "nice"). It resembles granite in being made up of feldspar, quartz, and mica, but contains more mica than granite, and is arranged slightly in layers. It is less valuable for building, as it is likely to split along the layers. Probably your children will find some mica schist. This contains a much greater amount of mica than the gneiss, and consequently is of little value for building. Betty has found mica schist so soft that it would easily crumble to pieces in her hands. The porphyries are interesting rocks. The basis of the rock is fine-grained substance contain- ing large crystals which stand out distinctly. It may be of different colors, but the famous Roman porphyry was a reddish purple with crystals of white feldspar. All of the rocks mentioned previously are made up of individual crystals, and are called igneous rocks. There is another important group of rocks, made up of small fragments of other rocks, which have settled under water and are called sedimentary rocks. Sandstone is a rough, hard, gritty stone, in which frequently the grains of sand may be clearly seen. The brown and red sandstones generally contain a little iron, which gives them their color. This rock must once have been a sandy beach. Slates and shales are easy to obtain, the most striking difference between them being that the slate cleaves into narrow layers, and is therefore used for roofing, while the shale breaks irregu- larly. If you breathe upon them it is easy to recognize the strong odor of clay. This rock must have been part of a mud flat or deep-sea deposit long ages ago, becoming covered deeper and deeper till it finally solidified. Limestone is not uncommon, especially in the form of marble. It is a soft rock, easily scratched with a knife, and a little crumb put in strong vinegar will make a fizzing sound. It may be in color, red, blue, white, black, or yellow, and was probably formed under water from pieces of shell compressed together, or from coral deposits. A piece of coal may be included among the specimens, and the story told of how long ago immense forests became covered with water and buried deep under sand and mud till the trunks and leaves of the trees were compressed into coal, which we dig from deep in the earth. To complete the collection, you ought to have a piece of conglomerate, or pudding-stone. As the name implies, it is made up of a conglomer- ation of pebbles held in place by sand, which forms a natural cement. It is easy to imagine that this must once have been the rocky coast of a lake or ocean. There is a legend that this rock was once a Giant's pudding, but it was turned into stone, the pebbles being plums. Read "The Dorchester Giant," among the early poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes. If possible, try to collect all of the rocks named above and as many more of interest as you can find. If you are able to, get fair-sized specimens, at least large enough to bear a small label giving the place where it was found and its name as well. Probably you will find some pebbles with quartz veins running through them, and some with little holes where a mineral weathered out. Sermons in Stones Once Betty and I had to wait nearly an hour in a little city vestibule during a rainstorm, so we amused ourselves by trying to see how many different kinds of rock we could locate near us. The vestibule was marble, and the outside of the building was granite, in which we could distin- guish the various crystals. Near-by was a build- ing of gneiss and another of sandstone, with a slate roof. The others were more distant but we tried to make intelligent guesses as to what they were, and in this way the time passed very quickly. Spring And now comes the beautiful weather when we are out of doors all day long, and there is more than enough to keep our eyes, ears, and hands busy. Everything is awaking from its long winter's sleep ; the migrating birds begin to arrive, the insects and reptiles come forth from their winter quarters, and out of the ground spring up the most marvelous things. Gardening The digging fever is strong now, so start in with the gardens. Do not begin with too big a one, for in my experience several small ones, well kept, are preferable. Betty has no less than four — a little strip against the house in front for garden flowers; another strip at the side for wild- flowers; a shady corner at the back for ferns and jack-in-the-pulpits, and a little sunny bed for FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 397 vegetables. These gardens Betty has managed entirely herself, except for the original breaking of the ground and the transplanting of some rare specimens from the woods. The vegetable garden Betty started first. We measured off a little rectangle 3x5 feet, which 6 + t • K + 1 • X ■f- 1 • X ^ + 1 ^ . » (U X 0^ + ^ 1 -C < X '^ b '^ 0^ + 1^ : 1 or " ■+- XD. X + 1 < X -h 1 < X BETTY'S GARDEN was large enough for a little path in the middle and easy to weed and water. As we are away in the middle of the Summer, we are limited in our choice of seeds. But we finally decided upon peas, lettuce, and radishes for early use, and car- rots and beets to last over until we returned from our vacation. Betty watched me crumble the earth in my garden and helped me put in stakes on opposite sides, joining them with a string, and then she did the same in hers all by herself. We had some difficulty at first in keeping the baby away from the garden, for she was as much inter- ested as Betty, but by giving her a corner of her own and a trowel she was perfectly contented, putting the seeds in first and digging and raking it afterwards. Every day we watered the garden carefully and eagerly watched for the first signs of green above ground and noticed the different appearance of the sprouting seed. It was a hard day when we started to thin out the little plants, for it broke Betty's heart to throw away any of them. But she realized that they could not all grow in the garden together, and when we decided to give the little plants pulled up to some chickens to eat, it helped matters considerably. One morning was happily spent in gathering stakes to support the peas, and we were delighted when we found that the tendrils actually clung to them. It was a red- letter day when the lettuce was large enough to eat, and Betty's eyes fairly danced when it appeared on the table. Our Wild Flower Garden Along the side border of our yard we have an ideal place for planting wildflowers, as there is both sun and shade there. We have had unusual success in transplanting, and I think it is because we have taken up plenty of earth around the roots and have placed them in the ground within an hour or so, trying to reproduce the natural conditions. We have hepatica, bloodroot, spring beauty, bellwort, amaryllis, blue-grass, star of Bethlehem, mint, Solomon's seal, spikenard, and violets of various kinds. Some of them have come up year after year. In this way we can study the plants in all their stages, watching their seeds and changes in growth. It seems much more worth while to me to come back from ram- bles in the woods with a few flowers to transplant and watch day by day afterwards than loaded down with wildflowers, only a few of which can be used, and these wither within a few hours. These flowers may be identified by the articles and pictures in vol. VII of the Bookshelf. We love to watch the way the different plants push their way out of the ground. The skunk cabbage pierces the ground with a sharp point. A ^ JL The beans make a little loop, which straightens out after it is well out of the ground. The ferns are rolled into a little ball when they first appear, and the May apple seems actually like a little umbrella. Soil While digging in the garden, stop for a few moments to look at the soil. Dump a spadeful upon a newspaper and let your child look it over to see what it contains. He will easily find some gravel, and let him make a little pile of it. Take a spoonful of what is left, and see what is next in size. It is not so easy to remove the sand, but perhaps you can secure a few grains and feel how hard and gritty it is. Breathe upon a small quan- tity of the remaining soil, and you will be able to detect the odor of clay. Besides these you will probably find rootlets, seeds, and little white eggs. Where do you suppose all these things came from? If you can find a piece of rock which is crumbling to pieces perhaps it will give you a clue. If you find mica in the rock, and mica in the soil near by. it is easy to imagine that the mica might have come from the rock. And sand is nothing but quartz broken into small grains. Feldspar breaks up in time, forming clay. The little rootlets and leaves when they decompose form the dark rich carbon matter in the soil. And so much of the earth in our gardens was long ago hard, solid rock ! But trickling water, 398 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Jack Frost, and even the air have slowly been working to break it up into soil. Bird-Study Now is the time when bird-study is the most exciting. Get up early in the morning and you will see new birds nearly every day. Remember that the birds are going to help with your garden by eating injurious insects. As their plumage is most brilliant at this time and they are exuber- ant in song, it is easier to identify them than at any other season. We had a splendid opportunity this year to watch a pair of robins. They came together and looked over one of our pear trees close by the house for several days before deciding to build in it. We imagined that they were looking to see if we had a cat, and if there was water near by and a good food-supply. Finally they started to build, and in two days they finished the nest. Betty hung some strings on a branch near by, hoping that they would use them in building. But the robins paid no attention to them. However, a pair of cedar waxwings came very soon and carried off every piece of string which we had put out. It was a charming sight to see how carefully the cedar birds wound the strings around their little bills to leave no ends dragging. But to return to our robins: the father bird watched faithfully while the mother bird .sat on her nest. When she flew off for a few minutes he would frequently come and peer over the edge of the nest at the eggs till the mother bird hurried back again. A pair of cat-birds, that came to our tree with apparently harmless intentions, were promptly driven off by father robin, who was taking no chances with quarrelsome neighl)ors. After we saw our first wren we kept watching our bird-house to see whether it would be occu- pied. And what an exciting day it was for both the wrens and ourselves when a pair of these little birds discovered it and kept hopping in and out. How delighted we were when we found that they had pieces of grass in their mouths and were actually building their home ! And did you know that a wren can sing with grass in his mouth? While Mrs. Wren was staying inside of the house keeping the eggs warm, Mr. Wren would sing to her from a neighboring twig, and every once in a while she would look out the little door as if to encourage him. Make a note of when the different birds are seen and what they are doing. How many differ- ent kinds of birds there are ! In our own neigh- borhood Betty saw over forty different kinds of birds before Summer, and I saw many more. The woodpeckers are easy to distinguish, for they are never seen on the ground — except the flickers — and are always upright on the trees, sup- porting themselves by their tails. Their bills are long, and they are often seen tapping and ham- mering away. We were fortunate enough this Spring to see the downy, the hairy, the red- headed, and the flicker. The chimney-swifts go racing by in tireless flight, high overhead, uttering their almost con- stant twittering, and we wonder how they can get enough to eat when they are constantly on the wing. The fly-catchers, which include the pewee and the phoebe, generally sit motionless for a long time on a conspicuous perch, then suddenly fly in a circle, coming back to their resting-places again. Then there are the little wrens, tiny birds with long, slender beaks, full of life and constantly bobbing their tails saucily into the air. The cat-bird is the only mocking-bird of the Northern States, but he is well worth watching. He is just as much interested in you as you are in him, and he peers at you from imder the cover of near-by leaves. His catlike call deceives many a child, and it seems quite astonishing that he has a beautiful song besides. The birds of prey, such as the hawks and buz- zards, are particularly interesting to watch, espe- cially if they are poising high in the air or swooping down upon their prey. In addition to these there are many others^ — • the blackbirds, the jays, the grosbeaks, the spar- rows, thrushes, and warblers, to say nothing of the swimming birds, as the ducks; and the waders, the herons, and others. There are so many birds that there is no danger of seeing them all in one season. (In your bird-study, use the descriptions and color-pictures in Vol. VIII of the Boys and Girls Bookshelf.) The Trees If you have been in doubt of the name of any of your tree friends during the Winter, now that the leaves are appearing you will have additional help. Watch carefully to see the flowers. A friend of mine once asked, "Do trees have flow- ers?" Of course the peach, horse-chestnut and magnolia blossoms are familiar. But how many persons know the flower of the maple, the oak, and the birch? Collect as many different kinds of leaves as you can and trace their outlines in color and bind into a book on rainy days. Get some with a smooth edge, some saw-toothed, some rounded at the top and some pointed, some jagged like the maple, some in which the incisions reach all the way to the stem, like the horse-chestnut. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 399 Notice the veins, wliethcr they are parallel or feather-veined. Have you ever noticed that certain trees have LEAF-FOKMS different kinds of leaves on the same branch? The sassafras tree has three kinds of leaves, which resemble a sock, a mitten, and a glove. LEAVES OF THE SASSAFRAS And the mulberry tree has an even greater variety. Betty has enjoyed greatly making blue- prints of them. Ani)nals As we are only eight miles from Philadelphia we do not expect to find many wild animals in our neighborhood, so it is an unusual treat when we discover any. Early in the Spring we noticed a mole-track across the yard. We followed it in all its turns and twists, but were unable to dis- cover the little fellow. One beautiful day, when we were walking through a little woody stretch beside the creek, a woodchuck hurried across our path and darted under some rocks. When trying to get some duck-weed from a little stream for our aquarium, we saw a water-rat glide under some roots, and we caught a small turtle, which we took home with us. We made a little rock house for him in a shady corner of our garden, and gave him little pieces of meat to eat, but he deserted us in a day or two. However, he was with us long enough for the children to see him withdraw into his shell and come out again many times, and to note how awkwardly he walked. Every year we collect specimens for our large glass globe, which we call our "aquarium." We always have tadpoles, and this year we added a little minnow which Betty herself caught in a sieve, after trying for a long time. Then there were a couple of shell-less snails and a couple of land-snails, which we found on a fern one day and placed on a rock with some ferns in the middle of our globe. To our surprise these land- snails began to swim, shell and all, across the water and climb up the side of the globe, so that we had to put a netting over the top. We had a splendid chance to watch how they length- ened and contracted their bodies, and also to see the eyes on the ends of their feelers, or anten- nae. For a few days we had some special ex- citement, when we caught some water-beetles and put them in our globe, for they raced back and forth over the surface of the water, not seeming to care how hard they bumped into the sides of the globe ; but for the most part the creatures in our aquarium seemed to lead a very peaceful life, paying little attention to one another. Quite frequently we have seen a pair of cot- ton-tail rabbits come into our garden and nibble our lettuce. They were so beautiful that we never had the heart to drive them away, but used to watch them from a hiding-place. One time, when they were frisking around, a dog suddenly ran by, whereupon they immediately became as still as statues till the dog was well on his way. While it is more exciting to study animals in their natural surroundings, we had so little op- portunity for doing so that we had to be content with watching tame animals, pets, and farm ani- mals. We have tried to notice their teeth and feet particularly — how they resemble each other and how they differ ; which had cloven hoofs and which not; how cats and dogs differ, especially their paws, eyes, and whiskers, and which makes the more noise in walking; which can run faster, which longer. We study the Bookshelf plates (volume VIII) to learn the different kinds of dogs, and try to identify every one we see. Usu- ally the owners know what kind of dogs they have, so we have the satisfaction of knowing by asking if we have guessed correctly, which was not always the case with trees and birds. Summer During the long hot days there is plenty of opportunity for first-hand study of the forms of outdoor life around us. Try to know your own community thoroughly. See if you and your chil- dren can make friends with every tree, flower, and bird in your neighborhood. A friend of mine once told me of the wonderful birds and flowers that she had seen on her vacation, and until I convinced her she wouldn't believe that many of them flourished right near her home. So learn 4Q0 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL with your children all that you can of your sur- roundings, and you will be all the more able to enjoy traveling later. T]ic Sun The center of attention on hot days is the sun ; in fact, the plans for the whole day frequently are made with the understanding that if it is too hot they will be changed. How long the days are ! Notice where the sun comes up and sets, and compare with wintertime. How short our shadows are at noon ! Children enjoy making a sort of crude sun-dial for themselves by sticking a pin upright in a piece of cardboard, placing it in the open, and drawing the shadow every hour or so. Where the shadow is the shortest marks the noon, and the direction in which it is pointing is the north. If you have a thermometer, your child will enjoy watching how the mercury rises and falls each day, going higher the hotter it is. Tell all the myths and legends you know about the sun, and also, if questions are asked, give the scientific answers as far as possible. What is the sun made of? How far away is it? How big is it? These are common questions with chil- dren, and while dry facts as answers mean very little to a child, if you show a tennis ball and a pin and say that the earth would be the size of a pin-head if the sun were the ball, the child gets some little idea of the enormous size of the sun ; and if you place them about twenty-eight feet apart, you will get their relative distances. Betty loves to look at pictures of the sun, showing the spots and flaming projections. Insects The fields and meadows are fairly teeming with life. The hotter it is the harder the insects seem to be working. Just watch the bees as they go from one flower to another, gathering pollen and nectar. They do not seem to mind the heat at all. The flowers are glad to have the bees visit them, for the bees help them in forming their own seeds, so they shower them with pollen. Notice how the different flowers try to attract the bees by their bright colors or delicious odor. And some of them, like the butter-and-eggs, even have a cushion for the bee to sit on ! There are always countless grasshoppers and crickets, which are so easy to catch that even my little two-year-old Ann can furnish plenty of specimens for us. Notice the long pair of an- tennae which Mr. Grasshopper uses for feeling, and perhaps for smelling. How many legs has he, and how does he use them in walking about ? Watch how he jumps: he braces himself with the front pair, and pushing with the long pair in back, he can leap high into the air. What queer e^-es he has — a pair of big ones on each side of his head and three small ones in the middle of his forehead. And yet with all these eyes poor Mr. Grasshopper can see only a few feet away ! As Autumn approaches, more and more butter- flies and moths appear. They can generally be distinguished without difiiculty, for butterflies have slender antennae with little knobs at the ends, while the moths do not have the knobs, and sometimes the antennae resemble feathers. The beautiful dragonflies or darning-needles the children love to watch. We have noticed their fondness for being near the water, but did not know till recently that the reason is because of their food, — the mosquito. So now we like them more than ever, and feel that they are our par- ticular friends, as we watch them steer in and out of the cat-tails with their long, slender abdo- mens. Perhaps you have seen one bursting his skin. Many insects, when they grow, split their skins along the back and shed them. The cast- off skin of the cicada, or harvest-fly, is very common, and if you have a good specimen it is easy to see the different parts of the outer cov- ering. Flowers There is no scarcity of summer flowers. Every- where the fields are luxuriant with chicory, gold- en-rod, asters, daisies, wild carrot, and thistles. These are all tall flowers, for unless a flower grew fairly high it would have little chance of receiv- ing its share of the sunshine. How fast the flowers grow on hot days ! It is said that the morning-glory grows so rapidly that the move- ■ment can actually be seen, as the growing tip completes a circle in two hours. While we were never quite sure that we could see it grow our- selves, we have often marked its height and in a few hours have been able to see considerable change. Birds On account of going away in the Summer, we have never been fortunate enough to follow a pair of birds from the time they started their nest till the little ones had flown. We watched our robins for nearly three weeks, but the mother bird was sitting faithfully upon the eggs when we had to leave, and upon our return, two months later, there was not a sign of them, except the empty nest. Our wrens, too, were disappointingly slow. They came early in May, and by the middle of June we could hear the baby wrens peeping inside their little home, and once in a while when I lifted Betty she could see a tiny bill through FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 401 the opening. We eagerly waited for the day to come when their mother would take them out and teach them to fly, but the days passed and we left without seeing any more of our little friends. But one of , our neighbors had a pair of robins whose eggs hatched before ours, and we saw the mother and father birds gathering worms all day long without a moment's rest. The hungry babies didn't seem to have a bit of pity for their busy parents, but with wide-open mouths kept clam- oring for more. While we were away we had an unusually good opportunity to watch a mother oriole teach her babies to fly. They had come from somewhere to the vines by our porch, and there they stayed. The mother kept flying a little way ahead, but it was a long time before the babies would leave the vines and follow her. But at last her coaxing or threatening was successful, and down they went, hopping and flapping their wings. It is interesting to see how unlike the parents the young birds sometimes are. The little robins had spotted breasts, resembling the wood thrushes, and the baby orioles were much less brilliant in color than their parents. One day we heard a great commotion in the yard, and hurrying out we saw a pair of cat- birds, a flicker, a robin, and numerous sparrows all flying around in an excited way, and scream- ing so that they paid no attention to us till we were close upon them. We surmised that a cat had been making trouble, and we were correct, for hidden in a near-by thicket was a gray cat, preparing to take a nap. Apparently she had eaten some baby cat-birds, for the parents in a broken-hearted manner kept flying to their empty nest and looking in as if they could hardly realize what had happened. We were surprised to find how the different kinds of birds had united against their common enemy, the cat. Clouds When resting under the trees on hot summer days we particularly enjoy looking at the clouds. How quickly they change their shape and move to different parts of the sky! Just think how the wind must be blowing up there ! Of course, we like to look for all sorts of shapes in them; some are like animals and others are like ships, and we have real pleasure in watching their beauty; but aside from this we try to find out a little about them. There are the layer clouds, called stratus, generally seen early in the morn- ing. Then there are the beautiful fleecy clouds, called cumulus, and the lighter, more feathery clouds, called cirrus. The heavy low gray rain- clouds are called nimbus. Generally the sky is composed of a mi.xture, but when starting in to learn the types, try to choose a day when it is fairly simple to tell which type of cloud is the predominant one. PLAY WITH NEGLECTED SENSES BY THE EDITORS The part that odors play in the life of a child is interesting. In infancy the youngster shows a bluntness to bad smells which not only protects him from much that is disagreeable, but which helps explain why we find it hard to make him care about keeping clean. But the chief use of the nose to the young is in the creation of memories. Alice Meynell thinks that it may be because the child is smaller, and therefore nearer than we grown-ups to the wild and homey scents of the moss, the under- growth, and the wildflowers ; that the smells of earth mean more to him. His going barefoot also may bring the ground more near, because he touches it with two senses instead of one. Noses Are Gates to Joy The nose, the pioneer of the human face, is intended to enrich our lives. You would not show a child California without its roses. New England without its pines, Italy without its oranges, or Brittany without its sea air. It is possible, we verily believe, so to select a child's sense-memories in advance that his manhood's associations shall be purely fragrant. He might perhaps be spared the staleness of tobacco, the pungency of wine, and the fetor of late assem- blies. In their places we could give him "incense- breathing morn," wildflower air, and the smell of salt spray and heather. It is told of St. Francis that once he "ordered a bed of flowers to be laid out, that all who be- held them might remember the Eternal Sweet- ness." The gentle saint's example might well inspire all who have a love for children. There is a familiar Greek saying, "Let him that hath two loaves sell one and buy flowers of the 402 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL narcissus, for bread feeds the body only, while the narcissus feeds the soul." Impressions, as we -know, do not lie in the mind like separated valuables in the disconnected boxes of a storage vault. They are, rather, like beads on William Blake's golden string wound into a ball. Start to unwind, and presto, you run down the whole string to the very last bead ! The best strand on which to string memories is human affection! "The purely sensuous pleasures, because -of .their" impermanence — a taste, a smell, a physical contact — tuilcss accompanied by some \\nman on social association," says the author of '■Religio Doctoris," "have little or no power of (revival." That is, attach to a lovely sight or sound or odor the sympathy of an understanding friend, and years afterward the sensuous and the spiritual memory will survive together. "The scent of the roses will cling to it still." It would seem, then, that we may consciously and deliber- ately, through the thoughtfulness of our affection, not only quicken the attention of a child to sense- experiences but embalm them in his memory. We may patiently and richly store the chambers of the soul. In .the Woodcraft League there is a deliberate effort to lay up happiness. At the initiation ceremony they burn red willow and white cedar together on the central fire and they say: "And because the power of smell to store and hold memories is greater than the other senses' power, we know that henceforth ye who smell this smoke will ever after conjure up pleasant thought and reverent mood of this our Council Ring." Utilizing the Common Odors A simple suggestion for developing the sense of smell by the use of plants is to endeavor to find a source of their odors. Sometimes they emanate, as in wallflowers, from the petals; some- times from the pollen, as in daisies; from the nectar, as in clover: from the leaf, as in mint; from the roots, as in primroses. Odors are particularly serviceable because they are so democratic. The common plants — clove pinks, geraniums, herbs — are most delicious, while the precious orchid is a flower without a soul ; in fact, flower odors are generally evanes- cent, while it is the costliest leaf odors that are permanent. Children should learn to love the humble odors: fir cones, toadstool, rocks, and lichen, the dry leaves, bonfires, strawberry leaves after the frost appears, fresh bread, upturned soil, grass freshly cut, the garden after a shower. It is important to learn to discriminate among odors. If children could learn to do so. teachers would be less annoyed later by the extravagant use of ten-cent-store perfumes in the schoolroom. Nature's flower odors are usually inoffensive. Let us revive some of the old-country customs. Let little girls wear ladslove, rosemary, or laven- der in their bosoms when they go to church on stifling summer Sundays. Odors in Hospitality In New England, silk scent-bags were placed on tlie hacks of chairs and potpourris were opened when guests entered. Offerings of sweet odors are so integral a part of beautiful hospitality that they may be used by mothers who wish to instill the more gracious part of hospitality. Let us teach our little girls how to perfume the bed- sheets, make the chairs fragrant by scent-bags, gather potpourris, and even mix pomanders or fill vinaigrettes. "Hospitality -mats," as made in the East, are produced by placing bags of lime leaves, orange leaves, or lemon grass under the doormats. "Hospitality bags" for chairs are made, so says Mrs. Earle, in her "Potpourri from a Surrey Garden," by placing dried leaves of verbena, lavender, and sweet-scented geraniums in silken bags. They are put under and behind the cushions. Odors in Worship and Service In a certain household the father brought home one day a copper incense-holder that he had bought in the Turkish quarter, though it held a Christian cross. With it was some dried frank- incense. The children were deeply impressed by its odor when burned, and seemed to receive a religious impression from it. Again, another member of the same family was shown in a Sunday-school class a bit of medicinal manna, such as is sold by some pharmacists. His sus- ceptibility to the pilgrimage stories of Israel was much deepened. One wonders why greater use has not been made of such sense-impressions from the Holy Land. We can recall no others that have been used except the unsatisfying pressed flowers. In the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, gold, frankincense, and myrrh in silk bags are still presented on Twelfth Day. Why not do the same in church or Sunday-school ? Then there was the "precious ointment" of the New Testament, which was a compound of olive oil, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, sweet calamus, etc., all common enough ingredients, but never used of old in this combination except for sacred purposes. Why not let incense and ointments FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 403 be produced and presented at family worship upon high religious holidays, or Good Friday? The sense of smell is not only of all the senses the most difficult to define, it is also the one most impossible to control. We may avoid see- ing, or tasting, or touching, and to some extent hearing, but alas ! we can not long preserve our noses from the subtle influences of their sur- roundings. The question rises whether, if we endeavor to make any educative uses of this sense, we may not redouble the discomforts as well as the pleasures it may afford us. We do not, of course, succeed in marking the sense more keen ; we cause the mind to be more attentive to this source of sensation. The net result would seem to be that we may develop such repugnancies as shall remove the nuisance or cause removal from it. A community with fully educated noses, for instance, would suppress many previously endured annoyances. The education of the nose might thus have even a social outcome. This most democratic of senses might even stimulate a democratic revolt against the sources of foul odors. The Joy of Sounds Has your child noticed the different notes of the wind in the various kinds of trees? "Oak leaves," says Mary Webb, "on their firm, stiff stems, brush one another roughly ; long, pendent willow leaves move with a sleepy whisper: chest- nut leaves lip one another consolingly; the con- tinual motion of poplars sounds like running water, and in a quiet place you can hear it across a wide field. The wind fans in the maple, harps in the needles of a pine, sighs in silver birches, and rolls like an organ in the cedar." The majority of children have never heard an echo. An echo requires some flat, unbroken wall and distance. Wherever there are many walls there is usually little space for distance. The most hopeful combination is a country barn and a meadow. The writer, though once a farm- boy, will never forget the first time, when quite a sizable lad, too, that he ever stopped long enough to hear an echo. It was, as a forgotten writer says, "as if a spirit lay in that distant valley, and laughed shrilly at you, repeating itself brokenly as its voice grew less and less." Plays with Other Senses It is in the contest for the Degree of Colonial Housekeeper ("Gaiat") in the Woodcraft League that most pleasant and varied use of sense-plays is made. These are some of the suggested points : "i. Gather bayberries and make four candles dipped or molded, each six inches, for the Four Fires (the Fire of Fortitude, the Fire of Beauty, the Fire of Truth, and the Fire of Love). "5. Make a lavender box, i.e., grow, gather, dry, and use the lavender in a clothes-chest. Same for lemon verbena (tripoliiini). "6. Potpourri — Make enough to measure one quart when dried and spiced. "/. Make one pint of elderflower water. "8. Gather and make marigold salve and pru- nella salve, or witch-hazel salve. "9. Make cherry balm of 'black cherry bark. "11. Gather the sap and make of it a pound of sugar, either from -maple or ash-leaved maple. "16. Brew sage tea, mullein tea, boneset tea, camomile tea, and ginger tea. "17. Gather and make half a pound of candied sweet flag (calamus), mint leaves, rose leaves, or violets. "30. Make, decorate, and stuff a hop pillow." A Day of Sense-Impressions To show how we might enrich the lives of our little children as well as our own, if we would more constantly open the gateways of our senses, let us imagine a wholly practicable day of sense- impressions. Morning Sunrise The clarion of the distant train Bird-songs The factory whistles The rustle of leaves beneath the feet (in Autumn) The splashing of the brook in the woods The color of leaves held up against the light The goldfish in the dining-room bowl The smell of baking Aftcr>won Leaves seen at the bottom of a roadside pool The smell of bonfires The footbeats of horses over a rustic bridge Late afternoon shadows Smells of the harvest field Sunset light Evening Crackle of flames in the fireplace The lighted room seen from outside Moonlight seen from the window Piano-playing heard across the lawn The rustle of silken garments The taste of apples, and their smell Hydrangea blossoms ghostly in the moonlight Street cries and sounds How easy it would be to make a fresh list for every new day, and to extend and enrich our experiences, simply by listening, watching, and waiting ! Two little children were seated on a doorstep in an Eng- lish city, holding something tightly grasped in their small hands and gazing with nuich eagerness toward the head of the street. Half an hour later they were seen again, still there, by a lady who was repassing. "I wonder whether you would tell me what you are doing?" she asked in sur- prise. One of them answered: "We are waiting for the barrer." It seems that once a week a flower-cart was driven through this narrow way, and that on a few red-letter days a flower, a sprig, or even a root had sometimes fallen out of the back of the cart. And here were these two children sitting in eager hope, with their hands full of soil, ready to plant any- thing which might by some golden chance fall their way. The parable is so obvious that I need not pound on it. The hands were small, but they were full of soil, they were outstretched, they were buoyant. — William Byron Forbush. TOM AND SARAH DURING THE KINDERGARTEN YEARS BY WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH "What do you all think is the most noticeable thing about the twins?" It was their grandfather who asked the ques- tion. The whole family were out on the porch. "Speed," was their father's instant response, as they both went tearing past on their kiddie- cars. "Joy," said the grandmother. "Temper!" was the verdict of grandfather, who had had a recent collision with them both. "Or," he added, remembering another sort of episode, "maybe it is curiosity." "What does their mother think?" grandma in- quired. "I was trying to find a word to put it into, but I guess there isn't one. The thing I notice con- stantly is that they seem to be busy collecting experience." "Getting exposures," murmured Frank. "That's not bad. I suppose that must be what this per- petual motion all means. What do we do about it ? Or, as the soldier boys say, 'Where do we go from here ?' " "Do you know what Dr. Dewey's definition of education is?" asked Mrs. Howard with apparent irrelevancy. "We will now listen to the Gospel," confidently her husband asserted. "Nobody here knows but you. Out with it." "Education, Dr. Dewey says, is 'to find out how to make knowledge when it is needed.' " "Then the twins are getting educated all right. There is nothing they need to know that they don't discover on the spot." "And some things they don't need to know," their grandfather added, referring to their experi- ence with the beehive. "What are you driving at. Mother?" asked Frank, returning to the subject. "The twins are already getting educated, as you say, and they are getting their education in just the way John Dewey believes children ought to get it, by making their own knowledge right on the spot. What I am wondering is, whether we are helping them in the way we ought." "Nobody neglects them, I am sure," their grandmother said stoutly. "Certainly they get helped enough." Smothering with a Grandparent "Too much, perhaps," replied their mother. "That's just what I am worrying about. How can a child 'make' any knowledge when every- body hands it to him all ready-made?" "What do you mean?" "I think we give them too much help. With apologies to all present, the twins, in my judg- ment, are suffering from too much grandfather and grandmother" — here the older people visibly stiffened — "as well as too much mother and father. Dorothy Canfield Fisher says that, from the time a child emerges from babyhood, he usually has to fight constantly to get chances to help himself. She says that a dozen times a day we spring to serve a child in things that he can learn in five minutes how to do himself. Then she adds : 'There is no surer beginning for the habit of self-help than the consistent training of the capacity for it.' " "So you think we are spoiling our grandchil- dren?" Mr. Spencer asked in a hurt tone. "I wouldn't say that for worlds. You are just the dearest people on earth. I am not a bit better or wiser than you are, but since I noted what Mrs. Fisher says I am convinced that, while we are giving our children the best surroundings, we are all so afraid that they will get hurt or 405 4o6 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL drop something that they aren't getting the best they might out of what is about them." "For instance?" "They have too many mechanical toys, and not enough chances to build playthings for them- selves." "But they would pound their fingers," suggested grandma. "There we go again," her daughter answered. "What if they do? Won't that help teach them how to handle a hammer so they won't get pounded?'' "Their hands are not skillful enough to make anything that would hold together," father added. "What of that, too? They are not critical of their own handiwork. Don't you suppose tliey would take heaps more pride in a shack that they shaped up out of rough blocks or that they remodeled from a grocery-box than they do now in the painted doll-house and garage we bought them for Christmas?" "Well, I confess I would have done so when I was a boy. How about it, Frank?'' was Mr. Spencer's acknowledgment. ]\Ir. Howard nodded his head. Home Kindergarten for Four-Year-Olds From that time onward the father and mother looked on with pleased curiosity at the self-edu- cation of their children through play. They saw how the dolls became the center of a varied con- structive activity in the way of homes, furnish- ings, and clothing, carts and cars, barns and stock, all devised out of the homely materials, such as boxes, cardboard, blocks, and old pieces of wood and cloth that were about the house. They were amazed to see how paper became transformed into scrapbooks, doll's dresses, cylin- ders, boxes, and baskets. Most of all, they were surprised to find how the load of builders' sand dumped in the backyard was both the scenery of the fairyland of play and the material for equipping that land with its castles and dungeons, its dug-outs and fortresses. "A hint at the right moment often keeps them in motion for an hour," their mother testified. "We never have to furnish motive-power," their father corroborated. "All we do is to keep the barnacles off the boat." These two were, as I hope you are beginning to see, average parents who were unusual only in the fact that they agreed in having some plan in their parenthood. With a carefully thought- out system they were making the most of the means and materials within their reach. There was no kindergarten in Hometown. "I am sorry, of course," Mrs. Howard was saying to her husband one day, "but at least four of the five essentials of the kindergarten we can supply right in our own neighborhood." "What are they?" "Play, nature, handiwork, stories (including song-stories of course). The fifth is sociability. We haven't the social circle of the kindergarten, and of course we older folks don't quite make up for it." "The twins seem to be company enough for each other," their father suggested. "H they didn't quarrel quite so terribly. But what I was going to tell you, Frank, is how much I believe you can help in our little home school with a certain 'stunt' of your own. And that," she hastened to add, "is nature study." "Oh, pshaw !" exclaimed Frank Howard. "I don't know a genus from a genius and I never dissected anything in my life." "I am so thankful 1" was the surprising reply. "They don't teach children that way nowadays. It is with Nature just as it is with other things, just as we have been learning it is with their play — stimulate their curiosity, put them into real situations, and they will do the rest. Of course, you have only Sundays, but you can at least pick out a tree and watch it with them during a season, note down the birds when they arrive, buy them a pair of rabbits and let them take care of them, and — but why should I talk ? You know far better than I what to do." Father Becomes an Amateur Nature- Teacher As a matter of fact Frank Howard, being a countryman, had a farm-boy's keenness of ob- servation, and as soon as his attention was called to the opportunity, he made his Sunday afternoon walks with the "kids'' twice as profitable as before. He developed considerable originality in method. For instance, he conceived the idea of classifying the birds and flowers simply by their colors, thus developing the twins' color-sense and giving them always a definite goal for their atten- tion. He found that they were both like magpies, already making random sorts of collections, so he got them to hunt for various shapes and sizes of nuts and seeds and to search for abandoned birds' nests. A year rolled round before he made any re- port, but the result was as astounding to himself as to the family. Five-Year-Old Nature Students "Tom and Sarah," he affirmed, "recognize twenty birds and they know at least thirty other animals. They can tell the names of over fifty FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 40?' flowers, grasses, and shrubs. They have a whole lot of facts about the sun and the stars and the weather, fog, snow, and ice. They can tell time, and read the thermometer and the barometer, and," he finished, "they have raised a dozen hills of corn and some pease and radishes, and they have 36 cents in their toy bank." "Is that last nature study?" asked their grand- mother. Stories Told with Rhythm and Song Perhaps you will be interested in some of Marj' Howard's experiences in telling stories. The children's first stories had been from Mother Goose, thus from the very beginning they associated rhythm and rhyme with story, as all children ought to do always. They never tired of this association. The\' loved to chant aloud about little Gustava, who "Wears a quaint little scarlet cap. And a little green bowl she holds in her lap, Filled with bread and milk to the brim. And a wealth of marigolds round the rim" and Riley's "Man in the Moon." who "Jes' dreams of stars, as tlie doctors advise — Mv ! Eyes ! But isn't he wise — To jes' dream of stars, as the doctors advise?" and the Peddler, whose "Caravan has windows too. And a chimney of tin that the smoke comes through; He has a wife with a baby brown, And they go riding from town to town." They loved song-stories too, "words that sing," Sarah called them, like the funny-sad tale of "Tit-willow," the jolly motion of "Jingle Bells." and their hereditary national air. "The Wearing of the Green." Mary was much pleased with this, because she had the feeling that song, as much as speech, is meant to be a child's native language. The little folks began to croon wordless tunes before they were three years old, but now they made up short musical phrases of their own. Like the little girl whom Josephine Preston Peabody tells of : "I sing about the things I think. Of almost everything. Sometimes I don't know what to think Till I begin to sing." Mary found much help in associating pictures with stories. The children liked to nestle, one on each side, while she opened the big picture- books, and look at them together. Sometimes they would follow the incidents by scanning the pictures closely, often interrupting to ask her questions. Sometimes they would talk about the characters on the pictured page, adding supple- mental incidents and quaint fancies of their own. Often they would insist that she make up stories to go with pictures, the accompanying tales of which were too mature to read to the children. Mary did not believe in teaching reading too early. She preferred that her little ones shou'ld learn first to read the great Book of Life, but she did permit them to make little folded-paper book- lets, and paste in the pictures of animals and children, under which .she would print titles in script, so that they learned to recognize a num- ber of words before they entered school. Mrs. Howard felt that fairy-stories are of the greatest moral value. They picture a friendly world, the kind of life that we dream of living, a condition in which kindness and thoughtfulness are rewarded and in which dragons and witches get what belongs to them. She was increasingly pleased to notice that there is hardly any child- problem or any childish virtue that has not been wrought out simply and convincingly in these old tales of the race. "Fairy stories and Bible stories," she used to say to her husband, "are my moral stock-in-trade." Tom and Sarah, Mother's Helpers But since none of us gets far on tow-ard heaven while sitting still, even while listening to or reading about goodness, this mother kept up her emphasis on the action-side of goodness by continuing those regular practices in home-help- fulness that were described in a previous chapter. Tom as well as Sarah never questioned the propriety of tidying up his room and putting away his playthings, learning manfully to dress himself, and answering to the call to be "Mother's little helper." Mrs. Howard made this part of the routine a pretty definite program. That is, she did not, like some mothers, call the children carelessly from their play to run miscellaneous errands or cause them to feel that their duties were constantly unexpected and never really over. She thought out each morning what she would require of them that day. their tasks were done within a time limit and after that they were free. Needless to say, they did most of their work together and in her company. Shall Mother Arbitrate? This practice had its difficulties. Mention has been made that the twins were quarrelsome. They were by no means angels. To he perfectly frank, they were sometimes like barking, and 4o8 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL even biting, dogs. Sarah was a natural tease, and Tom quite shocked his father by his total lack of chivalry. Mary, however, quoted book and chapter to prove that self-control is not in- born and that temper is simply "high spirits joined to nerves and will." She also had G. Stanley Hall on her side to prophesy that even childish anger might be so handled as to become "a great and diffused power in life, rising to righteous indignation." She found some evidence that he was right, in the fact that already what the children quarrelled about generally was, after all, justice. "Is is always safe to interfere?" she queried. "Why should we ?" "For the sake of the neighbors, at least." "I do think that we ought perhaps to tell the children that if they can not quarrel quietly they shan't be allowed to quarrel at all. But often when we interrupt we simply stop the noise, while the real grievance keeps on smoldering." "That strikes me as a queer doctrine," Frank acknowledged. And I think this was a matter that they never quite agreed upon. Other parents have found it so. It is hard indeed to be sure that adult arbitration really helps, yet it is equally hard to believe that a running fire of exasperation does any children good. They did discover that, after all, each case of irritation has to be taken on its own merits, and that, in this as other things, the Yankee adage is wise, "When you don't know what to do- — don't do it." Imaginativeness in the Sixth Year "I shouldn't think you would dare to tell the children so many fairy-stories," her neighbor, Mrs. Walton, remarked to Mrs. Howard one afternoon. "They are only lies. And I think they teach children to tell wrong stories." "I am not so sure that fairy-stories are 'lies,' " Mrs. Howard responded. "Sometimes I think they are the truest truth there is." "But your children do tell lies, don't they? Tom was' over at our house the other morning, and he reeled off a regular whopper about how he went out into the woods and hunted for a golden bird and how he brought it home to you and a lot of other nonsense of that sort." "He got that out of one of the Grimm brothers, that I have been reading to them," Mrs, Howard recollected. "There! what did I tell you?" Mrs. Walton exclaimed, triumphantly. "In one sense," Mrs. Howard explained, "chil- dren tell the truth better than we do, because they report faithfully all that they dream and fancy as well as what they see and experience. But their imaginations are among their most precious possessions, and it is not so very hard after all to help them disentangle the fanciful from the real. I sometimes simply say to Tom and Sarah, 'Now, children, let us think quietly for a moment. We won't "play" any longer now. Just separate out the true part from the "made- up" part, and tell Mother what really happened.' I have never known them to fail, then, to be truthful and e.xact." Mrs. Walton no doubt went home unconvinced. But Mrs. Howard was right. Her children learned gradually to move consciously from the world of fancy to the world of facts, and in later years these fancies grew into creative imagina- tion, which made them resourceful, inventive, and courageous in their life-work. Reviewing Their Little Past "Somehow I don't feel like writing to-night," said Mary Howard on the eve of the twins' sixth birthday. "No 'inventory' this time?" inquired her hus- band. "It's a cold word, isn't it? Sounds like a list of what's in a garret. Couldn't we think of something more human? Something active, I mean." "Muster-roll, if it isn't too warlike," suggested Mr. Howard. "You remember the time we were all together on the porch, and the family could not decide whether it was Joy, Speed, or Temper that was the twins' watchword? What one word would you put them in, to-night?" "It seems to me we need all those three — and then some. Have you got the right word at your tongue's end? Something comprehensive-like, such as 'honorificability,' perhaps?" "If you should ask me the one thing that Tom or Sarah has been becoming this last year, or these last three years for that matter, I would say, 'Tom is becoming an individual.' For the first time, he is a distinct person. Of course, we think he has always been distinctive, and bet- ter than the average, and all that, but as I think him over, it seems to me that we can now see, even in his photographs, in his way of walking, in the way he holds things in his hands, in the way he makes up his mind, in his 'will' and his 'won't,' that he is not merely a little boy who lives at Number 171 Lincoln Avenue; he is, for the first time, •To)n Hoivard. .'Xnd so it is with Sarah." "And how do you like the picture?" "It scares me a little. That's the reason I didn't want to write things down. He's a pretty FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 409 good boy — now, but if you were to ask me to make a list of all his tendencies, I am afraid I should be too frightened to do so." "You don't happen to see a rope's end in his horoscope?" "No. You know what I mean. It is the thought that he is just beginning to get 'set' — isn't that what they say of molten metals when they start to harden? — and I'm wondering if we have been making the right mold for him." "It does get one to thinking, doesn't it? But we don't have to know it all in advance, or do it all at one time, you know." "No, that comforts me. It is day by day that he is living, and day by day that we can help him. I'm so glad we started early." WHAT SHOULD A CHILD KNOW WHEN HE ENTERS THE FIRST GRADE? BY H. G. WELLS When a child is five or six months old it will have got a certain use and grip with its hands, and it will want to handle and examine and test the properties of as many objects as it can. Gifts begin. There seems scope for a wiser selection in these early gifts. At present it is chiefly woolly animals with bells inside them, woolly balls, and so forth, that reach the baby's hands. There is no reason at all why a child's attention should be so predominantly fixed on wool. These toys are colored very tastefully, but these tasteful arrangements are simply an appeal to the parent. Light, dark, yellow, perhaps red and "other colors" seem to constitute the color system of a very young infant. It is to the parent, too, that the humorous and realistic quality of the animal forms appeal. The parent does the shopping and has to be amused. The babyish parent, who really ought to have a doll instead of a child, is sufficiently abundant in our world to dominate the shops, and there is a vast traffic in facetious baby toys, facetious nursery furni- ture, "art" cushions, and "quaint" baby clothing, all amazingly delightful things for grown-up people. These things are bought and grouped about the child, the child is taught tricks to com- plete the picture, and parentage 'becomes a very amusing afternoon employment. Necessary Tools I think it would be possible to devise a much more entertaining set of toys for an infant than is at present procurable, but, unhappily, they would not appeal to the intelligence of the aver- age parent. There would be, for example, one or two little boxes of different shapes and sub- stances, with lids to take off and on, one or two rubber things that would bend and twist about and admit of chewing, a ball and box made of china, a fluffy, flexible thing like a rabbit's tail with the vertebrse replaced by cane, a velvet- covered ball, a powder-puff, and so on. They could all be plainly and vividly colored with some non-soluble inodorous color. They would ■be about on the cot and on the rug where the child was put to kick and crawl. They would have to be too large to swallow and they would all get pulled and mauled about until they were more or less destroyed. Some would probably survive for many years as precious treasures, as beloved objects, as powers and symbols in the mysterious secret fetichism of childhood — con- fidants and sympathetic friends. With speech humanity begins. With the dawn of speech the child ceases to be an animal we cherish, and crosses the boundary into distinctly human intercourse. There begins in its mind the development of the most wonderful of all con- ceivable apparatus, a subtle and intricate key- board, that will end at last with thirty or forty or fifty thousand keys. The next phase of our inquiry, therefore, is to examine how we can get this mental plant, this foundation substance, this abundant mastered language, best developed in the individual, and how far we may go to insure this best develop- ment for all the children born into the world. Tools of Speech From the ninth month onward the child begins serious attempts to talk. In order that it may learn to do this as easily as possible, it requires to be surrounded by people speaking one language and speaking it with a uniform accent. Those who are most in the child's hearing should en- deavor to speak — even when they are not ad- dressing the child — deliberately and clearly. All authorities are agreed upon the mischievous effect 4!0 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL of what is called "baby talk," the use of an ex- tensive sham vocabulary, a sort of deciduous milk vocabulary, that will presently have to be shed again. Froebel and Preyer join hands on this. The child's funny little perversions of speech are really genuine attempts to say the right word, and we simply cause trouble and hamper develop- ment if we give back to the seeking mind its own blunders again. When a child wants to indicate milk, it wants to say milk, and not "mooka" or "mik," and when it wants to indi- cate bed, the needed word is not "bedder" or "bye-bye," but "bed." But we give the little thing no chance to get on in this way until suddenly one day we discover it is "time the child spoke plainly." There comes an age when children absolutely loathe these adult imbecilities. When a child says to its mother, "Me go nome," it is doing its best td speak English, and its remark should be received without worrying comment ; but when a mother says to her child, "Me go nome," she is simply behaving stupidly and losing an opportunity of teaching her child his mother- tongue. We have available now for the first time, in the more highly evolved forms of phonograph and telephone, a means of storing, analyzing, transmitting, and referring to sounds, that should be of very considerable value in the attempt to render a good and beautiful pronunciation of English uniform throughout the world. If a few men of means and capacity were to produce very cheaply, advertise vigorously, and disseminate widely, a small, clearly printed, clearly written book of pithy instructions for mothers and nurses in this matter of early speech, they would quite certainly effect a great improve- ment in the mental foundations of the coming generation. An important factor in the early stage of speech-teaching is the nursery rhyme. A little child, toward the end of the first year, having accumulated a really very comprehensive selec- tion of sounds and noises by that time, begins to imitate first the associated motions, and then the sounds of various nursery rhymes — "pat a cake," for example. In the book I imagine, there would be, among many other things, a series of little versicles, old and new, in which, to the accom- paniment of simple gestures, all the elementary sounds of the language could be easily and agreeably made familiar to the child's ears. His Speech Attainments And the same book I think might well contain a list of foundation things and words and certain elementary forms of expression which the child should become perfectly familiar with in the first three or four years of life. I think it would be possible to trace through the easy natural tangle of the personal brier-rose of speech certain neces- sary strands, that hold the whole growth together and render its later e.xpansion easy and swift and strong. Whatever else the child gets, it must get these fundamental strands well and early if it is to do its best. At the end of the fifth year, as the natural outcome of its instinctive effort to experiment and learn acting amidst wisely ordered surround- ings, the little child should have a vast variety of perceptions stored in its mind and a vocabulary of three or four thousand words, and among these and holding them together there should be cer- tain structural and cardinal ideas. They are ideas that will have been gradually and imper- ceptibly instilled, and they are necessary as the basis of a sound mental existence. His Conscience Attainments There must be, to begin with, a developing sense and feeling for truth and for duty as some- thing distinct and occasionally conflicting with immediate impulse and desire, and there must be certain clear intellectual elements established already almost impregnably in the mind, certain primary distinctions and classifications. His Sense Abilities The child at five, unless it is color-blind, should know the range of colors by name and distinguish them easily, blue and green not excepted; it should be able to distinguish pink from pale red and crimson from scarlet. Many children, through the neglect of those about them, do not distinguish these colors until a very much later age. I think also — in spite of the fact that many adults go vague and ignorant on these points — that a child of five may have been taught to distinguish between a square, a circle, an oval, a triangle, and an oblong, and to use these words. It is easier to keep hold of ideas with words than without them, and none of these words should be impossible by five. The child should also know familiarly — by means of toys, wood blocks, and so on — many elementary solid forms. It is a matter of regret that in common language we have no easy, convenient words for many of these forms, and instead of being learned easily and naturally in play they are left undistinguished and have to be studied later under circumstances of forbidding technicality. It would be quite easy to teach the child in an incidental way to distinguish cube, cylinder, cone, sphere (or FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 411 ball), prolate spheroid (which might be called "egg"), the pyramid, and various parallelepipeds, as, for example, the square slab, the oblong slab, the brick, the post. He could have these things added to his box of bricks by degrees, he would build with them, and combine them, and play with them over and over again, and absorb an intimate knowledge of their properties, just at the age when such knowledge is almost instinctively sought and is most pleasant and easy in its acqui- sition. These things need not be specially forced upon him. In no way should he be led to em- phasize them or give a priggish importance to his knowledge of them. They will come into his toys and play mingled with a thousand other interests, the fortifying powder of clear general ideas, amidst the jam of play. His Power with Numbers In addition the child should be able to count, it should be capable of some mental and experi- mental arithmetic, and I believe that a child of five might be able to give the names to notes and sing these names at their proper pitch. Possibly in social intercourse the child will have picked up names for some of the letters of the alphabet, but there is no great hurry for that before five certainly, or even later. There is still a vast amount of things immediately about the child that need to be learned thoroughly, and a pre- mature attack on letters divides attention from these more appropriate and educational objects. His Art Attainments He should be able to handle a pencil and amuse himself with freehand: and his mind should be quite uncontaminated by that imbecile drawing upon squared paper by means of which ignorant teachers destroy both the desire and the capacity to sketch in so many little children. Such sketch- ing could be enormously benefited by a really intelligent teacher who would watch the child's efforts, and draw with the child just a little above its level. The child will already be a great student of picture-books at five, something of a critic (after the manner of the realistic school), and it will be easy to urge it almost imperceptibly to a • level where copying from simple outline illustrations will become possible, .'\bout five, a present of someone of the plastic substitutes for modeling clay now sold by educational dealers, plasticine. for example, will be a discreet and acceptable present to the child — if not to its nurse. His Imagination The child's imagination will also be awake and active at five. He will be living on a great flat earth — unless some officious person has tried to muddle his wits by telling him the earth is round; amidst trees, animals, men, houses, engines, uten- sils, that are all capable of being good or naughty, all fond of nice things and hostile to nasty ones, all tbumpable and perishable. And the child should know of Fairyland. The beautiful fancy of the "Little People," even if you do not give it to him, he will very probably get for himself; they will lurk always just out of reach of his desiring, curious eyes, amidst the grass and flowers and behind the wainscot and in the shadows of the bedroom. He will come upon their traces; they will do him little kind- nesses. Their affairs should interweave with the affairs of the child's dolls and brick castles and toy foundlings. Little boys like dolls — prefer- ably masculine and with movable limbs — as much as little girls do, albeit they are more experi- mental and less maternal in their manipulation. At first the child will scarcely be in a world of sustained stories, but very eager for anecdotes and simple short tales. At five I suppose a child might be hearing brief fairy-tales read aloud. At five it is undesirable that the child should have heard horrifying things and he should not be afraid of the dark. It is, I am sorry to believe, very difficult to eliminate the horrors of fear absolutely from a child's life. Vulgarly illus- trated toy books should be guarded against. Pictures of ugly monsters will haunt imaginative children for years. An intelligent censorship may do much to ward off these sufferings until this passion of fear — so needless in the civilized life — begins that process of withering which is its destiny under our present and future security. Cowardly mothers and nurses who scuttle from cows and dogs and prancing horses may do in- finite harm to a child by confirming this vestige of our animal past. The simple and obvious fearlessness of those about him should wean the child steadily from his instinctive dread of strangers and strange animals and strange, un- expected objects and sudden loud noises. This is the hopeful foundation upon which, at or about the fifth year, the formal education of every child in a really civilized community ought to begin. K.N.— 28 AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE DOOR* ELIZABETH J. WOODWARD The door of the schoolroom grows larger and more portentous to the mother's vision as she realizes that it must soon open to the touch of her own child. Behind it she sees whatever her study and observation, her memory and her hope together, place there. She knows that it will open to a broader education than is outlined in books ; that the child clinging to her hand as the two set out on the eventful autumn morning when school begins, is taking his first step on the road that leads him far beyond where she will follow. She knows that a jury of his peers awaits him, for "even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right ;" and that through him she herself will be judged. She thinks of the old Persian standard of a boy's readiness for life — "to shoot, to ride, to tell the truth," and of the transition of it into the twentieth-century ideal — "brave, active, and joyful." Taking heart of joy, they cross the threshold, and the mother's dream — and dread— come true — her baby goes to school. The teacher greets the elders with cordial welcome, but on this first morning, she does not ask them to stay; and after they see "everything happy, progressive, and occupied," the mothers, sympathetic and critical, reluctantly leave; the door closes; teacher and class face their New Year and each other. School has begun. The air tingles with expectancy; the thrill of the unknown touches the newcomers, the love of little children and the sense of vicarious motherhood stir anew in the teacher. "Teacher" looks to the new pupil very like still another of the smiling aunties who have met him on so many thresholds during his short existence. She seems to like jolly little girls and boys. The room looks as if she knew how to play with them. The teacher scans the class for the shining morning face, for the healthy, happy child who has al- ready recognized the idea of obedience; for find- ing him she finds the nucleus of goodwill that is to become the morale of the class, the goodwill that holds within it the desire for at least the willingness to learn and the possibility of making learning popular. What the Teacher Seeks: Attitude A healthy little body the teacher wants to see settling itself with shy confidence into the un- familiar seat before her, a visible guarantee of nourishing food, long, regular hours of sleep, healthful activities ; a sound animal, whose ears and eyes, teeth and tonsils are normal and well cared for; whose illnesses are watched, without his knowledge, for after-effects on heart or head or kidneys ; the child of a home that, however slender the purse sustaining it, is rich in peace and in interests and in "steadfast purpose for service." She wants the attitude of healthy, happy children, willing, eager, and trustful, without self- consciousness, unafraid. Such children are truth- ful, for they have never been laughed at or frightened. The child who is mentally and physi- cally healthy is happy, trustful, bidable, all traits that help toward the self-control that is a part of early social education. If the love and wis- dom of his mother and father have kept and fostered confidence in the sincerity of grown-ups, he obeys his teacher and follows the impulse of social conformity, stands when the class is told to stand, places his work as others place theirs, is prompt and ready. But if he has been un- justly punished by an unthinking mother, or if Father has forgotten the gift he promised, if he has been deceived, the serpent has crept into his Eden and the little Adam loses confidence in the world about him, and with lost trust goes unconscious disobedience. The will to obey should have become habitual long before the schoolhouse dawned on the horizon of the child's world. Prompt, unquestion- ing obedience is an element of his safety. The child who obeys first and then asks, "Why?" has gone far on the road toward sane as well as safe living. "Stop, look, listen," are words not of arbitrary authority but of guardian wisdom. The man who refuses to heed the warning message crosses no more railways. Obedience is not the result of breaking a child's will, but of patience in teaching him how to become master of himself. * This inspiring article may well^ form the goal for all the home kindergarten activities of the fourth to eixth years. It should be read in close comparison with the preceding one. 412 FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 413 The disagreeable habit of boasting is likely to become firmly established almost as soon as the young performer can say, "See me do this !" If it is not uprooted, the child goes on to the chronic stage of "stumping" other children and of taking their indiscriminate "dares," legiti- mate or foolhardy. If he can be shown that it is not brave and manly, but cowardly and silly, to be disobedient and rashly venturesome, he will be given stones of strength for building a char- acter that men will trust and admire. The teacher asks that the child have a budding sense of responsibility for his personal world. She would have him keep his coat on his own hook, not on some other boy's hook, to the con- fusion of the dressing-room and as an occasion for the boy who is spoiling for a fight ; she would like to have him recognize his own desk, keep his own pencil off the floor, and to understand that what is given him to do is his to do. With th' young obedience and responsibility she would seek for imagination. This she will develop in three ways : as fancy, that Land of Promise, where the child of five or six still lives and which may remain a source of joy however long one stays in this world ; as an element in construction, concrete and mental, though this looks far ahead through childhood into youth; and as the "put-yourself-in-his-place" quality, which is that kindly side of curiosity that leads to sympathy. Self-control, sense of responsibility, and imagination are essentials of learning to study. The teacher longs for the pupil who is eager, who has been held in the atmosphere of bigness of the world, in the joy of discovery. She would like to find him content with simple joys and toys, not fed upon change, uncertainty, and excitement. Her spirits sink or her ire rises when she must deal with the blase child who "did that last year;" he is apt to be "fresh" in situations where angels proverbially tread in fear. She hopes to find that her new pupil has been taught to think gener- ously and to play fair — the foundation upon which she is to build the democracy of life with his contemporaries. What the Teacher Seeks: Mental Equipment Attitude is far and away the most important requisite, the breath of life to the healthy school- room. After that moral atmosphere is secured, the teacher looks to the furnishing of the minds she is to live with until their next birthdays come around. She would- like each child to have some elementary acquaintance with the social topog- raphy of his world : his name — all of it — age. his birthday, where he lives, his father's name and occupation. This last item of economic in- terest is apt to be vague or even lacking in his store of knowledge, unless the father's work is manual or is otherwise indicated by tangible signs. A whole class of five-year-olds, whose fathers represented all the learned professions, business, big and small, and various active forms of public service, were asked, in New England idiom, "What does your father do?" They an- swered to a man, "Runs the automobile !" "Goes to the store," is another reply that covers a mine of ignorance as to what Daddy really does. "Father says he is the Governor" (w'hich was the fact), "but he jokes so much that I don't know if it is true." Some physical standards and habits of cleanli- ness and order the teacher assumes to be estab- lished : the fresh handkerchief — and its use, — healthful breathing habits, good standing and sitting positions, regularity of toilet needs. Of the healthy child she expects a firm handclasp, yet also the delicate use of the finger-tips which should be a result of his kindergarten training. Chubby hands should have become dexterous in dealing with buttons and shoelacings, and pur- poseful as to neckties. His new teacher would like to find that home has given him the sense of beauty, the habit of seeing the lovely rather than the ugly side of objects and actions. He should recognize color, and have simple but accurate names for standards. Form he should know through both eye and touch. Weight, bulk, form, "feel" of surface, these are natural material for baby discrimina- tion. This simpler knowledge is stored away in the brain of the normal child before he is three years old. He has taught himself, we say, but it is Mother Nature who sets the lessons to his hand, in stick and stone, kitty's fur and mother cat's tongue. Mother's gown and Father's coat. The teacher hopes that the mother has told stories to the little folks at home, enlarging the strained vocabulary and beginning the valued training of a good listener. The more familiar Bible characters should be at least bowing ac- quaintances, and he should know as much about them as he knows of his aunts and uncles. Mother Goose and all her community he should know intimately, as the most congenial and con- temporaneous of his classical friends-to-be. His Real and Unreal Life His home life, the world of make-believe, his kindergarten experiences, his tours of observa- tion and exploration, independent and personally conducted, should have stored his mind with in- 414 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL terests — the singing kettle, the kite, the active pump, the trembling scales, "the wind in the willows," young growing things, the garden, chickens, kittens, and baby-birds. Sky and sea, trees and brooks, the ways of birds and animals, she would have him love "the friendly cow all red and white," even "Piggy Wig and Piggy Wee." Without some of this mental furnishing his early reading lessons are likely to be a dreary waste of pointless effort. His teacher would like to find that Christmas is already connected with the blessedness of giv- ing. This is possible and natural even if the few Christmases the child has seen have formed a blissful haze of trees and stockings, carols and toys, Santa Claus and the Christ Child. The Fourth of July, the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, need not have exact location in the calendar of seasons, but should be associated in the child's mental storehouse with the vague con- ception of "My Country, 'tis of thee." The pass- ing flag should mean "Hats off" even when the infantile under-the-chin elastic makes the tribute of respect an affair of some effort. The farmer and the blacksmith, two of his kindergarten circle of friends, bring to even the city child the idea of dependence upon life outside his home. It is the lamplighter who introduces to him the idea of civic service. Stevenson again shows the eternal childhood of his heart in "The Lamplighter," verses that the city child continues to love long after his own particular lamplighter may have been disclosed as an unpoetic and per- haps unreliable person. The fireman is a hero of romance, the snow-shoveler is to be envied, but too often a child is taught to think of the policeman as the bogeyman. The policeman is the friend of children, not their enemy; he makes the crowded street safe for unsteady lines of little scurrying feet, he can find the way home when one turns a wrong corner following the organ-man with the monkey, he tells boys which way the procession is coming, and he takes care of little girls as if he had little girls of his own at home. The children should follow Father and Mother in saying, "Good-morning, Mr. Officer," to the patrolman who is the especial guardian of his home or school, and to count him within the enlarging group of friendly grown- ups. The city child should know before he goes alone to school that the many questions a curious young person who is new to this world naturally wishes to ask must be saved for Mother or Father, or asked of policeman or fireman, never of the pleasant stranger. The civic service and the uniform explain this rule, so that no seed of distrust need be sown by the distinction. A Normal Development Even well-meaning parents sometimes exploit the child's quick response and keen eye. Reading and arithmetic are such definite, measurable means of communication between mature and imm.ature minds that it is a temptation to begin to teach these early subjects. But the little per- sons need the before-school days for making acquaintance with the material side of this world. His every sense is keen for satisfaction, eye and ear, taste and touch, and sensitive little nose. These delights should have the first chance. The mathematical knowledge can be sound only so far as the child knows by actual touch and grasp the combination of numbers. The num- bers that he can grasp seldom are larger than the small figure that marks his age when school begins; yet too often the teacher is obliged to dispossess some proud mother of the idea that her son is already advanced in arithmetic because he can count to loo ! Nursery blocks and Christ- mas picture-books have usually made familiar the general appearance of most of the letters of the alphabet. This acquaintance is far from a necessary qualification for primary-school life, but it is desirable unless it has encouraged an ambitious mother to drag the reluctant beginner through the Primer. If reading has come by nature, at the child's own urgent wish, as if by instinct, it is a blessed gift. A child should be helped to read as soon as he really wants help, but to lead the reluctant little colt to water be- fore he is thirsty is to sacrifice to an artificial accomplishment the precious time and evefi more precious avidity that belongs to other interests. The child who begins school at five or six is still in the period of infancy; the transition to childhood is only in sight. Yet the teacher knows that the unformed mind is pondering — a heavy word for the fleeting thought-deep questions; she knows that it is the mother who is ignorant when she says that her child is "innocent as a baby" of any interest in the origin of the baby; the wise mother, in the sacred confidence of the tie that keeps the growing child her own, will have begun the necessary telling before he goes to school. She and his father will be so intimate with their children that son or daughter will come to them, not to other boys and girls, for further facts. A child who takes each new word to Mother or P'ather learns to avoid profanity, and to despise the "dirty" word as beneath his self-respect. Respect is the daughter of reverence ; the little primarian should already know the quiet due tlie reading or speaking of holy things, the at- tention even if he can not take part when teacher '•AXD THE THOUGHTS OV lOLlH Lu.Xu. LONG THOUGHTS." — Longfellow. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 415 and class are talking to God in the morning prayer. Fortunate it is if home has given the little mimic clear enunciation, and a vocabulary that keep pace with his developing mind. The listen- ing teacher knows by his speech the place where he really lives — in the kitchen, in the nursery, or— happy child— with Father and Mother. Is it too much to ask that the child should sing? The kindergarten mother will have sung to and with her child from, "Here's a ball for baby," through a carefully chosen sequence of simple words and melodies of intimate relations, of home and Nature, folk-lore, industrial life, patriotism, and religion, not scorning a judicious sprinkling of popular songs, since he must hear even the injudicious variety. If he could bring this precious beginning of song, along with the new shoes and the cherished lunch basket, he would contribute much to the morale as well as to the music of the schoolroom. Mother and Teacher Prevention is not only better than cure, it is infinitely easier to manage and — American atti- tude ! — an almost infinite saving of time. So when the teacher asks that certain states and habits be established in the child before he says his first school "Good-morning," she is not think- ing of herself, but of the mother of the child. For, most of all, the child needs a good and wise mother, who, at least in spirit, comes with him to school. By the light of each little face held up to hers, the clear-eyed teacher reads the problem the child presents, but she is not sure of full and correct data until she knows the child's mother. It is inconceivable to her that any mother should choose not to come to school, should not wish to know the woman who for five days in the week is hostess to her child. Teacher and mother need each other. The teacher needs the help of the motherhood that is hers only in spirit. The mother needs the help of the technical training and broad outlook that her own absorbing profession has left her no time to acquire. The teacher needs all that home can tell her of the child's brief history, physical, men- tal, and moral; what heredity holds to help or hinder; what especial help or hindrance lies in environment. She wants to be told if scarlet- fever has left Mary with impaired hearing, if fiery little Tom is being shown at home how to control his too-ready fists and heels, if Amy dreams of the strange creatures in the reading book she so dearly loves. Jack is weak and weepy by the middle of the forenoon, but his state of mind and body is explained when teacher is told that breakfast is never attractive to his uncertain appetite. The teacher of little children recognizes that the father's character, a largely determining ele- ment in children's education, she is to feel only as it is translated by mother and child; yet if she is to give her fullest measure of help, she must use both translations to their utmost value, lest the coming generation should be brought up as children of women, rather than in the broader, more inclusive, world of the children of men. The mother needs the teacher as well. The teacher is not only a wholesome, conscientious woman, she is the link connecting mother and child with the long chain of education. She em- bodies "the American passion for childhood." Seeing the ideal that the best minds hold for the child, she is educated and trained as guide on the path toward that ideal. The mother sees her child as the one clearly defined central figure in a group (otherwise nebulous) of other chil- dren. To her heart and mind, her own ewe lamb is, and rightly, the one crowning achievement of the universe. The teacher sees the child against a clear background of all children of the same age whom she has taught and from whom she has learned, and her picture is lighted by the lamp of professional impartiality. They need to confer in sympathy and confi- dence. The teacher respects the mother's in- timate and continuous knowledge of the child and looks to the mother for corresponding recognition of her professional equipment and resources. If the welcomed mother comes in the spirit of helpfulness and cooperation, of desire to learn, of entire readiness to give and to re- ceive all needed confidence, their child's first year of school has auspicious beginning. But it takes courage and a dropping of the barrier of parental pride to invite frankness from the teacher's lips, for even the exceptional child is not always in the right. When the day comes that Mother and Father confer frankly with teacher as with a "reserve parent," the combination will be strong for good to the child they are sharing. There will be no conflict of authority, fewer uncertain steps, and together they can save him from the "confusion of education." Between the bookcase and the wall Is raised a castle, gray and tall, The desk top is a wooden moat. The rocking chair's a pirate boat, — My little boy, turned six to-day. Has fierce adventures in his play. ye who never knew the life Of dragon-hunting, golden strife Of pirates on a windy sea Returning meekly home for tea; [Who never heard the black knight's call — 1 fear ye have not lived at all ! — Annette Wynne. SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLES HOME CORRECTIVES FOR THE KINDERGARTEN MAXIMILIAN E. P. GROSZMANN, Pd.D. It has been, in a measure, a misfortune for the kindergarten that it has succeeded so well in this country. In its own native home it has never been fully recognized in the public-school system; and private initiative, adapting itself to local and special needs, kept the kindergarten idea freer from formalism that was possible here. As soon as the kindergarten became a feature of public- school education, in the American system, it par- took of the faults characteristic of that system. It ceased to be a kindergarten and became a classroom arrangement. It imprisoned the chil- dren indoors and became a matter of chairs and tables and order and discipline and quiet and co- ordination. However, the young child is repeat- ing in his life-instincts, his games, his experiments with the world about him, the experience of early race-history. He wants to play on the floor, not to sit orderly for any length of time on a chair ; he wants to play in a sand-heap, not on a sand- table; he wants to be dirty, not neat; he wants to play with water, and wade, and throw, and climb, and drop things, and play hide-and-seek, and use a stick, and do all sorts of primitive things. The child who easily conforms to the routine of an orderly kindergarten is either ab- normal or subdued. Again, the young child is not naturally a social being. He is individualistic, just as his remote ancestors were who saw in every other individual a competitor. True, this independence must be converted into a realization of the social con- science. But this is a growth which can not be forced, or else it will be an artificial thing, and the child so constricted will harbor an everlasting resentment against a social order which curtails his freedom. No wonder that we have so little community spirit among our grown-up popula- tion. The time comes naturally when the child, seeking companionship for the projection of his own personality into other lives and enlarging his own personality by making others a part of his own emotional and mental being, will socialize himself. Then the rights and privileges of com- munity life, as well as the duties and functions involved in it, will enter into his consciousness. What Montessori Taught Us It is here where the so-called Montessori methods have hit the kindergarten hard. These methods and suggestions are by no means origi- nal, having been used for a long time in a pro- gressive reconstruction of school and kindergarten systems. They have characterized our work for the exceptional child in particular, and had been formulated long before we heard of Montessori. It is, however, interesting to note how the Ameri- can public, as soon as a foreign voice was raised in iconoclastic enthusiasm, immediately clamored for the recognition of principles which it had so long considered with distrust. Now, all of a sudden, teachers discover that it is really possible to have a group of children under much greater individual freedom than had been thought feas- ible.* In the light of these principles the teacher is first of all an observer. She studies the situa- tion and acts accordingly; she does not approach the child with a preconceived idea of system. She realizes that obedience is a sacrifice of self on the part of the child, a sacrifice that will be made more readily when the child, not knoivs — ■ for that is impossible at that stage — but feels the necessity for it, through the confidence his edu- cational leader and his comrades inspire in him. * Compare this statement with Dr. Kilpatrick's on page 433. 417 4i8 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL This is certainly the manner in which a normally vigorous child in the Iiome is educated. Force and punishment, fear, and even an artificially stim- ulated desire to please will never develop a child's best, innermost faculties. He may become a con- former, a pattern, a hypocrite, a coward, a prig, an "average" child, but never a character. It is almost superfluous to add that further adjustments of the daily routine must be made to suit the needs of individual types of mind. It is essential to make distinctions at the early age so as to start the child right on his career. I admit that the finer individual differences, such as represent an accumulation of family traits, imitations of environmental conditions, and special endowments and preferences, manifest themselves fully only at the period of adolescence. Yet even in the baby difference of type is clearly recog- nizable. Even Little Children Differ There is, first, the difference in physical and mental growth-rate. Not all children of three of four can wear garments of the regulation size or react upon stimuli in a uniform manner. Their sense perceptions and reactions will show wide differences: their motor coordination, their balance, their initiative and constructive ability will vary within wide limits. Their endurance, their concentration, their ability to learn from errors will show a multitude of differences. They will progress with a very great diversity of speed. Some will still need the large gifts and to work in their occupations on a large scale, when others will have proceeded far enough to cope with rather minute adjustments. Some will still be satisfied with the symbol when others will want realities. There are similar differences in the older ages. Age is a very relative thing. The condition of a child at any given chronological age is determined by a number of growth factors — physiological, psychological, and mental. Further, there are distinct differences in mental attitude and aptitude. Some children are born individualists, born leaders; others are naturally conformists and want to be led. There is the child who is afraid of nothing; and the other who shrinks from publicity and competition. There is the one who is always original and in- ventive and who hates merely to imitate; others have no spark of originality and depend absolutely upon models and patterns. Should you not con- sider these differences, among many others? You will surely not say that it is one of the first duties of the kindergarten to curb the forward child, to check the impulse of leadership, to mold the heretic thought and nonconformist method into the form of conventionality. The history of the race is so full of bloody struggles against orthodoxy of all kinds that we should guard against the stifling of souls in the beginning of their growth. Not oppression, but wise guidance, on the basis of a real understanding and appre- ciation of underlying motives and conditions, is what is needed. It is only too often the bright child, the child of initiative, that is made the victim of the leveling efforts of the school and kindergarten, so that his career is hazarded from the first. So few of us have the faculty, or the patience, to enter into the intentions of little children. Their actions are often gravely mis- understood, their motives unappreciated, their minds and morals undervalued, their emotions misrepresented. A gulf will then open between the teacher, or parent, and this budding soul, a gulf difficult of bridging; and the young heart will shut itself in, and the young mind will be warped. The Average Kindergartner Overdevelops Imitation To illustrate, I will refer to a very common practice. The kindergarten teacher will draw houses, tables, cats, and other things on the black- board or show these forms in the way of stick- laying; or develop sequences with the building gifts, illustrating steps, bridges, and other struc- tures ; or punch holes in sewing-cards for the sewing-out of conventional and life forms, etc. ; and the children are expected to imitate these things in the regulation way. This presupposes that they see the things represented in the same symbolical form the teacher sees them, which form is intended to contain all the essential features of the objects thus delineated. But a study of the spontaneous drawings and structures of children shows that this is a mistake. Chil- dren do not see things in the regulation way. To them, features quite different from what the teacher thinks should be shown in the reproduc- tion seem essential.* The blackboard forms of houses, cats, etc., are nothing but pictographs, picture-writing, hiero- glyphics, as it were, symbols of the real things, and the child uses them as such. In the ordinary practice, whenever he is asked to draw, or lay with sticks, or build with blocks, or what not, a certain object first so presented, he will always reproduce the original symbol without any free- dom of deviation, or any attempt to express what is really in his mind. Thus, a conventional method is introduced which counteracts the nat- 'Compare tliese statements with the earlier articles on art- expression. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 419 ural instinct of the child to represent things in his own way. The ordinary exercises perpetuate this conventionalization. Individual attitudes and visions are entirely lost sight of, and much op- portunity is lost to study and understand what is really in the child's mind or where his aptitude lies. Imitation is said to be one of the fundamental instincts of the child at early stages. True enough; but imitation rightly understood. As said before, there are children who can do little more than imitate; but they must not set the pace for all. As soon as the teacher leads the child into stereotyped form, she is on the wrong track. She must always first appeal to the child's own method and merely assist him in expressing him- self. In this connection, I am, as often, reminded of the paradoxical declaration of the lata Dr. Harris: "Of course, the teacher must be an example ; but she must take care that no one fol- lows it." In other words, while she should be an inspiration to the child to find the right path, she must never be a pattern after which he molds his own individuality. The Ideal Kindergarten is Like a Home A kindergarten should have the wide scope of a well-regulated home in which each child may live his own life and share the life of his fellows. There should be presiding over it a motherly spirit of large sympathies and of fine discriminative power, with large resources, as to self-adjustments to ever-changing situations. There must be the atmosphere of freedom and encouragement. There must be readiness of a true interpretation of all manifestations of the budding infantile minds. There must be open- air work, in a garden, in a yard, with sand-piles. flower-^beds, climbing-ladders, swings, and pud- dles. The room of the kindergarten must be a paradise of toys and activities. Add the work- bench and the multitude of really educational toys and occupations which are so abundant nowadays to the traditional gifts of the kinder- garten. Break up the monotony and the routine of the orthodox program and introduce the child into a world of real life. There are numberless songs and games that can be safely adopted into the system. Let the children express their own feelings in free rhythm, in dance, and in song. Do not tarry over the songs of the shoemaker, blacksmith, and carpenter, but take the children to the workshops to see the men at work. Take them on excursions to the country instead of merely singing and -talking about the farmer and sowing and reaping and threshing. Let them have miniature garden-farms and shops of their own, with real tools and spades and wheelbarrows and work that will give their growing bodies exercise such as mere calisthenics never will provide. There should be more virility in the kindergarten, not merely girlish notions of butter- flies and dandelions and chickadees. Do not for a moment forget that even very little boys are real boys, after all. Then there will soon be a won- derful activity and bustle, and individual aptitudes will manifest themselves for you to observe and study and make use of — use. not for the individ- ual child alone, but for the child community, which will profit by this sharing. And the shar- ing will react in a socializing way upon the in- dividual. Break up the lockstep in the kinder- garten and set the ■ example for our elementary and high schools, so that they also may set the child free and give the different types oppor- tunity to grow unfettered but wisely guided.* THE KINDERGARTEN YEARS t IRVING E. MILLER Physical Development At the beginning of the period he has a good deal of difficulty with such processes as button- ing his clothes, lacing and tying his shoes, putting on his mittens and rubbers, and in many of the rhythmic exercises in marching and dancing. His use of the pencil and brush results in the crudest of scrawls. Cutting with scissors is a difficult problem of manipulation. In all constructive work he fumhlcs and blunders and is lacking in accuracy. His activities are highly spontaneous. Mental Development The most marked mental characteristic of this period is the rapid development of the imagina- * Compare these closing sentences with G. Stanley Hall's article on rage 429. t From "Education for the Needs of Life," by Irving E. Miller. Published by the Macmillan Company, New York. Used by permission of the publishers. 420 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL tion. The mind is capable of reading more mean- ing into what is seen, heard, and felt. This is the golden era of the child's spontaneous imagi- nation. It transforms everything that he does. This is reflected in the eager questioning of the child, which goes beyond what is given to the senses, and wants to know what is coming next? what is this for? where are you going? what for? and a host of other things, the answers to which are not apparent to the senses. Ideas which appeal are carried out into action. Play is trans- formed and becomes dramatic in character. The chair is not something to be pushed about for the mere pleasure of physical control; it has become a train of cars, a delivery wagon, a fije-engine, or something else for which the child has a vivid image that is pressing for release. The activity of the imagination widens the field of control. The mind reaches out actively to enrich and correlate experience. The fact that the fire-engine passed an hour ago, vomiting smoke and flame and making a most exciting din, does not remove it from the sphere of the child's present interests and activities. In play he can bring it back ; he can clothe the chair which is at hand with all the interesting characteristics of the fascinating engine. In imaginative play everything in heaven above and in the earth be- low is brought under the mental control of the child. He is monarch of all he surveys; time and space fix no bounds to his empire. There is nothing which he can not have if he will — drums, soldiers, stores, engines, and the wild animals of desert and jungle. There is nothing that he may not be, from the coal man to the king. Every- thing yields to his control. The world is free and plastic, to be molded to his will. In his imagination and dramatic play he can satisfy to the full his natural impulse for power and control. Social Development On the social side, this is the period in which the child gets control of the fundamentals of social adjustment. In his wider contact with children and adults in the school and the neigh- borhood, the basic things in manners, morals, ideals, and the forms of speech are assimilated and put to use in the control of his own behavior. Hence there is very great importance to be at- tached to an enriched and vital social life in the school. And it must reflect in a dramatic way the interests and activities of the real world in so far as they touch the lives of children. That has been one of the most significant things about the kindergarten, and the primary grades have become infected with the same spirit and point of view. The enrichment and development of social experience is a very important task. Individuality and Personality This whole period of the child's life is marked by great freedom, spontaneity, and impulsiveness. The inner life of thought and feeling flows nat- urally out into action with little constraint. The child is frank and innocent and trustful. His natural credulity and ignorance on the one hand and his natural spontaneity on the other make him very suggestible. He can be turned easily from one state of feeling or emotion to another, or from one line of action to another. His will is likely to be fluctuating and unstable ; but in the line of his instincts and most absorbing in- terests he is likely to display considerable con- centration and tenacity. This should be respected and guided as the basis of training in work and conscious effort and will. With the growth of control over the more complex muscular activ- ities, his power to achieve is widened in range. When to this is added the growing power to direct his activities by images or ideas, he comes to feel his own power and to realize himself as a cause, a center of power on his own account. This new consciousness of power is enjoyable, perhaps as subtle and far-reaching a source of satisfaction as it is to the normal adult. It is not to be wondered at if he sometimes exagger- ates it, to get the heightened effect which comes from the setting of his own will up against that of others. The development of a certain amount of aggressiveness and self-assention is normal to this period and is a sign of progress in self- control and social adjustment. Principles of Interpretation of the Child's Imagination The whole mental life of the child of this period is markedly subject to the law of motor flow of consciousness. This accounts for the spontaneity and irrepressibility. His attention is mobile and fluctuating, caught first by one thing, then another. To have an image or an idea is to act. It is something on the go. It is not held back and checked up by considerations and orderly control of the adult mental process. This is seen in the infinite variety and fluctiicition of his play, corresponding to the rapid shifting of imagery and interests. There is a strong tendency in such school exercises as drawing and construc- tion work not to wait for completed directions but to plunge in and do something at once, to express the first image that arises in response to the words or the acts of the teacher. In drama- FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 421 tization and other forms of school work the same principle applies. He tends to act upon his image at once. The more interesting it is, the stronger the motor pressure for expression. He doesn't question its validity, he lets it go. This is well seen in the child's early drawings. Their crudity and lack of conformity to reality doesn't bother him at all. He is very naive in the matter. He under- takes with equal readiness to draw birds, animals, machinery, landscapes — a few scratches of the pencil or crayon and the magic is accomplished. I watched a boy of pre-kindergarten age draw an "electric factory," then lightning striking it, and upon suggestion he didn't hesitate to draw the thunder, too ! He was all excitement, aflame with the idea, and never raised any question of possibility or impossibility. The pressure of the idea had to be released in crayon and in talk. The child who is asked to draw the picture of an apple with a stick thrust through it makes the stick show full length, instead of the two ends which are actually visible. He is not both- ered by the fact that the picture of the man standing beside the house is taller than the house, or that the furniture shows right through the walls. His images are vague and fleeting; move- ment, go, expression, is the main thing. It is the image that is interesting, the fact is subordinate. This is seen in the tendency for him to tell as true things which have only occurred to his mind. Widening and Unifying of Experience Through the function of imagination the child is reaching out for a wider and more unified experience. Fairy-stories bring things together in fanciful unities that are emotionally satisfying. Hero-stories give organizations of experience analogous to those of real life and illustrate the virtues in a setting of concrete relationships. Stories of plant and animal life bring together from a wide range of sense-perception, experi- ence involving wide gaps of time and space, many facts into one meaningful and satisfying whole. From the point of view of meeting the insistent needs of this period for the organization of ex- perience, no teaching instrument is superior to the story. When we try to give to the ideas of the child of this period a finished scientific form, we do violence to the plastic, spontaneous, and emotional nature of his imagination. This should not mean, however, that fictitious things are to be preferred to those which are real and true. The real and the true in Nature and in life may have a per- sonal value to the child and a warmth of interest just as strong as the fanciful and the fictitious. Hero-stories and nature study meet his needs side by side with myths and fairy-stories. Kindergarten-Primary Period as a Transition Age Our whole discussion of this period has tended to emphasize the fact that it is the era of greatest physical and mental spontaneity in the life of the child. But this spontaneity is not a fixed and final characteristic. There is significant progress made in the direction of higher types of control. Transitions are under way. In meeting the needs of this period, of course it is necessary to un- derstand the mobility and spontaneity of the entire life of the child. But it is also necessary to keep in mind the line of development and prog- ress, in order that the activities of the child may be guided into the most fruitful channels. Dominant Point of Viewf in Instruction The ideal of instruction for this period is that of the growth and enrichment of experience through the pupil's own immediate activities, physical and mental. In the enriched e.xperience of this plastic age are to be found the roots of all further knowledge, skills, aptitudes, traits of character, dispositions, interests, and ideals. Hence we must extend the number and the range of kindergarten and primary activities and materials. His experience should include an acquaintance with such fundamental materials as earth, fiber, fabric, wood, and metal: with funda- mental tools and their uses — knives, scissors, saws, and other cutting tools, hammer, screw-driver, auger, and the various simpler carrying, prying, and lifting tools: with fundamental processes of the life of the home and the neighborhood; with the fundamental social relationships of the home, the school, the playground, the church, and the community; with the fundamental ideals of the rights and obligations of persons, of unselfish- ness, kindliness, service, etc. Utilize his curiosity, imagination, and love of the story and the pic- ture to quicken the outreach of his mind and to supplement his familiar experience. Enrich his moral and religious life with every- thing appropriate to his age, rather than teach forms, symbols, and creeds. Cultivate his spon- taneous feelings, attitudes, and impulses toward the good, the beautiful, and the true until they become inherent and the trend of his life is set in these directions. Give abundant experience in self-expression — in play, dramatization, drawing, paper cutting, pasting of pictures, rhythmic exer- cises, singing, and the various forms of con- structive work with the hands. In construction, drawing, music, reading, and 422 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL writing, let the emphasis be put on self-expres- sion and the satisfaction of the child's natural impulses rather than on the finished products. Get children to loz'e what they are doing, really to Ik'e in the school and its activities. This is the big thing in the kindergarten and primary grades as compared with skill or the objective worth of the product that is produced. It is not the time for great stress upon technique. The story and the zest of the pursuit is more important at the beginning than phonics ; drawing and the delight in the creative and expressive powers transcend in value the ability to make straight lines or lifelike reproductions of e.xterna! realities. Neither motor nor mental processes are suffi- ciently developed and brought under control to justify strong pressure on the child for fine, de- tailed, and exact work. This does not mean that all sorts of crudities are to be tolerated perma- nently in the progress of children through these years, but rather that the emphasis shall be kept constantly on function, self-expression, enrich- ment of experience, and that the technical ele- ments shall be brought in gradually, as it becomes evident that the child needs them as means for improving his growing powers of understanding and appreciating finished products. Outside of the constructive activities, the story, with its appeal to tlie imagination, is the funda- mental teaching-instrument. The moral and so- cial value of stories does not consist in the use of them as a ba.sis for a series of homilies or as a means of moralizing, but rather in whatever they have of truths and of ideals that are vital and palpitating with spirit, life, and emotion. On account of the mobility of the child's attention and the unreflective character of his thought, the same theme must be approached from a variety of directions if it is to get its full grip upon the life of the child. Stories to be effective, either in the impressing of ideals or of fundamental facts of nature and of life, need to be grouped carefully about a central theme, so that the im- pression is renewed and impressed repeatedly. In the disciplinary control of the child of this age the principle of suggestion is fundamental. He is exceedingly responsive. The attention may stray easily, at the same time it is easily caught again. He is naturally trustful and wishes to be liked. The teacher should call forth his faith and confidence, lead and inspire, rather than drive by authority and force. Discipline of little chil- dren is almost wholly a matter of conducting the work in such a way as to make repeated appeals to attention, not requests or demands for atten- tion. FREEDOM OF EXPERIMENT IN THE KINDERGARTEN* BY FRANK M. McMURRY, Pn.D The learning process demands things in activity. Consequently when we enter a kindergarten and see on every hand evidences of formal work, as, for instance, borders of flowers "gradually de- veloped" from half-inch rings, or children follow- ing the directions of the teacher in their block building, the entire class repeating certain "units of form," "selected" either by the teacher or through her influence, or see these children struggling away with the square tablets to "in- vent" a beauty-form to be reproduced in par- quetry, or make a picture which will gain her approval, we know that the teacher has inter- preted the child from above down, that she has not taken him as he is but as she wishes him to be. Such a method is not conducive to the learn- ing process. Accept the Child's Play Ideas The teacher of young children who can sit down with them, accepting any play suggestion that they may give and still make sure that they find a real discovery, or result, the one who could work with any material, even though it isn't ex- actly right, and still carry out a principle, this is the teacher who commands method. There is no one method, but a perfect blend of Teacher, Pupils, and Material. It is evident that this would give just opportunity for the activity of all three factors, opportunity to try a variety of ways of going about things to arrive at certain ends— in other words, freedom to experiment, which is not possible in kindergartens where the product is of more value than the learning process. Many * Dr. McMurry is one of the leaders of the experimental work at Teachers Colle(?e, CoKimhia University, New York City, and we liave here an authoritative statement of the principles that are being worked out there. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 423 people still think that the experimental method is impossible, for they believe that "ends" are necessarily imposed, or that once they are either originated or imposed, the "means" becomes so fixed that opportunity for experimentation is annihilated. Is this true of the adult problem? Should not the problems of the child be as vital to him as those of the adult are to him? If we watch children of all ages in their undirected use of materials at home and out-of-doors, we find they are either experimenting, discovering what they can do with them, or working with a purpose, making something definite. Modern psychology has proved the fact that there is no difference in the mind-process of the adult and that of the child. The only difference is in the character of the problem. Common sense would show that this does not prohibit a legitimate place for imi- tation, for suggestion, and even for direction. No — there must be no tyranny of mind over mind. Tolerance and respect for individuality must be shown by the teacher, for is not a six- year-old child as worthy of respect as a man? Back of all work with children there must be faith in their worth. Therefore above all must the teacher place the center of gravity upon them, must she allow them to attack the problem for themselves, giving them first the material for free experimentation, that they may discover for themselves the possibilities and limitations of each. This is the only sane approach. In fact the "experimental method" which develops nat- urally into the "problematic method," — thus giv- ing every opportunity for the development of technique which comes through the growth in the situations themselves — IS the "perfect blend" of all methods of which I have already spoken. Outside Interests Let us now consider the outside interests of children, which furnish motive for their hand- work. There is the house, garden, community, making of toys, dressing dolls, making paper dolls, the seasonal interests which bring the need for kites, marbles, tops, boats, snow-shovels, sleds. Then there are festivals and parties. These natural conditions set the majority of children's problems. For instance, dolls create conditions out of which the problems arise. The doll needs a dress, hat, cap, muff, and tippet ; she needs a swing and a rug, a set of dishes and linen for table. Her house must be furnished with beds, chairs, and tables, the windows must be curtained and the beds supplied with pillows, a mattress and sheets, and blankets. In fact, the doll's needs are as great as her mistress-mother's. Therefore if we had doll families and doll communities in the kindergarten and primary, many problems would arise naturally and bring about creative and constructive work. Toy animals are almost as great a help in giving opportunity for natural childish problems as the doll. There must be barns, sheds, and fences for the toy horse and cow, pens for the rabbits, a fold for the sheep, etc. There must be wagons, carts, racks, etc., roads made and bridges built, for wagons open a whole field of possible activities, as well as trains, brooms, tubs, washboards, stoves, flatirons. Materials Suggest Problems Materials suggest problems to young children whose interest is more immediate. With them the mastery of the material is in itself a problem. As ideas grow out of the using, they in their turn suggest other ideas, with the result that there is growing definiteness, which is really the begin- ning of purpose. Therefore the kindergartner must select carefully for emphasis such material as can be shown to have the greatest significance. Children should be encouraged to experiment freely with paper and scissors. Old newspapers cut up, fringed, and folded, are excellent for this. The children may use these freely and not feel hampered, thus gaining power easily over tools and material. Outline cutting should be used very little, as its only value is in the technical training of eye and hand. Accuracy is needed most certainly, but not at the continual expense of creativity. There is no reason why original cutting should not give sufficient opportunity for growth in technique. A few uses of paper, which will develop from the child's needs or dolls', are: paper dolls, soldier caps, hats, flowers, pinwheels, fans, Christmas- tree decorations, scrapbooks. The use of paper in construction should be carefully watched, as it is with this medium that much insincere work has been done. Furniture that will not stand after it is made, and wagons which will not hold anything, encourage children in a deplorable use of material. Chalk and Crayon With chalk and crayon the teacher's part is to aid in the elimination of scribble and thus avoid an arrest of development caused by the child's falling into some one conventional repre- sentation. The range of subjects is as wide as the child's experience, and will include human figures in action, events in literature and in the child's own life, local occurrences, such as fires, parades, circuses, excursions, home-life, etc. 424 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL Bold work should be striven for, using the side of the chalk for mass representation. Children should be given opportunity every day for large, free drawing. Crayons and large paper either fastened to the wall or used on the floor will give the added enjoyment of color. With the crayons some definite art work may be attempted, such as simple borders in flowers and conven- tional design to be applied to Industrial Arts work, that is, to the decoration of doilies and sideboard cover, rugs, wallpaper and curtains for the doll-house, bookcases, sun-bonnets, parasols, etc. I have heard many kindergartners say that they would have more drawing if it were not for the chalk dust. I would advise putting black- boards out of doors. The children will not take cold, as they are exercising, and the opportunity to work outdoors will give an added pleasure. Nature Materials and Textiles Chains of nature material may be made. There is an almost endless variety of them, including berries, nuts, seeds, reeds, hollow stems of many plants. Melon seeds may be dipped in various dyes and beautiful colors secured. Macaroni may be painted in the long strips and broken up to string between the berries. Painted bright orange, it makes a beautiful harmony with the brown of acorn cups. These strings should be first made for the child's own personal decoration. The decoration of the room comes later. Many mistakes have been made in this, and the child soon tires of such a waste of effort. If the work is not for him it does not count, and as there is no real interest, the work is consequently mechanical and spiritless. Sewing and weaving come under the head of textiles. The process of sewing is interesting to all children, but its possibilities in kindergarten are restricted by the fine muscular coordination it ordinarily demands. Whenever it is used the materials should be coarse, in order to insure, so far as possible, large, crude work. A box of scraps of cloth and a rag or stockinet doll for each child offer an excellent opportunity for experimentation. At first the garments are sewed on the dolls — ^the stitches are large and inexact — ■ but later the need for better garments is felt and a pattern is necessary, in order, as a child told me, "that we may not waste the cloth." Dresses are then made that can be put on and taken off. Win- ter weather suggests the need of blankets for the dolls" beds and cradles and the ends may be over- cast with worsted. Many Christmas presents, as sachet-bags, pincushions, dust-cloths, and holders, can be easily made. There are costumes to be planned and made for the children's plays, such as an Indian costume, fringed and decorated, a knight's costume for a tournament, which in- cludes a cape, shield, and plumed hat. Funny costumes may be developed for Hallowe'en, thus encouraging the children to work out something grotesque. Every opportunity for initiative, choice of materials, taste in color, and originality in design should be given. The projects will in- clude, besides those mentioned, marble bags, work aprons, rag and yarn dolls. Then there are the doll's rugs and hammock, hats, scarfs, muffs, to be woven on cardboard looms. As in the case of sewing, it is questionable whether much weav- ing should be attempted in the kindergarten on account of the prolonged effort which most projects require, and also because the nature of weaving is such that execution must be much more accurate than is required in any other form of children's work. Because of this, paper weav- ing should be mostly omitted. These are a few of the possibilities of hand work with young children, meeting the require- ments of child psychology and hygiene which, near to the learner's need, demand of him his interest, effort, and reflective thought. It is not so much what a child knows that testifies to the efficiency of a kindergarten, but what he is prepared to do. He must be able to produce real effort and power, must be able to carry into the school : First : A habit of joyous but orderly activity and liking for employment, and good- humored cooperation with the activities of others ; Second : Habits of obedience and promptness, and acceptance of community regulation. Third : A little skill in planning combinations and inventions with materials. The place of conscious direction in education ia to fur- nish the time, place, and materials which will draw out the best interests of children. — Luther H. Giilick. THE TREND OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO-DAY* BY PATTY SMITH HILL The atmosphere of freedom has inspired a num- ber of experiments during the last decade, especially along the line of better uses of kin- dergarten materials, the results of which we now submit to the public for criticism. In these we do not claim to have solved the problem for other people, or even for ourselves; but each experi- ment has been of great value in clearing our vision, in freeing ourselves from blind tradition, and in paving the way for other experiments. What Does the Child Teach Us? In all of the experiments the following prob- lems have been more or less prominently in mind : Among the apparently aimless and valueless spontaneous activities of the child is it possible to discover some which may be used as the point of departure for ends of recognized worth? Are there some of these crude expressions which, if properly directed, may develop into the begin- nings of the fine and industrial arts? How far does the preservation of the individuality and freedom of the child demand self-initiated activ- ities? Is it possible for the teacher to set prob- lems or ends sufficiently childlike to fit in with the mode of growth and to inspire their adoption with the same fine enthusiasm which accompanies the self-initiated ones? Or, better still, if the activities and surroundings of the kindergarten were more like those in real life, would problems arise spontaneously out of these more lifelike situations as they do in life? In other words, this problem has been studied from initiation on the level of impulse and spontaneity to culmina- tion in ideas embodied in good form. Using Play as Motive Power In our effort to answer some of these questions, experiments have indicated that the play-motive, when utilized in the production of toys, has seemed to offer problems which the children im- mediately recognize as their own, thus meeting the standard of worth from the standpoint of the child and the teacher. With the older chil- dren it has made a very happy transition from the more or less haphazard and short-lived pur- suit of ends which is characteristic of play, pure and simple, to the voluntary persistence in solv- ing more distant problems required in the begin- nings of creative work and industry. Here the motive of the child is to meet his own play-needs, but the process of production involves the recog- nition of a problem which to be solved requires persistent experimental attempts to discover ways and means related to the end desired. The self- effort of the children is marked, and their atten- tion unwavering. It might be described as the attitude and processes of creative work permeated with the spirit of play. Doll-Play Imitates Real Life In this way the child's introduction to industry corresponds with that of the race, in that he is learning to produce through his own efforts the objects which promote the welfare of his social life. The dolls and doll families are of inesti- mable value, as the children voluntarily center their productions around the needs of the doll families and communities. The needs of the dolls, while "make-believe" from our adult point of view, are to the children almost identical with those in real life — food, clothing, shelter, etc.; and the ways and means of supplying these in play-life offer the same motives and opportunities for creative work which they inspired under the grim and more pressing conditions in the race. The children became so absorbed in the reality of this motive that they voluntarily planned a series of occupations for themselves, not only for the day, but in some cases for a week in advance. At other times their own out-of-door play necessities have furnished the motive for the production of marbles, tops, kites, wagons, etc. Or, again, some real need in the kindergarten or the home has suggested the type of production ; for example, making crude little work-aprons to protect their clothes when modeling, painting, or when washing the kindergarten dishes. The Teacher as Welder In occupations of this nature, the teacher's problem is in guiding the children's productions through an ascending scale of difficulty which will * Miss Hill, who gave her cordial permission to the condensation of her article, is no doubt the leading American kindergartner to-day. Her statements as to the ways in which Play is being used as a motive-power in the Horace Mann School kindergarten are most significant. * 426 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL insure continuous progress in technique or con- trol over materials. While kindergartners of an early day were enslaved by a narrow conception and scheme of sequence which was utterly foreign to the nature of the child and to life, the ideal is an important one, and may easily be overlooked or undervalued. If a teacher recognizes the im- portance of a continuous advance in the mastery of technique and materials, she will find that if the children are thrown upon their own resources in discovering solutions for themselves they will probably produce a fairly good attempt, repre- senting their maximum skill; or they become conscious of their need for guidance or sugges- tion, which ofifers her the opportunity for leading them to better ways and means, or to a more adequate form of expression. The "What" and the "How" These points have been kept in the foreground of our consciousness through one and all of the experiments, namely, that there must be free- dom somewhere. — ample room left for choices, and provisions made for the child to make his own judgments and decisions. For example, if the child initiates the "what" of his production, the teacher's part may be to hold herself in readi- ness to offer suggestions as to the "how," the best ways and means; or, if the teacher has sug- gested the problem, aim, or end, she must throw the children on their own resources to discover ways of arriving at the end. It has often been evident that when the children are intelligent as to what end they are striving to accomplish, they are set free from any undue dependence on the teacher for either dictation or detail of direction. The problem to be solved, the end to be attained, dominates them, and the teacher falls into the background. Froebel Not InfalHble While Froebel's materials and methods have been respectfully studied to find the best in them, the materials used have not been limited to these or in any way bound by them. Careful studies and experiments have been made with a variety of educational materials, including not only those of Froebel and Montessori, but any good toys and play materials, including those from Nature and those of recognized merit in the field of the fine and industrial arts. The results of these experiments have been compared, and those materials selected, irrespective of tradition, which have proved of greatest worth. Froebel Forgot Dolls Free use has been made of the doll and doll families, as they seem to furnish one of the most natural motives to work and play with materials. In the simplest sense of the word, the doll is the symbol of humanity, and as man and man's needs, aesthetic, domestic, and industrial, have been the incentive to all good production in the domestic, fine, and industrial arts in society, past and pres- ent, so the dolls, which represent humanity in the play life of the child, have proved to be a most natural incentive to production. It seems strange that the doll has been so largely overlooked or undervalued in the kindergarten, when its neces- sity and importance in the play life in the home is as old as childhood and motherhood. Froebel, who was the first to see the educational value in otlier toys of universal significance — such as balls and blocks, — at one time seemed on the eve of recognizing the doll in his scheme of play materials. However, his own personal absorp- tion in geometry and mathematical relations crowded it into the background, so that instead of being central in the play-materials in the kin- dergarten, it has been an adjunct, an afterthought, or an occasional visitor. In one place, he seems to see the doll as the symbol of humanity in child life, as he poetically refers to it as a "play child." Fortunately, it is not only a play child, but it is equally effective as a play mother, a play father, a play baby, symbolizing in turn all mem- bers of the human family. Blocks to Build Backgrounds We have introduced some blocks, which are much larger than those of Froebel or Montessori, for use on the floor and in group work. These are related as far as being based upon a unit of measurement is considered. They provide boards — a long-felt need in the constructive materials of the kindergarten — with which the children can construct bridges, floors, and houses sufficiently large for the children to get in, play "Lady-come- to-see" or store, to their heart's content. It is sincerely believed that the time has come when all materials and methods must be carefully investigated and those selected which prove to be of actual worth in the development of the kindergarten child, whether they be those planned by Froebel, Montessori, or their follov;ers, many of whom are striving to hold fast to that which is good, while pressing forward in the endless quest for the better — the best — the ideal. THE KINDERGARTEN AT HORACE MANN SCHOOL, TEACHERS COLLEGE* BY JOHN WALKER HARRINGTON ImacixK yourself going to scliool and being asked what you would like to do. The old way was to tell the pupil what he must do. and especially what he must not do. But it is the natural way to learn by doing, even if one does try something at first rather beyond his powers. "Why," replied a youngster in one of the pre- primary grades at the Horace Mann School, "I think I would like to build a Woolworth Build- ing." "Would you like to begin to-day?" asked the teacher. '■Right away, if I can do it before lunch." The boy was directed to a large pile of wooden beams, each four feet in length and about three inches square. They had interlocking devices to hold them together. As the schoolroom was only fifteen feet high, the tower which was soon being reared was not a full-scale skyscraper to the adult mind. It was the real thing, though, to the youthful architect. He soon found that he needed help, and he was joined by four or five other lads of that impossible school. Foot by foot the fabric was reared, and once in a while the teacher strolled up to see how the construction was progressing. The first story was as high as the builders, and so, after a good deal of talk, they left a hole in its roof, which was the floor of the second story that was to be, so they could crawl up through the aperture and lay the courses for the rising walls. The third floor meant a dizzy height for the age of five or six, and it required a firm will to work in those upper airs. At last came the peak of a tower where slanting beams were raised high aloft. Down among the tables stood a boy who had been a timid spectator. He was strug- gling with a great purpose. At last he screwed his courage to the sticking point and crawled into the awesome structure and wriggled to the very top floor. There he sat down with a sigh of triumph and relief. He had done it. His fear of high places had been trampled under foot. In the erection of that pile there had been also the building of character. First there had been instilled in the mind of the pioneer a spirit of initiative. He had thought that he would like to do something on his own account. Finding that his own strength was not equal to the task, he had sent forth his call for aid, and those who joined him thus learned the value of cooperation. The youngster who followed in their wake, like some young Hercules, had strangled the serpeiit of timidity. The foundation stones of the new education and of the good citizenship which this youngest generation is expected to reach by the new method are just such qualities as these, which are con- sidered of far more account than anything which can be learned from books or worked out by rule of thumb. The youngsters who built the sky- scraper had first of all learned the properties of things: they had mastered the social ideals of cooperation, and had developed personal self- reliance. They had made plans and had executed them. But what of the "Three R's" ? You may say that the boys and girls of Do-As- You-'Please- Hall are really not learning anything. Fourth in importance in the scale of the new education come the "school arts," such as reading, writing, arithmetic. Let us go back to the skyscraper and perhaps we may find them somewhere in the cornerstone. The architect and his helpers, in order to get the stories the same height, were obliged to count the timbers of the wall. They absorbed arith- metic without knowing it. It was necessary to have the name of the building put upon its front. But these youngsters, much as they wished to have the inscription, were weak in orthography and chirography. Over in one corner was a tray filled with A B C's, little and big, carved on printing blocks. The entire crew, with a little help from the teacher, assembled the name in a line of type. The first attempt lacked an "o" in the first syllable, but the final tablet pasted to the building just above the imposing entrance was correctly spelled. Reading, writing, and arithmetic had come to those youngsters in the heat of achievement. Now that the building was done, why not make * From The New York Times. K.N.— 29 427 428 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL some more lobels ? There were so many things about the room that had interesting names, such as chalk, pencils, brushes, paints. These were more convenient to use if each kind were kept in a box by itself. It would be best, in that case, to have a label on each box. Therefore, more scrambling among the type, more reading and spelling, and the labels were duly made. Although, at first blush, one might think that this school is a haphazard institution, the teacher is at every point directing and overseeing the tasks which the pupils have chosen for them- selves. The child, on reaching the classes in the morning, is permitted to help itself to whatever material it wishes. It may model in clay or nail a box or make a wagon or paste up a scrapbook. Whatever it does has in it the 'urge of a personal interest. Some of us may remember periods in our lives when we took up the flying of kites, or the hunting for Indian arrowheads in the fields, and in the kindling enthusiasm of that time we grasped the principles of aeronautics, archc-eology, and of geology, sciences with mouth-filling names of which we did not even hear until later years. If the boys and girls who go to this school of the new order are guided aright in their build- ing of houses and in the making of automobiles and fire engines out of wooden beams and wheels, the theory is that they will develop correct and accurate habits of thought. The more formal things required in an educa- tion can be added. There is no laborious drilling in the alphabet ; nothing is said about the multipli- cation table : and there is no endless repetition of words and phrases which the child-mind can not grasp. When the youngster makes houses, airplanes, submarines, or tea, he is acquiring skill in the use of tools and paste and dishes. These children get their own meals. The teacher does not tell them about it, but along about noontime they begin to feel hungry, and someone says, "Let's get lunch." The ones who like domestic duties the most attend to that. They spread the tables and bring out the dishes and see that the chairs are placed. Initiative, cooperation, and a desire for service all have their places in this play, and the school arts come in when the bill of fare is printed and there is a counting of knives and forks and spoons. For the last two years there has been much discussion in educational circles about the dis- continuance of the word kindergarten. The old name still appears in the catalogue of Teachers College, of which the Horace Mann School is a division. The new movement in juvenile educa- tion is radically different from the Froebel idea of the kindergarten. It harks back to the original conception of the brilliant French-Swiss thinker Rousseau. When Froebel served with Pestalozzi, when that distinguished educator was working out the ideas of Rousseau's "Emile," he grasped com- paratively little of the spirit of the work. His kindergarten, as he called it, meant literally a garden in which children were raised like plants. He invented his ponderous system of gifts and of applied play. The children were taught to act and to think in unison. In the average kin- dergarten the pupils are assembled about the table at the same time, and each child is set to work cutting or pasting or modeling in the same way that every one else is doing. The system at Horace Mann, as put into practice by Miss Patty Smith Hill, in charge of these pre-primary grades, gives scope to the talents of every pupil. Instruction in some of the pre-primary grades begins with the age of four years. No one would think, on entering the school- room where this kind of instruction is given, that he was in a schoolroom. He sees a group of children, each one of whom is earnestly doing what he likes. It takes some time to realize that these youngsters who are playing games of their own choice are teaching themselves reading, writ- ing, and arithmetic through occupations for which they have a natural aptitude. In this way, modern education removes the old obstacles which blocked the path of self-deter- mination, and gives to every child a full oppor- tunity to develop its individuality. A good part of kindergarten education should be devoted to the gaining of new experience through first-hand contact with nature, and with human activities. We are often guiUy of singing about these, dramatizing them, relating stories of them, or expressing them through hand work, when what is needed is not the expression of these but the actual experi- ence itself. — Patty Smith Hill. FROEBEL AND THE KINDERGARTEN OF TO-DAY* BY G. STANLEY HALL, LL.D. What, now, are some of the great ideas which the educational world owes in whole or in part to Froebel ? I think they may be listed as follows: Froebel's Nine Great Ideas 1. He was the first to teach that the child re- peats the history of the race, recapitulating its stages. 2. Feeling and instinct are the germs of intel- lect and the will. 3. Froebel taught self-activity and spontaneity, and that play was one of the great revealers of the direction of inherent interest and capacity. He first saw that if the play instincts are turned on as the great motive power in school, far more can be accomplished, and that more easily .and with less strain. 4. He was in the true apostolic succession of those great souls whose lives were expanded and directed by a sense that in God we live, move, and have our being. 5. He believed in the original soundness and wholeness of human nature, and hence abhorred all interfering, or radically reconstructing, meth- ods of education, but thought the latter should be always developmental. 6. Almost as a corollary of the first statement, he exhorted that every child should be at each stage of his life all that that stage called for. 7. We must all live for and with the children. Indeed, what else is there in all this world worth living, working, dying for? 8. The child, he said, is a seed in the ground, which does not see the sun or feel the rain di- rectly, but is not unresponsive to every change of temperature, moisture, or light. "The un- consciousness of a child is rest in God." This saying alone shows that Froebel's standpoint was not inferior to that of Wordsworth in his famous Ode, and that he dimly foresaw the work that has been done lately on that part of the soul which lies below the threshold of consciousness, but from its unfathomable depths rules all our life. 9. Lastly, I shall mention Froebel's belief in health. The child is a plant, a vegetable, and must, as I said above, live out of doors or in as nearly out-of-door conditions as possible. He realized that health was the basis and test of all, and was one of the morning stars of the new hygiene. Again, Froebel was the morning star of the child-study movement, and would have rejoiced to see its day. The Mistake of Literally Imitating Froebel The most decadent intellectual new departure of the conservative American Froebelists, how- ever, is the emphasis now laid upon the mother- plays, as the acme of kindergarten wisdom. These are represented by very crude poems, indifferent music, and pictures — the like of which were never seen in any art exhibit — illustrating certain incidents of child life believed to be of fundamental and typical significance. I have read these in German and in English, have strummed the music, and have given a brief course of lec- tures from the sympathetic standpoint, trying to put all the new wine of meaning I could think of into them. But I am driven to the conclusion that, if they are not positively unwholesome and harmful for the child, and productive of anti- scientific and unphilosophical intellectual habits in the teacher, they should, nevertheless, be super- seded by the far better things now available. Another cardinal error of the conservative kindergarten is the intensity of its devotion to the gifts and occupations. In devising these, Froebel showed much sagacity ; but the scheme as it left his own hands was a very inadequate embodiment of his educational ideas, even for his own time. He thought it a perfect grammar of play and an alphabet of industries; and in this opinion he was utterly mistaken. Play and in- dustry were then relatively undeveloped: and while his devices were no doubt beneficent for the peasant children in the country, whom he taught, they lead, compared to the interests of the modern city child, a very pallid, unreal life. For the symbolic method that finds everything in everything, any random selections could readily be made the center of an imposing set of ex- planations. • From "Educational Problems, by G. Stanley Hall. Used by permission of the publishers, D. Appleton and Company, New York. 429 430 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL There Are Better Materials than Froebel's The great faults of the gifts and occupations, however, are not only that there are hundreds of other things that would do as well ; but I am convinced that two or three score could easily be found that possess great natural advantages over most, if not all, of these. Moreover, they deal with inanimate objects and too mathematical conceptions, while this is the age when the child's interest in animals culminates, and when his character is pregnant with moral suggestions as well as with scientific interests. They are also over-emphasized; and idolatry of the ball, cube, slats, pricking, peawork, and the rest makes the kindergartner not only indifferent to new de- partures in the rapid development of recent times, but so suspicious of novelties that new gifts or occupations have to overcome a great presump- tion against them. The schemes of analyzing to a point and then developing from it are fantastic and superficial ; and it is persistently forgotten that the meanings, seen or claimed, exist solely for the teacher and not at all for the child. Much of the work involves a great waste of teaching, with great effort to inculcate early what will later come naturally and better of itself. The drawing of the kindergarten children thus tends to be wooden ; and its introduction into the curriculum is to invert the order of Na- ture, which prompts the child to draw complex scenes, with animals and men in motion first, with never a straight line, circle, or mathematical angle until much later. The sins of this intro- duction of regular mathematical forms against both the artistic sense and power of execution, which can be laid to the door of the kindergarten, are many and great. Moreover, as administered, the occupations tend to overwork the children, to interest them and the parents in the products of the little school factory, and to lay too great stress on sedentary activities and the finer and later developed accessory muscles. Kindergartens Should Have More Outdoors In direct contradiction to all this, Froebel be- lieved the child should live out of doors; would give each child a flower-bed that he might have access to Mother Earth; emphasized the need of abundant and healthful activity for the whole body, and understood the hygienic necessities of leisure. We forget that the very definition of school means leisure; that the child must have it in great abundance ; and that he must be pro- tected and shielded from the activities of the great world; so that Nature and heredity — an ounce of which is worth tons of education — can get in their work. Quiet, rest, sleep, lethargy, and, above all, day-dreaming, are essential ; and he must have a strong cause who would interfere with Nature's operations. The nursery element, now often so abhorred, must be greatly emphasized in our kindergartens. Some factors of the now admirable education of nurses should be introduced by a competent medical instructor in all the training-schools. Great improvements are entirely practicable. Desirable Kindergarten Activities A few things I shall venture to indicate. The body must be strengthened. The activities should involve more body movements, and the strain upon the hand and eye should be reduced. The very high educational value of dancing should be exploited even more than it is. It cadences the soul as almost nothing else does. Building should be done with much larger blocks. Catch- ing, throwing, and lifting plays and games should be selected from Mr. Johnson's or some other convenient repertoire. Imitation, or "do-as-I-do" activities, should have a larger place. Bean-bags, and, if there were room, perhaps the hoop, the jumping-rope, and the kite may have some place. Certainly the doll, with all its immense educa- tional power, should be carefully introduced. Much might be said in favor of the color top. peg board, soap bubbles, and such old plays as jackstraws and knuckle-bones. All the contents of the toy shop should always be studied and used. Sorting out heterogeneous blocks and cards, and laying like to like, might be tried; while play with chalk, shells, spools, and pictures should be carefully developed; always remember- ing that the child's interest in animals culminates before its interest in flowers or trees, and that the latter reaches its apex before interest in in- animate things. Emphasize Language The kindergarten should do much more for language, on the basis of what we now know of child linguists, not only for the voice in train- ing to speak freely and well, but for the vocabu- larv. It is important that the teacher's voice be attractive, well modulated, her words well chosen, her English correct, her linguistic resources ample and fertile; but still more important is it that the child should here be taught expression. The over-voluble may occasionally need repression ; but most children do not talk enough in the kin- dergarten. Again, whenever practicable, living, foreign languages should be taught in the upper grades of kindergartens by a native teacher to FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 431 those children who are likely to study them later in connection with every activity. Everything that is done or seen should, in short, be reflected in language. It should not, however, be the stupid concert work common in the kindergarten, but free personal conversation with each child. To see a picture or handle an object while talking about it greatly aids the power of expression, not only in our own but in a foreign language ; so that it should be a rule to confine such conversation as closely as pos- sible, word for word, at least to the picture, if not to the object and to the act. Standard stories with myths should be told more; and perhaps this ought to be the central thing, or, at least, next to activity. Not only Grimm and ^sop, but some of the Old Testa- ment tales, tales from Homer, etc., can be told at the kindergarten age in a most effective way by a sympathetic teacher. Story-telling ought to be a profession ; and if I could examine kinder- garten teachers I should regard the test in this respect as second to none in importance. The same story can be repeated. This is the primeval way of education; thus all culture was trans- mitted before books. Animal tales, perhaps acted out, stories of savage life, of fancy, something of the fairies, with games like hide-and-seek — and a vast amount of such work in great variety — should be included. Emphasize Music Music should be looked upon as indispensable and made even more prominent. Most of the new music I believe to be cheap and unworthy of the child. The old ballads and songs of Na- ture, God, home, and country educate the senti- ments in ways we have never known. There is much to be said in favor of the violin instead of the piano. The teacher should sing and a great deal of music should be heard. Froebel's stand- ard can here be greatly transcended. Occasional whistling would, of course, be admirable. Songs with action are important here — bad as they are later — for the development of the voice. There is something in the cake-walk — which seems to be the very apotheosis of human love antics — that could be utilized for older children, who might be encouraged to act a part and begin to indulge that great instinct of assuming an alien personality with the aid of costumes, disguises, and masks. Children appreciate poetry with alliteration and even slang in it, which has its partial justification; and the sequence and con- tinuity, identity and contrast, which are so much insisted on, are utterly alien as principles to the child mind at this animistic age Effective Building Activities Among other things, it would be quite germane to an ideal kindergarten to have a stone and a woodyard, where many stones of as diverse kinds, shapes, color, qualities, etc., as possible, should be accumulated, including a load of smooth, varie- gated pebbles from the beach; and from these up to sizes that the children would have to exert themselves to lift or even to roll. There should be a level space for them to pile the stones into tiny chairs or cromlechs. There should be also a generous collection of small boards, large wooden blocks, slats, etc., etc., but entirely without slivers. Here children might indulge their primitive in- stincts to construct, using material heavy enough to exercise the larger muscles. They could assort them by size, color, shape, smoothness, etc. It would be well also if there were characteristic bits of ore and minerals — marble, glass wdthout too sharp edges, and even coal, and a few of the more common or easily obtainable fossils and arrowheads. The children might occasionally be shown the many clever things that can be done, and not too much protected so that there would never be any bruises or petty accidents. Thus the propensity to build, classify, exercise the esthetic taste, work, develop the strong mus- cles, learn something about minerals, mines, rocks, mountains, could be gained and developed by talks and model exercises. Some stones could be named and tales told of the Mythic and Stone Ages, and some rudiments of what will later be- come of interest in lithology could be developed by lessons from the rocks. Such a stone and wood- yard in a school could teach many invaluable lessons and stimulate tendencies. For the older children, there could be joined framework, boards, and other material to be put together without nails into houses large enough for the children to get into and enjoy, and then taken down and reconstructed. There should, of course, also be bricks for building as well as stones. Snow as Plastic Material Snow in its season is as valuable for construc- tive play as sand and clay, and is more plastic. Young children should be insured a good deal of experience with molding snowballs and vari- ous other figures, making snow-men, fortsi im- printing their own figure in it, making pictures and letters, mapping out cart-wheels and other patterns for games, digging and tunneling in drifts, rolling and leaping in it, etc. Snow has pedagogic possibilities that are not yet realized. The kind of play it prompts is under the very 432 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL best conditions, for the ground is padded and cushioned and so incites to new motor activities. The analysis of snow air shows it to be the purest from germs, most prophylactic and stimulating, while the cold adds its wondrous tonic, sending the blood inward to stimulate all the vital organs, and then by reaction bringing it to the surface again in the most healthful way. Thus a snow field is on the .whole a better environment for play, and a more tonic kind of play than even a grassy lawn. Base All on Child Study Froebel said, "Wouldst thou lead the child . . . observe him and he will show thee what to do," and yet we can not and must not forget that a dark cloud of ignorance hangs over the kinder- garten age. Some scores of individual studies have been made upon infants from liirth on. often up to the third year, and collective studies of children from the beginning of the school age on are far more common. But the child of from about two and a half or three to five or six years of age is relatively unknown to science. Of no stage of human life do we know so little. The most sagacious and practical kindergartners in this country now base their views upon native, wpmanly intuition into the nature and needs of this metamorphic age. But none of us can prove ourselves right by citing more than two or three studies of this period. Till there are such data we must go on by the same methods of tact and sympathy that have prevailed ever since savagery in the training of children, with only the addi- tional light that progress in other fields reflects into this obscure region. With so much ability and enthusiasm and so many methods now in operation it would seem that it needs but a touch of intelligent direction to redeem this rank, rich field for scientific pedagogy, for none is so in- viting, so ripe, so certain of yielding, under proper cultivation, such precious results both for science and for education. WHAT HAS THE AMERICAN KINDERGARTEN TO LEARN FROM MONTESSORI?* BY WILLIAM HEARD KILPATRICK, Pii.D. Madam Montessori allies herself most commend- ably with the scientific aim and attitude as the only rule of educational faith and practice. Her practice is not so praiseworthy. In the opinion of those competent to judge, her biology is gen- erally bad, while her psychology, as we shall later say, is not abreast of the best. Montessori has, then, the spirit but not the content of mod- ern science. In the matter of "practical life" activities, these are already found in many kindergartens. Mon- tessori stresses this idea, and modern education would approve her emphasis. An adaptation to American conditions is, however, necessary in the utilization of her activities. For many years the proper curriculum for the young child has been much discussed. Froebel expected some geometry and arithmetic, but little or no reading or writing. The kindergarten has, as a rule, taught no reading and writing, and but little of number or geometry. Madam Montes- sori. however, expects her work to culminate in the three R's; and her apparent success has been widely discussed. In arithmetic, it may be dog- matically stated, there is no contribution for America. Her reading-method depends on the phonetic Italian language ; and when separated therefrom has no new suggestion for us. The writing is beautiful, and may contain suggestions of value to us, though the matter is not certain. It is quite another question whether the kinder- garten should wish to take up the three R's. «»,P »f. ,h^ fir<» wnVn, °- iTf \°'l '" ^'^'^W" '^^"r ,^'1^" '^^ "^"^^^ ""^ ''^""•'s degree at the University of Rome rt^ ZJ.htU l\- ■ ,", " ^^"-^ to become a Doctor of Medicine. After graduation she was appointed on the staff of S tfi? Jlv^loLd ?h f .u" .""'X"S''>,. aid ,n the course of her duties became interested in feeble-minded children. Out rn„l^^.„H ,h=f fl,i ,.Ii" J''' ^'■""'^^''^™'.<^'"'l"'''' .'^'^'Idren, which she conducted in person from 1898 to 1900. Becoming she e.nrnpH.o ,!,,?,• .•f%'''''"''T'' ^l"" ^"^^^"rmM children would be even more useful with normal children tnnltv ^n cn„ne.H^^ un vers.ty to . cont.nuc her studies ,n philosophy and pedagogy. In 1907 she was given the oppor: tunity, m connection with he .Society for Good Suilding m Rome, to open a d.Ty-nursery school, which she called the ,She kept this connection until 1911. Since then sh.^ has continued her experiments with older chil- -- .,1 House of Childhood d in AnierL imder tbe V^fJ-Th M°"V"''" ""^'i'^i- J'""" J? ^"'"^^ '""^ '" America. Her anthorit.itivc book is published '"Montessori Svstem Fv-,mfn,d" Montessori Method " , Her work has been critically studied bv Kilpatrick in his svmn.iheHc bn^f iT n;r^r„'r c"*^^ P u ^P^'^.. ^'\,^'^ ^'■''^ ^ocke to Montessori." To the layman the most useful sympathetic book is Dorothy Canfield Fisher's "A Montessori Mother." FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 433 There is, at present, no scientific basis for a final answer. A school without books is Froebel's everlasting glory. Her Doctrine of Liberty The doctrine of liberty is the most interesting of the Montessori doctrines. Froebel professed it, but in practice we have too often had dicta- tion instead. The kindergartner has a detailed program; and the children have been directed therein by suggestion, seldom by force. The freedom has been narrow, limited to the exi- gencies of the teacher-made program. Montes- sori, on the other hand, has no such detailed program. During the long period set aside for the use of the apparatus, the child chooses, practi- cally ad libitum, how he will spend the time. The director keeps herself distinctly in the back- ground. Yet there is no anarchy; on the con- trary, there is vigorous activity along the proper lines. The social cooperation and conformity in the kindergarten are mainly secured by the teacher's interposition and direction. In the Montessori school, however, they are secured by the volun- tary action of the children. The freedom in the Montessori schools presents a definite challenge to most American kindergartens. The child must be given a chance to exercise real choice and real self-direction. While Montessori allows freer in- dividual choice than Froebel, the range of choice is much more limited. Play as such is little en- couraged. In particular, there must be no playing with the didactic material. Games are not much in evidence, and those found are inferior to those of the American kindergarten. Stories have no place — a lamentable defect. There is little utili- zation of the imagination. Drawing and model- ing play but small part. The freedom of the Montessori school, to prove most useful, must be united with the variety of the kindergarten. As a guide to the freedom allowed. Madam Montessori seeks to utilize the principle of auto- education — a scheme whereby the school exer- cises set their own problems and themselves correct all errors. The aim is admirable, but as here presented, the practice is limited in both scope and value. So mechanical an auto-educa- tion can have value only on some theory of formal discipline. Her Scheme of Sense-Training Perhaps even more than the liberty of the Montessori system has its scheme of sense-train- ing found praise. An adequate discussion of this topic is not easy. There are at least three positions as to sense-training. The first says that the sense-organ as such can be improved so that one sees with a better eye, for example, much as one might look through an improved telescope. To this theory, two other groups say no. These agree that the eye sees more things because fuller meanings have been attached to distinctions all the while optically visible. Which theory is correct? Has Cooper's In- dian a better eye than the scholar? Or is it that the former has learned to note significances in the things of the forest that lie out of the latter's experience? To test whether it be eye or attached meaning, bring the Indian into the scholar's library. Show him these two pages, one of French, one of Latin. What says the Indian? "They are both alike, meaningless marks," but a glance tells the bookman that he sees different lan- guages. They see and note different significances. So far theories two and three agree, and they are right as opposed to the first. But now they differ. Number two says that the eye trained to discriminate in one line will discriminate wherever seeing is needed. The child trained to observe birds will, for that reason, observe the finer trees and styles of houses. In other words, number two believes that the child has general powers or faculties of discrimination, of observation, of memory, etc. ; and that any train- ing in any of these fields trains the faculty so that it may be used anywhere else. To this position, number three says no. There are no such general powers or faculties; training is specific, not general, and modern psychology decides in favor of number three. Consider now the application of these three theories. If one believed in either of the first two, he would be more concerned in the exercise of the organ or faculty than in the value of the content thereby gained. The third theory, how- ever, would ask, Is this child making distinctions that are going to prove useful? Is this child getting desirable sense-qualities? Where now stands Madam Montessori? "It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses consists : their aim is not that the child shall know colors, forms, and the different qualities of objects, but that he refine his senses." The slightest examination of the didactic ap- paratus and the most casual reading of the ex- position of its use shows that Madam Montessori meant to base t-he usefulness of the apparatus predominantly upon an erroneous theory of sense- training, whether of the first or second is not always clear. We accordingly reject the didactic material as being practically worthless; and de- 434 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL nounce its preferred sense-training as largely a snare. Summary and Lessons To summarize: 1. We fear the introduction of reading and writing into the kindergarten period. There is no real need for them. They may do harm. At any rate, we can hope for little or no help in the matter from Montessori. 2. In the utilization of play, of the constructive interests,' of stories and the' imagination, we feel that Froebel and the best American kinder- gartners are far superior to the Montessori theory and practice. 3. Montessori's systematic sense-training through the didactic material we reject as being based on an indefensible psychology. Montessori's theory was rejected on sufficient grounds, both in America and in Germany, years before she had entered our horizon. 4. But a curriculum for the kindergarten period based on concrete experiences we most heartily approve. We think, however, that certain Ameri- can writers (notably Dr. Dewey), have given us ideas far superior to those of both Froebel and Montessori. 5. The "practical life" activities of Madam Montessori — with appropriate modifications — we welcome. It is a fight we have for some years been waging. 6. The real, individual freedom in the Montes- sori schools we recognize as their best achieve- ment. If we can so utilize the extraordinary publicity given to the working of these schools to loosen the joints of our school practice from the kindergarten upward, we shall willingly ac- knowledge the service. MAKING THE ORIGINAL NATURE OF THE CHILD INTO SOMETHING ELSE* EDWARD L. THORNDIKE, Pn.D. As THE potter must know his clay, the musician his instrument, or as the general must know the raw recruits out of whom he hopes to make a disciplined force, so education has to reckon with unlearned tendencies. To change men's wants for the better, we must heed what conditions originally satisfy and annoy them, since the only way to create an interest is by grafting it on to one of the original satisfiers. To enable men to satisfy their wants more fully, the crude curiosity, manipulation, experimentation and ir- rational interplay of fear, anger, rivalry, mastery, submission, cruelty, and kindliness must be modi- fied into useful, verified thought and equitable acts. Problems in Making Human Pottery The task of education is to make the best use of this original fund of tendencies, eradicating its vicious^ elements, wasting the least possible of value that Nature gives, and .supplying at the most useful time the additions that are needed to improve and satisfy human wants. If the response is sought too early, effort is wasted; if it is sought too late, the effort may fail altogether. It is further complicated by the discords between the behavior to which original nature prompts and the behavior which the welfare of man in his present civilized state requires. Man's original equipment dates far back and adapts him, directly, only for such a life as might be led by a family group of wild men among the brute forces of land, water, storm and sun, fruits and berries, animals and other family groups of wild men. But man has created a new world, in which his original nature is often at a loss and against which it often rebels. Making Over to Fit Life Some original tendencies should be cherished almost as they are. Some must be rooted out of publi'slferr "^''"""'"'•" ^y '^''"^'■'' T- Thorndike. published by the Macmillan Company; reprinted by permission of the eAy,cltnl\TrlkiceV'^flhMy^^^^^^^ "'■• Thorndike, whose influence to-day upon cuuiduondi practice is proDaniy greater than that of any other mdividua This orieinal nature thesi- "nrioinal «at;«fi^r« " as be calls them elsewhere, are, as he says in this .section, what the clay is t. the noUe original satishers. What we parents wish to knnw is, what to dn with this human clay, how much of it must dLscatd, and in what forms to mold it. This brief article sums up his philosopby,- we can use, how much, if any, we -PV. B. F. FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 435 children — by withholding the situations that would call them forth, so that they die a natural death from lack of exercise ; or by making their exer- cise result in pain and discomfort ; or by substi- tuting desirable habits in place 'of them. The great majority of original tendencies, however, should neither be preserved in their exact origi- nal form nor be altogether annihilated, but should he so modified and redirected as to further the improvement and satisfaction of men's wants under the conditions of humane and rational living. Thus the indiscriminate manipulation of ob- jects is modified into instructive play with sand- piles, blocks, or ball ; and later into the intelligent use of tools — pencil, pen, typewriter, engine, printing-press, and the like. Thus the "satis fy- ingness" which originally accompanies notice and approval by anybody is redirected to form special attachments to the approval of parents, teachers, one's own higher nature, and heroes, living and dead, who are chosen as ideal judges. Thus the original incitement of "another trying to get the food or victory or admiration which we crave" is replaced gradually by rivalry with others in all work or play, then by rivalry with our own past records or with ideal standards. Thus out of "collecting and hoarding at random whatever is handy and attractive to the crude interests in color, glitter, and novelty," habits of intelligent scientific collecting and arranging may be formed, and the interest in collecting may be made a stimulus to getting knowledge about the ob- jects collected. Thus the original interests, the tendencies to be satisfied and annoyed, to like and dislike, are turned into acquired interests in efficient workmanship, kindly fellowship, the wel- fare of one's family, friends, community, and nation, and finally into the love of truth, justice, and the happiness of mankind as a whole. Building on the Foundations of Nature It has been a common error in education to try to make such changes all at once — to demand rationality and morality offhand: to stick ideal considerations and motives into children in a few large doses ; to expect them to work, study, be just and be wise because we tell them to. Nothing but harm comes from expecting such miracles. Little more is gained by telling a man to think, or to be accurate, or to have good taste, or to honor truth and justice, than by telling a tree to bear fruit or a duck to keep out of the water. The eventual nature which is desired for man has to be built up from his original nature. The strengthening, weakening, and redirecting of original nature begins soon after birth, so that by the time a child enters school he is already in many respects a product of our complex environment of clothes, furniture, toys, tools, language, customs, and ideas. School education starts from acquired as well as from original ten- dencies. But the original roots of intellect, char- acter, and behavior are still potent. Education, which works with rather than against them — which conserves their energy while modifying them into more desirable forms — will have a tremendous advantage. Merely to let children act out what they are to read, and make what they are to understand — that is, to enlist their original tendencies to bodily activity and manipulation in the service of knowledge-getting — enormously facilitates school work. Recognition of the origi- nal strength, in boys, of the interest in things and their mechanisms, and of the original strength, in girls, of the interest in the thoughts and feel- ings of persons, will similarly increase the effec- tiveness of high-school management. The first necessity in education everywhere is to know what man will be and do, apart from education. WHAT IS THE VALUE OF PLAY? LUELLA A. PALMER Little children must play; it is a necessity of childhood. Normal mental and physical growth will never be attained unless the free exercise of both ideas and muscles is allowed what is com- monly called play. The interests and desires of little children are very different from those of grown people. Their ways of looking at life are different: it is difficult for them to understand the reasoning of adults. They must be supplied with experiences that will help them to grow to an appreciation of the older person's point of view. These experiences come mainly through play. A child's brain must be developed so that he may gain the power to reason. It is through physical activity, at first spontaneous and later purposeful, that the brain is developed. There are certain centers in the brain for mere sight 436 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL and hearing. These are in all brains, even in those of the imbecile type, but their presence does not indicate that the person understands what he sees and hears. Around these centers are generally other embryonic nerve cells. If these latter cells are developed, a person will understand what is presented to his senses; if they are not developed, he will not comprehend what object his eye is gazing at nor what the sounds mean that his ear receives. It is these latter cells that are stimulated to grow when the body is active and it is in connection with these cells that is developed the power called mind. It is when the far-reaching influence of physi- cal exercise in the development of brain power or mind is comprehended that the importance of early movement-play is realized. Exercise which does not overtax the muscles strengthens them, gives them more power to exercise again, and if this exercise calls for thought expression as well as skill, it develops the brain power also. Rhyth- mic movement tends to give a control which is steady and balanced; if it calls for effort not too strenuous, it trains the will power, and if it is pleasurable, there is a tendency to repeat it. How Early Play Helps "To play" and "to educate" may mean the same activity if the right conditions are provided for the child. A little child is happiest when he is busy about something. If it is true play, he is not idling his 'time away, he is expending some effort and enjoying the activity all the more be- cause it calls for exercise of the will power. If it is true play, he is storing up knowledge. Dur- ing playtime the mind is unhampered and not only grasps with ease and quickness but retains the impressions made ; the imagination plays around them and brings them into relation with other experiences in life. The ideas formed in moments of play acquire an attractive power which urges the child to repeat them and enlarge upon them. Playfulness is of value in giving richness to the present moment and in determin- ing the direction of the attention and the indi- vidual's attitude toward the world. Education can be provided- by supplying the child with such experiences that he will keep himself busy storing up useful knowledge. Playfulness which is directed in this way de- velops gradually into the ideal attitude toward work. Pleasurable activity is playful activity. It may be called play when the result bears no direct relation to what is necessary for living; it is called work when it is something that must be done. The ideal attitude toward life is enjoy- ment of the activities that one must perform. The play attitude should gradually pass into the right work attitude. A child, after very many repetitions, tires of the purposelessness of his play and demands results more like that which the adult achieves. If he grows normally, he must expect of himself more difficult acts, and he must accomplish these if he is to keep "the feel- ing of power which we find to be the chief source of satisfaction in almost all play." "To be playful and serious at the same time is possible, and defines the ideal mental condi- tion." If to the little child his world has an aspect of play combined with its earnestness, he will form a habit of mind which will develop a self- activity that means freedom under the law. The best education is given when right habits are nourished through the encouragement of play and playfulness. EXPERIMENT, IMITATION, REPETITION AND PURPOSE THE PLACE OF EACH IN A LITTLE CHILD'S EDUCATION BY LUELLA A. PALMER Each method named in the title above has some value. None should be omitted in the kinder- garten, none used exclusively. I. If experiment is never allowed in the use of materials, the children will not learn how to investigate, they will be helpless when confronted with any new problem, they will never advance beyond their companions, but will lose the ex- quisite joy of discovery and contribute nothing to the knowledge of their own world. If no other method were used, there would be only slow progress. A tendency would be formed to be governed by the moment's interest and not to sum up or connect. Respect might be lost, for FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 437 material and effort would lie dormant if no prod- uct could be conceived better than the one chanced upon. 2. If a child never imitated a good copy or followed dictation, he would miss some of the uses of the material which he was capable of appreciating but not discovering for himself. If this method were used exclusively, it would de- velop a habit of following blindly and the idea of taking the initiative would never be formed. 3. Where there is no repetition for the sake of improvement, there is a tendency to be satis- fied with results that have not demanded a child's best effort ; many things are attempted but nothing done well. A child can measure himself and gain fresh impetus for further effort when he sees two similar products placed side by side, one the result of to-day's work and the other of last week's. If this is the only method employed, the child uses each material for itself, never in relation to any other. It gives him a discon- nected view of his environment ; he will not feel the unity of thought underlying its various ex- pressions in material. 4. If the purposive method is never used, the materials will never be organized upon the high- est basis. A desirable end in view demands a child's best efifort ; right stimulation will not only call forth self-activity to conceive that end, but also require that in its accomplishment control shall be gained over the particular material used and its relation shown to other materials through thought. If this method should be used ex- clusively, it would defeat its own object; the chil- dren would become discouraged and effort para- lyzed because they would be tasked to arrive at a result before they could control the means through which to attain it. The factor which determines the particular kind of method used in each lesson is the degree of control which the child has gained over the material placed in his reach. Opportunity should be given for instinctive response toward new material. The next periods might be devoted to the improvement of some form previously made very crudely. When a fair amount of con- trol has been acquired, the child may seek to express some idea that has been roused through other material. Imitation may be used at any time that the kindergartner feels that the child is ready for some use of the material which he would miss or be slow in discovering. Dictation can take the place of imitation, but it must be remembered that "come" guides a child better than "go." Dictation is excellent as a playful test of what a child has learned. The function of the kindergartner in the child's organization of materials is simply to adapt the environment so that it will provide proper ma- terial. This material should respond to some desire of the child and yet stimulate toward higher attainment than he would reach alone. TEN USEFUL PURPOSES IN KINDERGARTEN TRAINING BY LUELLA A. PALMER The three aspects of mental activity, investigat- ing, testing, and arranging, represent the normal process of a child's mental growth. There are, therefore, three general purposes in the use of material: (i) To discover its possibilities: {2) to apply this knowledge, get a rich variety of experiences in connection with it, and ("3) to choose some end which will bring order and con- secutiveness into these suggestions. With these general purposes in mind, the specific purposes of different lessons might be as follows : I. To investigate, to discover properties of the material, its characteristics and possible uses. 2. To formulate some purpose, possibly sug- gested by the sight of the material, and to con- trol material to carry it out. 3. To observe and follow another's use of material. 4. To formulate a purpose in line with some past experience which has been vivid, and to control material to express it. 5. To follow another's use of material because it is well adapted to express some idea about past experience. 6. To discriminate between the values of the material in order to choose the kind best suited to express an idea. 438 THE HOME KINDERGARTEN MANUAL 7. To exercise memory liy repeating some form which has heen made at a previous time. 8. To express the beauty or scientific facts which he has discovered can be shown through the material. 9. To show control of the technical naming of the material by following a dictation. 10. To cooperate with others in the use of material, by adding to some large form, or by building a smaller form which is needed to ex- press an idea which has been decided upon by the group. Points 3 and 10 emphasize the social aspect; points 2. 4, 5, 7, emphasize the psychological ; points I, 8, 9, emphasize the material; point 6, both the material and the individual. How would lessons given in these ways help to organize a child's mind? To Become Alert 1. If given in the right way a lesson, with in- vestigation as its object, would help a child to gain an attitude of trying to learn the possibilities of any new material and of trying to interpret or use them. He would become alert to situations and eager to find problems. Kindergartners have allowed too little for investigation, they have felt it necessary to tell children many things which they could find out. Even the facts which we have thought necessary to tell children about the gifts have not been the most important ones for them. A child must build up a variety of experiences before he can discriminate those things which adults feel are values. To Formulate a Purpose 2. When material with which he has already experimented is placed in a child's hands, he ought to be able to formulate such a purpose for expression as can be carried out through the material ; in other words, he ought to adapt his ideas to bring them somewhat in line with the possibilities of the material and then have perseverance enough to arrive at his self-deter- mined end. To Observe What Others Do 3. It is good practice for a child to follow others sometimes and particularly when someone has discovered a very good use of the material. It not only gives the child a good mode! but it spurs him to strive himself for better interpreta- tions of the material. To Achieve 4. A lesson which lead-s a child to formulate a related purpose and then express it, will develop reasoning and perseverance, and calls for creat- ivity of the highest kind. A child must be in- spired to want to express a certain idea; he must think of many different possible ways in which he could express it, select the best, and then persevere to the end to carry it out. To Copy the Success of Others 5. A lesson where the children copy another's model, because that other has been able to plan a purpose which is connected with what they are trying to express, has the same kind of social value as the third type of lesson, except that the purpose is a little more organized ; it is the con- trolling of material, not to make some irrelevant, incidental object, but to follow some connected line of thinking. To Choose the Best Values 6. When children choose the material which is best adapted to express some idea, good reason- ing ability is developed. Such a lesson calls for some vivid idea to be expressed (in order to give some purpose for expression), then, a con- sideration of many possible ways in which it can be carried out; next, the selection for definite reasons of that material which is best adapted to (has greatest number of possibilties for) ex- pressing the idea; and. lastly, the sustaining of the effort until the completion of the idea. To Exercise Memory 7. Repeating a form is a play which the child likes to have with his own mental control ; he likes to test his power of recalling some act which it gave him particular pleasure to accomplish. He re-lives the joy, just as an adult does when he repeats the story of some happy experience. To Find the Best Way 8. Through the use of the material a child will discover that it is beautiful when placed in cer- tain ways, or that there are certain numbers, size, and form relations between dififerent parts. If a problem is set before him, as, for instance, to lay the longest possible sidewalk with the bricks, he will be elated over the solving of his problem. Care must be taken in the presenting of problems ; only a few should be given in which the accom- plishment of the deed is the sole end sought; this FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH BIRTHDAY 439 is not a high aim. Activity which has a purpose heyond that of its own realization is the kind which is of most benefit to mankind. To Clarify His Ideas 9. Through playing with the material a child will discover that certain possible uses of material are accompanied by certain similarities in form, as, for instance, that it is best to choose an object with a flat surface if it is desired to have a form which stands still, or that objects with long sides make higher houses than those with short sides. These characteristics linger on the borderland of knowledge unless they are given a name. It makes them more definite to provide a term which the child feels will cover the facts which he has discovered, and which will be intelligible to his associates. A technical term should be given in order to "preserve a meaning" or to make it possible to "transfer a meaning" which a child has found in his use of materials. A dictation lesson should not be one in which the teacher has done all the thinking for the child and he has merely followed directions. A dictation lesson should be a playful test of a child's grasp of the terms which show the definiteness of his discrimi- nation with regard to the material. Such a lesson should help him to make his ideas clearer. The word should always come after experience with the material. To Cooperate with Others 10. A lesson with the purpose of cooperating with others in the use of material would demand quite a degree of social control, a willingness to subordinate one's individual preference for the sake of making the group-result more complete. This could only be done with older children in the kindergarten. The results in the material, there- fore, should show a good understanding of its characteristics and of selection of the best means to get the result. Such a lesson as this would show the degree to which a child had been led to organize his ideas of the material and of him- self as an individual in the group. It would call for reasoning, perseverance, creativity, cooper- ation. Lessons of all these different types are needed in order to appeal to the whole nature of a child, yet those which organize his powers on the higher planes should be given as soon as he is ready for them. The kind of material used, the ease with which it can be controlled, and the number of times it has been used, will govern to some extent the type of lesson, although the first use of any material would probably be that suggested under i. Beauty and solitude — these are still the shepherd kings of the imagination. To go into solitary places, or among trees which await dusk and storm, or by a dark shore; to be anerve there, to listen to, inwardly to hear, to be at one with, to be as grass filled with, as a wave lifted before, the wind; this is to know what can not otherwise be known; to hear the intimate, dread voice; to listen to what long, long ago went away, and to what now is going and coming, com- ing and going, and to what august airs of sorrow and beauty prevail in that dim empire of shadow where the fallen leaf rests unfallen, where Sound, of all else forgotten and for- getting, lives in the pale hyacinth, the moon-white pansy, the cloudy amaranth that gathers dew. — Fiona Macleod. Heavy my heart is, hea\y to carry, Full of 8oft foldings, of downy enwrapnients. And the outer fold of all is love, And the next soft fold is love. And the next, finer and softer, is love again. And were they unwound before the eyes More folds and more folds and more folds would unroll Of love — always love, And, quite at the last. Deep in the nest, in the soft-packed nest. One last fold, turned back, would disclose You, little heart of my heart. Laid there, so warm, so soft, so soft. You, little heart of my heart. — E. Pilesbit. INDEX TO SUBJECTS From the Third to the Sixth Birthday Animal life, 399 Art, 198, 224. 357, 362, 365, 366 Astronomy, 394 At the schoolhouse door, 412 Attainments of fourth to sixth years, 181, 265, 368, 372 Attainments of the third year, 181 Autumn, 240 Bible, The, 336 Birds, 393, 398, 400 Books of reference, 205 Catholic religious education, 338 Chart of child development, 258 Chart of child study, 256 Child studies, 183, 231, 256, 419 Child-voice, The, 201 Chimes, 323 Church-goine:, 337 Clay, 190, 222, 363 Color, 225, 270, 300, 367 Companionship, 184, 373 Conscience, 410 Dallving. 256 Dawdling, 269 Design, 365 Destructiveness, 254 Development, Child's, 183, 231 Experiment in the kindergarten, 436 Father as nature-teacher, 406 Festivals, 243 Fifth vear. 210, 268 First grade, 409 Five-vear-old's day, A, 267 Flower life. 400 Fourth vear. 183, 285 Froebel, 426, 429 Geometrical insets, 195 Governing children, 251 Habits, 229 Holidays, 243 Home correctives for kindergarten, 417 Horace Mann kindergarten, 427 "House of Childhood," 192 Humor, 268 Imagination, 269. 408. 411 Imitation. 271, 284, 366, 418 Independence, 274 Individual stage. 182 Initiative, 186. 366 Jewish religious education, 341 Kindergarten, The. 417. 422, 425, 427, 429, 432, 437 Kindergarten years. 419 Language, 204, 370 Language-training, 188, 228 Literature for children, 203 Lying, 254, 272 Materials for play, see Playthings Mischief, 254 Montessori principles, 192, 417, 432 Motherhood. 186, 212, 228, 373, 415 Movement plav, 183, 185 Music, 305. 308 Musical instruments, 316, 319, 324 Nature material, 295, 424 Newspapers. 364 Obedience. 252 Orderliness. 229 Outdoor life, 229 Passover, 343 Personality, 268 Phonograph records, 309, 310, 313-318 Physical examinations, 273 Physical life. 183, 210 Pictures, 224 Pictures for the home, 369 Plant-life. 230, 385 Play as choice, 184 Play, Value of. 435 Plavthings. 189, 193, 211, 289, 292, 375, 423 Play-yard. 374 Poems, List of, 330 Pond life. 243 Prayer, 208, 334 Prayers for little children, 209 Program, 260 Question-answering, 206, 210 Records. Day's, 261, 267 Reference-books. 205, 265, 309-318. 428 Regularity. 229 Religion of a little child. 208 Religious nurture. 208, 332, 338, 341 Responsibility, 272 Rocks. 394 Sabbath, 343 School, 412 Self-help, 294, 351 Sense-training, 433 Sex-information, 331 Sixth year, 231, 271 Social development, 420 Spring, 242 Stars, 394 Stories. List of, 328 Sunday School. 337 Supplemental readings, 180 Tabernacles, Feast of, 346 Teachers, 412 Temper, 252 Thrift, 272 Tom and Sarah, 405 Tools, 215, 356, 359 Tree life, 241, 393, 398 What an average child may do, 260 Whining, 251 Winter, 242 INDEX TO OCCUPATIONS From the Third to the Sixth Birthday Autumn occupations, 362, 391 Ball -play, 286, 350, 378 Bead-stringing, 198, 298 Blocks, 187, 212, 290, 292, 426 Blueprints, 251 Bricks, 188 Building plays, 187, 212 Buttoning-fraraes, 192 Caves, 212 Change of plays, 184 Choosing. 184 Christmas gifts, 221, 262 Clay-modeling, 189, 222, 291, 363 Climbing, 183 Collecting, 197, 295 Coloring, 198, 292, 301, 302, 357, 363 Color-play. 200 Constructive play, 185. 231, 243, 287, 355 Cornstalk furniture. 234 Cutting pictures, 199 Dances, 281. 320. 353. 382 Doll-clothing. 239, 360 Doll-furniture, 232, 359 Dolls, 382 Dramatic play, 184, 188, 271, 286, 350. 378 Drawing, 198, 224, 291 Fairyland, Making a, 298 Finger play, 285, 310, 351, 380 Folk-dances, 280 Gardening, 229 Grocery store. Playing, 212 Group-games, 273, 282 Gymnasium, Homemade, 277, 375 Gymnastic plays, 278, 282 Hammer and nails, 215 Handwork, 272, 288, 297, 355 Hearing, 193, 403 Helping, 228, 407 Imitative plays, 284 Ladders, 183, 283 Marching, 201 Match-box plays, 217 Memorizing, 338 Modeling, 189, 222, 240, 293 Montessori activities, 283 Movement plays, 285, 349, 378 Music, 200, 270 Nature study, 240, 295, 384, 391 Painting, 291, 358, 363 Paper-cutting, 218 Paper-folding. 218 Paper-play, 216 Pets, 229, 387 Pictures, 270, 273, 340 Pictures and music, 315 Pictures and painting, 224 Plasticine, 291 Plays for fifth year, 211, 268, 349 Plays for fourth year, 184 Plays for sixth year, 243, ill Poems, 205, 273 Program, 'Round-the-year, 260 Raffia. 249 Religious activities, 208, 334 Rhythm, 200, 270, 319 Sailboats, 215 Sand-plav, 191. 223. 278 Self-directed play, 189. 192. 197. 214 Sense-plays, 193, 285, 349, Zll , 401 Sight, 194 Smell, 194, 401 Social plays, 186, 351, 380 Song-singing. 202. 306, 309, 313, 324 Spools, 216 Spring occupations. 396 Stars, Studying, 394 Stories, 203, 213. 273, 327, 330, 341 Summer occupations, 361, 399 Swings, 183, 283 Talking, 228 Touch, 193, 194 Wagons, 215. 217, 361 Walks, 197, 240 Weaving, 236 Wildflower garden, 396 Winter occupations, 361, 392 '^ O"- V. 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