Cl)e ifilepublir of €F)il?J^oot! FROEBECS OCCUPATIONS BY KTH-e DOUGLT^S WIS6IN KND NORA T^RCHIBALD SMITH ^^ Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/froebelsoccupatiOOwiggrich THE REPUBLIC OF CHILDHOOD BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN AND NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH II FROEBELS OCCUPATIONS €lf)e iScpublic of arfjilbgDoti The Kindergarten is the free republic of childhood. — Frohbkl. FROEBEL'S OCCUPATIONS BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN AND "' NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH Properly thou hast no other knowledge but what thou hast got by working. — Carlylb The entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right things, but enjoy them — not merely industrious,, but to love industry. — Ruskin BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 1900 Copyright, 1896, By KATE DOUGLAS RIG&S AND NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH. All rights reserved. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. CONTENTS PAOl The Kindekgarten Gifts and Occupations con- sidered AS A Whole 1 Perforating 24 Sewing 40 Drawing 62 Linear Drawing 69 A Handful of Similes on Dictation versus In- vention 89 Objections to Linear Drawing 91 Outline Drawing 98 Circular Drawing Ill Freehand and Nature Drawing .... 125 The Thread Game 141 Paper Interlacing 148 Slat Interlacing 156 Weaving 166 Paper Cutting 192 Paper Folding 214 Peas Work 241 Clay Modeling 253 Miscellaneous Occupations 273 Sand Work 290 General Remarks on the Occupations . . . 309 ivi535269 HildDxByijvQ ^ BnmvxQ; liMt91U09{) ? % g" "§ g s 1 1 to 1 AifdviBijivQ ^ ^ynvxa RjLZaVlOOr) 0}}9witn-tr nxoM nv^^n Synoptical Table of the Gifts akd Occupations SHOwiNa THE Connection between the Kindergarten and School, [Mme. A. de Portugall.] FROEBEL'S OCCUPATIONS THE KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCU- PATIONS CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE " These employments aimi at and produce, first of all, in man, an all-sided development and presentation of his nature ; they are, in general, the needful food for the spirit; they are the ether in which the spirit breathes and lives that it may gain power, strength, and, I might add, extent, because the spiritual qualities given by God to man, which proceed from his spirit in all directions with irresistible necessity, necessarily appear as manif oldness, and must be satisfied as such, and met in manifold directions." ^ The gifts, occupations, and recreative exercises of the kindergarten were devised by Froebel to satisfy what he terms the Kmdergar- . , , , ... ri I'll ^^ satisfy eisrht instinctive activities of the child, instincts of ^ If 1 . 1. 1 . ChUdhoocL " for play, for producing, for shaping, for knowledge, for society, and for cultivating the ground." Professor William James, with some- what differing insight, divides the instincts of children into four, which he considers funda- mental, namely, " construction, imitation, emula- ^ Froebel's Education of Man, page 269 (tr. by J. Jarvis). 2 KINBERGABTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS tion, and ownership." These also are satisfied in the kindergarten, though we endeavor to trans- late emulation into aspiration, and overweening desire for private ownership into a willingness and an ability to use all possessions for the com- mon good. It cannot but be seen that although the gifts Their Domi- and occupatious of the kindergarten pose. appeal to numberless minor needs and desires of the child, their dominant purpose is the development of creative seK-activity, and that while they serve to interpret the external world to him, they at the same time give adequate ex- pression to his internal world. It is in his con- ception of the value of creative activity, of the essential relation of impression and expression, of the beauty and spiritual meaning of true work, of production, that Froebel differentiates himself from all other educators. In that wonderful volume of his letters, which discloses on every page his lofty enthusiasm, his devotion, patience, courage, self-sacrifice, single- mindedness, — his inspiration, in fact, for such indeed it was, — are the following words in rela- tion to the instrumentalities of the kindergarten, and we give them entire as a commentary upon the man and his work : — " I mean that we shall be borne onward into the very heart of practical Christianity through these games and occupations of little children, CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 3 which we are contriving with such attention, loving care, inward watchfuhiess, and outward work. In the first place, we thus avoid all those sad consequences which arise from the neglect of children in their earliest years. For the great friend of children has said : ' Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' And how many, many chil- dren, often very tiny ones, are there not who are * offended ' in Jesus' sense of the word by the weariness which comes of doing nothing, or by being forced into unsuitable occupations ! In the second place, also, we are fulfilling one of the weightiest commands of Jesus, which he puts into the words, ' Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein.' Now the kingdom of God is the kingdom of unity, of union, of unifica- tion, of unison, of concord, of love, of peace, of law, of introspection, of perception of the inner essence which underlies outer manifestations. It is the kingdom of social union, of trustfulness, of belief, of hope ; it is that province of the ob- servation of the small which concerns it as mem- ber and part of the large, of the near as germ of the far, etc. And all this will be, by means of these games and occupations, early awakened, nourished, cared for, and developed in the child. 4 KINBEBGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS Herein lies the secret of the success which results from the operation of this system of organized occupations, a success often apparently inexpli- cable, and by many spoken of as its 'magical effect ; ' herein lies that hallowing influence which extends its attitude of belief and trust (that is, the childlike, motherly, brotherly attitude) over the whole life of the child, and which from this beginning spreads ever widening throughout the whole family. For God's will is to give help to all mankind, and that every one should attain to the knowledge of truth through the means which He has made manifest in the inner being of the universe of living creatures. These means are displayed in the phenomena of all creation, and before all else in the soul, in the mind and in the hand, as well of each man in his individual capacity, as of the vast collective unity of man- kind, held together by God." ^ The series of kindergarten gifts and occupa- Connection tious wcrc the fruit of about fifteen trast°be-^"' y^ars' study, thought, reflection, repeated ^rSc^upa- trial, and wide experience on Froebel's '^°"^' part, and they have as yet received little essential modification from the kindergartners of to-day. The two series show many points of resemblance in their purpose and in their appeal to the child, and Froebel himself did not, in writ- ^ Froebel's Letters on the Kindergarten, translated and anno- tated by Emilie Miehaelis and H. Keatley Moore, page 56. CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 5 ing at least, make any marked distinction between them. It is evident at once, however, that their chief connection lies in the fact that impression made through the gifts is converted into expres- sion in the occupations.^ The four essential points of contrast between them may be consid- ered to be the following : — a. The gifts are analytic, the occupations syn- thetic. b. In the gifts there is investigation, combina- tion, rearrangement of certain definite material, but no change in its form ; in the occupations the material is modified, reshaped, and transformed. c. The results obtained in gift work are transi- tory, in the occupations permanent. d. The gifts ascend from solid through divided solid, plane, divided plane, and line, to the point ; the occupations begin at the point and travel the same road in an opposite direction, until they reach the solid. It should be noted, however, that commonly only the first six gifts are introduced in regular succession, and that the last four (tablets, sticks, rings, and seeds) are made supplementary to the 1 The kindergarten wisely selects a series of objects that lead to the useful possession of certain geometric and numerical concepts that assist in grasping all things in their inorganic aspects. ... In the occupations the child finds relations to the fundamental geometric shapes that he has learned to know, and he sees with clearness and precision how to realize ideas." (W. T. Harris.) 6 KINBEBGAETEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS first six, and used interchangeably witli the occupations, while regular occupation material is provided to embody the results produced by them in permanent form. So far as our experi- ence goes also, the occupations are seldom intro- duced in regular order of development (from point to solid) but are almost invariably used as companions and helpmates of the gifts. Dr. W. N. Hailmann gives the distinction between the two series as follows : — " A gift gives the child a new cosmos, and the occupation fixes the impressions made by the gift. " The gift invites only arranging activities, the occupation invites also controlling, modifying, transforming activities. " The gift leads to discovery ; the occupation to invention. The gift gives insight; the occupa- tion, power." Another slight distinction between them, de- pendent upon the second point of contrast, is that "alteration and transformation of the occupa- tion material can only be contrived by the help of simple tools : " ^ the steel weaving needle, the wooden modeling knife, the " creaser " for paper interlacing, the wooden pointer for the thread game, the steel pricking and sewing nee- dles and scissors, the pencils, the paint, and mu- cilage brushes. None of these are necessary in 1 Hermann Poesche. CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 7 the gifts, of course, as no alteration of the material is either possible or desirable. The ideal gifts, according to Dr. Hailmann, should satisfy the following conditions : The ideal " 1. They should, each in its time, occupation. fully represent the child's outer world (macro- cosm). " 2. They should, each in its time, enable the child to give satisfactory expression in play to its inner world (microcosm). " 3. Each gift should, therefore, in itself rep- resent a complete, orderly whole or unit. " 4. Each gift should contain all the preceding, and foreshadow all the succeeding gifts. " In short, each gift should, in its time, aid the child ' to make the external internal and the in- ternal external ' in the widest sense." It has been claimed that any occupation which might be devised would be Froebelian, if we adhered closely to three points : simplicity, con- tinuity, and unity. This statement, however, although true in one sense, is contradicted by the fact that the occupations developed by Froebel correspond not only to those which have always been in use among mothers and children, but also (in essentials) to the primeval arts. They may be, as they already have been, changed, modified, and supplemented, but they cannot be altogether superseded, for they are based on the universal instincts of childhood. 8 KINDEBGABTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS Mr. H. Courthope Bowen says in this regard : " It must not, however, be supposed that any manual work will do as an occupation. All hon- est work, certainly, produces a good effect ; and domestic service — which is a child's public ser- vice — most certainly ennobles a child, and, in- deed, all of us. But just as in the songs and games, so here — a choice has to be made ; and what is chosen has to be adapted to the kinder- garten purpose, — the purpose of mental, physical, and moral development. Not only has the mate- rial of an occupation to be easy for a child to manipulate, and well fitted for the work required of it ; but the occupation in itself must be varied and many-sided in its educative power ; must not be simply imitative ; must draw into itself what has gone before and reach out to what is to follow ; and must distinctly form a part of the organic unity of the whole kindergarten pro- cess." ^ The aim of the kindergarten, as has been re- peatedly said, is to strengthen and develop pro- ductive activity, " but we must be conscious of ideas before we can express them, and we must gain the mastery of material before we can use it as a means of expression. Hence the first use of the gifts is to waken by their suggestiveness the mind's sleeping thoughts, and the first use of ^ H. Courthope Bowen, Froebel and Education by Self Activ- ity, page 149. CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 9 the occupations to train the eye and the mind to be the ready servants of the will." While the occupations as a whole apply the principles suggested by the gifts, particular occu- pations connect with particular gifts. Let us review briefly the latter series before beginning in detail upon the former, that we may see more clearly the distinctive value of each and the way in which the one complements the other.^ The list of Froebel's gifts begins with the ball, an object comprising in itseK, in the The Gifts simplest manner, the general qualities First Gift.* of aU things. As the starting-point of form, — the spherical, — it gives the first impression of knowledge in this direction, and being the most easily moved of aU objects is symbolical of life. It is as easily grasped by the hand as by the mind, and becomes the first known object with which aU other objects for the child's after play and instruction are brought into relation. Besides teaching form, the balls are also intended to teach color, hence their number of six, representing the six standard colors derived from the spectrum. For the purpose of acquiring clear, distinct, and correct ideas of things around us, it is indis- pensably necessary to become acquainted with them in aU respects and relations. The ball is therefore made the object of a great variety of plays and exercises in order that the child may ^ The gifts are treated in detail in a previous volume. 10 EINBERGABTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS know through actual experience all its qualities and uses. FroebeFs second gift, which consists of a Second wooden sphere, cube, and cylinder, is ^"*' connected with the former gift, and foreshadows that which is to come. It empha- sizes contrasts, suggests variety, and is most valu- able in form teaching, since we never so well understand the qualities of any object as when we see it confronted with its opposite. The new material of the gift and hence its greater weight and density and greater capability of sound are so many added charms to the child, while he par- ticularly delights in the revolution of the three solids and the different geometrical forms which are thus produced. These three whole bodies, introduced as funda- mental or normal forms in which all qualities of whole bodies in general are demonstrated and which serve to convey the idea of wholeness, are followed by the introduction of variously divided solid bodies, viz. : the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth gifts, or the building gifts. Of the normal forms with which Froebel be- The Build- S^^^f ^® leavcs the sphere and cylinder mg Gifts. ^^^ chooses the one greatest in possi- bilities, the cube, for a source whence, by strictly systematized analysis, the rest may be obtained. Without a division of the whole, observation and recognition are next to impossible. The rational CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 11 investigation, the dissecting and dividing by tlie mind, — in short, analysis, — should be preceded by a like process in real objects if the mind is to be fitted to reflect intelligently upon Nature. Division performed at random, however, can never give a clear idea of the whole or its parts ; but a regular division in accordance with certain philosophical laws is absolutely essential. The orders in the vegetable kingdom are dis- tinguished according to form and number of parts, and Froebel here borrowed from Nature a guide which led him in systematizing the means of developing the young mind. The first of the building gifts is a two-inch block, the same size as the second gift ^he Third cube, divided once in each dimension ^'**^" producing eight smaller cubes. Now the child becomes a maker and a builder, new revelations of his power come to him at every turn ; he has found an object which he can use to express the ideas that are stirring within him. " Every effort on the part of the child here, as in the building gifts, to create something of definite form or of definite purpose is a training of both the powers of thought and volition as well as a gratification of worthy desires." ^ Here, too, we see the beginning of arithmetical processes, only faintly suggested in the second gift, while geometry is carried on still more fully. 1 Dr. C. C. Van Liew. 12 KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS The fourth gift, another cube, is so divided as The Fourth *^ form eight parallelepipeds or bricks ®"*' two inches long, one inch wide, and one half inch thick. We gain little new mathemati- cal knowledge here, only fresh ways of presenting the old truths, but find greatly increased facilities for teaching dimension, and certain problems of equilibrium presented in most attractive guise. Next comes the fifth gift, a larger block cut The Fifth twice in each dimension, producing ^^"' twenty-seven cubes, three of which are cut in halves and three in quarters. The trian- gular prisms of two sizes which now appear, as well as the greatly increased amount of material, open a wide field in building, while knowledge in geometry, arithmetic, and philosophy grows constantly wider and more accurate. The sixth gift, a cube the same size as the The Sixth ^ith, is divided into eighteen bricks, six ^"** columns (or bricks cut lengthwise), and twelve square faced blocks (or bricks cut breadth- wise). It far surpasses all the others in the beauty of the forms it produces, and thus fitly closes the series of the building gifts. The logical combination of parts to a whole From things which is required in using these blocks to thought, renders them a preparatory occupation for succeeding combinations of thought, for the right construction of parts into a whole always follows certain laws, thereby forming a serial con- I CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 13 nection which in Nature is represented by the linking of all organisms. As Nature in the or- ganic world begins to form by agglomeration, so the child in his first occupations commences with mere accumulation of parts. Order, however, is requisite to lead to the beautiful in the visible world, as logic is indispensable for the formation of clear ideas in the world of thought, and Froe- bel's law of linking opposites affords the most reli- able and simplest guide to this end. Thus below and above are opposites in relation to which the right and left side of the form or figure built serve as mediative parts. Carrying out this prin- ciple, we have established an admirable order by which even the youngest child often produces, though unknowingly, charming and symmetrical results. In the seventh gift we pass from solid to plane, a step which was hinted at in the bricks ^he seventh of the fourth gift, and more definitely ^^'" suggested in the sixth. The tablets are made of thin wood or pasteboard, introduce color for the first time since the first gift, and show the one- inch square, the right isosceles, equilateral, right scalene, and obtuse isosceles triangles. Very beau- . tiful designs can be made with the tablets, and they offer such facilities for instruction in plane geometry as to warrant their systematic use in the school. The slats of the eighth gift given for the play 14 EINDEBGAETEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS of interlacing, form the transition from the plane The Eighth *^ ^^^ -^i^®? resembling the latter, al- ^^^' though, owing to their width, still occu- pying space as a plane. The staffs or sticks (also eighth gift), representing the embodied line it- self, facilitate the elements of drawing, serving as movable outlines of planes. The slats and sticks are to be looked upon as the divided plane in order to adhere to their connection and relation with the form from which we started. The stick or straight line is then followed by The Ninth *'^® ninth gift or curved line shown in CHft. whole, haK, and quarter circles, or wire rings of three different sizes. The stick and ring might perhaps be con- sidered as one gift, illustrating the straight and curved lines. The former is especially well cal- culated for number work, and both gifts offer abundant materials for invention, while the intro- duction of the curve is of great advantage as offering relief to the rectilinear character of pre- vious designs. The last link in the chain of gifts is the tenth, The Tenth which by mcans of seeds, shells, pebbles, ^^*' etc., illustrates the point. These are used as a direct preparation for the occupation of perforating, and serve for outlining various objects on the tables, for making lines, angles, and geo- metrical figures, and for general designing. Thus the child has been guided in a logical CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 15 manner from the solid body through its divisions, and through the embodied plane, line, and point, in matter and by matter to the borders of the abstract, and if the work in the occupations has been properly done and if the other instrumentali- ties of the kindergarten have been wisely man- aged, the child is ready to build the conventional studies of the school upon the foundation of his objective knowledge. The occupations begin with the point which closed the series of gifts, and progress j^^^ occupa- toward the solid, thus tracing the other ^^°^' half of the circle of kindergarten instrumentali- ties. As they will be discussed in full in later chapters, they will receive only brief description here. First in logical order comes the occupation of perforating, the materials for which are a stout needle set in a handle, and ^ °^ ^' suitable sizes of cardboard. The work produced is very pretty and delicate, and with the addition of squared paper folded over the card, any lines, angles, or geometrical figures may be made, as well as objects connected with the child's life and pleasing to his fancy. The kindergarten sewing is closely connected with pricking, as all lines, forms, and designs which the child sews must first ^"^^' be perforated. With a large worsted needle and zephyr of bright hues he follows the perforated design upon the cardboard ; or, the whole surface 16 KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS being pricked with holes an equal distance apart, he sews out some invention of his own. We have several kinds of drawing among our occupations, some or all of which are used in the various kindergartens. There is, first, the linear drawing, complete plans for which were left us by Froebel, and which is ex- ecuted upon checkered or dotted paper, the size of the squares being now ordinarily about one quarter inch. This, with its various lengths of lines, angles, etc., leads directly to designing, and thus to the practical application of the law of mediation of contrasts. The outline drawing, performed by means of pasteboard patterns, satis- fies a common instinct of children, that of tracing outlines, and prepares for later free-hand work. This is also begun in many kindergartens, some teachers using it to the exclusion of the other three varieties, and gaining most creditable re- sults. We have also the circular drawing sug- gested by Froebel and worked out very completely by Miss Emma Marwedel. The preliminary work in this system is performed by means of wooden circles of three sizes (two inches, one and one half inches, one inch, in diameter), and develops into the drawing with colored pencils, of various leaves, flowers, roots, vegetables, and fruits. It is closely connected in its later stages with free-hand work, and is intended to give the child permanent im- pressions of the universality of the spherical form. CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 17 The materials for the Thread game, which must next be considered, are a thread ^^^^^ of colored darning cotton whose ends ^*°'®* are joined, and which must be moistened before using, and a wooden pointer which serves to push the wet thread, as it lies upon the squared slate, into various forms and figures. In Paper twisting we give the child a long strip of bright-colored paper, from an p^p^^ inch to one third of an inch in width, t^'^"»«- which he folds twice or three times its entire length, and then bends into geometrical figures, which he interlaces, the one in the other. Slat interlacing somewhat resembles paper twisting, though it is much less diffi- siatinter- cult, and its materials are thin, flexible ^"*- wooden slats one half inch wide, which need no previous preparation. The child delights to play by himself with the slats, and soon learns to make a variety of figures with them, which hold together when carefully treated. The material of the Weaving is colored paper mats cut in strips of various widths, a margin being left on the four sides, and strips of another shade, tint, or harmonizing color woven in with a specially devised needle to form the pattern. Color is introduced effectively here, and designing admirably provided for. We begin by weaving simple numbers, then introduce com- binations of numbers, then numbers woven in a 18 EINDEBGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS diagonal direction, and by this means lead finally to invention. The name Paper-cutting sufficiently explains Paper ^^^^ occupatiou, whosc materials are scis- Cuttrng. sors, and squares, triangles, and circles of white or colored paper. The papers are first folded and then cut according to fancy, or in agreement with a certain geometrical progression, and the pieces are subsequently arranged in a design by the child. He also cuts flowers, fruits, or any complete form, from the paper without folding, and mounts the work upon cardboard. Paper folding is performed by means of Paper squarcs, oblongs, triangles, and circles Folding. q£ white or colored paper, which are made into a great variety of figures, dependent upon slight changes in a few definite funda- mental foldings. This occupation, as Edward Wiebe says, forms " a complete compendium of elementary mathematics," while it emphasizes ideas of sequence, and teaches accuracy and deft- ness of handling. In Peas work, slender sticks or wires are united by points represented by peas or tiny corks, demonstrating that it is union which produces lasting formation of matter. Modeling in clay is the last of the occupations, Clay according to the order in which we are Modeling. ^^^ Considering them, and is a delight- fully simple and valuable employment, as charm- CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 19 ing to children as veritable mud-pie making. It is in nowise intended to be a preparation for sculpture, but is another of the varied means which Froebel provided for the development of expression. It provides a universal language which all may understand, while it teaches the child skiU in controlling both hands, quickened observation, and a knowledge of many properties of matter. Here, then, we see the series of gifts and the series of occupations plainly laid out , ,. .Ti •! Correapond- beiore us, and as they lie side by side ence . -^ . "^ . between we can readdy observe their connection Gifts and •^ ^ ^ Occupations. with each other. This, in so far as geometrical progression is concerned, is as follows : [^ Tenth gift. (Pebbles, seeds, Point. < shells.) (^ Perforating. r Eighth gift. (Sticks.) Ninth gift. (Rings.) Line. \ Sewing. Drawing. ^ Thread game. Mediation f-. .... , , T . J Paper twisting, between Line < o, , . , i . , p, j blat interlacing. Kanelnl* fSe-nthgift. (Tablets.) Divided J Weaving. Plane 1 Cutting. ^^^°^- t Folding. 20 KINBERGABTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS Skeleton of f ^^^^ work. (An occupation, and Solid. I ^^* ^ union of two gifts, stick (^ and seed, or line and point.) ^ Sixth gift. "^ Fifth gift. I Variously divided Solid Fourth gift. | wooden cubes, and J Third gift. J Divided | Second gift. (Sphere, cube, Solid. and cylinder.) First gift. (Worsted ball.) Modeling. We find in both series the same logical chain of perception and subsequent representation, and the experimental knowledge resulting from both ; and thus all parts and sections of this wonder- ful system of plays and occupations are logically united with one another, serving the child's mind as a faithful reflector of its own internal develop- ment at every step. The admirable way in which industrial training is begun in the kindergarten, by means Training of the gifts and occupations, is now he- iT^the . . . TIT Kindergar- ginning to rcccivc much public attention. It is, with us, the training of both hands in exactness, deftness, and neatness, educating them to do the will of the brain which stands be- hind them ; it is training the eye to judge correctly of lines and angles, of proportion and symmetry. Undoubtedly, if industrial education is to be car- ried on successfully, it must be begun early. CONSIDERED AS A WHOLE 21 As Dr. Seguin says : " The working capacities to be trained from infancy, and more technically at school are : 1, the senses to perceive ; 2, the mind to receive, store, and evoke ideals ; 3, the hand to execute a concept ; 4, the handling and manoeuvring of the instruments which extend and enlarge the operations of the hand and of the senses ; 5, the coordination, and alternate subordination of the senses in the acts of percep- tion and execution." All these capacities we begin to train in the kindergarten, for the working capacity is "the foundation of the independence of men, of the security, moral education, and thrift of society." Our beginning of industrial training, however, is not confined to training the hand and eye alone. From the first, we lead the child to recon- struct, to recombine, with the materials furnished him. After he has followed a dictation from the kindergartner, in which blocks, gayly col- ored sticks, or bright squares of pasteboard, are arranged in a symmetrical design, he is required either to add to the figure according to his own fancy, to take it carefully apart and construct it again, or to construct an entirely new figure from the same materials. After he has been in the kindergarten a sufficiently long time, his greatest delight is to " invent," to make new combinations and designs. Practical men, who have looked carefully at 22 KINDERGARTEN GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS these inventions, have often said that many of them would serve admirably for designs in wall- paper, tiled floors, oil-cloths, carpets, etc., — de- signs — all these — coming from the child's own brain, and worked out by his own fingers, without assistance or suggestion from the kindergartner. Does not this promise well for the artistic work- man of the future, when the child of ^\e to six years is able to accomplish such results through industrial training ? Thus we see that in the kindergarten not only do hand and eye begin to receive their education, but new ideas, new industrial types, begin to form in the mind. From infancy the hand is trained to execute the ideas of the mind. Without ideas, what avails a skilled hand, save to give form to the ideas of others ? Without a skilled hand, of how little use ideas, when so few can be found to execute them properly? So let us train hand and eye and mind together — hand and eye, will- ing and deft servants to the mind, which must ever be master. But valuable as the training of eye and hand True may be which is given in the kindergar- SfS^and *^^j valuable as promises for the future Occupations. ^^^ dcsigus and productions of the chil- dren, yet it must be remembered that the true worth of the gifts and occupations lies neither in the opportunities they offer for industrial training, nor for artistic development. CONSIDEBED AS A WHOLE 23 Their prime value lies in the fact that they afford full and free development for creative self- activity, for the expression of the inner life of the child, and that, in accomplishing this end, they utilize the activities and interests which are natural to childhood. PERFORATING Materials : A stout darning'-needle set in a wooden handle ; cardboard of any desired shape or size, either checkered, dotted, or plain ; a cushion of felt, carpet, or blotting-paper. Perforating is defined by Froebel in his "Complete Statement of the Means of Occupa- Perforating ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ *^® Kindergarten," as the defined. combining of points into lines and thence into figures ; or the outlining of patterns, by making rows of pin-holes on a penetrable surface. It corresponds with the primeval art of punc- turing (especially tattooing) of the ear- arfaSrr licst savages,^ and has always been in universal . , o t^ it occupation usc lu the uurscry/ Ji(Very one who has of children. i c i -i i i t seen much or children must have noted that they seem to feel a certain fascination in thrusting pins through paper, either following the 1 Hermann Poesche. 2 " Could Time, his flight reversed, restore the hours, When, playing with thy vesture's tissued flowers, The violet, the pink, and jessamine, I pricked them into paper with a pin. And thou wast happier than myself the while, Would'st softly speak, and stroke my head, and smile." William Cowper, On the Receipt of my Mother'' s Picture. PEBFORATING 25 outlines of a picture, or working out their own ideas. This is caused no doubt by the delight of overcoming the slight resistance of the material, of hearing its pleasant " crunch " as the imple- ment goes through, and of expressing their self- activity in so simple a manner. Froebel notes in some of his writings that after the hole is made they delight to hold it up toward the window and let the light shine through, making " little stars," as they call them, and all kinder- gartners will corroborate the observation. This pleasure is perhaps akin to that they feel in looking at the light through the lattice of their fingers, and to that imiversal delight, of Ameri- can children at least, in the "Pin -a- Penny Poppy-Show," which, as one looks back to early childhood, was as alluring and as well worth the price of admission as any grand spectacular per- formance has proved in later years. As Perforating has, more than any other occu- pation, been made the subject of general perforating criticism, on account of its supposed tax Ih'an'^r- upon the eye, it has gradually been with- ™®'^^^' drawn from kindergarten after kindergarten, until now it is never seen among the babies, and sel- dom with the older children in any free or public institution, and in many localities has not been used at all for years. It is still carried on in some private kindergartens, however, where the smaller number of children admits of more thor- 26 PERFORATING ougli supervision ; but even there is not a regu- lar occupation, being used chiefly for Christmas work, or the occasional decoration of some object which is designed for a present. As it is unques- tionably delightful to children and has certain points of value which are shared by no other occupation, it merits, if this be possible, such modifications of its present form as seem desir- able and necessary, and speedy return to its place among the kindergarten materials. As it is the first in the series of occupations When and which Froebcl devised, being the oppo- cuJatkTn^s''" site equal of the concrete point in the to be given. gj£^ scrics, it shall be considered here in detail, the various objections against its use being reserved to the latter part of the chapter. If given at all, it should not be more than once a week and to the older children only, certainly not at any time to those under five years. The class should be seated so that the light may fall from the left and back upon the paper (though this direction of course refers to all work in school and kindergarten, and not to pricking only), and it should never be carried on for more than ten minutes, and not at all on dark days. The nee- dles should be strong and coarse, and the checker- ing of the paper or cardboard should never be less than a quarter inch. We must remember that the occupation is a constant practice in tak- ing aim, and that this must be both wearisome PERFORATING 27 and dangerous, if too long continued, or given under any but the best conditions. We should often discuss the materials which the children are using, — the steel and wood of the needle, the fabric of the cushion ; and in this, as in all work with paper or cardboard, trace the various pro- cesses in its manufacture, and note the different materials of which it is composed. This will best be done by means of a story, for the children care little for bits of encyclopaedic lore admin- istered in the form of pellets. Hans Christian Andersen's " Story of the Flax " is appropriate for this purpose, with a little adaptation, and it is better to use such a classic in child literature than to attempt to frame a new tale on the same lines. The card for perforating is generally cov- ered with paper on which the pattern practical is traced, that is, if a life-form of any di'^«««'^ kind is to be made. Such patterns can be mani- folded by means of the hektograph or mimeo- graph, and thus much labor saved to the kinder- gartner. If lines, angles, geometrical forms, or symmetrical figures of any kind are to be per- forated, squared paper is used to cover the card, which is removed when the design is finished. Checkered cardboard may be substituted if pre- ferred, and the paper cover dispensed with, though the effect in this case is not as pleasing. The child must be taught to hold the pricking- 28 PERFORATING needle properly, and to drive it vertically through the card. If it is driven obliquely, the edge on the under side of the cardboard will be irregular, and the hole itself be out of line and wrongly shaped instead of perfectly round. If the cushion on which the child pricks is too thick and soft, the needle is driven deep into the card and the holes made appear rather large and coarse. For this reason, blotting paper makes a useful cushion for the older children, and grown persons who wish to do the fine work which is so beautiful may perforate upon a folded towel, or a board of some soft wood. If it is desirable to manifold the design for the use of several chil- dren in sewing, three cards may be perforated at the same time. It is not best, however, to prick more than this number at once, as the holes in the lower cards are thus made too deep and the paper forced out too far around them. It will be seen at once, that the work will vary very much according as a coarse or fine needle is used, and when both are employed on the same pattern, very pretty effects, simulating light and shade, may be produced. Such work, however, is emphatically not for children, and is only of value in decoration, and as showing the possibilities of Froebel's materials when developed to their full extent. As perforating was formerly used, the earliest exercises, for which full preparation had been PERFORATING 29 made by point-laying, consisted in making holes at the intersecting point of all the vertical subjects for and horizontal lines upon the squared ^^'^oratmg. paper or cardboard. This would appear to be a very simple process at first glance, but it is only necessary to try it once with a class of small chil- dren to be thoroughly convinced of the bliss of ignorance in this regard. This perforating was first done up and down the cardboard, following the direction of the vertical line (the first one introduced), and then horizontally across the card. Next, points were combined into vertical and horizontal lines, one space or quarter-inch long, three holes in a line ; and here entered apparently insurmountable difficulties in regard to leaving the proper interval between these lines, — difficulties which were seldom overcome in less than three or four exercises. Then angles, borders, squares, two-space vertical and horizon- tal lines and their combinations, were introduced, and finally the whole school of linear drawing carried out, the exercises being interspersed with the occasional perforating of object-forms. Now, however, whenever in our knowledge the occu- pation is used at all, life-forms are first intro- duced, as appealing most directly to the child's interest and sympathies, and these are closely connected with the gift-work, — during the study of the ball, for instance, circles, leaves, fruits, and vegetables being perforated. These are all 30 PEBFOBATING drawn on a large scale, and the holes made some distance apart, reducing the possible injury to the eye, at least, almost to a minimum. Lines, angles, and geometrical forms, which must de- pend for their proper execution upon the check- ered paper, are almost entirely done away with; as such work is much finer, requires greater ac- curacy of aim, and proves a greater strain on the eye and on the finer muscles of the hand and fingers. Children are now seldom allowed to perforate their own sewing cards, unless the old- est class, for instance, volunteer to prick circular sewing for the smaller children, or some sym- metrical design of their own invention which they propose to use as a present. The various forms produced by pricking, if the work is well done, are really exquisitely delicate and pretty ; the reverse side, on which the broken cardboard is lifted above the perforation, being considered the right side, and so mounted when finished. All sorts of life -forms can be made with this occupation, ranging from fruits, leaves, flowers, and vegetables, to coral, sea-weed, and snow-crystals ; to birds, chickens, lambs, or any other animal ; to houses and household furniture, faces and figures, and even to complete pictures, whose outlines are clear and simple, and without too much detail. The wide range thus given allows us to connect the perforating with any subject which may be engaging the children's PERFORATING 31 attention, and thus to follow the invariable rule which applies to all kindergarten occupations, namely, that the objects which the child pricks, or sews, or moulds, or cuts, should be in line with his dominant interests, and never arbitrarily selected and presented by the hinder gartner. There is a certain variety of this occupation known as raised, or embossed pricking:, Raised or . . . . Embossed or pricking in relief, which is partic- Pricking. ularly exquisite. Suppose, for instance, that a swan is to be made in relief. The paper is folded over the card and a clear outline of the bird drawn upon it, his wing and tail-feathers, his proudly arched neck, his eye and beak and swell- ing breast all simply represented, and all con- fusion of details omitted. This outline is then perforated with a fine needle, the holes being made quite close together, the paper is taken off, and the swan appears upon the card. This is now reversed, and with a very fine needle (No. 10 or 12) we perforate, with holes set close together, the entire form. This of course depresses, or makes hollow, the one surface and elevates the other, so far as to make the figure stand out in relief above the plain cardboard. Instead of one needle set in a wooden or bamboo handle, we may use a large cork and set a number of needles in one end of it, which enables us to " raise " the pattern very quickly, if it is a large and simple one. The work produced by this embossing is 32 PERFORATING decidedly more beautiful than that of any other occupation, but it is just as decidedly only safely to be done by grown persons. If a fruit, or flower, or autumn leaf is to be embossed, it may be colored with crayons, or painted in water- colors before raising, and this effect is really so exquisite that it should be seen to be appreciated. The slight breaking of the painted surface seems to soften the color, and almost to add the bloom of nature to the soft cheek of the peach. If a picture of a farm and out-buildings, with snow- covered roofs, fences, and surrounding trees, be painted, the portions on which the snow lies may all be raised, the remaining parts of the picture being outlined only, and thus a charmingly real- istic effect be produced. A large head of the hero of the "Story of Patsy," was once beautifully painted in water- colors by one of the students in our Training School, was surrounded by a circular band painted in dead-gold, and then the whole picture raised, the effect when completed being most unusual and beautiful. Calendar and picture frames may be charmingly ornamented with pricking in relief, as well as other articles, such as lamp shades and glove-boxes. If letters or figures are placed upon these decorations, it must be remembered that they, as well as their positions, must be reversed before perforating, as, when completed, the lower side is the right side. PERFORATING v.^ 33 Perforating has certain values, which it shares with all the other occupations, and vaiueof which are, in brief, that it satisfies the ^^^'^^^e- creative and expressive needs of little children, which, Froebel says, are their most essential needs, that it gives manual dexterity, deepens mathematical perceptions, and cultivates a love for the beautiful. Its especial and peculiar values are, that it leads the child to see with exactness, trains him in eye-measure, thus enabling him to judge correctly of distances and directions, and thoroughly impresses forms upon his mind. Be- fore the child can draw a leaf, he can prick the holes at proper distances in the pattern prepared for him, and in seeing the outline grow under his fingers, he gains a distinct idea of it, and one which will be indelibly impressed on his memory. The process is slower and more laborious than drawing, and therefore, perhaps, better remem- bered. The occupation points, too, with relent- less finger, to the absolute relation of cause and effect. A wrong line in drawing may be erased, a wrong stitch in sewing cut out, a wrong strip in weaving removed, a wrong touch in modeling smoothed over, but there is no erasure, cutting, removing, or smoothing with incorrect pricking. The hole may be partially covered by scratching the cardboard over it, but the mark may not be removed entirely, and is thus an invaluable object- lesson to a careless child. 34 PERFOBATING The objections to perforating we shall give in Objections full detail, since, though they apply espe- Occupation. cially here, they are of certain weight as regards various others of the Froebel occupa- tions. The whole question hinges upon the funda- mental versus the accessory muscles, — how far the latter are used in the kindergarten, and whether their too precocious use will not result in deterioration and disease. The first devel- oped organs of the child are called fundamental ; those developed later are called accessory. The shoulder muscles are called fundamental; the finger muscles accessory. At birth nerve-centres are already developed that cause the shoulder muscles to move. The finger muscles do not act till later, which seems to indicate that the latter should not be exercised until there is a suitable basis in the former. Viewed in this light, it is evident that much work, both in school and kin- dergarten, is unsuited to the early motor ability of children. Dr. C. C. Van Liew says, in an article on the " Relation of the Kindergarten to the Primary School : " ^ "I wish to call attention to one line of work, which kindergarten and primary school in recent years have pursued in common. I refer to those exercises requiring minute motor activ- ity, such as plaiting, sewing, drawing to patterns, etc., which have constituted prominent occupations 1 Educational Beview, February, 1895. PEBFOBATING 35 for the child. In the light of certain data which child-study has revealed, concerning the physical growth and motor powers of the child between the ages of three and eight, these occupations are undoubtedly unsafe. During these years the child's physical activity, and his power of motor control, involve chiefly the body as a whole and the movements of the larger members. The whole arm is controlled more accurately and easily, and hence with much less expenditure of nervous force in proportion, for instance, than merely the fore- arm, hand, or fingers. The fingers, especially, require a delicacy of control, and a minuteness of movement, either in writing or in the occupations just mentioned, that are far beyond the natural power of the child at this age; hence the attempt to perform these activities is apt to result in an exhausting and injurious expenditure of nervous force. The slow diffusion of nerve energy and con- trol, during the kindergarten and primary grade ages, also demands that there be a gradual, rather than an abrupt, approach to the exercise of such occupations." To this we may add Preyer's remark, in the " Mind of the Child." " One thing only," he says, " I would lay down as settled, viz., that the pro- tracted occupation of little children with fine work, such as the pricking of paper, the placing and drawing through of threads, etc., must be injurious to the eye. The prolonged strain of 36 PEBFORATING looking at near objects is for children from three to six years old, even in the best light, unquali- fiedly harmful. All strain of attention to near objects in the evening, when lamplight must be used, should especially be forbidden, otherwise the apparatus of accommodation will get a one- sided use too early, and near-sightedness will be invited." ^ The motor ability of children at different ages has only lately become the subject of serious study, and it must be continued much more fully before we can judge absolutely what occupations are best suited to the kindergarten and school years. Mr. J. A. Hancock, late of Clark Univer- sity (Worcester, Mass.), has conducted various investigations as to the motor ability of children on entering school, and from his data we may make some inferences as to our work in the kin- dergarten. A number of tests were made, among which were certain which attempted to determine the ability of the child to control the muscles of the arm and forefinger. " The ratio of control of man and child was 1 to 4.5 for the shoulder and 1 to 5.8 for the finger. While these results may not stand with further research, it is safe to infer that motor control in the adult, so far as the muscles are concerned, is from three to six times greater than that of the child in the first year of 1 W. Preyer, The Mind of the Child, Part L, " The Senses and the Wm," page 60. PERFORATING 37 school life. Data obtained from the general tests mentioned seem to justify the inferences that children have far less control of their muscles than adults ; that generally the girl at the same age is steadier than the boy ; that children early learn to make movements involving large muscles ; that they succeed easily in large movements of some degree of complexity ; and that the order of development of control is from the centre toward the periphery, — body, shoulder, arm, forearm, and hand. In the hand control, the index finger takes precedence of the others, while fine and compli- cated movements are made with difficulty." ^ Professor H. H. Donaldson of the University of Chicago, in a recent article on " The Growth of the Brain in Eolation to Training," ^ makes the following remarks, which serve to add weight to the previous arguments : " The direct bearing of these relations on training may be briefly in- dicated by reviewing the control which we pos- sess over the movements of the arm. In infancy the control of the arm is very imperfect, and it is moved as a whole, the principal motions taking place at the shoulder joint. " We should infer from this that the cells which control these muscles are earliest developed, and such is apparently the case. Now in a very gen- ^ Dr. Win. H. Bumham, of Clark University. 2 Transactions of the Illinois Society for Child-Study, Vol. I., No. 1. 38 PEBFOEATING eral way, the processes of development and organ- ization in the cells which control the movements of the other joints of the arm even to the joints of the fingers, follow in regular order down the limb, and the cell-groups in the brain stand at regularly increasing distances. We should expect therefore what we find, that the power of control gradually passes down the limb, so that complete control of the fingers is the last to be naturally attained." Now, if all these observations upon the develop- ment of motor ability are correct, or if they are correct in the main, then it is clearly wrong to give either in kindergarten or primary school any work which involves a complex coordination of the finer and more delicate muscles, for "any form of early specialization which leaves unex- ercised and untested considerable portions of the central system accomplishes the end it gains at the risk of overlooking the best capacities of the individual and of disturbing the nutrition of the nervous system as a whole, by an immoderate exercise of limited portions." It befits us to consider, when we study the pos- sible disastrous effects of a too precocious use of the finer muscles, not only the healthy, normal child, but the one who is abnormal, or nervous, or just recovering from illness. Overstrain of any kind here is doubly dangerous, as it may so easily lead to chronic disease and loss of power. In Edmund Lear's famous " Nonsense Book " PERFOBATING 39 there is a certain recipe for making an "Am- blongus Pie," in which, after long and careful preparation of the ingredients, elaborate compounding and scientific baking, the changes 11 • 1 •! Ill*'"® desira- whole mixture, when it has reached the we in the , , . . , Occupation. point of exquisite completion, is to be " thrown out of window as fast as possible." One is forcibly reminded of the recipe in reading this chapter on Perforating, for after dwelling at some length upon its beauty and value, argument after argument, piled one upon the other, has been brought forward against its use. We do not in reality feel, however, that the occupation need be altogether abolished, for it seems to us that cer- tain modifications might be made in regard to the size of the needles used, the squaring of the card- board, etc., which might render it perfectly harm- less while retaining all its valuable and pleasing features. To do all the work on a larger scale, so that the fundamental muscles and centres may be called into play, instead of the accessory, would violate no principle of the kindergarten, but would only be such a modification of the occupation as seems required by our growing knowledge of the psycho-physical nature of the child. SEWING Materials: A large worsted-needle with blunt point; split, single, and double zephyr of the six colors, their tints and shades ; card, Bristol, or pasteboard of any size and color, with the desired pattern perforated upon it. The employment of some sharp-pointed instru- „ . ment attached to a thread of various Sewing one of the substances, for useful and decorative earliest of ' tavoi^t^ * sewing, is one of the most ancient and Em^Jy- universal employments. The tool may ment. ^^ ^ thom, or a needle fashioned from wood, bone, or steel ; the thread, a tough grass, the fibre of a leaf or tree, the sinews of an animal or strips of its hide ; or it may be the product of the silkworm, the flax, or the sheep, — yet all have been used in much the same way and for the same purposes since our primeval ancestors first made holes in the skins they wore and drew them together for a more complete covering. And as it is now, so has it ever been in regard to the two varieties of sewing, — for use and for ornament. Even among uncivilized tribes and semi-barbarians, we find their scanty clothing em- broidered with bright colors, and we know the art to have been one of the earliest employed by the Eastern nations. SEWING 41 Children, too, readily take it up in the nursery, partly by inherited instinct, perhaps, and partly by imitation ; and a needle, a stout thread, and a piece of cloth, which is straightway drawn up into surprising shapes and strange bunches, will often keep a little child amused and happy for many minutes together. The fact that Froebel's occupation-materials contain nothing new, but are based, on the con- trary, upon the traditional employments of child- hood, is one of the strongest arguments in their favor, for they must have been wholly wrong from a psychological point of view, had they been evolved from his own mind instead of devised from a careful study of the playing child. When we consider the attractiveness of sewing, in itself, and the joy with which all Attractive- , . ness of the little children greet its appearance in occupation. the kindergarten, we may be well assured that it contains a vast field for the gaining of elemen- tary knowledge, if rightly used and systematized. The mere placing and drawing in and out of the needle, would, of course, have no educational value in itself, though it would give to both girls and boys a valuable dexterity of hand, not only for future needlework, but for any sort of man- ual labor requiring delicacy and skill. If, how- ever, we look upon the occupation and apply it, as another attractive means of deepening the im- pressions of form, or outline, and color, upon the 42 SEWING child's mind, and of familiarizing Mm with the special characteristics of the objects he sees about him, it assumes at once a more important po- sition. One valuable feature of kindergarten sewing is the comparative simplicity with which its begin- nings may be made. If weaving or paper-cutting, for instance, were given on the first day the child entered the kindergarten, he would fail a dozen times before accomplishing the results for which he aimed, and repeated failure is not easily borne nor understood by a little child, neither is it favor- able to development at this time of life. We all feel it necessary to grasp perfection occasionally, in order to gain courage to keep on, and if this be true of maturity and experience, how much more true must it be of the undeveloped human being, of the " soul in the bud." Shy, fretful, unhappy, nervous little pupils in the kindergarten are enticed to industry more frequently with this occupation than with any other. The paper and pencil are too familiar, and associated too intimately with the arduous labors of older brothers and sisters at their writing and ciphering ; the square piece of col- ored paper always seems to appall them when it is first given for cutting or folding, but no child ever draws back or refuses the cardboard, with its pretty drawn pattern and needle already threaded with scarlet worsted. SEWING 43 Perforating and sewing are closely connected employments, as has been shown in the previ- ous chapter, the points of the one occupation be- ing joined by the threads of the other, and thus lines of every variety produced. The Relation of . 1 r T Sewing to practical working of the law of medi- Perforating. ation of opposites is here shown, and runs as clearly through all the occupations as it did in the gifts, showing itself in contrasts and connections of color, form, position, direction, and dimen- sion, and in all the designs and figures which the child produces in his free play with the various materials. The pattern for sewing, if it be a life-form (that is, any obiect, either animate or Practical .. 1 •11 1MH Directions inanimate, connected with the child s for Sewing. experience), is first drawn upon a paper which is folded over the card and then perforated. If the sewing be intended for young children, the perforations are made as far apart as is con- sistent with preserving the outline of the object. If lines, geometrical figures, or symmetrical de- signs are to be perforated, squared paper is used to cover the card; or if checkered cardboard is employed, no paper cover is needed. If the patterns of either forms of knowledge, life, or beauty are at all elaborate, it is best to draw them lightly with a pencil after pricking, or at least to outline any portion where the design is not clearly shown. 44 SEWING A sewing card perforator ^ has lately been in- vented, which bids fair to be of the greatest assistance to kindergartners in preparing for sew- ing. The machine is strong and simple, and allows the perfect perforation of half a dozen cards at the same time. The holes made are large, round, and exact, and as the board is cut completely through in perforating, there are no rough and broken edges on the wrong side. Not only will it be the greatest saving of time and eyesight to the kindergartner, and will produce more perfect work, but the size of the perfora- tions admits of the easy use of single zephyr and very large needles, thus removing the only reason- able objection to kindergarten sewing, so far as the older children are concerned, at least. The child must learn to work upon his sewing without turning the card over each time, although of course he must turn it somewhat in order to see where to place his needle. In making the circle, he should sew in and out all around, the first time, " leaving the gates open," as we say familiarly, and then sew back again and close them. This seems an easier method for the child, and is an economy in worsted. The younger children commonly have their needles threaded and knotted and the thread tied in, but, as soon as practicable, they should be taught to do this work ^ The Louise H. Orwig Sewing Card Perforator. (J. Ralpb Orwig, Des Moines, Iowa.) SEWING 45 themselves, as it is not at all difficult when we consider the large eyes of the needles now in use. It is always wise to converse with the children about the materials they are using, for thus they learn to treat them with greater care Discussion and — stiU more valuable lesson — be- oftheoicu- gin to trace the relation of their own p*^^*'"* employments to the great industries of the world. In connection with their steel needles comes a description of iron-mining; with the cardboard comes the story of the making of paper; and with the worsted all sorts of fascinating tales and pictures and songs, of sheep-washing and shear- ing, of faithful shepherds and sweet white lamb- kins, and wise, bright-eyed shepherd dogs. If the children of our city kindergartens could once see a sheep, and note his size and feel his thick wool, then all this conversation woidd have a solid basis on which to rest. Failing the sheep, however, we may bring his wool to show and to handle, as well as some " rolls " of the wool as it is prepared in the mill for spinning. Could we introduce a spinning-wheel to the kindergarten, — and this is quite possible, in New England at least, — we might show the children the charming process of converting the " rolls " into yarn, and such an ex- perience could never be forgotten or erased from the mind. The first worsteds in sewing are commonly 46 SEWING selected by the kindergartner in accordance with what experience has taught her to be the favor- choiceof itc colors of children. Later on, when Colors in -i • i i • • i i « Sewing. their plays and experiences with the first gift balls and supplementary materials have been more extended, and when they have some practi- cal knowledge of colors, we should provide them with worsteds of every shade and tint, and give them the fullest power of choice, guiding them to make harmonious arrangements. Here they will show great individuality, selecting their favorite colors and combinations, and often clinging to them through a whole series of symmetrical de- signs. In sewing forms illustrative of animal and vegetable life we should be careful that the children associate the right color with each object. To be sure, the four or five year old child cannot make his work high art, but we can at least suggest that pink horses, blue leaves, and green pussy cats are not true to nature ; and lead him to make his pictures as real as possible. Often he selects the woi-sted because it is pleasing to his eye and gives no consideration to the color of the object he is to sew. A question from the kindergartner or a suggestion of disapproval from the other children will frequently set his mind to working in the right direction, but if he still insists, for instance, upon sewing in bright yellow the turkey on his card, it may well be doubted if SEWING 47 he has ever seen that famous bird, and one should straightway be presented to his observation, if possible. Failing that, a colored picture may be shown, and thus the mistake rectified. There is some discussion among kindergartners as to the advisability of coloring the coloring the life-forms in this occupation, the point ^^'''^^ at issue being that as sewing only represents outlines of objects, it causes confusion in the child's mind if they are so painted as to repre- sent surfaces or solids. This point we shall not attempt to settle here, but whether or not coloring be a vicious practice it is certainly very much en- joyed by the child ; and if he is allowed to paint the form himself with water-color or crayon it would seem as if he might thereby gain a clearer idea of the real appearance of the object. In this, as in all other occupations, the chUd should himseK remedy any mistakes TheChndto he makes through haste, or impatience, oX^ma^ or carelessness. Of course it is the **^®°' kindergartner's duty to see that his hands are clean and his table free from dust before he begins work, but if he drops his sewing on the floor and soils it, he must be given bread-crumbs or india-rubber and taught to make it clean ; if he jerks the worsted through the cardboard so as to tear it, it must be mended with mucilage and paper; if he loses his needle, he must try to find it again; if after he has learned to sew 48 SEWING tolerably well he pulls his worsted in and out of any holes in the card without regard to the pattern, he must patiently take it out again and be ready to begin work properly next time. The teacher who corrects all his mistakes for the child is kind in the present only to be cruel in the future, — she ill prepares him for later school work and still less for complete living. The lesson of cause and effect is better learned early than late, and a few tears, a moment's irritation, a fit of contumacy, are not so hard to suffer now as remorse and repentance would be by and by. We must inevitably bear the consequences of our own errors in maturity, and if we may learn to avert them by a little experience in youth with concrete things, then blessed the teacher and the teaching. If, as Aristotle said, we learn to play upon the harp by playing the harp and become proficient in the virtues by practicing them, so the only way of becoming careful is by practicing carefulness.^ We believe in this occupation, as it is used in Value of *^® kindergarten, not only in that it Sewing. leads the child to manual dexterity, cleanliness, careful artistic labor, sense of color, harmonious arrangement, and symmetry of design, ^ "Whoever spoiled anything at Keilhau had to see that it was repaired. A boy having broken a window in carelessness or mischief had to take the frame on his back and carry it, in whatever weather might be, to Blankenburg, a distance of four miles, and bring it back repaired." (Hermann von Arnswald.) SEWING 49 though these would, in themselves, constitute a sufficient reason for its introduction, but as a pleasant and simple means of storing his mind with ideas of things in general, which we deem to be of use in his development. Modeling is of course the best means of help- ing the child to produce a real substantial image of things in the outer world and to admonish him CO look more closely to distinguish the differences l^etween them, and bring them out in the plastic clay which shapes itself under his hand; but next to modeling, sewing is perhaps the most valuable aid in producing the same effect. Visitors very often smile with surprise at seeing boys as well as girls sewing in the kindergarten ; but as the idea is obviously not perfection in needlework, there is no reason why it should not be practiced by all. Boys certainly require skill- fulness of hand in their future labors, and they enjoy this method of gaining it as well as girls. Sewing is constantly used as a sort of inter- preter of the occupations of stick-laying and draw- ing, working in the same field, and by its remark- able adaptation to childish desires, making a most forcible and definite impression of the instruction we wish to convey. The three occupations should be so thoroughly connected that all sewing of lines, angles, and geometrical figures should be an out- growth of previous experiences with sticks, rings, pencil, and paper. 60 SEWING We can see that in sewing, as in all other oc- cupations of the kindergarten, we should follow Course to be the plan laid down by Froebel in his followed in -^ ^ '' Sewing. system of gifts, that is, the uniting of forms or outlines of knowledge with forms or outlines of symmetry in order that no inborn fac- ulty of the child may lack its proper develop- ment. Therefore, we use a so-called " school " or course of lines, in which, as in linear drawing, a certain logical plan is followed, and also a system of outlines, which, carefully arranged and graded, appeals to the child's fancy and imagination and leads him to inspect like objects in nature. In the school of lines, angles, and geometrical figures we cannot be too careful about the order of procedure, nor too judicious in forcing new ideas upon the child's mind before he can prop- erly comprehend them. Let him begin his work in this occupation by sewing a succession of pic- tures of the first gift balls in the appropriate colors. Afterwards he may sew outlines of round- ing and round objects, such as peaches, cherries, apples, which will supplement appropriately his ball lessons and plays. A complete series of forms for circular sewing, called the " Botanical Sewing Cards, or Childhood's Fairy Land of Leaves and Flowers," was worked out by Miss Emma Mar- wedel. This begins with various circles in which form, color, place, and direction are illustrated, and progresses first to circles in comparative relation SEWING 51 to natural forms, as fruit, vegetables, and leaves, and then to the experience and making of the divided circle, which leads to the similar division of flowers into petals.^ Of course the number of cards sewed in each design must be decided by the kindergartner herself, who sees and understands the child's ca- pacity ; if he is deft and intelligent he may pro- ceed from one design to the next. Although the curved line drawn by the aid of spaces or dots comes latest in Froebel's school of linear drawing and sewing, it is placed there only because it is difficult for the child to make it properly or use it in designs successfully. But, long before he is able to draw curves unaided, he can sew curving outlines drawn for him, and it is appropriate that he should begin work with these because they are all connected with life forms and in line with his study of the gifts. When it is time to begin the linear sewing, and that date depends entirely upon the age and at- tainments of the particular child, we give a course somewhat like the following. It is in essentials the same as that given by Froebel, though con- siderably abbreviated, and would be still more shortened by some kindergartners and probably lengthened by others. ^ Fully described in Emma Marwedel's System of Child Culture and Childhood's Poetry and Studies. D. C. Heath & Co. 52 SEWING LINEAR SEWING. Vertical lines of one space. (The length of the space is optional.) Vertical lines of two spaces. Vertical lines of one and two spaces. Horizontal lines of one space. Horizontal lines of two spaces. Horizontal lines of one and two spaces. Horizontal and vertical lines and their combi- nations. Diagonal lines crossing one and two space squares in both directions. Combinations of diagonals of squares. Diagonal lines crossing vertical and horizontal oblongs. Combinations of these diagonal lines. Curves used in various ways. Combinations of curves in circles and ovals. Outlines of geometrical planes. It is again a matter for the judgment of each kindergartner whether the child shall sew an en- tire card of one-space lines, for instance, or shall devote half the card to these and half to the two- space. In our opinion, however, the linear sewing may be considerably abbreviated from its early form as used in the German kindergartens, with- out any detriment to its real value. We must remember that during the execution SEWING 63 of the school of lines the children are to have ample room for invention, which they may execute first in drawing and then transfer to q^.^ g^^_ cardboard, or may " sew out " upon the *"*^* card itself, which should be perforated for that purpose at the corner of each square. They must also have an opportunity to work out any impres- sions they may have received from objects around them in Nature ; else, by constant use of straight lines they will grow mechanical, and the imagi- nation and love of beauty will lack proper de- velopment. The selection of objects to be sewn depends upon the central thought of the week, month, or term ; in other words, upon the domi- nant interests of the child, and is never to be arbitrarily selected by the kindergartner. If she prepares for him any object of which she has a good pattern or which pleases her taste, it may be as far removed from his present thoughts as Dan is from Beersheba. If this be so, even though the form be carefully explained and a little vital- ity thus injected into it, it will be so out of the current of thought and feeling as to be of little educational value, save perhaps to the hands and fingers. The work upon which the child is engaged needs constant question and comment conversa- f rom the kindergartner, else she can- woik. °" not be sure of his comprehension. He may have been talking and singing of the cow, for instance, 64 SEWING for quite a long period, and apparently know all about her milk, horns, hide, and meat, yet, upon question, it will very probably be found that he supposes the animal to be of the same size as the picture he is sewing on a card, four by four inches. This discouraging fact, which is not at all uncommon and allied to many others of the same character, quite justifies Dr. Stanley Hall's remark that there is next to nothing of peda- gogic value, the knowledge of which it is safe to assume at the outset of school-life. The child has now no difficulty with invention if he has been led in the right direction, Invention. and has been allowed freedom in which to expand all his possibilities, those inborn possi- bilities which seem to be in every child. Unless we can develop inventive ability in every occupa- tion, we have stopped short of the true ideal ; perfect work is not enough, it is not even espe- cially to be desired ; the purely inventive work of the child is the only real test of the value of our teaching. We should not naturally expect perhaps to see inventive power, and a knowledge of the art of designing, in the poor little denizens of wretched homes, barren as they are of artistic influences, but we do find and develop just that in the free kindergartens, through these wonderful ap- pliances of an educational system which works through the heart and soul to the mind and SEWING 55 fingers of a child. We may not call these pro- ducts of infantile skill true inventions, "pevha^s, since that word would imply a more conscious use of power ; but we may think of them as " findings " of the child. ^ He has really found a new and beautiful combination of the old and familiar lines, and it is his own. He becomes the tiny Columbus of a new world of art. Who can doubt that this glimpse of the beautiful will re- main as an ideal ? Who can doubt that when the poor little one has once experienced the joy of creating he will long to feel it again and again, and be more impatient of mechanical routine and joyless monotony in his after work, — knowing that there is a higher and better way of working, a way in which each individual may give to the world the same old truths, indeed, but stamped with a new image and glorified by his own origi- nality ? An aspiring teacher is proud of the visible proofs of her skill in teaching, but the True value best proofs of that skill are not, and gartenwork. never can be, visible. The child cannot bring 1 " As soon as ideas no longer present themselves in the order in which the intelligence has first perceived them, as soon as something has become altered, — were it only one link sup- pressed in a series of associated images, — there may be said to have taken place an artificial mental composition, a modified con- ception of reality, a spontaneous work of productive imagination. These free combinations of images arise spontaneously in young children." — Perez's First Three Years of Childhood, p. 149. 56 SEWING them home in tangible form, and thus by thought- less parents they are often quite unnoticed. We wish kindergarten work to be beautiful, certainly, but not at any sacrifice or over-exertion of the child's powers. The work, after all is said and done, is not the end, but only the means. In it- self it is, like all other means, worthless, except that it has been wrought in love, patience, perse- verance, and understanding. As Dr. Hailmann says, "the truly valuable results of the kinder- garten are to be sought in the drift and ten- dency of the head and heart ; they become mani- fest in the mode of thinking and feeling; they are known by their permanence and their growth, and they seem to be part and parcel of the child." We speak of the greatness of the idea of per- sonal activity in Froebel's system ; and, indeed, " We learn through doing " is one of the articles of our educational creed ; but the foundation of that creed lies still deeper. Being is as much better than doing, as it is far more difficult ; for mere activity is always a truncated cone ; it has no point with which to pierce the highest, — and no occupation whatever, of any educational scheme in the universe, can have any moral bearing unless it is rooted in these truths ; unless it is the outgrowth of the child's individual powers, and has become, not mere doing, but actual living. Therefore, if we want beautiful work we must try to touch the SEWING 57 springs of action, to influence the will-power, not the fingers of the child ; then he will strive for perfection himself, with touching zeal. We shall be working in him " to will and to do ; " we shall not then have to drive ; we may beckon, and he will be glad to follow. But here let us note one thing ; we must judge children by their efforts and not by their produc- tions. The child born with clumsy fingers proba- bly tries as hard as his little neighbor who does everything well, and he therefore needs encour- agement and commendation, instead of compar- ison with others to his disadvantage. The objections to sewing from a physio-psy- chological point of view are substan- objections .1-11 » . 1 '** *he Occu- tially the same as to perforating, and pation. are given so fully in the previous chapter as to need no repetition here. They do not hold as much weight perhaps in regard to sewing, although even here the strain of the fine work upon the accessory muscles of very young children is much to be deprecated. Since most kindergartners, however, are now awake to this danger, there is every hope that such changes will everywhere be made in the occupation as to avert it altogether. There is no reason why the sewing patterns should not be designed on twice as large a scale as at present, much larger needles used, and single instead of split zephyr be employed for working. 58 SEWING The invention of the sewing -card perforator before mentioned allows the pricking of larger holes, and these should be made at least half an inch apart for the younger children. If the card- board now employed does not prove strong enough for the heavy worsted, Bristol-board might be substituted, or perhaps the wee ones of the flock might use pasteboard, or leatherette glued to the ordinary cardboard, which would admit of the use of double zephyr. The occupations in general require somewhat Sewing time less Concentration than the gifts, and riod?^* therefore the time devoted to their use may well be one of great sociability. Free con- versation should always be allowed, although in gentle tones so as not to disturb other classes. It is in these quiet, sunshiny hours when the chil- dren are blissfully happy in their employment and perfectly unconscious and unconstrained, that the kindergartner learns best to know her little flock. The bits of childish philosophy or of borrowed grown-up wisdom that drop from their lips, the odd sayings, the miniature experi- ences, the friendly advice and warnings to erring neighbors, the snatches of hapj^y song, the tender words and caresses to this favored among women as she passes on her errands of help and counsel, all are so many indications of the inner life of her charges. If she represses all this gentle, lightsome play of life and happiness and content, SEWING 69 and requires strict silence, wherein does the dis- cipline of her child-garden differ from that of the military school? If the children are never to speak except when they answer questions, how are we to know aught of their inner life ? Not only conversation, but singing, too, should be encouraged during the sewing and all other occupations, always with the proviso that some neighboring family is not busy with an intricate problem that demands comparative stillness in the room. There are certain songs appropriate for each occupation which the children delight to learn, and it is an even greater proof of their joy and spontaneity when they burst into some unsuggested bit of music. If we are ever tempted to hush such songs without good cause we should recall the familiar lines : — " Give us, O give us the man who sings at his work! He will do more in the same time; he will do it better ; he will persevere longer. One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he marches to music, and the very stars are said to make har* mony as they revolve in their spheres. " Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, altogether past calculation its powers of endur- ance. Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous, — a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful because bright." We must remember in conclusion these impor tant points : — 60 SEWING 1. A piece of work must never be sent to the child's home unless it is done as well as he can do Closing 1*5 ^^^ sometimes our only way of reach- ThoughtB. -jjg ^YiQ parents is through this very work, coming to them as a message, and telling them how the child spends his time when away. 2. The child should strive to make the wrong side of the work as neat as the right. There ought not to be any real wrong side in work, or people either ! It must be different, but it need not be untidy, and to allow the little one full liberty to cross and knot and tangle and waste the worsted on the reverse of the card, so long as the face of it looks well, is absolutely to foster deception and falsity in concrete things. 3. In sewing vertical and horizontal lines, let one side of the work be like the other, so that the child's idea of direction may be clear and distinct. With vertical lines we should guide the child to sew from the top to the bottom of the card, and with horizontal, from left to right. 4. If a child has finished a card with some difficulty, and has needed considerable aid in its accomplishment, let him do another of the same kind entirely by himself, and he will observe with pride his improvement. 5. In every possible way we should impress the child with the idea that he is working for others, as well as for himself, and thus develop his better nature. This should be our aim in all these SEWING 61 small industries, which we deem so valuable and which are so dear to children. The dainty cards embroidered with such care and looked upon so proudly by the little ones, may all be mounted in books for a present, or they may be made up into some pretty usefid article at Christmas time, and delight the parents with the marvelous achievements of their babies. But the kindergartner must beware lest such work be allowed to remain a delight and a profit, not to the community, but to each child alone, and thus foster selfishness. He should be guided to a willingness to give up his work occasionally for the common good, and so his " benevolence and social efficiency be deeply stirred in cooperative exercises that lead him to a practical union in work with other children." DRAWING ** Considering the importance of drawing as a part of educa- tion, one gets the assurance and conviction that his enjoyment of the physical world is beautified and increased thereby. The entire world of form and color opens itself to him. A new sense awakens, which receives the liveliest impressions. One learns to appreciate nature, — to value, love, and rejoice over its beauties." Goethe. " The love of drawing shows itself in many forms. The child draws with his finger in the air, traces outlines in the sand, makes shadow pictures on the wall, blows on the window-pane, and covers its clouded surface with his motley fancies, and even bites his cookies into the forms of men and animals." Susan E. Blow. " As the first step in drawing is to learn to see correctly, it is evident that all the exercises, both in gifts and occupations, prepare for the use of the pencil and chalk. As the mediation of word and object, drawing is of vast importance in its reaction on the mind, and as the soul of all technical processes, it is the indispensable basis of industrial education." Susan E. Blow. "Drawing furnishes a means of expressing ideas, and man first resorted to it for that purpose ; but when it is perverted and fails to accomplish this purpose, it does not produce the best results. Any method that teaches words before ideas is radi- cally wrong, and any method that teaches drawing without using it as a means of expressing or representing ideas, is radically wrong, because it leaves out that which stimulates and develops the powers of the mind. Reproducing a line without considering its length or direction does very little to increase one's power. DBA WING 63 ** That training- which leads pupils to be imitators only, does little to develop thought and action. Drawing ought to teach seeing, doing, and knowing. Drawing ought to cultivate the hand and the eye, and increase the knowledge of the object represented." W. W. Speer. That drawing is one of the earliest arts of primeval man is a fact too clearly evi- Antiquity of denced and too widely known to need Drawing, extensive comment here. From that rude pic- ture on the rocks by which the cave-dweller indicated man escaping in affright from the ap- proach of some prehistoric monster, to the like- ness of that monster etched on his own bones, the rebus-like inscriptions on the tombs and mon- uments of the Egyptians, and the hieroglyphics and picture-writing of primitive tribes, some of which are still in use, we come finally to our mod- em letters, which occupy the highest step in the scale of the language of signs. Picture-writing in shorthand, as it were, may still be seen per- fectly illustrated by the whole written language of the Chinese, and should we trace the art of drawing from its earliest inception, we should find that its value in ornament was commonly recognized even earlier than its value as a means of record and communication, for it is a univer- sal truth that man develops the ornamental dur- ing the infancy of every race, before the useful.^ 1 " Following the distinct teaching of history, and particu- larly the teaching of prehistoric times, it is clear that the artistic faculties of human beings were the first to develop, and 64 DRAWING Nor do we need to prove that drawing is nat- ural to children, and is one of the first means Drawing whicli thev use to make the inward out- natural to "^ CMidhood. ward, and the outward inward. A soft, smooth surface, whether it be sand, or earth, or mud, or snow, offers irresistible attractions for marking and rude sketching, even to grown peo- ple, and some of us have not even yet passed the time when a cloudy window-pane offers a fas- cinating field for the pursuit of art. " What child," as a thoughtful kindergartner has lately said, "from Giotto down, has not been repri- manded for defacing margins of books, the wall- paper and woodwork, in his efforts to satisfy the longing to create outwardly the pictures which float before his inward vision ? It is a wise mo- ther who destroys such idols only by supplying better ones, which in this case come in the form of suitable materials to serve this craving." " The kindergarten cannot be too much prized for having gathered in the now scattered work and play occupations, which once kept together around the hearth children with their parents in the spare hours of the evening," ^ and among these occupations drawing is perhaps the most valuable, as it is without doubt the most universal. that the art of those times was always of a decorative nature, the existence of inany primitive nations being' only known to us by their art remains." (Professor Henry Talbot.) 1 E. Seguin. DBA WING 65 In all civilized nations children are now taught to draw, but the object of this instruc- object of tion by all these varied methods is not, DrawSI. for the most part, and certainly not in the ear- lier stages, to make artists. It is, — or it should be at all events, — the education of the eye, the training of the mind, and the cultivation of an- other medium of seK-expression. The increased attention given of late years to drawing in our schools has proved, as Dr. W. N. Hailmann says, that "there is no child devoid of a serviceable amount of talent for drawing, that all children can learn to draw just as all children can learn to speak ; and that the attention given to this sub- ject has stimulated in our youth the tendency to choose avocations in life that call for the exercise of artistic taste and technical skill." We need not discuss here the merit of the various systems by which drawing is Drawing taught in the schools of the •United ^^'^'^' States. The mass of literature on the subject and examples of the practical work are within the reach of all and open to the critical judg- ment of any person, if that person be sufficiently fair and lucid in mind to hear and read patiently and weigh carefully the arguments for and argu- ments against ; the protestations of faith in, and heretical denials of ; the attack and defense con- stantly going on among the champions of drawing systems. It seems to an impartial observer that bb DB AWING there is some good in all of them when rightly- interpreted, and that there is little good in any when in the hands of the wrong person. The lively discussion as to the systems of draw- Kindergar- '^^S ^^ schools, however, is equaled and tenDrawing. ^^^^ possibly excelled by the agitation of the same matter in kindergarten circles. No one of the Froebel occupations is in so chaotic a state as drawing. Every training teacher has her own method or methods of teaching the branch which are in many respects quite unlike those of any other training teacher; every kindergarten centre is trying experiments on different lines, is casting aside old systems and taking up new ones, or possibly reversing this process ; there is little agreement anywhere save in a quite general dis- satisfaction with what has been done, an aspi- ration after better things, and a " discontent " which is perhaps, as John Richard Green says, " the only true source of progress." It is idle for the kindergartner to suppose that she can so arrange her scheme of drawing as to satisfy the artist, the artisan, and the designer, while she avoids everything which she is warned against by the physiologist and the psychologist and puts into practice all that they recommend, at the same time following out her own ideals, gratifying the child, and keeping in fellowship with the leading drawing systems. It is true that Solomon said that he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise, but DB AWING 67 not many pages further on he remarks that it is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. The crying need in all these matters is " still a finer common sense." While the kindergartner listens attentively to her multitude of counselors, she must at the same time retain an independent judgment of her own, and having firmly fixed in her mind certain purposes which kindergar- ten drawing should carry out, must herself decide what will be the best methods of obtaining the desired results. Perhaps we should all agree, to recapitulate somewhat, that these purposes are : — a. The education of the eye. b. The training of the hand. c. The training of the mind. d. The cultivation of another mode of self- expression. e. The acquirement of the fundamental prin- ciples of art. And we should also agree that " while the hand, the brain, the eye are growing, is the time to give them the habits essential to their highest utility, such as dexterity, flexibility, skill, and powers of perception and conception." We shall not here attempt to give our opinion as to what methods will best attain these desirable and valuable results. We shall describe the four kinds of drawing. Linear, Outline, Circidar, and Freehand, some or all of which are in use in the 68 DB AWING principal kindergartens of the world ; we shall endeavor to give the various arguments for and against them, and having presented all sides of the subject as clearly as may be in our power, leave to our readers the decision as to which and how many of the methods they shall use in teach- ing the art to little children. LINEAR DRAWING " The rolling sphere, the thrown and falling stone, the water dammed up and guided into little diverging ditches, have taught the child that the direction of the effect of power is always lin- ear." Fr. Froebel. " As the drawing of lines precedes the drawing of figures, so also there proceeds from it the invention of forms, ascending to imitation and copying ; and, further, after the pupil has made the required progress in geometry and mathematics, perspective drawing, instruction regarding light and shade, as well as draw- ing from nature, landscape drawing, etc., will follow. The last aim here, as everywhere, is the representation of the human figure." Fr. Froebel. " The unpracticed eye of a child will first take in only the prin- cipal lines of objects, and of these first the straight ones, before it can master curves, surfaces, and filling in. We notice the same characteristics in the people who first practiced the science of architecture. Their drawings consist of outlines, linear represeu- tations in straight strokes, without curves or perspective, as in the first attempts of children." B. von Marenholtz-Bulow. Materials for Linear Drawing : Checkered or dotted paper, the size of the squares in the network being commonly about one quarter inch ; slates squared or dotted on the same scale ; ^ slate and lead pencils, and colored crayons. Froebel's idea of drawing, and his plans for introducing it as one of the first occu- proebei's pations for young children, are exceed- Eln^/*"^ ingly ingenious. The touching or han- ^'^^"^8- dling of the solid body (the most important means ^ Slates are now much less used than formerly. 70 LINEAR DRAWING of acquiring knowledge during the first year of a child's life, the period of his unconscious sus- ceptibility) is now changed to the looking at objects presented to his observation, and repre- senting their images by drawing; so that the image of a body, so to speak, takes the place of the body itself. "In drawing, the child has reached the ideal representation of solids, by means of light and shade, marks made upon a surface to represent outlines. We have a com- plete transition from the tangible solid to the ideal representation of it." Froebel's method of drawing ^ unites all other kindergarten occupations into an organic succes- sion, by following the use of blocks (solids), lay- ing of tablets (planes), and sticks and rings (lines). These occupations are preparatory ; the laying of sticks was a sort of drawing in wood- lines, and gave to the child his first ideas of invention, by making it easy for him to devise figures in which opposites should surround a centre. Froebel observed, with greatest love and dis- crimination, the nature and natural instincts of the child ; and the pleasure found in scribbling, that universal instinct of childhood, being legiti- mately controlled and directed, is made the basis 1 A complete description of Froebel's plans for Linear Draw- ing is to be found in The Education of Man (tr. by Josephine Jarvis), pages 209 to 221. LINEAB DRAWING 71 of kindergarten drawing, an occupation both artistic and mathematical, valuable alike to head and hand, for mental training, manual dexterity, and cultivation of the aesthetic nature. Drawing is of paramount importance as an occupation, because the child is enabled by it to reproduce quickly and easily the images imparted to his mind, and to give them a visible representation, whereby they become truly objective, and are only then understood. The child, at the early age of three to five years, is considered by many persons to ^se of the be hardly able to execute satisfactory weMn^°' freehand drawing ; and, therefore, an in- ^™'^"^^- termediate step is to be provided, which will serve to develop the correct eye and steady hand. This intermediate step is supplied by the use of the net or square, consisting of any open space formed by the intersection of vertical and horizontal lines, and in this the child finds the necessary aid, for it is only an aid, and not too great a one, the dots lately introduced answering the same pur- pose.^ The child must be just as painstaking with as. without them, and by their help he accom- plishes quite wonderful and beautiful results. These squares, commonly about one fourth inch in size, are found on slates, as well as on paper, enabling him to find distances and compre- ^ A triangular network on the same scale is also sometimes 72 LINEAR BE AWING hend measurement, — training him to exactness of observation and correct eye-measure. Froebel explains, as follows, the principle on which the drawing net, or web, is formed, and its value to the child : — " All formation is on the condition of uniting various parts ; what is united forms, as it were, a web or texture, and that exists only by the connecting of opposing lines or threads, as, for example, the web of the spider, which only thus holds together. No organism exists without such a knitting of parts, without at least approxi- mately forming a web, even if it is not visible to the eye. The magnifying power of the micro- scope shows us plainly the net-like web, whether it is upon a leaf, or upon our skin, or whatever it may be. Even the smallest cell, which is not visible to the eye, consists of a web, and every- thing which comes into view from the invisible point can be formed in no other way than by being produced thus from different directions, or shot forth, as in the process of crystallization. " Every web also forms a net, in a certain way, by the crossing of the lines running in opposite directions. But this net exhibits at every cross- ing, or every point of contact, a centre which is to be referred to some circumference, as it were, and every square of the net is a division which offers the best means of arrangement of the dif- ferent parts of a whole. LINEAR DRAWING 73 " For this reason I give my children a net consisting of perpendicular and horizontal lines, which serves as a guide for drawing all forms, and regulates and facilitates the proportions of parts to a whole, and their correct and equal coordination. Painters use a net for the same purpose in their copies of pictures. "The net affords the most intelligible image of the joining of opposites, by the opposite direction of its lines. The web of all nature's forms is always a net, and expresses the law as the norm of all formation." ^ This method, ingenious as it is simple, should lead the child early to copy objects of nature, for if he has gained command of his pencil, and has learned how to manage straight and curved lines, the rest is sure to follow. The school of linear drawing, as used in the kindergartens of to-day, differs some- linear what from the so-called Froebel school, £X°^ but none the less carries out his ideas kIS™. of development exactly, being there- ^*^°* fore similar in theory, but proceeding in a simpler and somewhat abbreviated manner. This method beautifully supplements the other occupations and the outline lessons in sewing, stick laying, etc., and by giving the child, in comparatively few les- sons, lines of different lengths and directions, enables him to handle his pencil easily and freely, 1 Reminiscences of Froebel^ pages 231, 232. 74 LINEAR DRAWING and gives him mobility of hand and wrist by exer- cising them in every possible way. The course pursued is much the same as that already given for linear sewing, the two occupa- tions being pursued along parallel lines, one inter- preting the other. a. Vertical lines of one " space." ^ Horizontal lines of one " space." Combinations of vertical and horizontal lines producing angles, squares, borders, and symmetri- cal figures. h. Vertical lines of two spaces. Horizontal lines of two spaces. Combinations, etc., as above. c. Vertical lines of two spaces. Horizontal lines of one space. Combinations, etc., leading finally to the figure which we call familiarly the " vertical oblong." d. Vertical lines of one space. Horizontal lines of two spaces. Combinations, etc., leading to the " horizontal oblong." e. Diagonals obtained by crossing one space square in both directions. Combinations resulting in square turned on point. f. Diagonals of two -space square. Combinations, etc. g. Diagonals of " vertical oblong." 1 One quarter inch, or more. LINEAR DRAWING 75 Combinations leading to the rhomb, or " dia- mond " in vertical position. h. Diagonals of " horizontal oblong." Combinations resulting in the rhomb, or " dia- mond " in horizontal position. i. Right isosceles triangles and their combina- tions. Equilateral triangles and their combinations. Right scalene triangles and their combinations. Obtuse isosceles triangles and their combina- tions. j. Curves of a circle whose diameter is first one quarter inch and is increased according to the ability of the child. Combinations leading to complete circle. k. Curves of oval as above. Combinations as above. In the majority of kindergartens where linear drawing is used at all, it is preceded by the draw- ing of large curves and circles as advised by Froebel in the " Kindergarten Wesen." These are executed either from patterns or freehand, to connect with the study of the ball and sphere in first and second gifts, straight lines being intro- duced when the cube is presented to observation. Froebel advised beginning with the vertical line in drawing ; and the kindergartners order of in- in general have continued the practice, ijner'"^ as it has seemed to them to be earlier noticed by the child, more easily executed, and first ap- 76 LINEAR DRAWING pealing in the kindergarten to his attention, in the string by which the ball is suspended. This practice is supported by Dr. Seguin, who says : " By the physiological method the child draws in the following order : from a vertical line to a horizontal, thence an oblique, a curve." ^ Against this opinion, however, must be pitted that of Henry T. Bailey, supervisor of drawing for Massachusetts, who states as explicitly ; " The easiest order for children in drawing is first the horizontal, then the vertical, then the oblique line. Children need most practice on horizontal and vertical because they naturally make use of ob- lique lines." This is evidently a matter which only extended observations of children will settle, and it behooves the kindergartner speedily to engage in these ob- servations lest it prove that her method of intro- ducing the lines may have been incorrect from the first. The rapidity with which the child goes through How Linear ^^^ " school " of linear drawing is de- Sly^e^i- pendent altogether upon his ability to versified. exccutc the liucs and make use of them in invention. Of course, however, he is never to be detained upon a certain kind of line until he can draw it perfectly. That is not to be ex- pected at this early age and is not even to be desired, for a gain in execution here would mean a loss of power later on. 1 E. Seguin, Education, page 169. LINEAB DRAWING 77 With the smaller children the lines are always to have the light of fancy thrown upon them, and every kindergartner who would be successful must have an unfailing supply of the oil by which this light is fed. A row of one-space vertical lines, for instance, is comparatively uninspiring in itself, but how fascinating it is to play they are fire-crackers and " make believe " that Teddy has pulled them all out of the package and is laying them on the table one space apart so that he can count them. If it is a review day and the one- space horizontal lines are next to be drawn, it is obvious that they are the fire-crackers lighted and thrown down and ready to go off with a delight- ful splutter and bang. Then the angles, of course, are parts of a frame that the men are putting up to hold the evening fireworks, and the vertical and horizontal lines combined into a border or " Greek pattern," will be the rockets hissing and zigzag- ging across the sky by and by. Now it is obvious to any person of sentiment that the squares must be the boxes the fireworks were bought in, and let us make a great many and have a magnificent display ! Let us remember, however, that this fanciful interpretation of the lines must have a vital relation to the leading thought in the child's mind and the subject for the month, though it is to be hoped that these last are always synonymous. There is no beauty, pleasure, nor fitness in talking 78 LINEAR BE AWING of the lines as soldiers marching, when every child is aglow with the recollection of the dancing bear he saw on the way to the kindergarten ; nor of playing they are fence posts when everybody is thrilled with the Christmas spirit and thinking of the " Wonderful Tree." The kindergartner who makes these mistakes, and they are not as uncommon as might be wished, is one who has but a faint vision of the truth. When the child is drawing, we should also, as Froebel advised, join to his action the explain- ing word; that is, connect the visible with the audible, and thus bring it nearer to his insight, recognition, and inner perception. Froebel says, in the " Kindergarten Wesen," " The drawing of lines, of the curved as also of the straight lines, should be combined with the explaining word or with the enlivening little song, such as the earlier ball or sphere songs, not only to awaken thereby, but also to cultivate and strengthen, the general activity of the child." Drawing and re-drawing a line without consid- ering its length or its direction may give added dexterity, but it can give nothing else, for it is a purely mechanical process. All these small in- dustries of the kindergarten must be lifted from the mechanical into a higher realm and must be connected with the intellect and sympathies of the child. This view of work in the Froebel system, which is one of its distinctive peculiarities, accords LINEAR DRAWING 79 well with Schiller's words in the " Song of the Bell:" — " And well it stamps our human race, And hence the gift to understand, That Man within the heart should trace Whatever he fashions with the hand." The lines and their connections and develop- ments should never be presented arbitrarily to the child and set for him as a copy, but should be the outgrowth of previous work with sticks, when he has himself discovered, for instance, how vertical and horizontal lines may be joined into four positions of right angles, and how these may be combined into squares, etc. The world-wide difference between precept and experience lies in the two methods of teaching. In all this linear drawing the child should be taught to see what he is doing and see poetical the end of the line before he makes it. ^'"^^^^"^ The vertical lines should be drawn from up to down, the horizontal from left to right. If a long line is to be made, a dot should be placed at the beginning and the end, and then the two points be connected with a swift light stroke. The chil- dren should use long pencils, and the teacher should take especial pains to see that they do not bear upon them too heavily. The habit of eras- ing is especially to be condemned, and constant care should be used in guarding against it, for it is one very easily acquired. The left hand should 80 LINEAR DRAWING be employed as well as the right in many of the exercises, and drawing between the lines fre- quently be practiced. In drawing the child has full scope for inven- Dictations ^^^^9 ^^^ syuthctic cxerciscs which have in Drawing, i^qq-^ made natural and easy for him by former analysis. He has now for the first time the full delight of producing, and if his training has been careful, his designs will be symmetri- cal in form and exact in detail. To this end we must be especially careful in all our dictations, and in the sequence of lines and figures which we present to him. They are most valuable for concentration of mind, and are so mingled with mathematical exercises that they fix in the mem- ory all foregoing lessons in direction and number. We should be careful that the child understands each lesson as he passes over it, we must use familiar terms for the vertical and horizontal lines, the acute and obtuse angles, until he can readily remember the proper ones, and require him often to point out to us in surrounding ob- jects these same lines and angles, that we may be sure of his comprehension. The dictations will embrace as in the gifts, forms of life, beauty, and knowledge, and of course have a direct bear- ing upon the child's inventive work. The lan- guage in which they are given should be perfectly simple and plain, and we should be absolutely assured of what we want to say before we say it. LINEAR DRAWING 81 One has only to try the exercise with a class of adults and note the resulting mistakes, to be convinced of the vital necessity of clearness of thought as well as speech in dictations. Nor should we be too inflexible and dogmatic in these exercises, but should give the child as much freedom as he can wisely be intrusted with. It is a thousand times better to dictate half the central figure and let him complete the other half than to make him follow your words to the last quarter inch, when it was perfectly obvious some seconds ago what the design was to be. Who has not seen the kindergartner holding her children by sheer force of will, — they straining at the leash meanwhile, — and insisting that the exercise shall be a dictation pure and simple, and that any hapless wight who " guesses " what is going to come next and draws it, shall erase his guess and wait for the spoken word. It is wise now and then merely to give the centre of the design and let each complete it as he desires, for the individual variations on the same theme will be most pleasing and instructive to the children. At another time we may com- plete the figure and encourage the child to invent an appropriate border, or we can give the border and call for a centrepiece. Other useful variations of the exercise are to draw a figure line by line upon the blackboard, and let the children follow, or to suggest a group- 82 LINEAR DRAWING work invention on the board, or on large paper, in which each child of the class shall take part. Memory drawing, too, is often advisable, the kindergartner or an older child drawing a figure upon the board which is quickly erased and then reproduced by the class. Such exercises must of course be very simple at first and gradually become more complex. The copying of the child's own inventions in Copying sticks, tablets, and rings, is extremely Inventions, interesting and beneficial, because it re- sults in drawing on reduced or extended scales. The space on the tables being one inch square, and that on the paper being generally a fourth of an inch, he must make his calculations, and trans- fer the design to the smaller size, so that it will meet his eye when completed, as the invention in miniature. The use of colored crayons for the copying of these inventions, as well as sometimes for the drawing of the school of lines, gives un- bounded pleasure to children, and should be con- sidered, as Spencer says, " as the natural stimulus to the mastery of the comparatively difficult and unattractive form." Slate drawing has grown entirely out of favor Slate Draw- ^^ many kindergartens, as an excessive *°^* use of it undoubtedly cultivates a habit of too great pressure on the pencil and a hard touch, which are disastrous to paper drawing. Another objection to it is that the ease with LINEAR DRAWING 88 which incorrect lines are erased often renders the children a trifle careless in execution ; and to add another objection still, and thus pile Pelion on Ossa, it is claimed that the distribution and redis- tribution of slates and slate pencils is one of the most dangerous methods of transmitting disease germs. This last danger might be averted by a special slate and pencil for each child, and a thorough cleaning occasionally with water con- taining bichloride of mercury; but perhaps a better preventive still is to throw aside the kin- dergarten slate altogether, or only use it for occa- sional dictations. Froebel says in regard to invention : " In no other way can human work be trans- indention formed into free activity. It can only *° i>ra^^in«- become intellectual action out of what has been mere mechanical action, when the occupation of the hand is at the same time the occupation of the mind. . . . Every human work corresponds more or less with creative activity, and this is necessary in order to make man the image of his Divine Creator, — a creator, on his own part, in minia- ture." 1 The kindergartner who fails to bring out this inventive ability in the child leaves unfulfilled the highest promise of the system. People are some- times skeptical about its existence in such tiny pupils, and doubt their ability to produce original 1 Reminiscences of Froebel, page 238. 84 LINEAR DRAWING symmetrical forms and designs. They almost in- variably say that, at all events, if these appear, it must be due to individual talent and not to the Troebel system. But we know the perfection of every detail in that system, how the child is acted upon, and how he responds to the surrounding influences. He understands perfectly, though un- wittingly, Froebel's law of the connection of oppo- sites, and without any learning of dead rules or philosophic abstractions he goes straight to the mark and creates his form, whatever it may be. To an outsider the inventive power of the chil- dren appears more curious and wonderful than it really is, for none but the initiated realize the effect of the daily training on the child ; the great perfection of observation which is culti- vated, the clear impressions received, the strict discipline of mind, and above all, the atmosphere of harmony and beauty surrounding him, which develops all that is aesthetic within him and makes him an embryo artist, without special effort on his part. And why should he not be so? The kindergartner is, or should be, an artist herself, in the large meaning of the word, and she is the child's daily companion and example. His play is replete with grace, poetry, and harmony, his hourly occupations are bright with color, and full of symmetry, precision, and dainty neatness. All his possibilities are expanding in an atmosphere of love, joy, sympathy, human affection, and com- LINEAR DRAWING 85 panionship ; in the society of dozens of small beings, for the most part trying to be generous, kind, and lovely ; literally, all the arts wait upon him, why should he not be or grow artistic? Is there not a grave fault somewhere, if he appears to have no love for the beautiful or power of pro- ducing it, after he has been acted upon by his surroundings for a sufficiently long time? Our general system of public instruction too often suc- ceeds in well-nigh destroying the creative power in children, and all but " overwhelming and im- perious genius " is crushed beneath its relentless methods, so that Art, instead of becoming the ideal of the whole race, unveils herself only to the eyes of a few. And no art is merely ornamental ; it is also use- ful. It has been said by experienced Manual and practical men that in nine trades Jh^Slr- out of ten a boy who can draw well has ^*^*®°' a vast advantage over one who cannot. The sub- ject of manual training in education is now en- grossing so much attention that people cannot fail to see how admirably it is begun in the kin- dergarten. The training must, of course, be entirely of a preparatory nature with us, indeed it may be questioned whether, in any case, a child could master a trade during his school life, or whether it is best that he should do so ; but what we de- sire is the training of the eye and hand in design 86 LINEAR DRAWING and the principles of construction, so that when our children come to the work of life they will not be entirely unprepared. As the director ^ of the Public Industrial Art School of Philadel- phia has wisely said, " Kegard for the individual- ity of the pupil is the thing to be constantly kept in view ; to give additional power and facility to his hand, arm, eye, and brain. Give him the power to think and create anew, see that his eye is trained, his hand made dexterous, and his brain quickened, and you may trust him to learn with ease the art of handling machines or instruments of precision. He will handle and use them the better that his whole organization has been trained. Michael Angelo said, ' Man must carry his measuring tools in his eye, not in his hand.' " That teaching children how to use their hands would be allied to developing quickness of per- ception and cleverness in general, great writers and thinkers long ago held to be true, and it is now being successfully demonstrated. Charles G. Leland alludes to this in an article on "Hand- Work in Public Schools," and goes on to predict that the education of the future will embrace hand-work at every stage, from the kindergarten upward. It will be artistic at first, because art is easy, but gradually it will ripen into the practi- cal or technological. If our youth were all familiarized with work in 1 J. Liberty Tadd. LINE AM BB AWING 87 school, if it had been associated in their minds with art and design, it is certain that all preju- dice against it as work would disappear and our American children would have less antipathy to hand-labor. We must remember, however, in conclusion, that whatever the technical value of drawing or its usefulness as an accomplishment, its highest value, as Dr. Hailmann says, " lies in the respect- ful, loving nurture and development which it gives to the art-impulse of the learner." Drawing as Education. Its Pkactical Valub proved IN German Schools and Factories. — The United States consul at Chemnitz has been much impressed with the impor- tant place which drawing holds in the schools of Germany, and has summarized the results of his observations in a report which had just been published by the State Department. " I never knew the value of drawing," he writes, *' till I came to Germany. At Mannheim its meaning as an essential part of a German education had just begun to dawn on me. I saw its importance to the jewelry trade at Pforzheim. The more I studied the question of German education, especially technical education, the more drawing I found. It is the beg^ning and end of all technical education. " A good knowledge of drawing makes a boy more useful to his employer than any other branch. It is believed here that to be able to make or build anything, one must be able first to draw it. Then, again, a drawing mechanic can carry home exact ideas of things seen. It is the custo^i not only in Chemnitz, but in every city I have visited on the Continent, and more especially in Germany, to send out trained draughtsmen to expositions and fairs for the purpose of copying designs, new machines, etc. How well they have done their work is seen in the manufac- tures of Aix la Chapelle, Crefeld, Plauen, Leipsic, Chemnitz, Frankfort, and Berlin. 88 LINEAR DRAWING " The importance of this study may be seen in the many hours devoted to it from the kindergarten to the university. No other study in technical schools gets so many hours or more careful instruction. In day schools, evening schools, and Sunday schools, it is the same thing — drawing ! drawing ! drawing ! It is an aid rather than an injury to the memory. It trains the mind as well as the eye. It is as great an aid to the reasoning powers as is logic or mathematics. It is the very essence of both. One is always dealing with relations, making comparisons, seeking exactness. Besides, a sense of the harmonious and beautiful is developed. " What I want to point out is its practical value. The agents of houses in the United States who haunted the halls of sale in Roubaix, Lyons, and Troyes ten or twenty years ago, now come to Chemnitz, Plauen, Crefeld, Gera, and Glauchau. It was for- merly four weeks in Lyons or Troyes, and one or two days at Chemnitz, Crefeld, or Plauen. Now it is four weeks here, and days in the French textile centres. I do not say that this remark- able change is entirely due to drawing and designing, but I do claim that a very large part of it is. Nor am I alone in my belief that drawing may be an excellent substitute for logic and mathematics, for I found, after I had begun this report, books published in Germany containing the same ideas. " The best auxiliaries to the imagination or fancy are the dif- ferent styles of drawing. One author claims it as the best aid to technical skill for training the eyes, the best help to an appre- ciation of objective and perspective forms, and the appreciation of light and shadow. It is also regarded as a great aid to the understanding, — to mental measuring. . . . " I always find technical teachers enthusiastic over the subject. I know what opinions manufacturers hold in regard to it ; I know how eagerly the creations of French fancy (fantasie) and imagi- nation are copied here and made cheaper than in France and sold all over the world. By and by, with a wider development of this art, Germany will not need to go to France for ideas. With the power to put down on paper the myriad forms found in the forests and fields, to make combinations, to depict things seen by the mind's eye, will come novelties and perfect independence." k HANDFUL OF SIMILES ON DICTATION VERSUS INVENTION Dictation is the science ; invention the art of applying the science. Dictation furnishes the means ; invention is the end. Dictation is one of those unobtrusive agents which lie out of sight, as the root does in the ground ; invention is the blossom. The fruit is the conscious use of power in after years. Dictation is the moving cause ; invention the effect. Dictation is the text-book ; invention works through the book, but clothes each word with new meaning. It uses the book merely for a text, and the sermon should illuminate the text, and lift it into a higher significance. Dictation is the ladder on which to climb ; invention the blue sky beyond. Dictation is the eggshell, the thing visible ; in- vention the living thing that issues therefrom, — the life-principle. Dictation furnishes an inward guide, a govern- ing law ; invention lifts it up and changes it into something higher than law. If there is too much 90 A HANDFUL OF SIMILES law, the higher powers are too fully employed in obeying it, — creation languishes. If an eggshell were too thick, the principle of life, for the protection of which it alone existed, would be stifled. Dictation is the letter; invention the spirit. It is the letter which is in danger of killing, but the spirit giveth life. All great achievements are the result of pre- liminary discipline of mind, heart, or body, ex- cept in the case of genius, which is amenable to no laws, and works according to no fixed theories ; that sort of creative genius is higher than law, and can afford to do without it. OBJECTIONS TO LINEAR DRAWING Herbert Spencer, in discussing erroneousr methods in drawing,^ says that if teachers were guided by nature's hints in making the art a part of education, they would first lead the child to rep- resent things that are large, that are attractive in color, and around which pleasurable associations most cluster. He wholly disapproves of the for- mal discipline in making straight lines, and curved lines, and compound lines, with which it is the fashion of some teachers to begin, and likens it to a dry analysis of elements which, in the teaching of language, has been exploded. Mr. H. Court- hope Bowen, in his pamphlet on the " Education of Man," argues on much the same lines, saying, in particular, that Froebel seems to be premature in his insistence on the use of elements. He readily allows the inventiveness exercised by his plan, and thinks the checker-work fuU of useful suggestions, but holds that the inventiveness is far too little free, and very liable to resolve itself into what is merely mechanical. " Checker- work," he adds, " also affords but little help in exercising expression, for that to which it gives outward ^ Education, pages 140-147. 92 OBJECTIONS TO LINEAB DRAWING visible shape corresponds but in a very limited way to what is in the child's mind. It rather suggests new things to the child than expresses thoughts already his." The Committee on Kindergarten, and on Form Study and Drawing, presented a report to the New York Conference of Educational Workers, as long ago as October, 1889, in which the net- work drawing was criticised as follows : — " Drawing should be a means of thought ex- pression. The old network system of drawing on checkered paper should be discarded. It is wrong in principle, it cramps execution, prevents consideration of the drawing as a whole, debars the child from the free expression of thought, and is at variance with all other work of the modern kindergarten." For those who still believe in linear drawing. Answers to howcvcr, there is a little hope, in spite thSe Ob- of the above criticisms, and a few cham- jectiona. pjons yet remain to lead them against the foe. Dr. E. Seguin, although he criticises the " bi-lateral plan," and the " too symmetrical exer- cises " of kindergarten drawing, defends as fol- lows the use of the network or the dot : — " From the standpoint of the principles, there is only one true drawing, that is from nature, in- stead of from others' drawings ; and two methods : (a) one which leaves the field — or plan to draw upon — a blank upon which the imagination OBJECTIONS TO LINEAR DRAWING 93 images, and the hand traces the image ; (6) the second method covers the plan with lines ©r points of reference, which serve as guides to the eye and hand. Froebel adopted this latter course, likely the easier for infants, whose hand, alert at automatism, is irresolute under the dictates of a yet confused imagination." ^ Professor T. G. Rooper, in his study in prac- tical psychology, called "Drawing in Primary Schools," defends kindergarten drawing very warmly, and some of his remarks will be given in full, as his opinion, as coming quite from the outside, must at least be impartial. He says: " Kindergarten drawing on square-ruled paper is, to begin with, a happy and an absorbing occupa- tion ; were it no more, it would be valuable for this alone. But it is much more. Children can early learn from it what is the use and meaning of symmetry, and this without technical language. . . . The point to remember is, that Froebel was much interested in crystallography and its con- nection with geometrical forms. All kindergar- ten drawing which is not founded on geometrical forms is debased, and not according to the idea of the founder. Symmetry is not the same thing as proportion, but is of even greater practical value in every-day life. ... It is my belief that it is of great consequence to establish early in the mind of a child conceptions of symmetry, such as, ^ Seguin's Education^ page 169. 94 OBJECTIONS TO LINEAR DRAWING I think, drawing on square-ruled paper leads to. . . . We have seen how large a share the mind has in combining the impressions which it re- ceives from the outside, and we can understand how important are the early images which a child learns to construct for itself in interpreting im- pressions. Geometrical patterns, both in curved and straight lines, seem to me the best foundation for this all-important sense of symmetry." Pro- fessor Rooper also defends the drawing of curves on square-ruled paper, as the natural form is based upon the geometrical one, and the regular curves may be used as an introduction to the artistic curves of growing and living forms, such as the branches of trees, the veins of leaves, or the shape of fruit. There is another serious question, however, to Evil Effects be considered in using the network in Work." drawing, and that is the evil physio- logical and psychological effects of too fine work. The size of the squares has gradually increased on kindergarten paper until now one never sees the checkering of one sixth and even one eighth of an inch, upon which linear drawing was some- times executed a dozen years ago. The squares now used are commonly one fourth of an inch in size, but those kindergartners who continue to use the network would probably be much more nearly right, and certainly far safer, if they in- creased the scale to a haK or three quarters of an OBJECTIONS TO LINEAR DRAWING 95 inch. If even this is found to produce evil effects, then it is obvious that this method of drawing must be promptly dislodged from its place in the kindergarten, for no intelligent follower of Froe- bel would for a moment retain an occupation which its designer would have been the first to discard, had he held the objections against it to be cogent. This brings us back to the question, already several times discussed, of the fundamental versus the accessory muscles, and the danger of over- training the latter by too fine work at the expense of power in later years. If all the principles on which the question rests are correctly stated, then it is evident that we should not expect accuracy at first from little children, but be satisfied with crudity and get accuracy afterwards, or in other words that beauty must not first be considered, but power. Professor John Dewey has lately written a letter to a prominent kindergartner regarding the fine work, which is of application J'^«"^' here and is worthy of quotation, because objections. of the eminence of the author and the value of his opinion as an expert. Professor Dewey says : "I do not have any practical data at hand re- garding * fine work ; ' theoretically, there is no doubt in my mind of its inadequacy and per- verseness. 1 think physicians would be of one ^nind as to its bad effects upon the optic nerve 96 OBJECTIONS TO LINEAR DRAWING and the motor nerves of hand and eye, leading to some strain in eye, and tendency to chorea (if in subtle form) in muscular system. " The evil psychological effect is just as certain if not quite so obvious, — it tends to Jix, to arrest imagery, and thus produce that cramping effect which you speak of having noticed. In holding attention to minute work, there is certainly a habit formed which thwarts attention of the free, easy flow it might otherwise attain. The large flow of imagery is balked in being held down so minutely and narrowly. Free coarse work grad- ually refining itself, seems to me the law. . . . This fine work, it seems to me, calls attention to technique before the idea is formed, therefore disturbing and hindering the growth of the idea. First the crude idea, then the technique in order to perfect the idea, seems to me the law." The only objection to be made to this opinion, so far as we see, at least, is that it is dren in- questionable whether children naturally Btinctively • -,• make petty mcline to larsfc movements and lar2:e Figures? . . , . designs m drawing, or whether, on the contrary, they do not instinctively make petty figures. '' Just so in the infancy of a race," as Charles G. Leland says, " it perfects the petti- ness of illuminating manuscripts before designing grandly." To begin with large figures, then, if the above theory be well founded, would be to contradict, in that respect at least, the parallel OBJECTIONS TO LINEAR DRAWING 97 between the development of the child and the race ; but there is no doubt that we may easily make too much of this theory and strive to carry it farther than it should legitimately go. Practically we can lay it down as a principle, that the child who has been too long accustomed to short lines, small designs, and petty figures will never be able to do the large free work which is so valuable, so artistic, and so effective, though the reverse of the principle is as certainly not true, for in this case, as in all others, the greater includes the less. OUTLINE DRAWING "Objects which the child could move, which were in sight, he laid on the board, or bench, or table, and drew their forms on the plane surface, following the boundaries of the objects with his hand. Soon scissors and boxes, but soon, also, leaves and twigs, even his own hand, or the shadows of objects, will be thus copied." Fk. Froebel. " The Encyclopedia Britannica says the children, when left to themselves, draw in outline, and we know that the early races did so. The Egyptians and the ancient Romans used words which expressed the conception that drawing was done in line. The historical development of drawing may always be seen in the practice of children when left to draw for their own amuse- ment. They begin as the human race began, with firm outlines representing men and animals, usually in profile. The next thing they do, if left to their own instincts, is to fill up the spaces so marked out with colors, the brightest they can get. This is genuine primitive art." Materials for Outline Drawing : Simple forms of animals, fruits, flowers, geometrical plane figures, etc., cut from heavy colored cardboard ; black and colored pencils ; unruled paper or Theke is perhaps no art which, like drawing, is at the same time so purely aesthetic tSi^^ue and so thoroughly practical. It rewards of Drawing. -^^ dcvotec witli cqual beneficence, be he artist or artisan. It is of as much service to the man who designs a bookcase, as to him OUTLINE DRAWING 99 who decorates a palace. And does not this very fact prove its preeminence as an art? It can descend to the depths and rise to the heights ; it may be used, and with good effect, both by the rudest savage and by the man who, in education, refinement, and aesthetic taste, is the very flower of our modern civilization. And it is well, in our practical age, that an art which, like drawing, is so preeminently useful, should at the same time be linked of necessity to all that is beautiful. It can never be degraded to purely sordid ends, for its service is an education in the largest sense — used even in the rudest way it contains a hint of something higher. It serves best him who loves it best, but he who best loves it is he who takes infinite pains, who spares neither time nor trouble in perfecting his work. And there is, no doubt, a reflex influence upon the pupils in the enthusiasm with which a master or teacher regards his work. The influence is largely unconscious, entirely so in the case of young children, but it is none the less, or perhaps all the more, effective. This is especially true in regard to the kinder- gartner and her tiny pupils. If she be herself something of an artist, that is, influence of if she have the artistic feeling and a nempon , , . her Pupils. correct idea of symmetry and design, she will not allow the children under her charge to make awkward, inharmonious designs, to per- form coarse, blurred work, to draw crooked, wav- 100 OUTLINE DRAWING ering lines, and make thick strokes. If it be a pleasure to her to handle the pencil, a real delight to draw, if only a row of lines, so long as they are straight and regular, then her children will find it a pleasure, too, and there will be inward and outward rejoicing in the drawing hour. This love of drawing is a special bent of mind or fingers, better developed in some people than in others, but it can be cultivated to a great extent, and there is no reason why every kindergartner may not, with sufficient trouble and study, and by the aid of the various methods at her command, make her children thorough little artists in the bud. Though the kindergarten system of drawing does not profess to do more than lay the dergarten fouudatiou for futurc artistic work, yet should ac- if propcrly carried out in its varied complish. . branches it should and does accomplish certain things. The child who has spent three years in the kindergarten should have good command over his fingers, should be able to draw curved lines as well as straight, and make use of both in sym- metrical design ; he should have some conception of color and its artistic use, and have an idea, however small, of freehand drawing. One common and well-founded objection made to kindergarten drawing is that, as it is com- monly used, it does not make the children suf- OUTLINE DRAWING 101 ficiently self - dependent. The network, or dot, has been considered invaluable as a guide to eye and fingers. We hardly thought we could teach drawing to such little children without it, and by its use beautiful results were certainly accom- plished ; but we must remember that it never was intended to be anything but an aid, and when the fingers had attained some dexterity, it was expected that we should be able, now and then, to dispense with it. A child learns to walk, clinging to its mother's hand ; he needs her aid and encouragement, but surely there comes a time when he may essay a few trembling steps alone, when he may let go her hand and trust to his own effort. We should not then use the network or the dot so constantly as to hinder the child from ever taking a step alone. Linear drawing, though it gives command of fingers, correctness of eye, knowledge of straight and curved lines, and power of combination and invention, can scarcely be called, save in these re- spects, a preparation for freehand work. There- fore, we need another branch of draw- vaiueof ing which shall supplement the linear. Drawing. giving what it lacks; and this we find admira- bly supplied in outline drawing. This, for four reasons, has not been sufficiently used in many of our kindergartens, — First, it is comparatively difficult to provide good patterns; second, they are not at all durable, being made of paste- 102 OUTLINE DRAWING board ; third, the work needs rather more over- sight for its proper performance than does the linear drawing; and, fourth, many kindergart- ners have failed to appreciate its importance. Its value, however, is recognized by Froebel when he says: "Much is developed in the child by this action, more than it is possible to express; he gains by this clear comprehension of the form, the possibility of representing the form separate from the object, the possibility of retaining the form as such, the strengthening and fitting of the arm and hand for the free representation of form." 1 Outline drawing is performed by means of a How it is series of pasteboard patterns, including performed, geometrical forms, forms of animal life, household furniture, etc., each pattern being carefully shaded and decorated by the kindergart- ner. The pasteboard model is laid on paper, or the unruled side of the kindergarten slate, by the child, who holds it in position and marks its outline. When the outline has been drawn, he should add the various finishing touches after the model in his possession, this work being ne- cessarily freehand. If it is a cat, he must add eyes, whiskers, marks to show the division of the feet into toes, etc. ; if it is a leaf he must add the stem, the midrib, and the veins. Every kinder- garten should possess full sets of these patterns, ^Education of Man, page 44 (Jarvis translation). OUTLINE DRAWING 103 carefully graded as to difficulty, and divided into forms of life and knowledge. The forms of know- ledge are easily convertible into forms of beauty, thus making the three divisions of objects, accord- ing to Froebel. The forms of knowledge are, of course, geometrical, are much simpler than the other patterns, and may be used by the younger children in connection with the less difficult forms of life. The geometrical forms themselves may and should be converted into forms of life by kindergartner and children, thus giving them a more vivid interest to the baby mind. The child will outline rows upon rows of squares, if the kindergartner only sug- Transfomm- gests with word or pencil a tiny lock comWnltion and a cover, thus making them into °^^°"^ pictures of boxes. The right isosceles triangles may be made into cocked hats, by adding a plume of feathers ; the equilaterals serve for tents, with a line to show where the curtains open ; the pen- tagons may be turned into charming little houses, with door, window, and chimney all complete ; the circles become wheels, the octagons clocks, and so on, in an endless and delightful whirligig where everything is itself, and at the same time something else. The circle is indeed a veritable Protean form, and lends itseK to as many dis- guises as the wicked magician in the fairy tales who can turn himself with equal ease into a smoking volcano, or a " wee, sleekit " mousie. It 104 OUTLINE DRAWING needs but a magic touch to transform the circle into a kitten, a Jack-o-Lantern, a rabbit, a sleep- ing bird, a globe of goldfish, a teakettle, a sun hat, a round-eyed moon, a downy chicken, or the head of an almond-eyed Chinese baby. The geometrical forms may also, as has been suggested, be used in producing forms of beauty. The child makes really beautiful inventions by placing the pattern in various positions, and tracing the outline, working according to the connection of opposites, and thus making a com- plete figure. The forms of life are more diffi- cult and complicated, but they may be carefully graded and sets kept in stock for both older and younger pupils. For the younger, we may have eggs of various sizes and kinds on which the spots are to be placed, simple leaves like the eucalyptus, where the midrib only is shown ; fruits, vegeta- bles, pitchers, cups, teakettles, hats, bells, flower- pots, etc. For the older ones, we may have any pattern, Varieties of "^* ^^^ dclicatc Or difficult, which our Patterns. j^raius may devise and our fingers serve to work out. In the insect world, bees and but- terflies, beetles and dragon - flies are easy of accomplishment ; ducks and geese, swans and ostriches, birds resting and flying, when drawn on a moderately large scale, can be successfully outlined ; fish and reptiles, pigs and horses, dogs and cats, many kinds of leaves and the simpler OUTLINE DRAWING 105 flowers can all be drawn, if the child has prac- ticed the simpler models well, and been trained to be exact in his work and careful of his pattern. If he has been allowed to drop his simple model on the floor without rebuke, to convey it to his mouth in temporary abstraction, or use it as a weapon against his neighbors, you may be sure he will do the same with the animal or the leaf it has taken you half an hour to prepare for him. So at the very first lesson we should insist upon great care in the use of these patterns, since with the best of treatment they do not long remain in good condition. When the child is sufficiently advanced and has drawn the outline of the pattern a connection number of times, he should lay it one Jaudih^. side and try to sketch it, his eye being '°*^' the only guide ; while later on, he should try to draw it from memory. This is an important step toward freehand drawing, and is really not so difficult for the child as might at first appear. There is great danger in giving indiscriminate praise in all this work. Undoubtedly the child should be encouraged and his efforts appreciated, but there is no reason why he should be told his work is beautiful, when it bears no resemblance to the pattern he is copying. If he makes a vertical line, as straight as an arrow, through the middle of a geranium leaf, and on either side draws slanting lines that look like nothing but 106 OUTLINE DRAWING herring-bones, in what respect are these like the beautiful curving veins of the leaf itself? If we tell him his work is " beautiful," why should he try to do better next time ? Is not " beauti- ful " quite well enough ? Nor should we hurry him in this outline work, but rather hold him back. His natural desire apj)ears to be to get his paper " full," and have another pattern as soon as possible. It is our place to inculcate such maxims as Haste makes Waste, Quality not Quantity. It is not abso- lutely essential that he should draw ten leaves as quickly and as carelessly as possible, and then exchange his pattern with his neighbor, but it is essential that he should draw one leaf moder- ately well, and at least slowly and with care. We sometimes content ourselves with too little in our labors with the children. They can do really good and artistic work, and that without over- stimulation or pushing, but if we are content with less than their best, we shall always get just that, and nothing more. It is the first steps which cost in the kinder- garten. If we are untiring in our efforts to make the children neat and careful during their first year of systematic education, then neatness and carefulness will grow to be second nature witli them, and having sown the good seed, we shall find it springing up and blossoming in a thousand lovely forms. OUTLINE DRAWING 107 In all this drawing, the shading and decorating of the patterns is of course the essential thing, and the thing for which the occupation exists. The simple drawing of the outline is of little benefit to the older children, unless accompanied by the artistic finishing touches, and to fill a paper with outlines, no one of which has received a single original line from the child, is to defeat the very object for which the work was devised. If it is true, as Colonel Parker says, that an ill-written word should never be seen - . Necessity o£ for a moment by pupils leammg to caremmak- , . . / 1 . 11 ingandse- write, how is it about drawmo: and the lecting Pat- . . ° tems. models given to the child ? Can we suppose for a moment that a strong influence, in the wrong direction, will not be made upon the child's mind when he draws from a soiled, discol- ored bit of pasteboard, with shading and decora- tion poorly done and half effaced ? We do not claim that the child will fully appreciate the artistic work, the care and skill bestowed on a really good set of drawing patterns, but if there is anything at all in education by means of the beautiful, — in unconscious example, — then here it may be felt. It is sometimes well in outline drawing to teach the child to combine the patterns, combination For instance, he may be given the model °* ^a^^™*- of a table. After this has been successfully drawn, give him a cup or pitcher, perhaps, and let him 108 • OUTLINE DRAWING outline them in their position on the table. When he is given a leaf, show him how to make the branch, and let him draw a number of leaves in various positions, attaching them to the branch at proper distances. This work may be very well done with the natural leaves, when the children are somewhat advanced, and are beginning to have an idea of freehand drawing. They have already some command of their fingers and pen- cil, and can hold the leaf in position and trace its outline without tearing the delicate edge. Single flowers can be very prettily done. The single dahlia, the wild rose, the marguerite, the sin- Drawing gle sunflower ; in fact any flower hav- and colonng ^ \ Flowers. jng quc row of pctals radiating from a round or oval centre, can easily be drawn. Each child is given a model the size and shape of the centre of the flower, and also a model of one of the petals. Having drawn the centre, he can move the pattern of the petals around in reg- ular order until all are drawn, and can after- ward add the stem and leaves according to sug- gestion. When the children can do the leaf and flower work with comparative ease on the slates, they may use paper and colored pencils, filling in the outline with the appropriate color. This, of course, is a delightful exercise, and aifords a good opportunity for artistic effects in color. This work may also be combined with paper cutting. The children may draw the leaves and OUTLINE DRAWING 109 flowers on the proper colored paper, afterwards cutting them out and decorating them and past- ing them in their books of school work. Outline drawing being an absolutely flexible occupation, there is no reason why it r ' / Connection should not be related, whenever given, of outline 11 Drawing to the other work of the week, and thus with other Work. aid in strengthening the desired impres- sions. Enough patterns can be fashioned to suit any thought which the kindergartner desires to express, and thus the handiwork of the child be only another note in a strong harmonious chord, instead of the touch upon a single string, incom- plete in itself and related to nothing else. All this work of course demands carefulness, patience, and perseverance on the part of kindergartner and child. As for the the work 1 ^ ^ 1 °^ Kinder- kmdergartner, she must ever be shod gartner . . and Child. with the shoes of patience and clad with the garment of perseverance. She knows that in all work, in proportion as the result is beau- tiful and artistic, so the effort used to produce it must have been long continued. There is no royal road to learning, nor has one ever been found to manual dexterity. Continued practice is necessary until the hand and fingers have be- come trained into good habits, into rapid, uncon- scious response to the dictates of the mind. Outline drawing is a very simple occupation, it is true, but it is valuable in various ways, and in 110 OUTLINE DRAWING order that the child may gain real good from it, the kindergartner must exercise constant care that he does his best, and that the models she sets before him are well-made and well-chosen. If she attends to these essentials, and if the atmosphere of her kindergarten is a serene and harmonious one, with no hurry or worry or fret- fulness or fever about it, then all things conspire together for the child's benefit, and in this as in all other occupations the manual and mental results obtained will be really beautiful and sat- isfying. CIRCULAR DRAWING "But soon these lines become, for the child that is led to observe nature and surrounding things, a means of further rep- resentation. So the circle that he can draw fairly, now becomes for him the picture of the moon, the sun, a disk even of an apple, a ball, a hoop, a ring, etc. He has seen in meadows, in the garden and field, the three-leaved clover with its roundly single leaves, and the five-leaved flowers of the most different kinds with their circular corolla, and represents them easily with winding curved lines, and, still further, radiating flowers and the numerous feathered leaves, that are sometimes quite circular ; as, for example, the beautiful feathered leaves of the matterdom (a sort of field rose), of the acacia, etc., or, further, beautifully paired stem-leaves ; as, for example, in the sunny blooming pfennig-kraut. But the child's impidse to represent by drawing ventures also near the living ; he tries to represent the rabbit, with its rounding forms, the little mouse, sheep, dove, etc." Fb. Fboebel. Materials for Circular Drawing : Wooden disks three inches, two inches, one inch in diameter ; drawing paper ; lead pencils and colored crayons.^ The passage from Froebel given at the head of this chapter sufficiently shows his opin- jYoebei an ion in regard to the importance of the circSJ* °* curve in drawing. In a letter to one ^'■*'^'"k- of his pupils, written in 1852, he says, concerning ^ The Cont^ crayons give, in our opinion, the greatest variety in color and the best results, though those made by Faber are also good, and Dixon's red pencil is very useful. 112 CIRCULAR DRAWING the subject of drawing: "Little of this can be done in the kindergarten, because the fingers are still too weak. Stick-laying takes the place of drawing, and the making of circles with the slate pencil, of which the children are so fond; and this can be carried to the representation of simple forms of leaves and flowers." In another place he shows quite elaborately how the child, through the sketching of all kinds of curvilinear repre- sentations in the sand or dust, or on a window- pane covered with a film of moisture, at last reaches drawing, as such, of lines, and, he adds distinctly, " of the curved line first and after- wards of the straight line^ ^ Miss Marwedel's system of circular drawing was described by her under the name of wedei sys- " Childhood's Poctry and Studies in the Circular Life, Form, and Colors of Nature," — Drawing. the whole scheme, however, embracing exercises with the first and second gifts, circular sewing, and plays with the ellipsoids and with the colored wooden rings, which she termed " Baby's Ringolettes." It is based upon the strength of her feeling that the simplest forms of nature which surround the child are earliest compre- hended by him, and first awaken the wish of imitation. "Education must avail itself of this fact," she said, " not with the heaping together of externally given words — stifling all individual ^ W. N. Hailmann, The Kindergarten Messenger^ October, 1882. CIRCULAR DRAWING 113 conception — but by activity, which leads to true knowledge." This is, of course, the purest kin- dergarten doctrine, and the whole system seems to follow out quite perfectly Froebel's suggestions in regard to the use of the curve. In a little pamphlet entitled, " A System of Child Culture," Miss Marwedel thus describes her circular drawing, and we give the descrip- tion in full, as the original is now difficult to ob- tain : — I. The Sphere Divided. Into halves, quarters, seg- ments, hollow, concentric hemispheres, and the ovoid in the sphere. This brings before the eye of the child a series of geometrical bases of plant-forms, such as the calyx, the open flower, blossom, and leaves, while the circle may serve to convey a picture of the inner structure of trees and branches. The parts are to be copied in clay, in cement, or by drawing and shading from the models. II. Methodical Making and Application of the Circle. Use forms giving views of the circle, as bot- tles, lids, rings of different sizes. In making the circles the child may at first use compasses, and later eye- measurements. (1) Finding the centre of the paper. (2) Making the centre with a dot. (3) Placing a ring or circular form on the paper, centre to centre. (4) Tracing the circular form with pencil — to be done with the left hand as well as the right. All these exercises to be executed at first on the blackboard, then 114 CIRCULAB DRAWING on paper with black, and finally with colored pencil on drawing paper. Series A. Forms of Knowledge. Making the circle and filling it with lines, drawn either from the circumference to the centre, or the re- verse. Use of both hands. This exercise develops the much needed flexibility of the wrist. Making the circle in three sizes for comparison. Applying the three primary colors. Inventions. Series B. Forms of Knowledge. Comparison between exercises 1 and 2 in Series A. Making concentric circles. Applying the three secondary colors. Inventions. Series C. Forms of Knowledge. Comparison of exercise 2 (Series B) with exercises 1 and 2 (Series A). Making the circle, divided from the centre by eye measure. Applying the three tertiary colors. Inventions. Series D. Individual and cooperative inventions, using colored circles, half-circles, etc. Series E. Four Charts on the Origin of Secondary and Teiv tiary Colors. CIRCULAR DRAWING 115 Series F. Four Charts on Shades, Blendings, Analysis, and Synthesis of Color. All the foregoing exercises lead from the under- standing of the circle to simple conceptions of similar- ity and dissimilarity in botanical forms. The forms are based on the circle, and lead gradually through fruits and flowers to leaves and roots.^ The circular drawing is closely connected with the study of the ball and sphere, the school of child by the division of these being led Drawi^. to find the ring or curved line. He impresses rings, saucers, tins, bottles, and box-covers of dif- ferent sizes in the sand, and also handles and draws them, and thus by his study of the round playthings, as Froebel says, " gains a clear and distinct perception and representation of the cur- vilinear form." After the making of circles in the sand, they are practiced on the blackboard with the right and left hands alternately, no particular size being prescribed, but every effort made from the be- ginning to get the desired easy movement of the wrist, and the circular sweep of the chalk. Then the children graduate to slate and pencil (if de- sired) or directly to pencil and paper, using now the wooden patterns or disks, and finally take up the work with colored crayons. 1 Series E and F (eight Color Charts) and four Form Charts (sphere, cube, cylinder, and sphere divided) may be had of D. C. Heath & Co. 116 CIRCULAB DRAWING Much practice is required before the little child can hold even the three-inch wooden disk firmly in place, trace its outline, and then fill it into a circle, working from circumference to centre, with round and round movements of the pencil. The two-inch disk is next to be conquered, then the one-inch, using successively the red, yellow, and blue crayons, and lastly the three sizes drawn together for comparison, first in vertical then in horizontal lines, touching each other. Now sim- ple inventions in the three sizes and colors are attempted, and then comparison made between the three circles arranged concentrically, — the colors of orange, green, and purple now being introduced. Miss Marwedel considers these, on the Newton and Brewster theory, as the second- ary colors, and provides for a series of exercises with overlapping circles, which show that a coat- ing of the red crayon laid over the yellow will produce a more or less recognizable orange. Now the broken ring or half-circle which gives the first idea of the end (or bud) comes into use, and the inventions grow much more elaborate, as it is possible to use three sizes of circles, three of half -circles, and the six colors. The next se- ries of exercises takes up the regular separation of the circle into halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, and sixths, the six colors being used in succession, and the orderly fractional divisions being in- tended to prepare for a corresponding division CIRCULAR DRAWING 117 in the petals of flowers. The three tertiary col- ors, citrine, russet, and olive, are now applied in a series of exercises ; ^ and inventions, both indi- vidual and cooperative, are provided for. All this work in colors upon complete curves, broken curves, circles and half -circles, is Natural preparatory, as Miss Marwedel said, to ^^^^^ a study of the life, form, and colors of Nature. We now enter upon nature work, taking up first the fruits as being attractive in appearance, plea- santly known to all children, and most closely connected with the ball. First the sphere must be studied, however, and drawn from the object itself, and as this is the first time that atten- tion has been directed to light and shade, some patience wiU be required as well as considera- ble practice before the fundamental principles of shading are discovered, and the children have learned how they may turn a flat disk into a veri- table ball with softly rounded sides. The time and pains spent here, however, are fitly bestowed, for all the beauty and value of the subsequent drawing depends upon how well these funda- mental principles are taught, and how well they are understood and practiced. When the sphere can be drawn in a tolerably ^ These exercises are arranged according to the Newton and Brewster theory, and endeavor to show the formation of the tertiaries, — citrine (orange and green), russet (orange and vio- let), olive (green and violet). 118 CIRCULAR DRAWING satisfactory manner, the fruit nearest it in shape is to be studied, the children selecting it them- selves and generally agreeing at once upon the orange. Of course the blending and overlaying of colors and the shading are more elaborate here, as well as the stroke of the pencil, which differs from the absolutely circular movement used in making the disk, and all these are always to be studied from the natural object. Then another nearly spherical fruit, the peach, for instance, is represented, and so on through a series of fruit studies. Each of these is drawn within a circle of suitable size, that its approach to and departure from the geometric outline may be clearly noted, — it is represented in the natural size and studied from the natural object. Vegetables next occupy the field, always lead- ing the children first to select the one most nearly spherical, then to handle it and study its varied tones of color and its distinctive peculiarities of form. Each vegetable is still represented within the circle, for the object of the entire system is to show that from that form all else in nature is evolved. The pencil stroke again differs here, and the reason why we may no longer draw ex- actly " round and round," or from top to bottom, is easily found out by a little study of the surface of the beet or the turnip. The representation of flowers in the circular drawing system begins, as in all the other series, CIRCULAR DRAWING 119 by the selection of as perfect a specimen of the desired outline as can be found, and the first blossom studied must have an entire corolla like the morning glory, thus corresponding to the un- divided circle. Two, three, four, five, and six petaled flowers follow, and it is desirable that the children select them all themselves in jour- neys with the kindergartner through field and garden, for only as we see them growing can we really know and love these visible proofs of the Father's goodness. After the flowers are drawn and studied, the circular system takes up leaf work, beginning per- haps with the "rounded shield" of the nastur- tium, and passing on to the more irregular leaves, with their varied forms and edges exquisitely cut. Roots and bulbs next occupy the children's attention, still being represented in circles of appropriate size, — though most of the roots have evidently now wandered far away from the origi- nal ground-form, and with these Miss Marwe- del's circular drawing system closes. Froebel noted, in the extract from the " Kin- dergarten Wesen," given at the begin- Animal ning of this chapter, that the child's ^°"^ impulse to represent by drawing ventures also near the living, and that he tries to make the rabbit with its rounding forms, the mouse, sheep, dove, etc. The circular drawing, as planned by Miss Mar- 120 CIRCULAB DRAWING wedel, has never attempted anything of this kind, but there seems no reason why an animal series should not follow the botanical forms, and be much enjoyed by the children of the connecting class, for instance. Many young animals, when quiet or asleep, resemble spheres as closely as do the fruits; witness, for instance, the downy chicken, the yellow, fluffy gosling, the kitten, or the rabbit. There are a variety of picture-books for children which make use of this resemblance, and show, by a few slight touches, the trans- formation of a ball into a drowsy cat, or the rear view of one intently watching a mouse-hole, of the mouse himself, of a long-eared rabbit, of a lambkin, a squirrel, a baby bear, a puppy, a turtle, a bird asleep on his perch, a globe-fish, a pouting pigeon, a hedgehog, or a porcupine. "The Nimble Pennies," a series of sketches by "Boz," lately published in "Little Men and Women," give many useful suggestions for this work, and the major part of the designs in " The Magic Pear " ^ could be appropriated for circular drawing. In these the pear is successively trans- formed into an elephant, a mouse, a dog's head, a rooster, an owl, a cat, a duck swimming, a wide- mouthed fish, a frog, a robin, and a rabbit, and one change is quite as easily effected as another, apparently. Older children would greatly enjoy depicting this animal series, and it would not be 1 The Magic Pear, designs by Morgan J. Sweeney. CIRCULAR DRAWING 121 at all difficult to procure living models of some of the above suggestions, and coax them into suf- ficient quietude for a hasty sketch. One objection to be made to circular drawing, though this does not apply to the sys- possiwe tem itself, but to its application, is the fo^fircuSJ fact that the drawing and coloring of ^"^^^^^s- the fruits, leaves, flowers, etc., is so often done from copies and not from the objects. The whole intent of the work is obviously to lead the child to the appreciation and interpretation of nature, and this object is never gained by interposing a copy between Nature's handiwork and the inter- preter. The rudest colored sketch of a peach, which the child makes from the peach itself, is worth inuneasurably more than the finely exe- cuted copy of a pictured peach. Such copies, as Professor T. G. Rooper says, " soon become deeply engraven on the memory, and supplant the more accurate mental images formed by the contempla- tion of the object; and, secondly, they form a kind of mould into which all fresh observations are run, and thus prevent the child from gaining new knowledge, even by a prolonged study of the object. The imperfect mental image hinders the acquisition of knowledge, partly by preventing any attention being paid to especial features, or features not previously observed, and partly because, through mental laziness, the familiar mental and conventional image of the object sup- 122 CIBCULAB BBAWING plants the fresh image before it has had any- permanent effect. . . . The child looks and learns nothing. Eyes he has, but he cannot see." Is there not, also, a certain objection to the somewhat analytic method which studies and represents one single flower and one single leaf by themselves, without regard to their connection ? Should not the process of drawing be rather a synthetic one, and show the flower and leaf to- gether, as they grow upon the stem ? Lastly, is not the smallest drawing pattern — one inch in diameter — somewhat too small, and would not the series of three disks be materially- improved for the use of little children, if the size were increased from one half to one inch? All these questions are put tentatively, and may be answered by each kindergartner for herself. A famous English artist^ has spoken of the Values of kindergarten in words which apply quite Drawing. perfectly to circular drawing. "The Eroebel system," he says, "teaches children by forms before they can read and write, and I be- lieve it is right. . . . The more you teach children to look for beauty around them, the more they will think of it in later life. Then let us open their eyes to the beauty of nature, and let them find joy in form and color. It will bear fruit, as throughout life they will be guided by taste, and art and industry will profit by it." ^ Laurence Alma-Tadema, R. A. CIRCULAE DRAWING 123 The long series of exercises with the various colored crayons upon whole and half circles of different sizes, and curves of varying lengths, the wide field for inventions thus opened, and the easy freehand movement of the pencil, which must be practiced, are so many of the values of circular drawing (even should they not be fol- lowed by nature work), for they teach "the art of color, of life, and of form in direct applica- tion to what we are to do with each, and the children study the harmony of color as the notes in music." Not all artists are agreed that the child shall use color in sketching from objects and nature throughout his entire school life, some contending that between the first or second school year and the high school, there should be an intervening period devoted to long and rigid drill in draw- ing and in light and shade. No objection, how- ever, could be made to allowing the kindergarten child to express ideas of form from nature with color, because here technical excellence is not ex- pected. The varied uses and beauties of this system of circular drawing, however, are best epitomized in Miss MarwedeFs own words : — " Therefore, as the curved line presents the line of all life and beauty, enabling the child to recognize in diversity similarity, and in similar- ity diversity, the unity of the universe and the 124 CIRCULAB DRAWING simplicity of its laws, let us lead the child to use its relation to all that exists, in order to create in the unity of right seeing, right doing, and right knowing, the poetry of childhood found in Nature's great alphabet of form." ^ 1 Emma Marwedel, Kindergarten Messenger ^ October, 1882. FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING " It is the fault of all current systems of drawing that they limit the youthful mind to small inventions. . . . All who pro- pose to teach or leam art in any form should seriously consider freehand as the true key to all its practice. It is a great stimu- lant to quickness of perception." Chas. G. Leland. It seems to be supposed by some critics upon kindergarten drawing, that Froebel con- pro^bepg fined his plans for the occupation ex- ©^wi^g'^not clusively to that department of the art ^S^^r^ which could be executed upon the net '^^"^*^°"- or checker work, and which would lead eventu- ally to designing, while giving ideas of S3mimetry and regularity and the development of geometric form. That this is not so, however, is evident to any one who will read his writings carefully, and note that he explicitly states that after the pupil has made the required progress in the prelimi- naries, then perspective drawing, appreciation of light and shade, and drawing from nature will follow. As a matter of fact these have not followed in most cases, and many drawing teachers Linear have even gone so far as to say that S^sTdefed^i kindergarten drawing absolutely unfits for¥rTi'°° the child for working from nature. ^*"^^°'^^ 126 FBEEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING That there is good cause for such a criticism in some quarters at least, not even the willfully blind can deny, but it may well be asked how much of this unfitness results from the system, and how much from the interpreter. Many kindergartners have augmented all the bad features of the Froe- bel drawing by using too small checker work ; by giving petty, trivial figures in dictation, there- by filling the child's mind with petty images ; by detaining him so long on one kind of line as to give a permanently cramped position of the hand ; by using the linear drawing only, to the exclu- sion of the other methods, and by deferring until very late in the kindergarten course, or not intro- ducing at all, the curved lines which are so valu- able for later school work and for sketching, and so satisfying to the child. There is, of course, no need for any of these abuses, but no person of experience can deny that they have been the rule, rather than the exception, in linear drawing. So far as the network is concerned, it was merely intended as an aid to eye and fingers when these were too weak and unpracticed to carry out the dictates of the mind, and if used merely as an aid, and for preliminary exercises, would prob- ably do no harm, but on the contrary be quite useful if the scale upon which it was constructed was large enough not to injure the eye, or require too delicate movements of the hand and fingers. It seems undeniable, however, that drawing by FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING 127 the aid of dots or checkers, the execution of lines of various leno^ths and inclinations, and 4 P^epara- o ^ tion for the combination of these into symmet- design. rical figures and borders would lead much more naturally to all kinds of designing, to architec- tural and industrial drawing, etc., than to the representation of natural objects. Though many kindergartners of to-day willingly acknowledge the use and beauty of linear drawing, they feel it quite as necessary that the children under their charge should be artists in the sense of interpreters of nature, as that they should be designers, and that the natural order of things would be to cultivate the faculty of design after the ability to represent nature had been devel- oped. From this feeling and from the various objections already given to linear drawing, has grown the demand for freehand work from the first. That this demand is universal, we do not assert, for many kindergartners, be they right or wrong, still claim that by beginning with the linear drawing properly carried out, and alternat- ing it regularly with outline and circular work, they so train the child's eye to correct seeing, and his hand to respond to the dictates of the will, that in his last year in the kindergarten, he is able to execute freehand drawing in a most pleas- ing and satisfactory manner, and after a little practice to sketch intelligibly any simple object placed before him. 128 FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING " It is easier," says Mr. Charles G. Leland, "to learn to draw well than to write well, and there is Freehand no child who would not do both admira- Drawing defined. ^ly jf jt were obliged from the first hour to use freehand ; that is to say, to control the pen or pencil from the shoulder, allowing the arm to rest on the table just enough to prevent fatigue." To adopt such a method of drawing in the kin- dergarten, if it is practicable, would certainly sat- isfy the physiologist and the psychologist, would come nearer to suiting the artist, and would meet with no disapproval from those who feel that the object of kindergarten drawing is not " the imita- tion of art-forms, but the cultivation of artistic self-expression." The great arguments advanced by the cham- FirstExer- pio^s of freehand drawing, or plastic Freehand drawing as it is sometimes called, are rawing. ^^^^ |^ ^^^ natural order of mental de- velopment, synthetic exercises should come before analytical, mass before detail, and the whole be- fore its elements. " Children," says Mr. Court- hope Bowen, " and a great many adults also, do not see outlines at all at first, or only very dimly. Things appear to them as masses of color or light and shade, with edges not by any means sharply defined. We should begin with masses of color and light and shade, and work gradually towards improvement of outline — at least, so it seems to some of us." FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING 129 These arguments seem to be borne out by the spontaneous drawings of children so far as these have been studied, the results of special observa- tions in this line by several paidologists, proving that young children (five years and imder) " do not regard details in things, but look upon them as wholes capable of being put to some practical use." Our own experiments in a different line have gone to prove the correctness of the observa- tions by showing that very young children natu- rally concern themselves little about the size or form or color of an object, or animal, but very much about what it can do and what it is good for. The first exercises in freehand drawing are upon circles, thus connecting with the study of the sphere. The child should be carefully trained in the position of hand and pencil and paper, and know before the drawing begins what he is ex- pected to do and the manner in which it is to be done. It is well for the teacher first to draw a number of circles upon the blackboard so that all may watch the round and roimd movement of the chalk ; in some kindergartens the children execute all the first exercises on the blackboard, as it is thought that they thus become accustomed from the beginning to larger, freer movements. It is well also in the beginning to practice circular movements in the air, in time to music or a song. One might suppose that it would be very easy for 130 FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING children to make approximately perfect circles in this manner, but partly because they have never observed the form closely, and partly because their hands are untrained, they commonly pro- duce at first, parallelograms, ellipses, polygons, or strange amorphous blurs and unintelligible scratches. Even the circular movement of the pen- cil is not easily learned, and must be practiced so often that it becomes necessary, in order to avoid monotony, to join with the work — as Froebel ad- vised in the " Kindergarten Wesen " — " the ex- planatory word that speaks to the mind," or " the clearing, rejoicing word of song." Color may also add its magic touch here and make the work all golden to the child. He may have bright chalks for the blackboard, and crayons or powdered pas- tels and stumps for the paper, — the color being used, if considered desirable, as a legitimate re- ward for effort and improvement. If the circles are drawn on paper, each effort should be discussed and compared with others to see whether the form is in the middle of the paper, whether it is of an appropriate size and has a proper margin, whether the circular form is approached or reached, and whether the desired stroke has been kept throughout. The child takes great delight in his own improvement, and if his practice papers are kept and shown him from les- son to lesson, he will observe with pride his steady climb, round by round, up the ladder of progress. FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING 131 When the circular movements have been learned fairly well; when the children subsequent can make circles of various sizes, so ^"'""^^ that he who does not run too fast may read them ; when they have been combined in various ways, and when, therefore, eye and hand have received much preliminary training, we may begin a little study of light and shade by means of objects. Let it not be supposed, however, that the above knowledge has been gained in a day or in a week or a month ; for infinite pains, and much good and inspiring teaching have been bestowed on that rough circle which the casual visitor looks upon so carelessly. The fact is, that drawings pro- duced by the freehand method are not for a long time what can be called " show work." They are truthful and honest, therefore beautiful, in one sense, and they are always interesting to the teacher; but they are absolutely crude at first, and sometimes discouraging to those who have not learned to estimate effort and achievement at their true value. When, however, in the judg- ment of the kindergartner, the children are ready for the work, the ball suspended by its string is frequently first attempted, each exercise being preceded by a talk about the object, so that an intelligent beginning may be made. Even now, strange as it may appear, the string will be repre- sented, quite as frequently, as coming from the side, or lower portion of the ball, as from the 132 FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING top, and sometimes is not connected with it at all; though the fact that it is always conspicu- ously drawn somewhere on the paper, is proof that it is seen and considered important. Ee- peated effort is necessary here, comparison with the teacher's ball and with the balls of other children, before it is properly drawn, and even then it is a circle with a string, and not a sphere. The gradations of light and shade, which are needed to make it look spherical, are much more difficult, and can only be represented approxi- mately by little children. Some kindergartners prefer a fruit, — a rosy apple, for instance, — in- stead of a ball for this first sketching, as the variety in color is more attractive, and the gloss on its rounded sides makes the high light more easily seen. If the kindergartner uses a reading glass to focus the rays more perfectly, it will be an illumination to the children, as well as to the apple, and if the fruit be placed on white paper the shadow will be seen more easily. A great many experiments will be made here before satis- factory results can be obtained, for it is essential that, in various playful ways, the kindergartner should lead the children to see for themselves the light and the shadow, and not point it out to them, or indicate in so many words the fault in the sketch. We may, of course, use parti- colored apples, as well as red, for this first work ; but it is easier to see the light on a dark-red fruit FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING 133 than on a yellow one, for instance. Then follow pears, tomatoes, oranges, etc., and any vegetables which are approximately round and regular, and by and by, if we have patience, we shall be aston- ished at the truth with which the child represents simple objects. After a year's training, the child of five years draws quite well, and with expres- sion, flowers, and fruits, and leaves, and other simple objects, as a vase or a cup* to hold the blossoms, a flower-pot with its growing plant, or a bunch of cherries with its leaves. It is the eas- ier to teach the child to draw in this manner, be- cause he is entirely without " the embarrassment of knowledge," which, as the artists say, so " perverts the appearance of things," and therefore draws from what he sees, and not from what he knows. All the other occupations and gift work of the kindergarten are so many aids to draw- ins:, for they all cultivate observation, of other , , 11. -• . Kindergar- develop the aesthetic nature, and tram ten work to *■ ^ Drawing. the hand, the eye, and the mind. Model- ing is of particular value in this regard, for by handling the soft clay the child makes the very object which he subsequently draws, and so learns to know, as he could in no other way, its distinc- tive peculiarities of form. We have no concep- tion, until we have tried to model an object, how little we ever knew about it, though we may have looked at it every day of our lives siuce child- hood. Modeling, cutting, and drawing are now 134 FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING used as means of expression in the majority of our schools, and the results are full of promise to those who believe in spontaneity rather than imitation. Freehand drawing, however, whether it be used as an introduction to design, or to the Teacher of representation of natural objects, re- herseifan quircs a tcachcr who thoroughly under- Artist. ^ _ , , . ^ •'. . , stands at least the elementary prmciples of art. She has no traditions to follow, no abso- lute and formal system to cling to, and so much depends upon her judgment and experience and taste and artistic feeling, that it is impossible for her to teach drawing as it should be taught, un- less she can draw well herself.^ Fortunately, we can all learn the art more or less successfully, if we begin early enough ; but if the years have gone by and left us absolutely without capacity for this mode of thought-expression, it is better to in- trust this department of our work to some one who does understand it. ^ "The only text-book from which may be learned this fine art of uncovering artistic expression to little children, is that of the inspirational and enthusiastic interpreter, one who is a devotee to the cause of all that is true, constructive, and of good repute. The art feeling comes not through evolutionary or hereditary processes, but through revelation. The teacher who has the exquisite wisdom to detect the budding genius, and the faith to await its blossoming with gentle appreciation, she is a revelator. There is no patent method for such teaching, and the teacher, as the children's friend, is the only practice- manual." (Amalie Hofer.) FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING 135 We are accustomed to talk quite freely about the value of kindergarten work in de- Left and , . , . 1 . , . 1 Riglit Hand veloping ambidexterity, but it may be Drawing, questioned whether, in many cases, practice fol- lows as close upon theory as it should do. Un- doubtedly the work may be used for this pur- pose, but how often do we in reality lead the children to employ the left hand, save as an aid to the right? The purpose and value of training the left hand was dwelt upon at some length in a previous volume,^ and need not here be greatly enlarged upon. People are sometimes inclined to doubt the worth of such training, but a little thought will show that in many trades both hands are equally necessary, and in all work it would obviously be a great added convenience to have a skilled left hand able to take the place of the right on occasion. " The right hand is also in- fluenced through sympathy " — to quote from the report of a leading art school — and " better re- sults are claimed from the right hand, working the left also, than from the right hand working alone, in the same space of time. Biology also teaches that the more the senses are coordinated in the individual the higher the type," and no one who has tried training the " idiotic left hand," as Dr. Stanley Hall calls it, can fail to be impressed with the resultant gain of power. If we begin early enough, the children readily learn to use one ^Republic of Childhood, Vol. I., FroehePs Gijls, pages 156, 157. 136 FBEEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING hand nearly if not quite as well as the other, and neither make objection to doing so, nor show less ability in the right hand in consequence, while marked improvement results in other directions. Linear drawing can be quite easily done with the left hand, but perhaps the best field for it is the blackboard, where the children have room for large designs, and can work first with one hand, then with the other, and finally use both in a series of exercises. " The correct holding of the fingers and of the hand, for the free use in drawing, requires a Right Po- correspondingly correct free use of the sitions of r o J ^ Children. wholc right arm ; this requires again, indispensably, a corresponding use of the other limbs and the whole body of the child who draws, if it would represent what it creates with free action of the body and with a free spirit. For a free, skillful use of the body presupposes, neces- sarily, a free, bright spirit, as both mutually con- dition one another." ^ The child should be taught to sit upright while drawing, — this is imperative from a hygienic point of view, — for bending over the work is a prolific cause of curvature of spine and near- sightedness. He cannot make large movements, or get free execution, if he is allowed to rest his nose on the paper, and as an aid in this matter he should use long pencils. He should also hold ^ Friedrich Froebel. FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING 137 his paper square on the table, parallel with its edge, and be taught to work from the shoulder and not let the weight of his body fall upon his arms. All these positions, however, must be taught while the preliminary exercises are being practiced, so that they will be natural and easy, for when it comes to sketching, to hold the child back with directions about positions of body, arms, paper, and pencil will take all the joy and freedom from the work, and very likely discourage him altogether. When the children have had a little practice in pencil holding, though this many of illustrative them have had before coming to the children. kindergarten, they will take the greatest pleasure in illustrating simple poems and stories, and the younger they are, commonly, the more rapid and confident are their sketches, and the more un- daunted do they seem in the face of difficulties. In fact, they do not recognize difficulties at all, generally speaking, and are just as ready to draw the tossing ocean as a mud-puddle. These drawings are most valuable for the student of childhood, and the less previous instruction the children have had the better for this purpose, as the drawings are then more spontaneous. The poem or story must be well known, of course, so that there may be a more or less clear mental image of the objects or personages mentioned, and then, after it has been repeated, these will be 138 FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING rapidly drawn and with little hesitation. It is most important that the kindergartner should add neither line nor suggestion to these rude pictures, for their greatest value is in their spontaneity. If she gathers and preserves, from year to year, large collections of the illustrations, sorting them according to the age of the artists, she will do a service to education, since many valuable deduc- tions may be made from them, — and a service to herself, because she will thus the better under- stand the individuality of each child under her care. It is to be regretted that more really good verses and simple poems suitable for children of kindergarten age are not to be had, for these are most useful for various purposes besides that of illustration. The kindergartner, however, who keeps a scrap-book, into which she may gather the useful bits of flotsam and jetsam from her daily reading, can supplement these with selections from the various collections of children's poems, and thus always have something appropriate at hand. The spontaneous drawings above described are useful in another direction, because they greatly increase the sum of the teacher's pleasure. Of course this pleasure must be quite concealed when the sketches are being made, but they are often so original, so quaint, so unconsciously humorous, that they touch all the secret springs of laughter. In some kindergarten normal schools a com- plete course in blackboard drawing is now given FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING 139 to the students, and it has long been the prac- tice to do so in several of the English illustrative training schools, the Froebel Society of Teachers. Great Britain and Ireland giving examinations in this branch to students who apply for its cer- tificates. No accomplishment is more useful for ^ny teacher than to be able to illustrate simply and quickly her ideas and her lessons upon the blackboard; and for the kindergartner it is es- pecially valuable, on account of the youth of her pupils and the fact that a picture is always intel- ligible to children of all ages and all races, when a spoken word may or may not be understood. It is certain that all intelligent and normal persons, if taught by the right method, could learn to draw freely enough for ordinary pur- poses, as easily as they learn to write ; but what are we, who were not so taught and have no natural ability, to do in the matter? Some of us can now never learn to draw well enough to sketch in the presence of the children the re- quired object or figure, unless we have given it long practice beforehand. We can, however, by the aid of the various books and manuals on the subject, prepare, for instance, a series of illustra- tions for any story, and cover each with paper until the right moment comes to introduce it. The effect when the drawing is unveiled is dra- matic and thrilling in the extreme, and is not so dependent on the beauty of the workmanship as 140 FREEHAND AND NATURE DRAWING might be imagined. A series of picture tales — the " Peter and Patty Stories " — was published in " Babyland " a few years ago, and these lent themselves charmingly to the above method of illustration, the children, by the aid of the pic- tures, telling the story themselves with the great- est glee when once it was begun. Any continued story might easily be told on the same plan, as the kindergartner could select, from the books at her command, such pictures as she could best make. " The Kindergarten Blackboard," by Miss Marion Mackenzie, Miss Bertha Hintz's " Illustrative Blackboard Sketching," Augsburg's series, " Easy Things to Draw," and several of the Prang Art Manuals are all very valuable aids to blackboard work, as the pictures are presented simply, with bold outlines, and the elimination of all unneces- sary detail. THE THREAD GAME Materials : A thread of bright - colored darning cotton ; a squared slate ; a wooden pointer the size and shape of a slate pencil. Threads and cords are the basis of many amusements which are traditional in every country. Who has not seen little with Threads a children absorbed in their knitting with universal . *=' Pleasure. a spool and pins, who has not taken part in that game in which a knotted string, by dexterous manipulation and much slipping on and over little fingers, becomes the Single and Double Cross, the Pond, the Fish, the Tailor's Long Scissors, and finally the " Cat's Cradle ; " ^ who has not watched boys intent upon learning to tie the various knots, the slip knot, square knot, sailor knot, overhand, figure of 8 and bowline, and wished that some of the ardor and fury of per- 1 " This game is found in nearly all i>arts of the world. The Dyaks, or natives of Borneo, are very skillful at it, making many kinds of puzzling figures, and the Maoris of New Zealand are also fond of it. The latter call It Mani, the name of their national hero, by whom they say it was invented. Its various patterns represent incidents in Mani's life and other events, forming a kind of pictorial history of the country." — The Young Folks' Cyclopcedia of Games and Sports. 142 THE THREAD GAME formance shown therein might be transferred to the tasks of the school? And this same child- ish pleasure in handling the soft pliable thread becomes the basis of many useful and beautiful occupations in later life, — the knitting, tatting, crocheting, darning, sewing, netting, embroider- ing, drawing in, which are a solace to so many weary hours. The thread game in the kindergarten differs a little from any of these amusements and indus- The Thread trics, but it is a vcry pleasing occupa- th^J^Kinder- tiou, nevertheless, and not only pleas- ^^ "' ing, but possessing certain well-defined points of value. The thread used is of bright- colored darning cotton from twelve to eighteen inches long, the ends being knotted together. The knot should be made as small as possible, and care should be taken that the thread lies quite smooth before fastening, else it will curl and writhe like a snake when we attempt to move it. It should be thoroughly moistened before using, 'and is then laid on a squared slate. The child now takes his wooden pointer and pushes it into any form suggested by the kindergartner, this being the fundamental figure of a sequence to be developed later. Of course if a square or circle is to be the fundamental figure, no dimensions need be given, but if we are to work from an oblong, for instance, we must know its required length and width. The child should not touch THE THREAD GAME 143 the thread with the fingers, the pointer being all that is requisite to produce the various figures. It is well to have the slates slightly moist before beginning the dictations, and now and then to ask one of the children to serve as a " little helper " and sprinkle a few drops of water on each one, for if either the thread, or the surface on which it lies, grows dry, the movements cannot be executed accurately. Here, as in the other occupations, there should always be a little informal conversation about the materials the children are usinoj. converea- ° tion about With the thread game we have wood. Materials, slate, and cotton, and as the exercise is commonly only used in the older classes of the kindergar- ten, there should be little need of the imparting of much information by the kindergartner, but the pupils themselves should be eager to tell what they know on the subject. It is not sup- posed that such an exercise is to be turned into a recitation, and the children balked of their le- gitimate desire to handle the thread and pointer and make something at once. They must not be allowed to become impatient for their work and eye it longingly while question and answer are going on, but the conversation should ripple pleasantly along while the materials are being distributed, and thus beguile the time of waiting. The value of such conversations does not lie alone, nor chiefly, in the opportunities for self- 144 THE THREAD GAME expression they provide, but in the gratification of healthy curiosity as to the " how " and " why " of things, the furnishing of a rational interpretation of some of the phenomena with which this great, mysterious, unknown world is filled. The thread, representing with equal readiness Forms of *^® Straight line or the curve, corre- Beauty,*^^^' spouds to the stick and ring in the gifts. *" ®' By means of the pointer and the check- ers on the slate, it may be pushed into number- less forms, both geometrical and artistic, and may also be made to represent fruits, leaves, flowers, vegetables, household implements, and furniture. We commonly begin by making some simple geo- metrical form, as a circle for instance ; then per- haps we push it out a certain number of spaces at the upper edge and make a pear, pull it down at the lower edge and make a leaf, push it out at the sides and make a diamond-shaped window-pane, and go on, until in one charming sequence we have made from our accommodating friend the circle, a heart, a dumb-bell, a carrot, a toad-stool, an um- brella, and a pair of spectacles, the children ex- claiming with delight at each new and unexpected form. If the kindergartner has any faculty for rhyming, and can improvise, as Froebel advised, some little verse which will bring in this hetero- geneous collection of articles, one can imagine the merriment that will follow. If we began with a pentagon, we may direct THE THREAD GAME 146 that all its corners shall be pushed in a certain number of spaces, and so proceed until we have produced a series of forms of symmetry, some of which are as graceful as bits of seaweed, with their many branching fronds. The fundamental form for all these transforma- tions must be laid with exactness, else Exactness the child cannot follow the dictations tSL^work" properly, and he must push the thread the re- quired number of spaces, and no more or less, or he will fail to get the desired figure. For this reason the occupation, as has been said, is not suitable for the very youngest children, as it requires a little more care than they could be expected to give. The thread game is one of our most effective means, on this account, for teaching the relation of cause and effect. If in the first few moves of a sequence the child makes a serious mistake, there is no redress. He cannot go for- ward, for his figure is probably already so unlike that of any one else that he cannot follow the dictation, and he cannot go back to the beginning, unless all the other members of the class are will- ing, and would be justified in waiting for him. He must simply sit still till the brief dictation is over, and then be ready for the next series of figures, or the free invention. Invention is so easy in the thread game, and the work is enjoyed so tnoroughly, that the occu- pation is a very useful one to give when the 146 THE THREAD GAME children seem a little tired, or have been having a more difficult gift exercise than usual. Invention. .„ Atter dictatmg the fundamental form and the first few moves, it is well often to leave the children quite unhampered, and let them go on by themselves and make their own discoveries. The kindergartner should be at hand, however, for she will constantly be needed to admire the successes, to hear the fanciful names applied to the forms produced, to sympathize with the fail- ures and encourage trying again, and to see if the successful child can retrace the steps by which he has reached some particularly attractive form. With a square table, at which four children can sit, one on each side, and a longer, heavier thread, or cord, group work can be carried out success- fully, and the very care which each must exercise, lest he pull the figure too far his way, or dis- arrange his neighbor's side of the pattern, makes the work, when completed, a greater pleasure. The thread game, though it may be classed Value of among the minor occupations, and is not Game. at all csscutial to the scheme of kinder- garten handiwork, is yet quite valuable in some directions. It is very seldom used, and yet the fact that children like it so well, and that there are no serious objections to be made against it, should recommend it to our attention. The figures produced with the pliable thread have the charm of unexpectedness, and of nov- THE THREAD GAME 147 elty also, for they are quite unlike those made with any other occupation. The work is an assistance in eye-training and in measurement ; it impresses the outlines of the simple geometrical planes upon the mind ; it teaches carefulness and accuracy and gives a lightness and delicacy of touch which are useful in all work. It is, on the whole, a very simple occupation, requiring little previous preparation, for the threads may be used again and again, and is, on that account, espe- cially well suited to the nursery, where it may be trusted to while away many restless hours on a rainy day. PAPER INTERLACING Materials : White or colored paper strips from one fourth inch to an inch and more in width, and from twelve to eighteen inches long. Paper interlacing is commonly classed as one Paper ^^ ^^^ so-callcd minor occupations, which S^or^occu- niost kindergartners would consider as pation. being slat interlacing, peas-work, chain making, bead stringing, cardboard modeling, roUed - strip work, paper interlacing, and the thread game. Intertwining, or paper twisting, as it is quite as commonly called, is, if carried out to its full extent, the most difficult of any of these occupations, and is therefore only suitable for the older children in the kindergarten, save perhaps in some of its preliminary exercises, such as the making of angles and simple figures. The long strips for paper twisting may be had, Practical ^f coursc, at the kindergarten supply Directions. g^^Q^es, but may also be cut in large quantities at any bookbinder's or the wholesale paper establishments. The long strips are given to the children, the glazed paper being best adapted to these first efforts which require so much fumbling and experimenting, and the mate- PAPER INTERLACING 149 rial, color, length, and width are fully discussed. The inch-wide strips are commonly used for these preliminary exercises, as the principles of turning and folding corners and fastening ends are best learned on a large scale. The strip is first folded in half, its entire length, and then held by both ends and placed in such positions, dictated by the kindergartner, or one of the more capable chil- dren, as will help in develoi^ing and fixing ideas of position, form, direction, etc. Next the desire for producing something is gratified, and the paper is bent into a right angle, using the lines on the table as a guide. It is discovered now that the right angle is only shown on the inside of the strip, the outer edge making a slanting line where the corner is turned. We could prob- ably go over no more ground than this in the first exercise, even with quite capable children, and a pleasant finish to the play would be to put all the right angles into a common stock and make a group- work invention, which may be laid out on a large table by several of the children according to the suggestions of the class. This may subse- quently be mounted by the kindergartner, and serve as a souvenir of the first play with the inter- lacing strips. For the next exercise the strip will be folded as before, and two or three simple figures subsequent made from it, a square, an oblong, and ^^^'■*''^*- a triangle, perhaps. Not more than this, if as 150 PAPER INTERLACING much, can be done in one lesson, as the principle of turning the corners will not yet be obvious to all, and the fastening of the ends presents still another difficulty. These large squares and other figures may be given to the babies and serve as frames for their simple work. When the paper twisting is taken up again, the strip given is the half, or three-quarter inch width, and the children are taught to fold it twice, first bending and creasing down one third of its entire length, and then doubling the other third over upon this. This process, of course, makes the paper one third as wide and three times as strong. The simple forms must now be made again with the narrow strip, for the children are not yet ready for the interlacing, or weaving, of one figure into another. As a step toward this, however, there may be another cooperative exer- cise. John may give his square to Lucy, for in- stance, receiving her triangle in return, and the kindergartner may intertwine each pair for them, while they look on with eager, admiring eyes. The pretty design thus made may be mounted on paper as a present, or used for the child's book of kindergarten work. A mechanical contrivance called the " Little Greaser" has lately been invented, which is a great help in folding the paper into thirds. It is a box-like wooden arrangement, with two bent wires and grooves in the bottom, and a cover which PAPER INTERLACING 151 is shut down upon the stiip. This is then pulled out through one of the open ends, and is found to have been creased in two well-defined lines its entire length, serving as a guide to the eye in folding. It is great fun to pull the strip through, even for grown people, and is not so much of a help to the children as to be objectionable, in our opinion. The squares on the table or slate are really not sufficient as a guide in paper twisting save for the first exercises and the rectangular figures, so we early introduce large heavy pasteboard tab- lets around which the strip may be folded. These are the fundamental forms of the seventh gift, but made on a larger scale, usually that of two or three inches. The child lays the tablet on the table and follows its outline with the folded strip, bending and creasing it carefully at each comer. He must early be led to see that there is no beauty in the work unless accurately done, and there really seems to be no one of the occu- pations, save its first cousin, paper folding, which so depends for its pleasing effect upon absolute and mathematical exactness. When the child has learned to make a few simple geometrical figures fairly well, it interlacing, is time to take the next step, that of Sr;,*^^***^^' interlacing them to form a design. If "**^'' ^**'- we are working upon squares, for instance, the first one is completed, carefully fastened, and laid 152 PAPER INTERLACING parallel with the edge of the table, while the sec- ond is woven into it, under one side and over the other — under — over — until it lies securely fas- tened into the first in diagonal position, the two forming a very pretty star-like figure. Any two similar geometric forms may be thus intertwined, the best effects being produced from the regular figures, and subsequently a variety of these inter- laced, making a large design. Most of the Ger- man " Guides " give elaborate examples of inter- twining, and a series of plates from the designs of Mme. Kraus-Boelte are to be had, some of which are very intricate and interesting, and would seem almost impossible to any fingers but those gifted with a magic touch. All kinds of charming effects, in contrasting colors and in vari- ous tones of one color, may be produced with the interlaced figures, for we have all the resources of the modern color-market in the engine-colored, coated, and glazed papers at our disposal. The strips may be folded four or five times when older children or grown persons are using the occupation, making a very pretty effect when contrasted with the broad ribbon-like appearance of the strip folded once. Elaborate borders may also be interlaced to surround the designs, to orna- ment box covers and frame the various kinds of handiwork, and a further and very pleasing modi- fication may be added to the occupation by fold- ing the corners of the figures into one, or a series PAPER INTERLACING 153 of rosettes. The process by which these rosettes are folded is not one which can well be described in written words, though it is not particularly dif- ficult, and is easily learned from dictation or illus- tration. As paper twisting illustrates the straight line, it may be used to produce any simple porms of life forms, but it is perhaps inadvisable fSe^S^' to employ it for this purpose, as it can ^®*"'y- only be done by pasting the strips in position, and allows no interlacing of figures, which is, of course, the idea on which the occupation is based. We must always begin with the geometrical forms as a foundation, and one of the chief values of inter- twining is that it shows so beautifully the devel- opment of symmetrical figures from the mathe- matical basis. This lesson cannot be so well learned if we use the strips for making life forms, and we also lose, in a measure, one of our oppor- tunities for teaching the practical working of the law of mediation of contrasts. Paper interlacing may be made quite useful in the school, on account of the trifling ex- ^se of inter- pense of the materials and because it ^^mlr" needs no previous preparation, which ^•'^^^*' latter fact is a matter for serious consideration when one has fifty children in charge and only one pair of hands. It may be used to illustrate the various lines and angles either from dictation or from drawings on the blackboard, for impress- 154 PAPER INTERLACING ing still further the simple geometrical forms, their names and the number of their sides and angles, and may also, after folding in halves or thirds, be creased into inches and used for esti- mating distances and dimensions. The figures produced may be devoted by the pupils to group- work inventions, for this cooperative work is more than ever necessary, now that the children's individuality is more fully developed, their ambi- tion growing, and the time approaching when they must assume the duties of the citizen. We have seen the blackboards in a primary school- room very effectively bordered with broad three- inch strips of paper twisting folded into a run- ning design and fastened in position with small brass-headed tacks. The children took the great- est pride in this border, which was the work of the entire class. Dr. Hailmann makes the following suggestion, in his " Kindergarten Occupations in the School," as to the connection of intertwining with draw- ing : " These forms," he says, " yield excellent material for drawing exercises, on the slate or on the blackboard. There can be no objection to exercises in extending the forms in drawing, by permitting the addition of more lines. . . . On the contrary, these exercises are of great value, since they train the pupils in the difficult art of recognizing the simple types, from which all forms, however complicated, are derived. Thus PAPER INTERLACING 155 they render the powers of analysis keen and reli- able in the discovery of types, and the powers of synthesis ready and fertile in the invention of new combinations or modifications of types ; while, at the same time, they furnish ample and valuable groundwork for future generalizations and classi- fications." Paper twisting is in reality a combination of the two occupations folding and weav- T . .. • c 11 Paper twist- ing:, and m its various lorms has always ing a favor- ° ... ite Occupa- been a favorite with childhood. There tion of Children. were certain snow-white stars folded by a very complicated method long since forgotten, which once used to give a great deal of pleasure to two little girls we knew, and if our memory serves us, the points of those same stars could be slipped one into the other and thus make a very pretty frame for cherished photographs. Then there were little book-marks and air-castles and, best of all, fascinating baskets that were filled with flowers and hung to door-bells on the eve of May-day, long ago. And don't you remember the " Pussy-cat stairs " that mother used to fold for us when we were very little, so little that we could only watch in round-eyed wonder the deft white fingers as they fashioned the tiny staircase ? Ah, the kindergarten does well indeed when it gathers up the traditional nursery plays and weaves them into a garland to delight and charm the children of to-day 1 SLAT INTERLACING Materials : Thin tincolored wooden slats, of birch, oak, or other tough wood, about ten inches long and one half inch wide. There is much similarity between slat work Parallel be- ^^^ paper twisting, the aim of both be- and^Paplr*^ ing the interlacing or weaving together Interlacing. ^£ ^^^ ^^ morc independent figures. They give much the same impressions of form, size, number, position, and direction, and are equally useful in design ; but the former occupa- tion is simpler than the latter, and better adapted to the representation of objects connected with the child's daily life and sympathy. They dif- fer, however, in material, in color, in the fact that the slats are ready for immediate use, while the papers need preparation by folding, and also in that complete figures only are interlaced in paper twisting, while in slat work separate slats representing lines are interwoven with the geo- metric forms. The slats are a part of the eighth gift, but, as noted in the previous volume,^ are used commonly for interlacing and as a preparation for weaving. 1 Republic of Childhood J Vol. I,, FroebeVs Gifts, page 145. SLAT INTERLACING 157 That they are properly classed among the gifts, however, is proved by the fact that the forms pro- duced with them are not necessarily permanent, but can be resolved into their original elements without change in the material. The slats are early introduced in the kinder- garten, though with no attempt at first introduction to use them for interlacing, but merely **' "'® ^^**' to pave the way for the sticks, and to teach sim- ple lessons in regard to the directions of lines, the parts and the spacing of the table, etc., and thus prepare for later dictation. Save in peas-work, this is the only occupation in which wood is employed, so we have a wide field for all the charming stories, songs, and poems we can gather together on the subject. The exercises must be brief when the slat is first used, and as they are not yet concerned with making, are apt to grow a little tiresome if not enlivened by the kinder- gartner. The songs of the " Carpenter," the " Trees," and the " Wood-sawyers " ^ may appro- priately be sung now, as well as those old kinder- garten favorites, the " Sawing Song " and the " Joiner." Miss Emilie Poulsson's delightfid book, " In the Child's World," in its various chapters on Wood, Trees, and the Carpenter, is a storehouse of valuable material for stories, all of which, of ^ Kindergarten Chimes (Kate D. Wiggin), published by Oli- ver Ditson Co. 158 SLAT INTERLACING course, are equally as useful with the building gifts ; and her " Old-Fashioned Ehyme," which follows the wood in all its processes of transfor- mation from the tree to the house, should be memorized by every kindergartner. There are a number of things to be found out First Exer- about the slat, besides its material, its the Slat. color, length, and width ; and the chil- dren, if properly led, may make a series of sci- entific experiments with the simple bit of wood. To illustrate the law of balance, the slat may be poised on the back of the hand, on the finger- tips, etc., and finally serve as a see-saw laid across a small block, two of the wooden lentils merrily riding at each end and an appropriate song being sung. Nor would it be waste of time, if it were the close of an exercise, for the kinder- gartner to cut out hastily a pair of rude paper dolls for each of the small teeters. We may well believe that there would be much more thor- ough investigation into the laws of equal dis- tribution of weight, if these attractions were added. Mme. Kraus-Boelte gives the following plea- sant exercise, bringing out elasticity, vibration, and also rhythm. The children are directed to hold the slat firmly, projecting halfway over the edge of the table, to press the projecting part down, release it quickly and note the buzzing or whirring sound to be heard and the vibration SLAT INTERLACING 159 plainly to be seen. The sound will vary accord- ing to the length of the projection and the thick- ness of the slat, and the whole class may make an amusing chorus by being allowed to sound the slat, each in turn with a regular rhythm, or all together. A variety of exercises in vibration can be given with the slat, and also many in elasticity which will show the principle of the bow and arrow. Hermann Goldammer ^ mentions one exercise in elasticity, which we have found to be received by the children with the greatest delight and accla- mation. " Lastly," he says, " we must put the elasticity of the slat to a practical use by making it serve as a sort of catapult. To this end we may hold it on the table with one end projecting beyond the edge and the other held tightly down, and place on the extremity of its projecting part a tiny ball of wool with a feather or two stuck into it to make it the more visible. The pressure of the finger bends down the slat, suddenly we let loose, and up flies the ball to the ceiling, to the no small delight of the child." Even with two or three slats rude life-forms may be made, but these are only line- siatweav- pictures, and cannot be lifted from the "*' table. With a fourth slat, however, the true inwardness of the occupation and the flexibility of the wood stand revealed ; for if each slat comes ^ The Kindergarten, page 156. 160 SLAT INTERLACING in contact with the other three, and is supported by them in such a manner that two slats rest on one side of it, whilst the third, the middle one, rests on the other side, a complete figure will be produced which can be lifted from the table. The theory of weaving the slats over and under seems a simple one enough, but experience will show that there is a wide gap between theory and practice. Though the child must be shown at first how to weave them together, yet he will never really learn the process until he has experimented by himself and probably made several failures. He may have achieved an apparent success with his weaving, and yet as he attempts to lift the form it falls into pieces in his hands. " It was the one slat-i*^ says Edward Wiebe, " which, owing to its dereliction in performing its duty, destroyed the figure and prevented all the other slats from performing theirs." The wise kindergartner may use this little occurrence for the pointing of a story on the value of cooperation, and the moral, if it is not too strongly insisted upon, will sink into the heart of the child, weighted as it is by his experience with concrete things. With a few slats the child can make a variety of life-forms, as stars, fans, gates, picture-frames, trellises, boats, etc., and when he has once grasped the principle by which the figures hold together, he will invent freely with the material. Many beautiful forms of symmetry can be made also ; SLAT INTERLACING 161 but though all these must rest upon a foundation of knowledge forms, yet the geometrical outlines are not as easily studied here as in the paper twisting, for they are somewhat confused by the crossing and interwoven sticks. For number- work, however, slat weaving is much better adapted than the former occupation, and thus again gives evidence of its kinship to the stick family. As the interlaced figures grow more com- plex, the width and length of the slats may be reduced, and the ends pointed or rounded, thus producing very dainty little designs which may be mounted on heavy colored paper. For kinder- garten children, however, the width of the slats should not be lessened, and it would be better, for the first exercises, if they could be had double the present width. Some authorities advise soak- ing them a half hour in warm water before at- tempting to cut them, but this, though it makes the wood more pliable, tends in our experience to discolor it. Slat interlacing has never been a very popular occupation in our American kindergar- vaiueof ^ ° Slat Inter- tens, but when one considers the mat- lacing. ter, it is really difficult to know why this should be so. It needs no previous preparation, there- fore is well adapted for use when the kinder- gartner is tired or hurried ; the children like it very much, and the older ones, after the first few lessons in weaving the figures, can be left quite 162 SLAT INTERLACING by themselves in times of exigency, and trusted to experiment and work on most industriously. The designs produced are large and free, having none of that delicate prettiness (or pettiness) about them which so distinguishes paper twisting, and the materials handled are so substantial in size as to produce no strain whatever on the ac- cessory muscles and the finer nerve-centres. The work is admirable, too, in developing ambidex- terity, for the left hand is constantly called into play in holding and weaving in the slats, and it connects admirably with design in industrial and mechanical drawing. The slats have long been in use in the school. Slat Work in ^^^ commouly are only employed there the School. £qj, jjumber-work and for word-making. Many teachers have as yet little idea of the value of the kindergarten occupations for what is called " busy work." Froebel says in this regard,^ " The plays and occupations of children should by no means be treated as offering merely means for passing the time (we might say, for consuming time), hence only as outside activity, but rather that by means of such plays and employments the child's innermost nature must be satisfied. This truth has indeed been before expressed ; but on account of its deep importance for the whole life of the child and man, it cannot be too often re- peated, too impressively stated, nor can its truth be too often established from all pomts of view." 1 Pedagogics^ page 108. SLAT INTERLACING 163 For real " busy work," work done with delight and with a purpose, the slats are admirably fitted, not only for numerical problems and word-mak- ing, but for free and directed design. The teacher may draw upon the blackboard large figures,^ either forms of life or symmetry, which the pupil may reproduce from his seat, or the older children may draw figures which the smaller ones may weave together. She may also write simple prob- lems on the board, such as " Interlace two equilat- eral triangles, two squares, two hexagons," etc. ; or " Use eight slats in making a gate, or sixteen slats in making a picture frame." All the life forms may be connected with the daily work, or the topic uppermost in the chil- dren's minds. How delightful it would be, for instance, in the week preceding Thanksgiving to draw the " Mayflower " and the " Speedwell " on the board for reproduction one day. Peregrine White's cradle and the first log-house another day, and the third, caU. for slat-pictures of the little Pilgrim Church, the Indian wigwams, and the seats and tables for the first Thanksgiving party. Suppose a series of these designs, and many others easily suggested by the story ,2 be fastened 1 A series of beantif nl designs for slat interlacing is published by E. Steiger & Co., New York. 2 Kate D. Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, The Story Hour^ page 107. 164 SLAT INTERLACING on the blackboard and a few ornamental touches in colored chalks added by the kindergartner, and what a light upon the historic meaning of the day would rush into the brains of Ivan Mi- chalitschke and Ingeborg Svendsen and Dinney O'Hoolahan ! Group- work, also, both in school and kinder- garten, may be very beautifully carried out when the teacher clearly understands the principles on which it rests and is fully convinced of their im- portance, and thus the entire band of children be united by the magic of " Together." "We scarcely realize, perhaps, the value of in- vaiue of dustrial training as so sweetly and natu- Industrial n i • i i • i mt Training. rally Dcgun lu the kindergarten, ihere needs no argument to prove how much more help- ful and useful it is to the child, to fall in love with industry, and journey with her willingly hand in hand, than to be bound to her side and lashed reluctantly along in the chain-gang ! The kindergarten children love to work, it is their greatest pleasure, their highest desire, — they have to be coaxed and gently entreated to be idle, and they commonly know no punishment so se- vere as to be divorced from their beloved occu- pations. When in the future every child in the republic has passed three of his most impres- sionable years in an atmosphere of hearty, happy industry, and when creative handiwork is con- tinued throughout the schools in connection with SLAT INTERLACING 165 purely mental training, then there needs no pro- phet to foresee the brightness of the day that will dawn. The popular feeling in regard to 'the dangers of idleness, is well reflected in the wise proverb, " Idle fingers are the devil's tools," and in Dr. Watts's old couplet, " Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do," and that this popular feeling has a strong basis of fact is abundantly proven by the statistics which show that 'Seven tenths of the convicted criminals in the United States have never learned a trade, nor followed any industrial pursuit. An eminent divine ^ has lately summed up the matter in most effective fashion in the following words : " Industrial ignorance is the mother of idleness, the grandmother of destitution, the great- grandmother of socialism and nihilistic discontent. So far as the battle of life is concerned, to train children's ideas without training their fingers is like putting a regiment through musket drill ; it is healthy discipline and affords pleasant dress parade, but will avail little before the enemy, unless, with all other acquirements, they have learned to shoot." 1 Dr. Chas. H. Parkhurst. WEAVING " The art of weaving is exceeding' old, As we by King Deioces have been told. 'T is said that Ghelen weaving first began, Which hath descended since from man to man. The mothers taught their daughters, sires their sons. Thus in a line successively it runs, For general profit, and for recreation. From generation unto generation." — Anpn. Materials : Square and oblong paper mats of various colors and sizes, cut into strips from one eighth to one half inch wide, and surrounded by an appropriate margin (these represent the warp) ; strips of similar widths and harmonizing colors (the woof) ; a steel weaving needle (the shuttle). Weaving, perhaps the most ancient of the manufacturing arts, whose invention is lost in the mists of antiquity,^ is that industry by which threads, or yarns of any substance, are interlaced 1 " The art of platting, which carries in it the germ of the art of weaving, is of immemorial, undiscoverable antiquity. There can hardly have been a time when men did not weave together twigs or reeds to form a rude tent covering — a prim- itive house. And one proof of the immense antiquity of this practice is given by the numerous names for twigs, reeds, etc., in different languages, which are derived from words signifying to twist, or weave. The word weave itself (Ger. weben) is con- nected with a Sanskrit root ve, meaning much the same thing ; and we find this same root ve reappearing again in the Latin vimen, a twig, and vitis, a vine, — the last so named from its tendrils, which, we should judge, were used for platting before WEAVING 167 SO as to form a continuous web. " The weaving of clothing is one of the three primal Antiquity of ° . ^ , the Art of race occupations, the other two being weaving. planting for food and building for shelter, and Froebel believes that these three forms of activity- are essential to normal development." Among the remains of the lake dwellers in the second stone age we find woven cloths, sometimes worked with simple but not inartistic patterns. Felkin says, " To draw out the locks of hair and wool and spin them by distaff and spindle has been a practice for four thousand years, and to weave them into cloth by that oldest textile in- strument, the weaver's loom, is an art traceable nearly to the time of Noah." After the death of Methuselah the art of weav- ing appears to have made considerable advance in the East, particularly in China, India, and Persia. The first loom of which there is authentic record was invented by Arkite Ghiden Ghelen about this time.^ The weavers at work in those long- they were used for producing grapes. From the same root again, and for the same reason, are derived the Latin vibur- num, briony ; the Slavonic wetle, willow ; the Sanskrit vetra, reed. The Latin scirpus, reed, and the Greek ypi^gj.^ winter evenings, before the days of the useful (and ugly) match, our grandmo- thers folded dainty lamplighters, under the watch- ful eyes of an admiring little group, and when the pretty work was over, marvelous paper boats and boxes and windmills were fashioned for the expectant audience. Many times in the quiet home-life of the Ger- man peasant, Froebel with that all-inclusive gaze of his saw parents and children united in this sim- ple art, and noticed the unfailing delight which it evoked, and since his desire was, as he says, to attain the universal elements of proper work for childhood, he gathered this flower also to twine into the garland of kindergarten occupations. Cheap and simple are the materials which these employ, and yet so "frugal is the chariot that bears the human soul " that a mere valueless bit PAPER FOLDING 215 of folded paper may prove a " prancing courser " to bear us " lands away." " There are indeed great ways of borrowing," as Emerson says, and when Froebel took his means of occupation from the home-life of the common people, he proved himself one of those geniuses that " borrow nobly." In Folding we again make use of the material which forms the basis of most of our Materials of kindergarten occupations, and the only *'°^^™8- limit to the talks and poems and stories on the subject will be the time at our disposal and the interest of the children. For the smaller pupils we have stories of the Cotton Field, of the Rag-picker, and the Wasp, and questions as to the common uses of paper ; for the older we have graphic descriptions of its manufacture, and talks about the different ma- terials from which it is, and has been, made, as reeds, skins, rags, sawdust, wood-pulp, bark, straw, and rice, while all ages will enjoy Ander- sen's " Story of the Flax " and Mary Howitt's sweet verses about the " goodly Flax Flower." School-children will delight in brief accounts of the present strange uses of paper which mark our own as the paper age. There are paper dresses, paper dishes, paper hats and bonnets, paper trunks and horseshoes, paper vases, tubs, and pails and baskets and satchels to be bought ; and if these employments of so fragile a material 216 PAPER FOLDING are not astonishing enough, we can cap them by true tales of paper car-wheels, rails, sewer-pipes, cornices, friezes, tiles, mantels, entire houses even, — and also tell of a substance called papier-sculp- tor, which is frequently used in Germany instead of clay for modeling. The occupation of Folding, though one of the First Exer- most artistic and valuable which Froe- Foiding*^ bel has given us, is, at the same time. Papers. ^^^ ^£ ^^^ uiost dclicatc and difficult, re- quiring perfect eye measure and great accuracy of touch for its proper performance ; indeed these are two of the greatest advantages gained by its exe- cution. The dictations should not be given to the child until he is able, in some degree, to follow them with tolerable neatness, else he will grow discouraged and careless, losing his pleasure in what is, invariably, a delightful occupation, if given at the proper stage of the child's develop- ment. If we wish to use it with the younger chil- dren, as it is so helpful to eye and fingers, we must make it play and not work. The practice forms may be cut from brown paper, so that the fail- ures of the little people will not be too expensive, and the forms should not be less than five inches in diameter for these preliminary exercises. We begin with the square commonly, and although there must be a little drill on its shape and color, its edges and corners, yet this must all be given at first in the form of play. PAPER FOLDING 217 It is well to accustom the child to select his own color from the first, expressing his prefer- ence in words, and either taking the paper from a sheaf which we hold before him, or when older, asking that it be selected from the box. There is no need of allowing even the four-year-old child to point silently at what he wants, unless he be a deaf-mute, for even if he does not know the color he can very easily touch the paper, and say, " Please give me that square." Occasionally the kindergartner desires for some special reason that all the papers shall be alike, and occasionally, too, there is not enough of the desired color to go around, which casualty gives opportunity for graceful surrender of preference in favor of some one else. We may be well assured, however, that we give little training in color when we hand out the papers in regular rotation, and that the boasted development of individuality in the kin- dergarten is not attained by treating every child alike. It is a pretty and a useful exercise at first to scatter the squares on a low table, and then, having given out the balls according to prefer- ence, let each little one select a paper to match. Corners may be taught by playing Puss-in-the- Corner, and if a tiny pasteboard pussy is given to each child, he will be very ready to let her run to the right hand back, the left hand front corner, etc. Edges may be taught by considering the 218 PAPER FOLDING square a table-cloth and letting the children fringe it with scissors, and if we wish to distin- guish the different edges, what so easy as to set the table and put Harry's blue plate (a colored circle) near the front edge, mother's pink plate near the left edge, and so on ? Each fold which the child makes in the square at first should open up a new play-possibility, and thus by and by, when the preliminary handling and a few crude notions of dictation have been learned, he will have grown so in love with the work that he will follow difficult directions with delight, and take pleasure in the wide field of geometrical know- ledge which opens before him. Let us play to-day, when we have had a little Folding ^^^^ about the shape of the square, its ^^*^' corners, edges, etc., that it is a sheet of paper, and we are going to use it for a letter to mother. Yes, we will all have pencils, and how shall we begin it, . . . and what shall we tell her ? Don't write too heavily, little ones ! If it 's very nicely done, I '11 fold an envelope for each one, and you can tuck in the letter and put a kiss on for a stamp. That will carry it safely, I am sure. Or perhaps it is a sheet of drawing paper, and will you all draw me a pretty picture? . . . (Now you shall see intent eyes, gathered brows, pursed- up lips, stern holding of the pencil, and marvel- ous hieroglyphic scratches and cryptograms in- PAPER FOLDING 219 scribed upon the paper.). . . . That was very kmd of you, and now you shall watch me tie them all together with a bit of worsted, and put a cover on, . . . and now, see ! . . . I have a picture book to look at when I 'm tired. The next week after the preliminary talk, we fold the lower ed^e of the paper to the - - ° 11 First Fold. upper edge, and now we nave made one line upon its surface. . . . Take it up in your hands, children, now, as I do. What does it look like ? Yes, it is quite like a book, is n't it ? Shall I read you a story from it ? There 's every story in the world in my book ; which one will you have ? Could not Clara read us a story now? . . . Yes, it is like a singing book, too. Shall we sing something? . . . No, don't look at me, keep your eyes on your book, for we 're playing it 's a new song, and you don't know the words. . . . So it is, just as much like a piano-book, Carl. Oh, I know what you would like ! I '11 get you each a second -gift cube for a music-stand, and you can rest the piano book against it and play a tune on your table. (Froebel's " Finger-Piano " would be appropriate here.) Now I '11 write your names on the outside of your books, and next time you can fold some leaves for them and take the little books home to mother. Another time, when we have made the first fold, we can set it up on the table for a roof ; 220 PAPER FOLDING shingles may be quickly drawn on each one, and the ioy is intense if a slit is cut in the First Fold. . -, ■, , . t- n -, ^ . ridge-pole, and a tiny tolded chimney inserted. A song would be appropriate here. When we have made the second fold in the Second paper, it is obviously a window. . . . Fold. Who is looking from your window, Harry, . . . and from yours, Mattie ? . . . Yes, I think it would be charming to make curtains with the pencil, but there are several kinds of curtains, you know. We might make shades with tassels, or sash curtains, or lace draperies, or pretty cotton hangings with pictures on them. . . . Shall we sing " See the Little Window Bright " ? Most of these plays are given on the supposi- tion that the kindergartner is using stiff brown paper for the preliminary exercises. If the paper is stiff and heavy enough, we may pinch it up a little on the two folds, and make a hanging basket from it, suspended by worsted cords ; or it may be called a parasol, and gummed upon a stick for a handle, or it will stand up admirably upon the table, and serve as an umbrella-tent. When first folded into the triangle the paper Third and mav be a hill, and adventurous lentils Fourth "^ . Folds. make bold slides down its precipitous height ; or it may be a shawl with a scalloped border hastily cut out. If each child then folds it around Thumbkin's chubby shoulders and the PAPER FOLDING 221 kindergartner pencils a little face on the thumb- nail, then what delicious merriment, what kisses and cuddlings and bye-lows ! The first pentagon may be set up on the table as a ship, and while it skims along, a subsequent sailing song be sung ; the first hexagon ^°^^"^8«- may be called a tray, which may be decorated a little, and weighted with a doll's cup and saucer. (" The Little Waiters " ^ would be a pretty song for such a play.) Then the smaller pentagon may be a house or a dog-kennel, and the first square a handkerchief case, tied with worsted and filled with a tissue paper handkerchief, or an en- velope, which may be addressed and stamped and then hold a letter or a valentine with a bit of colored paper for a seal. Of course it is understood that all these are but suggestions, illustrative of what may be done with the first foldings, which are sometimes rather diffi- cult and discouraging for the children. There is a sequence of simple figures, aU life- forms, and all folded so as to stand erect u pjg » g^. upon the table, which we caU the " Pig " •!"""""• sequence, and which we have found very useful before the folding of symmetrical forms is begun. If you should make the little figures and if the names attached should seem to you unnatural, we can only say that they have met with unbounded ^ All the song^ which have been mentioned are to be found in Kindergarten Chimes (Kate D. Wiggin). Oliver Ditson Co. 222 PAPEB FOLDING applause and delight, from those captious critics, the children themselves. We call the forms successively, the large tent, the snow-bank or hillside, the horse-car, the small tent, the table, the card-case, the fireplace, the box, the two canoes, the salt-cellar, the wood basket, and finally the Pig, — the crowning glory of the sequence, a star of the purest ray and of the first magnitude. Only two or three of these should be made at a lesson ; indeed, not more than one after the card- case is passed. Great attention must be paid to neatness, and as each simple form presents itself, the kindergartner may join the children in play- ing with it. The tunnels can be united into a mammoth snow -shed. A blinding snow-storm can appear, and the children may give shelter to a flock of poor little shivering lambs hastily cut out of white paper for the occasion. (This is a charming story-station, and what delight to tarry there a moment and tell a suitable story, and then sing " My Lambkin," and " This is the way the snow comes down.") At their tables they can give dinner parties, and very small bits of paper cut by their own hands to represent dishes will give them great pleasure. In these half hours spent with the younger ones the kindergartner will be able to give the greatest delight, and it is in these very moments of close and familiar companionship more than in the PAPER FOLDING 223 formal lesson, that she " comes nearest to the heart of things, and lets Nature be her teacher." Neither should she fear she is accomplishing no- thing, or that there is no mental progress with this simple handiwork. For the preliminary train- ing of the senses the child needs an alphabet of things, as Froebel says, and this he finds in the blocks, sticks, clay, and paper of the kindergar- ten. The unthinking father may laugh at. the tiny ships, pigs, and picture frames that the child brings home as his morning's work, but he might be convinced of their value, could he see them in process of formation. Here let us say again, since iteration is next to inspiration, — strait is the path and narrow is the way where the perfect sort of play is in ques- tion, and few there be that tread it successfully. With one kindergartner it is childlike, sponta- neous, simple, free, poetic, flexible, appropriate, natural, and full of meaning. With another it is childish, silly, purposeless, trivial, artificial. If you cannot play, wait until you can ! Meantime suggest, stimulate, interest, influence, charm in some other fashion. The wrong sort of play dis- sipates, the right sort disciplines the mind and heart. One teacher overlays her lesson or her ex- ercise with a lot of aimless affectations and scat- terbrained pastimes, under the impression that she is a magician and the children are spell-bound; the other makes the exact point she wishes and 224 PAPEB FOLDING carries it with contagious gayety and irresistible spirit, mixed with sweet common-sense. We con- fess that temperament has much to do with it, but if you have not the genius of play you can still do wonders if you have sympathy, tact, quick in- telligence, ready wit, — and modesty. There is another variation of folding called Paper paper pasting, which may be made of Pasting. great service as the child climbs the hill Difficulty. He is given the usual square of paper, and, after he has made the first two folds, cuts it in quarters, according to the lines, pro- ducing four smaller squares. He repeats the folds with the small pieces, thus gaining much extra practice, and then arranges them in a design which he pastes on a square of brown paper. In the next exercise he makes another fold or two, cuts the square, makes the lines again, uses the quarters for an invention, and so on, using suc- cessively the open square, the triangle, the penta- gon, hexagon, smaller pentagon, etc., until he has arrived at the point where he can complete a fundamental folding in one lesson. The children may also combine their quarters and make large group-work inventions occasionally. All Froebel's occupations inculcate, in greater Paper ^^ ^^^^ proportion, the same practical Ind^Rfne virtucs ; virtues always requiring a cer- Geometry. ^^^^ amouut of cducatiou and develop- ment in every child, no matter how wonderfully PAPER FOLDING 225 endowed he may be, — economy, neatness, perse- verance, industry, patience, etc., — but each, too, has its specific value, its salient point of excel- lence, which sets it apart from all others, and keeps in view the training of special faculties, or capabiKties. While paper folding includes much that is taught in other ways, it lays the foundation, as does nothing else, for the acquiring of the funda- mental principles of geometry, the mensuration of all the simple plane figures with which we deal in ordinary daily avocations, the general relations of surfaces, and a knowledge of the different tri- angles, quadrilaterals, and polygons. All this is made wonderfully clear by the va- rious foldings, in their simple derivation from the square, circle, or equilateral triangle. By in- formal questioning, as the child proceeds from one form to another, bringing into view oblongs, triangles, pentagons, and hexagons; in counting their sides, corners, and angles; in seeing the square, as a whole, divide itself into halves, quar- ters, eighths, and sixteenths ; in measuring, with eye and hand, the degrees of the different trian- gles, sharp, blunt, and equal sided, and noting their development from, and relation to the right angle, is it not easy to make this, by intelligent use, a complete compendium of elementary mathe- matics ? In commenting upon Professor Denton Snider*s 226 PAPER FOLDING saying, that Dante had the temperament of a Plato and the training of an Aristotle, Miss Elizabeth Harrison writes: "How many lesser Dantes have been spoiled because, having the dreamy, mystical temperament, they have not been trained, as children, into habits of exactness and practical utility; or, having mathematical precision by nature, have been robbed of poetic training by ridicule, or too much dealing with the commonplace things in life." A full series of questions is appended, some of which are usually brought out in the various con- versations between the kindergartner and the older children. Most of them, however, are better adapted to the connecting class, or the primary school, than to the kindergarten. Of course we should only use and vary the simpler ones, until the class is advanced considerably in the study of form and number. The children may be able to fold quite well various simple forms without com- prehending all included in them. What have we here ? How do you know that it is a square? How many edges has it ? How many corners has it? What more can we say about the edges ? Why do we call it a square ? But the door and the window both have edges. Are they square ? Why is the door not square ? PAPER FOLDING 227 Very well, then, look at the sides of the square and tell me the difference. Show the upper right corner. Show the upper left corner. Show the lower right corner. Show the lower left corner. Fold the two lower corners to the upper two, exactly, edge to edge, keeping the paper straight upon the table. What have we now ? What shape is it ? What do we call it ? Is it like the square ? Why not? You see it has four comers and four edges, like the square. Now open the paper by folding down the upper half, but not turning it. What kind of a crease, or line, have we made ? How does it run ? Turn the paper so that you see the line run- ning vertically, going up and down through the middle of the paper. Now fold the two lower corners as before, to the upper two, across the vertical line. What have we now ? Open it as before, carefully. What do you see? Now turn the paper cornerwise, so that the cor- ners point up, down, right, and left. How do the lines run now ? 228 PAPER FOLDING Fold the lower corner to the upper ; what have we now? How many corners and edges has it ? Are they all the same length ? Where are the two sharp angles ? Which angle is the largest? What kind of an angle is the ui3per one ? And what do we call the other two angles ? Open the paper, please. Do you see the folding you have just made ? Turn the paper so that you see the same line running up and down. How many lines do you see? How many parts do you see between the lines ? Are they all alike ? Fold the lower corner to the upper again, and open it as before. It looks quite different, does it not ? Can any one tell me why ? How many lines has it now ? How many triangles can you count now ? Are they alike ? How many angles in each ; how many in all ? How many triangles in the upper half ? How many in the lower half ? How many in both ? Can you see one little point where the lines all meet and cross each other ? Fold one corner, — the lower, — exactly to that middle point, neither above nor below. PAPER FOLDING 229 How many corners did we fold ? Which one was it ? How many are left ? j Do you know the name of the figure we have made ? How many sides and corners has it ? Which corner is opposite the lower ? Fold that one down, now, just to meet the lower corner. Do not lap it over, but just let them look at each other. How many corners are folded now? How many are left ? How many sides and corners has this figure which we have just made ? Shall I tell you its name ? Fold the right corner in to meet the others ; now the left, and we have a square again smaller than before. What do you see on this side of the square ? Turn the paper entirely over and place it cor- nerwise. Now fold the lower corner to the middle, the upper comer down, the right corner in, and then the left corner. Now we have a square again still smaller. Do you see four triangles, all pointing towards the centre ? Turn the paper entirely over, and what do you see? A fundamental form has now been folded, and 230 PAPER FOLDING we proceed, in the first sequence, with the triangu- lar side ; in the second, with the reverse side, showing the four squares. For the third and fourth sequences we use a different fundamental folding, much more difficult to give by dictation. We give exercises with the equilateral triangle, and with the circle, in exactly the same manner, and on precisely the same plan ; first bringing out all possible knowledge of the form itself, then proceeding to the simplest possible instructions by which to fold the fundamental figure, finally leading the children to make from this their own combinations.^ The dictations at first are very simple and con- stantly diversified by play. The kinder- gartner " shows how " with a larger piece of paper, when the directions do not seem to be clearly understood, and she constantly moves about through the little flock, inspecting the fold- ing, and giving a word of warning, or encourage- ment to those who need it. She must see that the children fold on the table; that they work always by opposites, and that they never turn the paper about when following dictations. It is easier to fold the right-hand corner in than the left, and the little people must be watched, else 1 Numerous designs and directions for folding" the squaxe, tri- angle, and circle into forms of life and beauty are to be found in all the " Guides," and to be bought of kindergarten supply stores. PAPER FOLDING 231 they will twist the paper so that both corners will become successively right-hand ones, and thus the benefit of using the left hand will be lost as well as confusion produced in following subsequent direc- tions. The kindergartner must often have prac- ticed her dictations, so that they will be quite clear in her mind, and clearly and pleasantly expressed, hut the extreme detail necessary at first should he dropped as soon as practicahle^ and if the child shows that he knows what is to come next in mak- ing a fundamental folding, he should by all means be allowed to illustrate his knowledge, and not be held back by the dogmatism of the kindergartner. Froebel has apparently divided the various symmetrical forms into classes, or se- sequences quences; or, rather, they naturally so "^^'^iding. divide, or classify themselves to an intelligent observer, — a certain number, coming in regular succession from one fundamental folding, and bearing more or less resemblance to each other. The first and simplest sequence, used in almost every kindergarten, is made from that side of the folding paper which, after the fundamental form is completed, shows the four triangles pointing to the centre ; and these triangles are then bent, or folded into various positions, each change making a different design. Another sequence, from the same starting-point, presents quite a different ap- pearance when the reverse side, showing four small squares, is folded. 232 PAPER FOLDING Two other sequences commonly used grow from a second fundamental folding a little more com- plicated, and these are classed according to their general appearance. In one sequence the corners point toward, and in another radiate from, the centre, the inner edges of the squares being folded. These forms are capable of almost endless vari- ations, and are all folded without once cutting the original square of paper. Indeed, this is one of the most telling points of Froebel's system, the development of a thousand beautiful and artistic forms, with scarcely any tools, from the smallest possible amount of material of the simplest kinds, familiar indeed to everybody, but to none except the initiated disclosing these infinite possibilities. The square of colored paper, for instance, is a very commonplace thing to the outsider, but the children have the " open sesame " with which to transform it into a hundred charming devices, as well as to wake it into mimic life, in the shape of a bird, or chicken, or even to coax it into a miniature ship, purse, or tall hat. It is quite impossible to give, in written words, such an idea of this important occupation as can be gained by practical lessons and repeated observation. Nearly all the forms can be given by dictation to the child, if he is sufficiently advanced ; if he is not, we confine ourselves to the simpler foldings, making as many changes as possible, to give vari- PAPER FOLDING 233 ety to the lessons, until the pupil becomes more expert. In some of the difficult foldings, requir- ing delicate handling, we show the child by fold- ing one corner ourselves, and allow him to gain his own experience by folding the remaining three. This can be done whenever the dictation becomes very complicated. We can accustom the children to give lessons to each other, and lead them to exactness from the very beginning. They will see clearly for them- selves, that the most infinitesimal deviation from the line, or centre, at any one point of the folding, brings misfortune and failure at every succeeding point, and they will be correspondingly exact in their task, if we have developed in them a striv- ing towards the very best of which they are capable. Many of the forms of life are too complicated to give to a whole class, and we are obliged to show the children how to fold them, taking them in groups of three or four, and folding our own piece of paper as a model. These life forms should be repeatedly practiced, as they constitute such a fund of enjoyment for the little ones in the family circle, where they can amuse each other for hours with scraps of newspaper cut and folded into shape. Froebel says, in regard to them : " The paper prepared for this end fur- nishes opportunity to make experiments on material things, and it is that which the child seeks in the 234 PAPER FOLDING blind gropings of his undeveloped impulses. The effort of his little powers is increased, by giving him the requisite material, and showing him the right use of it. For example, the child tries to make a form out of a piece of paper, — a box, a little bird, or something else. He does not suc- ceed, because the paper has not the right form, and he does not know the requisite manipulations. In the kindergarten he receives paper of a square form, and is shown how he can bring out the de- sired thing from it." ^ Most of the life forms are produced from the square, although a variety may also be made from the triangle, oblong, and circle. Many of them are flat picture forms, but the children enjoy rather better, on account of the reality of their appearance, those that stand up alone, as well as those that can be put to some practical use. A windmill that will revolve when put on a stick or a hatpin ; a boat that will sail ; a basket that will hold something, are obviously most attractive to young persons of great activity and practical abil- ity. When these young persons have attained some dexterity in folding, they can make soldiers' caps large enough to wear on Washington's birth- day, stars that may ornament a picture frame, school bags stout enough to carry papers in, bal- loons for the Christmas tree, and boxes to hold seeds; and the thought that their productions are 1 Eeminiscences of Froebel, pages 75, *76. PAPER FOLDING 235 really of value will make every child's heart glow with honest pride. The various life forms that can be made are so numerous that they can very easily be brought into relation with the other work. We should remember here that the child should always tell us what he thinks the form looks like, before we attempt to name it ; but in cases where there could be no difference of opinion, why not say before you begin dictation, " Let us try to make a ship to-day, children," or " Would you like to make a butterfly ? " The wonderful dexterity and inventive powers of the Japanese children are again shown Japanese in those specimens of work from the ^«*'«"^- Empress's kindergarten in Tokyo, which have before been mentioned. The perfection with which the kindergarten has naturalized itself there is reflected in the foldins^s. Here is a mulberry leaf lying by a cocoon, here is a locust, here an airy dragonfly, there a contem- plative stork and an absolutely lifelike crab, and here in the book of a five-year-old baby is a picture in paper of the wild goose as he " trails his harrow through the sky." The flock of flying geese as seen in autumn was folded in soft gray paper by the child himself, and was his own thought. He invented the form from a triangle and graduated the sizes of the birds, pasting them in a diagonal direction across the page of his book of work. Dear brown baby! it dims one's eyes to think 236 PAPER FOLDING what joy your work would have given to that gentle child-lover in Germany forty years ago ! Some allusion has already been made to the Color in color training given by folding, and to Folding. ^^ obvious ncccssity that the child should be left as nearly free as possible to the exercise of his individual preferences in selecting colors. There is no difficulty, of course, in regard to the folding of single forms, but where a num- ber of symmetrical figures are grouped upon a page, artistic combination is requisite to produce a pleasing effect. Fortunately, however, paper folding is not one of the first occupations given in the kindergarten, and by the time the child reaches the stage when blending of colors is necessary, he has received so much training with the other materials of the kindergarten, as to have some little idea of effective color combinations. The expert child may make a charming effect with his inventions if he folds the forms double, that is, lays two squares together and folds them as one, which will give a dainty colored lining to every quill, rosette, and corner. Invention is easy for the child in folding, if we Inventions do not dictatc too many figures to him and Group , « -, . ^ i i Work. before we set him free to work, thus exhausting all the simple figures which would naturally suggest themselves to him. After we have given him some idea of the law of opposites, we may leave him to the joy of making his own di»- PAPER FOLDING 237 coveries, and " the figures thus brought out, which going from the simplest proceed step by step easily to the most complex, only appear difficult, and beyond the child's powers, when we do not know how they have proceeded from each other." ^ Miss Peabody said she had seen in one kinder- garten five hundred different figures made out of the simple square, variously folded and cut, and advised that we should call the attention of the children to "the fact of this endless capacity of development of the simplest and most uninterest- ing form by the exercise of human ingenuity act- ing according to law. Thus they will realize that beauty is not an outward thing, but an inward power which they exert." The children, in our opinion, invent much more freely with the five-inch, and even with larger squares, than they do with the ordinary sized papers, for the former give them more room to work, and a larger surface seems to offer greater possibilities of transformation. When we are using the folding for decoration, or for group work of any kind, various sizes of papers may be used, the four-inch square serving as a centrepiece while the inch squares are folded into a border, for instance. Suppose the chil- dren are decorating a box together as a present for some sick playmate. They may make a great many tiny foldings and arrange them in the shape ^ Reminiscences of Froebel, page 76. 238 PAPER FOLDING of a circle, a maltese cross, or a star. If the col- ors are well managed, the foldings done smoothly, and pressed flat, the effect is very like mosaic. We may also make a sort of inlaid work, resem- bling parquetry, by folding the design in one or two tones and filling it in with a smooth back- ground of simple foldings in one color. For in- ventions, too, the plain paper between the folded corners may sometimes be cut out, and thus quite a different effect produced. Edward Wiebe says of paper folding : " We Value of do not intend simply to while away our Paper Fold- \f . . "^ . ing. own and the child s precious time m folding ; but we are engaged in an occupation whose final aim is acquisition of ability to work, and to work well ; one of the most important claims human society is entitled to make upon each individual." The value of folding in geometry teaching has been fully shown, and we should here make the distinction that whereas in paper cutting we pro- duce the figures by cutting away a portion of the ground form, in paper folding we produce them upon the ground form. Its value in cultivating ambidexterity has also been mentioned, and this indeed could be carried out more fully than is at present done. The occu- pation has, besides, a certain industrial worth as related to the folding of garments and doing up of packages. It gives wonderful general dexter- PAPER FOLDING 239 ity, which is useful in all later handiwork, and affords admirable training to the eye as well as the hand. It inculcates neatness, cleanliness, and accuracy, and like many other kindergarten occu- pations is a silent, inexorable teacher of cause and effect. Truly, as Eleanor Beebe says, " There is many a truth for the good of a life which the child folds in as he plays with his papers." Its value in the school is abundantly evident from what has been said, for not one vaiuein half of the knowledge which coidd be *b«schooL inculcated with it can even be touched upon in the kindergarten. The whole geometry of the circle, for instance, — diameter, circumference, radius, chord, arc, circle, semicircle, quadrant, segment, sector, can all be taught in the prelimi- nary foldings of that form, and there really seems no limit to the exercises in plane geometry which might be given with the occupation. Take it in relation to color teaching, and in relation to decoration and historic ornament, the result is the same, for it is one of the most important of the occupations, and one which contributes, in large measure, to the development of intellectual fac- ulty. All the geometrical forms that can be learned with the solid and plane figures, and constructed with the sticks, or linear drawing, are made with the paper folding; which has, in addition, the merit of drawing out the active individual ca- 240 PAPER FOLDING paoity. It is, perhaps, the most difficult of all the occupations, when developed to its full extent. All the beautiful developments of the art, by which it is seen how, one after the other, several series of geometrical forms are developed from some fundamental form, are admirable training for the kindergartner and teacher, both as manual art and practical geometry ; but a comparatively small range is all that little children can com- pass. Its value, however, is great, as bringing forward the lessons learned with the gifts, and other occupations in another form, and one which, by requiring the contributive skill of the child, tests the previous acquirement, and gives more thorough possession of it. Between recognizing certain forms and producing them, there is a long distance, which the childish intelligence, atten- tion, and memory must have traversed in its slow and gradual advance before the latter stage is reached. PEAS WORK Materials : Dried peas, which have been soaked before using-, and slender pointed sticks. Balls of wax and clay are also sometimes employed, as well as tiny cork cubes, and wires. Before the child begins systematic work with this occupation, he must learn to know " The Fairy- thoroughly the materials which it em- science." ploys ; and if hours of time are given to the play- ful study of the pea alone, they will be well spent. Here he gets a peep at Nature's mysteries of growth and germination, and in the simple botany lessons which must, perforce, be given, his feet are set on the pathway that leads to the " Fairy- land of Science." Let us begin with the study of the dried peas, giving a small boxful to each child, and let us have exhaustive observation by the children of their shape, size, color, texture, practical value, and activities. As the preliminary steps in peas work are suitable for even the youngest children, and, therefore, must be short, we may close the exercise with a group-work play in the sand- table. With small iron rakes and hoes the sand is worked over, and then rolled perfectly level with a miniature garden roller. Now the 242 PEAS WOBK peas are brought, and used to lay designs upon the smoothly prepared surface, — circles, stars, crosses, borders, — or even the outline of a pea- vine, with its leaves and flowers, may be followed, if the kindergartner will trace it with a sharp- pointed stick. For the next exercise two peas may be given, one of which has been soaked for some hours, and their appearance may be contrasted, and the difference between them felt as well as seen. Now comes the golden opportunity for a talk about the baby plant asleep in this pale-tinted cradle, and with a pin we may show the child how to loosen and take off the outer skin, letting the halves fall apart. This must be done very deli- cately and reverently, and the children will marvel at the perfect division of the seed-lobes, and the tiny, delicate germ that can so plainly be seen. Of course all have eaten cooked peas, but it might be well now to let them taste one of the halves they have produced, so that they can tell what good food the baby plant is to feed on as it grows. The little pea, curled up there in its cradle, must feel something like a little boy asleep in a sugar- barrel, must it not? A pleasant finish to this tiny botany lesson will be to bring a large box of prepared earth, and let each child plant a few peas, allowing them afterward to sprinkle the little garden with a few drops of water. If the box is set in a sunny window, it will not be long PEAS WOBK 243 before the green shoots will appear, and if prop- erly tended they will grow finely in the rich soil, and finally rejoice the little gardeners with blos- soms and fruit. The children who planted the peas should take entire charge of them, giving them their daily drink, keeping the soil free about their roots, and arranging the trellis for their support. Then, when the pods appear, and when each child is given one to take home, what delight to look in the " treasure boxes " and see the green spheres all a-row, each fastened to its tiny stem. It is advised by some authorities that after the peas are planted one shall be pulled up each day, examined, and drawn by the children, that the various stages of germination and growth may be seen. To our minds, however, although to some per- sons our objection may seem overstrained and sentimental, this method of procedure is a dan- gerous one, and savors overmuch of vivisection. Better in every way, in our opinion, is to watch the daily growth, by placing a handful of peas on a thin layer of cotton in a bowl of water. " First the children will notice that these peas soon look * wrinkled,' are getting bigger, then ' a lump ' is seen on one side, after which the ' coat ' comes off, the pea is split, and a tiny green thing is ' coming right out of it.' From now on the changes are more marked. What some will call 244 PEAS WOBK ' the baby's feet ' are stretching down, and the tender leaves, its ' head,' growing up. Peas often grow several inches high on the cotton, and by this illustration, the downward and upward growth of root and stem, the knowledge of where each part found its food, and of the essential con- ditions for plant life are clearly shown, in a way which will not be easily forgotten." ^ The best variety of pea for this occupation Practical scems to be the " Philadelphia Early," Directions. ^^ '^ spHts uiuch Icss casily than some of the other kinds. It is best to soak them over night, and then let them dry an hour or two be- fore using,^ as they must not only be soft enough to be pier(;ed by the sticks, but hard enough to hold them securely. The slender pointed sticks may be bought by the package at any kindergar- ten supply store, and toothpicks may be used for the first exercises, although, as they are all of the same length, elaborate forms cannot be produced with them. The materials should be given to each child in a box, or deep tray, which he may keep upon his table, for there is no need of add- ing an element of disorder to the lesson by the necessity of chasing the frolicsome spheres where- ever they may chance to roll. The peas may easily be split and the sticks broken, even in the 1 Kate H. Hennessey, Kindergarten Magazine, May, 1890. 2 Some kindergartners advise drying them as long as they are soaked. FEAS WORK 245 hands of the skillful worker, and these fragments should all be placed carefully in the box again. The small cork cubes and wires are much stronger and more durable than the former mate- rials, of course, but they are more than twice as expensive, and the wires are scarcely suitable for the nursery, or for very little children, for, though they are blunt, yet too determined a pressure on them is likely to result in injury to the hand. Small balls of common beeswax, or of clay, are employed for the cementing points by some kin- dergartners, and all children enjoy their use, now and then, as a change from the ordinary materials. Herman Goldammer speaks of the desire which makes itself more and more observable First ex- , . ercises in m a child as he increases m age, — " that Peas work. of seeing definite results proceed from his activity. He is no longer governed by the instinct which led him, without apparent object, to destroy every- thing, to reconstruct it again, and then again to destroy it. In its stead has arisen a higher, a cre- ative instinct, which mere action no longer satis- fies, which, for its satisfaction, requires a pleasure caused by the objects created." ^ Although this creative instinct has been some- what gratified by the use of the peas in flat de- signs, similar to those made with the lentil, shell, and ellipsoid, yet it is now time to make some- thing real with them, and to associate the line ^ The Kindergarten, page 134. 246 PEAS WOBK with their use. A few peas and some long sticks are given at first, perhaps, and the children learn to thrust the stick into the pea properly, holding it near the end, and working on the table. Now they have made a hat-pin, a cane, a poker, a ham- mer, or a drum-major's staff, — and whatever name they select for the object will give rise to a play or song, or the telling of some appropri- ate incident. With a pea on each end, the stick looks like a glove-mender, or a pair of wagon- wheels, — or better still, a dumb-bell, and now let us make two of them and have some fairy calisthenics. We should also, during these first plays, practice the stringing a stickful of peas, which repeats the suggestion of the tenth gift work, that a line is made up of a succession of points. We next progress to the uniting of two sticks by a pea, making a right angle, which of course is a carpenter's square, and is used imme- diately for measuring and for testing the accuracy of the spaces on the table. Put a pea on the free ends of both these sticks and another stick across, and we have a little musical instrument, — the triangle that we use for marching. Now, with another stick and two peas for a handle, make the rod for striking it, and we will beat them in perfect time with a song, first giving each child a bit of worsted from which to suspend his tri- angle. After this, the child may make acute and obtuse angles, the various quadrilaterals and poly- PEAS WORK 247 gons, and from these will naturally pass to skele- ton solids, the cube being commonly the first attempted. Before he is able to construct the skeleton solids, however, or the elaborate life Forms of forms, a number of small objects, such ^^®" as garden tools, farming tools, household imple- ments, picture frames, flags, banners, etc., may be made, and will be found not so very difficult of construction, while they will be most serviceable in interpreting man's labor and achievements to the child. The value, in Froebel's opinion, of making all these life forms is shown by the motto of the " Little Artist," in the " Mother Play : " — " If your child learns, from anything he makes, To study, somewhat, thing's that lie around, — Follow creative voice whene'er it wakes, — The building of a rich new world he 's found." The great attraction of the more elaborate life forms is that they resemble the objects made with the blocks in their reality, and have the added charm (which they share in some degree with folding and cardboard modeling) that they are " practicable," so to speak, and can be moved about on the table. They cannot be made, how- ever, by the youngest children, and present some difficulties even to older persons, on account of their irritating tendency to become unsteady and wavering on their legs, or to bend sadly over, like Pisa's leaning tower. Wires and corks hold to- 248 PEAS WORK gether more firmly than peas and sticks, and for delicate forms wires may be used with the peas. The little objects are often very much improved by the addition of tinfoil, which wraps so firmly around the sticks and serves as a seat to the chair, a top to the table, a glass for the bureau, or a mattress for the bed. Wheels may be made out of button moulds for the tiny wagons, carts, and wheelbarrows, and fastened to the axle with small peas, so that they will really turn ; and no child who has ever made one of these vehicles and trundled it along the table with Shem and his wife from the Noah's ark, elegant and impassive upon the seat, but would look upon the chariot of the gods as a shabby affair in comparison. It is needless to tell of the number of life forms which may be made with peas work, for their name is legion when kindergartner and children are provided with sufficient stores of ingenuity and patience. Doll's furniture, however, is al- ways especially enjoyed, and a delightful group- work exercise is to furnish four rooms in a paste- board doll-house, the various pieces of furniture being apportioned to the different classes accord- ing to their age and ability, and the work being executed in successive lesson periods for several weeks. The buildings the older children construct, houses, barns, dog-kennels, etc., may very well be used in the sand-table and serve as a group-work PEAS WORK 249 illustration of the life of the farmer. Here, too, the farm and garden tools, the hayracks, carts, and barrows may be used, while the roads, gar- den plots and flower beds may be outlined with peas, the fences made of peas work and the fields and barnyards filled with white sheep and cows, which are easily made of a bit of cotton pulled into shape, with sticks for legs, and eyes of ink. The work which may be done with peas and sticks in plane geometry has already Geometrical been mentioned, and much information ^°^^' as to the skeletons of solids is gained in the mak- ing of life forms, which must all be framed on a basis of forms of knowledge. Peas work, how- ever, except in its simplest forms, requires much patience and much manual skill, and it is not pos- sible for children under six years to succeed well in making the difficult geometrical figures ; those, for instance, which are many-sided, and which show the development of one form from another. " It will be reserved," as Wiebe says, " for the primary, and even a higher grade of school, to proceed farther on the road indicated, and in this manner prepare the pupil for a clear understand- ing of regular bodies." " The interior of things is known only by its exterior manifestations," says Froebel, Relation of "and the skeleton bodies made with foCry^Jai^ sticks and peas are so much more in- ^<*fin^*P^y- struct! ve as they allow the observation of the 250 PEAS WORE outer form in its outlines, and at the same time bring to view the inner structure and being of the body." All the regular solids, the octahe- dron, dodecahedron, tetrahedron, square pyramid, etc., as well as all forms of crystals, may be imi- tated, and " not only their outward contours, but their imaginary axes, diagonals, and planes can be easily represented, and therefore the peas work is capable of being made an auxiliary of immense importance in teaching solid geometry, crystal- lography, and stereometry." ^ Its value in the school will be evident from Employ- what has already been said, for as a ment in the . . School. quiet occupation devoted, perhaps, to the making of letters and numbers, the working out of problems written on the blackboard, the constructing of geometrical solids, the inventing of symmetrical figures, borders, and " practica- ble " life forms, it is eminently well suited. Its great cheapness is another point in its favor, for the boys will delight to whittle out the sticks of different lengths, which they may tie up in pack- ages of one hundred each, and the peas are of very trifling cost, and may easily be raised by the children, if there is a garden plot attached to the school. Dr. W. N. Hailmann's " Primary Helps " will be a useful book to teachers who have no practical knowledge of the occupation, and a com- pletQ set of plates illustrating the various forms 1 Hermann Goldammer, The Kindergarten, page 138. PEAS WOEK 251 which can be made may be had of the kinder- garten supply stores. Peas work is obviously a union of two gifts, the eighth and tenth (or straight line ysImb of and point), and while it ensures famil- ^^^^^o""*^- iarity with geometrical forms, and is closely asso- ciated with the study of crystals, it develops the artistic taste of the child and his power of inven- tion, and trains his hand and eye. It is also near akin to modeling, which it precedes in the regu- lar order of development of the occupations, and gives the outline or skeleton of the form which we subsequently fill out with the clay. It is of great use in perspective drawing, as it shows so clearly the principles upon which the latter art is based, and Goldammer suggests that it take the place of the expensive apparatus used for the purpose, which few schools can procure in suffi- cient quantity, and thus by employing wires, and balls of clay or cork, each child can construct his own models in a few minutes. All the work with sticks and peas in the kin- dergarten is rich with opportunities for ^^^-^^^ ^nd stories and songs. As for the sticks, ^°"^* suggestions for talks on wood were given in the chapter on slat weaving and in that portion of a previous volume devoted to the eighth gift.^ Some of the sweetest stories ever written by mas- 1 RepuUic of Childhood, Vol. I., FroeheVs Gifis, pages 149- 151. 252 PEAS WOBK ters in the art can be used in connection with the pea, as, for instance, George Macdonald's " Story of the Seeds " in " David Elginbrod," Andersen's tale of " Five Peas in a Pod," and the chapter on " Treasure Boxes " from Jane Andrews's " The Story Mother Nature Told." Then there is the lovely " Legend of the Sweet Pea," and for fitting plays and songs we have Emelie Poulsson's " In My Little Garden Bed," "The Great Brown House ; " Froebel's " Little Gardener " and " Gar- den Gate ; " and " Storm and Sunshine " and "Rain Song" from "Kindergarten Chimes." All our music-books hold charming plays and songs on the subject; for planting, gardening, rain and sunshine, springtime, germination, and growth, are favorite subjects in the kindergarten. CLAY MODELING Materials : Clay, which can be bought, powdered or in bricks, and mixed to the proper consistency, or which can be found ready prepared at a pottery.^ According to Greek mythology, Prometlieus, the wise, the all-knowing, was the first Antiquity sculptor, for he formed men of clay, o^*^®^"^- mixing it with water from the rivers and fashion- ing them in the image of the gods. There is an ancient Greek tradition, too, that a potter's daughter, Core by name, once saw upon the wall the shadow of her lover, and, as he was about to set out on a long journey, she sought to preserve the dear image by sketching its outlines with a bit of charcoal. The devoted father then took clay from the pots that he was shaping, and, to make it more enduring, modeled the figure, fol- lowing the lines traced by his daughter, and thus, so goes the legend, originated the art of modeling in clay. " It is incontestable," says Goldammer, " that the forming of shapes in soft material is among the most primitive occupations of the human race, and that it served as the point of departure for ^ Wax is also used for kindergarten modeling. 254 CLAY MODELING all the plastic arts. It is, therefore, one of the best means for carrying out Froebel's idea, that the occupations of childhood should run through a course similar to that of the general develop- ment of human civilization." ^ Modeling in clay is as old as weaving, and corresponds with the primeval art of pottery. One of the first things men attempted was the fashioning of tools and weapons, and next, as the first step in civilization, came the making of re- ceptacles, such as baskets and bags, pots and pans. " In all these things form was necessary, and was developed by means of art and industry. . . . The pots had to be moved and lifted, and so handles were added, or the surface was roughened by means of indentations, and of additional forms which made ornaments ; and then, also, marks were put upon them, to distinguish the use made of the different pots and the different contents, which ultimately led to the most elaborate decora- tion." 2 By and by some bright spirit, who had noted the ease with which objects and figures might be modeled, their durability, and the fact that they were equally well understood by all intelligences, all ages, and all races, conceived the idea of applying the art to the recording of events, and thus history began to be written by means of sculpture. As the materials for model- 1 Herman Goldammer, The Kindergarten, Part II., page 147. 2 L. Alma-Tadema, R. A. CLAY MODELING 255 ing are everywhere found, these being merely the universal elements and the tools of Nature, so every primeval people has taken it up and used it for art, for industry, or for both purposes united. Edwin A. Spring says: "With a few ex- ceptions, lauffhed at as mere child's oeiightof , 1.1. 1 • e ChUdrenin sport, or remembered m biographies of Modeling, artists as indications of genius, clay modeling was, until Friedrich Froebel's time, a technical process in the art of sculpture." It was the founder of the kindergarten, he who believed in the parallel development of the child and the race, and who had observed the delight of little ones in playing in mud, in dough, in putty, in wax, — in any plastic substance, — who seized upon clay modeling, systematized it, and made it of greatest use in education. There is no kin- dergarten occupation, in our experience, which is so gladly welcomed and so universally beloved, as modeling. Eyes begin to beam, and hands are clapped as soon as it is seen, while there is a soft chorus all aroimd the little company, — "Oh, clay, clay, clay ! " Sleeves are rolled up as high as they will go, disclosing every variety of wrist and elbow (and a multiplicity of home ideals in regard to personal cleanliness), and fingers fairly twitch with impatience to plunge themselves into the soft mass. The universal desire at first seems to be to slap and to pat it, and it is just as well to pro- 256 CLAY MODELING vide some exercise which shall gratify the passion, since, if given full swing for a time, it is much more likely to exhaust itself. There is absolutely no objection — psychologi- cal, physiological, hygienic, artistic, or spiritual — to be made to the occupation, and yet one oc- casionally meets, in the kindergarten, parents who forbid their children its use, for fear that they may soil their clothing ! There is, in fact, little danger of soiling the clothing with clay, and none at all (as is sometimes suggested) of its injuring the skin. It will do no harm even to the most delicate of fabrics, and, even if it did, the ques- tion must be decided as to whether the child is to exist for the sake of the clothes, or the clothes for the child. Teachers also sometimes object to modeling, on the ground that it makes the room and the tables untidy, but this objection (a puerile one in any case) may be reduced to a minimum, if the work is properly carried on. The common gray clay which costs two or three Mixing and ccuts a pouud is quitc e^ood enough Caringfor „ _. ^ _ .. ^ _^ ° the Clay. tor Ordinary modeling, and may usually be bought ready mixed at the larger art stores. A better quality — the artists' clay in bricks, or clay flour in boxes — may be had at the kindergar- ten supply stores at five cents a pound ; but we have commonly used a yellowish, powdered clay, very much cheaper than either of these, such as CLAY MODELING 257 can be bought washed but unmixed at any manu- factory of drain and sewer pipes. Enough of this clay to last fifty children a year can be bought for a dollar or two, so the objection of expense of material, which is sometimes made, disappears at once. An easy way to mix the powdered clay is to tie it up in a cloth like a pudding, and put it to soak in water enough to cover it. After it has been immersed an hour or so, knead it smooth without untying the cloth, or work it with a wooden pestle, and then examine the result. It is difficult to explain in words just how it will feel if it is in good condition for working, but it must not be wet enough to stick to the hand, nor dry enough to feel hard and " crumbly." Of course either difficulty is easily remedied, and experience will familiarize one with the elastic feeling it has when it is just right, and with the requisite oily, glistening look it has when smoothed. Clay in lumps or bricks may be broken in small pieces and prepared as above, but of course requires more kneading. All scraps and fragments left from work, all failures and experi- ments, if kept clean, can be returned to the stock and again moistened, for the more clay is worked over, the smoother and finer it grows. It is gen- erally better to prepare it the day before the mod- eling exercise, and it should always be covered when not in use with several thicknesses of damp cloth, or enameled cloth, while if kept in a large 258 CLAY MODELING tin box, a wooden box lined with zinc, or a stone jar, it will remain in much better condition. The tables are covered with enameled cloth by some kindergartners for the clay work. Enameled i , ^i • • . -j- il Cloth, but this IS scarcely necessary if each Modeling , -n i • i i • i -it Boards, and child be providcd With a large modeling board, which should be quite smooth, and surrounded, if possible, with a raised edge or rim. Then if the sleeves are pushed up, there need be no soiling of clothing, and if the children are properly trained, no clay will be dropped on tables or floor, while every crumb not employed in the exercise will be saved and worked over again. Large slates are also sometimes used as modeling boards, but have the disadvantage of breaking rather easily if too much pressure is laid upon them ; and some kindergartners allow the children to model upon the enameled cloth, without boards. No tools are needed for the kindergarten clay work, — that " wonderful, God- given instrument the hand, with its useful thumb, its delicate and slender fingers, its large and clasp- ing palm," being all that we require. When the modeling is more advanced, however, the kinder- gartner may produce her own simple box of tools and lend one now and then to the child, who can use it for some especially delicate bit of work. All we require then, for the occupation, is properly prepared clay, two hands, and a board to work on, — and, yes, one thing more, — we do need CLAY MODELING 259 strings (fine druggist's twine) cut in lengths of about ten inches, to divide the various geometrical solids, to cut whenever necessary, and sometimes to separate the modeled object from the board when it sticks too tightly. Kindergarten modeling is never so useful, so well-systematized, nor so agreeable to ModeUngon the child, in our estimation, as when it ca?iwS^ is conducted, as Froebel advised, upon ***'°* geometric principles. When so conducted, it corresponds perfectly with the child's gift work, strengthens every impression that has been made upon him by other instrumentalities, and provides a graded series of exercises which may always be adapted to his individual needs, and which insure his progress. When the modeling is not con- ducted on a geometrical plan, it is likely to be vague and desultory, and because it proposes to itself no particular end to its journey, never gets anywhere at all. The form which the child mod- els one day may be as much too simple for him as the next exercise is too difficult, — the one is un- interesting, the other discouraging, — there is no connection between the two and no suggestion of the third, which is to come. When a geometric plan is followed, the children begin with the sphere and spherical objects, then model the prolate and oblate spheroids, the ovoid, and the forms most closely resembling them, which series of objects will occupy them during 260 CLAY MODELING the entire time they are studying the first gift and the sphere of second gift. Now, as they under- stand the clay better and can handle it more per- fectly, they begin upon the cube and cylinder and their related forms, and progress to the cone, the pyramid, and the various prisms, always moulding the typical solid first, and then a series of life forms based upon it, allowing the children to select those which are nearest their interest or fancy. This method is clear, coherent, and systematic, and while it gives play to the child's creative powers in the life forms which are modeled, it strongly insists, at the same time, upon the " con- structive principle " of the " external universe." Some artists insist that only natural forms should be modeled in the kindergarten, — as fruits, flow- ers, and vegetables, — but if the object of kin- dergarten modeling is not to learn a " technical process in the art of sculpture," but to give a thorough knowledge of form, to encourage ex- haustive observation, and to afford a plastic me- dium for the expression of ideas, — if the latter theory be true, then it would appear to be quite as proper for the child to model a lunch basket as an orange. The babies will probably make several efforts First Model- bcforc they are able, unassisted, to roll ing Exer- iti i i i •!• cises. and mould the shapeless clay in their hands until they produce a ball. Another exercise may be devoted to making two balls of different CLAY MODELING 2G1 sizes, which they should do without help from the kindergartner. These may be provided with strings, which are thrust deep into the ball and which will stay firmly if allowed to dry in place. Next a great variety of marbles may be made, and these may be gayly painted if desired, and then the little ones may experiment on making large beads, which of course are only marbles, each one pierced with a hole. After these are dried, they may be colored to suit the fancy or left in their natural state, and then strung on cord or ribbons for bracelets and necklaces, or combined with straws and papers for long chains. The geometrical solids are not only to be moulded, but they are also to be embedded and impressed in order that they may be more fully understood. The child is always delighted to sink his wooden ball deep in a mass of clay, and to observe the rounded cavity it leaves when drawn out. All the solids are to be treated in this way, and they are also to be impressed upon thick smooth slabs of clay, the impressions gener- ally being made in the form of an invention, which the child works out by himself. The first essential for successful kindergarten modeling is a teacher who understands Essentials the nature of the clay, its possibilities gartenMod- and limitations as a material, who knows ^^^' how to care for it and keep it in condition, who can use it successfully herself, who knows how the 262 CLAY MODELING children should use it, what results should be ex- pected from them, and who has a definite plan in mind through which she guides the work. "If given in a fit condition with simple, interesting forms to stimulate the children, perfect results fol- low," says the Director of one of our art schools. " The response to touch is immediate both in clay and in children." Upon this first essential depend the other two, which are that the clay should be given out in proper condition, and that there should be models enough for all to see and handle. We should make the work on a large scale. Practical " ^^ children are set to making petty Suggestions, ^^jjg ^^^ blossoms and miniature fruit and similar silly and mean work, they will keep on making mean things." ^ Study the model carefully before giving out the clay, noting its general shape, its characteristic and important details, and calling upon each child to point out any individual peculiarities of his particular model. Teach the children to work as rapidly as possi- ble, and not " fuss " and " putter " over the clay. We are not aiming at careful finish, but at truth of form. " The juice of the clay is its life-blood." Teach the child to handle it so as to exhaust this as little as possible, and if he has made a series of 1 Chas. G. Leland. CLAY MODELING 263 unsuccessful experiments with one lump of clay, remove it, and give him a fresh one, for he can do nothing with material in poor condition.^ After the first exercises in rolling and patting are over, model on the board. Do not attempt to keep the work in the hands. Give the child a large enough lump of clay for his work, so that he can take off a piece for a reserve, and not be obliged to rob one part of his form to build up another part. Respect the limitations of the material and do not try to adapt it to purposes for which it is not fitted. Use it for modeling large objects with strong outlines and little detail. When the child cannot see where he has failed in making an object, let him foel the model and find out its peculiarities, for the hand wiU some- times perceive what the eye has failed to catch. Do not allow the child to smooth the surface of the object, and stroke it till the life is all gone. You cannot imitate the velvet cheek of the peach in clay, — you can only reproduce the peach form. " See that in joining clay to clay both surfaces are smooth. Eagged or torn surfaces of moist clay will not adhere together." ^ Do not roll out strings of clay and stick them on the modeled objects for handles, knobs, roots, ^ "Be neat. Keep the hands free from dry clay. Do not work in mud." (Edwin A. Spring.) * Edwin A. Spring. 264 CLAY MODELING stems, and leaves. They are neither lifelike nor artistic, and have the added disadvantage of en- during but for a moment. Many things can be done with wax or papier mache, for which clay is not at all adapted. It is impossible and unde- sirable to make a clay leaf or the handle of a cup as fragile as the models, — all we can do is to pro- duce the general form and the characteristics. Model the edges of any geometrical solid, as the cube for instance, with the fingers, instead of trying to get them by slapping it on a board, or cutting it with a string, or wire. It is not desirable that the clay cube should look as if it were wood. Constantly watch the children in their work, asking questions which shall act as suggestions, and when necessary show the class with the clay how the thing should be done. If any object is too difficult to be finished in one exercise, scratch the child's initials on it, and lay it away in a damp cloth in a covered tin box, until the next lesson. Do not allow the children to move the models about on the table. Teach them to place and keep the object, whatever it may be, in one posi- tion, and to model it as it looks in that position. Do not try to imitate detail, as every vein in a leaf, for instance, or every angle in its serrate edge. All we can do successfully is to give the general character of the leaf. CLAY MODELING 265 The handle of an object, as a pitcher, for in- stance, is best modeled out of the lump of clay and not stuck on ; but if the latter must be done, it will adhere better if it is " scratched on," that is, if lines are made in the clay so that the piece has points to hold to. Particularly good productions of the children may be preserved in little cabinets. It is always well to have such a collection to inspire some dis- couraged worker, or to show visitors the scope and methods of kindergarten clay work. The subjects for modeling are clearly indicated, if we follow a geometrical plan, for after subjects the children have modeled any solid, and eimg. have embedded and impressed its different faces, they take up a series of related life forms. When they have made the sphere successfully, for in- stance, they mould an apple, a peach, a teakettle, a round lunch basket; when they have studied the cylinder they mould a cucumber, a drum, or a spool of thread, always selecting common, familiar objects, of which models can easily be had. When the solids have been modeled, the half-solids and planes are to be considered, with the examples under them.^ The older children are quite successful with animals, as pigs, ducks, frogs, elephants, or any creature with large, strong outlines and little 1 Clay Modeling in the School Boom, by Ellen S. Hildreth, gives suggestions as to these typical examples. 266 CLAY MODELING delicacy of finish. The legs may have a bit of stick, or wire, thrust through them, to keep them steady, though we advance the suggestion with modesty, for we know that some persons consider this a vicious practice. We fail to see, however, why it is not as justifiable for the child to strengthen the legs of his pig with a stick as it is for the sculptor to tie Apollo's lyre in position with a cord, or to support Jove's commanding right arm with an iron rod. If it is objected, as it often is, that the child should not model pigs at all, but only geometric forms, fruits, vegetables, and leaves, vases, forms of historic ornament, etc., we can only answer that, in our conception of kin- dergarten clay work, a pig is just as suitable a subject for modeling as an Etruscan vase, and might have an even more vital interest to a small person of five or six years. Most of the more difficult objects which the child models, and especially the objects of ani- mal and vegetable life, are to be made on a base, or thick slab of clay, as it injures the form to attempt to lift it from the board before it is dry. The slab, however, may be lifted with a string without injury to the modeled object. When the children are studying the geometric Tiles and solids, they may make thick tiles of clay Paper- „ . - , , Weights, 01 any appropriate shape, square, oblong, and Vases, triangular, hexagonal, or octagonal, and impress their invented forms upon them. These CLAY MODELING 267 may be dried in a mildly heated stove, and the inventions afterwards painted in water colors. Paper-weights may also be made in the same way. True, this is not sculpture, but the work is pleas- ing to the children, and is well adapted to the material. The tiles may also be ornamented with simple leaves, which are not difficult for the older children. These leaves, however, are not to be laid upon a piece of clay, and cut out with a modeling knife (as is sometimes advised), for this is like drawing with a stencil; but are to be modeled just as one would a potato, from looking at the subject. Vases, jugs, and urns may also be made and decorated, though perfect symmetry of form is not to be expected here. Group work is not to be forgotten in clay modeling, for the occupation provides Q^^up constant opportunities for it. When ^'^^^' the children are moulding cubes, for instance, they may build a house with them at the close of the exercise ; they may make their beads, of equal or graduated sizes, into one long string to give away, they may combine in coloring the marbles ; they may make a tea-set together, each contributing one article. Many of the objects made are such pretty playthings, and so attractive, that they form pleasant gifts for a sick playmate, who is delighted to receive a box of marbles, for in- stance, from the members of his class. There are a number of kindergartens that have 268 CLAY MODELING special modeling rooms among their other con- Modeiing venienccs, and though these are not ne- Rooms. cessary, they are, of course, both useful and pleasant. Here there are low oil-cloth cov- ered tables, the most approved fashion of model- ing boards, a closet that holds the large clay ves- sels, the extra stock of clay, the geometrical and other models, the strings, and the kindergartner's tool box ; here there are shelves for the tin boxes in which unfinished work is kept, glass-doored cabinets for successful productions, and running water for all the little hands when work is over. Here, too, the baskets or boxes are kept in which the work is taken home, for experience has shown that " unmerciful disaster " generally waits upon the attempt to take it home in the hands. There is a marked dearth of stories and songs stories which might be useful for clay work, Conversa-*^ for the former only two now occurring *^°"'- to us, — Miss Sara Wiltse's " Grandma Kaoline," and Ouida's " Child of Urbino," which is to be found in " Bimbi," her volume of chil- dren's stories. There are no really good model- ing songs, except " Pat-a-Cake," perhaps, though most of us have something which we have long used, but have thought scarcely good enough for publication. There is unlimited material, how- ever, for talks and conversations, and if we could take the children to a pottery, and let them see the wonderful potter's wheel in operation, a well- spring of inspiration would be provided. CLAY MODELING 269 " The child needs first," says Dr. C. C. Van Liew, " a means of expression that will y^^^ ^f respond easily and rapidly to both his ^<^®^8:- physical and mental individuality, and which shall accord more perfectly with one of Froebel's soundest principles, the spontaneity of the child's activity." This means of expression is supplied by the clay, — a quiet, pliable substance, drawn from Mother Nature's own great storehouse, the sim- plest of all the kindergarten materials, and the one which offers least resistance. Work with the clay foUows the natural order of form study, which is first to make a form in three dimensions, and as it uses "a language which appeals gen- erally to all intelligences, it surely is wise," as Spring says, " to use it as one means of training." Again, as he points out, " neatness, skill in con- trolling both hands, and a knowledge of many properties of matter, can very easily be gained by all children through playing, while the few who are born artists will expand in natural growth from the beginning." Clay work is easy for the child, — very easy in its first stages, — for it responds to the lightest touch, and offers little resistance to weak, untrained hands. There is great difference in the natural ability of children to model, and 'this difference seems to be both individual and racial, the Italian and Mexican children, in our experience, showing marked 270 CLAY MODELING superiority in the art. Those who are least suc- cessful, however, evidently need it most, and, fortunately, there is little room for discourage- ment, however unobservant and unskillful one may be, for it is impossible to spoil the generous mate- rial. Clay modeling, in fine, in its relation to art and industry, in its cultivation of the powers of observation and expression, in its training of the hand and eye, and in its appeal to the natural delights and instincts of the child, stands pre- eminent among the kindergarten occupations. SIXTEEN REASONS WHY CLAY MODELING SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED IN THE PRIMARY GRADES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 1st. Because some form of manual training, some study of things through the making of them, is a necessary ad- junct to an intelligent system of education. 2d. Because modeling in clay is that form of manual training best suited to the early years of childhood ; being a non-resistant, plastic material, it yields to the slightest touch. 3d. Because clay is a plastic medium ; it is the one best adapted to acquaint the child with a knowledge of form, size, and proportion. He cannot increase or diminish size and mass in wood or paper with the same ease and con- venience. 4:th. Because it is the least expensive material that can be supplied to such a vast army of children as the primary school must provide for, and from which anything like sat- isfactory results can be obtained. 5th. Because all modeling in clay as it is conducted in the (Chicago) public schools is done without use of tools, only CLAY MODELING 271 the fingers and hands being used. It therefore has for its direct aim the training of the intelligence of the child, de- veloping touch, power to grasp and handle, side by side with cultivation of individual observation and perception. 6th. Because it promotes the self -activity of the child, and throws him upon his own resources of doing and making. 7th. Because form study must be the basis for an intelli- gent study of geography and mathematics, and form study unaccompanied by making is but partial and unsatisfactory. Since the earth is not a pancake, all study of geography and mathematics that does not include a study of the third dimension is time wasted and imagination perverted ; for an appreciation of the third dimension depends on actual knowing through doing and making. 8th. Because nature and philosophy declare the neces- sity of each individual acquiring an experience of his own, a something which in educational matters can only be acquired through producing or reproducing something in- dependently, each for himself. 9th. Because the child under twelve is not the adult, the reasoning faculties are in abeyance and the sense percep- tions, such as touch and sight, are in the ascendency ; and it is through the cultivation of these, by means of handling materials, that his mind is to be awakened to independent thinking and judgment. 10th. Because the tendency to pour in ready-made knowledge, such as is imparted through mere reading and writing, is to make the child a passive receptacle, with an eagerness to accept the opinions of others rather than to formulate ideas of his own. 11th. Because all promotion of a child's activity is a preservation of him as a free, intelligent, conscious being. 12th. Because the mind of the child can assimilate only so much of abstract information ; he therefore may work hours with such arbitrary symbols as those employed in 272 CLAY MODELING reading and writing without receiving a new idea or having his individual experience enlarged. 13th. Because excessive dealing with such symbols, un- balanced by hand work, tends to make a child a machine, a parrot-like creature. 14th. Because the development of general intelligence in a child counts for more than any amount of abstract information. 15th. Because reading and writing and arithmetic are not in themselves education ; they are the means to an end, not the end ; and because the cultivation of the taste through a study of form and development of the imagina- tion is a necessity to right choosing of what to read or write. 16th. Because of the prominence of nervous diseases in children, which physicians claim is the result of automatic brain action insufficiently vitalized by physical activity.^ ^ Kindergarten Magazine, April, 1893. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS Chain Making- ; Bead Stringing ; Rolled Strip Work ; Peg Tiles ; Cardboard Modeling. There are various occupations in common use in the kindergarten which have not been men- tioned in any one of the preceding chapters, since (with the exception of cardboard modeling) they seem to lie somewhat outside of Froebel's scheme of geometric progression from point to solid. They are scarcely, however, separate occupa- tions in themselves, but rather out- outgrowths growths from, or variations of those 00^?^°"* that have already been discussed, and ^^°^' as the principles on which they rest have thus been fully set down, we need here only treat of their practical application. These occupations are for the most part very simple ones, suitable for the nursery or gi^npie for the younger kindergarten classes, and EmpTo7- though they afford suitable employment ™®°^®- for children in that they direct their "natural activity to the attainment of definite ends," while developing a certain amount of skill, yet their scope in the line of invention is comparatively small, embracing for the most part only experi- ments in color. 274 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS CHAIN MAKING. Materials : For paper chains, strips of colored paper gummed at one end, about four inches long- and one half to one third of an inch wide. The paper strips for chain making will be cut Material for of the requisite length and width at any Chains. paper warehouse for a trifling sum, or may be prepared by the kindergartner herself from the large sheets of paper. The strips used for interlacing may also be cut up into chain papers, though this is an unnecessary expense, for the work of preparing them is very simple and can well be done by the advanced kinder- garten classes. The younger children commonly receive the papers already gummed, and moisten them with a bit of sponge or a small brush ; ^ the older ones are allowed to put on the paste or mucilage themselves as an exercise in daintiness and dexterity. All little children take the sincerest pleasure Delight of i^ making chains and garlands, whether cJjJJ'5^'! these be of flowers, leaves, nuts, beans, ^"^* cones, shells, pods, paper, straw, or beads, and they delight to adorn themselves with the products of their skill when completed, as did their savage ancestors once upon a time. In the first exercises in chain making, two ^ At least this is the intention, but the method of Natiire has an irresistible temptation for the majority. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 275 colors of paper are always given, and a little time must be spent in sorting them, in j-j^gj. j-xer- explaining the necessity of alternating ^^^' the two colors, in calling attention to the right and wrong sides of the paper, to the gummed ends, to the proper way of moistening them, and to the necessity of pressing them a moment after they are fastened. We must make haste slowly in these preliminary exercises, for the children are apt at first to moisten the papers too much, to fasten the links wrong side out, to lap the ends unevenly, and to forget the alternation of colors. These practical details, however, are soon learned, and they can usually make a pair of bracelets or a necklace the first time they use the occupation. If only a few links have been made, they may be labeled and put away until the time for chain making again comes around, for it is generally found that the children care little for so short a chain, since it can be put to no practical use. As dexterity and knowledge are gained, a va- riety of colors, their shades and tints. Later Exer- - . , . , , cises : Group are given tor the various links, and work, these are perhaps first fastened together accord- ing to dictation, and later the child is encouraged to combine them to suit his own taste. The occu- pation is especially adapted to group work, and the children often devote their labors to that end, combining their chains to decorate the walls, to garland the Christmas tree, to make portieres, or 276 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS draperies and sash curtains for the windows. It is found that the work is almost invariably ap- preciated even by the rudest and most ignorant mothers, and there is scarcely a home which the kindergartner enters where she fails to find the children's chains carefully preserved and hung upon the wall out of reach of the inevitable pre- datory baby. STRAW CHAINS. Materials : White and colored straws three quarters of an inch to an inch in length ; tiny squares and circles of colored paper (or round glass beads) ; a worsted needle and heavy thread. 1 Straw chains, sometimes called " Daisy chains," present a few more difficulties, both for kinder- gartner and children, than those made of paper, but they are very pretty and somewhat more dur- able. The straws may be bought by the box ready Prepariug ^ut in Suitable lengths, or the kinder- Materiais. gartucr may cut them herself from the ten-inch white ones, after soaking them in water a short time. Colored straws may also be used, of course, but they are more expensive, and are not really necessary, as the charms of color are supplied by the papers. These are commonly cut by the kindergartner from her odds and ^ In stringing beads and straws a very fine wire may be used and the needle dispensed with. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 211 ends of material, a boxful being constantly kept in store. Each child must be supplied with a deep tray, a box or dish of some kind to hold his straws and paper, and his needle is usually given to him ready threaded, and the thread knotted at one end and tied into the eye at the other. He must be directed now to thrust his needle through the centre of one of the papers pi^at and string that first, for if a straw be ^'■'^' first used it will probably slip over the knot. After this he is simply to go on stringing straws and papers in alternation, until the chain is com- pleted, but those who have superintended the occupation wiU probably agree with us that sim- ply is hardly the word to use here, for the pre- liminary difiiculties which surround the youth- ful workman are many and serious. The needle refuses to go through the middle of the paper ; the paper tears ; it is strung on with the colored side down ; the straw splits ; it slips over the knot ; the knot gives way ; the needle unthreads ; the thread breaks ; the chain drops, and the straws fall off ; the boxes are upset and materials strewn on the floor ; the chain gets entangled with itself, or with its neighbor ; directions are forgotten, and twenty straws are strung with ne'er a paper to keep them company, or vice versa; ... we need scarcely go on, for experi- ence will supply all omitted details. The picture is perhaps painted in too dark tones, however, for 278 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS all these catastrophes will scarcely occur in a single exercise, and some gifted ones among the children never meet with any of them. The making of straw chains has certain defi- vaiues nite values, and thous^h more difficult of the °, Occupation, than paper chain makmg, is somewhat more educative. The child gains with the occu- pation a more definite knowledge of position, as the centre of each bit of paper must be found with eye and needle ; his attention is directed to the various colors, and he learns to alternate them in stringing the papers, or to follow a cer- tain sequence in their arrangement ; and, finally, he receives much drill upon the number one. These straw chains are often used for sash curtains in the kindergarten, and if longer straws and round glass beads are employed, really useful portieres in the Japanese style may be made. Long cylindrical glass beads may also be used, instead of straws (but of course are vastly more expensive), and with these materials the vexa- tious thread and needle may be dispensed with and fine, pliable wire used, with a loop or twist at one end to hold the beads. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 279 BEAD STRINGING. Materials.' Half -inch wooden beads (spheres) in the six colors ; half -inch wooden beads (spheres, cubes, and cylinders), both colored and uncolored; white and colored glass beads (spheres and cylinders). The colored wooden spheres which supplement the balls of the first gift are commonly stringing strung on a stout shoe-lace, the tag ^cond"** serving as needle, and are used for color ^^^ ^®**^'' and number work, and for various fanciful plays, in connection with the balls. The use of Mrs. Hailmann's second gift beads, spheres, cubes, and cylinders, is described in a previous volume,^ and they are commonly em- ployed to deepen the impressions of contrast of form, gained with the second gift, and are strung on sticks, on shoe-laces, or wire, or used in sand- table work. The child plays with, and uses at his pleasure, these beads, illustrating first and second gift forms, but does not take them home, for they are really only smaller gifts, and as such are permanent stock and for all children. Glass beads have been strung in the nursery since they were first manufactured, and stringing most of us can recall most vividly the joy ^^^ ^^'^'• with which we wore rings, bracelets, and necklaces of our own manufacture. This pleasure of the child in personal decoration is a perfectly healthy ^ Bepublic of Childhood, Vol. I., FroeheVs Gifts, pages 46 and 50. 280 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS and simple one, an innocent vanity which is an instinct and an inheritance, and as such deserves gratification rather than suppression. He can learn combination of color, alternation of form and size, etc., with the beads, while stringing them for his own or his playmates' adornment, and thus accomplish a variety of objects at one time. The stringing of glass beads has never been a uni- versal occupation in American kindergartens, to our knowledge, at least, but it is very common in some parts of Europe, and also in Japan. If fine, pliable wire be used, instead of needle and thread, the work becomes very simple, and the articles made have the advantage of durability. As vari- ous sizes, a great number of colors, and at least two kinds (spheres and cylinders) of beads are to be had, there is much opportunity for variety of arrangement; and symmetrical forms, as well as forms of vegetable life, — flowers, fruits, leaves, etc., — are easily made with them, the designs being subsequently sewn into place on paper or cardboard. The various purposes which bead stringing Value of may serve have been touched upon in Bead "^ . . , Stringing. the iorcgoing pages, but it must not be forgotten also that the work is of value in its equal employment of both hands, and that, like all the other occupations, it gives free play to the child's activities, and leads him to see that his productions are of certain definite value. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 281 The objection to bead stringing, as it is some- times used, is evident enough, — that is, objections the minuteness of the beads, and the work, strain on the eye and on the accessory muscles in picking them up, holding them, finding the per- forations, and stringing them. If beads no larger than those commonly used for embroidery are em- ployed in the kindergarten, the occupation, in our opinion, becomes unqualifiedly harmful. BUSY WORK TILES. Materials : Boards six inches square, drilled with holes one half inch apart ; wooden peg« one inch long, in the six colors. The busy work tiles were invented by Mrs. Alice H. Putnam, of Chicago, and are First piays well adapted to the use of the youngest ^^'^ ^^^^ children, being employed to teach elements of color, position, direction, and number. The child is given a tile and a little dish, or box f uU of pegs, and is then asked, perhaps, to pick out all that are of the same color as a ball held up by the kindergartner, and to put them in the holes, either in a horizontal line across the tile, or in a vertical line up and down it. A second line of the same color may be made, and then another ball matched, and so on until the tile is filled ; or, if the colors are known by name, directions for the different rows are given. Thus the six colors may follow each other in regular order on each line ; the whole tile may be filled with one color ; 282 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS the colors may be arranged in twos, in threes, in fours, etc. ; the direction of the lines may be changed, as vertical, horizontal, slanting; or various figures, as squares and oblongs, may be described with the pegs. Only the merest sug- gestions are necessary as to the use of the busy work tiles, for no kindergartner can fail to under- stand their capabilities for simple exercises, when once she has seen them. They may be used to represent a flower garden sometimes, a double row of pegs outlining the square and serving as a fence, while the inner holes are filled with flowers ; they may simulate a farm-yard, and the inclosure be filled with small animals from a Noah's ark, — it matters not to what purpose they be devoted, so long as it is in line with the general thought, and such as to interest the chil- Necessity drcu. Unlcss the tiles be used with pian^S"*^ such a definite purpose, their effect upon their Use. ^^^ ^j^-j^ j^ positively harmful. Let no one suppose that the little one is learning any- thing by their use, when he carelessly takes up the pegs, without regard to color, and sticks them in the holes automatically, intent only upon fin- ishing the task. Such work is fit for a ma- chine, but not for a human being, and, if long continued, will stifle the creative and expressive instincts. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 283 ROLLED STRIP WORK. Materials: Strips of colored paper, of various lengihs and ■widths, such as are used for intertwining ; Le Page's glue, and a wooden slat, or brush. The work with rolled strips is not as com- monly seen in the kindergarten as some of the other occupations, but it is none the less very- simple and pretty, and especially pleasing to chil- dren, on account of its adaptability to the produc- tion of forms of life. In a somewhat more elaborate form, it was popular as a kind of "fancy work" Rolled strip p 1 1 1 n Work an old for many years, and though seldom seen occupation. in America now, is still in use in a few places where fashion has not yet introduced newer and less laborious handiwork. All kinds of fancy paper were used, — gold, silver, bronze, black, white, and innumerable bright colors, — and the strips, which varied in width from an inch to an eighth, and even a sixteenth of an inch, were rolled into stout cylinders as thick as one's finger, or into tiny ones as delicate as the stem of a vio- let. These cylinders were afterwards glued to- gether to produce all manner of forms, animals, buildings, leaves, fruit, flowers, or symmetrical designs, and the gradations in the height and thickness of the cylinders, and their variety in color, made very elaborate effects possible. Two panel pictures, illustrating this work, about three 284 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS feet long and a foot or so wide, are familiar to us, and were made in an English convent in 1639. One is a coat of arms, executed in colors to the minutest detail, surmounted by the family motto, and surrounded by a border of impossible flowers, which certainly represent a year's labor, — the other a most fantastic illustration of the Apoc- alypse, with the seven stars, the seven candle- sticks, the four beasts, the tree of life, and as many other objects as could be crowded into the limited space, — the whole wrought out in rolled paper strips. The papers used for this occupation in the kin- The Rolled dcrgartcu may be bought in packages the^KiS- at the supply stores, may be cut by the dergarten. kin^ergartner, or can often be pur- chased very cheaply in large quantities at print- ing houses, or wholesale paper stores, as the waste left from cutting sheets of a certain size is exactly what we require. A strip one half inch wide and six or eight inches long will serve for the first exercises in rolling, and quite a little practice is required before the children learn to moisten the end slightly, in order to take the stiffening out of the paper ; to keep the glazed side out ; to hold the strip firmly, and roll it into a straight, com- pact little cylinder. Even the first efforts, how- ever, though they be comparatively unsuccessful, are not without their pleasure, for they are used at once by the children in all kinds of fanciful MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 285 plays, and serve very well for curls, such as we used to make with dandelion stems. By and by, however, the art of rolling is learned, and then the cylinders are j.^^^ pasted tightly. Now they serve as cans, ^^ ^®' spools, rolls of carpet, oil-cloth, or matting, and can be used very nicely to play keeping store, while the children soon learn to pull out one end of the roU in conical shape and make it into a candle, or a potato masher. One of the greatest joys of the occupation is to make j&re-crackers, and with the proper width of red paper and bits of string, which are rolled into the cylinder at the beginning, each child can easily make a num- ber of crackers, and finally twist them together into a bunch in regulation style. All kinds of furniture, musical instruments, tools, kitchen uten- sils, and various articles, such as music rolls, field glasses, step ladders, etc., can be made with a number of the cylinders of various shapes and sizes glued together. One wide strip for instance — tightly rolled and fastened — serves for a roll- ing pin, with two narrower, smaller rolls glued on for handles ; the legs of a table may each be made of two rolls, fastened one on top of the other and glued to a square of pasteboard for a top ; a mirror frame may be fashioned of the rolls and silver paper serve as the glass ; and, as an exercise in group work, a model kindergarten may be made, completely furnished, hung with 286 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS pictures, and equipped with piano, drum, horn, triangle, and other musical instruments. The children will learn, with practice, to roll the strip in tapering style, as for the old-fashioned lamp- lighters, and this introduces new possibilities of making objects. The rolled strip work is, in truth, one of the most suggestive of the minor occupations, and the forms produced share with the building gifts, with peas work, and clay and cardboard modeling, the great advantage of stand- ing erect, and thus lending themselves more per- fectly to purposes of play. CAKDBOARD MODELING. Materials : Card and pasteboard ; scissors and knives ; rulers ; glue, or paste ; a cloth for pressing, and a hard board. Cardboard modeling seems to be a union of the occupations of drawing, cutting, pasting, and folding, and in order of geometric progression lies between peas work and clay modeling, since the representation of objects by means of con- nected surfaces follows skeleton objects (lines connected by points), and precedes solids. The occupation, in its more elaborate form. Advanced requiring the use of pasteboard, knives, ModeUng. mctal rulcrs, glue, and heavy weights for pressing, is better adapted to the connecting class than to the kindergarten, and can easily be made of sufficient difficulty to suit the powers of much more advanced pupils. It may be made MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 287 most useful as an accompaniment to the study of elementary crystallography, the following solids being easily produced : "the five regular ones, tetrahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahe- dron, icosahedron ; then the cone prism, paral- lelopipedon, rhombohedron, and their derivations, such as the pupil would learn to discover in crys- tals. Froebel considered this occupation as one of the best for older boys, and not only had these figures made of cardboard, but of wood, clay, and even of potatoes and turnips." ^ Cardboard work, even in its simpler form as used in the kindergarten, is only suited cardboard to the older children, since it demands ^e Kinder- a well-trained eye and considerable pre- ^"'*®'^* vious practice in drawing, cutting, folding, and pasting. If pasteboard is employed, knives are necessary, but we commonly restrict ourselves in the kindergarten to cardboard and simple forms for which scissors can be used. The first efforts are generally little baskets cut on the ground form of a square, an oblong, or a Maltese cross, the sides being gummed, or laced together with worsted or ribbon. Then follow trays, hand-bags, lamp-shades, card-cases, etc., then variously shaped boxes with covers which will open and shut, and then the simpler solids. The ground form of all these objects is geometrical, and a paper pattern is often first drawn, folded and cut, and then 1 Eleonore Heerwart, Froebd's Course of Paper Cutting, page 7. 288 MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS worked out in cardboard. There are certain pre- scribed formulae for making all the forms, geo- metrical and artistic, which have been mentioned, but they are much too detailed and lengthy to be given here. A little pamphlet by Emily A. Weaver, called " Paper and Scissors in the Schoolroom," ^ gives full and clear instructions for making an elaborate series of forms, and Her- mann Goldammer, in his Guide, especially recom- mends Seidel and Schmidt's " Arbeitsschule " and Georgen's " Orbis Laboris," as furnishing a variety of valuable models. Many of the little objects may be made of cel- UseofCei- l^loid or ivorine instead of cardboard, riiefaid°' ^^ sides laced together with ribbons. Pasteboard, ^j^^ edgcs cut out iu curvcs or the shapes of flower petals, and so make very pretty and useful gifts. When the children are strong enough and experienced enough to use a knife, the trays and boxes may be made in conveniently large size and cut from heavy pasteboard. Then if they are covered with colored paper and se- curely fastened with glue they will make most useful receptacles for the various kindergarten materials. Such a set of trays and boxes would be an admirable exercise in group work for the older children. The printed sheets made in Germany for card- board modeling are familiar to all of us and are 1 Milton Bradley Co. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS 289 to be had in every large toy store. These are more often seen in the nursery than in prjnted the kindergarten, but even there are f re- cSoI^d quently used as models for dolls' furni- *^°<^«^«- ture, the children cutting the various pieces from cardboard and decorating them like the patterns with crayons or water colors. Each child of the highest class is often given a heavy pasteboard box at the beginning of the school year, which he decorates like a room and furnishes with his own handiwork in cardboard modeling during the term. The exercise is a very useful one, as it gives ample room for the development of indi- viduality, and the little rooms when finished are charming gifts to children who have been less favored by kindergarten advantages. There are also sheets printed in colors which show all the buildings in a village : the churches, schoolhouses, shops, cottages, barns, inns ; and even bridges, canoes, steamboats, and trains of cars. These are all drawn with perfect accuracy, and can be cut out with knives and scissors and glued together so as to stand up in the most life- like way. Such a village is very useful for sand- table work, but many of the buildings are quite difficult to put together, and require help from skillful and interested grown people. SAND WORK Who has lived so many years that he cannot Instinct of brinsf back his baby days for a moment Child to dig ° i i t , and play in and recall the dear delig:ht that once Earth and , « i . , . Sand. he felt m playing with earth and sand ? Who does not remember the cool touch of the soft earth, the pleasant cohesion of its particles, and the ease with which it could be smoothed and patted into shape ; and who can ever forget the happy days by the sea-shore, the long stretches of hard, wet beach, — fit drawing-board for giants, — and the shining white heaps above the tide- line where we played for hours together? We can hear again in fancy the scratchy whisper of the grains as they poured into our pails, and see the caves and forts and towers and battlements that we builded once upon a time. The instinct which leads every child to dig or " grub " in the earth is almost equally general, as the Baroness von Marenholtz says, with the need of bodily movement, but it can seldom de- velop itseK unhindered, particularly in the edu- cated classes of society, and is often repressed as soon as it is manifested. "Thou shalt not make thyself dirty," is the first commandment of SAND WORK 291 the maternal catechism, says the Baroness, and seldom do town-children find an opportunity to indulge the tendency which attracts them to a dust-heap for want of better material. We may be weU assured, however, that the suppression of any legitimate natural instinct leads to deviations from the normal development of our nature, and robs us of the best and most appropriate means for the first education of the heart, of a means which no other can replace. Like Antaeus of old, the children renew their strength at the touch of Mother Earth, g^^^ ^^^^ and yet we arbitrarily hold them back provided^for from this store-house of power. If the «ii Children. authorities should order a sand heap put in every back yard of our cities, being especially careful not to neglect the tiny inclosures around which the very poor hive together, there would be less vagabondage and less youthful ruffianism. The child must needs be busy, and lacking legitimate means of occupation he will seek out those that are unlawful. In Germany they seem to understand the needs of children better than we have ever taken time to do in America, and one of the beautiful acts of the Empress Frederick, in accordance with a sug- gestion made to her by Frau Schrader, was to induce the Emperor to set apart certain portions of all public parks for play-grounds, with sand hills upon them, for the little children. Any one 292 SAND WOBK who has frequented the parks of the larger Ger- man cities knows what an attractive picture the children make in their busy, happy play of dig- ging and packing and building in the easily moulded soil. And any one who has studied psy- chology watches with keen delight the clear, rapid expression of these children's crude impressions of the world about them. The Pestalozzi-Froebel Haus in Berlin, of which Frau Schrader is the leading spirit, is provided with a most beautiful sand garden shaded by trees, over which all visiting kindergartners rhap- sodize. This is no petty box of sand such as we in America think ourselves fortunate in possess- ing, but a " truly " garden, as the children say, where there are glorious heaps of sand in which they can dig with their little shovels, and which they can carry about and load and unload in their toy carts. There is no reason why all our chil- dren in this country, save those prisoners of lux- ury who are pent in hotels and boarding-houses, should not have a sand pile for outdoor amuse- ment. A load of sand is not a matter of much expense, nor is a low board fence to surround it and prevent scattering, when once it is landed in our yards. One load will last several years where only a few children use it, and if no convenient tree grows near to shade the spot, a light awning would not be impossible of achievement. Into this garden of Eden we can usher the little ones, SAND WORK 293 and, provided with iron spoons, toy shovels, one or two old pails and pans and some muffin rings and scallop-tins for cake-baking, they will amuse themselves quietly and happily for hours. To be sure, if they are naughty, they will throw the sand in each other's eyes and all about the yard ; but such children cannot be trusted to be less than troublesome under any conditions, and they will probably be better contented and less quar- relsome in the sand pile than anywhere else. " The little child," as Froebel noted, " employs itself for a long time merely by pouring water or sand from one vessel into another alternately," ^ and " for building and forming with sand and earth, which precedes clay work, opportunities should be afforded even to the child of one year." Even the baby then may safely be set in the sand pile, and can play with the rest at digging, and moulding and burrowing, and pouring the grains in and out of the tin vessels. The sand table, sand box, or sand garden, as it is variously called, seems to have been sand in the first suggested to Froebel by Hermann teu. von Arnswald, a former pupil at Keilhau, and a devoted friend and admirer of the great educator. He writes Froebel from Eisenach, May 13, 1847 : " Dear, Fatherly Friend : Yesterday I was engaged in studying your Sunday paper when an ^ Pedagogics, page 146. 294 SAND WORE idea struck me which I feel prompted to com- municate to you. I thought, might not a plane of sand be made a useful and entertaining game ? By a plane of sand I mean a low, shallow box of wood filled with pure sand. It would be a kin- dergarten in miniature. The children might play in it with their cubes and building blocks. I think it would give the child particular pleasure to have the forms and figures and sticks laid out in the sand before his eyes. Sand is a material adaptable to any use. A few drops of water mixed with it would enable the child to form mountains and valleys in it, and so on." ^ True to Emerson's saying that it is only an inventor who knows how to borrow, Froebel seized upon this suggestion of Colonel von Arns- wald's, and the sand table has ever since been iix use in the kindergarten. It is, as commonly seen, a water-tight box about five by three feet, and at least a foot deep, is set on short stout legs with rollers and filled with sand to within two inches of the top. The box is sometimes lined with zinc, as it is often neces- sary to pour enough water into the sand to repre- sent a lake, or the boundless ocean, but it can be so strongly made as to need no lining, or may have a double bottom. It may be five feet square instead of oblong, or it may be somewhat smaller ^ FroeheVs Letters^ edited by A. H. Heinemann, page 61. SAND WOBK 295 than the size mentioned, but it must be large enough for a dozen children to gather around, as it is used only for group work, and must be low enough to be convenient for little people. The sand is always kept quite damp, as it lends itself to moulding much more readily in this condition, and the particles are thus prevented from rising into the air in the form of dust. The kindergarten, with its explanation of the universal instincts of childhood, shows First piays and Exer- us the source of the pleasure which all cises. children take in playing with sand, and gives ade- quate opportunity to satisfy the universal desire in such a fashion that it may aid in real self- development. All the exercises at the sand table are cooperative, and so lead the children to feel more sensibly the pressure of those " bonds that unite us one and all, whether it be by the soft binding of love, or the iron chain of necessity." And herein lies the greatest value of the work, — that it requires cooperation ; for as Froebel says, " the feeling of community is commonly not only not early awakened, or later nourished in the child, but on the contrary is early disturbed and even annihilated." ^ In the first exercises with the sand the children are allowed to pour it through their fingers as much as they like, to bury their hands deep in the shifting grains till not even a dimpled wrist is ^ Education of Man, page 74 (Jarvis translation). 296 SAND WOBK visible, and then suddenly withdraw them, mak- ing a sort of hide-and-seek play, which they especially enjoy, and which contains the element of alienation and return which Froebel dwells upon so thoughtfully in the " Mother Play." They like, too, when the sand is quite smooth, to print their open hands and finger tips and knuckles upon it, rejoicing in the ready response of the material to the lightest touch. Of course they are all this time experimenting upon heap- ing the sand into mountains, which they level as speedily, or raking it with Nature's five-toothed rake and smoothing it with the open palm, but now another simple exercise will be found to give the greatest joy. They may each be provided with a tray and a number of little forms, — squares, oblongs, circles, hearts, which are made in great variety for the purpose. They place these forms, which are merely rims like muffin-rings, on their trays, fill them with damp sand, then carefully withdraw them, and lo ! what an array of cakes for a party ! The pleasure which the play gives to babies need not be dilated upon, but there is an element of useful information in it also, in the knowledge it gives of differing forms, as well as the practice in dexterity required to fill them without scattering the sand, to press it down carefully and withdraw the little pans without injuring the baker's delicate handiwork. Another simple exercise is garden-making, for SAND WOBK 297 which the children are provided with toy rakes, hoes, and spades, which can be bought anywhere for a cent apiece, and, as they are made of iron, are indestructible. Of course the ground is prop- erly prepared by the laborers, and then if a flower garden is to be planted, consultations are held in regard to the shape, size, and position of the various beds which are laid out, fenced with slats, and then planted with flowers that possess the magical property of blooming as soon as set out. A real garden, however, may be made in the box, if desirable; for peas, canary-seed, etc., will sprout and grow very well for a time in the wet sand. Again, the children may mould spheres from the yielding material, calling them snowballs, cannon balls, apples, oranges, or anything they consider appropriate, and when they are using the second gift, a delightful exercise is to make group- work inventions by pressing the spheres, cubes, and cylinder into the smooth surface. " The hands of children commence their first rouffh trials at building," says the Bar- ° o' ./ ^ Later Plays. oness von Marenholtz - Bulow, " whilst digging in earth and sand. The scooping of cav- erns, the building of houses and bridges, form- ing and fashioning of all kinds (from the dirt- pies made with mother's thimble to the proud edifices made with the contents of the brick-box, or with a pack of cards), and lastly drawing and 298 SAND WORK modeling, — all spring from the instinct of con- struction, the true instinct of work." Implanted in each child of the human race is this instinct, and the corresponding desire to make use of the materials which nature provides to satisfy the craving. The yielding sand affords the most suitable material which can be found for the purpose, far better than the clay at first, as it offers practically no resistance to hand and will. There is nothing in the kindergarten which is capable of such varied, helpful, and beautiful uses as is the sand table, and it alone, were aU our other helps to child training removed, would support the claims of the system to be considered as a great educational agency. All the gifts and many of the occupations may be used in it, and in every exercise where individual powers have been strengthened, these may subsequently be de- voted to the common welfare by a cooperative play at the table. The first -gift balls and beads may be laid as garlands of flowers in the sand; the second-gift forms and beads be used for impressing inven- tions and for symbolic plays ; the gifts from third to sixth give wonderful opportunities for building of every kind and for the illustration of stories and games, while even the sticks and rings and seeds, as Colonel von Arnswald suggested, may be laid into charming inventions on the smooth plane of sand. Many things which the child has SAND WORK 299 made in slat interlacing, weaving, cutting, fold- ing, peas work, modeling with clay and cardboard, bead stringing, and rolled strip work may be ap- propriately used in the sand table, and thus be doubly blessed to the child in that they have been a pleasure to himself in making, and yet may be used for the service of others. Miss Emma Marwedel thus speaks of sand work : " Every- thing can be made visible on it, — the longest as well as the shortest paths, the high hill and the deep dale, all softly curved, all sharp mathemati- cal lines, come into view in gracefully laid-out gardens. The knowledge of home, geographical sketches (even as far as the snow line and the breaking of the wind by moimtain chains), cli- matic scenes, e. ^., views of Greenland and South America, windings of rivers, — all these things and many others can be executed by means of the various materials at hand in the kindergarten. Scissors, hammer, knife, modeling, cardboard, paper cutting, — all that incites the child's crea- tive ideas comes into application." ^ Some of the above suggestions are better suited, perhaps, to the primary school than to the kin- dergarten, but even here we can make a beginning with geography by laying out in the sand first the kindergarten and its immediate surroundings, then the neighborhood, and lastly a simple out- line of the city with its principal streets, and a 1 Childhood's Poetry and Studies, page 24. 300 SAND WORK few of its public buildings. If there are moun- tains, rivers, and lakes in the vicinity, these may be added, and as the exercise would occupy a great many work periods, it may be left upon the table, and added to from time to time. A series of group-work plays for the entire term might be made by illustrating the homes of the " Seven Little Sisters," and prove as useful in geograr phy teaching as in showing the brotherhood of man. And how may the sand work aid us in the study of history? Let us consider one of the incidents of the Revolution, for instance, and see what impression we may make on the child's mind by illustrating the " Midnight Ride of Paul Re- vere." We suppose, of course, that the exercise is to be carried out by the older children, who have often heard the poem recited and remember its main features. The city of Boston is laid out on one side of the table, the North Church con- spicuously placed among the buildings, and hav- ing a " practicable " belfry. While one group of the children is making the city, two or three more are representing the bay with water, or glass, and placing a toy ship in it to stand for the " Somerset," swinging wide at her moorings. Directly across the bay another group builds up the village of Charlestown, from which Paul Revere rode forth, SAND WORK 301 *' with his cry of alarm, To every MidcQesex village and farm." A few more children construct the historic bridge across the river leading to Concord, this being a small village, with flocks of sheep asleep in its fields, and having for its main building the storehouse of clothing, food, and ammimition of the Americans. The remainder of the class lay out the villages of Medford and Lexington, not forgetting a cock and a dog for the former hamlet, a meeting-house with a gilded weather-vane for the latter, and clock-towers for all three towns. The teacher must, of course, from her knowledge of the dis- tance of all these places from each other and from Boston, and their relative direction, give a good deal of advice as to laying out the sand table ad- vantageously, and she will probably also need to be consulted as to the shape of the bay and the windings of the river, " a line of black, that bends and floats." A number of exercises would be well spent in arranging Boston and the neighboriug villages in the sand with their various buildings ; in con- structing the bridge and making two lanterns for the North Church tower, a row boat and oars for Paul Eevere, clocks for the three villages, a weathercock for Lexington meeting-house, and in gathering together from the group-work stores a horse and rider, a cock, a dog, a flock of sheep, 302 SAND WOBK and some trees. Finally when all these prepara- tions are completed, and all the objects set in place, the poem is recited, and at the right mo- ment Paul is rowed across the bay and stands impatient by his horse until the lanterns are hung in the tower. Then eager hands mount him and hurry him from village to village in time with the recitation, till at two by the village clock he comes to the bridge in Concord town. . . . Such is the exercise, and clear enough its value in teaching literature, history, and patriotism. What child could leave that heap of sand with- out a word in his heart that shall ring forever- more, and an echo in his memory " Of the hurrying hoof-beats of that steed And the midnight message of Paul Revere " ? There are many stories, not necessarily histori- cal, which the children enjoy illustrating in the sand. Very well do we remember an occasion when one of the authors told the fairy story of the Princess and the golden ball, at the sand table. Across years of time comes the memory of the eagerness with which the children con- structed the king's palace, which was quite a wonderful sixth-gift creation, how they designed gardens, planted them with flowers and trees, laid the walks with pebbles, and finally set in the midst a silver lake represented by a broken look- ing-glass. Then when the golden ball (a second- gift bead) lay on the surface of the water and the SAND WORK 303 story told of the enchanted frog's appearance, and his offer to return it on certain conditions, — all was so real that the story teller herself half expected to see him emerging from the lake, and to hear his harsh croak. In all these exercises the teacher must endeavor simply to be one of the children and not force her ideas upon the community. We are constantly, as Dr. C. C. Van Liew says, " forcing the child's representations into channels not his own, that do not express his own conceptions, and that even defraud him of his rights to individuality in error." Spontaneity of activity, which sand moulding is especially fitted to foster, will be utterly crushed if the kindergartner leads instead of follows, and it is her highest duty in these group-work exercises to keep herself in the back- ground.^ After a season or two's work with the sand table, a number of objects are necessa- cabinets for rily collected, which have been bought, objects, brought from home, or made by the children and kindergartner to embellish the work and make it more realistic. These may be wooden, china, and ^ " It is very important not to force on the child, in the sym- bolic stage of his ciilture, say from four to six years of age, the ideas of others in the details of his work, for that will produce arrested development, and he will not have the vivid sense of personality that he ought to have. The kindei^arten method encourages spontaneity, and thus protects the fountains of his originality." (W. T. Harris.) 304 SAND WORK tin animals of all sorts ; Swiss villages ; toy trees ; houses, churches, boats, and bridges in card- board modeling ; houses, implements, and fur- niture in peas work ; tin vehicles, garden benches, railroad trains, steamers, garden tools, Noah's ark figures, sticks and pebbles for fences and walks, — a motley collection which requires much space to keep sorted and in order, and which the kindergarten closet, though it held as much as Pandora's box, would never find room for. Miss Marwedel suggested that a cheap wooden cabinet with drawers should be provided and used for this purpose alone, and that certain children should be deputed to keep the various objects in order, taking turns with the duty week by week. One of these children might be called the gar- dener, one the shepherd, one the architect, etc., and it would be the duty of each one to keep his material in order and know where it was to be found. The plan is perfectly practicable, and will give a glimpse of great joy to those who have hunted a half hour for a certain flock of cotton-wool sheep, known to be in existence, and yet nowhere to be found. There is hardly a kindergarten exercise sug- use of Sand g^stcd in this chaptcr, save perhaps the Sary^^"" fi^st plays for babies, which would not School. i^g equally as practical and useful in the school, and could be carried out much more fully there, on account of the greater age and ability SAND WORK 305 of the children. One obstacle to the introduction of the sand table into the crowded primary school- room would be, of course, its size and the amount of space it occupies. Perhaps, however, it might be fastened to the wall with hinges, and opened and filled only when in use, which would dispose, in part, at least, of the objection. An enthusi- astic teacher thus speaks of its use in the school- room : " With the sand box," she says, " the children gain permanent and correct ideas of the world in general, of the construction of houses and bridges, of habits of animals and plants. The study of geography is, through its possibilities, made a most fascinating pastime ; moufi tains, hills, volcanoes, rivers, ponds, maps of states, counties, cities are formations in the sand, over the construction of which, little heads bend in happy thought and fingers work with joyous zeal. " No child thus taught is ever heard to say, ' I hate geography,' for to his mind it has no associa- tions with dull, weary memorization of the printed page, but is suggestive, instead, of scenes full of reality to the imagination, and of pictures delight- ful to the eye. Even the smallest children get intelligent ideas of the planet on which they live, and know more than many a grown person of the topography of the city which is their home. They map it out as a whole in the sand, and locate carefully the street and block in which they 306 SAND WOBK live, not forgetting the trees in the home neigh- borhood, nor even the lamp-post and letter-box. Thus are habits of observation stimulated, and the walks to and from school made something more than idle wanderings." Many teachers already use the sand for in- struction in geography, and Alexander E. Frye's "Child and Nature, or Geography Teaching with Sand Modeling," will be found most helpful for this purpose.^ The use of sand in the beginnings of history has already been hinted at, and could be developed as fully as the spirit and intelligence of teacher and children would allow. Imagine, for instance, how well Jane Andrews's story of "Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago to Now," could be worked out, and how the inge- nuity and power of planning of all the children might be devoted to picturing the homes, the life and surroundings of Kablu, the Aryan ; Darius, the Persian ; Cleon, the Greek ; Horatius, the Koman boy, and all the other lads from Long Ago to Now. A part of the sand table, too, might be used for botanical observations, and this has been done quite successfully. While in one portion, peas, beans, flax, and some grasses were sown, and the whole process of germination and care experi- enced, the other part was used for any cobpera- 1 Another useful book of this nature is Map Modeling in Geography and History, by Albert E. Maltby. SAND WOBK 307 tive labor. Local scenes, imitation of a park, geographical scenes of Greenland, of the Eskimo huts and the snow, scenes of South America, illustrations of the life of Robinson Crusoe, the animals being represented in great numbers, at- tended by their special herder, — all these were arranged according to the capacity of the chil- dren, who did all the labor in common.^ In another school, after the story of " Little George Washington " ^ had been told, the children prepared the sand table, and when the older ones had traced the letters of his name and the date of his birth deep in the soft sand, the lesser ones filled them with seeds and covered them carefully. Then in a little time the whole appeared in fresh green letters, and so recalled a tale of the child- hood of Washington, and proved a useful foot- note to history. Again, the sand may be used for learning the principles of architecture, for cellars may be dug, foundations laid, and walls built as in real life. A spirit-level would be of great service here, for in erecting a large building, the whole structure is likely to fall to the ground if the foundation is not properly laid, and of this it is difficult to judge with the eye alone. Let us remember in the school, however, as 1 Emma Marwedel, Hints to Teachers, page 12. 2 Kate D. Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, The Story-Hour, page 115. 308 SAND WORK much as in the kindergarten, that the children, not the teachers, are to be the leaders in the work, and how far they may be trusted to be so is shown in Dr. G. Stanley Hall's wonderful " Story of a Sand Pile." 1 Some of the processes, institutions, and meth- ods of administration and organization carried out in that load of sand could only be attained by a gradual growth in ability, and would perhaps require more time and concentration than could well be given during school hours, but in all sand plays, to quote Dr. Hall, " the power of motive arising from a large surface of interest can be turned on to the smallest part." Not only has the work this value, but it is an unexcelled teacher of social morality and of self-control, and lastly, it develops the creative instincts, which if suppressed, entail a loss of power upon the whole being of the child. 1 Scribner^s Monthly, June, 1888. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE OCCUPA- TIONS These occupations of the kindergarten, so old, — as old as the playing child, and yet as new as the last-born baby among us, — seem indeed to prove themselves worthy of Froebel's saying that they contain the imiversal elements of proper work for childhood. Yet as we have tried to show in the preceding chapters, they must be applied according to Froe- belian principles, or they lose all their power for good and even become harmful. One of our commonest kindergarten sayings is that self-activity is the watchword of _ , . , . . . Self-Activity. the new education, but it is question- able whether we always thoroughly understand what we mean when we use the phrase. SeM- activity in the child means more than his being busy, more than his voluntary performance of work, more than his overcoming of difficulties by personal effort, more than his accomplishing any result unassisted, and by force of his own powers ; " it implies," as Miss Peabody said, " that, at all times, Ms whole self shall he active^ for no activ- ity accomplishes all the good it can, unless it 310 GENERAL REMARKS enlists his entire self in all the phases of being. The law of seK-activity is not more opposed to the leading-string and cramming practices, than it is to one-sidedness in the work of education ; it demands not activity alone, but all-sided activ- ity of the whole being, the whole self."^ If we judge our ministrations to the child's self-activity by the above definition, how far do we come short of the standard ? " The whole body of investigations upon child- hood," says Dr. C. C. Van Liew, " points to the fact that the most vivid perceptions and memories are associated with self-activities, — a fact which demands not only that education proceed early along the lines of motor activity, as in the kinder- garten, but that the entire intellectual develop- ment aim to stimulate the child's self -activity." ^ Let us ask ourselves specifically here, have we or have we not furnished the right conditions for such development ? The worth of knowledge obtained by individual Self-Activity effort cauuot, of course, be too highly estimated ; the mental and spiritual dis- cipline gained by persistently struggling with dif- ficulties and bravely overcoming them, is one of the most valuable of life possessions, but this effort and this personal struggle on the part of 1 Kindergarten Messenger, April, 1879. 2 Transactions of the Illinois Society for Child Study, VoL L No. 1. ON THE OCCUPATIONS 311 the child need not and should not be carried on without the participation of the teacher, — in other words the self-activity of the learner should not exclude a similar activity on the part of the leader. It is not his office to give the child a problem to work out, and then leave him to grapple with it alone, for the whole reason of the teacher's being is that he shall supply the expe- rience the child lacks,^ that he shall " show, when showing enables the child to do, and must even do, when his doing enables the child to appreciate the bearing or value of his own activity." Of course it is a delicate matter to give the pupil just aid enough, and not too much, to hold out a helping hand when the road is very rough for small feet, and yet to withdraw the hand and encourage walking alone as the obstacles grow less. It is a delicate matter indeed, and de- mands good judgment, experience, and sympa- thetic knowledge of all children, as well as of the particular child. Have we this judgment and experience, and are we gaining this knowledge ? Nothing is more noticeable in visiting various kindergartens than the marked difference in the way the materials are treated by the children. This difference, like that exquisite and delicate 1 " Experience without instruction is wastef ully extravagant ; instruction unattended by experience is valueless. The former exhausts, the latter starves life." (W. N. Hailmann.) 312 GENERAL REMABES thing, the kindergarten " atmosphere," is, and Handling must be, a direct emanation from the Sn^Mate-'^" mental attitude of the kindergartner. rials. jj-^g^ ^^ ^^^ suppose, who sees a com- pany of children hastily stuffing their weaving mats into the envelopes regardless of creases and crumples, folding their papers without thought of correct diameters, dropping their clay on the floor, smudging and smearing their drawings, — let no one suppose that those children are a horde of wild and lawless Arabs. There may be, there certainly is, some one in the room who deserves to be called by that name, but just as certainly she is not among the children. No, for subjected to another influence you shall see the same careless, heedless company become careful and orderly, intent upon getting things " just right " and keeping them so, and vying with each other to produce work which shall be spotless and daintily neat. We do not say that cleanliness, neatness, and order are necessary to art and artistic productions in maturity ; but we do say that little children cannot deal successfully with the kindergarten materials and can never produce good results with them until they have learned to treat them with respect and care. Let us open our eyes more widely and look upon our own children with critical gaze. Are they orderly and careful, do they respect the ma- terials which they are handling ? ON THE OCCUPATIONS 313 There has been so much insistence in the pre- ceding chapters upon the ideal use of Meaiuse the kindergarten occupations that we Serga^rtelT" should hardly dare to touch upon the ^^^"P^tions. subject again, were we not assured that "repe- tition is the sheet-anchor of the teacher." We need to disabuse ourselves of the too prevalent idea that there is a certain magic in the materials which will work its beneficent way, no matter how they are applied. True, the magic is there, but it is only set free by the right touch, by the understanding hand. They may be used to cher- ish the art-impulse in the learner, or to crush it out and stamp it under foot ; they may be used to further every generous thought and feeling of the child, or to foster selfishness and egotism ; they may develop his individuality and his crea- tive and expressive powers, or simply train his hand and eye and make him a deft automaton, alert in carrying out the ideas of others. How are we using the occupations, dear kinder- gartners ? Are we developing from within, or im- posing from without ? Are we giving the child the fullest possible control of himself and his powers, or are we turning him into a superior kind of machine ? There is no safer time than this to ask and to answer these questions : — " The clay is moist and soft ; now, now, make haste And form the pitcher, for the wheel turns fast." ^ 1 Persius, Satires, iii. 23. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. APR 6 201)3 LD 21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 YB 48414 M535289 iH'-=»£f-«< ;f'