Cornell CAMP NATURE IDEAS 119 



him will lead him to anticipate the wants of the child and to in- 

 terpret those wants naturally and freely. 



It is this comradeship with the children, this observing of the 

 phenomena as they actually occur and the attendant informal 

 discussions that make nature-lore at camps so vital. It is the 

 lack of this informality and the failure to provide the pupil with the 

 same outdoor stimuli that has produced such direful results in 

 the classroom. 



How may such freedom be brought about in the room, you ask. 



Donate a corner of the room to pets; swing a bird cage in a 

 sunny window ; make a baby world from a discarded bowl ; build 

 an aquarium and step by step furnish it ; hang the walls with pic- 

 tures that paint the rainbow tints of setting sun and rising moon; 

 surround him with books wherein he may read for himself the In- 

 dian myths and poems of our great land. 



At once the whole atmosphere of the room changes. The 

 throbbing world has come to him. Twitching fingers find work 

 to do; straying eyes open upon new worlds and sluggish brains 

 become active. Turn the child free to leam from observation as 

 we do at camp. There will be no question of discipline. That 

 takes care of itself, for there is neither time nor inclination "to 

 loaf" with active, constructive projects to develop. 



Let him construct the home for his guinea-pig, rabbit or doves, 

 and learn of trees, their uses and characteristics. The walk home 

 will take on new interest, and a trip to the park will be followed 

 by questions without number, questions about trees, that correctly 

 answered, will instill in him a knowledge of their use in industry 

 and our dependence upon them, as well as lasting reverence for 

 the native trees of our land and as keen an appreciation of those 

 towers of living green as Joyce Kilmer had when he wrote: 

 "A tree that looks at God all day 

 And lifts her leafy arms to pray." 



Give him a sand table in the south window. It will reveal won- 

 ders to the child who has had no opportunity to follow the blazed 

 trail, to watch the lengthening shadows or see the sun sink behind 

 a mountain. Then let him construct a sundial, and use it. Lati- 

 tude, longitude, time and direction become mere factors neccessary 

 to the development of his project. Geography is no longer an 

 ordeal, but a pulsing reality- — a correlation with all mankind. 



