KINDERGARTEN 



3254 



KINDERGARTEN 



child who misses this misses something that 

 cannot be made up to him. The mother's 

 direction of the child's play, with material 

 suited to his age, is the best substitute, how- 

 ever, and suggestions concerning the nature of 

 such play are therefore in order. 



Because children between the ages of four 

 and six years have acquired a certain amount 

 of knowledge and skill through such experi- 

 mentation as that described, their play is of a 

 different character. If they use the same mate- 

 rial, they now use it as means to an end the 

 carrying out of some purpose of their own. In 

 his effort to cany out such purposes, however, 

 the child may find that he needs a new kind 

 of material blocks with which he can make a 

 sloping roof to a house. 



Again he may wish to make an object ouc 

 of new material from cardboard, instead of 

 blocks perhaps but he does not know how. 

 Or he finds it desirable to know how to do 

 other things to represent objects with pencil 

 or scissors, or to beautify something he has 

 made. He therefore becomes interested in new 

 lines of work drawing, modeling, cutting, or 

 tearing, folding and constructing, and perhaps 

 sewing and weaving. For his additional build- 

 ing he will need the enlarged fourth and fifth 

 gifts, and, later, the sixth; and, for the hand- 

 work, pencils, crayons, or paints, blunt-pointed 

 scissors, paper and cardboard of different kinds, 

 sewing and weaving material just what and 

 how much of each will depend upon the lines 

 attempted. Work with these materials is not 

 so easily carried on in the home as the work 

 with sand, blocks, or beads. Several lines, in 

 fact clay modeling, painting and cardboard 

 construction would better not be attempted, 

 unless the mother herself has had training in 

 these, or has provided herself with a book, such 

 as What and How, since the children cannot 

 use them successfully without careful and defi- 

 nite instruction. 



Some of these lines of work, such as perfo- 

 rating, sewing on cardboard, and fine folding 

 and weaving, are but seldom used in present- 

 day kindergartens, because they produce nerve 

 strain. It would be well for the home to note 

 this suggestion and attempt only a few of the 

 simpler lines. Children's desire to represent 

 can be satisfied by the use of sticks, pencil and 

 crayon drawings and free-hand cutting or tear- 

 ing; and their desire for construction, by 

 evolving some of the simpler forms from card- 

 board foldings or from the utilizing of empty 

 spool boxes. Assuming that the mother will 



wish to attempt some work in several of these 

 lines, the following material is suggested : 



Seventh gift pasteboard tablets, one box of 100, 

 form A, B, G. 



Eighth gift sticks, one box enlarged, uncolored 

 sticks, 1 inch in length, and one each of 2 inches, 

 4 inches and 6 inches in length; numbers 40, 41, 

 43 and 45. 



Weaving mats, 14nen, 1 dozen % inch slits, No. 

 1231, and 1 weaving needle, No. 396. 



Sewing cards, Miss Stodder's, 1 dozen, design to 

 be selected, silkate.en, 1 dozen spools, No. 195A, 

 and needles, 1 paper, No. 199. 



Crayons, one box kindergarten crayons, or Em- 

 beco crayons, No. 8100. 



Paper for drawing, folding or cutting ; one 

 ream No. 20 manila, 6x9 or 9x12 in. White 

 shelf paper can be substituted for this, or the 

 paper that can be purchased of any printer, cut 

 to the desired size. 



Paper for cardboard construction Bradley's 

 Bull's Eye paper, one package, 50 sheets, assorted 

 colors. 



A blackboard. 



A set of Bradley's Straight Line Picture Cut- 

 outs, No. 8216. 



Suggestions for Work with the Material 

 Named. Children's first attempts at free repre- 

 sentation by drawing, modeling, painting, cut- 

 ting, etc., are as crude as their first efforts with 

 sand and blocks. They will, therefore, need 

 the stimulus of their mother's suggestion and 

 encouragement to continue until their work is 

 good. It will therefore be best to have them 

 continue their play with the known material, 

 making this more difficult, and to take up one 

 or two of the new lines only at first crayon 

 drawing and paper cutting, perhaps and intro- < 

 duce the others gradually. In the block build- 

 ing, definite problems may be set, such as the 

 building of a house with a definite floor space, 

 a special kind of roof or a certain number of 

 windows. The pegs and beads may now be 

 used in certain number combinations, or the 

 stringing may be of corn and seeds, and with 

 a thread and needle, instead of shoe laces. 



The best start in drawing, cutting or tearing 

 will be made by the child's seeing his mother 

 draw, cut or tear a simple object. Suggestions 

 for carrying these on are given in the illustra- 

 tions. To sustain the interest in such work, it 

 is well for the mother to help the child make 

 a book, either from cloth or construction paper, 

 in which to mount his best drawings and cut- 

 tings. These may include some pictures of 

 fruit, or other objects cut from seed catalogues. 

 The illustrations may suggest the uses and 

 cover decorations of several such books. The 

 children may keep these for their own pleasure, 

 or use them for gifts to friends. In either case, 



