With imitation and imagination Strongly developed in the child placed in a civilized 

 environment the play impulse will be directed into new channels and instead of prancing down 

 the road as a wild horse, or clawing the air like a bear, you may see him puffing like an auto 

 or locomotive. Those artificial games that are devised by adults, and taught children must 

 have in prominent sight the above natural elements of play in order to ever become popular 

 with children. Analyze the games of base-ball and foot-ball in order to discover the various 

 types of activity represented. In primitive society the children played essentially as they do 

 to-day and acquired skill in doing those things which enabled them to survive as adults. We 

 have out-grown, in large part, the necessity for these special activities in later life and still 

 the ability to run, jump or swim not infrequently enables the individual to save his life. 

 Aside from the practical value of the skill acquired in play, the activities demanded by- 

 Nature develop muscles and senses and the corresponding brain centers and mental powers. 

 This is why "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Furthermore, if the play impulse 

 is fully satisfied there is much less likelihood of fighting amongst the boys. The wise teacher 

 will do all she can to encourage and supervise the play of children entrusted to her care. 



2. INTELLECTUAL AND ETHICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Under this head we may group a 

 series of characteristics which relate the child to primitive man and distinguish him from our 

 ideal civilized adult. The average child is jealous, selfish and inconsiderate of the feelings of 

 others. He is heartless and often cruel, delighting in stories of adventure, fighting and blood- 

 shed. He loves to tease and annoy helpless animals and his weaker fellows, which is simply 

 a mild form of torture. He has a feeling of hostility toward all strange boys, is clannish and 

 quarrelsome. Because of his vivid imagination, his unreliable senses, or his willingness to 

 deceive, the statements of children are often untrue. Judged from adult, civilized standards, 

 his ideas of right and wrong are very vague, as is also his sense of modesty. Property rights 

 are not fully understood or respected, might often making right. Many teachers and parents 

 believe that these low traits, which they cannot help but recognize in their children, have been 

 caught from other children, just as they might catch the measles. The purpose of this dis- 

 cussion is to show that they are perfectly natural and to be expected in every healthy boy, 

 less pronounced in the case of the girls, and not due to acquired viciousness. Sympathy ! 

 sympathy ! is what the dear little rascals need. To know how to handle them most wisely 

 requires divine help. 



Because of the developing sense centers in the brain the senses are particularly active and 

 the child desires to see, feel, taste, smell and hear. He lives largely in the present, is natur- 

 ally improvident and lacking in thrift. Not having yet become strongly attached to any single 

 locality he is nomadic and, if he could carry with him his parents, friends and pets, he would 

 like to be almost continually upon the move. A house upon wheels, or a private car or yacht 

 would be ideal. He is lacking in power of mental concentration, is not methodical, reasons 

 superficially, is easily deceived, and has but a weak grasp of numbers. He is by nature un- 

 tidy and lacks in fastidiousness, is not seriously distressed by the usual condition of his 

 hands, face, hair and clothes. He is not overly choice in regard to the things with which he 

 periodically fills his stomach. He makes much use of gesture and loves pantomime as a form 

 of expression; delights in wild, weird calls and cries. Imagination and associative memory are 

 strongly developed in children and they have a passion for imitating the activities of animals and 

 grown-ups. Children are surpisingly confident of their powers and are often boastful. When 

 a little older they develop, especially the boys, a type of stoicism, which enables them to take 

 a thrashing without any show of pain. Owing partly to their innate curiosity and partly to 

 their instinct to kill, children are naturally destructive of plants, animals, toys and property. 

 Stories of the fiercer animal life, of war and the chase, of primitive adventure, appeal most 

 strongly to them. The child is passionately fond of play ; i. e. the voluntary expenditure of 

 energy, but just as thoroughly detests work. He loves Nature rather than art, the real thing 

 rather than any representation of the thing. He loves strong perfumes and brilliant colors, 

 having no appreciation of the harmony of shades of color. Most children prefer red and have 

 a positive distaste for black. Their fondness for color may be transferred to the object pos- 

 sessing it. A teacher informed the writer that the children are much more tractable when 

 she wears a dress that they like. Musically the child has not advanced much from infancy, 

 still loving rhythm, rather than melody, or harmony. However, it now requires more noise 

 and rhythm to satisfy him. The music that takes the firmest hold upon the child is of the 

 minor character. 



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