72 NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOLS. 



egg-tooth was mentioned as being required by the young 

 bird in order to break the shell. 



The nest was next shown to the children. The man- 

 ner of building was described. The gathering and placing 

 of the straw by the birds, the waiting for a rainy day so 

 that mud might be found, the plastering of the nest with 

 the mud, so that the babies should have a warm home, 

 all brought more strongly to the minds of the children 

 a mother's thoughtfulness and care. 



Froebel attached much importance to the sympathetic 

 study of nature in the kindergarten. In order to give a 

 clear expression of his thoughts, I quote the following par- 

 agraph from one of his Mother-plays. 



"Through" the play of The Bird's Nest, mother, you 

 take a few short steps upon one of the paths which lead 

 toward this goal, viz. the path which starting from sym- 

 pathy with nature, runs through study of nature to com- 

 prehension of the force, laws, and inner meaning of nature. 

 You are incited to enter Upon this path by your feeling 

 that a prophetic sense of the inner connectedness of na- 

 ture stirs and dreams in your child's heart. You also 

 feel that there is no single object in nature which has more 

 power to lift his dreaming presentiment into working con- 

 sciousness than a bird's nest." 



It his hoped that our children reaped a benefit from 

 this lesson, and that their interest in nature was awak- 

 ened. 



