The child of three or four years has seldom any conception of the
terms:--
Right----Left. Here ----There.
Up ----Down. Near ----Far.
Over ----Under. Front----Back.
Even if he has a dim idea of direction, he cannot express himself
regarding it, nor is he certain enough of his knowledge to be able to
move or place the ball according to dictation.
Motion is always easy and delightful to the child, and therefore he
will move his ball in different directions, as the words and music
suggest, when he would be too timid to express a thought, and is
willing and happy to do in unison what he would hesitate to do by
himself.
The ball may be made a starting-point in giving the child an idea of
various simple facts about objects in general, and in illustrating in
movements the many terms with which we wish him to become familiar.
The meaning of the terms to _swing_, _hop_, _jump_, _roll_, _spring_,
_run away_, _come back_, _fall_, _draw_, _bounce,_ and _push_ may be
taught by a like movement of the ball, urging the child to give his
own interpretation of the motions in words. All the children may then
make their balls hop, spring, roll, or swing at the same time,
accompanying the movements by appropriate rhymes.
The ball is more purely a plaything than anything which the child
receives in the kindergarten, and its mobility is so charming, it so
easily slips from his hands and travels so delightfully far when
dropped, that exercises with it soon become riotous if not carefully
guided. Every play-lesson on the ball should close with some active
exercise in which the children may indulge their wish for a game with
their dear playfellow, and in which they may also gain greater skill
and learn practically the laws of motion.
When sitting at their tables, each pair of children may roll a ball to
and fro, all beginning at the same moment; or the first pair may
begin, the second and third follow, and so on until all are rolling.
They may throw balls against the wall, or toss them in the air, or
throw them alternately first in the air, then against the wall; they
may toss them to each other at increasing distances. The whole company
of children may be arranged in two rows and throw the balls to each
other in unison, or they may pass them from hand to hand as in a
Wandering Game,--all the exercises being accompanied with appropriate
songs or rhymes.
The laws of incidence and reflection may be simply taught by leading
the children to note that if they strike the ball straight against the
wall it will bound straight back, and then asking them to see if it
returns when thrown in a slanting direction.
Symbolic Stage of Child's Development.
In order to present the ball in a more attractive light in the
kindergarten, to suit it to the symbolic stage of the child's
development, and to bring it nearer to his sympathies, we constantly,
in our play, suppose it to be something which it resembles in certain
of its characteristics. By its color, it may represent a fruit, a
flower, or a gayly dressed child; by its form, an egg, a downy
chicken, a tiny duckling; by its mobility, a bird, a squirrel, a baby;
or when fastened to its string, a bucket in the well, a toy wagon, a
pendulum, or a pet lamb tethered by the roadside.
The child is always at home in the world of "make-believe," and
delights in the stories and the many charming songs to which this
imaginative use of the ball gives rise.
Perhaps we may wisely remind ourselves, however, that though the
child's fancy is most vivid, and though the ball is well adapted to
represent many objects, yet if it resemble in no single point the
thing to which we liken it, we are indulging in empty imaginings which
will only hinder the child's comprehension of truth.[16]
[16] "The resemblance of the symbol to the thing signified
is a very important matter in education, especially in
kindergarten education."--Geo. P. Brown, _Essentials of
Educational Psychology._
Cooperative Exercises.
The teacher who truly understands the great principles on which
Froebel built the kindergarten will ever be mindful of one of the
highest of these,--"the brotherly union of those who are like-minded."
Even in the simple plays with the first gift, group work is easily
possible. The stringing of the first gift beads or the supplementary
modeling in clay may be made into a cooperative exercise, the work
with the balls at the sand-table may have a similar aim, and many of
the ball games are well fitted to unite the whole community of
children, older and younger, in a common aim, a common purpose.[17]
[17] "If, therefore, genuine brotherliness, ... consideration
and respect for playmates and fellow-men, are again to become
prevalent, they can become so only by being connected with
the feeling of community abiding in each man (however much or
little of it may be found), and by fostering this feeling
with the greatest care."--Friedrich Froebel, _Education of
Man_, page 74.
What we should strive for.
We must remember that on a carefully prepared plan of procedure
depends much of the value of any system of education; therefore we
must decide, when the child comes under our tutelage, what we wish to
accomplish and what shall be our method of accomplishing it; and yet
as the first gift is not the last, as it is but the first link in a
chain of related objects, it is obvious that it must be chiefly useful
as a starting-point. Each lesson should be carefully studied by the
teacher, for the foundation is being laid for all future acquisition.
The kindergarten gifts are designed to lead to the mastery of material
objects, but at the same time they are always connected with the
child's experience and affection by being often transported into the
region of fancy and feeling in a blending of realism and symbolism.
Omitting everything which has reference to the moral and physical
development, and speaking now only of that which is intellectual, what
we should strive for at the beginning is that the child may acquire a
habit of quick observation, with clear and precise expression; that in
due time he may see not only quickly, but accurately; in short, that a
slight degree of judgment may begin to attend his perceptions, so that
he may know as well as observe. It is not enough to awaken the
curiosity of a child, and to heap up in his memory a mass of good
materials which will combine of themselves in due time, and which the
brain when more highly developed will arrange in systematic groups; we
should endeavor as far as possible to control the first impressions
which sink unconsciously into a child's mind, but still more careful
should we be in the selection of those later ones which we try to
inculcate, and of the links which we wish to establish between such
and such perceptions, sentiments, or actions.
We should seek to develop, side by side with the perceptions, the
faculty of judging and acting rightly.
To give a child very little to observe at a time, but to make him
observe that little well and rightly, is the true way of forming and
storing his mind.
The process of receiving an idea must be through sensation, attention,
and perception, conception and judgment being later processes. The
curiosity to know must be kept alive, for it is our greatest ally, and
the imagination must be fed, for the child remembers only what
interests him.