We can now be quite methodical and workman-like in our building, and
can learn to use all the parts economically and according to
principle. We can discuss ground plans, cellars, foundations,
basements, roofs, eaves, chimneys, entrances, and windows, and thus
can make almost habitable dwellings and miniature models of larger
objects.[50]
[50] "The child's life moves from the house and its
living-rooms, through kitchen and cellar, through yard and
garden, to the wider space and activity of street and market,
and this expansion of life is clearly reflected in the order
and development of his productions."--Froebel's _Pedagogics_,
page 221.
The child is a real carpenter now, and innocently happy in his labor.
Who can doubt that in these cheerful daily avocations he becomes in
love with industry and perseverance, and as character is nothing but
crystallized habit, he gets a decided bias in these directions which
affects him for many a year afterward.[51]
[51] "In some German kindergartens large building-logs are
supplied in one corner of the play garden. These logs are a
foot or more in length, three inches wide, and one inch
thick. Several hundred of these are kept neatly piled against
the fence, and the children are expected to leave them in
good order. This bit of voluntary discipline has its good
uses on the playground, and the free building allowed with
this larger material gives rise to individual effort, and
tests the power of the children in a way which makes the
later, more organized work at the tables far more full of
meaning."--_Kindergarten Magazine_, November, 1894.
Objects which he meets in his daily walks are to be constructed, and
also objects with which he is not so familiar,[52] so that by pleasant
conversation the realm of his knowledge may be extended, and the
sphere of his affections and fancies enlarged; for these exercises
when properly conducted address equally head, heart, and hand.
[52] "As these building gifts afford a means of clearing the
perceptions of the child, they give occasion for extending
these perceptions, and for representing in their essential
parts objects of which the child has only heard."--Froebel's
_Pedagogics_, page 222.
Froebel says of all this building, "It is essential to proceed from
the cube as a whole. In this way the conception of the whole, of
uniting, stamps itself upon the child's mind, and the evolution of the
particular, partial, and manifold from unity is illustrated."
Group Work.
Our opportunities for group work, or united building, are greatly
extended, and none of them should be neglected, as it is essential to
inculcate thus early the value of cooperation. We have material enough
to call into being many different things on the children's tables; the
house where they live, the church they see on Sunday, the factory
where their fathers or brothers work, the schoolhouse, the City Hall,
the public fountain, the stable, and the shops. Thus we may create an
entire village with united effort, and systematic, harmonious action.
Each object may be brought into intimate relation with the others by
telling a story in which every form is introduced. This always
increases the interest of the class, and the story itself seems to be
more distinctly remembered by the child when brought into connection
with what he has himself constructed.
The third gift may be used with the fifth if we wish to increase the
number of blocks for cooperative work, and is particularly adapted to
the laying of foundations for large buildings in the sand-table. A
large fifth gift, constructed on the scale of a foot instead of an
inch, is very useful for united building. One child or the
kindergartner may be the architect of the monument or other large
form which is to be erected in the centre of the circle. The various
children then bring the whole cubes, the halves, and quarters, and lay
them in their appropriate places, and the erection when complete is
the work of every member of the community.