Editorial Rooms, 59 West 96th Street, New York, N. Y. Business Office, 276-278-280 River Street, Manistee, Mich, EDITORIAL COMMITTEE.

E. LYELL EARLE, Ph. D...
..Managing Editor
JENNY B. MERRILL, Ph. D., Supervisor Kindergartens,
Manhattan, The Bronx and Richmond
MARI RUEF HOFER...
..Teachers' College
and New York Froebel Normal.
BERTHA JOHNSTON,..
Kindergarten Magazine
MISS MARY MILLS,... Principal Connecticut Froebel Norma

THEORY AND PRACTICE

I

DR. E. LYELL EARLE

N the September and October numbers of the KindergartenPrimary Magazines were considered, first, the sources whence principles of theory and practice can be derived.

Secondly, the physical and mental conditions peculiar to children from four to

or other business relating to the Magazine should be addressed to the Michigan office, J. H. Shults, Business Manager, Manistee, Michigan. All other communications to B. Lyell Earle, Managing Editor, 59 W. 96th St., New York City.

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Watch for our great

or tendencies of children as manifested in spontaneous activity as the basis for higher processes of educational control.

We promised to refer briefly in the present article to the various theories of play and then the applications of these play activities to the education of children from four to eight years of age and older. 1. Theories of play.

I.

"The literature of this subject is considerable and easily accessible. Under the circumstances, it does not seem necessary to outline here in detail what can be so easily obtained from the original sources. We have, therefore, given only brief summaries of these theories. The subject, however, should be taken up thoroughly by the kindergarten teacher. The chapters of Schiller and Spencer should be read carefully, as should also parts of the "Education of Man," by Froebel, "Adolescence," by Hall, and "Mental Development in the Child and the Race," by Baldwin. "Play of Animals" and the "Play of Man," by Groos may well be studied entire.

A. Spencer-Schiller Theory

The

"Play is surplus energy. Nerve cells have a natural instability tending toward regular discharge. If conditions of life become easier in the animal world, it expends this surplus, not needed in securing a living, in plav. Children cannot sit still. A favorable condition, but this theory cannot account for the forms of play.

B. Gross.

"Play is an instinct, the purpose of which is the education of the individual. It is the

offer next month.

must later pursue. Animals do not play because they are young; rather have a

"Play is the motor habits and spirit of the past of the race persisting in the present as rudimentary function of and always akin to rudimentary organs." (This completes (This completes and explains Groos' theory). "Thus in play we rehearse the activity of our ancestors back we know not how far and repeat their life work in summative and adumbrated ways." "The pleasure is always in direct proportion to the directness and force of the current of heredity. The pain of toil died with our forbears; its vestiges in our play give pure delight."

FROEBEL'S THEORY OF PLAY FROM THE EDUCATION OF MAN

"Even if I have brought no new thoughts to the subject, as some will maintain, even if the goal and aim of this education has long been known. I have given something new in my childish plays, for they know how we must begin to give activity to the powers of childhood in order that they shall neither rust and be lost for want of use nor overstrained by too early study."

"Child's play strengthens the powers both of the soul and the body provided we know how to make the first self-occupation of a child a freely active, that is, a creative or productive one."

"The play of the child contains the germ of the whole life that is to follow; for the man develops and manifests himself in play, and reveals the noblest aptitudes and the deepest elements of his being."

"Play is the highest phase of child development of human development at this period: for its self-active representation of the inner from inner necessity and impulse."

"The plays of childhood are the germinal leaves of all later life; for the whole man is developed and shown in these, in his tenderest dispositions, in his innermost tendencies."

"It is the sense of sure and reliable power, the sense of its increase both as an individual and as a member of the group, that fills the boy with all-prevading jubilant joy during the games. It is by no means, however, only the physical power that is fed and strengthened in these games; intellectual and moral power, too, is definitely and steadily gained and brought under

control. Indeed, a comparison of the relative gains of the mental and of the physical phases would scarcely yield the palm to the body. Justice, moderation, self-control, truthfulness, loyalty, brotherly love, and again strict impartiality-who when he approaches a group of boys engaged in such games could fail to catch the fragrance of these delicious blossomings of the heart and mind, and of a firm will; not to mention the beautiful, though perhaps less fragrant, blossoms of courage, perseverance, resolution, prudence, together with the severe elimination of indolent indulgence?"

once

A very important consideration in the matter is application of these theories to the organization of play that may be pleasurable for the child and profitable for the race. The type activities witnessed in the spontaneous and organized plays of children are type characteristics of organizated developments that were necessary or pleasurable for the preservation of the species. The result was that the individual of the species was so deeply impressed in the cellular structure that the ability to perform the action persisted for other necessities, leaving, however, the proper attitude toward the stimulus when it again presents itself. The ability at once leaps forth into act and the organism is in a state of interested response. If we add to this consideration, that in the use of play activities the individual is not held responsible for the result against his will, we have the essential difference between play attitude and the work attitude. It is very necessary for the teacher to understand the importance of pleasurable assertions in plays and games as well as social assertions and have the spirit of the play so that she may have no trouble with the value of the play in general and of different plays in particular. This matter has been treated by a special committee on play grounds in American Plays of Children in the normal courses in' play.

We quote extensively that report.
2. Pleasurable elements in games.

Although the present forms of games may be new, the elements of which they are composed and from which the pleasure is derived are racially old. These pleasurable elements represent in a general way the occupations man has pursued at different stages of his evolution.

of

B. Swinging, climbing, seasations of the feet.

Some have thought that the pleasure of swinging is derived from the associations with the swaying tree-top which linger in our nerve cells. The pleasure of climbing trees and hanging by the hands may be derived from the same source. There are a number of pleasures and elementary plays derived from the sensations of the bare feet, once a valuable guide in the pathway of life. Children love to go barefooted, to play in the mud with their feet, and to wade in shallow water.

2. The savage man.

Most of the pleasant elements in games come from this stage. The pleasure is probably derived from an association with immediate advantage at the time the original activities were pursued. pursued. These activities may be pursued now in play. These activities may be grouped into three classes, as follows:

A. Elements derived from the chase. Hunting and fishing are still pleasant, despite small results and no use for the game. Boys like to go on tramps, to build shacks in the woods, to build fires and go camping.

1. Chasing and fleeing of which "tag" is the most direct descendant, but which enters into most games.

Running is pleasurable in itself to small children, but becomes less and less so with advancing years. It is more fundamental and ancient than any use of the hands and arms, and has much greater effect upon organic development. Rapid motion under primitive conditions always has associations of advantage, and is pleasurable in itself.

2. Hiding away and finding, as in "I spy."

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An interest that develops early, and

enters into many games of small children, and pleasures that are not games, as in finding hen's eggs, birds' nests, etc.

3. Dodging a pursuer and catching in the arms.

Develops later in childhood and has fewer uses in the race and the child.

4. Throwing missiles, and dodging or catching them.

A chief means of defense and offense. Of great interest from about five to twenty. Of little muscular value, the pleasure greatly enhanced by throwing at a a mark, especially a live one. Witness the comparative pleasure of throwing at a stone, or a squirrel, also a man who sticks his head through the screen at fairs.

5. Striking with a stick and fending or dodging.

This, as well as the previous element, are factors in personal combat as well as the chase. It is an element in all ball games.

It may be said of all these elements that there is a time for ascending interest, reaching a maximum, and afterward a decline. The order in which the interest develops approximates the order of its racial acquirements. It may be said in general that for small children these elements themselves are pleasing and constitute most of the game. With advancing years, the elements lose in interest, which then becomes fixed on new combinations of the elements in which the original purpose may not be evident, as in pitching baseball.

B. The art of savage man, drawing, painting, picture-writing.

C. The work of savage woman.

Women have added almost nothing to our repertoire of games. The nearest she has come to it is the basketry, pottery, and weaving which now forms the constructive play of the playground, and are generally enjoyed by girls at least and oftentimes by boys.

3. The life of the nomad.

Children have fear but also an almost universal interest in and love for animals, which are treated like other companions. 4. The primitive agriculturist.

Children love to dig in the sand, make mud pies, and later to raise flowers and vegetables.

5. The tribal life.

Savage man was driven to unite with others, and savage families to hang together, for protection against similar hostile combinations. Those who did not develop this co-operative spirit were destroyed in internecine wars. Here loyalty was developed. Circumstances demanded that it be narrow, but most intense, more so than at present. All of our team games closely approximate these conditions and derive their pleasures alike from the joy of battle and the joy of the comradship which accompanies it.

Games in the present state combine these original elements in myriad forms, and many of them have been handed down unchanged for hundreds or even thousands of

years.

B. Social elements. 1. Competition.

Competition is one of the almost universally pleasurable elements in games. The element that makes them so vigorous. The love of competition less strongly developed in girls than in bovs. Individual competitions characteristic of the period from five or six up to twelve.

2. Comradeship and co-operation.

A All games are social and derive a considerable part of their pleasure from the social feeling which prevades them. Games are not only not played alone, but for their perfection they require that the participants shall all be friends. All games tend to promote this social feeling, and the group tends to cast out such members as do not develop group consciousness.

B. Co-operation is a higher form which this feeling takes in team games where it constitutes a considerable part of the pleasure of the game. In such a game as football, this amounts almost to an extension of the consciousness to include the team. These games have such a strong hold on young people, because they combine in a maximum degree the pleasures of competition, co-operation, and the social competition in the spectators.

C. Mental elements.

1. The joy of being a cause.

This is one of the first characteristics to annear in the play of small children. They love to build up and tear down, to make a noise or to do anything where the effect can be seen at once. This is one of the main pleasure motives in work, but does not play a large part in games proper.

2. Involuntary attention.,

From its nature, play requires no effort of the attention, and in consequence secures a higher degree of concentration and more intense and prolonged activity than is possible in the work. The social competition of games repeats very closely the racial experience, through the bitter struggles of which the civilized brain was produced.

3. A feeling of freedom.

Freedom is characteristic of the lives of birds and animals, and of primitive man. It is the very life-blood of play. It must be free from outer compulsion or inner necessity. (This would suggest that kindergarten and playground directors should avoid too detailed and rigid daily programs).

D. Moral elements, pleasure.

Pleasure lies at the basis of conduct; the vividness of its images and its apparent nearness is apt to determine the vigor of our actions. It is said that it is one thing in life which is its own reward. It seems to be furnished us as an inner monitor to tell us what to do. Its tragedies are where we sacrifice the pleasures of later life to the enjoyments of the moment. Enjoyment arouses the mind and emotions and tends to put all their power at our disposal. The trend of pleasure is toward optimism. 3. Aims and spirit in the conduct of play.

In order that a play may be a success, it is necessary for the director to know how to judge of the value of the activities going on there at any time. She should try to secure perfect results by creating perfect conditions.

A. Purposes to be pursued.

I. Play should promote vigorous health. In order to do this, it should be in the open air; when possible it should be vigorous; it should use the more fundamental muscles.