the distinction between play and interest or their identity. There is a deal of confusion in the minds of many teachers concerning "play," "interest," "work," "easy," "agreeable," which it would do much good to clear away.

Montaigne, Richter, and Froebel alike attached the greatest seriousness and significance to the play of children, but to Froebel belongs the credit of basing a definite system of education on the right direction of spontaneous activity. In recent years some attempt has been made to extend Froebel's use of spontaneous activity to the education of older chil

Interest in Folk-lore, Child-study, and Anthropology has brought the games of children into more prominent notice. Miss Ginevra Sisson gives, in Studies in Education, a very valuable bibliography on children's plays. Some characteristics of play.

Before passing to the more practical part of this article suffer me, without attempting to "philosophize," to make a few observations upon some of the characteristics of play. I be lieve that a clearer understanding of the nature of play would revolutionize the little school room world of many a teacher, even without altering at all the subjects taught.

The

In the very young child, play is mainly physiological and is manifested in the necessity of movement and the hunger of the senses. child must move, touch, taste, hear. A little boy of two years sometimes visits my room. His chief delights are to lift my dumb-bells, open and shut the drawers of my desk, and look at and handle a bronze image of a horse. It is all play to him. Action.

The prominent characteristic here is action, a chief feature in the play of children for years. This "action" play is very noticeable in the free games of the kindergarten children observed by Miss Sisson, and has a suggestion of much importance for primary teachers. Rollin (1661-1741) made an application of this love of action, in teaching children to read by means of his cabinet of alphabet cards. "Action Les sons" in reading, and some kinds of busy work involve this feature of play. Imagination and imitation.

Imagination is often a prominent feature in play, as seen in "make-believe," and imitative games. This was also especially noticeable in

the games recorded by Miss Sisson. On this characteristic is based the method of physical exercise for primary children to be spoken of later, and some intellectual games for young children also to be mentioned. Add to imitation and "make-believe," guessing, and you have the prominent features of the philanthropic games of Basedow. How often I have heard teachers say as a rebuke, "You are guessing now," when guessing was really a sin, but how seldom I have heard a teacher invite guessing in its legitimate and honorable place.

There is sometimes a mental attitude or disposition toward an exercise which may determine whether it is work or play to a child. The distinction is often "all in his eye." Those who have read "Tom Sawyer" will remember a good illustration of this in the way Tom got his fence whitewashed. I knew some boys who thought it was work to pull carrots, but when it was suggested to them that they play "scalp redskins" it became great fun to pull the carrots from the ground, whisk off the tops, racing to see who would hang the most scalps to his belt. Oh! the teacher with an enkindling imagination can convert a schoolroom into a palace of pleasure.

Emulation.

Emulation, love of "beating," increases with older children. The Greeks utilized emulation to its fullest extent on the physical side, the Jesuits on the intellectual side. Basedow made some use of it, adding to it a hope of reward. Quick speaks of his success in trying the Jesuits' plan of class matches. If not too frequent, class matches and even school matches may be of great usefulness. I called one afternoon at a sixth-grade room and asked the children to select several from their num

ber to compose a spelling club. Immediately after the selection I took the club to a school of the same grade in another building, challenging the school to select an equal number for immediate trial. That night the defeated chil dren asked their teacher if they might take home some word lists to study. These matches need by no means be confined to spelling.

It is working without an ideal that makes work monotonous. In play a child has an ideal which he strives to realize; he is making something, imitating something, "beating" something. Pulling carrots without an ideal was work, with an ideal it was play. In school the

child is set at a task for which often he can furnish no ideal. The teacher must suggest one for him. I have seen feeble-minded children delighted with their number lesson, when they were trying to see how many pins they could knock down at one roll of the ball. A child who finds no interest in "3X4=?," per se, is eager to find out the answer when he is trying to "get the most cards." This is furnishing an ideal where the child had none before.

Some plays for primary children.

Simply for suggestiveness let me mention just a few ways in which some of my primary teachers have endeavored to arouse play in terest in school.

Reading. (1) Teacher shuts eyes. Child takes an object. Teacher guesses what it is, writing on the board "Is it a top," etc., until she guesses right. (2) Action lessons. As "Put the apple in the box." "You may fly." (3) Building words. Teacher writes waile children shut their eyes, for instance "ca." Chil dren laugh. "That's not a word." They sug gest letters to complete the word. (4) Packing words in a box, going to Boston to buy a bag of toys, going up the ladder, and the like, are familiar or self-explanatory to primary teach

ers.

Number Games.-(1) Cards, each with a problem on it. Teacher turns cards into view. Who answers first has the card; who gets most wins. (2) Card given to each child. Whoever answers problems correctly gets another card. Who gets most? (3) Children spin teetotums and add numbers to see which side wins. (4) Play store, using toy money. (5) Ten pins.

Observation games.-(1) Show objects, pictures, tablets, arithmetic cards or whatever you wish. Remove quickly from sight. Children tell what. (2) Or how many? (3) What colors? (4) What flowers or vegetables? (5) Cards with picture horses (from old primary arithmetic) or dots arranged by two's, three's, etc. How many two's? Three's? How many in all? (6) Similar use of abacus, children shutting eyes, or turning backs while teacher arranges the beads. (7) Children stand in circle. One closes eyes. Child leaves circle. Who left?

Who spoke? Walking or running? Tear paper, what was done? What rolled? etc., etc. (2) Eyes shut. Place subject in hands. Who can tell what it is? (3) Recognize child by touch.

Physical exercises.

Miss Rebecca Stoneroad, of Washington, D. C., has devised some very interesting and suggestive exercises, making use of imagination and imitation gymnastics. The following are illustrative lessons:

Lesson Sheet No. 4.-First Grade.-Christmas Lesson.-Christmas morning the children waken early with much stretching and yawning. After washing their faces and hands they examine the gifts brought by Santa Claus. First is found a toy elephant bowing its head, which motion the children imitate. A drum pleases both boys and girls, who clap their hands in time to its beating. Next amusement is found in bending forward, as do the jointed dolls of the girls. Then the funny jumping jack makes all try to imitate its movements. I. Stretching and Yawning (4).-Rub eyes with closed hands and stretch parts of arms in succession with much yawning, as when waking in the morning. Finally stretch legs and whole body. Signals.-Stretch. Position.

II. Washing Faces and Hands (3).-Rub vigorously all parts of the face and neck with the hands, as if washing. In a similar manner rub the hands. Pupils at first imitate teacher. Later, teacher indicates part to be rubbed. III. Rising.

IV. Head Bending (12).-Bowing. Turn the head half way to the right, and in this position bend it forward. Raise, face the front, then bend it directly forward. Raise, turn it half way to the left and bend in that direction. Raise, face the front, bend forward and repeat the movements successively with a continuous motion. Signals-Right. Down. Up.

V. Hand Clapping (4-6).-Elbows at Sides. With elbows at sides clap the hands in the time used for drum beating. Signals-Position. Pupils follow Teacher. Hands Down. VI. Trunk Bending Forward (8).-Hands on Hips. Take position of Hands on Hips. Keep. ing the knees straight, bend forward at the hips. Raise trunk to erect position. Signals Forward. Upward.

Hands

VII. Jumping and Leg Spreading (4 Rep.). Arm Swinging Sideways to Horizontal Position.-Jump lightly, landing on the balls of the feet with the legs spread apart sideways, and at the same time swing arms to horizontal position at sides. Swing the arms downward, jumping back to starting position. Repeat the movements four times in quick succession. Signals Jump. Teacher count.

VIII. Sitting.

Lesson Sheet No. 7.-Second Grade.-Spring in the Country.-Note to Teacher.-Make the lesson as happy, playful, free and natural as possible. The game may be played at another time during the day.

Children pretend they are visiting the country in the springtime. As they drive from the station they bow politely to the people who pass. Feeling thirsty on reaching the house the children pump water from the well. Their fingers being stiff from the pumping are rested by vigorous shaking. As there is time to play before supper, they blow pin-wheels, skip on the lawn and play with bean-bags.

I. Head Half Turning and Bending For ward (6).-Right. Left.-Bowing. Turn the head half way to the right and in this position bend it forward. With a continuous motion raise, turn it half way to the left and bend in that direction. Bow alternately from right to left. Signals-Right. Left.

a

IV. Hand Relaxing (3)-Right. Left. Back. With arms hanging at sides, shake the hands in all directions. Signals-Shake. Stop. V. Breathing. Blowing Pin-Wheel. Raise right hand with finger pointing upward as if holding a pin-wheel in front of mouth. Inhale. Exhale slowly by blowing. SignalsPosition. Inhale. Blow. Hands Down.

VI. Skipping Sideways.-Grasping hands of Opposite Partner. Holding Hands of Pupils at Sides. Hands on Hips. On the signal Turn,

VIII. Game. Throwing Bag into Ring. Place four bags on the front desk of each row and draw or keep on the floor about six feet in front of each aisle, a ring fourteen inches in diameter. One row across the room rise and throw the four bags, one after the other, trying to get them all entirely within the circle. Count the number of bags in the ring not touching the chalk line. Write the number on the black board in front of the aisle, quickly pick up the bags, place them on the front desk and immediately sit. After front row sits the other rows across the room rice, step up to front desk and throw in turn. The row from front to back which gets the greatest number of bags entirely within the circle wins the game. Signals-Ready. Throw.

Correlation.

Miss Stoneroad correlates the lessons with the seasons and with subjects studied. I have at hand a lesson given when the children were st dying birds, the story of which is as follows:

Children play they are young birds in a nest learning to fly. The mother bird first shows them how to use their wings. Before venturing forth the little ones turn their heads and look up at the sky to see if the weather is fair. Then they bend from side to side looking over the edge of the nest to see how far it is to the next tree. On leaving the nest, the young birds hop on the branch of the tree first with one foot, then with the other, and finally spread their wings and fly. Returning to the nest, tired and warm, they lift up their wings and take deep breaths.

Games in the Worcester schools.

Miss Anna G. Foley has made an interesting use of games with the school children of Worcester, Mass. She wrote to me as follows:

"The Course of Study allows twelve minutes a day for the physical exercises and that is the time I have chosen for the games. I selected five first grades of as different a char

acter as possible, thinking that it might be necessary to give different kinds of games. I have not been able to observe as closely as I wished to, because I have all the other schools to supervise, but the experiment thus far shows that the children can get into the school yard in from one to two minutes and back again to their seats in a little more than that time and get quite a good deal of exercise in the remaining eight or nine minutes. I have tried three kinds of games: First, where all take part all of the time, like "Hill Dill." Second, where only two or three exercise at the same time, like "Come with Me." Third, games with apparatus, like the various games with ball, foot-ball, bean-bags, feathers, soap-bubbles, Pillow Dex, etc. We have used the first class on cool days, the second on warm days, and the third as a rule in the schoolroom. Invariably the pupils returned to their work fresh, orderly, and ready for work. Some of the results I have noticed. One teacher finds that the games prove especially valuable in awakening the spirit of conversation in the children and have had the effect of brightening them noticeably. Another that after the play period she could have her most difficult lesson and get better results than she had ever known before. A third, that she could continue through the morning and was not forced to ease up toward the end of the session because the children showed signs of fatigue. All have mentioned more than one slow or stupid pupil showing his first signals of awakening intelligence during the play time or doing much better work than usual, since the games have been introduced."

Schoolyard games.

A teacher can do her children and herself a great service by taking an active interest in her pupils' games. School children play too little. Large numbers tend to paralyze rather than encourage play interest. Very many school children need the leadership and inspiration of the teacher in their schoolyard games.

Some do not. It is an easy matter for a teacher to learn plenty of good active games and fit herself for leadership in the yard as in the schoolroom.

The following is a list of some good games for the playground, with references to books containing descriptions of them:

PRIMARY.-"Rounds," a and b. Sail the Ship, b. Feather Game, b. Witch in the Jar, a. London Bridge, a, C. Puss in the Corner, c. Darby Jig, a. Five Geese in a Flock, b. Den, b. Honey Pots, c. Hunt the Fox, b. Humpty Dumpty, a. Bloody Tom, a. INTERMEDIATE.-School Ball, d. Bull in the Ring, c. Here I Brew and Here I Bake, a. Black Man, d. King's Castle, c. Baste the Bear, e. Hopping Bases, e. Fox and Geese, c. Bound Hands, f. Cross Tag, c. Battle for the Banner, e. Egg Hat, e. Nigger Baby, C. Green Wolf, Black Man, d (like Hill Dill). Rush (boys line up as in foot-ball, play with sticks or beanbags).

GRAMMAR. - Follow Tag, d. Prisoner's Base, c. Rider Ball, like Knights, e. Three Deep, g. Tag Ball, g. Weaving, g. Association Foot-ball, c. Bear and Cattle, g. Buck Back, c. Twist Stick. Pulling Stick. CatchRope Pull, Jumping, Wrestling, Tag Ball, g. Catch, g.

BOOKS.

a. W. W. Newell. Games and Songs of American Children. New York, 1884.

b. Josephine Pollard. Plays and Games for Little Folks. New York.

C. Champlin and Bostwick, Cyclopædia of Games and Sports. New York, 1890.

d. Lion und Wortman. Katechismus der Bewegunsspiele für Deutsche Jugend. Leipzig, 1891.

e. Cassell. Book of Outdoor Sports. London. f. Chadwick. Sports and Pastimes of American Boys.

g. Played at the Exhibition of Gymnastic Games under the Auspices of Boston Physical Educational

Society, Boston, March 27, 1897.

I am greatly indebted to the following books which I have used freely:

(1) Edward Falkner. Games, Ancient and Oriental. London, 1892.

(2) E. A. Sonnenschein. Ancient Greek Games (in Ideals of Culture). London, 1891.

(3) F. V. N. Painter. A History of Education. International Education Series.

(4) J. M. Hoppin. The Athletic Games and their effect on Greek Art. (Lecture.)

(5) Gabriel Compayré. The History of Pedagogy. Tr. by W. H. Payne. Boston, 1894. (6) R. H. Quick. Essays on Educational Reformers. G. E. JOHNSON.

Andover, Mass.

ACTION CTION or exercise of the powers possessed by an individual stands at the foundation of the motives that induce the child to play. He desires to exercise the forces inherent within him, to find expression in some form or other. Jean Paul Richter says: "Play is in the first place the working off at once of the overflow of the mental and physical powers."

Place of physical action in the child's world.

How much, we wonder, does the desire for physical action enter as a motive into the plays of children?

The Department of Education at the Leland Stanford Junior University is making a collection of the traditional games of California children, such as "London Bridge," "Hide and Seek," and "I've Come to See Miss Jennie O'Jones." Out of the four hundred and sixty different games that have been worked over up to date, four hundred of them require more or less physical exertion. Stop for a moment and think what that really means to us as teachers,

or as parents.

Knowledge useless until applied.

You may say: "The fact that children of all ages desire and need much physical exercise, we have known for many years." Yes, it is indeed a time-honored rule, but is it not one "more honored in the breach than in the observance"? Though we may have had for years floating around us an inner consciousness, a dim realization of the fact that children need to use their bodies as well as their minds, how much use have we made of that fact?

You all remember the story of the minister who preached an excellent sermon one Sunday morning. He received compliments galore upon it from his congregation. The next Sun day morning he preached the same sermon. The congregation stared at him in well-bred surprise but said nothing. The third Sunday when he announced the same text and began the same arguments over again, the congregation grew restive. The fourth Sunday they could endure it no longer, but sent a delegation of the leading church members to wait upon their pastor and demanded the meaning of his

strange conduct. His only reply to all expos tulations was the question, "Are you practicing it yet?"

Take to yourselves his answer, you primary teachers whose rooms show not the slightest evidence of applying the doctrine of physical freedom. You who allow your tiny pupils no more of physical movement for hours at a time than is involved in mechanically extending and contracting three fingers of the right hand in writing exercises, or, if you are extremely progressive, in wriggling the right fore-arm on an imaginary muscle. "By their works ye shall know them." Is not almost the whole tendency of our educational system one of repression rather than expression of the bodies? Kindergarten plays—advantages.

There is, however, one branch of the educational system that has realized in a large measure the need of the child for physical exercise, and that is the kindergarten. I should like to try to point out a few of the advantages and a few of the possible dangers of the kindergarten plays in connection with the subject of physical

education.

John Hancock, in his study on Motor Ability made in the Pedagogical Seminary for October, 1894, says: "The order of control is from fundamental to accessory, and is evidently in harmony with the theory of physiological development."

All this goes to prove the necessity for large general movements of the trunk and limbs and these the kindergarten plays give. In this the games of the kindergarten are ahead of soine of the kindergarten occupation work, for in the line drawing, the pricking, and the sewing much fine work and accuracy are required. The child needs co-ordination of the whole nervous System; with the whole muscular system he needs to get muscular control over his body as a whole before he strives to attain muscular consmall boy turn into a frog and go jumping trol over his right fore-finger. Let a restless about the room and he comes back to his place cle in his body rested and under better control. in the ring with face glowing and every mus The desire for the spontaneous.

The traditional games have been attractive to