SYMBOLISM IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 357
anything and everything that this world has to give him. Ie helps himself to every-
thing without stint and without judgment : the one consideration with him being that.
at the moment, it be agreeable.
From morn till night it is: < May I have some ? ”—something, anything. ‘Mamma,
what did you do that for ?”’ ‘Can I go and play with Harry and Bessy ?” Not only
is he an interrogation point, as some one has said, but he is first, last, and always a
sotential workman in this busy life, a truth-seeker in embryo. Alas! however, that his
questions are so seldom answered as they should be, for in that measure in which ques-
ions are answered will the child grow. The answer to a question contains both the
germ and the food of the next immediate individual tendency. At this stage of
development the whole being seems to be concentrated upon the one activity of getting
axperiences and gathering data out of which to draw conclusions and regulate his
judgments in later life. This phase of his mental development seems to predominate.
All phases are, it is true, potentially more or less manifest, but the eager, restless
{etermination to accumulate facts, through personal experience and direct first-hand
observation, predominates during the period from three to six. Again, it is a promi-
nent characteristic of this stage of development to trust implicitly those who are older
and occupy places of authority. When, therefore, a child asks questions of adults and
receives no answer at all, or, what is worse than no answer, is told some grotesque false-
hood or receives some fantastic reply, the seeds of moral deficiency of character are
sown. Saddest of all, confidence in the genuineness and righteousness of mankind is
proken and lost, for children see all people through the family and other immediate
surroundings. It is only after many years of undoing that the ability comes to judge
objectively and with approximate correctness,
During these three specially sensitive years it is, therefore, of vital importance that
all impressions be pure, clear, direct, and full of meaning. The brain is more suscept-
ible, and, at the same time, much more active, hence much more intensely conscious,
ooth instinctively and intentionally, clinching every new sensation and impression that
comes to it, for the purpose of making use of it in giving expression to its own individ-
uality, which has become so firmly rooted in the loves and lives of his environment.
Especially, therefore, is it desirable that the thought-centers, for this period, be full of
instruction and abound in beautiful sentiment, for—
« Early lessons gently taught,
Simple words with meaning fraught—
These forgotten for a time,
Will come back like a well-known rhyme.”
This is the time to begin to lay up treasures against the possible ennut and infirmities
of old age.
Normal, vigorous children of this age do not speculate, do not dream day-dreams, do
not see sprites in the lily nor ogres in the dark, unless they have been put there by older
if mot wiser heads. Their eager, active, healthy minds and bodies are too much absorbed
in the immediate interesting beautiful wonders that surround them. There is no need
.0 stimulate their love and admiration for life by artificial means, and they have not
reached the contemplative, speculative age of abstract thinking. To force this upon them
at this period of development is to make them precocious, and precocity is degenerating.
Children of this age will play all day with pet animals, observing and imitating every
(ving thing that comes within their reach. Little boys will play store, street-car, ete.,
dig. haul, push and pull ; while the little girls with hollyhocks for babies, nut-shells for
cradles, daisies for grandmothers, and maple-leaves for parasols, will play at time-hon-
ored * Lady come to see,” with never-ceasing enthusiasm. These manifestations of the
child’s imaginative activity give us the cue to the kind of symbolism that is suitable for
the child from three to six years of age.
