TH

HE number and variety of toys that are provided for the children, or even for the only child, of our comfortably conditioned Americans constitute a of constant surprise and inquiry to the intelligent observer. It would seem as if the indulgent parents, the fond relatives, and the devoted friends vied with one an

other in providing toys for the children, and that they were guided chiefly by the thought, "the more the merrier. In some cases there seems to be a kind of rivalry between families, the high aim being to see whose child can boast the largest number of and the most expensive

toys.

The heterogeneous character of the toys indicates that they are generally selected with no thought of the educational significance of toys. Some of these parents and guardians of children would undoubtedly laugh at the idea of a toy as an educational means. In their minds a toy is solely for amusement and entertainment.

The idea that children get their entire education within the four walls of a school-room is long since obsolete. We all know, whether we think much on the subject or not, that a large part of one's education is derived outside of the school room. The little child's education begins in the early months of his life, and as he emerges from the passive to the more active state of his being toys begin to be a very important element in the educational process.

The little child is more or less a passenger in these early years. He must go where the adult directs, he must do as he is told, he must accept the environment provided for him. He has, in short, little. choice, in spite often of vehement protest, but to accept what the adult sees fit to furnish him. And yet, even in these early

years, he often indicates his need-the

thing which his developing being hungers for-if only we adults have the understanding mind. His treatment of his toys is frequently a lesson for us, if we are wise enough to heed it. Witness, for example, in the case of a little child two or three years of age who has this heterogeneous mass of toys provided for him, the things which he discards and destroys, and then note the toys to which he clings, the toys

of which he never tires. Is there not a lesson in this for those who have the will to see?

The study of the educational value of toys presents two aspects, the positive and the negative. The toy in itself is a material thing which has for the purchaser a neutral aspect. It is only when taken in relation to the individual child that it be comes something more than a thing of wood and paint or of kid and bisque. For Johnny, aged two, this box of elaborate architectural blocks may present a negative aspect, for it invites to destruction ; whereas for Harold or Dorothy, aged six,

it becomes a positive agency, opening up delightful fields of new endeavor and rich reward.

TOYS AND TRAITS

It makes, therefore, a great difference in our estimate of toys whether we look at them simply as interesting inventions designed to amuse and entertain children or whether we look at them more critically to ascertain how they will function in the developing life of a child. It makes a still greater difference which point of view we hold when we purchase these direct means of turning the activity of toys for our children. We may thus be a the children upon whom we bestow these purchases into developing and productive channels or into dulling and destructive

courses.

Let us for a moment catalogue some of the positive and negative effects of toys, so that we may more clearly understand what we mean when we speak of toys as an educational agency.

Toys lead primarily either to a constructive or a destructive tendency. Toys develop either a selfish or an unselfish. instinct in children. Toys kindle the imagination or they dull it. Toys lead either the foundation for stability of character to contentment or discontent. Toys lay or for the vacillating, restless temperament. Toys engender care, thoughtfulness, responsibility, or heedlessness, thoughtlessness, irresponsibility. Toys lead to the development of that most valuable trait, the protecting instinct, or they generate indifference and utter disregard of both the material and the living object.

It is perhaps needless to emphasize accomplish these results, but the moment the fact that the toy in itself could never child it begins to affect that child either it is brought into relationship with the positively or negatively, as the case may be. This effect is conditioned on many circumstances: the individual nature of the child; the relation which the toy bears to the age of the child-that is, the adaptation of the toy to the child; the quality of the toy, whether it is calculated finished and perfect a thing in itself that to incite to activity or whether it is so ity; the number of toys which a child it dulls the imagination and checks activ. ity; the number of toys which a child possesses; and, last but not least, the

character of the child's home, which vitally affects the relation of the child to

his toys.

THE IDEAL TOY

In emphasizing the educational significance of toys we do not minimize their value as a means of entertainment for the child. The truth is that those toys which possess in the highest degree an educapossess in the highest degree an educational value are the toys that contribute in the largest measure to the entertainment of children. They have a permanent worth, and therefore, from whatever

point of view you approach the question -social, economic, or educational-they are the toys that pay the largest interest on your investment.

The little child, if normal, is during his waking hours incessantly active. He must be doing something. He will be doing something; and his elders are sometimes hard pressed to find employment for his seemingly superabundant activity. Toys are one of the means we supply to meet this activity of children, and, if properly selected, they fulfill this purpose happily and adequately.

This leads me to state that the ideal toy is the toy with which the child can do something. It is the toy that absorbs his activity, physical and mental.

There is no more interesting sight than a child absorbed in his play, his lithe body often creative. Toys have a more or less active, responsive, and his mind alert and important part in the plays of children— more, if they are stimulating and sug gestive; less, if they are too perfect and complete in themselves. Thus the rag doll the doll made for the occasion from a and the plain little bisque doll, or even shawl, are more stimulating and sugges plete to leave any room for the play of doll elegantly attired. The last is too comtive in the child's plays than the costly is; whereas the cruder dolls can be transthe child's imagination. She is what she formed into babies, little girls, ladies, and the like, and so fit more truly into the creative plays of children.

these creative plays that the child_gets It should be noted that it is through help him to find himself and to adjust hima valuable phase of his development. They self to the mysterious world in which he lives.

WHAT IS A SHOVEL WITHOUT A SAND

PILE?

There are many simple and inexpensive toys which are specially valuable for the developing child. Blocks, if adapted to the age of the child, are always a stimulating incentive to play and an agency by which he gains many ideas as well as a means of self-expression. The little pail accompanied by a little shovel, if in proximity to a sand-pile, is a source of great delight to the very little child and provides a legitimate outlet for his activity : but the pail and the shovel not put to use become dead and meaningless. The writer recalls a little girl who used to walk out with her nurse, carrying a little pail and shovel. When the nurse was not looking, she would make a detour from the walk and begin to shovel dirt into her pail. As soon as the nurse missed her she would turn, make a rush and grab the child, brush off her dress, empty the pail, admonish the child to "be good," and pull her back into her sedate and ladylike occupation of walking. Again and again