The Junior Dominion

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 103, 25 January 1930, Page 26

The Junior Dominion

Dear Little People,—How are all my holiday folk to-day? Old Man Weather has spoilt so many days for you with his sudden tantrums; still, there are heaps of exciting indoor games to be played on rainy days—and toys to amuse the little ones. What a strange unhappy world it would be without games and toys, wouldn’t it? Yet there are some children who never play. Watch a school playground and you’ll see them. Skipping ropes will be whirling merrily, hopscotch dens will be full of keen “hoppers,” all the nooks and crannies will be crowded with breathless “hiders”-waiting to be found, but you’ll see standing listlessly about, or'sitting in corners, boys and girls who’d rather watch, or read. Skipping, hopscotch and hide-and-seek have been played by little folks for hundreds of years. The children of Greece thought it almost more important to be good at games than to be’ good at their lessons, and you will see, if you look at Greek art and literature, how beautiful sport made them. Games bring straight limbs, clear eyes and quick brains and teach many other lessons that cannot be learned from books. So if in your heart you’d rather find a cosy corner and read a story than play a game of tennis or cricket, save the story for another' time, and join in the game. You might be wearing the school colours before long, and even if you are not yoil will have learned to love the game for its own sake. ' And all you small ones, with dolls that, talk and spinning tops, play just as much as you can; bitt don’t feel sorry for the prehistoric children think they had no toys. Even if your baby brother has woolly dog in; his pram., Egyptian baby was bound to have had a toy crocodile with a lotver jaw that flapped when you pulled the string, and the Persian baby is sure to have had a lion on wheels.* —KIWI