TO KINDERGARTNEKS.

Evening Star, Issue 14185, 9 October 1909, Page 11

TO KINDERGARTNEKS.

THE VALUE OF OUTSIDE MATERIAL. [By Mice Nellie Dutton,] w Outside material ” is no technical name for certain articles not included amongst Froebei’s gifts and occupations- It ie anything, everything within tho child's environment which the teacher, with practical common sense, touched with a little imagination, can turn to educational value. What constitutes the educational value of anything? Its power to develop th© child in his three-fold batng, to draw forth from him tfiat whole-hearted effort which is the erseptial of all growth. That which educates him must fie fitted to tVetageqf development he pas reached, and must he linked in some way by association, hy experience, or by racial instinct with his nature.. Jt must have elements which interest and arouse, desire, which encourage by giving early tangible results, which inspire py gradually revealing possibilities yd unreached, and which, above aU> give scope for and impel self-activity or creative self-expression. —Change of Educational Methods.-^

The days for simply pouring in knowledge have gone. ''Let there'be giving out,” is the dry of all true educators, for it is by expression that we grow. That which is thus given out, with which the mind is full, on which the heart is set, which the hand eagerly endeavors to form, is surely tho very cpsence of ourselves,, and that essence of ourselves iq our measure of the indwelling God; as He creates, so, within our limitations, may we create. He made man in His own Image—that is, put Himself into His work. So the true artist puts himself into his work, the true musician puts himself into his, and the true laborer himself into his. Now this creativity, this power to give actual form to the spirit within ns, is latent from earliest years. The little child can give tangible expression to that which is within him, which is, for the child, with his weakness and ignorance, just as true a revelation of self as the artist’s picture; perhaps even a truer, for tho child is untainted by wrong ambition or underlying motive. This inner self, this Divine’ essence, is what we as teachers have to deal with, guarding it, protecting ia, festering it,' and removing hindrances from its way.° —Pertinent Questions. — Can outside material help ns? Has it any educational value? Does it m the first place interest the child? The kindergartncr can readily answer these questions. She has hnt to think of the weird and wonderful things which are daily brought to school—tho fish’s fin, which came regularly for a week, the broken knobs of doors, the little glass bottles, bits of stick, coal, etc., while the contents of a small boy’s pockets are proverbial. True, some of this is merely an indication of the desire for possession, but not by any means ail. Children do, as a rule, want to in some way make use of these articles. I have seen a boy of four •ut himself a collar from a piece of waste-paper, and a tiny girl used shells she had treasured to make a little fence round her garden, and nearly all children use bits of paper for money when playing shop. Docs outside material easily make something which encourages tho child to try again’/ A piece of cardboard, a pair of scissors, and a littlo glue, and a suite of furniture grows before his eyes; a tiny mast and sail and a nutshell becomes a trim little craft; a matchbox — the possibilities of a matchbox are legion! And the child soon comes to see that the littlo things he makes are only a few of the wonderful things ho may make; no effort is called forth, and his powers unfold and increase with every new attempt. We do not, in the kindergarten, lay stress on

—The Constructive Value of Outside Material, —

though that is great, as the Teacher knew who taught men through a grain of mustard seed and a littlo leaven. But the point which wo would emphasise to the utmost is its constructive value—outside material as a means of expression of the child’s inner being, which, by outer expression only, can grow to its full power. The idea of outside material is not new. In fact, in one sense it has been voiced from tho days of Comenius down. Ha pleaded for the use of things instead of words and books, and though to him and his followers “things”were mediums of sense impressions rather than of expression, nevertheless this marked the breaking away from tho fixed and narrow channels through which education had been imparted. PestaJozzi and Froebel used outside material in the sense in which we now understand it. The lattsr’s familiar gifts and occupations, though now rctognjsed as the technique of liis principles, were altogether outside material u. the first; and he would be the last to tell us we have reached the limit beyond which we cannot go. Rather would ho hail with joy each new addition to the list cf legitimate materials in use. It is the principle which counts, he would say, and if that is followed there aro no bounds to what may be turned to value. Let me n.vtion at random a few everyday things wnich we find of great use in our kindergartens; Wallpaper, tissue paper, paper of all kinds, illustrated magazines, loaves, ferns, seaweed, cardboard boxes, matchboxes, nuts, shells, flax, twigs, canisters, reels, scraps of cloth, and very many others. Time does not permit to tell what we do vrlh these, but ono and all we have found of educational value, leading to the development of heart, head, and hand. Tho child himself proves this. He is bright, alert, creative, observing, kindly disposed (for the majority of the articles ho makes he gives as little presents), self-respecting, and self-reliant. His blocks, his plasticine, hq must leave behind at school, but be carries home with him the power to interest himself, to seize on bits of waste material and make; he is occupied in tho full sense of the word, and the wet day need no longer be a nerve-racking experience to an over-wrought mother.

—Character Building.— And what will bo the ultimate effect of the use of outside material on the character of the men and women to be who are entrusted to our care? For that is alike the goal and tho test of our work. Surely he who has learned from many things will have a wider horizon, a broader point of view, than he who has been kept to a tew prescribed forms of expression, and mastery of outside material is bound to help to that victory over one’s surroundings which is true, adaptation and Uio key to ail success. Habits of industry will also bo formed; thrift will bo cultivated, for it is in moot cases tho otherwise waste material which is thus used in kindergartens. The pioneer qualities of resourcefulness and self-reliance will bo fostered, as well as that inventiveness which sees the latent possibilities of things and turns them to ready use. And here wo aro brought up against our responsibilities, and tho educational truism that —All Depends Upon the Teacher.—

Insight and wisdom are needful to its proper use; outside material has its proper time, its proper place, and must not be given as a mere exhibition of inventiveness. Where it naturally comes in (often through the child himself), and where it supplements, or improves upon, the material already at hand, that is when wo w °uid use it. And as a means to the careful fostering habits of accuracy, precision, neatness, and the supremo habit of doing one’s very beet, that is how we would use it, or outside material, as all other material, will prove worse than useless. It might be argued that this always looking for tho use things might be put tr may lead to a too utilitarian view of thingr. but, rightly directed, it will penetrai, deeper than this. Like the shepherd oi King Admetus to whom the “loveliness of things did teach him all their use,” it will be tho_ innate attractiveness of things which the child, the man will be led to discern which will make him think them worth considering, and nothing will he deem common or despise.