PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PLAYGROUND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3184, 1 April 1911, Page 9

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PLAYGROUND.

THE VALUE OF PLAY. Some surprisingly unconventional things were said by Dr Slaughter in a lecture at the College of Preceptors on. “Tiie Psychology of the Playground.” Play flie saia) was the most magnificant factor in the development of the world. It was customary to tell the younger generation that work was the great thing, and that only by hard work could they hope to succeed. It was said) that early habits of application, instilled into a child by painful discipline, would help him to apply himself to the tasks of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. The freedom of the playground was the best introduction .

The boy who was kept close to a desk all his childhood was usually incapacitated for good work afterwards. He grew up with a violent distaste for work, and rarely did so well as the boy who was stimulated by play. We are only just beginning to recover from the fallacy imposed on us by our Puritan ancestors that wliat a child

liked was had for him. They held that life should be mad'e a§ disagreeable as possible, and we bad suffered for their doctrine.

Play tendencies, even in school, should be encouraged instead of repressed. When a child crawled restlessly about a ddsk lie should not be told to sit still and threatened with some punishment, but advantage should be taken of his natural tendency to play to teach him something in harmony with that tendency. No one knew what harm was done by letting such golden opportunities slip. The playful activities of a kitten were the very best preparation for its life as a cat. If a kitten’s instinct to play were constantly repressed there would be no eliance of it growing into an effective cat. Certainly it would never catch a mouse. It was much the same with children. Nothing was .more necessary than to sec that they were surorunded by the right materials for play, and that work should not be allowed to interfere with the only process of natural growth. The -right toys were never given to children nowadays. Usually a grown-up would choose the toy—because he liked it, not because the child would like it. Then the toy was taken home, and the father or the uncle would wind it up, and play with it. till tired; and eventually hand it to the unfortunate child, who Tvould probably break it in a few minutes. .

Children should make their own toys. They always wanted to do so, but this was never allowed because a mess might be made in the house. Owing to this closing of a, natural outlet of the imagination, and a whole host of desirable instincts, a valuable educational chance was lost and the cldid injured more or less permanently. Success in education could only be achieved by letting a child do what it wanted to do—whether in play or work.