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Hokitika Guardian, 9 November 1936, Page 4

“Most children love to use their fingers to create, and it- is essential that they should be encouraged to do so,” writes Mr C. F. Howell, in an article on “The Cultural Development of Children” in. the magazine of the National Children’s Home. “From their earliest years,” he says, “children will scribble with pencils, daub with brushes and build bricks. Most of them will not in after life become artists, but the urge to create is one of the essential urges of. l mankind,'and one which must be satisfied if the individual is to lead a healthy mental' life. Every child receives training at" school in drawing; painting and modelling, but this is often insufficient. The school curriculum is heavily overcrowded, and the amount of time available for these pursuits is limited Moreover, in all but the most enlightened schools this training is too formal, base don the fallacy of a, logical approach to tile subject in the abstract rather than on the satisfaction of the child’s growing needs as they arise: For most children the steady progress through the dra wing of the rectangular prism and pyramid to the sphere and cone is unsatisfying. They vvisu, and must be encouraged, to draw; pictures, not boxes open or shut, tol represent incidents in the lives of their heroes, not flower-pots and wat-i ering cans.”