CHILDREN AT PLAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19217, 5 January 1926, Page 12

CHILDREN AT PLAY.

HAPPY YOUNG AUCKLANDERS. THE ASSOCIATION'S IDEALS. NEED OF MORE EQUIPMENT. Tlie idea of an organisation to teach children how to play would have been deemed a fantastic bit of nonsense a generation or two ago, but it is an idea that lias gained vigorous headway in enlightened countries of late years, and Auckland is sturdily putting forth her claim to a place in the van of progress in this direction. The activities of the Auckland Play Association during the summer holidays have been followed with interest by educationists and others in the past year or two, and it is good to note that this year it is launching out into wider spheres of activity. Half-a-dozen trained assistants and the services of several volunteer helpers have been secured, and every day this month they will be engaged in the pleasant occupation of supervising the young folk at play in Carlaw Park and in the playgrounds of Grafton and Newton Central Schools. The holiday session opened yesterday at these three centres, and right heartily the children enjoyed their day. The attendance is never very large on the opening day, but even so, there were scores of happy boys and girls disporting themselves on the lawns, cricket pitches and tennis courts. Each of the three playgrounds was visited during the day by Mrs. Ferner and Miss Davies, president and field secretary respectively of the Play Association, and brief addresses were given upon the aims of the association, and its ideal of teaching children to become good citizens through learning to " play the game " i in their boyhood and girlhood days. A number of visitors also made their way to the playgrounds during the day, and were enabled to see for themselves how the association puts its ideas into practice. Fun at Grafton School. The scene at Grafton School in the j morning showed .that the children themselves aro very willing to take advantage of the Play Association's kindly efforts on their behalf. Some of the children were playing rounders, some cricket, while half-a-dozen smaller children were having a good time on the swings. The association is sadly hampered at present for lack of equipment, and there is excellent opportunity here for any philanthropist who is seeking some tangible way of expressing his or her interest in young Auckland's welfare. One of the little girls was putting up a star performance at rounders with an old tennis racquet. She was making a really fine effort, but her activities were severely hampered by the fact that the racquet had a large hole in the middle,' and most of tho balls passed right through it. But she was a real optimist, and it was sheer bad luck that the errant ball should presently have flown off the rim of the racquet at a tangent that sent it fair into tho waiting hands of the catcher-out. A sturdy little seven-year-old, with long brown legs took her place beside the rusty benzine tin that did duty for base, but Long-legs was having none of the decrepit old racquet. Contemptuously she threw it aside and produced the split half of what once had been a self-respecting rounder bat. With her shingled head thrown well back and a "do-or-die" expression in hor brown eyes, she met the first ball with a tremendous swipe and was round the circle of benzine tins with a flash of brown legs and flying skirts well before the ball came home. "Windmill" and "Skin the' Cat." During a pause in activities, half-a-dozen small boys escorted a visitor to the horizontal bars, where a budding contortionist aptly named Doug went through various squirming, eel-like movements with remarkable agility. Ho twisted and turned, hung head-downwards by the I toes, whirled round and round with his feet crossed in some mysterious gyration termed the "windmill." "Now show 'er 'skin tho cat,' Doug!" urged a freckled-faced young enthusiast, but Doug protested that he "couldn't remember how it went." HoWever, he had a try, and evolved some truly fear some squirmings that finally burst a trouser button and abruptly ended the performance. A vigorous game of cricket then claimed the attention of tho sextette, but here again paucity of equipment was a deterrent and the cry of "lost ball!" denoted the temporary suspension .of activities every five minutes or so.

Happy Hours at Carlaw Pari:. There was a good muster at Carlaw Park in ths afternoon, and the hours passed pleasantly for several score of boys and girls. The children are encourged to feel that they are members of an important organisation, and each one is expected to write his or her name in an attendance book. The results of the efforts of other years are now showing themselves in the iine spirit in-which the children enter into the team games. Many of them get their first inkling of what it means to "play the game" during hours of organised play at school and elsewhere, and they learn on the playground the principles of unselfishness, obedience and self-control that count for so much in the game of life. Several cricket teams were putting up a very business-like performance on the smooth green lawns, the girls were playing a ball-game and a number of smaller children were being taught the steps of a rustic dance out there beneath the blue skies. A pretty picture they made, all these small girls and boys running and playing in the sunshine, with the trees n the Domain rustling their leaves in the cool breeze and the cicadas droning their summer song. Bats Quicldy Worn Out. Some of the bowling was most spectacular, and the sprinting of the barelegged youngsters as the ball went flying down the field was something to marvel at. Young Auckland seems to be coming along well at the classic game. "Simply can't keep 'em iu bats!" declared one in authority, who joined the lookers-on. "You'd be surprised! Hero I had five perfectly good 'uns a week or two ago and four of 'em gone crook already! They take their cricket seriously, I can tell you!" And so the games went on all through the long, bright afternoon, the play leaden joining in the fun, ever watchful, ever at hand to guide and direct. All through the month they will be at the three playgrounds every day from 11 o'clock until five. Every child is sure of a welcome, and if the golden hours are not filled with joy for those to whom the wider joys of a beach or camping holiday are denied, it certainly will not be the fault of the Auckland Play Association.