The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-10-08
AIM OF MODERN KINDERGARTEN
Young Minds Taught How
to Form Ideas.
Methods Employed Outlined at
Annual Meeting of Local
Association.

AT the recent annual meeting of the
Free Kindergartens and Children's Aid
Association, Miss Lawrence read the
following excellent and instructive pa
per on Kindergarten work and the
proper methods that should be followed
out:
You have heard something of what
the kindergartens have done, and it
falls to my lot TO tell you little of
how we can extend their influence in
this community The ways are many
and the results far-reaching.
Our attention is first called to the
condition of work done in the kinder
garten. Most of you are aware of the
revolution which is now taking place
in kindergarten methodist the efforts
being put forth by the ablest men in
this profession along the line of child
study II is many years since Froebel
discovered how to apply a great law
to the education of little children, and
the time has come for other great
thinkers TO take up the work where he
left off and carry us one step nearer
the goal Their efforts, so far, have
been mostly along the line of physical
development. Why do so many chill
dren in our primary schools wear
glasses? Why are children so subject
TO nervous disorders, such as ST. Vitus'
dance? Why are children so precocious
in the first few years of life and after
wards so stupid? For these and many
other evils the kindergarten of the past
must answer. But the kindergarten of
the present day is profting by past
mistakes. No more fine, trying work
shall we have. Sewing, pricking, weav-
ing are all very beautiful, but they
must go.
Only in very large form is any of
this work legitimate. The kindergarten
shall never again be reproached by
weak eyes, deranged nerves and poor
digestions. 1t has learned its lesson all
too well. In place of the much-loved
finger-work we have made the occu-
pations which give an opportunity for
physical exercise much more promi-
nent. First among these 1 will men
ton gardening. The children hoe rake
and dig, using all the muscles of the
body, thereby laying foundation for a
strong constitution, as well as fore
shadowing the study of science.
The bean-bag board furnishes new
er-failing source of amusement, and in
some kindergartens it has replaced the
sewing with the little children. In this
game the child exercises the muscles
which are developing and hence should
be exercised to insure healthy normal
growth, and at the same time trains
the eye, for it requires not little skill
to throw the bag through the hole.
Blackboard drawing is ever hailed
with delight by the little ones, al
though there is much controversy over
it at the present time. We are recon-
mended to extend our blackboards to
the floor, TO give the child plenty of
scope for bodily movements. The fiat
side of the chalk is used, to avoid all
possibility of fine work and also give
the full arm movement.
Play in the sand is the delight of all
children at all times, and affords much
excellent physical exercise. Houses,
yards, roads, cities are built and van
ish in a day to give place to noun
tains, valleys and sea- What better
preparation for the study of geography
could child have?
The clay is a good medium Of express
sion, and if used properly need never
grow tiresome. 1t is only when the
child must first make ball, then a
cylinder, then cube and lastly the OBJ
ject he started out to make that he
dislikeS this occupation Its possibili-
the child's work looks crude to US, it
is the expression of the thought upper
most in his mind, and as such is both
valuable to him and to the teacher
1t may be doll, boat, nest, or it
may be dolls furniture white and wab-
bly,. 1t is enough that the little hand
is learning to obey the dictates of the
mind, and that by so doing the mental
image grows.
Another means of expression we find
in the blocks which are played with at
the tables and sometimes on the floor,
where the children have more freedom
to move about Limitations are given
to make the expression clearer, as:
I'VE are going to make a house two
stories high" One Limitation, the rest
of the building may follow the fancy of
the builder. Sometimes we have three
or four directions, sometimes none
No more of those long, tedious Sc
quences, repeated over and over, to be
the bugbear of every tiny child and
every teacher How well l remember
that awful sequence play had to give
to the children every Wednesday for
four months! How the children and
teacher hated it, We started with the
cube, then made a stove, then chair,
then two chairs, then the bed, and so
on to the grand finale in the church
window Once it probably filled need, |
but later, in the hands of an unskilled
kindergarten, it degenerated into its
present form of terror. A good, |