South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-05-01
Help to Cultivate
Child's Imagination
Parents May Promote Child's
Education BY Engaging in
Imaginative Games.


When the child is able to form men
tai images Of things not present, and
begins to enjoy play with these i'm
ages, he has entered upon a new and
important phase Of learning. He Is
no longer compelled TO occupy his
mind with the things around him, but
he can dwell upon what he saw or
did yesterday or last summer, and can
form mental pictures of what he IS
going TO do. Not only can he do these
things. but he can suppose that things
are in different places from what they
are or that they are much larger or
smaller, or that they have different
qualities, and that people act in vari-
Gus interesting ways. Much of the
child's pleasure in playing with dolls
and other things, is inimagining them
different from what they really are.
The doll is a person; the stick is a
horse; the sand nodded in a certain
shape is a pie or a cake; the chair
is a carriage or a boat; and play
with that object is no longer senSOry
motor play, but play of the imagin-
alton.
In helping to educate the child in
imagination as we'll as in sensory mo-
tor experiences, the parent should try
especially to avoid interfering with the
little ones activities. To do all of
the imagining for him is as bad as to
do all the manipulating of toys for
him. Without anything whatever be
ing done by the parent, an magma
tive child Will acquire the ability TO
perform extraordinary feats of fancy.
If things are not to his liking, he can
make them so in imagination. This
applies to persons as well as to things
The majority of children at some time
in their lives. usually before they go
to school, have imaginary playmates.
in company with whom they do all
sorts of things Sometimes they have
a material thing such as a stick or a
stone to represent the imaginary indi-
vidual but in other cases the play
mate has no material embodiment, al
though il is often given a name. This
imaginary companion frequently gives
more pleasure than real companions.
because it does whatever the child
wants it to do.
The child also enjoys doing a great
many things in imagination because
they can be done so much more salts
factOrily than in real life. Although
such activity is concerned with the
unreal and would seem to ignore
facts, yet il is a means of developing
more acute perceptions and ideas or
what is really true. The child who
actually tastes the mud pie that he
has made, is strongly impressed with
the difference between real pies and
imaginary pies; and the one who plays
with a real playmate soon after en-
Toying an imaginary companion, is
impressed with the difference between
them The imaginative may be an ad-
vantage over the real or vice versa.
The child who has INDUCED in all
sorts of fancies and also played with
real things, is not likely to mistake
ideas Of the mind for realities, or men
tai experiences for real experiences.
He is also better fitted to recognize
fundamental truths appearing in vari-
Gus forms. He is not so literal mind
ed as TO be unable to appreciate the
truth expressed in fables, fairy tales
and allegories
The parent may promote the mag
NATIVE education Of the child in a
way similar to that in which he helps
in the sensOry motor education. This
can be done by engaging in imagina-
tive play with the child, accepting his
representations or interpretations and
helping to carry out the dramatic
play; also by occasionally suggesting
fanciful ideas and imaginative activi-
ties.
The best guide as to what shall be
taught the child at this period is his
own interest in knowing. What this
is, is indicated primary by the ques-
.tiOnS that he asks. These should be
answered as clearly as possible, eth
er in words or-better still-by hav-
ing the child do something which will
enable him to discover the truth for
himself Children who are never al
lowed to touch hot stove, to fall
down and get hurt, TO prick their fling
ers on a bramble or taste of a bitter
substance. are deprived of the Oppor-
tunity to learn important truths. 1t IS
utterly impossible to maintain a Car
den of Eden in which only the good
and desirable shall be found. The
fruit of the tree of knowledge, wheth-
er 1t be bitter or sweet, must be tasted
by the child himself.
There is no question which the
child asks that the parent should not
help him TO answer. In addition to
this. the parent may suggest questions
and modes of answering them. By
skillful use of the play spirit even
small children may be led TO acquire
a great deal of useful information re-
garding geography, science and his
tory It is possible, in this way, TO
produce what seem to be veritable
prodigies. This may be OF advantage
If il is done without diverting the
child from his own line of question
ing, which is undoubtedly best suited
10 give him the foundation upon
which common sense rests
HOLD JOINT MEETING.
The Maccabee hive, No. 4, and
camp No. l of South Bend held a