The Glenwood post., 1919-02-08
kindergarten
Helps for Parents
ASficJss Lssosd bv she DEPARTMENT
~ eke Interior, B1resu Of Educsfio0
and fhs
National IkAsdsrSarssnAssoct0tten
TOUCH-HUNGER.
sy PROF. M. v. o'shEA.


Psychologists say that every child
has hunger for experiences which
are necessary for his development. He
IL hungry for sounds, sights. tastes.
smells and muscular strains and
stresses. These are all Of fundamental
Importance In the building Of his mind.
A child would be an idiot who was not
hungry for these sense experiences
The only way he can learn about OBJ
jects is by investigating them with
every sense that will give him any In
formation regarding them.
Many persons who realize that a
child must see, hear, taste and smell
all the objects around him in order
that he may come to understand them
do not appreciate that the hunger to
touch objects is probably more acute
than any other kind of hunger. Fre-
quently people think child is mis-
chievous or willful when he handles
things around him when he is told not
to do so. How often one hears parents
and policemen and guards at museums
and all such folks say to children,
Don't you touch that! Can't you
keep your hands off from things? l
told you If you touched any of those
things again l would punish you," and
80. But "A child will handle objects,
even in the face of certain punishment,
because his hunger for touch sensa-
tiOns is SO overpowering that he can
not restrain it.
What Is to be done about 1t? In the
first place, the child should have as
great variety of objects as possible
to touch and use in his play activities.
He should be permitted to explore
everything around him by means of
the sense of touch. If necessary, the
parent or the teacher or the guardian
should stand by and see that no harm
is done to valuable objects or to the
child himself. But If the typical child
be permitted to investigate such OBJ
1ects as books and china until he has
discovered how they feel and how they
are constituted, until his touch-hunger
regarding them is gratiied, he will be
likely to let them alone thereafter un-
less he needs to use them in some Of
his games or plays. A wise parent or
teacher would provide books, dishes
and the like which could be used in
play, and which would make 1t unnec-
essary for the child to experiment with
delicate things of real value.
If a parent leaves an unoccupied
child in a room which is furnished
with fragile, delicate furniture which
he can reach, and II he is not per-
mitted to gain touch acquaintance
with these things under the guild
ance and supervision Of the pnr-
ent, then there Is almost certain
to be trouble. The child will handle
the furniture when the parent is not
looking and accidents will happen.
Montessori apparatus, kindergarten
materials or Candoit toys In house
will keep young child out of mis-
chief" that may result disastrously
to valuable books or china or other
furnishings. Catalogues describing
these various educational playthings
may be obtained upon request from
the manufacturers Montessori; ap-
paratus, House of Childhood, New
York; kindergarten materials Mil
ton Bradley Co., Springfield, Mass.
Candot toys, The Falls Toy. Shop,
Denver, Colo. A sandplle or gymnas-
tic apparatus out of doors will surely
lessen any child's "mischievousness"