BOX VILLAGE
The child is to be pitied who has not at some time revelled in a packing-box house big enough to get into and furnished by his own efforts. But a "village" of such houses offers a greatly enlarged field of play opportunity and has been the basis of Miss Mary Rankin"s experiment on the Teachers College Playground.[B]
In addition to its more obvious possibilities for constructive and manual development, Miss Rankin"s experiment offers social features of unusual suggestiveness, for the village provides a civic experience fairly comprehensive and free from the artificiality that is apt to characterize attempts to introduce civic content into school and play procedure.
[Footnote B: See "Teachers College Playground," Bulletin No. 4, Bureau of Educational Experiments.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Of interest to carpenters.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: A boom in real estate.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Boy playing pretend piano.]*
INDOOR EQUIPMENT
The requisites for indoor equipment are these:
A Suitable Floor--The natural place for a little child to play is the floor and it is therefore the sine qua non of the play laboratory.
Places to Keep Things--A maximum of convenience to facilitate habits of order.
Tables and Chairs--For use as occasion demands, to supplement the floor, not to take the place of it.
Blocks and Toys--For initial play material.
The Carpenter"s Bench--With tools and lumber for the manufacture of supplementary toys.
A supply of Art and Craft materials--For the same purpose.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Indoor Laboratory.]
THE INDOOR LABORATORY
The _floor_ should receive first consideration in planning the indoor laboratory. It should be as s.p.a.cious as circ.u.mstances will permit and safe, that is to say clean and protected from draughts and dampness.
A well-kept hardwood floor is the best that can be provided.
Individual light rugs or felt mats can be used for the younger children to sit on in cold weather if any doubt exists as to the adequacy of heating facilities (see cut, p. 32).
Battleship linoleum makes a good subst.i.tute for a hardwood finish. It comes in solid colors and can be kept immaculate.
Deck canvas stretched over a layer of carpet felt and painted makes a warm covering, especially well adapted to the needs of very little children, as it has some of the softness of a carpet and yet can be scrubbed and mopped.
Second only in importance is the supply of _lockers_, _shelves_, _boxes_ and _drawers_ for the disposal of the great number and variety of small articles that make up the "tools and appliances" of the laboratory. The cut on page 24 shows a particularly successful arrangement for facilities of this kind.
The _chairs_ shown are the Mosher kindergarten chairs, which come in three sizes. The light _tables_ can be folded by the children and put away in the biggest cupboard s.p.a.ce (p. 24).
_Block boxes_ are an essential part of the equipment. Their dimensions should be planned in relation to the unit block of the set used. Those shown are 13-3/4" X 16-1/2" X 44" (inside measurements) for use with a set having a unit 1-3/8" X 2-3/4" X 5-1/2". They are on castors and can be rolled to any part of the room.
The low _blackboards_ are 5"-5" in height and 2"-0" from the floor.
All the furnishings of the laboratory should lend themselves to use as dramatic properties when occasion demands, and a few may be kept for such purposes alone. The light screens in the right-hand corner of the room are properties of this kind and are put to an endless number of uses (see cut, p. 40).
[Ill.u.s.tration: The balcony in a room with high ceiling.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: The balcony and a low ceiling.]
The _balcony_ is a device to increase floor s.p.a.ce that has been used successfully in The Play School for several years. It is very popular with the children and contributes effectively to many play schemes.
The tall block construction representing an elevator shaft shown in the picture opposite would never have reached its "Singer Tower proportions" without the balcony, first to suggest the project and then to aid in its execution.
_Drop shelves_ like those along the wall of the "gallery" (p. 22) can be used for some purposes instead of tables when s.p.a.ce is limited.
Materials for storekeeping play fill the shelves next the fireplace, and the big crock on the hearth contains modelling clay, the raw material of such objets d"art as may be seen decorating the mantlepiece in the cut on page 20.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A place for everything]
[Ill.u.s.tration: The indoor sandbox.]*
THE INDOOR SAND BOX
The indoor _Sand Box_ pictured here was designed by Mrs. Hutchinson for use in the nursery at Stony Ford. A box of this kind is ideal for the enclosed porch or terrace and a great resource in rainy weather.
The usual kindergarten sand table cannot provide the same play opportunity that is afforded by a floor box, but it presents fewer problems to the housekeeper and is always a valuable adjunct to indoor equipment.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Carpenter Bench.]*
THE CARPENTER BENCH
The carpenter equipment must be a "sure-enough business affair," and the tools real tools--not toys.
The Sheldon bench shown here is a real bench in every particular except size. The tool list is as follows:
Manual training hammer.
18 point cross-cut saw.
9 point rip saw.
Large screw driver, wooden handle.
Small screw driver.
Nail puller.