The Kindergarten at Home
By L. Arnet Shiffert
To the mothers whose little ones come with the oft-repeated questions, “What shall I do?” “What shall I play?” let me whisper a few words of help. Children are always active, always seeking employment when left to themselves, and they should be given some busy work which will turn their thoughts into right channels and strengthen their little minds. This right kind of busy work they are given in the kindergarten schools, but there are hundreds of children who can not attend these schools, and it is the mothers of these little ones who will be helped by these suggestions. We all agree that children should be happy, busy, and orderly; but how to make and keep them so is a question which many mothers find hard to solve. Pin your faith to the kindergarten, and you will not be disappointed in the results of this system. Mothers with the care of the household upon them can not give their children the time and attention in this line that they would receive in a kindergarten school, but they can give them suggestive answers to their question, “What can I do now?” A few minutes spent in showing the children how to do something along the right lines will be considered well spent when mama sees the little ones happy and busy for hours. For instance, nearly all the tiny girls want to sew “just like mama.” It takes but a few minutes to perforate, by running through the sewing-machine (with the longest stitch and no thread) objects on the advertisement cards so freely distributed, or the outlines of chairs, stools; tables, lamps, cups, fruit, flowers, animals, etc., drawn on stiff paper and perforated. Then you have the sewing cards which are used in the kindergarten. Sets of these cards can be bought, together with colored threads, but the home-made ones answer every purpose, and can be made simple or complicated, to suit the ability of the child. After the cards are ready, take bright-colored thread and a blunt needle and teach the children to backstitch the outlines, or let them go in and out all around the design, then go back and “shut up the gates,” as some little ones say. Good results in teaching the alphabet and figures have been obtained by having the letters and figures on these cards. It impresses the forms on the mind, at the same time giving the child pleasure. When the children become proficient in following the straight lines, they can be taught to make the alphabet in cross stitch, and then it will be a proud day when the little miss marks mother’s towels. It is surprising how quickly they will learn to thread the needle, make the knot, and fasten the ends; and not only this, but a few remarks dropped now and then about their work will train them to observe form and color, and help them later on in the work in school. — L. Arnet Shiffert, in Good Housekeeping.