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Show oc WHY CHILDREN SHOULD HAVE THEIRPLAY W, L. Underwood, supervisor of organized or-ganized play of city schools, addressed address-ed the Ogden teachers at the High school. Ho spoko on "Organized Play in tho SchoolB," saying: ' "Biology teaches us that over' new human life recapitulates In a general way the wholo scale, from the lowest forms of animal life up to tho human child Child culture has two functions; func-tions; first, to conserve the biological succession under the best physiological physiologi-cal conditions; second, to devote theso conditions on powers to the acquiring of such knowledge and such habits as will best further man's social usefulness use-fulness and Individual happiness. Tho more successfully the child passes through tho biological stages of development, de-velopment, the more complete he will bo as a man. Play is our best ally in bringing up children Play bears the samo relation to" the biological development de-velopment of the child that education bears to the hereditary gifts, and It would be as absurd to despise a child's natural and Inherited gifts and attribute at-tribute all to education as to Ignore tho relation of play activities to child development. "Play may bo defined as tho expression ex-pression of awakening Instincts. To understand the full meaning In child .development It Is necessary to understand under-stand the significance of Instinct., , . . . i . -., , J1 rrm . 1 James, In his chapter on instinct In his psychology, Bays that many instincts in-stincts are transient. If during tho activity of an instinct, the environment environ-ment Is favorablo for Its manifestation, manifesta-tion, ta habit is formed which survives sur-vives after the Instinct has faded away, but If the environment is unfavorable un-favorable the 'Instinct will soon fade I and no habit will be formed, however favorable the environment may afterwards after-wards bo. Hence, pluy Impulses of I childron have one all-Important of-I of-I flee: they give rise to habits and permanent per-manent Interests which shapo the character of tho child. For an example, ex-ample, there Is a time when boys love and must learn to play ball, swim and bkato or be deficient In such sports and the particular training they give, all their lives So there 1b a time when the habit of activity, that Is the habit of work and the enjoyment of work may be formed, and its opportunity oppor-tunity lies In forming the right connection con-nection between play and work at the right time. "One of the chief ends of education Is to develop a habit of joyousness In work. The fear that the love of play will enterferc with tho love of work is one of the mo3t groundless of fears. The more a child loves to play the more he will love to work. We need a new term to express the idea of play as related to education. Play always involves work. It is tho serious work of the child. The normal child must , play, If the normal man must work. The habit of activity If acquired In childhood lasts through manhood and woman hood. What was Ilrst Instruction Instruc-tion has become habitual. "The history of play in education Is an interesting study. Prlmatlvo man recognized the educational value of play. To many of the ancient, games wore of great Importance. The Egyptians' Egyp-tians' idea was that Heavon was a place for music, dancing and games. "Plato expressed tho thought that man is God's plaything, ' and honco men and women should pass their lives In the noblest of pastimes. "The Greoks were the first great exponents of play In education. State legislation divided their games as follows: fol-lows: First, games of the nursery, second, the gymnastic exercises of the school, third, the agnostic exercises of social games of mature life. The outdoor out-door gamos of the little Greoks seem very familiar to ub. They played 'Hide and Seek." 'Catch Ball,' 'Steal Sticks,' 'Tag,' etc. From the Greeks to Froebol's time no definite system of education by play was followed. Many writers and teachers recognized its value in education and some made practical use of it. Rabolals, in marked mark-ed contrast to the laborious method of his time, proposed to teach by play and have his pupils learn even mathematics mathe-matics through recreation and amusement, amuse-ment, "Erasmus BUggested that the teach- er should palliate the tedium of drill In reading by frequent games "Comenlus again brought tho play interests of the child to notice by his use of objects, pictures and puzzles "Lacke laid great stress upon games and play In his scheme of education "Pestalozzls" conception that education edu-cation is a growth the outward evolution evo-lution of an Inward life was as old as Socrates, but Pestalozzl breathed anew into it the spirit of a living truth and tho self-activity of tho child became be-came Is guiding star, "From Froebel's tlmo to the present play has grown more popular and more Important as a means of education. educa-tion. During tho first years of Ufo play is the natural teacher of the child It Is through play that ho is trained in the control of tho motor and sensory apparatus of tho body, necessary alike for preservation of tko individual and tho race "A few years ago when the playgrounds play-grounds were first started the general thought In the minds of the people was that tho purpose of tho playground play-ground was to keep the children off the streets, today we have come to see that tbo playground has a specific training to give which Is no less definite defi-nite and perhaps no less important than the school Itself. Whilo it is impossible to take up the full training resulting from supervised play, It Is possible to enumerate a few of Its Ideals In physical health. If a child J iu to grow up healthy and vigorous he must bo kept In tho open air much of tho time. We havo learned that there Is no specific for tho tubercu-sis. tubercu-sis. That the only cure is open-air life Many of the congresses on tuberculosis tu-berculosis havo expressed the belief that tho background Is the most effective ef-fective means In the prevention oC the disease. "Tho second ideal for tho playground play-ground is the formation of good habits. hab-its. G, Stanley Hall says that supervised super-vised piny Is the most important subject sub-ject that can be taught in the elementary elemen-tary schools. It not only has a physical phy-sical and a mental value in the training train-ing of the child, but It has a practical, moral and ethical value. Children form moro of their habits In play, which, if supervised, will teach good citizenship, for as the child plays the citizen will act. A game that tcache6 children the proper respect for the rights of others Is of more Importance Impor-tance to society than the teaching of language where an hour Is spent In preparing and reciting on tho usos of the noun clause. A game that teach-b teach-b honesty and truthfulness Is of more value to tho child than a geography leason on tho location and products of some country in Central America. Am-erica. Tho experience of exports In children's courts Is favorable to this conclusion: Most of the serious crlineB committed by boys and girls can be traced to unfavorable conditions condi-tions In their play Judge Benjamin Lindsay of Denver 6ays: "Supervised play proves to be an economy to the city in that It lessens the crimo among children." Thero Is no bettor way to teach a boy to be honorable and straight than to give him an opportunity op-portunity to play normally with his fallows He who helps n boy to become be-come a straight and good man makes a contribution of the first class to the welfare of tho nation. It Is during pla' rather than work that character is formed. The basis of character Is the will and at no time does this function of the mind have so free a scape as during play. "For the third Ideal, wc may put right education of tho social sense. Children form most of their friendship friend-ship in play. It has been said that the best training that a girl can have for society is the social plays of childhood child-hood If a playground does not make the childron better friends with each other you can aet It down as a failure at once. Some people say to their children: "You must not play witTt children from certain quarters," feeling feel-ing that if thoy play with theno vU clous children thoy will acquire many bad habitB. The fear Is well founded, but tho dangor Is not from the play, A boy may play on a volley ball team with eleven other boys, all of whom are thieves and Immoral children, aud not suffer much harm so long as ho plays; but let him Idle with the same children for half an hour and he may suffer incalcula.blo harm. It is In periods of idleness that the childron learn to smoke cigarettes, swear and steal. The playground prevents, If properly conducted, idleness in a child by giving him something interesting "Tho fourth Ideal for the playground play-ground ia the developing of energy. Joseph Leo has said, 'A boy "Without a playground Is a fathor to tho man without n j0bF' -which moans, I suppose, sup-pose, that If a child loafs through his childhood, he goes on loafing In his adult life by the mere force of habit, and the peroon who has formed a habit of loafing finds It necessary to earn hla living by some easier wnv th5n jv-ork. He may bog, he may s il and he may gamble, but work is not to his taste and a habit of idleness is tho mothor of all crimes. "'Yes,' say 6 tho teacher, 'I can see that supervised play le of great edu-atIonal edu-atIonal value, but where am I to nnd the time to teach it?' My reply is, tako tho time. Tako It from any subject in the course. It will bo time gained, not lost, what Is teach-uS teach-uS any,wny? It is the awakening of that self-activity In the mind of tho learner that results In knowledge, power and skill. Minds of childron . i nTuan hou or two of hard study They need play for the re-T6Lf re-T6Lf tU1 80lf-actlvity or interest. Teachers who have regularly mado nSHloLSreS In lho mlddl 0 ns ?ho S,,re unn,mu3 lu saMns that hlcl vlvo the children, give added ZCBt to their study and mW ii them more studious and responsive. Tests of the amount and accuracy of work done by tho childron in tho ? grades after games show a decided gain in favor of the game3. Tho thing that most needs to be understood about play is that it Is not a luxury. ' $ but a nooesslty. It Is not something JR that a child llkos to have; It Is some- m thing he must have, If ho is a cour- Mj teous winner and a good loner quail- ties that aro fundamontal to gaod cit- 1$ izenshlp," Bj rvn mu, |