Educational Toys / Consisting Chiefly of Coping-Saw Problems for Children in School and the Home

by LOUIS C. PETERSEN, B. Sc. Director of Manual Arts, State Normal University, Carbondale, Illinois
PUBLISHED BY THE MANUAL ARTS PRESS PEORIA, ILLINOIS

COPYRIGHT LOUIS C. PETERSEN 1920


The purpose in sending out this collection of toys is to promote among children a love for educational occupation. This book is intended to be of real service to parents and teachers who are intrusted with the arduous responsibility of child-training. It is with this object in view that the directions, drawings and photographs have been prepared.
The experience of almost twenty years as a teacher has convinced the author that only when the child approaches subject-matter with interest and enthusiasm can the best results be obtained. Giving a child an opportunity to make things, arouses his interest; therefore, learning by doing is a most effective method in gaining educational ends.
Toy-making incorporates this method, with several vital elements added. It takes into account the child's view-point, his proclivities and his emotions. It is a form of activity that appeals strongly to his fancy, has a direct relation to his environments, and is within the range of his mental grasp and constructive ability. His wonderful imagination endows the creatures of his handiwork with life, individuality and cunning. The toy problem is in harmony with the child's resourcefulness, his powers and his interests.
The problems contained in this book have been selected from those worked out in the Normal Model School. They have been tested under ordinary class-room conditions. To survive the weeding-out process, a toy has had to meet the following requirements:
In his early years, the child begins tinkering with what materials and tools he can find, making something. The wise parent and teacher will turn that healthful, happy, creative instinct into good, useful channels. He will encourage and guide the child, in these early attempts, by surrounding him with congenial conditions, by furnishing him suggestions, pictures, drawings and such other aids as will direct him to occupational problems of educational value, and by providing him with a place to work, the tools, wood, nails, wire and other necessary equipment.