When ready to put away, break into small pieces, put the pieces together, knead a little till made into a mass, punch a few holes in the mass, fill these with water, put into a stone jar and cover with a damp cloth. Or put the clay into a cloth, dampen, and then, twisting the four corners of the cloth together, drop the mass on the floor. Do this several times and it will be found welded together. Then put into the stone jar. Disinfect clay by exposing to sunshine.
Sand-Table (Kitchen table, saw, boards, nails, zinc)
From Germany we have finally learned the value of the sand-table and the sand-pile as means of development to the child, not to speak of their virtues as pure givers of joy.
Sand-tables may be bought at kindergarten stores, or one may be made of a kitchen table by sawing off the legs to the size which brings the table top within reach of the child. Then the top should be fenced in with boards, from three to six inches high, to keep the sand in. It is a good plan to line the table with zinc, since it is sometimes desirable to have the sand pretty wet, although it generally suffices to make it just damp enough to mold readily. It can be dampened with a sprinkling-can.
1. The child will play a long while without much suggestion. A little pail or bottle to be filled and emptied and refilled will furnish material for his embryonic experiments.
2. A tiny cast-iron spade (price one cent) will add materially to his happiness.
3. Shells and patty-pans of different shapes and convolutions suggest bakery plays, and mother must sample the baby's cookery. When houses and forts and churches are the order of the day, paths must be laid and bordered with stones and shells; twigs and elderberry branches make tiny trees for tiny orchards; and a little pan of water or a bit of mirror makes a wee lake. The kindergarten building gifts make substantial structures, bridges, park-benches, etc. A winding river can be painted with blue paint on the zinc. When the child's imagination flags, a word from the mother or a timely story will start a new series of plays next time.
4. Older children will enjoy reproducing in the sand the hills and valleys of their environment, the roads, woods and streams which they know, etc.
5. Tell of the western plant which, when uprooted from its loose hold in the desert sand, is sent flying by the wind over the sand, and wherever it touches makes a perfect spiral. Let the children make such spirals with a coiled piece of wire.
6. Having noticed the impression made upon the sand by the patty-pans, the child can be led to make designs with them by making a row of impressions equal distances apart, arranging these in twos, in threes, etc.